Book Country gave us five spaces. These are the five on my list:

• The Stand by Stephen King
• Stardust by Neil Gaiman
• Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King
• UFOs, JFK, and Elvis: Conspiracies You Don’t Have to be Crazy to Believe by Richard Belzar
• The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

When I was trying to pick one for LitReactor, I also considered Watership Down by Richard Adams and The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. In the end I went with The Stand again. I tend to reread the books I really like after a couple of years, and that’s the one I’ve reread the most so far. I guess that’s as good a way to cut the list down as any

The downside, of course, is the extra time it takes to type the first draft into the computer, especially if you’re like me and like to keep track of your current word count. With the Echo pen, I can translate the handwriting into typed text, and it cut down that time. There’s still a bit of touch up — it always reads my sentences that start with “He” as “16” — and it’s forcing me to pay more attention to my handwriting than I otherwise would, but it’s been an beneficial addition to my process.

It will never teach me to stop crossing things out, however, so I’ll just have to get used to deleting the gibberish that results

Hope you all enjoy them ^_^

I try to write in the public library, but I find when I’m there the background noises distract me. For example, the man behind me yesterday who alternated between reedy whistling and murmured whispers. I hope the whispers were reading aloud his book, but I have no explanation for the whistling.

They’re little things, really. But people coughing, walking by while they browse the books, or holding conversations (a normal volume) are impossible for me to ignore in the library.  And yet, in the middle of a crowded mall, nothing phases me.

I can ignore the kids who seem incapable of tlaking below a shout. I can ignore the line of people waiting at McDonald’s. I can even ignore the background buzz from having so many people in one place.

I don’t know what the difference is. Perhaps it’s because I expect noise at the food court. Libraries, however, I still expect to be quiet, though the expectation seems to be growing outdated more and more.

Rather than continuing to expect them to be so, I should probably just grab my books and go across the street to work in the food court.

I’ll work on that ^_^

The rules:
1. Reply to this post and I’ll assign you a letter.
2. List (and upload, if you feel like it) 5 songs that start with that letter.
3. Post them to your journal with these instructions.

zhan_shi gave me the letter K:

• Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down
  “I watched the world float to the
  Dark side of the moon”
• Kody by Matchbox 20
  “It was clear to all of us
  We kept this hat of broken dreams”
• Klavier by Rammstein (I don’t speak German, so my understand is based on the translations here)
  “hinter dieser Tür
  steht ein Klavier
  die Tasten sind staubig
  die Saiten sind verstimmt”
• Knockin’ on Every Door by Roxette
  “Well, I’m standing in the sun
  But I’m living in the rain”
• Kick Start My Heart by Alannah Myles
  “You’re kinda cool, a little rough
  You’re skin and bones and you talk so tough”

I was going to post Kathy I by Susan Aglukark, but I couldn’t find a copy to link to

Is it a bad sign that it’s such a part of my life, it didn’t even make the top three in my list?

I’m gonna say this is an improvement.

You’re Siddhartha!
by Hermann Hesse
You simply don’t know what to believe, but you’re willing to try
anything once. Western values, Eastern values, hedonism and minimalism, you’ve spent
some time in every camp. But you still don’t have any idea what camp you belong in.
This makes you an individualist of the highest order, but also really lonely. It’s
time to chill out under a tree. And realize that at least you believe in
ferries.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

In a slightly random tangent: I googled Kurt Vonnegut to make sure I had the spelling right, and was told my query looked similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. How bizarre.

Voting closes tonight, so this is a late notice, but if you haven’t voted in that category and liked the story, please drop by.

more animals