What I'm Reading, What I'm Writing, and This Week's Things that Must Go.

Good Friday, yon bloggerland.

What I'm reading:

The Loser's Guide to Life and Love.

It's a retelling of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, set in a contemporary high school, and so far I've laughed out loud several times.

The author, Ann Cannon, and another local author Ann Dee Ellis are hosting a Writing Marathon March 18-20. And by "hosting", I think they mean virtually, and by "Marthon", I'm assured there will be no running, or physical exertion of any kind.

Basically, you commit to writing as much as you can on those days, and then you make a goal, and then you get to reward yourself if you reach your goal.

I committed to 20,000 words. If I reach my goal, I'm flying to the moon and releasing a dove to symbolize my fledgling writing career. If the dove flies away, I'll know I'm gonna be published someday.

Anyway, to all of you writers, hop on over to their blog and sign up with me. Tell them I sent you, and you'll receive 10% off the free admission price. You can't beat that!

p.s. I'm giving away a copy of Loser's Guide to Life and Love. Read to the bottom to find out more.

What I'm Writing:

My current WIP is a mystery, and it's a mess. At least with paranormal stories, I can create complex mythologies to cover up for stuff that doesn't make sense. This book is actually making me use my brain, and I really hate to use my brain. I'm seriously considering throwing a ghost in there.

This Week's List of Things That Must go:

1. The top three reactions to my recent adventures in hair dying must go:

a. "I have a canary that color."

b. "Ha ha. Will you never learn?"

c. "At least you got warm colors. And by warm, I mean flaming."

Here's how my hair will look for the next two weeks (which is when my hair person is scheduled to clean up my mess... that is, if she still will have me. I think I may have damaged our relationship permanently)

2. An education system with no sense of humor must go.

Kid C was supposed to do a report on an animal indigenous to Australia. I convinced him to do it on Dingoes, and then I made him practice the line, "Maybe the dingo ate your baby" over and over. No one thought it was funny. Maybe he didn't have the accent down...

3. In honor of Grammar week, my sister's most famous malapropism must go:

(Talking about Diet Coke) "I have a wooden leg for that stuff."

Bonus: This guy, I won't name names, used to always say, "C'mon guys, It's not rocket scientists."

4. The Great Spring Fakeout must go.

After a mild winter with dismal snow totals, I was starting to smell spring sunshine in the air. (It smells like chicken with a hint of Rosemary seasoning). But today, snow storm. Curses, Mother Nature!

It's not the snow storm that makes me angry, it's the lack of consistency. As my mother used to say, "Inconsistency is a road to Hell paved with Good Intentions."

5. And finally, school breaks that make no sense must go.

Kid C is home today, because it's "No Attendance Day". 

I remember when the settlers first came to our valley, perservering through inconsistent weather and starvation. After their long journey, they looked out over the land, and their leader marked the spot with his staff and said "This is the place, because X marks the spot. Let today, March 5, forever be known and celebrated as... NO ATTENDANCE DAY!"

Bonus Free Book Friday:
As a bonus for those of you who read this far, leave a comment about your own things that must go, and you'll be entered to win your very own signed copy of A.E. Cannon's THE LOSER'S GUIDE TO LIFE AND LOVE.


So, are you going to sign up to do the writing marathon? Or am I alone on this?