Life Update: I’m Not Dead! And Other Things.
Hi! Hey! How the heck are you?!
I’VE MISSED YOU, BLOG AND BLOG PEOPLE!
And now I feel that I need to explain my absence.
Lately I’ve been struggling with focus.
There are some things at work that have occurred in the past few months that are totally out of my control, but in order to do my job now, I work pretty long, very hectic hours. So by the time I get home, I’m exhausted. Which leads thinking like this: Do I go home and blog about all the amazingly awesome books I’ve read and desperately need to review because I want to share my enthusiasm for them or do I sit on the couch and clear out my DVR? Do I go home and work on a book I’m writing or do I meet friends for dinner? Wait, I should probably work on the book and reschedule with friends. Okay, book. But I feel bad about my lack of blogging. What about yoga? I should go to yoga. Do I eat a salad or cereal? Oh, I need to watch New Girl and review it for OCTV. There goes two hours. I should eat the salad, but cereal is so delicious.
I realize that a lot of you are probably thinking, “Wow, First World Problem much?” I recognize that my life is pretty good: have a job, a place to live, food to eat, friends, a really great boyfriend—but I constantly feel that I could be happier, healthier, more successful when it comes to work and it drives me crazy. I try my best to be content and positive, to be grateful for my life. But then, when I try to think of what it is that I most want to do for a career and how that career could help to make me the best, most joyful me I can be, my brain kind of malfunctions.
On the one hand, I have a job in an industry that I love. But I spend my work day wishing I were writing and I end up stealing little chunks of time during the day to get a bit of writing done. And then when I think, ‘Oh, I should probably blog,’ I feel entirely unmotivated to do it.
So I don’t.
For a while, that seemed like a good solution—if I don’t feel like blogging, then I won’t do it. I don’t get paid to blog. The world isn’t going to end if I don’t blog. And so I stopped in order to focus on other things in my life.
But then I realized that I missed the exercise of it. The time it takes to sit down and word vomit my thoughts/feelings/ideas in a post that maybe people will read or maybe they won’t. But, really, for me, blogging is therapeutic—even posts about things that aren’t my life. There have been times that I write a book review where I divulge feelings that I didn’t even necessarily realize I was having and then I’m all, ‘Okay, self, let’s have a chat.’
But lately, the idea of blogging has been exhausting. In fact, everything seems exhausting. I suppose this means that I am exhausted.
So I’m attempting to put together an action plan that is feasible for me. While blogging can’t be my priority right now (that goes to writing this book like a crazy person—there are reasons why I’m writing like a crazy person, but I’m not quite ready to share that info yet), it’s something that I enjoy and think about and want to do.
But my question for you, blogger, reader, whomever you are, is how do you balance your life? Do you have tips? A great blog that you read? A fool-proof system? Tell me all about it, in comments!
Review: Palace of Spies
Title: Palace of Spies
Author: Sarah Zettel
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Release Date: November 5, 2013
Format: eGalley
A warning to all young ladies of delicate breeding who wish to embark upon lives of adventure: Don’t.
Sixteen-year-old Peggy is a well-bred orphan who is coerced into posing as a lady in waiting at the palace of King George I. Life is grand, until Peggy starts to suspect that the girl she’s impersonating might have been murdered. Unless Peggy can discover the truth, she might be doomed to the same terrible fate. But in a court of shadows and intrigue, anyone could be a spy—perhaps even the handsome young artist with whom Peggy is falling in love...—via Goodreads
I had a really great time reading Palace of Spies.
It has a lot going for it: period drama, royalty, possible murder, crazy politics, coup plots, and a fearless teenage spy who infiltrates a palace and pretends to be someone else.
Okay, I’ll admit that that last part takes a fairly large amount of suspended belief, because, seriously, who actually looks and acts enough like a person to truly pass for them? (Except maybe Katy Perry and Zooey Deschanel. But even they don’t necessarily act alike. Though. Zooey is an actress so I’m sure being Katy Perry wouldn’t be that big of a stretch for her. Okay, I’m stopping this now.) But once you accept that, sure, perhaps in a palace where everyone is self-centered and more concerned about whether or not they’re going to be invaded by a perhaps legitimate heir to the throne than about whether or not the new queen’s handmaiden is actually who she says she is?
Nevermind. You get my point.
Once you’re past the whole idea of Peggy “being” someone without ever having met her, this book is a lot of fun. There’s tons of intrigue, on the romantical, character background, and political levels, a rising feeling of paranoia, suspense, and, finally, a whole lot of action throughout this book.
While reading this you take quite the journey with Peggy, an unapologetically smart, politically engaged young woman who, depending on how she plays her (literal) cards, could be the undoing of an entire royal family. She’s not necessarily the most elegant detective/spy around, but everyone has to start somewhere, right?
Overall, Palace of Spies is a delightful read full of the mannered, subtle unrest and upheaval that many royal families and entire countries were grappling with in 17th and 18th centuries.
Adventures in Fantasy Football {7}
I WON A GAME! I WON A GAME! I WON A GAME!
Click to embiggen.
This is such a pathetic win that I probably shouldn’t even be exciting about it, BUT I AM.
I unapologetically am.
Adventures in Fantasy Football {6}
My capacity for losing is immense.
And you know what the sad thing is? I’ve been projected to WIN many of these games.
Click to embiggen.
So then, of course, I have high expectations and think about great it will feel to finally win and tell all you beautiful people that I DID IT!
There would be many gifs.
And then, alas, I never win.
Even when my opponent has both his QB and a WR on a bye week and didn’t replace them.
I mean. SERIOUSLY.
I will NEVER win.
My players hate me. They all keep getting hurt and there’s basically no one decent on either the free agent or waivers lists and I seriously doubt anyone in the league will trade me players unless I give up, like, Aaron Rodgers.
Maybe it’d be worth it? Probably not. I’m easy to beat. Why would they help me out?
I haven’t sent in my money for the pool and at this point, I don’t think I will.
Review: Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer
Title: Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer
Author: Katie Alender
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: September 24, 2013
Format: eGalley
Colette Iselin is excited to go to Paris on a class trip. She’ll get to soak up the beauty and culture, and maybe even learn something about her family’s French roots.
But a series of gruesome murders are taking place across the city, putting everyone on edge. And as she tours museums and palaces, Colette keeps seeing a strange vision: a pale woman in a ball gown and powdered wig, who looks suspiciously like Marie Antoinette.
Colette knows her popular, status-obsessed friends won’t believe her, so she seeks out the help of a charming French boy. Together, they uncover a shocking secret involving a dark, hidden history. When Colette realizes she herself may hold the key to the mystery, her own life is suddenly in danger . . .
Acclaimed author Katie Alender brings heart-stopping suspense to this story of revenge, betrayal, intrigue — and one killer queen.—via Goodreads
Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer did a really great job of getting me out of a book funk.
Though this book is, technically, a ghost story about a vengeful queen of France, I wouldn’t necessarily consider this horror. Sure, there are some creepy parts (beheadings! hauntings! catacombs!) that are pretty detailed, but, if you’ve ever seen Law & Order (and let’s be honest, you have.), you can handle this.
At its core, this is a book about self-discovery. Collette, the protagonist, is having a rough time with her family—her parents have divorced leaving her mom in a financial bind, she and her brother fight constantly, and she feels as though her wealthy mean girl-style “friends” would never understand her problems. When she attends a class trip to Paris over spring break, she’s hoping for an actual break from her life. She wants to take in Paris and feel transported to another place, where she doesn’t have to worry about her family issues or money.
But what she ends up discovering are deep familial secrets that date back to the time of the French Revolution. And that French boys are good at kissing.
Overall, this book has it all—a great hook, (very) high stakes, some armchair traveling, just enough flirting and snogging to keep you smiling, and the discovery of what it means to be a real friend. It’s fast-paced enough to keep you speeding through the book, but a good enough story to make you want to slow yourself down to savor it.
Bethany Larson 
