Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

Music Monday

2012-01-30T19:36:00.000-06:00

I decided to share a little bit of music that has been influencing my world this past week as I went to work, worked on my novel and so on.

Sorry this one doesn't have a video with it.

The music from "Wicked" is always something I enjoy listening especially lately as I've been working on writing my story. I've taken a break on my NaNo novel and am working on one of my little side projects till I can figure out how I want to fix my NaNo novel. For Good happens to be among my favorites to listen to when I have the soundtrack playing.

Mumford and Sons I find is a great band to listen to when I need a little extra inspiration, since their music is full of wonderful literary references. White Blank Page being amongst my favorites of their songs that I have heard.

Songs brings you somewhere else, they make you feel a lot of enjoyment, inspiration, motivation, the emotions that they bring are many and varied. Different songs have different effects on people, these are just a few songs that I get lost in. I'll bring more songs that have been affecting my world, next week.

My Apologies

2012-01-08T10:53:00.000-06:00

I'm sorry that I have not posted anything of worth lately, but I've been sick this past week making posting difficult. I promise that I will get a post up very soon.

Looking Forward,
Sari (SarcasticMuse)

Progress

2012-01-04T20:32:00.001-06:00

Here we are day four of the year and I find myself with a completed book and two attempted. Those two sad attempts I will not go into so that I do not find myself up on one of my highly polished soap boxes. I have received a question about where people who signed up for my challenges can update. So for all the people who signed up for Clocks, Cogs and Mechanisms or What Would Jane Do, feel free to comment on this post with updates, reviews or questions. I hope all of you are having fun with your challenges and goals this beginning of the year.

Happy Reading,
Sari (SarcasticMuse)

New Year!!!

2012-01-01T20:19:00.007-06:00

Greetings world, it's now 2012 and everything seems to be changing in a domino effect beginning with today, January 1st, 2012. There are so many things to look forward to this new year and so many things to change. As always I take a look back over the past year, before I step into the new. I am excited to say that I've learned a lot this last year that I am ready to put into use.

Everyone seems to be excited about this new year and all of the things it brings, well, except for the people who believe the "whole the world will be ending" bit. Some are already referring to 2012 as a year of creativity and looking outside of the box. I guess there is a sort of optimism that comes with the start of a brand new year. People looking for a reason to make changes find their reason in the new year.

I'm a little old fashioned and like making a list of resolutions for my new year. How I do it is I make a list of at least five things that I want to change or do in the new year. For instance a few of my resolutions include getting in better shape and reading more nonfiction/educational books. I guess I'm a little weird in the fact that I love making lists and planning things out. It makes me happy organizing my thoughts on the tidy college ruled piece of paper. I can also say I'm excited for all of the reading challenges that I'm going to be working my way through.

Do y'all have a bunch of resolutions this new year?
What are a few of the plans you are making for your new year?

More will follow soon,
Sari (SarcasticMuse)

Reading Challenges!!

2011-12-24T00:01:00.002-06:00

I have decided to join reading challenges again despite the slightly disastrous attempt this year which included me forgetting to write down any of the books I had read or keep up with posting. But optimistically here I am ready to try again with challenges and even a few of my own. What challenges did I sign up for? Well that is what I'm going to share with you now. Below I am going to list the challenges, a link to them and what level I am signing up for. I'm going to add a page with a list of books I've read when the new year starts.

2012 Book Blogger Recommendation Challenge
I am going to do level 1 on this and read five books off of the book bloggers list.

Read Dystopia Challenge 2012
Beginner: Read 1-3 dystopian books.

Graphic Novels Reading Challenge 2012
12 books.

100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2012!
Reading 100+ books in a year.

Mystery & Suspense Reading Challenge 2012
Read 24 mystery or suspense books.

Serial Killers Reading Challenge 2012
I am probably going to read around 10 books for this challenge .

2012 Support Your Local Library Challenge
I'm going for level 1 on this one and going for 12 books all of them book I've never read before.

Time Travel Reading Challenge 2012
Surprise Trip read 1-3 books.

Chunkster Reading Challenge 2012
Chubby Chunkster 4 books with more than 450 pages in them.

Fairy Tales Retold Challenge
Dragon: Read 15 retold fairy tales.

Clocks, Cogs and Mechanisms Reading Challenge 2012
Clockwork Corset: Read 13+ steampunk books

What Would Jane Do Reading Challenge 2012
Jane's Persuasion: Read 4+ books by Jane Austen and 4+ books from the other categories.

Operation Deepen Faith
IV Christian Non-Fiction 5+ books

All The Books of Pern 2012
Green: original 3 books

This is my current list of challenges, more may be added at a future date.

What Would Jane Do Reading Challenge 2012

2011-12-23T22:39:00.004-06:00

Image via Wikipedia

My sister and I were looking at reading challenges and had a few challenges that we still wanted to find. One of them was a steampunk challenge that I have already posted, but that is not the challenge that I am talking about. This new challenge is one that is perfect for all of the lovers of Jane Austen's literature or people who want to be.
I've been reading Austen for a long time and truly love her work, but I have not read them in a while.

The challenge will run from January 1st-December 31st 2012.
The books you read count for other challenges.
You can count ebooks in addition to regular ones.

Just Austen-
Books only written by Jane Austen

Levels:
A Touch of Pride: Read 1-3 books

Learning Sense: Read 4+ books

Jane Austen and Beyond-
Books written by Jane and books that include variation of one of her works, sequels and/or books that use her as a fictional character.

Levels:
Expanding Emmagination: Read 1-3 books by Jane Austen and 1-3 books that fall into one or all of the other categories.

Jane's Persuasion: Read 4+ books by Jane Austen and 4+ books from the other categories.

Join up with by commenting below.
Happy reading!

Clocks, Cogs and Mechanisms Reading Challenge 2012

2011-12-23T18:35:00.003-06:00

Image via Wikipedia

The title of this challenge is pretty self-explanatory unless you don't know what steampunk is. Steampunk in case you did not know is an up and coming genre of fiction that takes place in older time periods, typically Victorian and involves lots of steam-powered technology. If you want some more information about steampunk follow the link for more information: Steampunk

This challenge runs from January 1st-December 31st.

What do I let count as steampunk?
You can count books like "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells and other books that are considered precursors to steampunk, I have no problem with you counting graphic novels like Full Metal Alchemist.

They do not have to be on a paper to count, your ebooks count as well.
You can also count these books towards other challenges.

Brass Gears: Read 1-3 steampunk books
Flight goggles: 4-6 books
Button-up boots: 7-12 books
Clockwork Corset: 13+ books

Sign up below by posting and leaving a link back to your blog. I hope you have a wonderful time with this challenge!
Happy Reading!!!

My 30 Day Challenge

2011-11-01T12:10:00.000-05:00

I've taken up two 30 day challenges, and I am determined to complete them to the best of my ability.
Let me start with NaNoWriMo and telling you what it is. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, it was started by a man named Chris Baty who decided randomly to write a novel in 30 days. The challenge of it is to write 50,000 words in 30 days, or in this case the month of November. Crazy? Why yes, I do suppose it would come off as crazy to most people outside of our NaNoing community. I know many people think it is crazy from the reactions I get when they ask what I've been working on lately. But this is my fifth time doing it and hopefully each year I do it I become closer to writing a novel worth purchasing.

Another one of my 30 day challenges is start exercising regularly. Today I didn't wake up early enough to do a full exercise program, so I did a few planks and will throw in more random exercises through out the day when I can. When I do have time to do an exercise DVD, I'll be swapping between Hip-Hugger Abs and Zumba. In case you don't know what either of those are I'll explain. Hip-Hugger Abs is a DVD that uses the Lotte Berk Method, a difficult exercise program that works muscles that you never knew you owned. Zumba is a little easier on your muscles but a wonderful dance based workout.

My goal is by the end of the month to have more than 50,000 words put into my novel and to be in better shape than I have been in a while. What about y'all? Any goals you want to accomplish this month? Anything that will be a struggle for you as you try to accomplish those goals?
I already know one thing that will be a struggle is my baking. In case you didn't know I bake a lot. And I've got dozens of cookies to bake next week. (Recipes will hopefully be posted along with pictures.)
The smell is amazing, the taste even better, the difficulty it will add to my being it better shape this month is high. But it will make for interesting posts.

Have an amazing start of the month,
Sari (SarcasticMuse)