Reading Books and People.

A couple of days ago, my boyfriend sent me this article from NPR about a new study that was given to readers of literary fiction, popular fiction, and non-fiction. Participants were shown black and white photos of people's eyes and were asked to pinpoint which emotion they were feeling. The study, though it's not trying to discredit popular fiction, proves that people who read even just a little bit of literary fiction have an increased perception of other people's thoughts and feelings. Basically, literary fiction readers can read people just as well as books ;)

Why? In the article, it is stated that popular fiction focuses more on plot and keeping the readers attention. It's a more explicit reading experience. By explicit, I mean that everything is out on the table as far as characters feelings, and we don't have to work very hard to know what they are thinking. The example I gave my boyfriend is, "When Sarah walked into the room, I could tell she was mad by the way her fists were clenched." We see her anger, but we are also told about her anger. The article describes literary fiction as being more about the psychology and inner workings of a character's mind and life. In literary fiction, we might have to read Sarah a little more to see exactly how she is feeling. We'd see her body language, follow context clues, and then determine she was angry without the help of a narrator. 

It's a fascinating study to me, and made me want to try and read more literary fiction. Admittedly, now that I am out of school, I've more or less kicked classics to the curb, even though it was a resolution of mine to work more classics into my reading life. 

If you'd like to take a similar quiz to the participants in the study, the New York Times posted one here.  I got a 29/36. Let me know in the comments what you got!

What do you think? Do you think this study is valid? When you comment with your score, also let me know what genre you primarily read!

Review: Psycho Killer by Cecily von Ziegesar

Psycho Killer by Cecily von Ziegesar
Publisher: Poppy
Publication Date: October 3, 2011
Source / Format: Library book!
Page Count: 309.
Genre: Young Adult.
Goodreads & Amazon

Serena van der Woodsen is back from boarding school, and naturally the Upper East Side of New York is buzzing with rumors. Some say she's actually been in rehab and is a drug dealer. Other's say she was in France, having and putting a baby up for adoption. Or there's the classic ol' rumor that she's been bedding dozens of boys, and then killing them off. Definitely rumors? Or is there a chilling truth? Serena is most looking forward to getting back on Best Friends level with Blair, but handsome Nate Archibald is standing in the way and the only way to get him out of it, is to kill him. Serena's feelings start to warm up to Nate again, and then decides that the person who really needs to be murdered is Blair. Little does Serena know, Blair has more than enough wit and strength to formulate her own plans of getting Serena out of the picture, and away from Nate.

Still wearing her gloves, Serena dropped her bag on the desk and removed the giant syringe she'd procured from the groundsman's shed up at Hanover. Two skulls with X's through them and the word POISON were emblazoned on the oversized syringe in large black capital letters. She'd smuggled the syringe into the city in a violin case stolen from a Hanover sophomore who used to play first string in the school's orchestra--before he went snowboarding with Serena and had to be air-lifted to the hospital with a fractured jaw, a severed tongue, a punctured lung, and two shattered wrists.

I decided to kick off my Halloween reading spirit with Psycho Killer, a re-imagined, re-written, gory take on the first book in the Gossip Girl series. It had been so long since I've read the first Gossip Girl novel, but I used to really love them, and my sister and I would anxiously await for each new book in the series. So rich, Upper Eastsiders? Murder? The money to get away with it? Sounded perfect. Though as you can imagine from the amount of remorseless and inconsequential murder that takes place in this book, it's not one to be taken seriously. Think of it as a B-Horror movie based on Gossip Girl and in book form. And I love B-Horror films. So cheesy, so bloody, and so hilariously put together.

Still looking in the mirror, Serena lifted her chin and narrowed her eyes into a regal glare. When their friendship had finally played itself out, King Henry VIII had had Thomas Cromwell beheaded for treason. And so it went with her and Blair. They couldn't just keep killing other people and fighting over Nate. Of course Serena would kill whomever she must to protect herself. But if she really wanted to take back her old station and hold on to Nate, the one person she would have to kill, whether she liked it or not, was Blair herself.

I thought this re-imagined first book of Gossip Girl was hilarious. The details Cecily von Ziegesar injected into the story to fit more with the theme of high society murderesses were great. Our favorite goth-film girl Vanessa is working on a short film for school about a serial killing couple. Dan's dislike for Chuck Bass is taken to kill-worthy heights. Blair has a penchant for old horror movies, instead of classic old movies like Breakfast at Tiffany's. Big-boobed Jenny has a never-satisfied craving for raw meat. All of these things really added to the goofy tone of the book. Murder is talked about and done so flippantly, and we never truly mourn the loss of any of the characters. The only killer for me (haha, get it?) was that some of the themes were laid on a little too thick. Every page had some sort of reference to blood, murder, killing, or being so annoyed with someone that they could just kill them. Like we needed to constantly be reminded that we were reading the BLOODY KILLING version of Gossip Girl. 

If you're a fan of Gossip Girl and cheesy horror, and looking for something fast and fun to read for the spooky Halloween spirit, this is obviously perfect.

Rating: 4 / 5

Review: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Publication Date: January 1, 2012
Source / Format: Library book!
Page Count: 415.
Goodreads & Amazon

On Nick and Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary, Amy disappears. All she leaves behind is a destroyed living room, and her annual scavenger hunt that she prepares for Nick every anniversary. Amy's disappearance quickly becomes a much talked-about case: she is beautiful, from money, and the inspiration behind her parents wildly popular book series Amazing Amy, which features the more perfect version of herself. Nick quickly becomes the target of scrutiny in the media, especially since everyone knows the husband always commits the crime. Nick, and his twin sister Margo, are the only ones who are confident in his innocence, but someone is making it very hard for him to prove it. He's also not helping himself with his stockpile of lies, strange behavior, and desire to always be the good guy. Nick becomes more determined than ever to find out what the hell happened to his wife. Told in alternating point of views between Nick present day, and old diary entries of Amy, we see the gritty details of a young marriage, and the fierceness of revenge.

I'd know her head anywhere. And what's inside it. I think of that too: her mind. Her brain, all those coils, and her thoughts shuttling through those coils like fast, frantic centipedes. Like a child, I picture opening her skull, unspooling her brain and sifting through it, trying to catch and pin down her thoughts. What are you thinking, Amy? The question I've asked most often during our marriage, if not out loud, if not to the person who could answer. I suppose these questions stormcloud over every marriage: What are you thinking? How are you feeling? Who are you? What have we done to each other? What will we do?

Another insanely hyped up book crossed off my to-be-read list! And another book that is well worth the buzz that has been following it around for the past two years. I read Sharp Objects by Flynn a couple of years ago for a class. I was glued to the pages and the untrustworthy characters within them. Sharp Objects packed a punch, and a plot twist that still has my mind reeling when I think about it. I knew that if Gone Girl could live up to that, I would be happy. And it so, so did. This novel is over four-hundred pages, yet I read it in a little over three days. I stayed up into the early hours of the morning unable to put it down. I read through my lunch breaks at work, and twenty minutes never ever seemed long enough. I rode the bus instead of biking home so I would have more reading time. 

He promised to take care of me, and yet I feel afraid. I feel like something is going wrong, very wrong, and that it will get even worse. I don't feel like Nick's wife. I don't feel like a person at all: I am something to be loaded and unloaded, like a sofa or a cuckoo clock. I am something to be tossed into a junkyard, thrown into the river, if necessary. I don't feel real anymore. I feel like I could disappear. 

The alternating point-of-views for each chapter definitely added to the un-putdownability of Gone Girl. Also the fact that each character was truly grimy and close to despicable, and I wanted to keep watching the train wreck that their lives were becoming. I kept telling myself, "at the end of this Nick chapter, I am going to go to bed/get off the bus/live my life." But then Nick would do something so horribly incriminating, or some huge bomb in the Amy case would be dropped, and I would have to keep reading. However, to get to the next Nick chapter, I would have to read one of Amy's diary entries, which were filled with self-loathing, fear, and revelations about her marriage to Nick, and the dramatic change that came when she moved from New York City, to small-town Missouri with him. Then to get back to what was happening to Nick, and carry that through, I'd have to read a whole 'nother Nick chapter. So started a vicious cycle. Flynn was really genius with these alternating chapters, leaving each one on a cliffhanger that made it impossible to put down. 

Of course that's what we have to do, and of course if he had presented the problem to me like I wasn't his enemy, that's what I would have said. But he came out of the door already treating me like a problem that needed to be dealt with. I was the bitter voice that needed to be squelched. My husband is the most loyal man on the planet until he's not. I've seen his eyes literally turn a shade darker when he's felt betrayed by a friend, even a dear longtime friend, and then the friend is never mentioned again. He looked at me then like I was an object to be jettisoned if necessary. It actually chilled me, that look. 

Like in Sharp Objects, Gone Girl carried a lot of layers, and twists and turns. Each diary entry revealed something about Amy and Nick's marriage that wasn't shown to us in Nick's narrative. Nick's constant lying brought on consequences. And Amy's usually cheerful walk down memory lane for their annual scavenger hunt has taken on a new tone that Nick isn't used to. The constant cliffhangers, revelations, and my previous reading experience of her work, had me doubting myself, and every possible outcome I thought of for the case of Missing Amy. 

Rating: 5 / 5

Are you also weary of much-hyped books? Have you read Gone Girl? Were you just as hooked as I was?

Review: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Publication Date: September 21, 2006
Source/Format: Library book!
Page Count: 215
Goodreads & Amazon

Colin Singelton is a former-child prodigy who is fluent in several languages, can anagram any word or phrase in seconds, and is always trying to find his 'Eureka!' moment. What he can't seem to find is a girl named Katherine who won't dump him. He's just been dumped by Katherine #19, and this is the one that hurts the most. To cheer him up, his friend Hassan drags him along on a road trip to break the monotony of Colin's Katherine problems. But all the road trip does is give him more time to dwell on where he has gone wrong with 19 Katherines, and The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability--a theorem he hopes will predict the future of any relationship--is born. With the help of Hassan, and a group of new friends he makes in Middle-of-Nowhere, TN, his most amazing 'Eureka' moment yet is just around the corner.

They listened to a country radio station turned up so loud that the twangs of steel guitars were distorted in the Hearse's old speakers. When they could catch on to the chorus, they sang loud and off-key and didn't give a shit. And it felt so good to sing with those trumped-up, hound-dog country accents. Colin felt sad, but it was an exhilarating and infinite sadness, like it connected him to Hassan and to the ridiculous songs and mostly to her, and Colin was shouting, "Like Strawwwwwberry Wine," when all of a sudden he turned to Hassan and said, "Wait, stop here." 

I have to say that this was my least favorite John Green novel, but that's not to say there wasn't anything redeemable about this read. The main 'issue' I had with An Abundance of Katherines was that I felt excluded for some parts of it. After being dumped by Katherine no. 19, he starts his work on the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which is what he hopes will predict the future of any relationship ever. Colin sees himself as the constant Dumpee, and wants to prevent this from happening in the future. However, the road to the theorem involves a lot of math, and anyone who knows me can tell you that I really hate math. I don't get it, especially when it's put into words and insane equations. Therefore, much of the development of the Theorem, which is supposed to be the greatest thing Colin has ever cooked up, I skimmed over. No part of me wanted to read into the equations and understand them. Because of all the mathy-ness, I also did not feel myself connecting to Colin at all, and actually had to distend my belief in a contemporary novel to accept that a 17/18 year old boy has had a chance to date nineteen girls, let alone nineteen girls ALL with the same name. 

Dumpers and Dumpees. A lot of people will claim to be both, but those people miss the point entirely: You are predisposed to either one fate or the other. Dumpers may not always be the heartbreakers, and the Dumpees may not always be the heartbroken. But everyone has a tendency.

Even though I didn't connect to Colin, or his best friend Hassan, or his new friend Lindsey hardly at all, there were still some epically relatable character revelations that come in every John Green novel. I liked Hassan as a character--he was often the comedic relief in the bleak cloud of Dumpee-ness that is Colin's life. Hassan also had my favorite character revelation in the novel. I didn't totally care about Colin's theorem and trying to predict his relationships, because homeboy should've learned to stop dating girls named Katherine after he noticed the trend. Or maybe looked inside himself a little to see why instead of putting it back into science and math. Hassan's, though, was something I struggle with myself: always seen as the jokester, but with little to no motivation to push himself farther in life. I loved reading his revelation and seeing his change from the jokester, into the doer.

An Abundance of Katherines is further proof that John Green is a nerdy little genius. Sadly, he displayed that in this novel in a way that probably excluded readers like myself who dislike math and reading about it. However, in true John Green fashion, the laughs were genuine, and each character had a brilliant revelation that showed change towards a brighter future.

Rating: 3 / 5

Have you read An Abundance of Katherines? How do you think it compares to other John Green novels?

Review: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: February 26, 2013
Source / Format: Library book!
Page Count: 325.

Guys, I can't even fully summarize this book without wanting to throw the whole thing out there and geek out about it even more than I already have. Here's the short of it:

Eleanor is the new girl at school, and she sure has a way of sticking out. Her clothes don't fit her, and they're all thrifted and covered in patches. She decorates her body with different ties and ribbons. Her step-father is notorious in their small Nebraska town for being a not-so-great kind of guy. And she's got wild red hair and a bigger body that is the target of ridicule from her peers. The only peer that doesn't rip her apart is Park, the quiet Asian kid on the bus who lets her sit with him, and shares his comics and tapes with her. What blossoms from this seat sharing is FEELS. PURE FEELS.

To kick off this 'review,' I will post this twitter exchange that also just made me throw my hands up in the air and die:

It's decided: if I ever need a book that will make me cry in seconds, this is the one. Not only for the cries, but the sweet smiling and book hugging that comes right after the tears. Rowell is a wizard at creating characters that I want to take under my wing and love, and also characters that I want to burn in hell. She was a puppet master of my emotions for the whole 12 hours that I spent reading and obsessing over this book. Every time I had a heavy sigh and tears poking at my eyes for the thousandth time, it was immediately followed with a laugh or smile, and it was a great balance that made me keep reading and feeling like I was too much into a rut of sadness.

All I do when we’re apart is think about you, and all I do when we’re together is panic. because every second feels so important. And because I’m so out of control, I can’t help myself. I’m not even mine anymore, I’m yours, and what if you decide that you don’t want me? How could you want me like I want you?

The best part about this whole book? The characters and the realistic connections between them. In a lot of YA novels, teenage romance seems to be the thing that always works out with little to no complications, but that is hardly ever the case. Rowell approached the relationship between Eleanor & Park with a heart squishing realness that made me both respect and admire her. And despite her realness, it's a teen romance that I wholeheartedly rooted for. Both characters have their flaws, but each one has such shining qualities and characteristics that I almost forgot they were high schoolers. Even the not-so-great relationships like the ones between Eleanor and her step-father, or Eleanor and her bullies was a beautifully painful portrait of character relationships. GAHHHH. 

Eleanor was right: She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something. 

I don't know what else to say about this book other than JUST READ IT!!!!!!! It's real, it's beautiful, it's painful, it's swoon-worthy, it's tearjerking. This book is just so lovely that I want to and need to read it again. I was initially nervous to read it, because of the HUGE hype that surrounds it, but I can see now that the hype is well, well, well deserved, and now I cannot wait to read Attachments and  Fangirl. 

Rating: 5,000,000 / 5

Have you read Eleanor & Park? Tell me in the comments what your reading experience was like!

Review: The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: January 11, 2011
Source/Format: Library book!
Page Count: 332
Goodreads & Amazon

When sixteen year old Jessica loses her leg in a bus crash, her life goals shatter right in front of her. She is meant to be a runner. She doesn't just love running, she lives for running. Her junior year and senior year was supposed to be dedicated to getting sports scholarships and beating her personal records with her teammates. It was definitely not supposed to be filled with physical therapy appointments, learning how to live a normal life again, and filled with the lingering dread that she will never be able to run again. But with the help of her best friends, family, teammates, and a classmate with Cerebral Palsy named Rosa, Jessica wonders if the loss of her leg is really the loss of her life, and suddenly the impossible seems possible.

My life is over. Behind the morphine dreams is the nightmare of reality. A reality I can't face. I cry myself back to sleep, wishing, pleading, praying that I'll wake up from this, but the same nightmare always awaits me. "Shhh," my mother whispers, "it'll be okay." But her eyes are swollen and red, and I know she doesn't believe what she's saying. My father--now that's a different story. He doesn't even try to lie to me. What's the use? He knows what this means. My hopes, my dreams, my life...it's over.

I have been seeing this book floating around the internet for a while now and when I went to my neighborhood library and saw it on display brand new, I had to grab it and see what all of the hype was about. The first thing that I loved about this book was how Van Draanen handled Jessica's amputation in a way that forced empathy. I really related to Jessica in that I've had a life-altering, slightly body changing thing happen to me that completely changed a lot of my relationships with people and the way they looked at me. She perfectly captures the awkward stares of Jessica's classmates that are fixated on her stump, and the way Jessica notices that some people pretend to not notice her at all and she becomes invisible. There was even the tense family dynamic of her sister who doesn't quite understand the emotions Jessica is going through, and her parents constant worry and stress over their daughter's well-being, but also how they are going to pay for her medical bills and a shiny, new leg. 

After school I see the track teams loading onto a bus. I stand in the distance and watch, feeling cold and shaky. How can they even get on a bus? I remind myself that it's not their first away meet since the wreck. There have been two of them...For them the memory must be fading. For me it feels like yesterday. And every tomorrow, for as far as I can see.

That being said, I had a hard time figuring out the audience that this book was intended for. Jessica and her classmates are in high school, which is the loose guideline for a book being in the YA genre. I wouldn't be able to lump this novel in with other books in the contemporary YA genre, though. The Running Dream read like it was for a younger audience, with simple language, frequent chapter breaks, and the glossy, best-case-scenario outplay of Jessica's life as a new amputee. The dialogue between Jessica and her super-wonderful best friend Fiona (like really, Fiona is the best friend I wish I had in high school) did not seem true to how teenagers speak to one another. Even though what happens to Jessica is heart wrenching, and we want to believe that everything is butterflies and rainbows after the crash, I found myself not believing that her progress was as easy as it was portrayed to be and didn't seem very realistic. 

...I've never spoken to a grave before. I don't know what to say. I don't know how. "I'm so sorry," I choke out, but that's as far as I get before I start crying. I feel bad that she's gone. I feel overwhelmed. And I feel guilt...Guilt that I'm happy. Guilt that I ever thought she was the lucky one. I can't get the words out, so I just cry. 

Even though the butterflies-and-rainbows nature of this novel did not fully appeal to me, I think there were some strong and beautiful messages within it. I enjoyed the friendship that was formed between Jessica and her classmate Rosa. Rosa blossoms into Jessica's biggest fan and motivator, and it was the scenes between Rosa and Jessica that touched me the most. I also, as corny as it sounds, found myself inspired after reading about Jessica's pure determination to get back into running again, no matter which obstacles were forced her way. And of course, I loved seeing how Jessica started working to eliminate the stigma that surrounded people with disabilities, and forced the public to see her, and Rosa, and other's like them for who they were, not just their disability. 

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Have you read this one? What did you think? 

Get To Know the Reader.

As a book blogger, my readers tend to only know one thing about me: which books I love, and maybe which city I live in. Of course, books aren't my only interest, though sometimes even I forget that there are other parts to my life besides New Releases, TBR piles, and book reviews. Here's a fun meme I found on Kaelah's blog that I thought would be fun to give a whirl! 

1. What is the first thing you do when you wake up?

Depends on the day! If I'm working, I wake up at the obscenely early hour of 4:30am. In which case the first thing I do is groan and turn off my alarm. I usually take a quick minute to check my e-mails and the weather for the day before hitting the shower! If it's one of my days off, I lay in bed for a long while, and then make myself look presentableish before walking to the coffee shop near me for a coffee, and a bagel with cream cheese, cucumbers, and tomato! 

2. What is the 3rd picture on your phone? Share it! 

This is from so long ago! I used to work at a really neat, kitschy little event venue that hosted corporate brainstorming meetings during the week, and special parties and events on the weekends. I guess one night I thought it looked particularly cool, hence the photo!

3. What TV show are you most excited about returning this Fall?

It's already started, but I was so excited about the return of Parenthood. I am also looking forward to Top Chef coming back on tonight, and my skin is already tingling with anxiety for American Horror Story next week!

4. What is something really popular that you secretly (or not so secretly) loathe?

I'm having a surprisingly hard time coming up with something...Fifty Shades of Grey? The cronut? (I actually don't hate the cronut, I just hate hearing about them all the time and don't think they are worth hours of waiting!) Dubstep? 

5. Do you have any pets? Tell us about them! Bonus points for pictures.

I have one cat! She is a little furball weirdo named Nico. She has great moments where she can't get enough cuddles, but she gets frightened really easily which means we get lots of cat scratches :( She is cute though so we let her stay, and we do everything we can to keep her relaxed! Here's a picture from our most recent cuddle session:

6. If you could put together one outfit that represents you perfectly, what would it be?

Something really simple. One of my main gripes with myself is that I have little to no sense of 'style.' A perfect outfit for me would be slim fitting dark jeans, ballet flats, a simple t-shirt, and my beloved coral color cardigan with white polka dots! 

7. What is your favorite adult beverage?

This also depends! If I'm just chilling out, I drink like an old man. I love Old Fashioneds, Manhattans, Whiskey Sours, and extra-dirty martinis with extra olives. If I'm wanting to 'party,' I embarrassingly love cosmopolitans. 

8. What is your favorite guilty pleasure?

90's music, reality TV (i love the Kardashians), and reading books that I know are terrible just for the laughs, ie: Fifty Shades of Grey. 

9. What are 3 positive words to describe you?

Creative, understanding, sassy. 

10. What is your favorite Friday afternoon/evening activity?

Sometimes, if I'm living it up, my guy and I will go to a bar in our neighborhood for a small dinner and drinks. But technically, my 'Friday' is Monday! In which case I love to take a nap, and then stay up late reading, watching TV, and getting amped for 48 hours off!

11. A day in the life: What does you typical day look like?

Typical day, I am WORKING! So, I wake up at 4:30am and do the whole phone checking and showering thing. I ride my bike to the bus stop, take that to work, and set up the store! I work in a gourmet doughnut shop as an assistant manager which is super fun. I spend the next eight hours doing doughnut saleslady things: count the drawer, drink an obscene amount of coffee, assist my manager, and have fun with the customers. At the end of the day, I skip the bus and bike five miles home. When I come home, I crash for a 2-3 hour nap and wake up when my boyfriend gets home from work. We then trot to the grocery store and debate for 3 hours on what we want for dinner. Then we make dinner, watch whatever show is on that night. I then tap out around 10 o'clock for a couple of minutes of reading before bed!

12. If you could live anywhere else in the world, where would it be?

I like the idea of Paris, though I've never been there. I also like the idea of San Francisco, though I've never been there either. 

13. You've got a whole day to yourself...what will you do?

I typically spend Tuesdays by myself! It's my day off, and Chris has a full 8 hours of work and then class. So I usually don't do much. My 48 hours off are full of laziness. I sleep in a little bit (7:30am), check my social media platforms, and watch any shows that I have on DVR that the boy doesn't like. Then I walk to the coffee shop, get my provisions, and then walk back to eat and drink. Then I read. Then I go to the library, which weirdly doesn't open until noon, and I return books I'm finished with and check out a whole new stack. Then I go home for more reading, make a lunch, look for 'big girl jobs' and keep doing like...online things. I then pick something that I want for dinner, and then I go to get things for that and have dinner made by 9 o'clock, when the boy gets home!

14. Dream job?

Full-time novelist! That takes awhile though, so for now I would love to work in advertising as a copywriter. 

15. Least favorite chore?

I hate washing dishes and sweeping. Basically almost all chores.

16. When do you most feel like a rock star?

When I get a really great compliment on my work, whether it be writing or at my job. Also, I've had two bylines in a local paper lately so seeing those is FABULOUS. Even though they're really tiny reviews, I always want to walk up to someone, grab them, and scream, "THIS IS ME!"

17. What is something you are currently trying to improve within yourself?

MOTIVATION!!! I struggle a lot with keeping myself motivated, whether it be looking for my post-college job, actually working out and eating healthier, and writing. I am dying to write a novel, and I have an idea, but I'm just not motivated enough. I am also working on getting to meditate more and be more present. In my job, it's really easy for me now to switch on the autopilot since I've been there for so long, and my days turn into a blur. I'd like for that to not happen anymore. 

Phew, do you feel like you know me any better, now? :) Tell me some things about yourself!