It Ends in the Shower…
In this Edition:
Quote.
Update.
Motivate: Worth and worry.
Book Review: It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover
Christmas gifts for the writers and readers in your life.
Final thoughts.
Update:
I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving.
Ours was mostly quiet. I cooked the meal for the first time ever. The food turned out well, but I didn’t think our plans through. Stephen got tickets for us to go to Opryland’s ICE, and at the same time, we planned to see the lights in the hotel. For some reason, we scheduled this for the day before Thanksgiving, when we should’ve been prepping food. Then the day after thanksgiving, we went to see The Wizard of Oz at Nashville Children’s Theater.
We had family come in as well, and I stayed up too late.
I don’t think I’ll ever learn because I’m absolutely worn out.
Too many plans. Again.
I’m hoping this week is a little slower. But my daughter’s birthday is coming up and so, it will likely remain busy. I’ll nap in the New Year.
NaNoWriMo update: I win! I’ve reached 50,000 words of a new novel. It feels good to have completed a goal. I think I hate my title though. I haven’t decided how I’ll proceed. I’ll either try to finish and take a break or go ahead and take a break and finish the story after some time off. But one way or another, I’m taking a break from writing (a short one). I let you know when I figure out what that looks like.
Short Story: My short story is edited! It’s nearly ready to go, but now I have to figure out exactly how to distribute it.
There are many options, many platforms, and when you throw audio files in the mix, it becomes complicated. So that’s step 1, figuring out how to send out my finished product. The audio file will be delayed. I have laryngitis, so can’t record!
Motivate: Worth and worry
This week, I’ve thought a lot about worth. My short story focuses on it, the book I just finished (reviewed below) discussed it, and I’ve been trying to fulfill my commitment to daily posting to social media, which always results in me questioning worth.
Do you ever feel like one minute everything is going your way, and the next, it isn’t?
When things are going great, it’s easy to be happy with life. But when things aren’t going your way, you can fall into a slump and start questioning so many things about yourself and your life.
I think we need to remind ourselves that our opinions are worth a lot.
Our time is worth a lot.
We are worth investing in.
And what’s important to us is worth exploring.
And we aren’t defined by other people.
That’s what I’ve attempted to convey in the short story that will hopefully be out soon.
Book Review: It Starts With Us
As I mentioned last week, It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover has been ALL the rage on social media. Colleen Hoover, the author, is basically the queen of romance. This book is a sequel to It Ends With Us.
I enjoyed both books, but It Starts With Us fell short for me, which isn’t a popular opinion.
This book explores some great concepts: how to handle an abusive relationship, dating with a child, establishing worth as a person with their own thoughts and ideas and agendas. But it didn’t have enough of a punch. The main female character’s POV was essentially leftover from the previous book, and there wasn’t enough there to keep me excited. It was like I’d already heard her story and a nice short story would’ve finished it off nicely, not a whole book. I found the female POV a touch boring. It just needed more.
I enjoyed the male POV (Atlas — if I’d had a son, I would’ve name him Atlas) but man, Atlas was a SAINT. He was too perfect, essentially no flaws.
Overall, the story was a little one-note, very low stakes.
But that’s one opinion, and it highly differs from the 281,361 ratings and 32,490 reviews, which gave this book 4.09 stars out of 5. Just goes to show you that tastes vary!
Goodreads summary:
Before It Ends with Us, it started with Atlas. Colleen Hoover tells fan favorite Atlas’s side of the story and shares what comes next in this long-anticipated sequel to the “glorious and touching” (USA TODAY) #1 New York Times bestseller It Ends with Us.
Lily and her ex-husband, Ryle, have just settled into a civil coparenting rhythm when she suddenly bumps into her first love, Atlas, again. After nearly two years separated, she is elated that for once, time is on their side, and she immediately says yes when Atlas asks her on a date.
But her excitement is quickly hampered by the knowledge that, though they are no longer married, Ryle is still very much a part of her life—and Atlas Corrigan is the one man he will hate being in his ex-wife and daughter’s life.
Switching between the perspectives of Lily and Atlas, It Starts with Us picks up right where the epilogue for the “gripping, pulse-pounding” (Sarah Pekkanen, author of Perfect Neighbors) bestselling phenomenon It Ends with Us left off. Revealing more about Atlas’s past and following Lily as she embraces a second chance at true love while navigating a jealous ex-husband, it proves that “no one delivers an emotional read like Colleen Hoover” (Anna Todd, New York Times bestselling author).
Holiday gifts for writers & readers:
For the writer:
Do you know I do my best novel plotting in the shower? And whenever I make my way back to the computer, my thoughts are never quite as powerful as the shower thoughts.
Needless to say, I’m getting this waterproof notebook for myself. I think it’s a great gift for any writer in your life, or anyone who likes to take notes in the shower! (or any humid place, like by the pool or at the beach!)
I haven’t tested this one out, but if the reviews are real, this looks promising.
For the reader:
Cozy.
When you settle in to read a book, you want to be cozy, right? An electric throw/blanket is a great gift for for someone who likes to curl up and enjoy a book! I didn’t pick a specific one because they range in price and variety, but they’re all over the place.
Final thoughts:
I hope you are remember your worth this week and as Colleen Hoover’s characters remind us, try not to worry about things that haven’t happened yet. They might never happen, and then you’ve wasted part of your worthwhile existence.
And to help you remember, write yourself a note on your fancy new shower notepad. Every time you shower, you’ll be reminded that you’re amazing. Hopefully, that’s often.
Until next week, much glitter,
Melissa
p.s. Loving this blog? Get my weekly content: timely updates, book reviews, book bonuses, essentially, ways to love yourself, others, and books! And get email-only specials. Sign up for my weekly newsletter.
