NaNoWriMo & Recent Books

I'm a lover and avid reader of Fantasy Fiction.  Something about magic really does it for me.  I think part of it has to do with breaking the rules of physics that have been ingrained in me since high school.  Another part is just how unlike this world the stories end up becoming.  It's a little mind vacation for one who used to be so imaginative (I'm referring to me, ask my childhood collection of stuffed animals).  It's an Aquarius thing, I've heard.  But I've also heard I'm not an Aquarius anymore.

Anyway, I've been getting back into reading since leaving UCLA.  And my priorities are the opposite of non-fiction.

Last week I finished The Wise Man's Fear:  Day 2 of the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss.

This is the second book in Rothfuss' new series.  It's fun, in a kind of continuously-sidetracked fashion.  At the end of two 1000-page books, I don't feel like we've gotten very far.  You're stuck wondering if this person really is who he says he is ('cuz every time they take a break from telling the story, he looks less and less like the person he talks about).  All you want him to do is tap into all of the power that he claims to have (like Taborlin the Great) and start whipping the shit out of people.  At least I'm totally fascinated by Elodin.  He's such an interesting character.  If this kid's story isn't done by the end of the 3rd day (as we were initially promised), I'm not sure I'll read many more.

Last night I finished Storm Front:  Book One of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher.

This was a ridiculously fast read.  It wasn't very deep.  It was just a fun story combining an openly practicing wizard (who typically helps with crime investigations and finding lost things) with the real world.  Not great literary value, but it was like watching a movie.  There was one great scene where a nearby girl accidentally takes a love potion in the middle of a big fight scene between the naked wizard and a demon, making for extreme awkwardness.

Tonight, I'll start The Magician King (Sequel to The Magicians) by Lev Grossman.

The Magicians was one of my favorite books in the past year.  Maybe longer.  Annie and I got to see Lev at a panel discussing the attempt at making fantasy fiction worthwhile literature.  I think he succeeded.  It explores what it would really be like to learn magic at a magical school, but with real death (death never felt very real in Harry Potter) and accidents and tedious memorization and sex and heart-wrenching relationships.  It also breaks down the awe-inspiring magic that we all saw in Narnia as children.

Why am I reading so much?  The same reason I've been blogging so much.  I'm going to attempt to start writing stories.  I heard from somewhere recently that Stephen King claimed that a good author has to read 4 hours a day and write 4 hours a day.  I'm in no way that dedicated.  Nor do I consider myself a good writer. I do, however, find myself analyzing things like how characters are introduced now.  I also think that my blog has been great practice at creative dumps and writing regularly.

So, when Annie showed me the NaNoWriMo challenge, I accepted it.  For the month of November, I will attempt to start and finish a 50,000 word novel.  Or just a story.  Not sure the fine line between them is very distinct.  That's almost 2,000 words a day.  Needless to say, my writing will be devoted to the story for the entire month of November, and my blog will be skimpy, if existent at all.

Early next month, I'll reach 20,000 pageviews of this blog.  Though I still have much to work on, I feel like that's enough to say that there is sufficient interest in hearing the way I tell stories.  I've also had a story in my head that I've wanted to start developing, so there is no more perfect time.  It's likely I'll fail, but maybe I'll actually get a jump on my 30 by 30, or on being less jealous of this chick.

So, thank you for all of your support so far.  I'll start apologizing for my November absence now.  At least I've given you fair warning.  When I start putting up whiny, agitated, mind-numb statuses on facebook and twitter throughout November, your kind words of support will be thoroughly appreciated.

I hope this doesn't flop as badly as the last time Annie and I tried to co-author a book,
~RoB

Challenges

Annie and I are constantly challenging ourselves to be better people.  And by that, I mean we literally have little challenges to find out who is the better person.

We went sans chain establishments for about half a year.  This was a great challenge that we started after Earth Day 2010.  For the first month, everything had to be free of chains, emphasizing the importance of sustainability and local economies.  Our rule was that it had to have no more stores than Sprinkles to be considered a local chain.  Food was purchased at farmers markets and local grocers.  Auto repair was done at local repair shops.  Gas purchased from independent fuel providers.  It was a wonderfully healthy and informative time.  We eventually settled on no chains that would benefit us the most (so I couldn't eat at chain restaurants and she couldn't drink chain coffee).  We both decided to break it together when we went to a Buffalo Wild Wings to watch a Michigan Football game.  It definitely helped permanently ween me off my addiction to fast food.  (Though who doesn't like an Egg McMuffin every once in a while?)

Eat me. Don't forget hash browns.

We've tried to tabulate everything we ate.  I had built this huge spreadsheet with nutritional information for just about any food I've come into contact with in the past 6 months or so.  It was part of my bout with nutritionists to figure out why I'm so fat even though I'm so active.  This fell apart after a week or two, but I still use it to track my weight (which is still kind of disappointing).

We've even attempted to co-author a book.  It was a fictional dystopia story where we got to point out everything we felt was wrong with society and try to fix it.  We collaborated on it via Google Docs while we were living in different parts of California.  It's so frustrating to have somebody judging everything your writing during a brainstorming session.  It fell apart pretty quickly.  No... it was a huge failure.

We've tried to minimize our electricity use.  (I'll claim that I am one of the greenest electricity users I know.)  The goal was to only have one light on per person when we're home.  I can typically spend a whole night in my house without lights.  It also included turning off computers more often.  I still feel like I run around turning off lights not being used.

Our current challenge has been to not say anything mean to each other.  We're both extremely critical about everyone and every thing.  Since we're constantly around each other, we have no choice but to continuously point out physical and personality flaws in each other.  I'd even go so far as to say we're downright rude to each other on a regular basis.

So, as we walked out of Oakland's City Hall after processing our domestic partnership, I came up with the challenge to be nice to each other.  Sounds easy, right?  We wanted to see how long we could go.  We were confident that it would reset a few times in the first few days (or hours).  However, we're coming on a week.  I'm kind of surprised how much more I like her now.

It's probably because we haven't spent much time together in the last few weeks (between my Zumba career and her Les Mis rehearsals).  But I think it mostly has to do with not being called fat every day, and me not having to call somebody funny-looking or dumb.  There's been significantly less whining about nit-picky things that nobody but the two of us can point out about each other.  Is this what the rest of your relationships look like?  No wonder you're all married already.

I'm still the smarter partner,
~RoB

Jealousy

I'm not a jealous boyfriend.  I've never been that kind of a guy.  However, I am growing jealous of a couple of goals that my close friends have accomplished lately.

A guy that I graduated undergrad with at Michigan just finished his PhD at Florida.  It's the most mixed my feelings about grad school have been lately.  I'm really happy for him, and I'm excited that he made it.  Simultaneously, I'm pissed off that he's completely done, yet I gave up just months ago.  I did just as well as him in undergrad, so why do I suck?  I know a few more peeps that are struggling to be done with their PhDs by the end of the next school year.  I feel like each one that finishes will deserve a night of well-deserved alcoholism on my part, with or without their company.

I've long wanted to write a book, also.  I've started several of them, and I weekly come up with another short story idea that I should jot down.  I even had these dreams of publishing a book to help support living in L.A. so I could worry less about money and more about school.  The fruit of all of this interest in writing?  This blog.  It was my only way to vent, and I hope that it helps hone in on my point of view and writing style.  (Yet it still feels chaotic and point-less each time I'm writing a post.)

Combine those together, and I have to admit how furiously jealous I am of Aimee Hubble.  (Yes, that's the first full name [other than myself] that I've used on this blog.  I prefer the victims of my stories remain relatively anonymous in the large scope of the interwebz.)  While being a graduate student at Michigan (she was a year behind me, but is due to be Dr. Aimee in the next year or so), she managed to publish a book: The Last High Priest.

I can't attest to the quality of it, but I'm excited to read it.  I just ordered my copy, and you can find out how to get your copies at her blog.  It looks right up my alley, and I'm happy to watch her make her first million off of it.  You should snag a copy, so I can live vicariously through her.

Cheers, Aimee!!  Damn you.
~RoB

30 by 30 #1-5

I've heard of a few blogs posting lists like this, and I think it's a great idea.  Below I'll list (and check off) 30 things that I would like to do before I'm 30 years old.  I don't have great ideas for all 30 yet, so I'll be posting it in increments of 5.  I'd be happy to hear what you think (you can add comments or Tweet me ideas @roberree #30by30)!

30 by 30
1. Travel outside of the U.S.
2. Read Moby Dick (may be replaced by another classic).
3. Take a singing lesson to find out if there's any hope.
4. Learn how to make crepes.
5. Weigh less than 200 lbs.

Here's to getting the things you always wanted,
~RoB

Annob's Drunken Books

Annie and I have long discussed the small business we intend to open when we get older (or when we can't stand being engineers anymore).  It will be a used book store, with a wine bar in the back.  We're going to call it Annob's Drunken Books.  I'm not positive that the word Drunken can be in the name of a store that sells alcohol, but we're going to try real hard.  (The word Annob is described here.)

We have most of it planned out: I'll be in charge of wine.  Annie is going to be in charge of cheese plates at the wine bar.  She'll most likely run the finances and pricing for the store (we think she might get an MBA in the future), but we'll make most of the decisions together.  We want a screen that we can roll down and project onto for hosting Michigan Football parties.  We'd like to have some maize and blue photographs/paintings, but we'd also like to have a local artist use our wall-space as a gallery for selling their art.  We'll each have sections of books that we choose/specialize in (I'm a Fantasy/ Sci-Fi guy).

There are a few things that we still haven't agreed upon: I want the bar in the back, but Annie pictures a circular bar in the center.  We also have no fucking idea where we are going to open it.  (We don't really know where we'll settle down.  Ann Arbor?)

This week, we've hit a snag with our plans.  What if people don't read paper books anymore?  It sounds ridiculous, but is it that ridiculous?  We've debated that books are more timeless than items like records, since you don't need any special equipment to read them.  People still buy records, regardless.  However, our generation, in general, is really into the next big techie thing.  What if people have no interest in paper books in the future?

It's kind of mind blowing to think about.  At least, for those of us that still read regularly.

Forever reading paper books (please don't let me sell out),
~RoB