Yeah, things have been crazy since I went back to school. Homework, homework, and more homework. And that’s on top of my already busy family life.

I’m supposed to be working on an assignment for American Literature class right now. It’s an outline that’s due tonight (thank goodness it’s the outline and not the paper). I spent the last three days trying to finish reading Moby Dick so I could do the outline. I began reading it several weeks ago just after I downloaded it onto my Kindle.

Normally it doesn’t take me nearly that long to finish a book, but have you read Moby Dick? My first mistake was reading an unabridged version. Yeah, if you’ve done it, you know my pain.

I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy it, but it’s not one of those books you can read while the TV is going and the kids are being noisy (and if you could I don’t want to hear about it). This tome takes some serious concentration (again, if you breezed through it, don’t tell me . . . let me pretend it’s hard for everyone to get through cause it will make me feel better . . . you want me to feel better, RIGHT?)!

In addition to the chapters on cetology, whaling practices, and other wanderings, the language of the story itself is . . . um . . . old. Yeah. We’ll go with that. If someone tried to publish a novel like this today, it wouldn’t happen . . . or it would, if it were self published.

That’s not to say it never should have been published, it’s just that there’s a HUGE difference between books being published in America during it’s fledgling years and ones being published now. HUGE difference.

Okay, see what I did there? I’m so used to reading Melville that I just went off on a tangent myself! I’m so going to have to read a modern novel before I go back to writing my own. *sigh*

Really, I just popped in here to let you know about a contest the most awesome Shannon Messinger is having. You can win a wish!! No, really, you can!! Go check it out by clicking on the beautifully Photo Shopped Shannon:

Now, I’ll get back to writing my outline after which I’ll get started on the Hawthorn biography and PowerPoint presentation I have to have done by either Wednesday or next Monday (whenever we finish up Poe). Yeah, I thought going back to school part time was going to be easy.

Write on.