Monthly Archives: June 2011

Mary, Queen Of Scots, And The Murder Of Lord Darnley

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Book: Mary, Queen Of Scots, And The Murder Of Lord Darnley by Alison Weir

Pages/Format: 720/hardcover

My Thoughts: Reading Alison Weir after finishing the David Starkey book was such a relief!  She’s so easy to read.

I was definitely expecting something quite different when I what I read.  I was expecting more of a biography of Mary, Queen of Scots and the events that led up to Lord Darnley’s death.  The book turned out to be more about his death, and the aftermath of it, with an overview of both Mary and Lord Darnley.

It’s not my favorite Alison Weir book, but it was still an interesting read.  I didn’t really know too much about the murder of Lord Darnley, and quite frankly, I didn’t know too much about Mary either, except in reference to Elizabeth I.  It was nice to get background on both of them, but there was something different about this book.  I don’t know if it’s because I finished the David Starkey book recently, which was a beast of a book, or if it’s because the book is more about a series of events than an actual person or what.  I definitely want to read a biography of Mary.  I guess it is a biography, focusing on her life in relation to her marriage to Darnley, and in relation to the aftermath of his death, but I wanted more information about her childhood and the events leading up to her death.

One of the things that was really helpful was the list of different lords at the very beginning of the book, because it helped me keep track of the different people.  The prologue definitely made it seem super interesting, and the book was interesting, but not the page-turner that I was expecting after reading it.  It was a good account of some of the events leading up to his death, who killed him, what happened to those involved in his death, and what happened in the years afterwards.

There’s some speculation throughout the book, which wasn’t a big surprise, as it’s a seemingly unsolved mystery.  It had a lot of information and the attention to detail that I’ve come to expect from Weir.  The pictures and illustrations were also interesting- it’s always nice to see that place and the people mentioned.  And the map was slightly interesting as well- it is nice to see Scotland as it was during Mary’s reign, and while I didn’t compare it to a current map, it’s always interesting. 

Rating: 3 out of 5.  Very informative and well-written, but not one of my favorites by Weir.

In This Week’s News

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Writing wise, I had a great week, some of which I already shared.  I wrote around 1850 during the week.  It felt really good to be writing a lot, and it didn’t feel forced.  In weeks past, I really had to force myself to meet the word goal for the week (for some projects) but since I started doing the average, I haven’t felt that at all!  Sometimes it is a struggle to keep writing something, even when I don’t feel like it, but struggling is part of the process.  I’m not always going to want to write but I always feel better after I do. 

I kind of started working on one of my characters from my funeral plot bunny, but it didn’t really get very far.  Thankfully, the tree is done, and everyone has a name (except for a few very small children that aren’t too important).  I decided to redo the structure of it, so I’m currently on a second draft of the family tree.  I’m definitely going to put it onto a posterboard (or a very large piece of paper) because I had to write some of the names really small to make it fit. 

I do have an idea of who’s going to be dead, and the order in which they die, but not when they die, so that’s something I’ll try to work on this week.  Plus, working on some of the details of the different perspectives.  I have so many characters that I’ll never be able to focus on all of them…especially in one month.  And with so many characters, it’ll be a good idea to focus on a few anyway. 

Let’s see…weight loss update!  I gained a pound, which isn’t a surprise.  I only went to the gym once, and it’s doubtful I’ll manage to get to the gym this week.  I might, though, but I’m having so much trouble getting myself in the mindset of going.  I’ll definitely do some sort of exercise (I hope) whether it be a workout video or going to the gym.  And while I am eating better, it’s still not as good as I could be eating, so I’ll definitely be doing some cooking this week. 

As for my reading challenge, I’m feeling slightly burnt out for a few reasons.  One, I read 13 books last month, and I’m a little tired of reading.  I could probably get away with reading a few less books this month, but at the same time, I want to hit the halfway point this month.  I definitely need to read a few short books (preferably fiction) to give myself a little break from all the long non-fiction books I’m reading.  And two, I’ve been reading a lot (45 books so far) and sometimes I feel like all I’m doing is reading.  I’m definitely enjoying the books I’m reading, don’t get me wrong, but at the same time, reading 100 in a year is a lofty goal.  I’m sure I can accomplish it, but I can slow down the pace a little- and reading multiple books at a time would definitely help since I can switch back and forth between different things. 

I think that’s it for now.  Here’s a preview of a few posts I have planned for the week: at least one book review, a character spotlight, and some pictures!

Adventures In Baking

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I made cheesecake squares and peanut butter snickers cookies yesterday.

I’m definitely branching out with the whole baking thing, and am not making my way through every chocolate chip cookie recipe under the sun.  If I make something that’s not cookies, it’s usually brownies.  I can’t remember the last time I made cookies, so I figured I go looking through some of my favorite food blogs and see if there was anything interesting…and found peanut butter snickers cookies over at the brown eyed baker.  They were pretty yummy if I do say so myself.

I also made cheesecake squares- I wanted cheesecake, but not an actual cheesecake, so I made cheesecake squares.  I’m not a big fan of making the crust- it was fine until I had to press it into the pan.  It was thinner in some places than in others, and I’m quite sure that it’s because I just put the crust into the pan and didn’t pay attention to the fact it should be relatively equal in the whole pan.  Other than that, they seemed to come out okay.  And it took about 10 minutes of crushing the graham crackers by hand to realize using the rolling pin would be a lot easier.  The only thing I didn’t like about the cheesecake squares was that they were a lot more lemon-y than I expected.  If I make them again, then I’ll definitely adjust the lemon juice and the lemon zest.

I think I’m going to start doing more muffins and quickbreads…that is a project for next month.  Or maybe this month.  I’ll see how fast the cookies and cheesecake squares go.

The Harry Potter Soundtracks

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I love the Harry Potter soundtracks, and can’t believe I haven’t devoted a whole post to them!  I don’t have all of the soundtracks, just the ones from the first couple movies, plus the Deathly Hollows part one soundtrack.  I just love the music and it makes me think of how much I love the books!  On a random sidenote, I definitely need to re-read the books and watch the movies before Deathly Hallows part 2 comes out.  At the very least, I need to watch the movies plus read deathly hallows. 

Back to the soundtracks.  I love, love, love Harry’s Wondrous World.  It’s so magical, and everytime I hear it, I am automatically reminded of the sense of wonder I felt when I read the series for the very first time.

I don’t listen to the Chamber of Secrets soundtrack very often- if I do, it’s usually the Chamber of Secrets version of Harry’s Wondrous World, but other then that, I don’t tend to listen to it too often.  I do recommend Fawkes Is Reborn though. 

From the Philospher’s Stone, I really like Harry’s Wondrous World, like I said earlier, but Entry Into The Great Hall/The Banquet is good, as is Christmas At Hogwarts, Leaving Hogwarts, and of course, Hedwig’s Theme. 

As for Deathly Hallows, Part One, Obliviate is my absolute favorite song on the whole soundtrack.  It brings it so many emotions- it’s the song they play at the very beginning of the movie, and in combination with Hermione erasing her parents’ memories of her, it really brings to life the gravity of what’s happening and what’s at stake.  Snape To Malfoy Manor is another favorite, along with Farewell To Dobby.  I also like Sky Battle and At The Burrow. 

The soundtracks are definitely some of my favorites to listen to.  There’s no words, so I can’t get distracted by singing along, and there are some memories that I have attached to certain songs.

Jane Seymour…The Queen, Not The Actress

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I think I’m going to do my historical fiction and make Jane Seymour the focus.  I really don’t know too much about her, other than a couple books I’ve read about Henry and his wives.  It would be a great chance to learn more about her.  I’m not sure what I want to focus on, but right now, I’m thinking about doing something in relation to her becoming queen. 

I also like the idea of something about Anne of Cleves or Katherine Howard, so I’ll probably read up on them as well in case the Jane Seymour thing doesn’t work out.  I love history, especially Tudor England, so I can see myself focusing more on the research and not enough on the actual writing.  In the spirit of trying new things, though, I’ll have to overcome it, and just go for it.  At some I’ll have to focus more on writing…all I need for a rough draft is some of the basics about the period.  If I decide it’s something I want to keep working on, then I’ll have something to edit. 

I think I might to have to take a look at Anne Boleyn- at least towards the end of her marriage with Henry, because that’s when the overlap with Jane Seymour is.  But for the most part, I just want to know about Jane, and who she really is.  She tends to be portrayed as Anne Boleyn’s opposite, and while it seems to be an accurate portrayal, I really just want to know about her.  Her childhood I want to know more about, as well as how Henry noticed her and decided he had to marry her. 

Unfortunately, David Starkey just glossed over her, so his book wasn’t particularly helpful.  I’m definitely going to see if there’s anything specifically about her; otherwise, I’ll probably stick to Alison’s Weir biography of Henry’s wives.  I might try reading Antonia Frasier’s biography too.

Writing Is Amazing!

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Yesterday, I managed to write around 1,000 words or so.  I think that’s the most I’ve written in a day since NaNo.  Granted, it was spread out through 3 different novels, but still, it’s a lot of words in one day.  It took me most of the morning, since I was doing other stuff (cough*facebook*cough), but I felt like I actually did something. 

I worked on the family tree a little more.  The format of it is still a little weird, but for now, it works, plus the characters have names.  There aren’t any last names yet, but first names will work for now.  I think today I’m going to work on a couple of the characters- maybe do a character profile.  It doesn’t need to be too detailed or anything, because there are going to be so many characters, and I’m still not sure who I want to focus on.  I have some ideas on who I want to focus on, but that could change.  I really want to leave things open right now, because I don’t want to focus my attention on a few characters, only to change my mind a couple days before the start of NaNo.  So I’ll slowly work my way through the family, until every one of them has some sort of biography.  Or until I get tired of it, whichever happens first.

I have a lot to work on, but at the same time, it’s nice to be writing so much again.  I’ve realized how much I miss writing on a regular basis, and NaNo reminded me of how important it really is.  I have so many ideas, and being able to work on them is helping me focus on something. 

Have an awesome day everyone!

Family Tree!

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Well, yesterday I managed to get a basic family tree done.  There aren’t any names attached to it, so it’s just a basic idea of what I want the family to look like.  The tree definitely needs a lot of work because the structure of it right now is kind of…annoying.  But it’s a really good start, and it’ll definitely evolve over the coming months.  Plus, I want to give those consanguinity charts another look, so hopefully a family tree written out will help me better understand how everyone’s related. 

I think today’s project is going to be naming everyone, and I’ll try to format the family tree a little bit better, just to make it a little easier to understand.  While I don’t mind naming people, this is going to be a little different than what I’m used to, just because of the number of people!  I think it’s around 50 or so people (if I counted correctly, and it’s likely I may have missed 1 or 2 people).  I definitely need to figure out who I want to feature- but that’s something that can wait until I actually know who everyone is.  I have some ideas for a few of the people, so I might work on that sometime this week. 

I’m feeling pretty excited about this, and it’s one of my favorite ideas so far.  It’s been really nice writing again- and it’s also really cool working on different ideas.  It keeps me busy, for at least a few hours every week, and it gives me a chance to see different projects in different stages of completion. 

I should start writing!  Have a great day!

A Few Things I Love

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There’s a few things I really love right now, so today’s going to be a little bit of show and tell.

I love Cricklers!  I know the Washington Post has them, but I’m not sure where else you can find them.  The link is over in the link section.  All they are is a crossword puzzle featuring the news.  It’s a good way to catch up on the news, and they also have vocabulary ones, and a few other random ones too.  And for the most part, it’s different puzzles every day, so there’s always something new.  I haven’t played it for a few days though, but today, I’m going to get back on the Crickler bandwagon.

I’ve been playing the sims a lot- for the longest time is the sims 2, but lately I’ve been playing the sims 3.  I usually go back and forth between the two, but I tend to play it a lot, and then leave it alone for a long time because I’m bored with it.  And then I go back to playing it, and so the cycle continues.  The only problem I’ve been having with the sims 3 is the fact that whenever my sims go on vacation, there are major problems when they get back!  It seems like its a problem they’re working on, but they’re not sure if/when it’ll be fixed.  It’s frustrating, because there are some really cool things you can get when you send them on vacation, like new skills and food…so it’s slightly annoying that when they get back from vacation, the stuff the characters get is missing or they come back as a double.  So…I can play it, but sending them on vacation is out of the question.  Despite that, the sims 3 really is fun to play.

And this is totally random, but the mini-bags of popcorn are totally amazing.  I can get my popcorn fix in a much smaller serving!  I don’t have much to add about the mini-bags of popcorn, but it’s one of my favorite things right now, so there you go.

Right now, I also love online dream dictionaries.  I had this horrible dream last night, and I’m kinda interested in what everything means. 

So those are my current favorite things, hopefully I’ll have some more to share soon!

And Now For Your Weekly Update

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I think last week was my best week for writing.  At least in terms of not struggling.  I know I mentioned it in a different post how much I loved doing the average thing.  I’ve been keeping track of how much I’m writing every week, and I wanted to try tailoring my weekly word goal to each project, since I’m struggling with some projects and not others.  It seemed like taking the average for each project would be the best way to do this, and it worked so well, I’m going to keep doing this.  At least for the time being, until I get a a different idea for a weekly goal.  In all honesty, I think the average is a lot closer to what I’m writing every week for each novel, so it’s something that I want to stick with. 

I haven’t really worked on any of my plot bunnies, but I definitely have decided to do a family tree for my newest plot bunny.  I spend a good 20 minutes or so trying to figure out one of those family tree table things, and it made my brain want to explode.  If I write it out (which will probably be a great idea once it’s done), then maybe I can understand how everyone’s related a little better.  Plus, I’m going to have to do a family tree any way, so I might as well get a rough draft together.  Plus, it’ll help me come up with characters, which is always a good thing.  Especially since the idea that I really like is a different funeral each chapter, and each funeral would be told from the POV of a different person.  Even if I don’t go with that idea, it’ll still be useful, since a family tree would be setting up most of the basic groundwork for the novel. 

I can’t remember if I mentioned my idea for next month’s Camp NaNo- I’m going to go with my NCIS fanfiction, since I want to get that novel done before the season starts.  My idea is based off the season finale, and while I don’t have to do it before November, I think I will.  Just because I don’t want my idea to be influenced by anything that pops up next season.  It would also be kind of interesting to see if anything I come up with shows up next season.  It seems like Camp NaNo is going to continue into August, so I might use one of my other plot bunnies in August.  It really depends on what I get done in the next couple months. 

I think I might have decided on which ideas I’m going to do for NaNo: the one about the pact, and the one about a family only seeing each other at funerals.  I have no clue what I want to do for my historical fiction, so that’s going to be shelved until I can actually narrow down my ideas.  Or maybe I just need to pick one idea and go with it, and hope for the best.  I think my main problem is that I don’t want to pick the wrong idea for it.  There’s also the fact that I love the time period and there are so many things I could do with it- I’m pretty much like a kid in a candy store, and I can’t make up my mind.  If I decide to do Camp NaNo in August, then I’ll probably end up doing my secret government agency idea, because that’s the one that I’m not too interested in.  I think for now, I’ll just keep working on everything, and hope that I’ll actually be able to make up my mind!

And, before I go, here’s my weight loss update!  I lost just under a pound, and I actually went to the gym last week!  Granted, it was just once, but once is better than not going at all, so that was a plus. 

I think that’s all for now, so I hope everyone has a great day!

Let’s Talk About…Food!

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I think it’s been a while since I’ve devoted a post to food, so that’s what I’m going to talk about today!

The whole cooking and baking 2 new things each month is going well.  I made lemon bars the other day, and they turned out a lot better than I thought they would.  I made chocolate cupcakes with a buttercream frosting yesterday.  I decided to add some color to the frosting- half have purple frosting, the other half have blue frosting.  I didn’t mix the cupcakes as well as I could have, but they turned out okay. 

I also made a moroccan saute- it has zucchini, corn, chick peas (or garbanzo beans, whatever you want to call them) and couscous.  I haven’t had any, but it smells yummy! 

As for my progress through my cookbooks, I’ve been focusing on my vegetarian times one lately.  I’m not sure why, but right now, I don’t feel like cooking anything from rachael ray.  Plus, my vegetarian cookbook is full of things that I wouldn’t ordinarily eat; one of my reasons for cooking 2 new things each month is try to different things, and what better way to do this than a cookbook full of things I don’t normally eat?

There so many things I want to make, and there’s so little time to make everything!