Book Club Invite

Hello to the people who don't live near me! A friend and I are starting a book club. I wanted to include others who aren't in the immediate vicinity. So I will post what book we're reading and when we're getting together. If you would like to write a blog post, or even just email me at amie_photos at hotmail dot com, I will share your thoughts when we all get together here. If you want to get even more fancy - we can skype!

I will also post after our get-togethers possibly with pictures and what we talked about. We want to theme the parties after the books, so it should be fun.

The lovely Sydney made the flyer for our new book club. Check out her website here.

The first book is The Paris Wife by Paula McLain. It comes in Kindle edition for those with e-readers/iPads. I'm planning on the first week in September to meet about this book. I'll put a reminder on the blog as we get closer.

Harry Potter - Ten Years and an Epic in the Making

It's been ten years since the first Harry Potter movie came out. Now they are finished. The second part of the seventh movie was certainly epic. The best part has been watching this phenomenon turn into something that we will certainly share with our children. It's on the par of fables and wives tales, only way cooler.

I saw the Deathly Hallows movie last night (it came out two days earlier here and I can't stop gloating about it, ha!). I won't give away any spoilers, even though if you've read the book you know. I will say they do include one of the best ideas (not quite direct lines) from the book:

"Tell me one last thing," said Harry. "Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?"
Dumbledore beamed at him, and his voice sounded loud and strong in Harry's ears even though the bright mist was descending again, obscuring his figure.
"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"

Buddha and Happy Mediums

I like to learn. So I recently read a biography on Buddha by Karen Armstrong. It had snippets about actual Buddhism (which I've had on my list of things to learn) but was mostly about the last Buddha.

Let me make it clear that I am not Buddhist, but I have always believed in a happy medium. The way to get through life is to be a good person and to have balance. I don't like to speak in absolutes.

I'll give you a few quotes from Karen Armstrong's book so you can read for yourself what I liked about the book.

"Gotama was developing what he called a "Middle Way," which shunned physical and emotional self-indulgence on the one hand, and extreme asceticism (which could be just as destructive) on the other." Page 71

The Buddha went from one extreme to the other before he found his own version of how to live life.
"The Buddha always insisted that his disciples test everything he taught them against their own experience and take nothing on hearsay." Page 101

Listening is different than following. You can listen to a person or idea, but flat out following without using your own brain to calculate whether the facts add up is harmful.

I marked many more passages, but I don't want this to turn into a religious debate. I did not read the book for the religion, I read it for the knowledge. Now I understand something else about the world that I didn't before.

I'm in love with a blog about punctuation.

I'm in editor heaven. This blog here:

http://www.shadycharacters.co.uk/

is about the history of punctuation. From the pilcrow to the ampersand and on. This guy writes essays detailing the history of little marks we make with the computer and that used to be made with stone and chisel. Not only is it historical and educating, it's about punctuation. I think I'm in love.

Querying, Writing, Writing, Waiting

I'm querying my first novel. I've sent only three queries so far, but I have one rejection. I'm so elated with the query process right now that I'm actually happy to have a rejection because it means someone looked at my stuff! So when I post a few months down the road and am continuing to get rejections that just depress me, please remind me of this high feeling I had today.

I'm also working on two projects. Continuing along with my singularity idea and starting another literary novel about a girl who is constantly reaching for dreams but every time she gets one they just fall apart. It's still in the baby stages and fairly fragile so I am handling with care.

The singularity novel is blossoming. It's become something I did not expect. In order to begin a story I need to know the ending, but I usually only know a few scenes in the middle to get me to that ending, then I just let the story run. Well this one has gone some strange places. It's becoming more action than I'm used to writing. It's refreshing and difficult.