WIP Monday and a Reading List Update

Well, my turn for the blog chain falls on Friday, which pushes our Friday Funnies to Wednesday, which pushes WIP Wednesday to Monday....orrrr I suppose I could leave WIP Wednesday ON Wednesday and do funnies today...but since I've already started I think I'll leave well enough alone :D


This about sums up my week :D

Well, not totally true. I did finish going through my manuscript myself. My first crit group only has four more chapters to go through and the last crit group has 9.5 chapters left. I've been doing revisions as I go along, so, for the most part, I'm just about done.

Although...I may have run into a sort of major, but probably not as bad as I'm thinking plot thingy I may or may not need to fix. :D Confused yet? Yeah, me too :D So, I am holding off on any major rewrites until all groups are done critting. Then I'll see what the main concensus is :)

How is everyone else doing? Making more progress than me, I hope :)

Since I am waiting on crits, I got to read a little bit this week. I finally finished Echo in the Bone, the much anticipated new book in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series.

Now, usually, I can polish off one of her 1000 or so page books in a day or two. This one took me a while. I'm not sure why. It may have something to do with the fact that all I've been reading lately are YA books. So I got used to the very quick pacing and the "only add what is necessary to the plot" type storylines of this genre. The Outlander series are much more involved than that.

It may also have to do with the fact that this book follows the perspective of four different characters or couples. Jamie (swoon!) and Claire, Roger and Brianna, Lord John, and Jamie's son William. Honestly, while all storylines were interesting, I think I would have preferred sticking to Jamie and Claire and Roger and Brianna.

I felt like every time I'd really get sucked into a storyline, it would stop and focus on another character. And when that happened, it was easier to put the book down for a few days as I wasn't totally swept up in the new storyline yet.

Having said all that, I did very much enjoy the book and will eagerly await the next (which will probably be several years in coming) as there were several occurrences in this book that desperately need to be resolved in the next.

I also spent the last two days reading Dan Brown's newest, The Lost Symbol. I am torn about this book as well. I enjoyed it, very much. But the pacing of the book kept getting slammed on hold by long passages of philosophical musings on Ancient Mysteries and Noetic Science. Don't get me wrong. I was fascinated. But it sort of felt like I was reading two different books: the intense story of Robert Langdon trying to solve the mystery before everyone dies, and a non-fiction book outlining the principles of noetic science, the Masons, Ancient Mysteries, the origins of our country, etc.

Now, those passages were interesting enough that I actually would like to go look up more information on all of it. But I think the story could have been more intense, or more consistently intense, without some of the "heavier" info dumps.

And *SPOILER ALERT!!! DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW THE ENDING!!!!*  I'll still try to be a bit cryptic :D I had the location of the hidden item figured out very early on in the book, and have a hard time believing that the Masonic brothers would go through as much trouble as they did to keep the secret that they did, even to the point of giving up their lives, considering the item involved...seeing as how it is readily available to anyone who wants it anyways and was available (though admittedly, not nearly as much as in present times) at the time it was hidden. But that's just me :D

But again, I did truly enjoy the story, had several "Holy crap, no way!" moments, was brought to tears a few times, and think anyone who likes Dan Brown's previous books will enjoy it as well.

All in all, two thumbs up on both of them :D

Also, though I was privileged enough to be able to read The Hollow, by the ever awesome Jessica Verday, several months ago, I can now add it to my list of new books read as it is actually out in stores now. Well, it has been since last month, but I forgot to add it to the list sooo I'm doing it now :D You can click on the picture of her cover on my sidebar to find a retailer :)

I started out the year going strong - but the end of the year is creeping up fast and I still have 18 books to go. I better get my butt in gear :) I have read a ton of other books, but they were all rereads, so I can't count them. Ooo, and I just realized the new House of Night book (P.C. and Kristin Cast) and the new Merry Gentry book (from Laurell K. Hamilton) are out this month! Yay!