M. Suzanne Terry

These shenanigans:

My boss likes to decorate the hall for holidays.  Even the bathroom.

The hall has been festive.  Homecoming is happening in a couple of weeks, and they’re going to haunted houses this week and picking out their costumes.  They all have declined to have their pictures taken for this post, but trust me – it’s really cute.

The weather is finally not terrible here!  It’s stormy today, which I love.  It’s been cooler, and that’s fantastic.

Here are my favorite things from October:

To write – 

I accepted The Nester’s challenge to write for 31 days on a topic, and my topic is “31 Days of No Fast Food.”  Only three more posts to go, and I will be finished!  That’s most of what I’ve written.

In non-bloggy news, I finished some editing on Fishbowl.  I also mapped out the characters for my NaNoWriMo novel this year.  It’s called Oddities, and it’s a YA novel, possibly steampunk-y because I want to play with that era, there are gadgets involved, and when I picture my characters, they are wearing corsets, vests, bustles, and spats.

To read – 

This was a month of reading things slowly and drinking them in, which is why I probably only made it through three books this month.  Worth it.

Every Shattered Thing by Elora Ramirez – I really loved Stephanie.  This story broke my heart.  It’s possible to read it quickly, but I don’t recommend doing so.  You’ll want to take your time.

Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God – To say that I read this collection is an understatement. I read and re-read and pondered and absorbed. I want to brush up on the German I started learning in college so that I can read it in its original language.

My Bookstore: Writers Celebrate their Favorite Places to Browse, Read, and Shop – I was perfectly calm when I started this book. It was a nice little group of essays by writers on their favorite bookstores. Then I got to the essay about Book People, and all the feelings came out of my eyes.  I want to go to all these places. I will neither confirm nor deny that I have mapped out various road trips designed specifically to do so.  This is a very dangerous book.

To watch – 

So…Scandal.  I love it.  They’re not very nice people, these people.  Some of the dialogue is trite.  They talk very quickly.  Olivia Pope is emotionally intense all the time, and I don’t quite know what to do with that.  On the one hand, it’s nice to imagine someone so emotionally expressive being successful in that environment.  On the other hand…EVERYTHING makes her tear up, and sometimes I just want her to get a grip, because let’s face it – she’s running a country here.

I also have been watching season one of Arrow.  I avoided doing so for so long, because being part of Smallville fandom taught me that the only acceptable Green Arrow is Justin Hartley.  The good:  Oliver Queen is a superhero, and he looks like one (you’re welcome).  The bad: Oliver’s inner monologue is terrible.  Just awful.  It makes me laugh every time, which I assume is not what the writers were going for.  Fortunately for them, the bad seasons of Smallville trained me to look past bad writing/acting and just focus on the positive when it comes to people in costume, saving the city.

To hear – 

Esthero, Portishead, Sneaker Pimps, Massive Attack. It’s been a trippy kind of month.

To taste – 

I have been writing a lot about food in my 31 Days posts.  The one thing I just can’t stop talking about is caponata.  I love it, I love it, I love it.

Cooler weather makes me want to cook.  This weekend, it’s chicken and dumplings.  Happy.

What have you been up to and into this month?  I’m linking up with Leigh Kramer – hop over if you need some recommendations.