So I think I’ve FINALLY gotten out of my reading slump, which I’ve been in for quite some time. After tearing through Jogn Green’s Paper Towns last week, a bunch of holds came in all at once. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to finish them all, since I’ve been in such a slump lately, but I raced through the last book in Cassandra Clare’s Infernal Devices trilogy, Clockwork Princess, and then switched gears with Where’d You Go Bernadette, and then tore through Pretty Girl-13, which I pretty much devoured yesterday. What a great book week!
I haven’t been posting very many reviews here on the blog lately, since I haven’t really felt that passionately about any, but I definitely plan on reviewing the above three, since I really enjoyed all of them. Currently, I’m reading the super popular The 5th Wave, which is supposed to be the next Hunger Games. People always seem to be saying that so I’m curious to see if it lives up to it’s super high expectations. So far though, I’m really enjoying it.
In books/writing news, I finally started writing this week! After a month of procrastination and planning, I finally opened up my Scrivener document and started writing. I wanted to start first thing in the morning, but first, I had to tweet about it. Then I browsed Pinterest for a little while (which turned into an hour), and then went on Facebook. Yup, I just kept putting it off.
Getting started was the hard part, but once I started, it wasn’t so bad. I think starting is the hardest part, at least for me. In all other aspects of my life, I like to plan and organize to the death. But when I’m writing a story, I don’t always know the complete details of the story. Instead, I find that I tend to discover truths about the characters and the story as I write and spend time with the characters, getting to know them. I tend to forget this everytime I start to write a manuscript, and again, spent weeks trying to hammer out the holes in the story, instead of just writing. But now that I’ve started, I’m really excited to get going.
My third manuscript is still out on submission to agents, but I really hope and pray that I can share good news on the blog soon, inshAllah. 🙂
I normally don’t bake during the week (I’ve restricted myself to one day), but my dad was coming back on Tuesday from Pakistan, and I couldn’t resist making his favourite banana bread from his recipe.
It’s my go-to recipe for whenever I, or my dad, make banana bread, and it’s super easy. I can’t wait to share with you all! 🙂
I also posted the recipe for my absolute favourite cheesecake: New York Style Cheesecake. Except I baked it up mini, and dressed them up with a sour cream topping, fresh strawberries and a squirt of whipped cream.
These are perfect for a bridal shower, baby shower, summer picnic/bbq, or just any day of the week. 🙂 I really hope you try them out and let me know how you find them!
That’s pretty much it for this week, my friends! I hope you all had a great week, and have an ever more wonderful weekend. 🙂 I’ll see you on Sunday with the banana bread recipe. 🙂
As always, thanks for reading,
Ikhlas
