and that's that.

oh, this bloggy posting break has been gloriously relaxing.  and yet we're still behind.

 we have a feeeew awards from weeks, maybe months, back to announce our gratitude for, and pass on, and we've also recently been tagged and need to fill out that post and tag a few more of you, but it ain't gonna happen today.  add those items to the "things to come in june once school is out and we are once again stress-free and sane".

we're also hoping for some uber exciting and largish give-a-ways this summer.  think books. and lots of them!  summer reading is SO important.  and necessary.  be excited.  be very, very excited!  think summer block blog party with lots of free food nourishment in the form of well-formed sentences and plots and characters.

other news.  there's a blogfest going on through rachel morgan right now.  you should check it out.  it runs through tomorrow.  go here to read some tense scenes!  (i would have participated, but... i just really, really want to finish my ms-es and get the queries done and get them out.  really, really.)

new topic.

i *christy) miss reading to read.   since i started reading as many YA novels as possible 1)because i love them 2) because i needed to brush up on my genre (since i only read adult novels prior to deciding to write YA), i've enjoyed almost all of the books i've read.  BUT i haven't lost myself in them enough to fall in love with them.  i think it's because now i'm always too aware of trying to learn from them.  i'm reading as a writer, looking at hook, plot, characters, and adverbs and i miss just reading to read, like i did before i decided i wanted to be a writer too.

do you need to turn off the writer in you in order to read a book?  if so, how?  maybe this is just some phase i'm going through as a "toddler writer" (only in my second year), and maybe once my confidence as a writer increases and i no longer struggle to get my words in my manuscript, then my writer mind will shut up when i'm reading. 

(also, watching a movie after reading the book so totally doesn't work for me.  can't do it.  the movie becomes a totally unenjoyable experience.  except maybe the davinci code.  i think i watched that movie without being annoyed.)

do you have any authors or books i should try that will just blow me away?  (this summer i plan to grab a bunch of my old adult books and favorite authors and just read without thinking writing.  i think that will help.)