It’s been a bit of a low-energy week for me. I’m not sure what that’s about. I’m still sleeping incredibly poorly and nothing I do seems to help. Someone said something about the moon… so perhaps it’s that.

What I read

For reasons unknown I thought Elizabeth George’s A Banquet of Consequences was published in early October, so I kicked off the week with that—reading it in one sleepless night. Before realising it’s not being published until late October or early November. #Oops.

Diane Chamberlain’s Pretending to Dance was next and it was a book I very much enjoyed.

The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich was really not the sort of book I’d normally read, for a myriad of reasons (YA and supernatural!), but I managed and enjoyed it more than I expected. Though again… I tend to look for the logical in the illogical. (I really do need to stay away from paranormal / dystopian fiction and the like!)

I started to read Martina Cole’s Get Even. It’d been years since I’ve read one of her novels and… I can’t remember if they were always the same, but I struggled.

I tried, I really did, but this was a did-not-finish (DNF). The writing felt a bit awkward and though I swear like a sailor, I found myself confronted with lines like, “The fact their mother had c*nted them into the ground in front of everyone….” 

WTF?! Now, I don’t actually have a huge problem with the ‘c’ word, but believe it should be only used at appropriate times—like when you’re really angry; or talking about someone you really hate! 😉

What I wrote

Not. A. Lot. The low energy lurgy presented itself in the guise of writing-related apathy, but I still managed a couple of book reviews.

I kicked off the week with my first ever vlog. Sort of. It’s a mash-up of me and a 4yr old helper (Pickle) reading and reviewing Dinosaur Dump. The clip is about 2.5mins long and took me about 4hrs to do. I should have just pasted the original footage which was only about 10mins long! It’s very cute though, if I do say so myself! 😉

After sitting on a draft for three days I published my thoughts on Pretending to Dance, which I enjoyed… despite the tears.

And I reviewed The Dead House in Goodreads.

What I did

I had a few more hours on my project management gig this week as we’re at the pointy end of the project I’m involved with. My commitment involves just a few hours here and there, but it’s always nice to catch up with real people for a change… given I spend so much time at my desk… alone!

I also had a second interview for a job, and the women who interviewed me were just lovely. And they loved me! The job wasn’t right but as my work-related confidence is at an all time low, it was nice that they said they wanted to hire me cos they liked me so much. #kinda

I’m also four weeks into my five-week Magazine and Newspaper Writing course and cannot believe how quickly time has flown. So far I’ve kept up with my reading and assignments etc… though the impost isn’t too great.

What I plan to read

My print and eBooks are somewhat out of control again, so I’ve resorted my high tech project management system, Trello (#sarcasm) to cope with the influx. Apparently, first up this week is The Girl With No Past—a psychological thriller by Kathryn Croft.

Mary Burton’s I’ll Never Let You Go is next on my list. It sounds familiar but I think it’s just cos I’ve read similarly titled (and themed) books before.

And then there’s Isabel Allende’s The Japanese Lover, which has been sitting in my print books pile for a few months.

And finally I have a children’s book sent to me by a blogger I know. It’s the latest in Leanne Shea Langdown’s Cheer Chick Charlie series called Above and Beyond.

And that’s it from me this week.

What’s on your agenda for the week?

Linking up with Kimberley at The Caffeinated Book Reviewer for the Sunday Post! And Sheila for “It’s Monday!”