Prescription Bottle Christmas Lights

About a year ago, I saw an image on Facebook similar to that below:




Oddly enough I have been saving my empty prescription bottles (I can call the pharmacy when I need refills). Not sure why I have been saving them, but maybe I was thinking of doing this? I seemed to have liked the idea a year ago, but I'm not sure about now (and FYI, I haven't decorated for Christmas yet).  This website, however, doesn't think this is a good use of such bottles. How does this idea sound to you?

Those of you who have prescription medication(s)--what do you do with your empty bottles? I'm now considering using some of mine for an art idea I have in mind for our class at work that we will hope to start at or after the beginning of the new year. More on this to come.

2017 Reading Challenge @ Better World Books

Here's another checklist-style challenge. Go here for details. A printable list is available.



Collection of Short Stories: Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs--Wallace Stegner
Based on a Historical Event: City of Women--David R. Gilliam
Picked Based on Cover: Pink--Lili Wilkinson
Color in Title: One Thousand White Women-Jim Fergus
Translated From Another Language: The Abominable Man--Maj Sjowall
Female Author: The Impossible Knife of Memory--Laurie Halse Anderson
By Person of Color: To All the Boys I've Loved Before--Jenny Han
A Book Under 200 Pages: Lady Susan--Jane Austen
Banned Book: Black Beauty--Anna Sewell
More Than 100 Years Old: The Epic of Gilgamesh
Book of Poetry: The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens
Book With a Child Narrator: The Field of the Dogs--Katherine Paterson
Food Memoir: Cakewalk--Kate Moses
Over 400 Pages: Angle of Repose--Wallace Stegner
Based on a  Fairy Tale: Beast--Donna Jo Napoli
Time Travel: Slaughterhouse Five--Kurt Vonnegut
YA Novel: The Goose Girl--Shannon Hale
Set in Asia: Lost Horizon--James Hilton
Adapted Into a Movie: The Chocolate War--Robert Cormier
Set in A Place You Want to Visit: Just One Year--Gayle Forman
National Book Award Winner: The Spectator Bird--Wallace Stegner
Nonfiction Book About Nature: Dear Bob and Sue--Matt and Karen Smith
Romance That Takes Place During Travel: One Plus One--JoJo Moyes
Book About Immigrants: Interpreter of Maladies--Jhumpa Lahiri
Takes Place in a Forest: Serena--Ron Rash

Challenge completed on August 21

Introducing the Newbery Reading Challenge 2017

The Newbery Reading Challenge is on again and this year it includes the Caldecott Honor Books.

​Welcome to the fourth year of the Newbery Reading Challenge! Newbery and Caldecott books are fun to read - whether it's our first time experiencing them, or we're revisiting them from our childhood. If you want to challenge yourself to read more Newbery and Caldecott books this year, then you have found the right place!

Here are the rules:​
Each book you read is worth points. You get:

• 3 points for a Newbery Medal Winner
• 2 points for a Newbery Honor Book
• 1 point for a Caldecott Book (Both Medal winners and Honor books are worth a point this year!)

In addition to that, you pick a level to aim for:

• L'Engle: 15 - 29 points
• Spinelli: 30 - 44 points
• Avi: 45 - 59 points
• Lowry: 60 - 74 points
• Konigsburg: 75+ points

You can get to this level with any combination of points you want. You can read all Newbery Medal winners. You can throw in a few Honor Books. If you want, you can even read 75 Caldecott Medal winners! How you get to your point level is totally up to you.

Also, anywhere in the point range for your level counts as completing that level. So for example, if you signed up for the Avi level and read 46 points' worth of books, then you have completed that level!

List of Newbery Medal Winners & Honor Books
List of Caldecott Medal Winners & Honor Books

Challenge Guidelines:

• Rereads count (because you were probably a kid when you read it last, and your perspective on the story just might have changed since then).
• Audiobooks and ebooks count.
• And paper books count, too. :)
• All books must be read between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2017. Books begun before January 1 don’t count.
• Books can be used for other challenges as well.
• You don’t have to have a blog to participate. You can link up reviews from Amazon, Goodreads, etc., or just hang out with us in the comments!
• Reviews are encouraged, but not necessary. There will be a headquarters page for you to link up your reviews if you want to share your thoughts.
• Choose your point level. You can always aim for a higher point level, but you can't move to a lower one.

Here is what I am reading:

1. Owl Moon--Jane Yolen (1 point)
2. Olivia--Ian Falconer (1 point)
3. Alphabet City--Stephen T. Johnson (1 point)
4. El Deafo--Cece Bell (2 points)
5. Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer--Carole Boston Weatherford (1 point)
6. Make Way For Ducklings--Robert McCloskey (1 point)
7. Out of the Dust--Karen Hesse (3 points)
8. If You Come Softly--Jacqueline Woodson (2 points)
9. The View From Saturday--E.L. Konigsburg (3 points)                                       
10. 
    
11. 
    
12. Challenge completed on July 16

The 2017 Paranormal Reading

Julie Cornell  at Whole Latte Ideas is hosting this challenge, formerly the Reading Bites Challenge.

This challenge has been moved from Whole Latte Books!

New for 2017!
I've decided to make some changes to what has been known as The Reading Bites Challenge and expand it to all paranormal creatures! This year it's called the 2017 Paranormal Reading Challenge! This means you can read about vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, ghosts, and even witches!

As always this is a challenge where you choose your own reading goals. It's low pressure so read as much or as little as you would like!

The Rules:
This challenge begins January 1, 2017 and ends Dec 31, 2017.
You may sign up anytime during the year.
I won't be creating different levels. Read as little or as many books as you want.
Books must be paranormal. This means the book has supernatural beings or elements but is set in our world. This includes vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, ghosts, witches, wizards, psychic powers, magic, fairies, mermaids, angels, gods, etc.
You may include books of any format including traditional books, ebooks, or audiobooks.
Books may be YA, adult, horror, romance, graphic novels, etc.
You may reread books.
Books may count towards other reading challenges.
Use the hashtag #2017ParanormalChallenge
If you could be so kind, please place the 2017 Paranormal Reading Challenge banner on your blog to help spread the word.
Please link back to this blog, post about it on Facebook, Tweet about it, and so on to help spread the word.

Here is what I am reading:

1. Beast--Donna Jo Napoli
2. Southern Ghost--Carolyn G. Hart
3. Soulless--Gail Carrier
4. Ash--Malinda Lo
5. Fuzzy Mud--Louis Sachar
6. Carry On--Rainbow Rowell
7. Wicked Lovely--Melissa Marr
8. Stardust and Shadows--Janelle Taylor
9. Daughter of Smoke and Bone--Laini Taylor
10. All Our Wrong Todays--Elan Mastai
11. The Trouble With Magic--Madelyn Alt
12. Pirates--Linda Lael Miller
13. The Fall of the House of Usher and Four Other Tales--Edgar Allan Poe
14. The Spiderwick Chronicles 1-5--Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
15. Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles: The Nixie's Song--Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
16. Aunt Dimity and the Village Witch--Nancy Atherton
17. The Shack--William Paul Young
18. Ghosts--Raina Telgemeier
19. The Turn of the Screw--Henry James
20. Bloodlines--Richelle Mead
21. The Girl With All the Gifts--M.R. Carey
22. Nightlight: A Parody--Harvard Lampoon
23. Zombies Calling--Faith Erin Hicks
24. Witch Buster--Jung-man Cho
25. My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish--Mo O'Hara
26. My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish: The SeaQuel--Mo O'Hara
27. My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish: Fins of Fury--Mo O'Hara
28. My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish: Any Fin is Possible--Mo O'Hara
29. Blood Red, Snow White--Marcus Sedgwick

Challenge completed on October 27

2017 Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge

I will be doing this one again. I'm still working on this year's challenge and have already read more then 40 books, so I think I can get that many next year, or close to it. Click here to sign up.

I can’t believe it’s already time to sign up for 2017. I hope everyone who participated last year read a lot of great mystery, suspense, and thrillers. I know I did and I found a lot of new series! This year Barb @ BookerTsfarm and I have decided to add a few things to the challenge. Hope you will join us!

I read more mysteries this year than I have in a while, so I think I am a bit addicted. I can tell my reading mood has changed over the last couple of years and it’s landed on mysteries and horror. So I read almost 100 mysteries of some type this year!!

This year Barb and I have decided to open up a facebook group for all of us who are addicted to mysteries as we thought it would be fun to chat now and then about those mysteries we are reading. You read a really good one and want to give it a shout out, or if your curious to see what everyone is reading, or want to tease us with a tidbit from your current read, or just general chatter.  Here is the groups link:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/350512171977943/ It’s a closed group so just ask to join and we shall let you in.

Challenge Rules:

You can read any book that is from the mystery/suspense/thriller/crime genres. Any sub-genres are welcome as long as they incorporate one of these genres.
You don’t need a blog to participate but you do need a place to post your reviews to link up. (blog, goodreads, booklikes, shelfari, etc.)
Make a goal post and link it back here with your goal for this challenge.
Books need to be novellas or novels, please no short stories. (At least 100 pages +)
Crossovers into other challenges  are fine.
The Challenge will  be from Jan. 1st to Dec. 31st. (Sign up ends April 15th)
There will be a monthly link up so that others can check out your progress and look at your reviews. At the halfway mark and at the end we will have a giveaway for those participating.

If you tweet about your progress or reviews please use the hashtag #2017CloakDaggerChal so others can see it.

Levels:

5-15 books – Amateur sleuth

16-25 books – Detective

26-35 books – Inspector

36 – 55 – Special agent

56+ books – Sherlock Holmes

Here is what I am reading:

1. The Abominable Man--Maj Sjowall
2. 12th of Never--James Patterson
3. Rainbow Drive--Roderick Thorp
4. Catch Me--Lisa Gardner
5. Big Bob--Georges Simenon
6. A Sudden Silence--Eve Bunting
7. Southern Ghost--Carolyn G. Hart
8. The Hound of the Baskervilles--Arthur Conan Doyle
9. Unlucky 13--James Patterson
10. Easter Bunny Murder--Leslie Meier
11. The Cat Who Had 14 Tales--Lilian Jackson Braun
12. Turbo Twenty-Three--Janet Evanovich
13. Night Fall--Nelson DeMille
14. The Neighbor--Lisa Gardner
15. The Girls--Emma Cline
16. The Woman in Cabin 10--Ruth Ware
17. A Study in Scarlet--Arthur Conan Doyle
18. 14th Deadly Sin--James Patterson
19. Luckiest Girl Alive--Jessica Knoll
20. Killer Gourmet--G.A. McKevett
21. Smoke Screen--Sandra Brown
22. How to Paint a Cat--Rebecca M. Hale
23. 15th Affair--James Patterson
24. The Big Kitty--Claire Donally
25. Cold Pressed Murder--Kelly Lane
26. The Trouble With Magic--Madelyn Alt
27. The Case of the Unlucky Loser--Erle Stanley Gardner
28. A Dead Liberty--Catherine Aird
29. Ming Tea Murder--Laura Childs
30. Patterns in the Sand--Sally Goldenbaum
31. Lady Audley's Secret--Mary Elizabeth Braddon
32. Aunt Dimity and the Village Witch--Nancy Atherton
33. The Moonstone--Wilkie Collins
34. Peaches and Screams--G.A. McKevett
35. 16th Seduction--James Patterson
36. Wedding Cake Murder--Joanne Fluke
37. A Tan and Sandy Silence--John D. MacDonald
38. How to Catch a Cat--Rebecca M. Hale
39. The Crime and the Crystal--E.X. Ferraris
40. Snow White and Rose Red--Ed McBain
41. Christmas Caramel Murder--Joanne Fluke
42. Banana Cream Pie Murder--Joanne Fluke
43. The Case of the Calendar Girl--Erle Sanely Gardner
44. Where'd You Go, Bernadette--Maria Semple
45. The Penguin Who Knew Too Much--Donna Andrews
46. Fat Free and Fatal--G.A. McKevett

Challenge completed on December 25

Where Will We Be in Five Years?

Stephanie Faris (and others) wrote this on her blog today as the question of the day at the Insecure Writers' Support Group (I'm still pondering whether to join the group or not).

I've often dreaded hearing questions such as "Where do you see yourself in five years?" because nothing is certain.  But now that I'm in the process of writing a memoir, I hope one day to see it in print.  It's been less than a year since I started and some of the people I sent it to have yet to say whether they've finished reading it. And if they have finished, to hear what they think.   But if my memoir doesn't make it, then I'm hoping to write something that might just make it. But I think I should try to finish the memoir and see if anyone is interested in publishing it.  Less than a year isn't a lot of time to try sending it to publishers, but I hope not to spend more than five years on it! I definitely don't want to spend ten or more on the thing, though it's never certain how long it will take some people to write something they feel is worthy of publishing.

How long did those of you who have had book published spend working on the thing on average?

WritersLife.org: Which Archetype Is Your Male Protagonist?

Here is the full article, but the one I want to focus on is this:

The Shy Geek

This reclusive character tends to keep himself to himself. He likes to be alone, leads a solitary existence and is shy when faced with social situations. This character is one who readers get to know because of his desire to understand himself better, to change who he is, and to get to grips with his emotions. He is usually clever and thoughtful though when written in a negative way can be neurotic, psychotic and frightening.

I was glad to have seen this since I am going to attempt to create one such character.  The above description is synonymous with the terms "loner" or "introvert," which I have already noted in what little I have attempted as of yet. I may have been a girl :-), but the loner stereotype is something I can identify with, and definitely with being an introvert as well.

This is all I will say right now. I've only worked a little so far on this idea I'm trying to write (what with my still trying to revise and finish my memoir). But I was see this article, and especially this one section because it will be helpful for what I am attempting.