Thoughts on the Journey

I'm having a quiet week since due to when the school break is, I won't be substituting at all. That's given me time to get to work on a number of things I've been meaning to do and have the time to finish up some reading.

Today I signed up to write a review for Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. I love looking through the RITA nominees and then seeing what I can find at the library. In an annoying twist, the books that really caught my eye weren't at the library but they just add to my to-read list.

I also signed up to do some volunteering with one of the library associations with, I hope that helps me in terms of reaching out. Its something I've been wanting to do more of, but I needed to get a little braver. I'm waiting on hearing from a school, so the busier I am the better. It feels like there are doors opening and I only need one place to say, yes, we want you. I did my taxes today which were simple, that was nice and now they're done and I've sorted a lot of books to go the library book sale. My other main goal for myself this week other than the sorting and taxes is to finish a fic and post it.

That reminds me, one of the ARCs, I picked up in Chicago was for To Hold the Bridge by Garth Nix. I know a lot of people on my circle/flist read him and I'd love to pass it on to someone who will enjoy it. Comment here and we can figure out how to get it to you.

Now for the books that have been happily filling my time.
What I finished reading

Only Enchanting by Mary Balogh, this book is part of her Survivor's Club series which focuses on a group who were all wounded in various ways during the Napoleonic Wars. They're brought together by a noble who lost his son and opened his estate to all of them to heal. The series starts six or so years after they all returned and now they're mainly healed and meet annually at the same estate. I adore this series and Balogh's writing, because all the characters have depth, she shows different sides of the Regency world and all of the endings feel earned. This one is particularly interesting as the hero suffered major head trauma so he has missing parts of his memories and doesn't always feel in control. I liked how she dealt with his challenges and the romance was complex and fascinating.

I also finished my reread of Passage by Connie Willis and my parents are currently reading it. I always enjoy her writing because of how they remind me of my favorite mysteries, strong characters, a plot that pulls me in with the addition of something more.

What I'm reading now

Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman and this is an amazing book. I love how the story and the world has grown bigger since Seraphina and the challenges that face her.

The Seneca Falls Inheritance by Miriam Grace Monfredo which is interesting. Its a mystery about a librarian set not long before the Seneca Falls Confederation and the main character is a friend of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The writing is good, the author brings in many aspects of what it means for the main character to be a single woman and how she fits into the town. So far the mystery isn't that gripping which is why I keep putting it down and picking it back up again.

What I'm reading next

Yesterday at the library, I picked up Night Watch as its been a while since I reread it. Other than that, I'm not sure, my to-read pile is always daunting and challenging.

My mind was a rather strange place last night as I dreamed that I was not Batman and not exactly Bryce Wayne but someone in between. I was investigating something at a girl's boarding school that reminded me of the main castle in Prague. As in there was the entire little city in this small space, it was a claustrophobic sort of dream. Also at some point in the dream, I turned into a student who was lost and couldn't figure anything out.

I'm pretty sure I know why I had such a dream, that was because last night I watched the season finale of Hannibal and then before going to bed finished reading The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie and there were unexpected parallels going on.

( Spoilers for Hannibal, entire season and A.B.C Murders )

Otherwise, I'm finding it weird to not be heading off to work and so am spending a lot of my time writing and preparing to head to the ALA conference in Chicago from June 27th to July 1st. I'm excited and scared as I know there's more I need to be doing to really be at my best for looking for a job. I have blog posts that I should get writing but mainly that words I keep getting at the moment are fandom ones. I did get some minicards made up for myself, which I love. They have all my pertinent information on them and as my Wordpress blog is pretty much my digital portfolio, they should work.

On Wednesday, I went to the Detroit Zoo and had an amazing time, it was wonderful to just wander around and enjoy the crowds of kids and the beautiful weather. The only annoying part was that when I was trying to get a picture of the prairie dogs, I missed where the concrete changed and skinned my elbow and acquired a nice bruise on my knee. I'm still a little sore since I didn't fall all the way down, I took a major bump. I think I might end up doing another post with just those pictures or at least some of my favorites for those who don't follow me elsewhere to see them.

In terms of fandom writing, I wrote a femslash piece for the Marvel Femslash Prompt Fest, its a little out of my normal round but the prompt clicked for me. Harder than Steel, which is Raven/Emma and explicit.

Today has also been a busy day as the DE was a prompt one and I wrote a number of fics, some of I might expand out and I'm still open for more prompts there.

It was also FicFriday over on Twitter and I'm still taking prompts there as well.
( Twitter Fics )

My parents are going to pay for me to go to the ALA conference at the end of June in Chicago. I'm still beaming happily about this because I've been wanting to go to this conference for ages but time and money. They both think its important to go to conferences when you're new in a profession and I will.

Its June 27th to July 2nd and is something I can talk about during job interviews as well and maybe see about giving a rough version of my presentation somewhere in it. At the moment, my first idea is to take the train out there to save parking costs and there's a train station somewhere in Birmingham, so I can haul books back with me.

I get to go to ALA and see Chicago and maybe actually meet some people who live there!