Category Archives: Ronni

PHAIL!

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I’ve been terrible at keeping up with this blog. I apologize to all three of you readers. (Hmm, I’m thinking three is generous, actually.)

So much has happened since I last posted. The holidays. I had a birthday. I went to Disney World. I got to see S.J. Tucker sing many times again. I bought stuff. And traveled. And took pictures. But biggest of all: I got a (more than) full-time job as a proofreader at a Retail Marketing Agency. I proofread Sears circulars. Now, if you haven’t fallen down with boredom already, my job can be demanding. There are so many rules and standards and styles. Each business has its own nuisance, and it’s impossible to remember everything. And printer deadlines can hurt. For example, yesterday (it still feels like today because I haven’t gone to bed yet) I worked from 9am-9:30pm. My brain is still recovering.

Because working so much, writing definitely takes a back seat. 🙁 Being a proofreader makes writing hard; because I am concentrating so much on details and minutiae all day, it’s hard to come home and start THINKING again for plotting and whatnot. So what do I do? Waste time playing FarmVille and Cafe World. If I can tear myself away from the computer, I re-read some old favorites. Right now, I am re-reading GOOD GIRLS by Karen Young. It’s an adult book. I’m sure I got it from one of those Romance Book Clubs I was a party of when I was in college. Sort of like Columbia House or the Disney Movie Club, only with books (and wineglasses) instead of CDs and DVDs. I love the book. It came out in 1997. My copy is yellow. No cover. It sleeps in my bed with me at night. That’s a sign of a well-loved book.

I’ve had to replace a few of my favorite books over the years. Flowers in the Attic. (I’m just now learning that there are some who do not like FitA, but I love it. I truly do.) Heaven. Sweet Revenge. I am on multiple copies of all those books, all in various stages of wear and tear. Cause what do I do? I buy “new” used copies to replace my falling down ones!

I haven’t finished reading a new book since the start of 2011. This is bad, because I’ve usually read at least ten new books by now. I tried to read BUTTERFLY, but can’t bring myself to finish it. I’d like to finish LITTLE WOMEN, but it’s on my computer/iPhone and I still have a really hard time reading books on-screen. I will have to pick up a hard copy sooner rather than later. I won a copy of SLICE OF CHERRY by the awesome Dia Reeves (who is not afraid to let her snark flag fly!), but these days, the most free time I get is before bed. I’m kinda scared it’ll give me nightmares if I read it before I go to sleep. :O I think I’ll inhale the thing this weekend, though. It’s sitting here tempting me all day every day (when I’m not at work.)

I still dream of becoming an author. I’m jotting down ideas all the time. Stories are always taking root in my mind. People keep telling me I am a good writer. I just need for one of those stories to take root and blossom. How badly do I want it? Evidently, not badly enough right now. But it’s coming. I can feel it.

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And really, I need to stop making excuses and writing flowery purple prose and just do the damn thing. As Dia Reeves says:

Take the 26 letters of the alphabet and mix them up into sentences and then paragraphs and then chapters and just keep doing that until you get sick of it.

She’s right.

I freaking adore that woman. Anyway, those few of you who have stuck with me through this silly roller coaster I’m on…thank you. See ya soon. 🙂

A Book Meme!

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1. What author do you own the most books by?

Sarah Dessen, hands down.

2. What book do you own the most copies of?

Um, probably REALITY CHICK. I got a hold of an arc, then I bought the book, and when I moved in with Adam, he had one. So we have three REALITY CHICKs. Although, if we’re counting his books, then something by Charles Dickens would win. OR all the copies of HIS books. We have tons of HOW TO GET SUSPENDED AND INFLUENCE PEOPLEs and I PUT A SPELL ON YOUs floating around here. WEIRD CHICAGO books, too.

3. What fictional character are you secretly in love with?

None, really. Although I do think Rogerson from DREAMLAND is hot, even though he’s a girlfriend abuser. That part is NOT hot.

4. What book have you read more than any other?

THE HUNGER GAMES. I’m obsessed.

5. What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?

Hmm. I’m not sure! Because the thing is, I read SO much when I was ten…. oh you know what? I’m going to go with NOTHING’S FAIR IN FIFTH GRADE. I always ate a bologna and cheese sandwich and Doritos when I read that book, so to this day, I see that cover and crave that same meal.

6. What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?

Um…. gosh. I don’t remember. I guess the bad books kind of slip from my memory.

7. What is the best book you’ve read in the past year?

THE HUNGER GAMES. Oh yeah. I also recently read KITTY KITTY by Michelle Jaffe and LOVED it. Anything by Elizabeth Scott. Oh, and WINTERGIRLS by Laurie Halse Anderson blew me away.

8. If you could tell everyone to read one book, what would it be?

THE HUNGER GAMES. Seriously. It’s awesome.

9. What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?

WINTERGIRLS.

10. Do you prefer the French or the Russians?

My husband is Russian…..

11. Shakespeare, Milton or Chaucer?

I think I have to go with Chaucer.

12. Austen or Eliot?

Never read Eliot. Austen was confusing to me, but I think that means I just need to try again.

13. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?

Classics. I haven’t read much Austen or Dickens or Bronte or anything that everyone else seems to have read a billion times and loved to pieces.

14. What is your favorite novel?

I can’t choose this. I have too many favorites.

15. Play?

Hmm. The only plays that come to mind are plays that are either musicals, or plays that were original pieces.

16. Poem?

To see a world in a grain of sand…..
I love the first part of that poem… can’t think of the name. It has innocence in it and is by William Blake.

*so ashamed*

17. Essay?

….

19. Non Fiction

I do not read much non-fiction, but I did like that NICKEL & DIMED book.

20. Graphic Novel?

PEACH GIRL!!! I love Momo!

21. Science Fiction?

I haven’t read much Sci-Fi, except for THIS PLACE HAS NO ATMOSPHERE by Paula Danzinger. Love that book!

22. Who is your favorite writer?

Sarah Dessen, my husband Adam Selzer, Elizabeth Scott, Laurie Halse Anderson, Meg Cabot, and a growing list.

23. Who is the most overrated writer alive today?

…

24. What are you reading right now?

PEELED by Joan Bauer.

25. Best Memoir?

ON WRITING by Stephen King.

26. Best History?

The upcoming SMART ALECK’S GUIDE TO U.S. HISTORY by Adam Selzer.

27. Best Mystery or Noir?

I don’t really do mystery, but I as I said, I did enjoy KITTY KITTY.

Simply a Writer

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Melissa Marr & Me Just a few weeks ago, I got to meet the lovely Melissa Marr. She mentioned something that kind of stuck with me (probably because I asked the question that sparked it!) She said that even when she is not sitting at her computer and typing words onto the screen, she is writing.

I thought a lot about that last night as I configured my Web site to eventually take over my writing- and reading-related blog posts once I get a professional domain name again. I haven’t done much in word count over the past several months, but I am always jotting down ideas, picking up neat phrases, and thinking about characters and plots and story lines.

This past weekend, Adam and I went down to lovely Normal, IL (it reminded me a lot of Columbus and made me a little bit homesick!) to celebrate the Young Authors of Illinois. Students from all over the state having written poems or stories so well that they deserved state-wide recognition. It was inspiring to see how excited the kids got when they met the authors. I participated in Young Authors when I was in the 7th or 8th grade (are you surprised?), but I didn’t get far enough to meet authors.

Being there reminded me of a few of my past writing accomplishments. There aren’t a whole lot, but they’re there. There is the album review that got published in The Plain Dealer about 15 years ago. The same newspaper posted an article about the island of Catawba in Ohio that I’d written, but I no longer have it. When I was in elementary school, I won 2nd place in a citywide contest in which I had to write an essay of what I liked best about Cleveland.

As my friend Ivy said, I have the soul of a writer. So even though I may not be an author (yet), I AM a writer and I always will be a writer. So this journal will be about that journey as a writer. This journal will discuss the books that have inspired me and pushed me. It’ll talk about meeting with authors, I’ll talk my thought processes. I’ll talk about the ups and downs of writing. Just writing. Not focusing only on the journey to becoming an aspiring author. Not as someone rushing to make word counts because of some arbitrary goal. Not being someone pushing for perfection on the first shot (OK, this is easier said than done!). No. For now, I want to be Simply a Writer.