2015

What I Read in June

June 30, 2015 by Abbigail Kriebs 5 Comments

June. One of the loveliest months of the year here in Wisconsin. It’s harder to sit still and read when the great outdoors, blissful temperatures, and all sorts of distractions are calling.

Aside from June Dairy Month taking over my life, June was a good month. And even the events for Dairy Month were good, just exhausting. Here is what I read in June:

Fiction

Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen – This was my second Dessen this summer and I’m not entirely sure I’ll read more of hers. There doesn’t seem to be much that happens in these books, and the plot lines thus far have been pretty predictable. Maybe her later stuff is more complex? Please tell me it is – I want to like Dessen’s stuff.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows & Mary Ann Shaffer – This is one of my favorite books. This is the third or fourth read for me, this time for book club. If you like stories with great ensemble casts, this one is for you. I’ll write a full review on Thursday for you all.

The Land of Milk and Uncle Honey: Memories from the Farm of My Youth by Alan Guebert and Mary Grace Foxwell – Mary Grace, i.e. Gracie, is a friend. When we first met this winter, she was putting the finishing touches on a book where she and her journalist father pulled all of the columns he has written about the family farm he grew up on and compiled them into one place. This was a delightful read that reminded me so much of my own farming family. I’ll plan to write a full review next week.

Nonfiction

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand – I am about two chapters away from finishing this one, and considering the size of the book, I’m going to shelve it here in the “done” pile. :) It’s been a great but slow read for me – I recommend it if you like military history and stories of survival against unbelievable odds, and if you can stomach some gore on the page – it’s about time spent in a war and POW camps, after all.

In Progress

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.

Up Next

We Were Liars by E. L. Lockhart – This is another YA recommendation from the lovely Callie – and I am excited to dive in!

What have you read lately that blew your socks off? What’s next on your TBR pile?

Story in Review: Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by David Lubar

June 23, 2015 by Abbigail Kriebs 7 Comments

A quirky Young Adult novel, Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by David Lubar was adorable, heartfelt, and a wonderful picture of what it looks like to make it through your freshman year. Scott Hudson starts his freshman year already feeling behind, and then his parents dump some big news on him at the end of the day: he’s going to be a big brother. In addition to navigating high school, he’s now got to deal with a pregnant mother, a dad who doesn’t always understand him, and the fact that he is crushing hard for a girl he sat next to in kindergarten. It makes for some funny material along the way.

Callie Feyen always has the best book suggestions hidden in her “My Week in Words” posts, especially when it comes to middle grade and YA fiction. I suppose teaching middle school English gives you an edge, huh?

Favorite Quotes:

(please forgive the lack of page numbers, as I read it on my iPad)

“That’s the weird thing about flea markets—books and tools seem to cost about the same amount per pound.”

“He’d broken his nose way back in first grade. It had healed kind of crooked, which made him look tough. Everyone figured he liked to fight. The truth is, he broke it falling off a rocking horse. But that didn’t matter. Once you had a reputation, good or bad, it stayed with you.”

“Would anything be left: of my memories of high school fifteen years from now? It was weird to realize I was going to forget things I hadn’t even experienced yet.”

“Which brings me to my first piece of advice: be careful with big words. People don’t like show-offs.”

“‘What is it? A girl?’ ‘How’d you know?’ He threw a shirt at my head. ‘It’s always a girl. So what’s the problem?'”

“The other team scored eleven times. Final score, 76 to 7. They should have had seventy-seven, but they missed one of the extra points. Not because of our defense. I think their kicker was getting tired.”

“I mean, I was a good reader, but that wasn’t like being a good ballplayer.”

“Don’t ever be afraid to ask for what you want. Nobody can read your mind. People always assume you want the same sort of things they want.”

“There’s something you need to know about the cafeteria. It’s a miniature map of everyone’s social standing.”

“Everyone around me looks so tired, I feel like I’m an extra in a low-budget zombie movie.”

“New Year’s is sort of like starting a new school. You can make all sorts of plans and promises about being better or changing your habits. Then you go on being yourself.”

“As much as I know he’s always within an inch of doing something dangerous, I get the funny feeling he has a set of rules he lives by. It’s just that they aren’t any rules I ever learned.”

“Unlike cars, lives don’t have a way to go in reverse.”

“So there I was, at the last social event of the year, dancing with a great girl. A girl who wasn’t afraid to be herself. And who wasn’t afraid to step away from the safety of her chosen identity. I doubt there were many other kids in the gym—or anywhere else, for that matter—who had the courage to do what [she] had done.”

Why this was a great story? Lubar’s narrator, Scott, is witty, smart, and a genuinely nice guy – even if he is 14 and still trying to figure out just who he is. The material isn’t anything earth-shattering: there’s bullies and girls and teens being teens as in most YA novels, but the way Lubar presents it in the first person diary of a freshman boy lets you follow the drama up close. And of course, by the end, all is well and wonderful and you smile as you lay the book down for the last time.

What could have made it better? At times, Scott seems too self-aware, too smart for a high school boy, let alone a freshman. And maybe this is also the book’s magic: that one young kid is just enough different that he does have some wisdom to pass onto the rest of us – even at 14.

So… have you read Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie? What other books about being a high schooler have you enjoyed?

My Word of the Year for 2015

January 20, 2015 by Abbigail Kriebs 7 Comments

I never chose a word of the year for 2014. If I had to choose one retroactively, it would be “survive.” We survived downsizing from house to apartment. I survived over-committing myself and two separate job changes. It was a tough year, in which I constantly felt like I was making no progress, but in retrospect, I was. I made a lot of tough choices and set myself up for a better 2015. At least I hope so.

With that in mind, for 2015, I’m going back to the word I failed at in 2012: “Create.”

In 2012, I had just started my first full-time job after college. I was in the middle of serving on a pastoral search committee, a task that took a year and a half of meetings and a lot of emotions. I was in my third year of trying to sell a house that just wouldn’t sell. It was probably not the best time in my life to choose a word for the year so ambitious as “create.” But I did because what can I say: I was clueless. I really had no idea how much creating takes out of you.

The answer: a lot.

But this year, I think I’m ready for it.

Over the last four years, I have soaked up as much publishing advice as I can. I have read books on writing (and continue to do so). I have attended a conference, webinars, twitter chats. I have built a website and started blogging regularly. I have even met with and gotten advice from one of my favorite people on the internet, publishing consultant Jane Friedman (if you are a writer, go follow her blog and immediately get lost in the archives).

But I haven’t consistently sat down to write my book. It’s much easier to absorb than it is to create.

So this year, I’m throwing research to the side and sitting down to create.

Why Not Just Choose “Write” as Your Word?

I chose “create” and not “write” intentionally. I want to allow myself a little freedom to take a day off now and then and pull out my camera. I need to be able to blog and participate in social media alongside writing a novel. I also want the freedom to create community as I write: responding to emails from other writers, reading other blogs and participating in the comments sections.

If I had chosen “write,” I would probably feel guilty whenever I spent time on any of those other activities. And I’m trying to be kinder to myself, so not creating guilt is a good thing.

And let’s face it: there are going to be evenings when I come home from work and need to curl up on the couch with a book. Or a half-dozen episodes of 30 Rock. And some chocolate.

I really believe that all of these are important to cultivating creativity, so long as you create as much as you consume. That is the tough part: finding the balance between the two.

So if I spend the morning writing a blog and scheduling out social media, I’m letting myself off the hook if I need to come home and just go “bleh” on the couch at the end of a long day.

I’m going to try to keep most of my Saturday mornings free for longer creating sessions. Large chunks of time are going to be important as I sort out plot points and learn the rhythm of my novel.

And if things get out of balance, I am going to hit the restart button and try again.

So I’m going to go create. There’s only 345 days left in the year.

GO CREATE.

What’s your word of the year for 2015?