Pretty Deadly Reviews Fall Bingo

I was stumbling around various book blogs on the internet a couple weeks ago and ran across the Pretty Deadly Reviews blog. (PrettyDeadlyBlog.com)  The post that day was about Fall Bookish Bingo and as I just started making myself bingo cards to read through my TBR stacks I decided I'd play along. This one runs September-November.   Here's the card they posted:

So far I've read 3 books to fit this particular card.  Here's the rundown and I'll try to edit as I read books to fit this:  

Mental Health:

Different Culture:

Illustrations:

Black Cover:

First in a Series:

Set in Another Country:

Person on Cover:  You And Only You by Sharon Sala--finished 9/2/17

Magic in the Real World:

Over 500 pages:  Outlander by Diana Gabaldon--finished 9/9/17

Co-Authored:

Ensemble Cast:

2017 Debut:

Free Space:

American History:

Witches:

Fall Release:

Horror:

Asian American Author:

Translated:

LGBT:

Yellow Cover:

Required Reading:

Set At A School:

Poetry or Verse:

Paranormal:American Vampire by Jennifer Armintrout--finished 9/8/17

So far I'm having a lot of fun but I admit, I'm not planning things out regarding my various reading challenges this year.  I spent some time away from challenges but decided to start joining in them again at the beginning of the year.  But, even though I went overboard and joined way too many of them, I decided I'd still read what I want to read and if they fit in a particular category, then that's awesome.  If they don't, that's ok too.  The main thing is to just have fun.

Writing

Do you like to write?  I always have but until recently I hadn't messed with it much since high school.     During the spring I took an online writing class with my sister.  These things are so much easier to do with someone else encouraging you.  I really enjoyed the class--it was basically designed for beginning writer's but, like I said, I hadn't done much with writing in years.  Once I took the class, I've been inspired to actually try to finish something.  I've been reading a lot of romance lately, so I think that's probably what this is going to turn into.   Over the years, I've written snippets of things:  bits of dialogue, scenes that float across my mind.  So I refreshed a bit of dialogue, fleshed it out and voila--I have a work in progress!

However, life has been crazy lately.  I'm trying to read a couple of chunky books with some Littens on the social media app, Litsy.  (I love love love Litsy--but that's another post!), I do work, there's been some concerts that I've just HAD to go to.  One daughter graduated from college in May and the other will graduate next December.  We also adopted a dog right after graduation.  I went on the first camping trip of my adult life--something I'd been actively avoiding since becoming an adult.  But I went with my bestie and it was all right.  I may even do it again.  So those are my excuses as to why I haven't worked on it since the class ended in May.  But I stumbled across this event, Sit Down and Write and thought--well, I should give this a try.  It's a low pressure writeathon beginning today, June 15 and running until July 15.  Just sit down and write something every day.  Book reviews, journaling, whatever writing project you've got going on, etc.  So I'm going to give it a whirl.  It's not going to be a blog post every day but I'm thinking about once a week, I'll update with what I've been working on.

If I did it correctly, there's a button on the side bar  should like to the blog that I saw alerting me to this event!  And here's a picture as well...

Summer Reading

Today is the first day of my library's Summer Reading Program.  Going onto the website to sign up for it, I discovered that this year it has a whole new site and is way more user friendly.  Badges can be earned for every 5 books you read and there are also activity badges.  Some are earned by reading books in certain categories, some are earned for doing actual activities. For example under "Explore Your World" some of the things are "Visit a Museum" or "Take a walk around the block" and under "Explore Your Creativity" there are entries for "Try a new recipe.  What did you try?" or "Dance in your living room".  There is also a badge for "Explore your library" and some of the activities include "visit a different library location than you normally go to" or "check out a museum pass".

I'm pretty excited about these additions to the summer reading program because, as much as I love to do nothing more than read, I think doing these other activities will help people connect with others and the world at large.  One of the activities under one of the badges is "visit the farmer's market".  I actually happen to have some gift certificates to use at ours that someone gave me recently and I'm excited to go and use them.  One of the activities under the library badge is "begin learning a new language"--that seems like a great thing to do.  My 2 years of high school spanish is extremely rusty but I've also always wanted to learn Gaelic, Russian, and Latin.  Where I would use this knowledge, I have no idea but it could be fun.

I almost finished a book last night, but I held out and finished it this afternoon instead because there's something nerdy satisfying about finishing a book on the first day of Summer Reading!

Anyway, if your library has a Summer Reading Program, I encourage you to join it!

Welcome!

I've wanted to do a blog for awhile now, but I've never had the time to sit down and figure it all out.  Who do I use?  Word Press?  Blogger?  What do I post about?  How often?  Etc.  So anyway, no time like the present.  Be patient with me as I figure it all out.

So, first things first, who am I?

I'm a wife, a mom, residing in the Midwest, a passionate reader (hence, the title--my shelves are groaning under the weight of all the books).  I enjoy music, I spend a lot of time going to shows.  I didn't get to go to a lot of concerts in my 20's because I was busy having and raising my kids.  Now that they're grown and on their way to being fully functioning adults, my husband and I are starting to do the things we didn't have the time or money for when they were young. 

I work part time as an administrative assistant at my church.  It's a job that I love because there's never a dull moment.  I do a lot more than I thought I would in this job, I think it's safe to say I do a little bit of everything.

What do I read?  Pretty much everything.  I prefer romantic suspense or a good creepy thriller, or just a book with great characters and a good story line.  I'm not huge on non-fiction because I like to escape through my books.  I'm also not huge on sci-fi or anything with zombies and aliens.  But I also like to keep an open mind so I'm usually up for trying anything.

Music....I'm a child of the 70s and 80s and love rock.  I love the mighty Zeppelin, and 80s music (especially hair bands) and really anything rock.  My current favorite band is a little group from North Carolina called Another Lost Year.  I've lost count how many times I've seen them as they tour the Midwest relentlessly so anytime they're in town or even fairly close by, I try to see them. 

TV and movies....I don't watch a lot of tv but I tend to gravitate towards crime shows, both true crime and fictional, although my husband has turned me onto North Woods Law on animal planet.  I also enjoy Dancing with the Stars and oddly enough, American Ninja Warrior. 

I'm planning on mostly blogging about books.  What I'm reading, what I plan to read, etc.  Although, probably other stuff will creep in from time to time.  I'm fairly active on Litsy so you can find me there @CocoReads.  I guess that's it for now, there's reading to be done!