Lena Corazon

Flights of Fancy

Tag: Lindsay Buroker

ROW80: Respite, Interrupted

In my last update I celebrated the vanquishing of my to-do list, and declared my plan to be completely sloth-like and lazy for the rest of September. That goal was thrown off by paper edits, unexpected social time, and a few emotional twists and turns (nothing terrible, just draining), but I did get a chance to just unwind Friday night and all day Saturday. I snagged a copy of season 1 of CSI from Target for ten bucks, and have been happily binging on all my favorite episodes, not to mention reliving my old high school fantasies of becoming a forensic profiler. 😛

Better yet, I finished season 3 of Supernatural, read CC MacKenzie’s steamy and delicious RECKLESS NIGHTS IN ROME, finished Lindsay Buroker’s latest novel in the Emperor’s Edge Universe, BLOOD AND BETRAYAL, and am half-way through Lois McMaster Bujold‘s THE HALLOWED HUNT, the third book in her Chalion series. There is nothing like reading and devouring fun television shows to restore my peace of mind.

Here’s how the rest of the week has gone:

Day Job: Edits to my papers have been completed, the mini-proposal for my “little conversation” has been sent off to my committee, and I have all of my paperwork in order (I hope). Once Monday’s meeting is through, I have a list of books I’d like to read for research purposes, but I plan on waiting until I’ve put a decent dent in my Kindle TBR list.

Writing: Managed about 3k or so in the last few days, but nothing approaching Fast Draft status. Little bitty ideas for edits to my CampNaNo novel have been swirling around as well, though I haven’t really had a chance to do much about them. I’m postponing most writing-related things to next week, or maybe the week after, as I have house guests slated to arrive next weekend.

Exercise: Mom and I walked 4 days this week, for a total of 19 miles. I think this is the first time I’ve managed to make my exercise goal since this round started, so whoo!

Social Media: The latter half of the week has been pretty quiet in terms of Facebook and Twitter, though I have been trying to visit 2 or 3 blogs each day.

Even though I’ve only had a couple of days to relax, I feel vastly improved. Sunday and Monday are going to be somewhat taxing, between the drive down to Santa Barbara and my “little conversation,” but all of these things are pretty minor compared to the last couple of months worth of work (and stress, and anxiety, and all those other yucky things).

How’s the end of the round treating everyone else? Have you managed to accomplish all of your goals, or will you be deferring a few to the next round? Don’t forget to pop by and catch up with everyone else.
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ROW80: A Bloggy Birthday

Happy Sunday, ROWers! This weekend is a special one, as I’m celebrating my blog’s first birthday. I’m actually a week late — my very first post, a ROW80 check-in, was posted on May 15th — but better late than never, right?

In celebration, I’m bringing out Party Sloth…

…and you know that festivities would be incomplete without Hugh…

For fun, I thought I’d make a mini-vlog, just to wave and say hello. It’s nothing fancy, but I wanted a chance to thank all of you in “person.” Without this amazing, wonderful, phenomenal community, I think I would’ve abandoned both the blogging experiment and my writing attempts ages ago. 😀

I missed last week’s check-in due to grading, but here’s how things are going so far:

Day Job: The stack of midterms is never-ending, the reading is never-ending, the homework is never-ending. The quarter ends in three weeks, and till then, I will be furiously working my buns off to get things done. My brain is buzzing, I’m learning a ton, and I really am having fun… I just wish the pressure would ease off just a teeny bit. But grading will be done on Tuesday, and I’ll have a couple of weeks to take care of my work before it’s time to tackle the students’ final papers.

Writing: Okay, so, the week before last was my awesome writing week. The plot for STRANGE BEDFELLOWS dropped into my lap, completely unbidden, and I wrote about 4500 words between all 3 of my projects. Not much has happened this week, though, but I did raid the university library for books on 19th century San Francisco as part of my research for TELL ME NO LIES. Now, er, I just have to find time to read them. 😛

Exercise: I’ve been a little under the weather for the last few days, so I scaled back to a couple of short workouts instead of the usual 4 mile walk. But altogether I had 4 days of activity, which is pretty good.

Social Media: Ugh, a total bust. I’ve been unplugged for the last week because I can’t concentrate on grading otherwise. Operation KEEP TRYING is in progress.

Here’s what I’ve been reading and watching this week:

I finally got around to reading, CONSPIRACY, the fourth book in Lindsay Buroker‘s phenomenal EMPEROR’S EDGE series. The EE series is a blend of steampunk and fantasy, and features an unlikely band of outlaws striving to evade the law and do enough good deeds for the emperor to clear their names. Like the previous three, CONSPIRACY is a ton of fun — lots of tension, lots of action, lots of humor, and a great plot.

As far as movies go, I finished the last two episodes of the Zen miniseries, and I think it’s an absolute crime that it was cancelled after only one season (seriously, y’all, it’s soooo sad). I also caught The Raven, which I enjoyed, though not as much as other creepy period pieces, like Perfume or The Prestige. Next up is the miniseries Case Histories, starring Jason Isaacs, which I’ve been dying to watch.

…And with that, I am crawling back into my reading/grading/working cave. Hope you’ve all had an awesome week!

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