Odds and Ends: Back Home, Stress, and Jack the Ripper

Last weekend, I got back from my fabulous vacation in Alaska. We had an amazing time and everything was gorgeous. We spent time in Anchorage, Denali National Park (thank goodness we got up there before the shutdown), Fairbanks, and Seward. Alaska is an incredibly picturesque place and we spent a ton of time taking pictures.

This is just somewhere right off the highway. Seriously, everything was gorgeous.

Stunning mountains.

I love this place!

I found a lot of time for reading! Thanks to Kriss, I found a great little indie bookshop in Fairbanks that we visited. I picked up a copy of The Snow Child, a historical fiction set in Alaska as a souvenir!

Here I am in front of Gulliver's Books!

Oh, and I also took a little break from hiking in Kenai Fjord National Park to do a little reading!

Reading by a glacier ;)

It was a great trip! It took me a little while after coming home to get back into the swing of things. I was definitely feeling a little down before we left on vacation. I was so burnt out. Work had been extremely stressful for the couple months prior to vacation (it's still stressful but I feel like I'm handling things a lot better than I was before I left). It's amazing how a little bit of time away can change your perspective. I just needed a break but I feel a lot better now and I'm hoping to be a little more dynamic here on my blog (more interaction, more content than just simple book reviews).

I have a lot of big things going on reading-wise. I signed up for my first Coursera course ever. It's entitled Plagues, Witches, and Wars: The Worlds of Historical fiction so you can see that it's right down my alley!!! I know there are a lot of fellow members of the Historical Novel Society signed up but are any of you signed up?

I'm also beginning to plan again for NaNoWriMo. This will be my second year participating. I'm thinking about going with something a little more fun this time. Last year, I attempted to write a historical fiction novel set in 1950s/1960s Washington D.C., that admittedly I did nothing with. It was wayyyyy difficult to do research on the fly so I'm hoping to think up something that I won't have to research quite as much or at all. Are any of you participating?

Oh and tomorrow is my birthday! Birthdays stopped being really exciting for me a couple years ago. I'm not so much into celebrating them anymore. I just really don't like being the center of attention at all; I always get a little embarrassed. I did have a really nice celebration with my family this past weekend, which was lovely!

Hope you're having a lovely Monday!

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I've been asked to review The Autobiography of Jack the Ripper soon! It's being released by Sourcebooks who are currently polling people to see if they believe that this book may truly be a confession to the infamous Jack the Ripper murders.

"In 2008, a manuscript discovered in the estate of a beloved British children’s book author allegedly held the confession to one of the greatest unsolved cases in history—the case of Jack the Ripper. The document introduces a new suspect—James Willoughby Carnac—who details with chilling accuracy his murder spree in London’s Whitechapel district in 1888, presents his motive for the crimes, and for the first time ever, a reason the killings stopped so suddenly."

Sourcebooks wants to know if you, the reader, think The Autobiography of Jack the Ripper is fact or fiction. Vote here!

In 2008, a manuscript discovered in the estate of a beloved British children’s book author allegedly held the confession to one of the greatest unsolved cases in history—the case of Jack the Ripper. The document introduces a new suspect—James Willoughby Carnac—who details with chilling accuracy his murder spree in London’s Whitechapel district in 1888, presents his motive for the crimes, and for the first time ever, a reason the killings stopped so suddenly. - See more at: http://www.sourcebooks.com/spotlight/jack-the-ripper-fact-or-fiction.html?utm_source=jr-poll&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=abookishaffair&utm_campaign=PR#sthash.eP05LRPK.dpuf

In 2008, a manuscript discovered in the estate of a beloved British children’s book author allegedly held the confession to one of the greatest unsolved cases in history—the case of Jack the Ripper. The document introduces a new suspect—James Willoughby Carnac—who details with chilling accuracy his murder spree in London’s Whitechapel district in 1888, presents his motive for the crimes, and for the first time ever, a reason the killings stopped so suddenly. - See more at: http://www.sourcebooks.com/spotlight/jack-the-ripper-fact-or-fiction.html?utm_source=jr-poll&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=abookishaffair&utm_campaign=PR#sthash.eP05LRPK.dpuf