Emory Rosenow

Tag: Tea

  • December 2020 in Meta

    December 2020 in Meta

    Hello friendly friends, it’s now somehow March December 2020, so a quick meta blog update for you here! The tl;dr right up front in case you’re too busy, uh, wrapping presents? Catching up on The Crown? Rehoning your toilet paper buying skills? to read this in full:

    • Still here, still planning posts
    • 2020 Books In Review is forthcoming
    • Brain no work good for writing right now
    • I’m writing this with two cats sitting on me and my tea is just out of reach
    • My toes are cold because no one turned on the fireplace before abandoning me to the cats
    • Knitting takes much less brainpower

    Ok so basically that’s everything, have a nice December!

    Laptop on lap sharing space with two cats, taken December 2020

    Hey more friendly friend still reading, more deets here if you want them. I won (won, I tell you, won) my second NaNoWriMo last month, with none of those 50,000 words going towards this blog! Brain no good for writing is only semi true, really it’s hard to write and knit at the same time, and only the latter has an actual deadline in the time sense of the word (are there other senses of deadline? I feel like there are. Or should be). Not that I’m, ah, rushing to meet that deadline. Nope. Right on time. (What day is today again?)

    I also got shiny new writing software (half off for WINNERS, like me) that I’m really excited about but also there’s a part of my brain that says I can’t start using it until I fully know how to use it (???) so thanks for that, brain. I’ll keep working on learning how to use it (by using it, deal with that, brain) which will hopefully also make my blogging smoother and easier. Because that’s what all shiny new tools do!

    The cat on my lap not named Mr. Butters is the neighborhood cat who comes around to warm her toe beans in the evenings, maybe eat a few kibble if she feels like it. We call her Ms. Marbles. Butters would love to be her friend but she doesn’t quite return the sentiment.

    Anyway now my tea is probably as cold as my toes so I’ll wrap up here. I have a backlog of blog topics that I want to write about, so be on the lookout for those, if you’re interested. I’m also thinking about bringing back more plantiness, so maybe think about rejoicing if you’re in to that. Also at least one more post this year, of my wrap up of books I read in 2020 and thoughts thereof, thereon, therein, so watch out for that too if you like good books! Hope you have as lovely of a December 2020 as any March in 2020 you’ve had.

    More Posts!

  • November Reading (Writing) Roundup and Where I’ve Been

    WHERE IN THE WORLD IS CARMEN— EMORY ROSENOW? Well, I’m still in my awesome reading chair and lost in a book! I’ve just spent the last month lost in a novel of my own writing for a change. (Oh my!) Don’t worry, I still have a couple of book recommendations for you people from things I read in November. There’s just fewer this month – partly because I’ve been waiting for an approximate AGE on SEVERAL books from the library (READ FASTER, PEOPLE).

    WHERE— No wait we just established that. WHAT?

    So. I decided to participate in National Novel Writing Month this year, after talking about doing it for the last I DON’T KNOW six years? But this year I completed it. (Note that this is not the same as completing the novel.) The challenge, for all the cool kids out there who aren’t horrible nerds like me, is to write 50,000 words of a novel during the month of November, or about 1667 words per day. I have accomplished that (please clap), and right now I’m sitting on I don’t know what percentage of a very rough draft, not ready for human consumption yet. So unless you’re a literarily-inclined cat (in which case I have questions) there’s nothing for you to read yet. Patience.

    National Novel Writing Month winner banner November reading
    THAT’S RIGHT, I’M A WINNER

    I will say, I have discovered this neat trick for writing a novel. It’s not a novel idea or anything, but I think it could be useful for you, if you’re interesting in getting into any kind of writing. If you want to write something, you write, and then you don’t stop writing. (Just like flying is falling but missing the Earth.) Anyway, now onto the reading part of the November Reading Writing!

    Book Recommendations

    Now the really good stuff that you’ve actually been waiting for! (And if that’s the case I’m really sorry, but you have hyped this up too much. Not me. You.)

    Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris

    This is my #1 reading recommendation from November. It’s part grammar, part memoire, part history, and entirely delightful. I legitimately was laughing out loud frequently while reading this. Mary Norris worked in the editing stews of the New Yorker as a copy editor for twenty-four years, and draws heavily on those experiences to write her version of How English Works. She uses a lovely writing style (shocking) and interesting anecdotes to explore different facets of grammar, spelling, and common usage. Good luck predicting what she’s going to write about next, too. Huge thanks to Appletree Books for including this in their November local author reading recommendations (Mary Norris is a Cleveland native). Now I know even more useless trivia with which I can amaze (not annoy) my friends!

    Ten Things I Love About You by Julia Quinn

    Yes, more Julia Quinn. I’m going to read all her stuff. They’re better romances than most of the ones you see. Anyway, none of that’s the point. The point is that, in this book, they wait for the tea to steep. That’s right: the characters take the time to steep their tea properly. None of this nonsense of dropping a teabag into water and going HEY LOOK IT’S TEA, or, even worse, using a gottdam Keurig and magically having tea (Ilona Andrews I love you so much but I am looking at you so hard right now). Tea takes a hot second. Not like an age, but LORDY PEOPLE let your poor characters drink some proper brew, you’re putting them through enough without making them drink leaf water.

    Make Space by Regina Wong

    This is a book about minimalism. I was like hey cool, sounds interesting, I’m interested in leaning more that direction in my life, I’ll see what Regina GeorgeWong has to say. Oh. My. Goodness. This was the most repetitive book I think I’ve ever read. You would think that a book on minimalism would, I don’t know, get to the point? Not repeat itself multiple times? WongWrong. There are good points to it but HEAVENS TO BETSY does it take a DAY to get to them. My assessment: not worth your time. Don’t make space in your reading schedule for this one.

    November Reading Writing Others

    The others are more Julia Quinn, but honestly there’s like only so much you can write about them. Rather, only so much I can write about them. An Offer From a Gentleman is a Cinderella retelling. The Secret Diaries of Miranda Cheever is what happens when you never move on from your childhood crush. What Happens in London is enemies to lovers trope… no, actually on second thought there’s a little more I can say about that one: it takes place entirely in London, and there are Russians.

    I’m also considering adding more than books to my recommendations, because I think that my opinions should be valuable to you. If you want this from me, please go yell out your front door so I know. If you missed it, be sure to check out my October Reading Roundup for even more romance novels (because nothing says Spooktober like Regency-era lovers). Otherwise, this is my November Reading Writing Roundup out.