Tag: Personal Page 11 of 14

I’m Curious: What Was the First Book That . . .

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On March 10, 2017

In Books, News/Misc.

I am just having one of those weeks — seriously, it’s like my week is manifestation of Murphy’s Law, and the idea of me writing something new is laughable. So here’s a variation of a post I did a year ago — we’ve got some new regulars in the comments, and I’d like to hear what you all say.

Anyway. . .

This was asked awhile ago on some Facebook group I belong to and I thought the answers were interesting enough, I’d ask you:

If you can remember, what was the first book that destroyed you? (that is, which book left you an emotional wreck?)

For me, it was either: Where the Red Fern Grows (which I read most of several times, and all of a couple of times); The High King by Lloyd Alexander between the deaths and goodbyes, I still can’t do it dry-eyed; or Bridge to Terabithia — I can’t tell you anything about the plot (there were 2 kids, 1 girl and 1 boy, right?), the characters or anything, and I read it 2-4 times — all I can remember is emotional devastation.

Looking forward to hearing from you. Share the emotional scars we all know you have. 🙂

Well, that was a mistake . . .

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On February 16, 2017

In Uncategorized

Did my taxes (well, mostly) before I wrote today’s post. My brain is fried now and there’s no way that I can come up with something anywhere coherent.

Can’t even find a silly picture, meme, or a conclusion to this . . . someone semi-famous said, “Math is hard!”

Hope you’re reading something non-tax related and entertaining today.

Update for week of 1/24

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On January 26, 2017

In Uncategorized

Haven’t abandoned the blog — have 1 post 80% done, 3 more in progress (sadly, have barely read anything this week) — and 1 kid in the hospital.

That last one trumps even you guys 🙂 It’s nothing serious (probably), just people with many initials after their names and the cool white coats being cautious. Still, it takes something out of a guy.

Regular programming will resume shortly, DV.

Looking back at 2016 for Books and the Blog

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On January 2, 2017

In Calendar Items, News/Misc.

As we kick off 2017, I wanted to take a glance back at 2016. 241 books read — I exceeded my goal (I don’t remember what it was at the beginning, but I revised it a couple of times and still beat it by 6), 444 posts (short of my goal by a couple hundred), I had some good gains in traffic — views and visitors (not as much as the previous couple of years, but that’s better than a loss). I’m also seeing good growth in followers here and on various social media fronts, which is encouraging as all get out.

So here’s my breakdown of books by genre, like the one I did last year. Mystery/Suspense took a hit this year percentage-wise, but not as much as I thought it did. SF and Fantasy jumped up to make up for that. it’s been forever since I’ve read a Western, I guess (at least one that wasn’t a hybrid with Urban Fantasy or SF or something). Theological books went down in actual numbers, not just percent — but I read some big, technical stuff this year that took a lot more time/energy to read, so I’m not too bothered by that. Still, for someone who doesn’t plan too thoroughly, the percentages stay remarkably the same from year to year — tastes (and series I follow) apparently stay the same.

Genre 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2012-16
Children’s 5 (2%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

 5 (0%)
Fantasy 31 (13%) 17 (9%) 11 (7%) 15 (8%) 12 (6%) 86 (9%)
General Fiction/Literature 27 (11%) 17 (9%) 7 (4%) 30 (16%) 30 (14%) 111 (11%)
Horror 1 (.4%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%0 0 (0%) 1 (0%)
Humor 0 (0%) 1 (1%) 3 (2%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 4 (0%)
Mystery/Suspense 61 (25%) 64 (34%) 62 (37%) 63 (33%) 73 (35%) 323 (32%)
Non-Fiction 11 (5%) 8 (4%) 4 (2%) 2 (1%) 11 (5%) 36 (4%)
Science Fiction 37 (15%) 16 (8%) 17 (10%) 14 (7%) 11 (5%) 95 (9%)
Steampunk 2 (1%) 7 (4%) 3 (2%) 3 (2%) 11 (5%) 26 (3%)
Theology/Christian Living 33 (14%) 42 (22%) 42 (25%) 37 (19%) 10 (5%) 164 (16%)
Urban Fantasy 36 (15%) 19 (10%) 20 (12%) 26 (14%) 48 (23%) 149 (15%)
Western 0 (0%)

 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (0%) 1 (0%)

Accomplished 2016 Poetry Collection

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On December 5, 2016

In Books, News/Misc., Writing

If I may, I’d like to take a moment of Parental Privilege. (and I guess I may, this is my site, right?)

Last week, we received a hot-off-the-press copy of Accomplished, a compilation of poems publised by teh American Library of Poetry.

It’s a collection of a few hundred poems by students from across the country, submitted to a poetry competition. My daughter has a poem in it — not one of the winners, but one of those selected for publication (which is good enough). She’s dabbled in writing here and there — sometimes more than dabbled. She’s won the NaNoWriMo Young Writer’s Program once, and competed a few times; done some writing workshops and whatnot — but this is the first publication. I couldn’t be prouder. Hopefully, there’ll be more.

No, I won’t be reviewing the collection — just too much poetry. And no, I won’t be reviewing my daughter’s piece — for one thing, the disclaimer I’d have to include would be too long to read; also, I’m not sure that I’m smart enough to get the whole thing she was doing. I will say there were some pretty good poems in there (even from the younger grades) — I didn’t read the whole thing, but I did (and will) sample widely. Sure, there are some “eh” ones, too — but you can see why these made the cut.

Anyway, just wanted to publicly tell my gal that she made her old man proud.

Thanksgiving 2016

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On November 24, 2016

In Calendar Items, News/Misc.

Happy Thanksgiving/Turkey Day/Thursday

(depending on your location/preference)

When I think about all the great things that have happened around the blog and behind the scenes this year leaves me at a loss for words, let me list a few things I’m thankful for — a very incomplete list, I assure you:

  • The readers of this blog, the authors who’ve corresponded with me/provided books for me to read/encouraged me — even promoted this here project (seriously, Jo Perry and Darrell Drake have done almost as much to advertise my work as I have).
  • Books
  • Authors!
  • Books
  • Coffee (and other beverages both caffeinated and adult)
  • Books
  • Time to read
  • Books
  • Goodreads, WordPress, BookLikes
  • Books
  • Evernote
  • Books
  • Authors!
  • Again, all of you who read, follow, like, tweet, comment, email, etc. this page — you have no idea how much every little bit is appreciated.

Update on my Kindle

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On November 14, 2016

In News/Misc.

I’ve had a few people ask about the status of my Kindle after my post last week. Thanks, by the way, it warms the cockles of my heart to know you all care 🙂

Well, the news isn’t good. Here, let me just post a snippet from the chat support transcript:

Very Polite Tech Support Rep: I’ve checked this for you and I believe your device had experienced a hardware problem that couldn’t be resolved by software troubleshooting. At this point, it would be best to request a replacement Kindle for you. . . . I checked that your Kindle is no longer in warranty. . .

The Irresponsible Reader: rats. That’s what I feared.

Very Polite Tech Support Rep: I understand your concern. If I would be on your side then the disappointment will be obvious.

Now, I don’t post that to make fun of the guy’s English — I’d hate to try to give chat support to anyone period. But throw in trying to talk to a ticked-off customer (I’m assuming the super-majority are ticked off) in another language? Fuhgeddaboudit. Guy probably doesn’t make enough money.

Mostly, I posted it because I actually liked that phrase, “the disappointment will be obvious.” I’m going to try to work that into my everyday use.

Not sure what I’m going to do at this point — I’m not crazy about reading that much on my phone, but I’ve got an option or two. Soon, I trust, I’ll have a solution and my lack of disappointment will be obvious.

Oh no!

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On November 7, 2016

In News/Misc.

I think my Kindle has died. I tried turning it on yesterday to no avail — charged it for a while, tried turning it on both while on the charger and off — nothing happened.

Zip.

Zero.

Zilch.

Nada.

Probably try to get Tech Support to give me a hand today, but I can’t imagine they’ll be able to do anything.

This is NOT How to Ship Me Books

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On September 7, 2016

In Books, News/Misc.

At the end of a long day at work yesterday (and seemingly longer day after driving Dad Taxi), my son brings in the mail with the magic words, “Dad, I think there’s a book here for you.” I’d forgotten I was expecting a couple of books — if there’s one thing better than one book ordered months ago showing up, it’s two books ordered months ago showing up.

Then he hands me this:

This is just NOT acceptable.

Cover bent, rain stained pages, and how the one book that you can see there didn’t fall out is beyond me. Thankfully, the other book — you know, the one actually enclosed in cardboard — was just fine, thankfully.

Am I wrong here?

Backlog (writing and reading)

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On August 13, 2016

In News/Misc.

I’ve had a couple of weeks lately where I open up a file to write a review/review-like thing and nothing happens, there were 4 I tried to write this week that didn’t get done. This is extraordinarily frustrating.

Well, just to feel like I actually accomplished something today (other than finishing a pretty decent book), I just updated my Reviews in Progress page. I just added 23 books from this summer that I haven’t made/found time to write about.

The size of my TBR list is about the same. I’m tempted to make a similar page for it, but think I’ll hold off, as it fluctuates a bit.

Wow! I really, really, really need to get to work . . . Authors who are waiting, I promise I’m doing what I can.

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