Yes, I’m wearing my crown proudly.

I am definitely the Procrastination Queen.

And that pat on the back is very well-deserved, if I do say so myself.

About six months ago, give or take a month or two, I announced here that I was going to be giving MsBookish.com a makeover.

“Yes, yes, yes,” I said gleefully, “a whole new look, major cleanup, and those tags and categories? I’m going to be cleaning them up, too. Sparkling clean. When? Why, soon! Very, very soon, dahlings!”

So it’s now the beginning of July, and I can finally say, I did it!

MsBookish.com now sports an awesome new Wordpress theme, Thesis, suitably dressed up with the most delightful new header designed by my dear friend Chrissie – that link is to her book blog, Book Addict Reviews.

If you were to walk into my house, you’d find yourself surrounded by much the same colors as grace this blog now, so to say it feels like home is not an exaggeration.

And my new tagline is a better reflection of what I’m blogging these days, I think.

After the major overhaul yesterday, I spent a bit of time tweaking things here and there, and then, for most of today, I rolled up my sleeves and bit the bullet: first I waded into my tags and trimmed them back, got rid of singulars where there were also plurals, eliminated caps unless necessary (it appears I have a habit of using singulars and plurals indiscriminantly, and capitalizing everything in sight when it comes to tags), and then I plunged into my posts and pared down my categories.

Nice and trim, don’t you think? An almost (almost!) spare list.

It took a while, but I finally finished, and now I’m sporting those great “it’s all done!” feelings that come when a long-put-off job finally does get done.

It feels good.

And now I can settle back and enjoy this beautiful Canada Day long weekend!

No related posts.

I was just over at Molly’s blog, and I really enjoyed reading her post answering today’s Booking Through Thursday question:

How can you encourage a non-reading child to read? What about a teen-ager? Would you require books to be read in the hopes that they would enjoy them once they got into them, or offer incentives, or just suggest interesting books? If you do offer incentives and suggestions and that doesn’t work, would you then require a certain amount of reading? At what point do you just accept that your child is a non-reader?

In the book Gifted Hands by brilliant surgeon Ben Carson, one of the things that turned his life around was his mother’s requirement that he and his brother read books and write book reports for her. That approach worked with him, but I have been afraid to try it. My children don’t need to “turn their lives around,” but they would gain so much from reading and I think they would enjoy it so much if they would just stop telling themselves, “I just don’t like to read.”

I decided to play, too!

I’ve always read to my children, from the time each of them were very small, far too small to understand words; I remember being so excited by the way their eyes absorbed the shapes and colors in whatever board book I was reading to them.

My older two are two years apart, and as they got older, I took to reading middle grade novels to them, like the Harry Potter stories. Eventually, when they were almost in double digits in age, reading aloud to them before bed had turned into an hour-long ritual, since they had different tastes and I would find myself reading aloud a chapter from two different books every night.

It was at this point that we stopped the bedtime reading ritual; to this day though, we have lots of laughing moments during which we fondly remember Bunnicula, and Harry, and, from a bit farther back in their childhood, Amelia Bedelia and Captain Underpants.

When my youngest was born (he’s six now), I of course began the bedtime reading ritual with him again. He can now read, so bedtime always includes his reading a book to us – this is something I didn’t do with my older two, both of whom always preferred to be read to, but since we are homeschooling Dylan, it’s an easy way of adding more learning into the day.

I’ve written in the past about my older son, the “non-reader” who actually does like to read, although he’d never admit to being a reader. Late last year, for example, I won a copy of Stephen King’s latest, Under the Dome, and he polished it off in about three days. This is a big, doorstopper of a novel, but he got so into it, he even took it to school with him to read during his spare period!

My daughter is, however, a true “non-reader”. She’s never liked to read, and in fact, during her last three years in primary school, she actually decided to sign up for the local Battle of the Books contest in the hopes that she would learn to like reading.

I was stunned when she came home and announced she had joined up (actually, I probably won most unsupportive mother of the year award that year, because I recall bursting out laughing – I thought she was joking). We all knew how much she disliked reading, and the Battle of the Books requires participants to read up to 38 books. The “battle” consists of answering questions about each of the books.

Participating in the Battle of the Books didn’t work out quite the way she’d planned. She had a great deal of fun, and was usually appointed spokesperson because she speaks clearly and loudly, but even after two years of participating in the event, she still didn’t like to read books.

She does find the occasional book that she enjoys, like Swimming in the Monsoon Sea, by Shyam Selvadurai; she even made a short film of a scene from the book as her English project that year.

Very much like Molly’s son, my daughter is an auditory learner. She can watch a movie and then repeat lines verbatim (she’s always been great at doing impressions; when she was younger, her goal was to do stand-up comedy). She also watches a lot of movies and has made over 100 short films.

I’ve come to understand that for her, films are very much like books. She can watch a movie and dissect it the way one dissects a book for an English essay. She can see the archetypal structure of the storyline, and all the symbolism the director has used. There are, apparently, reasons for using certain camera angles other than “it looks good” …

Somewhat surprisingly, despite being a non-reader she is an incredibly good writer; she has always excelled in her English classes and has even won the award for having the highest English mark. But even though she’s good at writing, she still doesn’t feel any urge to read for fun.

Luckily, it appears that I finally do have a child who loves to read; Dylan, our youngest, has just learned to read, and loves both reading and being read to. The other day we had to cut short our weekly trip to the library to pick up my daughter from school, and he kept crying, “But I want to get another Dr. Seuss book first … I want to get another Dr. Seuss book NOW”. (He already had four of them in his book bag.)

So I have high hopes that there’s now another book nut in the family! But at the same time, I’ve learned to accept the different reading styles (or non-reading style, in my daughter’s case) of all my children.

I continue to buy and borrow books for my older son that I know will interest him, and he continues to read them. He still hates to go to the library or to a book store, though; but that’s all right, since I enjoy such trips immensely and it’s all the more rewarding when I come home with a few books for him. I suspect when he’s in his 30s I’ll still be dropping in with a load of books under my arm!

And I am so often in awe of my daughter’s filmmaking creativity; she’s really taught me a lot about films, and the kind of background things that go into making a good film. These things are very similar to the kinds of things that go into writing a good book, and I can see how very like a good book the better movies really are.

And as for my youngest, I’ll continue to nurture his love of reading as best as I can; I can hardly wait until he gets into chapter books and I can begin sharing with him the books I loved best as a child.

No related posts.

Week 1’s assignment for the 2010 Blog Improvement Project is to create a blogging to-do list.

While I’m not a big fan of to-do lists, I like the idea of this one because there’s no time element attached to it. I think what I’m most resistant to, when it comes to to-do lists, is the whole daily/weekly/monthly/yearly aspect of them.

But if I think of the to-do list as a goals list instead, it’s a much smoother, easier thing for me.

I also like that the point of this to-do list is to be specific, rather than vague. And I’m going to keep this list flexible, coming back to it to add things (and delete things) if necessary.

Blogging To-Do List

1. Implement new theme. I have my eye on a new theme, which I hope to purchase soon.
2. New header design. I’ll need a new header to go along with my new theme.
3. Brainstorm new tag line. I’d like to have a tag line about MsBookish that says it all; I’ve been playing around with a few phrases but nothing seems to catch what I’m wanting to do with this blog so far.
4. Deciding what I really want to do here. Having said that bit above about the tag line, I also need to decide what it is that I really want to do here. I still want to talk about books and writing, but most of all, I find I enjoy being able to write about whatever topic catches my interest.
5. Prune my categories. I’d like to have a lot fewer, much broader categories, and rely on my tags for more detailed categorization of posts.
6. Add new tags. Since some of my existing categories are more appropriate as tags, I’ll be going through each of my posts and adding in new tags.
7. Update my blogroll pages. My blogroll pages are sadly out of date, plus I need to add a new blogroll page for blogs I follow that aren’t writing or book blogs.
8. Revise my review policy. I’m not really doing reviews anymore; instead, I prefer to talk about different books I’m reading in general blog posts that aren’t labeled “Review”. I find I’m much happier chatting about books I’m reading, have read or want to read; it also means I don’t procrastinate about writing up posts, which is a bonus. I’ve been letting publicists and authors know this when they email me, but it’s probably time to revise my review policy, too.
9. (Possibly) add new features. I’m always tempted by the idea of new features, but sticking to a schedule has never been my strong point.
10. Update my sidebar items. Lots of clutter up there right now. With the implementation of the new look, I’ll have to do something about that. I also have a hard time keeping my “Currently Reading” titles in the sidebar up-to-date, mainly because I tend to have five or six books on the go any given day, and on any given day, those books change regularly.

That’s it so far! Whether or not you’re participating in BIP, do you have some sort of blogging goals list? I’d be interested to know what things are on your blogging to-do list!

No related posts.

I am almost finished (almost almost almost – so tantalizingly close) with this latest clump of deadlines and I’m really looking forward to settling back into the blogging life again.

In the meantime, though, I wanted to introduce you to my sister Dawn’s new blog. I take great pride in it, because she finally succumbed after years and years of persuasion (read: nagging) on my part – Dawn’s a real food lover, and lives the most amazing foodie life deep in the heart of Toronto. She has tons to write about, and I know she’ll just love her new cyberhome, Banana Views.

Have you ever noticed that sisters can so often surprise and delight one? And that’s what Dawn’s done this time around – she’s surprised me and delighted me, because as it turns out, Banana Views doesn’t focus just on wonderful food and city life; she’s also been posting about life as a Chinese Canadian.

It’s funny – all these years and I’d never read anything my sister’s written. And so another wonderful discovery I’ve made is that she’s a superb writer. Funny and quirky, too. Just the kind of writing I love to read. Here’s a quick sampling:

Red, White and Yellow. This is Dawn’s inaugural post, where she explains, with a good dollop of humor, what her blog is all about. Once you read it, you’ll understand why she named her blog “Banana Views”.

Dinner with Richard. I may be biased, but I think Dawn’s food writing gives Ruth Reichl a run for her money. And she has such a knack for meeting interesting people who quickly become fellow foodie friends.

Breakfast of Chinese Champions. Dawn whips this up for breakfast, but around here, whenever Ward’s teaching classes (aka “Are we having pizza, going out for dinner or having eggs on rice” night among my kids), I’ll often serve this dish. It’s easy, filling and delicious. And yes, even the extremely picky eater in our family will eat this. But no, I’ve never made it with quail eggs …

Hangover Remedy # 1. Dawn does a lot of socializing – she’s usually booked through to the next year when it comes to parties and get-togethers; her life is a whirlwind of social activity. Including the occasional night of too many bottles. This post talks deliciously about one of her favorite hangover remedies, and I bet it’s one most of us haven’t tried before.

Can Two Wongs Make a Right? And this, her latest post, gives you a very good idea of the delights to come.

I’m really looking forward to reading my sister’s blogging thoughts this coming year!

Related posts:

1. Welcoming Change

Thank you so much to everyone who commented on my 20 minute writing commitment post. I felt so inspired after reading all of your comments – and suddenly, it really did feel very much like “it’s only 20 minutes”.

So I took roughly 20 minutes today to work on Waverley; I am now 1200 more words into the story, and even better, a new character has made his way into the tale.

His name is Marcus, and as I’m writing without rereading what I’ve written, I just inserted him right in the scene I was writing – I’ll have to revise earlier chapters to get him in just right.

But the great news is, he fits. He was an off-page character earlier on in the novel, but I’ve been having this feeling that something was missing, and apparently, that something was Marcus.

The funny thing is, I know him so well – if any of my characters is my alter ego, it’s Marcus.

So now I have my threesome: Charlie, Nella and Marcus. They have come a long way since they were Thing 1 and Thing 2 in my mind. And while they still have a long way to go, at least now I feel like, yes, they will get there eventually.

At the pace of 20 minutes a day!

************************************

Is anyone signing up for Bloggiesta? It is being held on January 8, 9 and 10 of the new year, and I’m debating whether I’ll be able to sign up.

Unfortunately, it falls right on the final weekend of my current “I’ve got a TON of work” period. And we’ve been invited out for dinner on the 8th. So I’m not sure I’ll be able to commit to doing Bloggiesta properly or not.

On the other hand, I’m going to be installing a new template for MsBookish, and it would be lovely to be able to get that done during Bloggiesta.

So I’ll have to see how many of my deadlines I can finish ahead of time. I may be able to sign up after all!

How about you? Do you have plans to do Bloggiesta in the new year?

Related posts:

1. Bloggiesta Mini-Challenges
2. NaNoWriMo Update (Day 6)
3. Bloggiesta Update
4. The 20-Minute Writing Commitment
5. Bloggiesta!

Update:  A few people in the comments section and on Twitter have pointed out to me that I neglected to add information about where exactly my husband and children did come from. I’ve remedied this oversight on my part.

So, yesterday, I was procrastinating (what else is new?), and came across this post at Problogger. I decided then and there (I’m impulsive that way) to revamp my Disclosure and Privacy Policy.

What did I do? I added a new section entitled “The Nitty Gritty” (the rest is legalese that I borrowed from Wordpress.com and, I might add, very good reading for those nights when you have insomnia).

After all, what was more important? Getting a good start on all the deadlines lying in wait for me between now and January 11, or working on my much-needed (well, maybe not so much, since I’m in Canada and the FTC’s reach isn’t quite that long yet) disclosure policy?

(There are reasons why I will fight for the Procrastination Crown. Like, maybe because I work very hard to earn it …?)

Here’s the new part of my disclosure policy. Can you tell I had a really good time writing it?

THE NITTY-GRITTY

In a nutshell:

1. Stuff that gets sent to me. I often get products for review here at MsBookish (usually books but hey, I’m hopeful for other things).

Rest assured, you’ll always know where I got whatever it is I happen to be blogging about, whether it’s from a third party like a publicist, publisher, manufacturer or author, or my mom, or a long-lost great-great-grand-uncle*, or out of my own pocket (in which case, I’ll probably also tell you where I bought it, why I bought it, my experiences buying it and whether I received adequate customer service while buying it.  Consider yourself warned.)

*but only if he puts me in his will

Note: I talk a bit about my husband and my children in my posts. To the best of my knowledge, I’ve never disclosed where I got them from, so I will do so here. For the record, neither my husband nor any of my children were provided to me by a publicist, publisher, manufacturer or author. Not that I regret this, of course, but it does mean they’re nonreturnable.

As for where my children did come from, I’m sorry to say, but if you don’t know the answer to that one, you’re probably too young to be reading this blog. And my husband? Why, I found my blue-eyed boy doing his stuff inside a martial arts dojo, of course; before he met me, he virtually lived inside the dojo 24/7. So, as you can see, I was a Very Good Thing to have happened to him.

2. The content of my posts. I do not write nice, glowy things about a book or product because some third-party sent me that book or product to review. I write nice, glowy things about stuff because I happen to like the stuff I’m writing about. I will also occasionally write bad, non-glowy things about stuff, too, if I don’t happen to like the stuff I’m writing about. On the whole, I tend to be nice and glowy when I’m writing. That’s just a personality thing; I always call that glass half-full.

3. Paying the bills (aka I wish). Scattered throughout my posts are links to a number of online book stores. Occasionally, I might have links to other stores. If I can, I create an affiliate link. What this means is that, if you click on the link and decide to buy the product I’m talking about, or any other product in that particular store, I earn a small amount  in the form of a commission. When I say “a small amount”, I mean “a small amount” – Amazon, for example, pays pennies for each book purchase (well, okay, maybe sometimes a dime) – but if you’re in a shopping frame of mind, please feel free to support MsBookish.com and click through one of my links before you go on a shopping spree. Pennies do, after all, add up. Very slowly, mind you, but slow is better than not at all, in my opinion.

4. Advertising or sponsorship. These are clearly marked. If you look, you will see them. Rest assured, they are never hidden (because, you know, it would be rather pointless from the perspective of the advertiser or sponsor if I hid the ads …). Some of my ads are affiliate links, in which case, see point 3 above.

And by the way, if you’re an advertiser or sponsor and would like to place an ad on MsBookish.com, please let me know. I’d REALLY love to hear from you.

5. When you make a comment. You’ll notice, when you make a comment on any post at MsBookish.com, that you need to enter a valid email address. (And if you haven’t been making comments, why not? I love reading my comments, and I try to reply to them, too. So stop reading this, go make a comment, then come back to finish reading. Everything should still be here when you get back.)

For the record, I do not collect your email address for any nefarious purpose – in other words, I don’t put them into a list to sell to some internet marketer for big bucks.

However, if I happen to reply to your comment personally, you WILL get a brief email telling you what I just said and inviting you back to add another comment if you so wish. And if you win one of my giveaways, I WILL use your email address to contact you; thankfully, you will NOT get a long distance call from me at 2:00 am (aka as the time for cheap long distance calls) informing you that you have just won something. (I can hear your sigh of relief all the way here.)

Which is why you need to enter a valid email, by the way, and not your phone number.

Please note: none of the nitty-gritty above is in any way a substitute for the full legalese, which is set out in all its glory below.

If you really, really want to read the rest of the legalese, you can see my Disclosure and Privacy Policy in full here. I personally would bookmark it for those nights of insomnia, but then again, that’s just me.

No related posts.

I’m just tickled to be hosting this 42nd Bookworms Carnival! Thank you to everyone who sent in their links on such short notice.

I chose the topic of Comfort Reads because there are always those times in life when a much-loved, well-read book is exactly what I need, and I’m hoping you all feel the same, too.

The desire for a spot of comfort reading hits me most often during the winter: usually at night, when it’s toasty warm inside and bitterly cold outside. I look at my special reading armchair and thoughts of a good, familiar book and a mug of hot tea come to mind.

I’ve enjoyed seeing the titles my fellow bloggers turn to when they’re up for some comfort reading; there are many old favorites of mine in the group, plus some new titles that of course I’ve now added to my list of books to get my hands on. All I can say is, it’s a good thing Christmas is just around the corner!

Classics

Ah, the classics! I have quite a few classics on my own list – especially Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, A Room with a View, by E. M. Forster, and The Good Soldier, by Ford Madox Ford. Only one person submitted a classic, but it’s a lovely one for reading on a cold night, all warm and cozy in front of the fire.

Heather from Age 30+ … A Lifetime of Books submitted Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë. If you’re like me, whenever you think of Wuthering Heights you think of Heathcliff. I also tend to think of dark and glowering brows, too! Heather has included a great detailed list of the cast of characters that does a wonderful job of refreshing your memory about this classic if it’s been a while since you’ve read it.

Fantasy

There’s something about a good fantasy that gives that old favorite one an edge when it comes to being a comfort read. I think it’s because the world you dip into is so different and all-encompassing (with the best fantasies, anyway), that you literally are swept away for those few hours you’re re-reading.

Heather submitted as another comfort read, Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley, one of my own favorite reads. I’ve always had a fondness for retellings of the King Arthur story, and I read this when I was a teen and just adored it. Heather says, “I guess I’d have to say that if you DO find it challenging, it is VERY worth the effort you put into it. For me, this is a “must read” for just about everyone.” And I agree totally!

Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series is another series I turn to in my own comfort reading, so I was pleased to see it showing up in the submissions. Zee at Notes from the North recommends listening to the Dragonsinger series in audio, which sounds like a great idea. Jemi at Just Jemi has also included the Pern series in her list of comfort reads, and I am in complete agreement with her! I recently bought the first three books in the series in ebook format, so that I’ll always have them to dip into.

Zee also includes in her list a fantasy series by David Eddings, the Belgariad and Mallorean series; I’ve read a few books by Edding, and she’s reminded me it’s time for a revisit.

Jackie at Literary Escapism submitted three urban fantasy books that sound like fantastic reads; I haven’t read any of them, and have added them to my list. There’s Friday Night Bites, by Chloe Neill, a novel about the Chicagoland vampires, and Destined for an Early Grave, by Jeaniene Frost, another novel about vampires. And I’ve had the Riley Jensen series, by Keri Arthur, on my list for a while now; the latest installment, Bound to Shadows, sounds so good.

Sheila, from One Person’s Journey Through a World of Books, picks The Three Sisters Trilogy, by Nora Roberts as her comfort reads; I haven’t read very many books by Nora Roberts, but as soon as I read Sheila’s post, I immediately added these books to my list – I love the concept of three independent women who are all witches. In her email to me, Sheila wrote, “These three books are favorites of mine and are always a “go to” series if I need to just sink into characters that are like old friends to me. Even talking about them now makes me want to go visit them between the pages of these books.”

Mysteries

There’s nothing more perfect than curling up with a good mystery, and with the passage of time, I find that my memory of exactly whodunnit has dimmed enough for old favorites to be just as enjoyable as they were the first time I read them.

For Aarti, at Booklust, Footsteps in the Dark, by Georgette Heyer, is a favorite read. She says, “Footsteps in the Dark is a thriller mystery of the first order, complete with secret passageways, priest holes, skeletons and a cowled monk.” She definitely has me sold on this one! I’ve never read a Georgette Heyer, and one of her mysteries seems like a good place to start.

Candace, at Beth Fish Reads, submitted a book from one of my new personal favorites: the Hamish Macbeth series by M.C. Beaton. In her review of Death of a Travelling Man, she notes that she started this series in audio mainly because of the narrator, Davina Porter. Candace likes to read her series in order, but I tend to grab hold of whatever I can find; I seem to have started the series at the opposite end, and the majority of the ones I’ve listened to have been narrated by Graeme Malcolm. I like Porter’s narration a bit better, but Malcolm does some great accents.

Zee’s picks include J.D. Robb’s In Death series. This is a series I’ve been meaning to read for a while; Zee writes, “This series makes me laugh and the characters feel very real …”

And I’m very glad Jemi included Agatha Christie in her list. She says, “Agatha Christie’s mysteries are kind of like chocolate for me,” and that’s such a perfect description of how the Christie books feel to me, too. My memory isn’t as good as Jemi’s, though – I’ve been rereading Christie in audio, and I find that I’ve forgotten who the culprit is in most of the novels!

Children’s Books

The books I read as a child will always hold a special place in my heart; one of the first things I did as a “real grown-up” holding down a job (ie finally having a bit of money to spend) was to start buying copies of all the old favorites that I’d borrowed time and again from the library when I was little.

I grew up with Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery, so I was so glad to see that Jessica, of The Bluestocking Society, and Jemi both chose Anne Shirley as one of their favorite comfort reads. I have read and reread the whole Anne of Green Gables series so many times, I can quote whole sections from the book. Jemi writes, “As a shy, serious girl, I wanted to be Anne’s friend.” I could have written that! I remember wishing I knew someone like Anne, too; the term “kindred spirits” will always hold a special place in my heart.

Jemi also includes The Hobbit in her list of comfort reads – another one of my favorites! I couldn’t decide whether to put this under Fantasy or children’s books, but since I’ll always associate The Hobbit with childhood, I decided this was the proper place for it. (I read The Hobbit long before any of other The Lord of the Rings books.)

Food Writing

There’s something just so comforting to me about reading about food; I go on occasional food-writing splurges, during which time I’ll read nothing but food writing. I also come out of these splurges with a few extra pounds, I think, because one thing about good food writing – it makes you hungry!

Margot, of Joyfully Retired, has submitted a book that’s one of my personal favorites: Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen, by Laurie Colwin. As Margot points out, “Her tone is strictly conversational – just as if you are sitting in her kitchen talking about food.” That’s what makes this book such a charming book for me; I loved Margot’s example of having a conversation with the author as she was reading it!

General Fiction

A lot of the books in my own comfort reading pile fall into a general, non-genre category. When I look at them, I see that a charming, cozy feel is a common element.

I loved Jessica’s review of 84, Charing Cross Road, by Helene Hanff. This is a book that has long been on my “I really want to read that” list, and her review is a good reminder that I really do need to get to it.

Amy, from Amy Reads Good Books, submitted Trouble, by Kate Christensen. I’ve never read any novels by Christensen, but Amy’s caught my attention with this: “it was a thoughtful meditation on how we do or do not bounce back from trauma as we age.” Another interesting book!

Jackie at Farm Lane Books has chosen The Nutmeg Tree by Margery Sharp as her comfort read – Sharp’s books are out of print, but she was lucky enough to find three of them! Ever since I read Jackie’s review of The Nutmeg Tree, I’ve been on the lookout for books by Sharp. They sound like the perfect comfort read.

Myrthe, at The Armenian Odar Reads, submitted The Chosen, by Chaim Potok. This is a lovely review; she writes, “It is the one book that still makes me cry all through the last chapter, a book that I immediately want to start again when I finish it.” I haven’t read The Chosen yet; it sounds like such a beautiful coming-of-age story.

I was also thrilled to see that Melanie, at The Indextrous Reader, submitted Alexander McCall Smith: “My version of comfort reading must always include Alexander McCall Smith,” she says in her post. Me too! She has great things to say about both the Mma Ramotswe series and the Scotland Street series. I haven’t yet fallen under the allure of the Mma Ramotswe series yet, but McCall Smith’s Scotland Street and Isabel Dalhousie series are both very near and dear to me.

Melanie also submitted The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets, by Eva Rice. The title is so charming. Melanie writes, “Full of eccentric English characters, revealing social conditions, ancient houses, True Love, teatime and Selfridge’s, I greatly enjoyed this lovely and unusual novel.” I think it will be one I’ll enjoy too.

Finally, Meg’s review of The Sugar Queen, by Sarah Addison Allen, at Write Meg is so enticing; this is another book I’m adding to my burgeoning list of books to get my hot little hands on. Meg calls The Sugar Queen a “seriously delightful, magical story”, and reading her review, it sounds absolutely charming and whimsical, with dashes of mystery and magic.

This ends the Comfort Reads edition of the Bookworms Carnival! I hope you’ve rediscovered some old favorites in this list, and perhaps added a few to your list that you haven’t read before.

Play along with us! What are some of your comfort reads?

Related posts:

1. 42nd Bookworms Carnival: Comfort Reads
2. [TSS] More Beach Reads, Movies and Writing (Not Really)
3. Mailbox Monday: Another Eclectic Mix
4. More Library Decadence
5. Friday Finds: Another Eclectic Assortment

It’s awards time!

Jemi at Just Jemi awarded me with the Honest Scrap Blogger award and the Best Blogger award. Thank you, Jemi!

As part of my acceptance speech, here are seven random things about me that you might or might not know:

1. My name. “Belle” is my full, legal first name, not a nickname. I spent my first 20 years of life wishing my mother had chosen a two-syllable first name for me, because I really disliked having a one-syllable first name and a one-syllable last name. Not that I have a poet’s ear or anything, but it never sounded quite “right”.

But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to appreciate my name more and more (especially after changing my last name during my first marriage – I felt so utterly foreign to myself! It was quite a relief to change back to my real name).

2. Making changes. By the time I was 16, I had moved 13 times. I think this is the main reason why I’m rather fond of change and big moves. If I don’t get the chance to move residences every now and then, I end up moving furniture or (to my husband’s chagrin) shifting entire rooms in the house.

We’ve been in our current house for over ten years now – way too long, from my point of view. So, as an example of my fondness for changing things around, our current dining room used to be the kitchen, after which time it spent a year as a storage room. It then became a dining room, was changed to the “train” room (as in a model train layout), and now, in its present incarnation, is a dining room again. It drives my husband nuts but makes me very happy.

3. Not quite a lethal weapon. I have a brown belt in Aikido and a black belt in Jodo. (Jodo is not Judo – at quick glance, it’s an easy mistake to make, but in reality the two arts are very different. Jodo is a traditional weapons martial art.)

People ask me all the time – so, when are you going to start training again? To which I must reply: Never. I’m quite content to rest on my laurels and glory in my past achievements without ever stepping onto the mats again. (And now you know why I’m failing miserably in the Fitness Challenge – please don’t look at my progress in the sidebar.)

4. My first book. When I was seven, I wrote and illustrated my first book, Adventures in Candyland. The main character was an enterprising round candy by the highly original name of Mint. I’ll give you three guesses what my favorite candy was back then …

I then went on to write and illustrate a whole series of Mint’s adventures in Candyland. Unfortunately, each one is long lost, but I can still remember the many hours of enjoyment I had creating each of them.

5. A detour in life that lasted a bit too long. On my first day of law school, when the Dean addressed the first years and told us we were “the cream of the crop”, I had to fight down a massive attack of the giggles. In retrospect, I should have known this didn’t bode well for a future career in law.

To make things even worse, he was actually stating a fact. Does anyone remember that scene in Legally Blonde where Reese Witherspoon is sitting outside with a few of her new classmates, and they’re introducing themselves? And everyone has a long, long list of impressive credentials and degrees? That would have been about 75% of my classmates. The other 25% came from families who dined regularly with the Prime Minister. (There was, of course, some overlap between the two groups.)

I’m not sure how I snuck into this highly refined and academically excellent environment, but I somehow did. Can we say square peg in a round hole? Or maybe a bull in a china shop?

6. My ghosting experiences. I once ghostwrote a book on customer service that was published by Wiley Canada. I knew nothing about customer service, but of course that didn’t stop me. I even came up with a great survival of the fittest theme to organize all the points in the book.

I was also a freelance medical writer for two years, during which time I ghosted doctors’ speeches, medical articles, patient pamphlets, letters to the editor, and the occasional monograph. As for how much I knew about medicine, see paragraph above.

7. Blather, blather, blather. I have a tendency to be very long-winded when I put my hands to the keyboard. (Probably not such a great trait when it comes to novel writing, but there you have it.) Oh wait, you already knew this …?

There you have it – seven random things about me!

I’d like to pass this award onto all of you, so if you’d like to play, blog about it and let me know your link in the comments here, or tell me a random thing or two about yourself in the comments!

Related posts:

1. Ms. Bookish’s First Award!
2. Some Lovely Awards

MsBookish is hosting the 42nd Bookworms Carnival! The topic? One that is near and dear to my heart: comfort reads.

What are the books you turn to time and time again? The ones with which you love to snuggle up in your favorite armchair, steaming mug of hot chocolate or tea by your side? I’d love to hear about them!

If you have a review of a favorite comfort read, or a post talking about some of your favorite comfort reads, and why you love them, please send me your link to be included in this edition of the Bookworms Carnival.

Due to a few email glitches, this post is going up a little late – if you could spread the word about the Comfort Reads Bookworms Carnival, that would be great, too!

The current submission deadline for this edition of the Bookworms Carnival is November 27.

Related posts:

1. Comfort Reads (42nd Bookworms Carnival)
2. The Saturday Ramblings Post

I’m practicing the Art of Procrastination (I am an ardent and devoted follower of the Art), so I thought I’d sit down and write my semi-regular rambly Saturday post. Why am I procrastinating? (I’m usually always procrastinating about something, and today is no exception.)

Tonight’s Open-House Dinner

I only managed to get a couple of rooms clean yesterday, leaving the untidiest rooms to do today (in the next few hours, no less). I’m still debating whether I should tackle my office or whether I should put up some sort of a barrier and an “Enter at Your Own Risk” sign at the door.

We have 28 people coming for dinner. It’s funny how that number makes me feel like I need to get the house cleaner than, oh, say six people coming over.

So wish me luck. I’m going to need it.

NaNoWriMo Update!

So much for my stellar start with NaNoWriMo. Initially, at the pace I was going, I should have been close to finished by now. But I still haven’t gotten the write-everyday-pattern down pat, and ended up taking two days “off” from writing. I’m not likely to get any writing done today, either.

Current total: 25,651 words

I’m still on target to complete 50K words by the end of the month, which is a very good thing indeed!

Currently Reading

I haven’t had the chance to read any print books this week. I did, however, end up sticking with my M.C. Beaton audios, and just finished up Death of a Dreamer. I’m really liking this series in audio – the Scottish accents are wonderful, and the stories are great cozies, very good when you’re in the mood for a comfort read.

Bookworms Carnival

And speaking of comfort reads, I’m hosting the 42nd edition of the Bookworms Carnival! (I think I am, anyway. I’ve submitted my topic, but haven’t heard back yet, so I need to get on the ball and email again, I think.)

The topic I’ve chosen is Comfort Reads. Deadline for submission of posts is November 27, 2009.

And if all goes well (meaning, my emails to the organizers haven’t been going astray!) I’ll be writing up a more detailed post later this week.

This Coming Week

Things should be less hectic this coming week. Several of my deadlines have shifted into December (great for November, not so great for Christmas!) so I’ll be able to take a bit of a breather and hopefully be able to finally tackle my Google Reader.

I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get tomorrow’s International Giveaways List post up, as I usually write that one up on the Saturday and well, it’s Saturday already, the house is only half-cleaned, and tonight I’m going to be more busy than not.

What have you been up to this week? I haven’t had a chance to visit very many blogs, so please feel free to leave links in the comments to your posts about any interesting things going on this week in your reading or writing life!

Related posts:

1. Some Saturday Ramblings
2. 42nd Bookworms Carnival: Comfort Reads
3. Saturday Randomness: Halloween, NaNoWriMo, Twitter, Food and Comments
4. Three Days to Go
5. NaNoWriMo: Winner!!