2nd Sunday Savor: 2012 reading list

One of the things seasoned authors tell you when you ask for writing advice is to read and read alot! I've taken this to heart over the years. Normally I read about 16 books a year (paper), but last year I got a Kindle and so I'm going list all the books in order read in 2012 and see if I've beaten my usual amount.

Completed:
1. Obsidian  Armentrout, Jennifer L (YA)
2. Daimon (prequal to Half-blood)  Armentrout, Jennifer L (YA)
3. Siren  Jacobs, Delle (Adult)
4. The Marked  Scott, Inara (YA)
5. Kiss and Makeup  Robertson, Faye (Adult)
6. The Dragon Stirs  Aicher, Lynda (Adult)
7. Paradise 21 (New Dawn)  Dionne, Aubrie (Adult)
8. The Dark Divine   Despain, Bree (YA)
9. Destined (Wings)  Pike, Aprilynne (YA)
10. Walking in Fire (Hawaiian Heroes)  Cade, Cathryn (Adult)
11. My Blood Approves  Hocking, Amanda (YA)
12. Fate  Hocking, Amanda (YA)
13. Flutter  Hocking, Amanda (YA)
14. Hollowland  Hocking, Amanda (YA)
15. The Marriage Bargain  Probst, Jennifer (Adult)
16. Innocent Darkness  Lazear, Suzanne (YA)
17. Wake  Hocking, Amanda (YA)
18. Sweet Venom  Childs, Terra Lynn (YA)
19. Sweet Shadows  Childs, Terra Lynn (YA)

Books started in 2012 and still reading:
1. Wired for Story  Cron, Lisa
2. The Eye of the World: Book One of 'The Wheel of Time'  Jordan, Robert (fantasy)
3. Art of Extreme Self-care  Richardson, Cheryl
4. Birthing from Within  England, Pam 
5. Life After Theft  Pike, Aprilynne  (paper) (YA)

So almost 20 completed books and this list does not include all of the audio books I've listened to as well. The ones I'm still working on I'm more than 50% through. So I would say it's been a successful year of reading. As you can see I read mostly YA and romance with a little bit of fantasy and self-improvement here and there. 

Well, I need to get some words in today and finish up Life After Theft so I can review it next week. Catch ya later.

1st Sunday Snippet: Flashback

Yellow Warbler visiting my balcony in December.

Hello and Happy New Year to you all! Hope your holidays were fun and exciting or whatever you wanted them to be. Mine were peaceful and quite, exactly what I wanted. We had tons of yummy food and watched lots of movies and TV shows on Netflix. I even got some writing down, but mostly I needed to rest. Sometimes, a writer needs to step back and take a break.
Most of December however I worked on a Valentine novella (only 50% finished). I was hoping to have it done by Jan 1, so I could try to submit for possible publication this Valentine's, but things didn't quite line up as I hoped. There is a really good reason too, but I can't talk about that just yet. Regardless, here is a snippet (the intro) from A Veteran's Valentine:

Sand. Heat. Wind. Shots. Sulfuric smell. Blood. Explosion. Flying metal, rocks, & pieces of human flesh. Screams. Brain-numbing ringing in ears. Wind. Heat. Sand.

Drops of water pooled at Kevin Wood’s feet as he stood on the corner of Yamhill and Seventh Avenues. Rain slashed sideways as the bitter February wind whirled through downtown Portland. He’d been standing in the exact spot for a while now, frozen in place. His grip of the walk sign post loosened as the disturbing images faded into the dark depths of his damaged mind. The sweat covered his forehead and the back of his neck masked by the moisture pouring from the sky. A clenched breath trapped in his chest released as the post-adrenaline rush swept over his body. For a few brief seconds he thought he was in a very different place, one where rain came only several times a year and fine granules of sand filled his groves and crevices of his gun.

As always, thank you for stopping by and reading. Cheers,

Melania 

4th Sunday Surprise: Merry Christmas

Well, since only one person out of the 300+ people who visited my blog last week commented I didn't have to use random.org to choose a winner.

Kelly Grunter Atlas,  please email me at melania dot tolan at gmail dot com so I can get you the gift certificate. Congrats and you have great taste in movies *winks*.

Folks we survived the Mayan apocalypse and Christmas is a couple of days away. Where has the year gone? I ask this question every year as December draws to a close. 2012 rocked, but I'm really looking forward 2013. Some big things are coming down the pipeline. :)

This will be my last post for 2012. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a fantastic New Year. Here's a fun video I found. Go ahead, get up and dance.  See you next year.

Cheers,
Melania

3rd Sunday Sweet: Love Actually

Movie Poster courtesy of Wikipedia

Normally I review books for 3rd Sunday Sweet, but today I'm going to talk about one of my favorite movies of all time. Movies are a huge source of inspiration and education in telling a great story. Love Actually is the perfect example, especially when it comes to romance and love.

For those who haven't seen it here is the blurb from IMDb:

Follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely and interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England.

 Most of the cast is British and which includes some of my favorites: Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, & Rowan Atkinson.

Basically the movie is about Love and how it manifests in different relationships. Each individual story is connected to the next one by one or two of the characters. Riddled with classic British humor, sweet to sizzling romance and sparkling dialogue, Love Actually delivers on many levels. It's a movie both guys and girls can enjoy. And it's definitely my favorite Christmas movie EVER. I watch it every year around this time. It leaves me feeling hopeful, happy, and in the holiday spirit.

So what is your favorite Christmas movie? Leave a comment and you'll be entered to win a $10 gift card to Amazon.com. I'll announce the winner next Sunday.

2nd Sunday Savor: Getting back to writing

I found this fabulous little video on the Official The Host Facebook page. Stephenie Meyer's is one of my favorite authors and a huge inspiration for me. Take a look.

I like the part where she talks about how hard it is for her to get back to the world she's creating when she is pulled out and that it takes about two weeks before she can start writing again. This is something I battle with as a writer and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Loved hearing a successful published author like her struggles with this as well.

Speaking of writing, I've got a kissing and fight scene waiting for me. Catch you all next week. Until then here's another jewel of advice from Stephenie Meyer:

1st Sunday Snippet: Lightening

Happy December! I'm trying to get lots of writing done this month so will be keeping my posts short & sweet. Today's snippet is from my YA WIP about a girl who discovers she can control the weather. In this scene she's interrupted three bullies from picking on a helpless girl.

***

My lips curled into a smile. I didn’t control the elements, but weird stuff tended to happen around me, especially when I got pissed. He didn’t need to know that though. Let him believe whatever would make him afraid. Only his eyes hardened and he didn’t even budge or look worried unlike his buddies who appeared they would wet themselves at any moment. 

“You’re a goddamn witch,” he smiled back, “I could use one of you on my team.” He stepped  forward with pure pleasure in his eyes.

Oh, crap. That wasn’t the reaction I was going for. If only I could make a bolt of lightning strike the ground between his feet. I hadn’t even completed my thought when a flash of light ignited the space between us. The sheer force of the energy pushed me back a couple of steps as the ground rattled under my boots.

When my eyes readjusted I saw a black crater about a foot diameter inches from his spanking brand new sneakers.

4th Sunday Surprise: How NOT to tell a story

Hubby and I watched Prometheus this weekend. I grew up watching the Aliens movies and looked forward to seeing Ridley Scott's newest creation. Plus it's no secret I LOVE sci-fi. However this movie turned out to be a dud. We fast forwarded parts of the film because the scene either dragged or the main characters were about to do something so dumb and I didn't want to waste my time watching their stupidity. When the end credits finally began to roll we glanced at each other and sighed in unison. There went 2 hours of our life and a $1.50 we would never get back. Thank heavens I didn't see it in the theater, because then I'd be pissed.

So what was it about the film that lacked?

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT!! (If you haven't seen the movie and plan on it, you might want to stop reading here.)

Empathy- The movie starts out with an alien humanoid creature drinking a black fluid which causes him to disintegrate and tumble into a water fall triggering some new genetic reaction. The next scene switches to an archeology site on the Isle of Sky, Scotland were a couple discover ancient cave paints that match other ancient civilizations depictions. The lady archeologist, Elizabeth Shaw, interprets this as an invitation to find these people she labels "The Engineers" (the race who created humans). And then we are on the Prometheus traveling through space. All the crew are in stasis as the android David takes care of them and ship. When the crew wakes up as they arrive at their destination, the viewer is introduced to various array of characters thrown together supposedly to make for interesting story. None of them had met before they woke up, something I found very odd.

I didn't understand any of them or could sympathize with why most of the main character were there in the first place. The majority of the secondary characters behaved erratically and made poor choices that eventually led to their death. Archeologists were there to make contact with "their maker," but Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron), the leader of the expedition, forbids them to make contact without her permission. Peter Weyland is a rich man who funds this expedition so he can discover a way to live forever and is on board the ship. Okay I get the whole "seeking the fountain of youth" perspective, but wouldn't you pick a more emotionally balanced group of people to manage your 3 trillion dollar investment?

I couldn't understand anyone's goal or why they made the choices they did therefore I couldn't empathize for them and when they all died, except for one crew member, I didn't mourn their loss or care.

Logic- Prometheus lands on this planet and part of the crew go to explore a cave as soon as they get there. One of the crew members is a geologist and has these handy-dandy orbs that scan the tunnels of said cave. However when they discover this chamber where one of the Engineer's body lies decapitated he freaks out and decides to go back to the ship. Another crew member joins him. When a huge storm approaches and ship captain orders them to return, everyone leaves and barely makes it back to the ship, but not before David gathers some specimens to take back.The two dudes who left earlier are lost in the tunnels and remain behind AFTER they left long before the rest group. They encounter a snakelike alien creature slithering through a pool of black fluid and eventually die because of their moronic actions.

Okay, so that was the beginning of the "too stupid to live" mistakes that this movie teems with. 1) you fly a ship to the farthest place humans have ever gone and you land it (your only way home) on an alien planet without scanning the planet first? Why not send a investigating probe filled with those handy-dandy scanner orbs? 2) Mr geologist dude can't figure out how to get out of the cave system after he boasts his little orbs will map out everything for them and he had contact with the ship where they could talk him and his partner their way out. Huh? 3) Oh yeah, we're on a foreign planet in a creepy tunnel let's split up because that's always a wisest decision.

David ends up tainting the drink of Shaw's archeologist boyfriend with alien black water. He becomes unknowingly infected and has sex with Shaw causing her to get pregnant with alien baby (most predictable plot point of the whole movie besides people dying). The crew returns to cave after storm to search for the two left behind. David wanders way from the rest of the crew and discovers this is a ship and there is one Engineer in stasis there. This is where I fast-forwarded the movie because the crew discovers one of the teammate's body and people start acting stupid and I got impatient.

Shaw's boyfriend dies and it is then she discovers she's pregnant. She runs off into Vicker's quarters where she uses the expensive self-surgery machine to extract the octopus-like alien out of her. Then she proceeds to run throughout the ship as if she hasn't had any major abdominal surgery. Right, really believable...

Character Development- this goes along with empathy. Developing the characters helps the viewer empathize with them. Yet the only character development I saw was people's IQ level seemed to disintegrate as the movie went on shown by their idiotic actions. Maybe that was the point of the movie? Being in stasis for several years and then landing on a foreign planet makes you act stupid.

Lack of Story Arc- Weyland awakens from stasis. David leads him and part of the crew including Shaw who is mere hours post surgery to the alien ship within the cave. At least she's sweating and looks like she's in pain. When David awakens the giant humanoid alien who in return decapitates the android and kills everyone but Shaw who runs away. She manages to warn the Prometheus as she's running for her life and tell them that the alien is going to kill earth by flying the ship invested with canisters of black alien water. The captain decided to fly Prometheus into the alien ship to stop it. Vickers jumps the ship through a escape pod only to be squashed by the alien ship falling from the sky. Shaw survives and David (because he is an android and can't be killed) makes contact with her. She takes his head and body. Together they find another alien ship and fly away seeking the Engineer's home planet. A new species emerges from the fallen humanoid alien. The End.

The whole movie is a collection of events that are disconnected. Why did David taint the water and infect Shaw's boyfriend? Why did the Engineer kill the people? What was the other species that lived on this planet in the black water? Did they kill the Engineers? How did Shaw interpret that he was going to fly the ship to earth? And after everything she'd been through, she still wanted to track these creatures? Why, why, why?

No questions were answered in the movie. A bunch of people flew to this planet and died expect for one girl and talking android head. Okay so what was the point? Who was the antagonist? The aliens, the stupid crew members, or the planet? I felt the people were thrown into situations to create conflict, but the only thing that these events revealed about the characters is that they are too stupid to live therefore why should I care about or what happens to them? I understand there will be a sequel. Will the questions be answered then? Do I even care enough to watch the sequel?

Prometheus might be two hours and $1.50 I will never get back, but on the positive side, what a cheap class on how NOT to tell a story.