Personal – Sarah Ames-Foley

October 2017 Wrap-Up

November 2, 2017October 31, 2017 Sarah

Books:

All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Steifvater. 3/5 stars, review.
Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman. 5/5 stars, review.
A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares by Krystal Sutherland. DNF.
Rednecks, Queers, and Country Music by Nadine Hubbs. DNF.
The Snowman by Jo Nesbø, translated by Don Bartlett. DNF.
At the Water’s Edge by Sara Gruen. 4/5 stars, review to come.
Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust. DNF.
Where Am I Now? by Mara Wilson. 5/5 stars, review to come.

Books read: 4
Books DNF’d: 4
Average Rating: 4.25

Movies:

Happy Death Day [2017] directed by Christopher B. Landon. 4/5 stars, review.
Professor Marston & the Wonder Women [2017] directed by Angela Robinson. 5/5 stars, review.
The Snowman [2017] directed by Tomas Alfredson. 1/5 stars, I was going to do a review for this but BRUNCH says everything I wanted to say better than I could, so go listen to this episode on it.
The Sixth Sense [1999] directed by M. Night Shyamalan. 4/5 stars, rewatch.
Teeth [2007] directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein. 5/5 stars, rewatch.
The Hallow [2015] directed by Corin Hardy. 3/5 stars.

Movies watched: 6
Average Rating: 3.67 stars

Other Posts:

Reading Goal Progress:

I only read four books this month, bleh. I need to start letting myself off the hook with DNFing again because I wasted a lot of time trying to push myself through FOUR(!) other books that I ended up tossing. Anyway, that puts me at 56 books, on a goal of 50. I am 15 books ahead of schedule, and at 112% of my goal. #nice

Nanowrimo Goals:

For those of you don’t know, November is National Novel Writing Month. Essentially, the goal is to write a 50,000 page novel in one month. This ends up being 1,667 words per day. I’ve participated in Nanowrimo a few times, but have never finished. This year, I’m gonna play it a little differently. I intend to write 50,000 words, but I’m going to do a mix of fiction and non-fiction pieces. It’s essentially going to end up being a short story collection and/or a set of essays. I’m just going to go with the flow and try to write 50,000 pages of whatever I can by the end of November!

You can join me on the Nanowrimo website and also on Twitter, where I’ll surely be livetweeting my adventure.

Notable Posts by Others:

How to Write Effective Constructive Criticism by Amanda @ little dahlia

Personal Highlights (aka a photo dump of things I did this month):

Thanks for reading! How was October for you? Let me know in the comments. 🙂

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Bookworm Blogging, Personal

Joe Hill Book Launch [recap]

October 24, 2017October 24, 2017 Sarah

Good morning, everyone! I’m practically falling over my keyboard after last night’s adventure, I was in such a buzz that it took me forever to fall asleep. Anyway! Onto the exciting stuff.

Last week, I was scrolling through Facebook, when I happened to see an event for Joe Hill’s book launch of Strange Weather. It was taking place at Brookline Booksmith, a local bookstore (probably my new favorite place). I had an appointment beforehand, so I wasn’t sure I would make it over in time–in part because I didn’t know what kind of turnout to expect, and whether I’d make it inside or not. Luckily, I managed to get in and had plenty of time to buy a copy of Strange Weather and to settle into my seat in the back row.

Joe’s introduction was hysterical–the employee told the story of the first time they had met him and then he stepped up to the mic. I could barely see him from where I was seated, but he was such a dynamic, animated speaker. He read an excerpt from the story “Aloft” (a graphic piece that drew some laughter from the crowd) and then spent most of the hour doing a Q&A. He was kind to all of the question askers, and told plenty of funny stories, along with giving serious answers. Some highlights:

On reading as an author: “If you’re not consumed with jealousy, you’re not reading the right things.”
When asked for writing advice (paraphrased): Don’t sit down to write a novel, sit down to write one good scene. Or one good sentence. Build up from there.
When asked about the shared universe theories: “Some people think this means that all these stories take place in the same universe. What it really means is my dad and me both like to fuck around.”
A question-asker mentioned that King name-dropped him in Sleeping Beauties: “Did he?! I haven’t read it yet!”

All-in-all it was a great experience! After the reading, everyone lined up for autographs and photos. I told him that I was blown away the first time I opened up Locke & Key because half my family lives in Nahant, MA and he responded, “oh yeah, it’s literally Nahant.” For those of you who don’t know, Locke & Key takes place on the fictional island of Lovecraft, MA and Lovecraft very closely resembles the town my mom grew up in. I’ll put some side-by-side photos below for comparison. You’ll see what I mean, I saw the resemblance as soon as I opened the comic.

In addition the the aerial shot, inspiration was also drawn from Swallow Cave, and from the old bunkers scattered around the island. I’ll have to get some more comparison shots at some point.

Anyway, this was an incredible experience and I’m so glad I made it. I’m definitely going to keep my eye open for more events at Brookline Booksmith (Mark Z. Danielewski is doing one in a couple weeks and I’m stoked!!!). Have any of you attended a bookish event like this? What was it like? Let me know in the comments!

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Book Tags, Bookworm Blogging, Personal

The Sunshine Blogger Award

August 22, 2017August 10, 2017 Sarah

Ah, I was nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award by the wonderful Rachel @ pace, amore, libri! Thanks so much, Rachel!!

The Rules:

Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.
Answer the 11 questions your nominator has given you.
Nominate 11 other people and give them 11 new questions to answer.
List the rules and display the award

The Questions:

What’s the last movie you saw and what did you think of it?

The last movie I saw was actually It Follows, and I LOVED it!! I didn’t really know what to expect going into it, but the cinematography was gorgeous and it was sooo well-done. I read like three different articles about it immediately after finishing (like, as the credits were playing). Highly recommend you watch it, if you can do horror movies. I get scared SO easily, but I still managed through it with just a couple jumps!

Do you have any weird or random talents?

I am an EXTREMELY fast typist. People end up in awe of my typing speed a lot of the time. I also make a very, very aesthetically pleasing soft serve ice cream, I got that twist talent.

What’s your favorite song at the moment?

X Gon’ Give It To Ya by DMX, it’s not my usual genre, but, well, I got into it after hearing it a lot as Xander Bogaerts’ walk-up song at Red Sox games.

What time of day do you do most of your blogging?

Afternoon or early evening! That’s when I’m typically at my most productive.

What’s your favorite museum that you’ve been to?

The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washingon, DC! It’s honestly breathtaking.

When’s the last time you went to a wedding?

Last August, so about a year ago! (I did the bride’s makeup!)

Do you have a celebrity doppelganger?

The lead singer of Pomplamoose!

If you were a cat, what color cat would you be? (Very important question.)

Calico, or slate grey!

Do you have a favorite publisher or publisher imprint?

No, I’ve only very recently started paying attention to which publishers publish which books–I’m a bad book reader.

Have you ever dressed up like a fictional character? (Bonus points for photo evidence.)

Many! Mostly for Halloween. Pikachu, Catwoman, Peter Pan. I know I’ve got a picture of the Pikachu one somewhere, but I can’t seem to find it…

What’s your favorite thing about your city (or state, or country)?

I love that there are so many beautiful things to see here in Boston!!

I tag:

My Questions:

How long have you been blogging for?
What’s the best book you’ve read so far in 2017?
How many cats is an ideal number of cats?
What’s your favorite musical artist?
Where is your perfect vacation?
Are you a writer as well as a reader?
Drink of choice? Alcoholic or non-alcoholic, doesn’t matter!
What’s your preferred method of travel?
What’s your aesthetic?
What’s your favorite season?
What is your favorite thing about yourself?

Not Books, Personal

Road Trip 2k17

July 5, 2017 Sarah

So!!! My family and I went on a road trip to Washington, D.C. recently to visit some family. I hadn’t been down in a few years and I haven’t taken a proper vacation in years.

I don’t even want to talk about how much coffee I had during this vacation.

Compulsory Starbucks bathroom selfie! Why am I wearing a flower crown on a road trip? I don’t know.

Obviously cats are the most important part of any vacation, so here’s a handsome one.

We went to the National Zoo! This was the Amazonia exhibit, which was really cool because the animals weren’t fenced in! They were all around us.

I went to Duck Donuts for the first time… and the second… and the third. They’re fresh, made-to-order donuts with whatever toppings you want!

This is Cat #2! He’s an angel and my baby and I love him. His name is Malbec. 💕

I got liquid nitrogen ice cream for the first time and it was so cool???????

Me and Malbec bonding

We went to a Nats game and their park is STUPENDOUS, but their mascots are a little creepy. This is my mom and I with Teddy. I also met Screech in an elevator, but didn’t get a picture!

My final picture: me and Lincoln (my second picture with him–I got one at Nats park too!). This was taken at Gettysburg on our way home.

All-in-all it was a great vacation! It was so lovely spending time with family I don’t get to see often and it was nice to see a different part of the country for a bit. I don’t travel nearly as much as I’d like to, but I’m hoping to do a bit more starting next year!