Aurora Dimitre's Books and Rambling

Not fast but well is my general feeling on it. I haven't bought any books that I haven't earned; I've got a whole convoluted system for this just like I've got a whole convoluted system for everything . My goal is to get it under 900 by the end of the year, which doesn't sound like that lofty of a goal until you realize that I started at 964 and while I'm not buying a lot of books I'm still buying a few books. March was a huge month for me, reading-wise. I finished War and Peace and proceeded to plow my way through eighteen other books that month. April's a little more conservative--I'm at nine, and while I bet I could finish The Institute before the end of the day, I don't think I'm going to go for it. Nine is an all right number for me. Based on my restrictions, I can buy three books this month. Don't try to figure out how many books I need to read to buy one because it is completely random book-by-book, any number between one and fiv...

It was February 16th the last time I ordered. I'd just filmed my top 2019 books/movies/album, and was feeling the need for some more Clive Barker--this was before I started my book buying restrictions, so I bought a lot of four Clive Barker books. Then I didn't touch eBay for two and a half months. We're in a weird state right now. Cases are continuing to climb in places like Bismarck and Fargo (mostly Fargo), but the rest of the state is, pretty much, staying steady. One of my coworkers had symptoms back in February, she got two other coworkers sick, and now nobody we work with has gotten it, so we're thinking that probably we just infected the entire town back in February, and maybe that's why the county's not doing so bad? I know you can get it twice, but she had all the symptoms. It's slowed down. The first couple weeks were slow, it started building, came to a crest last week, and last night was slow. Monday is free pop night, and Monday is never sl...

So, I took some books out of the book wall last night. By 'some' I mean, 'a lot', and so--upcoming tbr for... a while, TBH. Dumplin by Julie Murphy I believe I bought this from Wal-Mart around the time the movie was going to be coming out? I have a handful of very hyped YA books from the past couple years hanging around, and I expect this to be a pretty fast read if nothing else. The Institute by Stephen King No, I haven't read The Institute yet. I'm getting there. Sleepless by Lou Morgan This was sent to me by Sarah Hall, who subscribes to my channel and leaves the best comments, always--it's apparently a pretty good YA horror, so I'm pretty pumped for what it's going to bring to the table. The Scorch Trials by James Dashner This is a re-read, I have read the entire Maze Runner trilogy. But I had it in the Wall, and it came up. Out of the Madhouse by Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder This is a Buffy the Vampire Slayer novel. I wat...

NOTE: And another short story from the 'retired' folder! As always--short stories are not my forte. I need to be able to make them novels or I will get bored and make them too short. But this one I don't think turned out too bad? Feat. my usual 'this has a heavy driving' influence that definitely has nothing to do with most of my ideas coming to me while I'm driving. Interested in more short stories/essays/other writings? This page is what you're looking for.  

I never really got over having a to-do list of things to do. I still have roughly the same system that I did in college, except now I don't have deadlines, so instead of putting little asterisks by the things that need to get done today, Aurora, I just go in order. First up on the order is: Upload MWF, Blog T-TH, Save Sa, Film Su. Everything else rotates. They're in a specific order, but they rotate. This is because normally I don't get shit done, even if I have a day off: par example, today, I don't work at all. But instead of doing anything I slept until nine (my boyfriend even got up before me, which is not a thing that ever happens; normally if he's awake earlier in the morning than I am, it's because he didn't go to sleep), and then we made breakfast, and then I put in laundry, and now it's almost one PM and I'm just starting to get shit done. I'm not mad about any of this, it was a nice morning. But that's why I rotate, because if I...

[and here we have another old journal entry! again, names censored. this one is way way way more recent than the last time i did this, this one's just from last year] APRIL 14, 2019 11:03 PM I just--I dunno. DnD was pretty good tho K---- didn't show so that's a bitch, right. But it was all right. Got some shit done I guess so that's aight. It's just--man, it's fucking insane I only got 2wks, & not even full bc of Easter, of class left. Like. Fuck, man.  Aurora Dimitre Dead and Gone - Trivium Empire Falls - Richard Russo / Strange - Colin & Damon Wilson Writing: 2019/Always: 0/50

Last night, I told my mom that I'd sort-of-spur-of-the-moment self-pubbed Iscariot . She knew what I was talking about, because it's something I'd been working on for like a decade, almost, at this point, and she immediately purchased and shared it on Facebook. So I actually tripled how many books I've sold now (not saying I've sold all that much), which is good, but part of me can't help but be a little nervous. For some reason, the thought of a complete stranger reading it doesn't really bother me, but people who know me, or worse, vaguely know me, like distant relatives--it's weird. I mentioned to my boyfriend last night: "I hope they only purchase, don't read." I didn't share it to Facebook for this exact reason. Okay, two exact reasons, the other reason is that I have my creative writing professor from college on Facebook and I am not sure how much I want him to be aware of. I know that he doesn't think much of self-publish...

I have stopped listening to the federal government. It's not like I ever listened to them all that much anyway , I was raised to be pretty anti-big-government, I had an IMPEACH BUSH sticker on my door as a kid, but at this point, I couldn't care less about what the federal government has to say about any of this. I'm listening to Burgum, North Dakota's governor, because he's saying stuff that pertains to North Dakota. One of the reasons why I do think that a big overarching government over the US shoving the same things at each state (in general, not saying that's what's happening) is not a great idea is because of how vast the state is and how diverse it is in population density and production. I am a huge proponent of state's rights because the same things do not apply to every state. Every state needs different things, and in a situation like this, I think that Burgum knows better what's happening in my neck of the woods than anyone in DC. T...

The first major writing project I worked on kept getting longer. It was a series, and the first draft of the final book topped off at 105,000 words or so. This was a little bit of a problem, because, generally, books get longer for me as I rewrite them. The first draft of the first book was 50k, and at this point, at its end, its completion, it's-self-published-now-so-I'm-not-changing-it-again, it's 82k. Same with OMSS--started out at about 40k, ended up at about 80k, though that one's not out in the world so that one could still grow. My first drafts are short now. I'm not sure if this means I'm getting impatient, if it means I really need to actually work harder or if it means I've learned how to be concise. Metallica project--the rewrite wasn't all that much longer than the first draft, and it's not even novel-length. It's a full-on novella, somewhere around 40k. NaNoWriMo this year I fucked up. My project was done at 37k. I wrote and I wrot...