warning: baby stuff ahead

Some of my fabulous friends expressed a hankering to see some baby stuff, and I am too happy to oblige...

First, we have a profile pic of the wee one...


We haven't cleared out the room to set up the nursery yet, but you can tell the motif...


Yeah, I need to stop shopping...


Coming home outfit...


I would say, besides feeling the baby kick, shopping is the best part of being pregnant. But I've still got four months to go! I need to stop!

in which i wave my fist and yell to get off my lawn

I'll just take a little break from my thesis (80 pages... whoo) to get all Complainey McComplainersons over here.

I come to the library to get away from my TV which shows fluffy delights like Say Yes to the Dress and Six Feet Under reruns ll day long. I come to the library to WORK. I have a lovely little study room all to myself and a nice big table to spread all my papers out on and a swiveling chair to go round and round.

And all was good. Until the TEENAGERS came. Dude, I just got away from you! Why must you dominate the next study room to talk loudly on your cell phones, wrestle, and cackle more loudly than Roseanne? I have half a mind to go over and yell at them to get to work or go to the freaking mall.

Sigh. I am so old and grumpy.

On the other hand, did I say I'm at 80 pages??? Whoohoo, 100 pages, here I come.

alice cooper's so right

Schooooooool IS out for summer! Yay!

And this is the third day in a row I've posted! Double yay!

Today I played a mean joke on my coworker, who is totally afraid of zombies. I told him how completely awesome THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH is and that he had to read it, but I didn't tell him what it was about. I can't wait until he reads it. I mean, I thought it was scary, but I can't wait for his reaction!

Last weekend was great, full of chicken curry and WEEDS. I watched the first two seasons on demand from netflix. I wasn't sure I would like it because it's been labeled a sitcom and it's only a half hour long, but really it should be called a dramedy. And they pack enough awesomeness into each episode that they seem like an hour long. I've got seasons 3 and 4 on their way.

I've been thinking about inciting incidents. In THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH, there's a huge inciting incident at the beginning of the book that draws you in immediately. My problem is that I always think the inciting incident is the actual story, whereas it should just get things rolling in an interesting way. So, yeah, I think my stories always start too early.

Ugh. Heartburn. Need TUMS.

Any thoughts on inciting incidents? Is that how a book immediately draws you in?

hilariousness

Good stuff.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Clearly, the fact that I finished Carrie Ryan's THE FOREST OF HANDS IN TEETH in a few short hours means something! I haven't done that since THE HUNGER GAMES. Seriously, this book is incredible!

I knew going in that it was a zombie book. What I didn't know was that Ryan's beautiful, layered tale would be truly allegorical. This isn't just a story of a young girl trying to get through each day in a village completely surrounded by the living dead; it's a story of a girl living in an oppressive society and longing for something more, something beyond her reach. It's a story of hope in the face of absolute despair. It's a story about the grass always being greener on the other side of the fence. But it's also a story about priorities: How far will Mary go to get what she's always dreamed of?

Mary is such an interesting main character. I ached for her in the first few chapters, when everything seems to go wrong for her. But she has such internal strength; I cheered for her as she tried to sort through the mess that was her life. As the book continued, I realized that what Mary wanted was not so simple. By the end, I wondered if what Mary wanted was worth it. It would be interesting to see this explored in a sequel. I'm not sure if Ryan is working on a second... I'll have to go check her blog, which is linked on the right.

In a way, the book is about striving for your dreams and never letting anything get in your way. It's about how you deal with your problems. This is a book that will suck you in and then spit you out several hours later, wondering what hit you.

yay summer!

Hooray, I have all of my grading done! And I've got two great books to read this weekend: PRETTIES and THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH. Reading and lounging around in the sun--this is what summer is all about!

I'm feeling a bit inspired to start working on MATCHED again. Some ideas are swirling around in that pregnant brain of mine. My goal is to get back into the 2k a day regimen that I did throughout November.

Shout out to my Fabulous Five Scribe sisters! I vow to be more active this summer! And some of them will have some fabulous news coming out soon, I hope!

TGIF!

I'm not dead! Really!!

Just a quickie post to announce that I am not dead, just busy doing pregnant lady stuff. We had our ultrasound on Wednesday and found out that we're having a girl! Amazing. Also, she does look a lot like Skeletor.

I feel weird about writing on my blog much because it would all be about baby stuff. As soon as I get back into writing mode, I will be back here a lot more.

I miss you all! More after a while...