Category: Writing

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nanowrimo for reals

As in National Novel Writing Month. As in trying to write a 50,000 word novel this month. No more “one of these days I’m gonna” — this year I am for real. (A few years back I did quite a bit of writing during NaNoWriMo on my languishing 15-year-old scifi novel, which probably shouldn’t count. Didn’t make it to 50,000 words either.)

I’m actually somewhat organized about my writing for once, and worked through the first few steps of the Snowflake Method, after getting an initial inspiration by some semi-random photos. So I have main characters and a plot, mostly figured out, although I’m planning on weirdness & serendipity. (!) I’m not sure if I want to write about it more than that, or if that will just invite my inner editor back in to look over my shoulder.

But so far in the first two days I’ve racked up more than 5300 words with early morning & late evening writing sessions, so I’m more than a day ahead of schedule. I’m hoping to keep ahead of schedule as long as I can, because I’m sure something will come along to throw me off track! Wish me luck. 🙂

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Anathem

Anathem

author: Neal Stephenson
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2008
rating: 1
read at: 2009/10/06
date added: 2009/10/06
shelves: fantasy, fiction, sci-fi
review:
A lot of the reviews say if you can make it through the first 100-200 pages of exposition, then the story is great. But there just isn’t enough time in this world to wade through a novel’s worth of setup, and somebody should’ve told him so. I’ve tried twice now, and this needs to go back to the library at some point. So I’m declaring defeat. Maybe when I am a very old woman with nothing better to do I’ll give it one last try, but probably not before then!

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Nothing to Fear: FDR’s Inner Circle and the Hundred Days That Created Modern America

Nothing to Fear: FDR's Inner Circle and the Hundred Days That Created Modern America

author: Adam Cohen
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2009/09/20
date added: 2009/09/29
shelves: biography, history, non-fiction, politics
review:
Not so much about FDR as about a handful of people who brought the New Deal into being. A fascinating group, too, with quite a range of backgrounds. I found myself fond of Frances Parker in particular.

My main reaction to the book, though, was jealousy. They did so much, and so quickly, and for the most part just ignored the haters. I wish the current administration would do half as much.

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George’s Secret Key to the Universe

George's Secret Key to the Universe

author: Lucy Hawking
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2009/09/29
date added: 2009/09/29
shelves: fiction, kid-lit, sci-fi, science
review:
Roald Dahl meets Bill Nye, basically. Super-cute and engaging, plus plenty of science facts and photos. If I had a kid, I think it’d be a fun bedtime read.

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Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

author: Seth Grahame-Smith
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.27
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2009/09/28
date added: 2009/09/29
shelves: fiction, history, horror
review:
Yes, it’s a mash-up of Pride & Prejudice with a zombie story. Not especially well-written, but totally cheesy and entertaining. Plus: ninjas!

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The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care

The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care

author: T.R. Reid
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2009/09/27
date added: 2009/09/29
shelves: economics, health, history, non-fiction, politics
review:
Fascinating overview of health insurance systems around the world…Reid uses the treatment of his shoulder as a trope for seeking care in several different countries, but ranges all over the history, politics, and economics of these systems.

Really, what he does is clarify the whole debate with a straightforward description of options and maybe more importantly, illuminates the underlying issue, beyond the technocratic questions of how. Do we believe that everyone deserves basic health care?

(My answer, obvs, is yes, absolutely!)

As it turns out, there’s really just four basic models of how to pay for health care:

* Beveridge (Britain): government owns the health care system (for the most part) and pays the bill via taxes. Also rather like the VA.

* Bismark (Germany, France, Japan, Switzerland): employers and employees buy insurance from private non-profit insurers, with government providing the insurance of last resort, and generally setting rules for payment schedules. Care providers are independent but highly regulated. Kinda like insurance for many working Americans, only w/out the profit motive.

* National Health Insurance (Canada, Taiwan): government provides insurance, with individuals paying premiums and copays. Care network rather like in the Bismark model. Basically the same as Medicare, to the point of that being the same name as the original Canadian system!

* Out-of-pocket (India): if you have money, you get care. If not, well, that’s just how it is. This is the model that prevails in the third world…and for uninsured Americans who have too much money for Medicaid and are too young for Medicare. 🙁

Personally, it seems like a straightforward embrace of the Bismark model is most likely to work here.

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The Empress of Mars

The Empress of Mars

author: Kage Baker
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2009/09/09
date added: 2009/09/18
shelves: fiction, sci-fi
review:
I just love Kage Baker. Vivid, clear, inventive, with Dickensian characters and a twisty-turny plot. Could not put it down. There’s a tiny hint of the world that most of her books have been set it, but it doesn’t feel overwhelmed by those plots and themes; it stands entirely on its own without any need to know that stuff. Big thumbs up.