Category: Family (Page 15 of 27)

Never-Ending Winter 2015 in Pictures

March 13, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

There are still big snow piles outside, but the weather is warming and the earth is waking again in preparation for spring. Still won’t be getting those pea seeds planted on St. Patrick’s Day like most years, but I keep telling myself soon enough the garden will be full of flowers and veggies.

I was backing up a bunch of pictures yesterday, so I thought I’d share a picturesque look back on this winter (and also pictures are an easy post while I’m crazy busy trying to finish a first draft of BLACK BUTTERFLY and preparing for my workshops in April). We spent most of it indoors because of sub-freezing (often sub-zero) temperatures, frigid wind chills, and of course all that snow. Enjoy the cuteness!

Finished (Almost) Attic Writing Space

February 20, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

The attic office space is finished! Sort of. There are still some finishes that need to be done (molding, doors to close off the eave storage areas and for the closet, more seating options and eventually a new desk, and a few other things), but it’s completely functional and even starting to look pretty now that I’ve started filling up the bookshelves.

I love sitting at my desk that faces the window with my view of the neighbors’ rooftops and yards (though mostly there’s just a lot of snow out there right now), and the boys certainly enjoy the space. A bonus for the winter is that it’s the warmest room in the house.

Now that we’ve been clearing out the boxes and getting organized, I’m realizing how much good space we have up there. The floor space is big, and even with the limited headroom on the sides, it feels spacious. I’ll have to go through all my pictures of the attic and put together some before and after photos for you all. But for now, I’m just gonna enjoy my new room for what is meant for: writing!

Reading Wrap Up 2014 or The Year of Change

January 12, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

This past year marked a big change for me in my reading habits. It was the first year where I read more digital books than print ones. I’ve been reading digital books for years, but 2014 was the year the scales tipped way in favor of digital.

There were several factors for this: one being that I joined NetGalley and started reading digital ARCs, another being digital is a great way for my writer friends to share their books with me for little cost to either of us, and a third being how easy and low-cost it is to acquire digital books. But the overriding factor was definitely my own life. With The Boy having sleep issues earlier in the year and adding The Prince into the mix with all his nursings, I’ve had a lot of time where I’m sitting quietly but where reading a print book would be a bit impractical. So I read on my Nook a lot and on my phone a whole lot.

So much so that early in the year I realized my original goal of reading 67 books (in par with the past several years of reading) was going to be surpassed. I reset my goal to 80 books and exceeded that by 2, for a grand total of (tough math, I know!) 82 books! (You can check out my full 2014 reading list over on Goodreads.) The 82 includes mostly novels and some novellas and short stories. It doesn’t include the many, many, many picture books and board books I read (and reread) to the boys.

It also doesn’t include the quite a few (estimate of about 6 or so) books I did not finish (DNF). Though this may seem like a small number, it’s significant for me because in the past I’ve almost always finished a book once I’ve started it. As in 2014’s DNF list is probably as long as my previous DNF list for many previous years.

Again I think this change has a lot to do with all the digital reading I’ve done. I took a chance on free books and $.99 books, many self-published or with small presses but a significant portion on traditional published book as well. And books across all three publishing models made my DNF list (I don’t actually keep an official list for this, just a mental one). I’ve also found it’s a lot easier to just stop reading a digital book vs. a print one. The reasons behind that could probably be a whole blog post by itself.

Does all my digital reading mean I don’t like print books or that I think print is dead? Absolutely not. In fact, from what I’ve read about book sales in 2014, it seems the digital market has finally flattened out (after years of crazy growth) and the print market surged a little. The market has finally started to settle into a new normal where both print and digital can coexist.

As for my personal tastes in 2014 (again, could be a whole blog post by itself, but I’ll just give you the highlights here), I read lots of really good fantasy. Stand-out titles being THE FALSE PRINCE and the entire Ascendance Trilogy by Jennifer A. Nielsen, THE KISS OF DECEPTION by Mary E. Pearson, and BLUE LILY, LILY BLUE by Maggie Stiefvater.

I definitely had some serious paranormal fatigue by the end of the year. There are still good titles in the genre, but I found many just didn’t stand out enough and hit too many of the same notes. I’ll probably be less likely to pick up these titles this year.

I read more middle grade than in the past and have been really enjoying it. Middle grade books seem to be taking more chances and doing different things, much like YA was doing right before it blew up and became hugely popular. I’ll probably continue to read more MG this year.

And I’ve read lots of good indie/small press authors, including S.J. Pajonas, Mary Waibel, Kai Strand, and Meradeth Houston. (In an attempt at full disclosure, yes, these authors I would consider writer friends, so I want you to check out their writing first because it’s awesome and second because they are awesome people!) Supporting indie authors has become an important part of my reading practices and will continue to be in 2015.

All in all, my bread and butter reading was (and has been for some time) YA, often fantasy. That’s just my personal tastes and I think I will always gravitate toward that age group and the fantasy genre. But I do enjoy branching out and hope to do more of that this year. And I will absolutely keep reading authors I know personally or online (and that list grows every year…it’s getting harder and harder not to know the authors I read). Of course with the boys, I’ll continue reading lots of picture books, old favorites and new ones too. Lately, we’ve even started reading small chapter books, which is a fun addition.

What were your reading habits and favorite reads of 2014?

Happy Holidays From My Family to Yours

December 16, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

It’s a busy time of year for everyone, and that’s no exception for this gal! Between the decorating, cookie making, and holiday activities, a minute of spare time is just not to be found.

This past weekend we took a holiday train ride with Santa (and other fun characters) on the Essex Steam Train. And tomorrow we’re taking The Boy on his first ever trip to NYC. So that means another train ride (this time on the train we see from the cafe all of the time), seeing the big tree at Rockefeller Center, and probably a trip to the toy store.

I’ve also got some really exciting things going on with the writing career, but I’ll be gabbing about all that in the New Year. If you’re local, don’t forget to check out the launch party for The Great Connecticut Caper at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford on January 7, 2015. The countdown has already begun for the first chapter release on January 4, 2015. The official site for reading the chapters as they release is http://ctcaper.cthumanities.org/.

I’ve got one last guest post scheduled for Thursday (a cover reveal!) and then I’ll be taking next week off from blogging for Christmas. The Observation Desk will be back strong in the New Year with lots of guest posts from The Great Connecticut Caper contributors and the usual writing, parenting, blathering posts from me. 😉

With that, I wish all of you a happy and healthy holiday season and New Year!

Feeling Like Mary Poppins in My New Office

December 1, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. As you probably noticed, I took last week off from blogging, and from writing too, which was kind of a bummer because I had an awesomely productive writing week prior to Thanksgiving. Getting back on track this week, though, and thought I’d give you an update on the office attic space.

It has been coming along nicely (a bit slowly as well, but that’s life, I suppose) and I’ve been enjoying my new writing space. In fact, I’m there right now writing this blog post. The Prince is on his baby play mat behind me, and The Boy is outside playing with his grandma. I even have tea and leftover pumpkin pie to enjoy (devour!). All in all a pretty good deal.

The office isn’t finished finished…there are still boxes that need to be put away, storage units that need to be built, molding to be finished, a few doors to be installed, and we need to figure out where exactly we’re going to put my ficus tree, which I bought when I was 9 years old and has grown considerably larger since then. But it’s turning out to be a very functional space even with all the clutter.

My view isn’t the prettiest, but it kind of makes me feel like a suburban Mary Poppins. No chimney sweeps and certainly not as picturesque as London at twilight, but it’s mine and I love it all the same.

One of these days when the room is organized and clean (which may never happen with the kiddos playing up here), I’ll post some good before, during, and after photos. In the meantime, I’ll keep writing my WIP in my WIP of an office. 🙂