Category: Personal

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Personal Tutorials and Reviews

Books For The DART, Part 2

Thanks so much if you recommended books for me to read on my DART journey. Having made the trip twice now, today and yesterday, I can see that I’m going to need some escapism even more than I thought. I’m coming to realise just how cushy I’ve had it for the last few years and I tip my hat to all you commuters who make the trip from places as far away as Kilkenny and Cavan and Wexford. I’m not sure if we’re all dedicated or crazy.

Anyway, here is the list of books I now have in my pocket for a trip to Waterstones tomorrow and if you want to add any please do, I may make this my reading list for the year:

Finn:
City Of Tiny Lights by Patrick Neate

Fi:
Ursula Under by Ingrid Hill

Sinéad:
Carry Me Down by MJ Hyland
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Sherry:
There’s a great list on Sherry’s blog of more books than I could get through in a couple of years let alone months. Three that jumped out at me…
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Peace Like A River by Leif Enger
Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott

Sarah:
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Milagro Beanfield Wars by John Nichols
Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan

John:
The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brian
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

Eithne:
A Goat’s Song by Dermot Healy
The Bend For Home by Dermot Healy

Karen:
Has reminded me to check out Jodi Picoult whose book Plain Truth I really enjoyed.

Categories
Personal Tutorials and Reviews

Books For The DART

On Monday morning, after three years of setting my own hours and “commuting” every morning from my bedroom to my home office, I will be returning to the world of 9 to 5. Well, at least for the next two months anyway. The job is in Dublin City Centre so I have about an hour’s DART trip each way. I’m not relishing the idea of such a long trip but one thing I am looking forward to is the chance to get some reading done. Two hours of uninterrupted reading is something I’ve not had since I became a mum and, what can I say…I’m a book nerd.

So, I’m looking for your recommendations. What book would you most like to go back and be reading for the first time? Fiction or biography, latest bestseller or old classic. I’m not a book snob so don’t worry if it’s a Nobel prize winner or not, I’ll read a book from any section of the library as long as it’s a good story, well told with engaging characters. If you read it and loved it then leave me a comment and hopefully my commute won’t turn out to be so bad.

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Personal

I Did It!

nano winner

50,008 words to be exact and I’m done! Funnily enough today was the easiest day so far, I was really enjoying it when I decided to do a quick wordcount. I nearly jumped out of my chair when I realised I’d made it.

The novel isn’t finished, I’d say I’m about three quarters of the way through thanks to NaNo though. The big challenge now will be finishing it without the deadline of NaNoWriMo to motivate me.

Anyway, congratulations to anyone else who’s made it and keep going to any out there who are still typing furiously to make the deadline.

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Personal

NaNoWriMo: The Home Stretch

Somehow I should have known I’d be cramming at the end.

  • Words Done: 42,500
  • Words Left: 7,500
  • Daily wordcount since being sick last week: 4,500
  • Number of times I quit each day: At least 10

    • So, it’s the final push. MUST.KEEP.TYPING!

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    Personal

    15 Thousand Down, 35 Thousand To Go

    Just a little note on the progress of my NaNo-ing. We’re a week and a half in and I just passed the 15 thousand word mark yesterday. By my reckoning that makes me about 3500 words behind my original schedule but if I do 2000 words a day from now until the end I can still make it with a few thousand words to spare. I do think it’s getting easier, the inner voices have all but given up and left me to it at this stage. One thing that has helped with my Word Count button compulsion is to switch over to using a little programme called Dark Room. It transforms your screen into bright green text centered on a completely black background and it’s great if you’re like me and get easily sucked in to choosing fonts, setting margins, agonising over the thesaurus or any other procrastination blackhole. From the site:

    Dark Room is a full screen, distraction free, writing environment. Unlike standard word processors that focus on features, Dark Room is just about you and your text.

    And just to prove that this novel in a month malarky is not only possible it’s actually far too easy…as I went to input my wordcount for yesterday (at five to midnight because I have to squeeze every last word out of the day) I spotted that Ann Scanlan has reached 50,000 words already! I’m impressed and jealous all at once. She has promised to post on what she has learned from the whole process and I’m eager to read it…after her fingers have recovered somewhat though. Well done Ann!