2017 Feminist Reading Challenge

The blog Femvidual will be hosting a Feminist Reading Challenge, with the choice of either Levels or a Bingo card. I'll be choosing the first level, but based on how many of the books I read last year, I'll probably read more than that. I knowI've already read some books that fit the challenge.

The Feminist Reading Challenge is back and fashionably late for 2017! This reading challenge focuses on reading nonfiction and fiction that is about feminism, sexism, and gender.

I've added some fun new challenges to the 2017 version including levels and even a feminist reading Bingo card. The Bingo card will be optional but I do want you to choose a level which are based on female superheroes. 

The Levels are:

Batgirl 1 - 4 books read
Catwoman 5 - 9 books read
Poison Ivy 10 - 14 books
Harley Quinn 15 - 19 books
Storm 20 - 24 books
Supergirl 25 - 29 books
Wonder Woman 30+ books

My books:

1. City of Women--David R. Gilliam
2. Pink--Lili Wilkinson
3. The Sky is Everywhere--Jandy Nelson
4. One Thousand White Women--Jim Fergus
5. Hope--Amanda Berry and Gina De Jesus
6. Lady Susan--Jane Austen
7. To All the Boys I've Loved Before--Jenny Han
8. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks--Rebecca Skloot
9. Quicksand--Nella Larsen
10. Are You My Mother--Alison Bechtel
11. The Blacker the Berry--Wallace Thurman
12. Bitch--Elizabeth Wurtzel
13. The Goose Girl--Shannon Hale
14. The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo--Amy Schemer
15. Wives and Daughters--Elizabeth Gaskell
16. Lipstick Jihad--Azadeh Maven
17. A Fighting Chance--Elizabeth Warren
18. The Boyfriend List--E. Lockhart
19. The Boy Book--E. Lockhart
20. The Treasure Map of Boys--E. Lockhart
21. Real Live Boyfriends--E. Lockhart
22. Soulesss--Gail Carrier
23. Ash--Malinda Lo
24. When She Woke--Hillary Jordan
25. La Cucina--Lily Prior
26. Orphan Train--Christina Baker Kline
27. More, Now, Again--Elizabeth Wurtzel
28. Welcome to My World--Lauren Slater
29. Willow Weep for Me--Meri Nana-Ama Danquah
30. The Rules Do Not Apply--Ariel Levy
31. Smile--Raina Telgemeier
32. The Girls--Emma Cline
33. Britt-Marie Was Here--Fredrik Backman
34. Lisette's List--Susan Vreeland
35. The Secrets of My Life--Caitlyn Jenner
36. Luckiest Girl Alive--Jessica Knoll
37. Reading Lolita in Tehran--Azar Nafisi
38. The Princess Diaries--Meg Cabot
39. Princess in the Spotlight--Meg Cabot
40. Ballet Shoes--Noel Streatfeild
41. Eight Cousins--Louisa May Alcott
42. Jane--April Lindner
43. The Hate U Give--Angie Thomas
44. Interpreter of Maladies--Jhumpa Lahiri
45. Serena--Ron Rash
46. Southern Discomfort--Rita Mae Brown
47. Lady Audley's Secret--Mary Elizabeth Braddon
48. Agnes Grey--Anne Bronte
49. The Way to Paradise--Mario Vargas Llosa
50. The Girl With All the Gifts--M.R. Carey
51. Zombies Calling--Faith Erin Hicks
52. Page by Paige--Laura Lee Gulled
53. North and South--Elizabeth Gaskell
54. Heartless--Marissa Meyer
55. The Scarlet Letter--Nathaniel Hawthorne
56. Dear Martin--Nic Stone
57. Snow & Rose--Emily Winfield Martin
58. Caraval--Stephanie Garber
59. Life Studies--Susan Vreeland
60. Where'd You Go, Bernadette--Maria Semple

Challenge completed on December 19

How Much Longer Can I Go--And How Much Longer Do I Need to Wait?

I'm nearly a year into working on my depression memoir, as I said in this post.  I got my new printer working on Sunday and printed out my most recent revision of the story. It's really thick now. But I'm still not done yet 😐 Skimmed through it the other day and noticed some spelling errors and some omitted words. Will get to around to fixing those soon.  I don't know how much longer I will need to work on it and when I will try to find an editor and publisher.  I know, thinking too far ahead 🙂  But I know I want to do this eventually.

I showed the recent print to some of the people at work yesterday, and  one girl said she would definitely read the book if it's published, and she said if it's published, I should do a book signing. Yes, I will do that if all this happens and I'm already thinking of places where I can hold one. Perhaps at the local bar and coffee shop and at the nearest Barnes and Noble. Again, thinking too far ahead, but these would be good places for anyone in my hometown to do a signing if they get something published.


I just now saw this article:

Literary Agent Tells All: 5 Things You Don’t Know About Book Publishing

Click on the link above to read more.  I liked the flow chart from the article, pictured above. 

And as I said the other day, I started something new.     Last September I asked the following on my blog:

How would the idea of a YA novel set in the 1980s in an epistolary (diary) format sound?  And with a male protagonist, even though I am a woman author?  I've kind of found it hard to formulate fiction based around the current technology and I think kids today should see what it was like for those of us who grew up in the eras before cell phones, the Internet and such.  What does anyone think?

 Now I've begun to attempt this.  Again, I hope to share are of this later.

Not Watching the Super Bowl

Is this you too, today?




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I'm not sure at this moment what I plan on doing for the rest of today, but watching a movie sounds good. I know I will definitely do some reading. I'm glad I didn't to go to the store yesterday because I heard about them being crowded by people getting beer and snacks for the game. And some may have waited until this morning to do so, so I'm not sure about going to the store today either. I do wonder how busy Goodwill be today, though.  

On a side note I started writing something new last night before I went to bed. More on this to come....

Quiz: What Does Your Candy Heart Say?

If only some of this were true...

I do like eating candy hearts, though.

And I would love to have a hug from someone.

Your Candy Heart Says "Hug Me"

A total sweetheart, you always have a lot of love to give out. Your heart is open to where ever love takes you! Your ideal Valentine's Day date: a surprise romantic evening that you've planned out Your flirting style: lots of listening and talking What turns you off: fighting and conflict Why you're hot: you're fearless about falling in love

What Does Your Candy Heart Say?

Blogthings: 100's of Fun, Free Quizzes!

Quiz: How Shy Are You?

Agree with most of this one. I'm definitely more of an introvert.

You Are 56% Shy

Although you live a pretty normal life, you tend to be a fairly shy person. Many situations make you feel uncomfortable, and you sometimes find your shyness hindering your life. You can survive daily life just fine, but you don't go out of your way to be social. Watch out. You may end up missing out on some advantages that extroverted people have.

How Shy Are You?

Blogthings: 100's of Fun, Free Quizzes!

Can't Believe It's Been a Year Since...

It was a year ago this month that I began the following: the new job and my idea to write my memoir of depression and going on Prozac.  Almost seems hard to believe it's been that long. Time sure does fly. 

On February 1 of last year, I began a creative writing class, which unfortunately fizzled out this year because of a lack of participation as last year came to an end. I'm still working, though. And last November, the mentor who taught the cooking and art classes left, so other mentors and clients have been filling in. I've led the cooking class three times so far, and and looking for recipes to try for this coming month. I'm also trying to get an idea for art class. Namely,  I'm trying to get some ideas for assemblage art. Most of the clients aren't aware of this, so I'm trying to get as much information as possible to see who is interested. I've also expressed the idea of doing dioramas. Either idea would involve found objects. Had anyone ever done either such art projects? If you have, how did it go?

It's also been more than a year since I read Prozac Nation and was inspired to write my own story. For a while I was discouraged, however, as I felt my story was too similar, but people I know convinced me everyone has a different story to tell, even on the same topic. It was in February last year that I began making notes for my memoir, and am still going. I only have 28K-something words as of now, does that seem to short?  I'm not sure how much longer I can make it or when I should even begin to let a publisher see it. I'm not too sure about taking the self-publishing route. It doesn't seem likely that I will.

I've been itching to re-read Prozac Nation, so I ordered a used copy from Amazon. I don't often re-read books, though as child I did read some books more than once.  Some of my challenges for this year include categories such as "book you've read before," and a "favorite from your childhood," so that will require some re-reading.   I've also been wanting to read more by Elizabeth Wurtzel,  so I bought a used copy of this book of hers.  It was her second book to be published.  

My illness recovery process has kept me from writing as much I'd been wanting to, but I'm gradually getting back into the mode.

And almost a year ago, the psychiatrist I'd been seeing since 2015 said he was leaving the county behavioral health department as he was only there temporarily. But he returned in June last year and has been communicating through telepsychiatry since last October.

Let's see what this year brings to the process of writing.

Early to Sleep

That's how I've been this last week. As I said in my last post, recovering from recent illness has made me excessively tired and wanting to go to bed early. I've been listening to my body, climbing into bed with a book, then maybe watching a little TV with the sleep timer on, though I've avoided the TV on most nights. I may try some journaling or creative writing one night.

Early sleeping has aided in my healing process greatly. I had a little trouble getting out of bed this morning (one of my work days), but I made it. Sometimes I want to sleep for 12 hours, but I guess that's not bad on days I don't have to rise early.

Also, it's been raining in my neck to the woods, so the dreary weather has made me tired as well, and has made it hard to get out. Along with excessive fatigue, I have been feeling cabin fever.

Others have assured me that early sleep is good when one is sick. It is true. I've been feeling the benefits.