Sorry I haven't posted in awhile, guys! I've been sorta kinda busy with - wait for it - grown-up stuff.

Inception-style-BBBBBRRRRRAAAAAAAAAA.

Let's make a list of what has transpired this past week and a half, shall we? And some of them are even documented!

1. I turned 20. Enough said. Goodbye teens, hello twenties. Gulp.

2. One of my best friends got married. I was in the wedding and it was beautiful. But I still couldn't shake the surreal feeling you get when one of your childhood-turned-adulthood friends is the first to get married. It was just plain weird. But still a pretty good time.

It seems like I'm giving this blog a theme with all the rants I'm posting about books and movies. I guess they're just all that I feel like talking about. Maybe I'll talk about makeup or boys in the next one.

Moving on...

Today's post is inspired by all the media surrounding the "50 Shades of Grey" movie. Let me just start out by saying that no, I haven't read the books. Nor do I intend to. I do have friends who have read them, however, and they have told me that they're not as bad as they're being portrayed. I considered reading the three-book series just to write an educated post about them but decided against it. Mostly because I'm lazy but also because I also have a pile of other books I have to read, as I've stated before. But I feel that I don't need to have read them in order to say what I intend to say so I'll just get straight to it.

"50 Shades of Grey" is erotica. It's a known fact. It can also be categorized as romance but who are we kidding. Anything with explicitly written sex scenes can be counted as erotica. I've read plenty of books with sex in them and can easily tell the difference between romance and erotica. Simply put: If the book has three or more synonyms for "penis" and "vagina," it's erotica. Also, plot. Plot is very important. If it's intricate enough, sex scenes are put in the backseat and aren't entirely relevant when it comes to the main story line. Hell, you could even skip them. But if they overshadow the plot (hence, the BDSM in "50 Shades") then it's clear that the plot isn't strong enough and cannot be carried without them. Erotica.

Good. Now that we've gotten that settled. Why in the name of all that is holy is this book being made into a movie? I mean, I could see full-on porn being based off of it. But a full-length motion picture? Seriously? This is just doomed to be a disaster. They're going to have to water it down a lot to get an R-rating. And even if they accomplish that, will it even be that good? I've heard snippets of the main plot from friends who have read it and don't think it seems all that interesting. It's main appeal is the sex and its, ahem, interestingly written scenes. Maybe that's why the cast hasn't been announced yet. Maybe the executives who were dumb enough to fund this project have seen some sense.

Having read a few excerpts of the text (Hamster. Enough said.) I could tell that this wasn't the greatest book to begin with. The main reason for its publicity was that it was first written as a "Twilight" fan fiction. Which I have the utmost respect for. Being a former fan fiction writer, I am proud and envious of the success of writers who got their start in fan fiction. It gives me hope. But still, when your story is as poorly written as "50 Shades," I almost take it back. E.L. James's success gives writers false hopes of publishing. She didn't get all of this attention because her book was good. She got it because she was riding the "Twilight" bandwagon in the steamiest and most controversial of ways. Is she setting a good example for future writers? No. She's "inspiring" them to write something controversial to get media attention and let themselves be remembered as that one lady who wrote that sex book. She's a fad and will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. She could have had the potential to be a truly fantastic novelist whose stories (yes, even erotica) would have been remembered because they were good, not because they were bad and falsely revered. Now she's the pinnacle of bad writing done right, which shouldn't prove as any encouragement to those wanting to break into the industry.

And they want to make a movie out of it. That's about as screwed up as the media can get.

/endrant

 Summer reading? What makes summer so special? I read during all the seasons!

Well, so do I but that doesn't make it any less important.

If you're a boring introvert like me, you probably don't like going out to clubs or parties and instead like to spend your free time by yourself or in the company of good friends. Also, you may or may not read. A lot. Personally, I try to keep a book with me everywhere I go. Heck, I just bought a purse that was sized specifically to fit the book I was reading. If that doesn't say antisocial bookworm, I don't know what does.

Reading is almost as important to me as writing is. During high school, I nearly stopped leisurely reading altogether because, well, I can't even remember. It was a dark time. Now, after starting college, I've picked it back up and am coasting through my personal library at a record rate. During school, I can really only read before bed because of my hectic class schedule. It's during the summertime that I can really sit down and read without having to feel guilty about looming homework (looming manuscript writing is a whole other story... but we'll just ignore that for now).

During the summer, I focus on reconnecting with friends and family from home, catching up on sleep, my part-time retail job, writing, and reading. I juggle these things interchangeably and make pretty good progress in all of them. The reason reading is so important to me during the summer is not only because of the greater amounts of time I can dedicate to it, but also because I have a lot of freaking books I need to read. I don't see it as a problem but others might. Whenever I enter a place that sells books, more often than not I come out with one... or twenty. My bookshelf is bursting with literature of all sorts whose cover and/or description fit my interest, thirty percent of which I have yet to read. That percentage grows every few weeks as I bring home more books, telling myself "It's summer, of course you'll have time to read this!" Which, more often than not, I don't. But the time off from school does help some. It helps me steadily work my way through them one-by-one, climbing toward but never quite reaching the end. Which, honestly, doesn't bother me a bit. I like knowing that I have another book to read when I finish one. It eases that melancholy state I find myself in after I read a good story.

Not only does summer provide me the time to read the gratuitous amount of books I own, it also provides me an excuse to go outside. I've never been much of a sporty person and usually don't venture outside unless I'm at a party or with other people in general. When I'm by myself, it's harder for me to get up the will to bask in the sunlight. I can't even go out to lay there and tan for more than five minutes without getting bored. It's pretty pathetic. But when I bring a book out with me and some SPF 30, I'm all set to go. I can only ever achieve this in the middle of summer because of the Midwest's habit of bipolar weather.

The last thing I want to point out about summer reading is how completely necessary it is. Each year, less and less people are reading for pleasure. I'm serious - go look at the statistics. It's quite frighting. So when you tell someone that you love to read, the chances are pretty high that they'll either look at your funny or think you're unnaturally smart because you spend your free time getting into a good book. I only have a few friends I can talk to about the books I read because I know that they'll appreciate the conversation rather than looking at me like I need to get a life. Truthfully, I'd rather spend my summer reading than watching reruns of Seinfeld on TV. I think it's a much more productive use of my time to finish a book. And, when I tell people how I spent my summer, it'll seem even more so and maybe even impress someone, which is always a nice ego boost. Instead of mumbling how many hours I put in at work, I can say "I finished seven books. What did you do?"

How about you guys? Do you spend your summer reading? If so, what books are on your summer reading list? Let me know in the comments!

I've tried this blogging thing before but it's never panned out to much. I start, I go on for a while, then I loose interest and forget about it. I think now's the time to change that cycle and start anew.

As a writer, I am constantly on my own case to write every day. Especially since I'm working on a new story, one that I'm very excited about. But with that excitement comes fear - the kind of fear you get when you don't want to be let down. It's even worse when you only have yourself to depend on. A blog seemed like an easy way to relieve some of that tension.

I think the easiest way to start this out and make it all official and stuff is to introduce myself.