A Hunger in the Heart (for Reading and Writing!)

Well, today has been a writing day.  I've been at it for about four hours straight now, and I thought I'd take a very brief break to send my two cents out into the blogosphere.

So...here's what I look like today: I look so much like this calm, beautiful gentlewoman whose pen is poised mid-thought.

I WISH!

Sad to say, there is not a vase filled with fresh roses by my side when I'm writing.  Just the cold dregs of my hours-old coffee and a protein bar wrapper.  (No artist in his right mind would want to immortalize the scene here at my dining room table in oil paints.)

I'm not dressed in a ball gown like this lovely lady here, either; I'm still in my flannel nightgown at 1:30 in the afternoon (oh the shame!).  My hair isn't done up neatly and tied with a silk ribbon; it's a scraggly mess (and full disclosure, it's greasy, too, because I haven't gotten around to showering yet).  My expression is not nearly as serene as this Austen-esque writer's (and if you don't believe me, I'm going to take a selfie and post it, I warn you!).  I have been poring over my hastily scribbled notes and highlighted print-outs, along with the iPhone photos I took of some old documents I found in our local library during my three-hour research session yesterday.  I think my face looks a tad more...haggard, let's say, than this lovely Victorian-era maiden's.  (Or is she a Regency-era maiden--I just don't have time for any more research right now!)  But I hope my face looks happy and excited, too, because this has been a pretty productive day in the old salt mines.

And though I'm not reading books these days (for fear that they will take my focus off the task at hand), I did finish reading a great one not long ago, for which I recently posted a very brief five-star review on Goodreads.  It's a terrific novel called A Hunger in the Heart by Catholic author Kaye Park Hinkley.

Really, it's SOOOO good!

Now head on over to Jessica's for more recommendations and reviews!