Summer (audio)Reading

I'm really digging audiobooks lately. They really make the commute to work and back a lot quicker. I never thought I'd really like them, so it was a nice surprise. If you're thinking of trying any out, these are the ones I highly recommend:

 

JOYLAND by Stephen King (read by Michael Kelly):

This is the one that got me started with audiobooks. While I was saddened to see that King had no intentions of releasing it as an ebook, I saw I could get the audiobook. So I figured, why not? Glad I did. A great story overall, and the reader does a really good job. After that, I was hooked, and determined to find some more audio gems.

 

THE GRAVEYARD BOOK by Neil Gaiman (read by Neil Gaiman):

My first introduction to Gaiman in the world of literature. I’ve always heard of his name, and I loved his work on Doctor Who. I really enjoyed it. Think The Jungle Book… in a graveyard. Gaiman is one of the few who can do his own audiobooks. And this led me to try…

 

THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE by Neil Gaiman (read by Neil Gaiman):

Easily one of the best books of the year, and a new all-time favorite of mine. A bit of life mixed with fantasy (but not heavy fantasy). I cannot say enough good things about both the book, and the audiobook. Personally, I think Gaiman should just do every audiobook. I’d love it if he’d do mine. It won’t happen… but it’d still be cool. One can dream, dammit!

 

1984 by George Orwell (read by Simon Prebble):

A classic that I’ve always been meaning to read. I will admit it took me a little while to really get into it, but I ended up really enjoying it. There’s a reason why this book is famous. It’s chilling and tragic. Prebble does an excellent job reading.

 

IN COLD BLOOD by Truman Capote (read by Scott Brick):

It’s a bit slow going at first, but it doesn’t take long for you to immerse yourself into this chilling true account of a horrible murder of a family. The descriptions of what the police find the next day when they arrive at the family’s house is absolutely terrifying. And as despicable as killers are, you get a full picture of them and you see them as real human beings—which makes it even more horrifying. Scott Brick is an excellent reader. I look forward to his reading of The Devil in the White City—another book I’ve been meaning to read. (BTW, if you haven’t seen it, the movie adaptation does a very good job of staying true to the material, even though it was impossible for it to be as detailed.)

 

THE CAINE MUTINY by Herman Wouk (read by Kevin Pariseau):

I didn’t even know this was a book. I haven’t seen the movie, although I’ve been meaning to. Full disclosure: I’ve just begun this one, so I’m not very far into it, but I’m already loving it. In fact, I even went out and bought both the ebooks and audiobooks of his Winds of War series. So far, a very entertaining read. Pariseau is great as the reader.

 

Those are just a few to get you started. I only started listening to audiobooks about two months ago or so. You can get these at Audible.com or iTunes. My personal recommendation is Audible, because a lot of times if you already have the Kindle version of some of these books, you can get a great deal and won’t have to pay full price. The Audible app is also excellent. You can add and delete books whenever you please, so you won’t have to worry about memory space on your phone.

Apologies for slacking... AGAIN

I know, I'm sounding like a broken record at this point. Apologies all around for not keeping this thing updated. Real life has been making it harder for me to do so. But don't feel bad. Even my writing in general is feeling the wrath of real life!

I always think I'm going to be better at updating this thing, and then I end up failing in fantastic fashion. As far as my writing goes, nothing new to really report. I am working on a short story collection, but again real life has kind of gotten in the way of my fictional world.

You can follow me on Twitter, as I'm usually always posting on there. Be warned, I post a lot of inane nonsense. Most of it has nothing to do with my writing or books. Then again, you might like that!

So, in brief:

• I'm still here
• I'm writing, even if real life is making it a tad difficult
• Mr. Giggles is NOT holding me hostage, despite what the reports have been
• I'm still a blabbing fool on Twitter
• I am, and always will be a slacker
• When in doubt, blame Steven Moffat. MOFFAT!!!

That's all for now, until next time!

BINGO! We have a winner...

We did it! We won! Lessons IV: The Dead Carnival and Other Morbid Drabbles won the 2013 BigAl's Books and Pals Readers' Choice Award for Best Short Story Collection/Anthology. This was exciting news to wake up to! I was thrilled to be nominated, and I honestly had no idea if I'd win or not.

Thanks for your support! You guys are awesome! :)

For more info on the winners, click here!

Getting past the first draft...

One of my biggest struggles when it comes to writing has always been the first draft. The main problem is I start a story and then halfway through I say, "Ugh. This is crap! I need to start something new. This isn't working." It's a terrible habit that I thought I'd be over by now, but alas it still haunts me. Just now I started something and not even five hundred words in, I said, "This is crap. This isn't going to work."

I need to stop that. Seriously.

The first draft is not supposed to be perfect. When you write the first draft, your only concern is telling the story. From beginning to end, just tell the fucking story. Who cares if it isn't working? How do you know for sure? If you're on the first draft, then of course it's going to look like utter crap. That's why it's a first draft.

First drafts aren't meant to be pretty and neat. You can be as sloppy as you want. Time-jump if you have to. Hell, do some head-hopping if that gets the story told. Switch to the POV of a frying pan. I don't care! You need to finish the story.

When you start the re-write and then realize that it isn't working, that's different. Then there is a very good chance that it isn't going to work. But that's something I shouldn't worry about until I get there.

So, I need to remind myself; when it comes to the first draft, just see it all the way through. Even if it isn't working. Just do my best to tell the story. When I'm done, then I can decide if it's worth re-writing or if I should just give up on it and try something new.

LESSONS IV nominated for an award!

I know, it's been a long time since I've blogged here. A lot has been going on in my life lately--all of them good! I usually hate Mondays, but today I really can't gripe about that. That's because I've just found out that Lessons IV: The Dead Carnival and Other Morbid Drabbles has been nominated for a BigAl's Books and Pals Readers' Choice Award in the short story/anthology category.

Holy... crap!

I really didn't expect this. It's a huge surprise and I'm flattered as hell. I'm not sure if I actually have a shot at winning, but it's just a thrill to be nominated.

If you've read Lessons IV and enjoyed it, please feel free to vote for me! You can vote here!

Please check out the other categories and see if there's a book by an author you've enjoyed! And vote!

And please, this is important: DO NOT FEEL OBLIGATED TO VOTE FOR ME JUST BECAUSE YOU KNOW ME. Only vote if you've read the book and enjoyed it. And if you haven't read the book, you can pick up a copy here (also available on BN.com and other sites). If you enjoyed the read, then by all means feel free to vote (but only if you enjoyed it and feel it's worthy of a vote)!

If you want to learn more about BigAl's Books and Pals, please visit their page!

That's all for now. I'll try not to be a stranger here. It's hard with all that's going on, but I'll do my best!

(Note: People who use IE as their web browser have experienced issues with trying to vote. If you can, try another browser and see if that helps. I've heard Chrome works fine.)

Happy 2013

Holy CRAP! I haven't written anything on here since October??? Many apologies, although I think I remember warning you guys it might happen again!

I've been extremely busy lately. I didn't even get to really focus on my writing during the past few months. I'm hoping that's something I can correct this year. Speaking of which... HAPPY 2013!

I proposed to my girlfriend of 4 years on Christmas Eve and she said yes! So now we're engaged and we couldn't be happier. Still not sure about the exact date, but we're thinking November.

So, that's the big news with me. Probably deserves a longer post, but this will have to do for now. :)

Here's a post... because I'm slacking on the ol' blog again!

I know. You're all shocked. I really need to do a better job of keeping this thing updated.

My apologies. It's been pretty busy around here. Mainly, my girlfriend and I finally moved into an apartment a few weeks ago. After living all of this time at home with my family, it feels good to finally get out there and have a place I can call my own--well for seven months, at least. We're hoping to find an actual home by the time our lease is up (although we're so in love with our apartment, I don't think it'd be overly devastating if we ended up having to stay for a little bit longer).

I know, this is something I should've done a long, long time ago. But it really worked out for the best. I was able to save a lot of money while living at home. I worked, so it wasn't like I was mooching off my parents. It's hard to turn down a free roof over your head. And when you're not in a relationship, then you feel like there's no rush to leave.

But once I finally got into a wonderful relationship, I knew it was time to get out and finally find a place.

We're loving the new place. I should post some more pics. If you're on Instagram, you can follow me on there. I'm "mdrabbles" (yes, I'm sooooo original it's scary. I suck at coming up with user names, so lay off!) I've taken a bunch of pictures of our cats taking advantage of our new home--and constantly stealing my chair.

In fact, here's one of them. While both cats love the chair, Bubbles (or Bubbs) seems to be the repeat offender:

So overall, we couldn't be happier. And that's one of the main reasons why you haven't heard from me for a while... other than... you know... me just being terrible at keeping a regular blogging schedule.

I've done very little writing, but I'm doing my best to correct that. Working on something right now. Another problem was I had a pretty nasty fight with writer's block--well, I don't know if I can call it that. I had ideas, but none of them worked when I tried to execute them. All writers hit a rough patch or a dry spell every now and then. I've still written little prompts for myself, so at the very least I'm still writing something.

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll remember to do another post before 2015.