I’ve been in some kind of weird hibernative funk this week, capped off this morning by a visit with my insurance agent and finding out that getting on a long-term health plan right now would cost me more than $500 per month with a $3,000 deductible that must be met before anything is covered. I’m actually better off staying on the temporary plan (better coverage) until I lose 50 more pounds to qualify for their highest-risk bracket for their regular health plans. (More about this later on my Fabulous by 40 blog).

Anyway, I realized that I never posted my updated goal list yesterday, so the rest of the lists will be put up next week.

Don’t forget—if you want to enter the holiday writing contest, the deadline is next Monday at midnight (central time).

I last updated this list in May . . . and have really fallen apart on doing this. I’ve been reading a lot, but have been going back and re-reading old favorites more than picking up new things to read. I don’t know what’s wrong with me—I used to devour new books. The update from May is in plum. Today’s comments are in blue.

CBA Fiction
1. Lady of Milkweed Manor by Julie Klassen—Purchased 2/9/08, but I still haven’t read it. I started reading this during the summer, got as far as Chapter 6, put it down, and never picked it up again. It seems to be very well written, but the storyline just wasn’t riveting enough for me to remember that I needed to pick it up again.
2. Sisters, Ink (Scrapbooker’s Series #1) by Rebeca Seitz—Purchased 2/9/08, but I still haven’t read it. Still haven’t gotten around to reading this one yet.
3. Sweet Caroline by Rachel Hauck Haven’t even bought this one.
4. My Name Is Russell Fink by Michael Snyder—Purchased 2/14/08, but I still haven’t read it. With all apologies to Mike, I haven’t read this one yet either. But I have preordered his next book already.
5. Faking Grace by Tamara Leigh (doesn’t release until later this summer). Again, with sincere apologies to Tammy, I haven’t gotten around to this one yet either.
6. For Better or For Worse by Diann Hunt—Read this in February. My review can be found here.
I purchased Linda Windsor’s Wedding Bell Blues on 2/9/08. I began reading it last week, and hope to be able to get back to it this weekend. I’m also wanting to read The Convenient Groom by Denise Hunter, but will wait until after my birthday before ordering it.
What I have read this year:
The Convenient Groom by Denise Hunter
A Constant Heart by Siri Mitchell (see my review here)
Daring Chloe by Laura Jensen Walker (see my review here)
When the Soul Mends by Cindy Woodsmall

ABA Fiction
1. Finish reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Finished FOTR before Christmas. Finished TTT in Jan. ’08. Finished reading ROTK in Feb. ’08.
2. The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz—Read my review here
3. Fire Study (Study, Book 3) by Maria V. Snyder (I received this book March 1; I have not read it yet.) See my interview with Maria here.
4. To Catch A Pirate by Jade Parker (YA) This is one I’ll be pulling out pretty soon as I get back into researching ship-board stuff for the Ransome Trilogy.
5. Last One In by Nicholas Kulish Shadow Music by Julie Garwood—Finished reading it 2/7/08. Read my review here.
6. The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum Tried listening to this one on audiobook and it bored me to tears.

Since I last updated this list, I have picked up several other ABA novels that I’ve read while doing the series on writing the romance novel, all of which I read many years ago when they were new. I’ve read Honor’s Splendor, The Wedding, and The Bride by Julie Garwood; Rosehaven by Catherine Coulter; and The Velvet Promise by Jude Deveraux.

Non-Fiction—have not started on any of these yet.
1. Stealing Fire from the Gods: The Complete Guide to Story for Writers and Filmmakers by James Bonnet. Haven’t bought/read
2. Emotional Structure: Creating the Story Beneath the Plot by Peter Dunne. Have purchased this one, have read a little bit of it, but was somewhat daunted by the length of it.

The rest of these are all on my wishlist at Amazon (just in case anyone is wondering what to get me for Christmas)
3. Jane Austen on Film and Television: A Critical Study of the Adaptations by Sue Parrill
4. Teaching Creative Writing, Graeme Harper (Ed.)
5. Jane Austen and the Interplay of Character by Ivor Morris
6. The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer’s Block, and the Creative Brain by Alice Weaver Flaherty

Though I haven’t read any of those (I have at least purchased Emotional Structure), I have read Scene and Structure (Jack Bickham) and How to Grow a Novel (Sol Stein), as well as Writing the Christian Romance (Gail Gaymer Martin), most of Dangerous Men, Adventurous Women (Ed. Jayne Ann Krentz), Writing the Romantic Comedy (Billy Mernit), and most of all of the books listed on the first Writing the Romance Novel post. I also purchased and read Writing Dialogue for the “Say What?” series I did a couple of months ago.

How are you doing on your TBR list this year?