But it's probably not going to get done during August, because, guess what, I'm participating in Camp NaNoWriMo again! I don't know why I keep signing up for these things when I always fail, but hope springs eternal, I suppose. And even though I didn't win last year, I still learned some valuable lessons that I will do my best to apply this time around.
This year I'm especially excited about my awesome cabinmates. Our camp counselor will be posting a feature on our cabin, so I'll link you once that's up so you can be envious at the amazing people I get to NaNo with. :)
Update: Find out more about all the members of the Tiger Tea Tent at Camp Counselor Sophia's blog!
Meanwhile, I'm showing them all up by being currently in FIRST PLACE with regard to word count. Eighteen words, baby! And yes, I am totally cheating because August 1st arrived for me 13-15 hours before it did for all my other cabinmates, and it is actually excruciatingly pathetic that I only managed eighteen words in that time. But hey, this is my one opportunity to take the lead, because in a few hours I will be very behind. Unless they all make the very wise decision of sleeping instead of pouncing on their NaNo projects when the clock strikes midnight, in which case I will get to keep my lead as I deviously write while they're all in bed! But somehow I really doubt that's going to happen, especially given our camp counselor's insomniac tendencies. At least that means there'll be someone to keep me company!
And I am definitely exploiting any advantages this time difference thing grants me, because it can be very annoying to deal with the rest of the time. Like that time when we were planning to submit our cabinmate requests at the same time, except the discussion took place from 4 to 8 a.m. in my time zone. Which I obviously missed due to my habit of waking up after 9 a.m. on weekdays. Oops. But I made up for it by waking up at 8:30 a.m. on my usually-reserved-for-sleeping-in Saturday (huge sacrifice, I'm telling you! nevermind that I went straight back to bed afterward...) and it all worked out, so YAY! :D
In other news, it's typhoon season! Typhoon Saola is likely to be passing through northern Taiwan later this evening, so there's a good chance we'll get the day off tomorrow (instead of snow days, we get typhoon days, whee). I've never encountered a typhoon day since I started working in Taiwan, so I'm really hoping we get the day off tomorrow. I mean, who wouldn't rather stay at home under nice warm blankets than have to go to work? Besides, it'd be the perfect time for me to get a good start on my Camp NaNo project. :)
That is, if I don't get sidetracked by this gorgeous stack of MG/YA hardcovers I've checked out from the Taipei Public Library:
I know, right? What was I thinking, checking out all these books when I'm supposed to be spewing words out like crazy? Sigh. Why does the library have so many awesome books?
The good news is that I'm on my fifth book already (I did abandon a couple of them part way through). I had a really hard time deciding which order I was going to read these books in because they all looked so good, so I decided to read them in ascending average GoodReads rating, haha. I was hoping that meant my reading experience would improve as I go, and it did seem to work for the first three books, but the fourth book broke the pattern. Ah, well.
Here are the books and the order in which I'm reading them:
1. The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson | 3.55 stars on GoodReads | DNF and 1 star from me
2. Dani Noir by Nova Ren Suma | 3.77 stars on GoodReads | 3 stars from me
3. Un Lun Dun by China Mieville | 3.78 stars on GoodReads | 3.5 stars from me
4. Wake by Lisa McMann | 3.78 stars on GoodReads | DNF and 1 star from me
5. A Fistful of Sky by Nina Kiriki Hoffman | 3.92 stars on Goodreads | currently reading
6. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly | 3.97 stars on Goodreads
7. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland... by Catherynne M. Valente | 4.06 stars on GoodReads
8. I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak | 4.08 stars on GoodReads
9. Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai | 4.09 stars on GoodReads
10. Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier | 4.14 stars on GoodReads
I'm particularly excited to read I Am the Messenger (yup, giving Zusak another chance despite not having loved The Book Thief as much as everyone else did) and Ruby Red (heard soooo many good things about this one!). Recently I've been writing more GoodRead status updates and ratings as I read, so if you're curious about my thoughts on these books, feel free to check out my GoodReads profile.
So yeah, that's what I'll be up to during the month of August — dodging typhoons, procrastinating on my NaNo project by cuddling with a book, and hanging out with my amazing cabinmates. (And, you know, writing. Hopefully.)
Got any exciting plans for August? Have you read any of the books I checked out, and what did you think of it?
