Slacking off!

Wow, I’ve been slacking off here quite a bit. I won’t bore you with excuses; instead, I’ll let you know a little of what I’ve been up to.

Reading

I mentioned a while back that I was knocked flat by some very powerful antibiotics. I believe I am fully recovered from that, but am now plagued some other annoying stuff while my system keeps getting back into whack. While doing that, I’ve done some reading, including the first book of The Legacy of Gird: Surrender None, by Elizabeth Moon. I enjoyed it quite a bit, even if the ending was a bit anticlimactic. Gird was almost as likable as Paks was, but Surrender None failed to bring me to tears or to establish quite as deep a connection. But that’s not much of a critique because Paks was one of my favorite all-time characters. That bar is a bit high to reach.

I am now struggling through the second book in the set, Liar’s Oath. To me, the characters in this book just aren’t as engaging as Gird was, and I just can’t care much about Luap. I fail to muster much curiosity as to the true identity of Autumn Rose. I am not sure I’ll get through this one. I wonder why Moon felt–and apparently, continues to feel in her current series–that she had to write about other characters than Paksenarrion. The current series actually lost my suspension of disbelief because so much havoc is going on and Paks is nowhere to be found.

I also tried a reread of The Once and Future King by T. H. White, also one of my all-time favorites. However, I’m wondering if the hardback I purchased used is some sort of unabridged version, because really is plodding along. The version I read years ago was much better-paced. I have skipped over vast tracts of story, especially where pointless dialog just goes on for page after page. Eventually I gave it up to pick up The Legacy of Gird, which had languished on my bookshelf for quite a while.

While I read these books, my daughter is chewing through some Mark Twain. She read (and laughed) her way through Tom Sawyer, and then had to read a book for school that she didn’t enjoy nearly as much, and she picked The Prince and the Pauper to read next. In order to establish good reading habits, I have been reading beside her every night for a half hour before she crashes.

Writing

I am now shopping two books (both books in the Forthcoming section of this site), and while I do that, I’ve been planning the second book in each series. I am further along in the time travel series, but I have an entire five-book arc planned in the fantasy, and those books will be much easier to write.

I worked out some plot complications yesterday afternoon while taking a walk, so I do believe I’ll work on that now.