It's been entirely too long since I made a big purchase of books from Amazon.com. But now that I'm working and getting a steady paycheck, yea-ha! I'm buying some books, dang it!

I just hit the submit button on my order.

I bought:

Thirteen Reasons Why
I've been wanting to read this book for months now. I requested it at the library, but it took them like six weeks to get in Story of a Girl and I can't wait that long for Thirteen Reasons Why.

The Luxe
A Victorian era version of Gossip Girl! What's not to love?

Glass
I'm such a huge fan of Ellen Hopkins. I read Crank so long ago. I'm excited to read the sequel. 

I can't wait to get my order in! It's my Christmas present to myself.

In the meantime, I'm reading Son of the Mob, which is really-really good so far. The voice is great. I also have Rebel Angels, Ironside, The Chaos King and The Book Thief.

It feels like it's been so long since I just read book after book after book. I guess I've been focusing too much on writing. Now it's time to take a break and get back into some reading.

The writing break went well! I think I needed it anyway, considering I was starting a new job. After overloading my brain with all these new bank rules, it was nice to come home and just surf the Internet or sit down with a book. I finished Bloom, as I said and started Vampirates and Story of a Girl, which the library FINALLY got in. I was bugging them weekly. They're probably happy to get rid of me!

I also watched lots of TV and some movies. I watched an Australian indie remake of Macbeth. I love Australian indies. Ever seen Somersault? SO GOOD. The guy who played Macbeth in the remake was a main character in Somersault. His name is Sam Worthington and he is so yumm. He's been cast in James Cameron's new sci-fi movie, Avatar, so I think we'll be seeing more of him in the US. 

After watching Macbeth, I was instantly inspired to open a new document in Word and just started writing. The thing with Australian indies, they have this haunting quality, quiet and poetic. I just love them. At least the ones I've watched and perhaps it's true too for US indies, but I haven't seen many to know.

Anyway, here's what I just wrote and I love it. It felt so good to stretch that writing muscle after a week or so! That really isn't long at all, but, whatever. For me it is! 

This is a story of death. Of the literal and figurative sense.

Because I saw them dead and because I am not the same as I was when this story started.

Where did it start, exactly?

Where all stories start.

On a day.

On a day that began like any day.

Perhaps it was a Thursday though I can’t remember clearly. After the beginning, the titles of the day blurred together like lights outside a carousel. They were just a flash of golden smudged against the darkness.

But on that day, I twisted shut the lock on the front door of my father’s chocolate shop and that was where the ordinary ended. It was a distinct end, an audible click in the night.

The next sound that reached me, carried on the crisp cool wind of autumn, was a gunshot.

(And since this is technically a teaser, consider it my teaser for Tuesday. I'll be working all day Tuesday, so I won't post.)