Ransom Noble's Blog, page 29

Check out my Day 2 at Novelspot: Click here.

I have magazines floating around the house. I mean to read them, but somehow I usually pick up a book instead. Not always.

With the new e-reader, I was checking out Google Books (imagine that!) and I found several magazines ready to read. They weren't the newest editions – I think the latest was about a year old.

Another thing about Google Books is the abundance of books – but most of them are previews only. This is cool that you get to read a few...

To see my first installment at Novelspot's Behind the Scenes, click here.

It's much harder to write when the baby falls asleep on your arm. She's warm and snuggled in and not moving until she wakes up- which means my arm will be numb. It's getting close now.

The fun part about the baby napping in your lap is a bubble of calm settles over both of us. If only my other hand were free, I could type like there were jumping beans in my fingers. Except, you know, hitting the correct keys.

I'm back to g...

We went out to an Arena Football Game. The Iowa Barnstormers played the Cleveland Gladiators and lost 56-70.  Bummer, since they'd won the previous two games.

It was an interesting first experience. The field is nearly one quarter the size, measuring 50 yards long by 26 yards wide. When the ball bounces off something, it's still live. It takes a bit to get accustomed to the rule changes from the 'regular' football played in high school, college, and the NFL.

The Barnstormers' dance team, the a

I had everything out from the critique: the partial manuscript, the comments, and my file for that segment. I even had the notes I made this week close at hand. Still didn't manage to get it rewritten, or even started.

Time management has been an issue lately. Been focused on other things – though not by choice – and there is never enough time to do everything.

So the house is better, I tutor students, and the writing is slowly slipping. Maybe tonight. Maybe today in the car. Definitely not...

My husband gave me my mother's day gift last night: a new pink Sony e-Reader. I didn't expect pink. He said they were out of silver.

So I spent a good while last night, this morning and again this afternoon looking at books and putting some in there. Some meaning 60 – a few I had on my laptop and the rest downloaded classics.

The pink is growing on me.

Classics might be a broad term. Everything from Wuthering Heights to Frankenstein to Alice in Wonderland to War and Peace to "2 B R 0 2 B" (a...

It was difficult to process the information in this book, simply because there was a lot of it.

Diane McGuiness explains a lot about children 0-5 years and makes her cases with scientific studies. It makes sense that when infants like something, they use their sucking reflex to share that.

Most of the book was dedicated to speaking to babies, what they understand, and how they learn to speak. The author explains each stage and what the parent is likely to see, not just based on age, but also...

You might remember Danica McKellar better for her role on The Wonder Years as Winnie Cooper, or The West Wing as Elsie Snuffin. I didn't know until I read her book that she's also an internationally known mathematician.

Her first book is Math Doesn't Suck and her second is Kiss My Math. Both of these approach the subject with examples, clear writing, and fun stuff to keep the teen/tween girl entertained.

I'm sure everyone's wondering why I'm reading them. Well, sometimes it's good to have a...

All right, I'll admit it: I browse writing books like kids browse candy aisles. I read a bunch of rules from well-known writers prompted from Elmore Leonard's book and found interesting things, so when I ran into it at the library (a place I am found frequently) I popped it into my check-out bag.

What surprised me most about this book is that it's heavily illustrated. Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing took me about half an hour to read. A lot of that time was spent absorbing the words...

Okay, today isn't Tuesday… But the book is. I checked it out of the library, doing a random run-through with my daughter looking for more books to read to her.

David Weisner wrote this 1992 Caldecott Medal Winner. It has 32 pages and very few words. Amazon says Tuesday's aimed at children 4 to 8. In this book, it catalogs many terrific happenings beginning on Tuesday around 8 pm.

In my opinion, picture books are to help parents talk to children and show them stories. It doesn't matter how many ...

The way to progress is to keep looking forward. Yes, you can go over the things you missed, the stuff you'd change, but the most important part is to is to keep going.

So, I want to post about books I'm reading here in May. I have posted books in here before, especially ones that have been helpful writing-wise, but – I want to bring some of my focus back to reading.

One of my purposes is to give myself time to figure out all the revisions that my latest novel needs, and another is to just do...