Dear brain, wake up

Loved this picture and wanted to share it with you. Although, this is pretty much how I feel today. Seems like my brain is on autopilot. Much as I'd like to spend the day reading, writing and blogging, I have to study for my exams and it takes some time to get my brain to cooperate. Reading the same page for an eternity, then having no clue what you just read about? Check.

Happy Saturday, everyone!

TSS My fictious life

I'm so glad this week is over. The last two weeks have been a nightmare. Life got too difficult to deal with and what did I do? I ran away and hid in books and writing. While this is great news for this blog, it's not all that good for my real life. Those things I couldn't ignore crushed me to pieces. I felt miserable. The last thing I felt like was writing reviews. If they had been written in this state of apathy, I would have hated everything and everyone. But...it's over, everything is not fine, but endurable and life goes on.

This week I posted two reviews for my Global Classic Challenge, The Age of Innocence and Wuthering Heights. I don't know what I'll be reading next for this challenge, have to check the libraries. Speaking of which...last week I went to renew my membership in the town library in Osijek, and they had the Open Door days. I got an annual membership for free. Another good news is that they expanded the Foreign Languages department. There are tons of new(er) books in English and German. Hallelujah, God has heard my prayers.

I'll be reading Cleopatra's Daughter this week, since I forgot it in Osijek and didn't read a single page since Wednesday. The first two chapters I read were great and I can't wait to get back to it.
Since I keep traveling to and fro and the two-and-half hour bus drive is terribly boring, I always have a book with me. I try to pick books that are easy to read and not so voluminous so I can read them in two rides. This week's 'bus-book' was John Grisham's Bleachers. It was my first Grisham and I liked it, though I have no clue about football(in Europe it's all about soccer). It's about the influence of one man, the football coach, on the lives of his high-school players. It was quite nostalgic and made me think about those people who influenced my life, people whose approval you seek even long after they are gone. The review will be posted next week, probably Thursday.

I'm finally writing something more than random scribblings in my notebooks. That is, I still write in notebooks, but more often and in larger quantities. I miss the days when I could sit at my computer for hours, just typing and typing. Now I can't afford that luxury, only small treats.

I found a great blogger yesterday, or better to say, she found me. StephanieD blogs at the Misfit Salon. She says in her blog descriptions she would "invite artists, writers, poets, musicians, intellectuals, all manner of interesting people with provocative thoughts. And we would sit by a fire if it was cold outside or out in a terraced garden overlooking a lake if it was warm. We would dine on rich feasts, have chocolate cakes with good, strong coffee, maybe sip absinthe, all the while discussing the wondrous, troubling, moving, or beautiful things we had read or seen, heard or thought of....".
Now, if that's not a great invitation to visit her...I think I'd pass the absinthe, but I'd like to be there. Please, make sure to check out this great blog. I started to read one post and stayed there much longer than just one. She is also running a cool contest for an autographed first edition of The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlet. Click here to enter. Ends 11/30.

What did you read this week? What are you looking forward to in the next seven days?

Happy Sunday!

TSS: Booking through the week...

As some of you may know, last week saw me returning to Osijek for college. I passed my last exam with a great B. Considering the conditions under which I prepared the last ten exams, I cannot but say WOW to myself. But enough bragging. This semester, I will have a class on creative, essayistic and journalistic writing, first in German, next semester in English. I'm eagerly looking forward to these.
In a record time, I managed to find an amazing apartment. It's less than a ten minutes walk to the university. On the way, I pass the beautiful cathedral, the main square, my favorite bookstore and the oldest park in town. My roomie is a great girl. I had no idea who occupied the other bedroom until I came to see the place. We went to high school together, and though we were never close friends, we got along great at the instant that I moved in!
The only thing that bothers me is that there is no internet access in the apartment, and I'm so NOT buying that little mobile internet device. It's way too expensive for my limited budget. I'll have to use the computers in the college library or schedule posts at weekends when I'm home. Neither of these makes me too happy, but hey, it's not like I get to be picky here.

What actually bothers me most is that, again, I'll be away for four days a week from my little sunshine. He is staying with my parents. It's horrible to leave each Monday morning, but it's the best solution for all of us. I get to concentrate on studying, so the weekends are only to be enjoyed with him. The sooner I graduate, the sooner we'll be able to build up a living together. I know that, everything I do know, will pay off well some time soon, and it makes all the sacrifice less painful.

This week I'm hosting my first giveaway. Michelle Moran, author of three bestselling historical novels, who was also my guest blogger, donated a copy of her latest novel, Cleopatra's Daughter. To enter the contest, simply click on the cover image on the sidebar or follow this link.
For more awesome giveaways, check out Froggaritavilles's Bookcase, Ms Bookish who has a weekly updated list and, if you are a member of Book Blogs, there are several groups where you can find the newest giveaways. I have tried to compile a list on my sidebar and found it very time-consuming, so kudos to all of you wonderful bloggers who do it for us!

This week I finished two more books from my Fall into Reading Challenge list. I finished Christopher I King's motorbikes, ducks and crispy sweet apples and Cathy Marley's Peeking over the Edge. Reviews are coming up this week. Seems like I will need to add some additional goals, since I read the first two college assignments faster than I thought. I was thinking about Herta Mueller, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature this year. I'm going to read the German version of her book. Hopefully they have it in our college library.

Writing, you ask? Ehem...beside one single chapter to my current WIP, I did some rewrites for another WIP. I'm not happy with that status. Not at all. I think its was largely due to the fact that I was sick. I caught a bad flu and couldn't get out of bed, let alone to spend hours starring into the screen when I could barely sit straight. To make things worse, I passed it on to Little Hobbit, so none of us slept last night. Being sick is horrible; watching your child being sick when there is only so little you can do to help him is excruciating.

This week, I will have one more great author as guest blogger,  Nadine Laman, whose books I adore. It should be posted  on Wednesday if nothing gets in the way, so stay tuned!

It's been a long week, and I couldn't wait for Sunday to come. I'm going to spend the rest of the day cuddling with my little precious, reading and watching cartoons.

To all my dear fellow Saloners,  I wish you a nice Sunday and great week!

September Report!

We're already in October, can you believe it? September was crazy and hectic and I wonder now how I managed to read anything beside my textbooks. I guess, if you're passionate about something, you'll find the time. I wish I could say the same for writing. I think I didn't write more than 5K words in the whole month, and it was mostly edits and few rewrites. Shame on me, I know...The good news is I'm back to writing, I did more than 5K in the past two days and it has the same effect on me as when I started-it's relaxing and thrilling at the same time, reminding me why I write in first place.

A bunch of books arrived in my mailbox last month. You already had the chance to read my reviews in Seeking Sara Summers by Susan Gabriel, The Sitting Swing by Irene Watson and High Tide by Nadine Laman. I enjoyed them all. I have just finished Storm Surge, the last in the Kathryn's Beach trilogy. The review is coming up on Sunday. Currently, I'm reading motorbikes, ducks and crispy sweet apples by Christopher I King, which I won at DJ Kirkby's giveaway. I read the first hundred pages on the bus today. Several times I burst into laugh and got myself puzzled glances. It's dark humor all the way and I can't wait to get back to it.

I also took on my first reading challenge, the Fall into Reading Challenge hosted by Katrina at Callappider Days. I'm doing good so far: I finished three books from the list. I was supposed to do some book shopping today, but I simply didn't find time. Seems like I'll be able to squeeze in several additional books. Isn't that great?

I also won another blog award! Nadine gave me the Your Blog is Fabulous award. You can read my post about it here.

We have celebrated my Little Hobbit's Birthday. Though it was just the two of us, we  had a great time, eating a great cherry and chocolate cake and dancing our feet off.

These days I'm on a hunting adventure for a new apartment. The dorm has been filled long ago, so I need to find something else. It's difficult now all the good places have been taken. This is the worst time for apartment hunting, but It's my least problem-the important thing is I managed to stay on college despite all the troubles I had this summer. Ah, let's just hope something good will come my way or I'll have to camp on the college.
Kidding.

And...I got myself a new haircut, considerably shorter than the last one I had. Just so I change something.

What did you do in September? What will you be doing in October?

Happy Birthday!

Happy 2nd Birthday, mom's little sunshine! 
I love you, sweetie!

 

Where the heck is Ivana?

To borrow a phrase from a dear friend-don't turn off the lights! I'm still here! Here’s a skinny on the past two weeks here. But be warned. I always say I can’t tell a short story. And I won’t mind if you quit reading somewhere around the middle.

Long time no blogging, right? Well, the thing is, as some of you may know-exams! And I mean like real exams, hundred plus pages textbooks each, ten of them throughout September…eight more to go, actually! The first two went perfectly well; I got B’s when I actually expected to fail. But my luck of the Irish didn’t fail me. It’s always like this; you get three questions you have no clue how to answer, three out of seventy you don’t know, and you start to sink into despair. And then you start the topic from the long way around, and finally get to the point, and then, after twenty minutes of excessive talking, just when your mouth dries out to the humidity level of the Sahara Desert the, professor asks for your student’s book. He praises your systematical overview of the era and you wonder once again what the big deal was.

Yeah. You can do that in Literature. Try it on Syntax.

Everyone is back to their usual activities here, back to school and work. G. and I spend most of the days alone at home, at least by mid-afternoon, and I like it this way. I can organize my time better, find some time to write through the day while the lunch is simmering in the pot, read while the washer is running etc. Even G. seems to enjoy these days more; often he watches his Peppa Pig DVD’s for more than an hour. And he learned some English. Mommy is so proud. Especially because he hasn’t fully mastered Croatian yet.

There are some great books that have arrived in the past few weeks that I’ll be blogging about in the next few Sundays. This Sunday, Susan Gabriel will be my first guest blogger and we’ll discuss her wonderful novel Seeking Sara Summers. Then it’s time for Samir Selmanovic’s It’s all about God that hits stores September 22nd. I’m loving it, and I can’t wait to share some things with my readers. Samir offers a whole new perspective on religion, one that doesn’t impoverish any but rather enriches three major religions and atheism. I have just started reading The Sitting Swing: Finding Wisdom to Know the Difference by Irene Watson. She sent me her book without me knowing it was coming, so imagine my delight when I ripped the envelope open. It will be on the review menu as soon as I finish it.
In the meanwhile, Nadine’s Storm Surge should arrive, along with Cathy Marley’s Peeking Over the Edge and a picture book for my Little Hobbit by Kip Cosson.

After a long summer, I have visited my dear library lady in the college library. It’s still humbly small, but there are some great new reads I can’t wait to sink my teeth into. I forecast myself a nice and long reading winter. You’ll get to know all about it.

If there’s anyone still reading, thank you. You deserve a nice cup of tea.

(picture courtesy here)

Blog Party Wrap-Up

The blog party at Nadine Laman's First Draft is over. The last guest yesterday was DJ Kirkby and there is an encore on Sunday, but officially, it’s over. I feel as if parting from newly found friends I met on a school excursion. Of course we’ll stay in touch, connected through social networking and our books, but still…the last month was so much fun and I doubt it will be outmatched soon. 19 authors have participated, 30 signed books given away (3 went to me and one to my Little Hobbit), people from 56 countries visited. I have never seen Blogger having to set up a second comment page as it was the case here.

There are no words to express how I feel about what happened here. It was a lark comment about my 100th blog post and look what transpired - a celebration of writers, readers, and the writing craft. People have met who might not have otherwise met, friendships have been forged, and the world has glimpsed again why literature is important in society. I say with no hesitation, writers are among the finest people in the world. You are the heart, mind, and soul of this craft. I'm very glad we met. (N.Laman)

I guess it's time for all of us to get back to our daily activities, which I admit to have neglected. Now it's time to do some serious writing. Who knows? Maybe at some next centenial party I'll be giving away my book?

TSS: What the Ya-Yas used to read

Do you remember The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood? A movie with Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, Fionnula Flanagan, Maggie Smith and my favorite, Ashley Judd. This wonderful movie from 2002, which is based on a novel by Rebecca Wells, is one of my all-time favorites. I saw it for the first time in 2003, when I was at third grade of high school. During a long and boring Philosophy class, I scrambled random names of my friends on a piece of paper. Above the list I drew a flower. After that, I added flower names such as Violet, Lilly, Narcissi, Rosemary. Ta-Da! Our little group of six best friends instantly became the Flower Club.

The Flower Club consisted of a group of us six thick-as-thieves BFFs. We all sat in the same row in the classroom; we had all our classes together and were inseparable outside the school as well. There was a flowery notebook circling around where we used to write down our little secrets, hopes, dreams, wishes, and pasted pictures of our great time together.
By the end of high school, it grew to the size of nine members. As it goes in life, we moved to different towns to study and in the past four years, we never managed to gather all at the same time.

The little notebook was lost for a long time. We couldn’t remember who had it last, and for years I thought it was gone with the wind.
Today, four of us were at a fiesta at one of our friend’s house. With a mysterious smile, she squinted at us and said:
“Guess what my mom found the other day.”

Already too long story short, we laughed, we cried, we recalled our high school days, but we also remembered what we used to read these days. Though it was unwritten law, and no one ever set any rules on reading and discussing books, it was my first book club.
So what did the Ya-Ya Flowers read?

The #1 on the list was the unrivaled The Lord of the Rings. Our passion for the books that almost all of us had read long before was revived with the movies. We were reading Tolkien with new eyes, now with the beautiful images from the movie (no, I don’t mean Orlando Bloom!).

#2 was-you guess-Harry Potter. Back then we had only the first three books, holding our breaths until the release of the next one.

#3 R. L .Stine’s The Fear Street series. They were YA, cheap, short, intriguing and a perfect birthday present. You read it first, and then pass on. Along with a box of chocolates and a funny candle.

#4 the Myst series: The Book of Atrus, The Book of Ti’ana and The Book of D’ni by Miller, Miller and Wingrove. I didn’t read them, but all the other Ya-Yas swore it was amazing.

#5 What would this list be without vampires? Anne Rice was a must-read. The Interview with a Vampire, The Vampire Lestat and The Queen of the Damned.

#6 Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. We loved Anna, and those who weren’t intimidated by the sheer size of the book, found themselves lucky to have read it.

#7 Several books that were school reading requirements, but we enjoyed a lot, such as Madame Bovary (G. Flaubert), Therese Raquin (E. Zola), and several Croatian novels.

I love remembering these days. First now I see how strong this connection to books and our love for the written word was. Books were always there. And they will always be. Just like friends.

The Sunday Salon...

...which is actually not a Sunday Salon...



I have spent my Sunday so far trying to come up with an excuse for why I don't have a proper book review for the Sunday Salon. Then I read JoAnn’s and Katie’s posts and realized I am not the only one who has been recapitulating July both in what I’ve read so far, what has been left to be read, and what I have accomplished in other areas of life.


I can not use JoAnn’s excuse -I’m on Facebook for two years now, but I still spend too much time there. My dear JoAnn, your kids are right, the obsession will dimnish very soon. But I really have to admit that Facebook was very useful for me while I was on maternity leave for a year. I kept contact with all my college fellows and I could keep up with what they have been doing though we were hundred miles away. Not to mention that I found my first best friend, a girl I met in first grade while we were living in Germany. That was in 1993, and the last time I heard of her was Christmas 1994. Do I need to say how loud I was screaming when she sent me a message on Facebook after all those years?


I have done a lot of reading and writing this week. As usual, I read three books at once and I seriously need to get rid of that habit since I barely keep track of what I read last in which. Sometimes I even mix them up, and that becomes quite a problem when doing a book report or a review (What does Edward Cullen have to do with L. Erdrich, anyone?)


Currently I’m reading S. Selmanovic’s It’s all about God, and I am positively surprised. It fulfilled all my expectations. The review is coming in two weeks probably. Thanks to Samir who was so kind as to send me a typespad copy! The only reason why I haven’t finished it yet is that I can’t read long from my computer, but no fear-I’m almost done!


My copy of Kathryn’s Beach by N. Laman has arrived on Friday morning. That was quick; it took only a week from Arizona to Croatia! Nadine, I’m enjoying it, already halfway through!


I started reading Wuthering Heights again. I recently bought my own, being reminded of it in New Moon which I reread two months ago and I really wanted to read it now. It is the ultimate test for my language skills. It’s demanding and challenging, not to mention the rich vocabulary. I have been learning English for four years in high school, starting with the basics, and three years in college, so please, read my posts forgivingly.


The writing…ah, the writing. There are three drafts of the same story. I’m experimenting with three different POVs, each 30,000 words so far…The last one seems fine. I better stick to that and stop experimenting or I will never move forward.


The heath is seriously messing with my spelling accuracy. It has been 39 Celsius today (102 F) and there is no escape from it. The shade in my backyard is a weak comfort, since such a warm wind is blowing that you have the feeling someone is blowing a hairdryer at you. Horrible.

Hope you have it better than me, and that you found an effective way to keep cool. Wish you all a beautiful Sunday evening!

Odds and ends

I put my kid to nap and made myself a nice cappuccino. Luckily, the house is empty, so it’s just me and my blog! At last!

It's been wild few days here. I barely have time to read, but I'm making my way through Elijah's Cup anyway. Mostly I read late in the night. It’s way too hot to sleep, and I just got to use the chance to read more than a page without being interrupted five times in five minutes. I’m waiting for several books to arrive, so I might change my reading plans and remix my TBR list.
The writing is doing just fine, thank you for asking. I’m doing much more than 500 words a day. Saturday was my day off, but that doesn’t mean the voices in my head would shut up! The untitled new thing is unstoppably growing into a YA novel. Which couldn’t turn out any other way, I guess. Who feels more misunderstood and alienated than teens? I was seventeen not so long ago, so I might use some of my own experience. Yes, you guess right, I was the one with a brace and a stack of books in my hands, always aside from the popular kids.
At the present, I have 27 000 words and it would be time to send it off to my reader/ex-roommate.

I'm trying to catch up with all those amazing book blogs, but there are just so many to explore. Some of the recently found is surely Peeking Between the Pages . Darlene is hosting a giveaway for Song of Renewal by Emily Sue Harvey. You can read her beautiful review here and here is Emily’s guest post on Peeking Between the Pages.

Another great blog- Hey, Lady! Whatcha Readin’? Don't you just love the pinup girl?

Oh, and my rye field has just been harvested! So, I think it would really be high time I post the story!

My first award!

I received my first blog award! Thank you so much, JoAnne, for the award and your beautiful comments alike! In order to receive the award, I need to list seven of my favorite things. Here’s my list:

1. My son. Little G. is turning two in September. My heart melts when he wakes me up in the morning with a small kiss, whispering Mama into my ear. Being a single mom at the age of 22 is extremely difficult-but when I see my little angel happy, healthy and bright, I know I’ve done something right in my life!

2. Reading. Re-discovered in college. For four high school years of reading-because-I-have-to, I am now reading-because-I-want-to again!

3. Writting. Also re-discovered lately on a new level. My oblivion and my way to deal with sad things.

4. Music. Rock of any sort, genre, era. Foo Fighters, Aerosmith, Evanescence, Seether, Judas Priest…you name it!

5. Coffee. I’m not going to reveal how much coffee I drink. It’s suicidal.

6. College. I’m at the second year of English-German Language and Literature, aiming for my Bachelor’s degree this time next year, afterwards MA in English translation. Already see myself as a translator of literary texts, not boring legal stuff. It means a lot to me; I’ve passed so many obstacles to be where I am now and I’m proud of it.

7. The countryside. Though Croatia is famous for the beautiful Adria See, I’m from the continental part. I’m surrounded with fields of rye and sunflowers, wonderfully changing colors as the seasons change.

I’m passing this award on to:

Nadine from First Draft-thank you for your support, inspiration and guidance! Please, make sure to check out her web site and her blog. She is an awesome writer whose story to publication is truly worth admiring!

Ella from The Clock Monkey. Ella is a wonderfully creative Argentinean girl and an expert on YA novels. Her stories are great too. Though I read less YA than before, old habits don’t change easily. The Clock Monkey is the ultimate source for great new novels, book blogs and creative ideas.

Katie from 101 books in 1001 Day. A blog I discovered recently on The Sunday Salon. Katie and I seem to think on the same wavelength when it comes to books!

Once again-thank you, JoAnn! Enjoy your vacation! Italy is worth it, particularly Venice! Been there!

Another birthday behind me, my 22nd...getting old...no big celebrations, but tons of (mostly electronic) congratulations. The last time I checked, and it's still an hour to midnight, there were 56...had no idea I had so many friends :)

The most original one and the one that made me smile around my head came from a college/Twilight nerd/rock fan colleague. She sent me a picture of a Rock star Vampire, saying "Vampires don't hug much. Consider yourself lucky." I love that girl. Just too bad I'm Team Jacob. But Vampires of any kind serve just fine as well.

So, to get to the point of all this blogging. I'm obsessed with literature of any kind and form-not just reading and writing, but with the whole publishing process too. My goal is to become a translator of literary texts (if everything goes well, I'll get my Bachelors degree this time next year). Just recently, after I realizedI wrote a full length novel of over 100 000 words, and one of my professors read it, she prompted me to try to get to a literary agent.

I still haven't. I got to admit, after getting into the whole process of even querying an agent, it scared me off. I already have a list of desirable agents, though a lot of time will pass before I really do any real steps forward. Right now I'm editing and proofreading it...for the eight time...

In that sense, this blog will be my scrapbook of useful web pages and blogs, and there are so many if you just know where to start your search. I sincerely hope someone will join my adventure!

I created a FiledBy account just the other day. I love it; it's in fact a site "providing membership sites, web tools and community building solutions to content Creators - authors, writers, illustrators and photographers – and their fans," which would practically mean you get to join an author's list as a reader, discuss their work with fellow fans, and if you are published yourself, it is a great way of self-promotion, being given a free page on what I hope to become the largest authors and readers community online.

Anyway, I'm off to bed now. My baby is asleep for almost three hours now, and in the meanwhile, I added five more pages to the manuscript. I guess, if I go on like this, I will never finish it at all. But there is always just so much more to say...

Lots of love and sweet dreams,

Ivy

The First

So, I just shut down my former two blogs, which due to the the lack of free time, I updated once in a blue moon। Hope this one won't see the same sad destiny...
Anyway, so many things are going on, so many of them I fail to process properly। I was never a fan of diaries, since they are so "public"-these little locks are just too easy to pick। Maybe ironic to share with the online comunnity what you're not willing to share with people close to you...but, you know, it's not the same...and I need my outlet nevertheless। Besides, it's summer-no exams, the kids spend more time outdoors...which will hopefully mean more time for myself.And by golly, I need it.
So let the torture officially begin!
P.S. Right after I do the dishes and iron a mound of sheets!
See ya in like...few hours! :)