Random thoughts for the week

I haven’t blogged in a few days. As I’ve formerly expressed, I am trying to schedule my writing into the rest of my life so that it becomes and habit and all that good stuff, but I still only have so much time. That time must be divided among research, blogging, writing and editing. So if I’m not around for a few days, just know I’m good, just probably off working on another project. Such has been the case lately.

But I miss you all! It’s weird. I know you’re not really here on my little site, but I feel that if I’m not posting regularly, somehow I’m missing out on all of you. Or maybe the sharing of me is integral to community, just as the sharing of you.

I read a fun book this week. One of my editing clients writes young adult novels — (You can download her latest though Wild Child Publishing HERE. It’s a great read! You’ll love it.) — so I’ve been trying to read more YA fiction to familiarize myself more with the genre, market, etc. The book I read this week … well, I can’t wait for Ellie to be old enough to read it! It was a breath of fresh air for a parent who desperately wants her kids to enjoy being kids. Our culture pushes teens to act like adults, tweens to act like college students and preschoolers to know all about “High School Musical.” This book, The Teashop Girls, offered an honest portrayal of young girls coming of age while still encouraging them to be kids — to enjoy tea, friendships, family and all the things that are really important. The book contained nothing immodest, vulgar, explicit or adult. There wasn’t even any kissing! Of course, they talked about it — they are girls, after all! But instead of pushing girls to be more adult, it encouraged girls to just be themselves. It validated the difficulties of adolescence without belittling them and let girls know it was okay to be a little awkward, a little shy and a little unsure about growing up. It really was fantastic. Of course, I can’t talk all about it without giving you a link. You can read my full review there on Amazon, too. Just scroll down.

Since I’m already talking about the book, let me quote one piece of it. The main character’s grandmother has traveled the world and now runs a teashop in Madison, Wisconsin. While sharing her wisdom with the girls, she says “Prayer is talking to God, but meditation is listening to God.” She then went on to explain that mediation is not about emptying your mind, as many people believe, but that it’s about allowing your mind some quiet in which it may align all of it’s thoughts into a cohesive order. This is a mainstream book and it doesn’t mention God anywhere except this one small section. I just thought that was an interesting insight.

In other random news, I finally watched the version of Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightly. Too many people told me it was better than the BBC version. I loved the movie, but must disagree. I think Keira Knightly did a wonderful job as Elizabeth Bennet, but I simply cannot imagine Mr. Darcy as anyone other than Colin Firth. The revisiting of this story has forced me to pull out my copy of the novel yet again. Oh, I may be speaking with a British intonation for a few weeks as a result.

Why do Jane Austen stories always make me wish I were British? Does this happen to anyone else? Rick laughed heartily at my unintentional and quite atrocious accent all day. It just happens.

All right. Saturday night pizza is here, and I must go. Hope all of you have a delightful weekend!