My Summer Reading

I got a bit behind on my VEDA blog posts! So, time to catch up. First up is my summer reading list. I admit I’ve been pretty bad at reading lately, and I keep telling myself I’ll take half an hour or an hour every night to read. But that hasn’t happened. I need to!

But here is my summer reading plan:

Here’s the list, in case you missed it:

• Theft of Swords, by Michael J. Sullivan
• Consider Phlebas, by Iain M. Banks
• Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson

If you didn’t watch the video, you’re missing out on a lot.

Have you read any of these books? Let me know what you thought of them. Also, what are you reading the rest of this summer?

Why Harry Potter Is Important (aka Piers Morgan Is a Jerk)

Recently, J. K. Rowling celebrated the 20th anniversary of the release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Piers Morgan responded by calling it hogwartswash. Basically, he insulted it. But Piers Morgan is well-known for being a jerk. I made a video addressing this, and I stated why Harry Potter is important. Check it out.

A lot of people started reading because of Harry Potter. It created a whole generation of readers. Some of you reading this right now may have started reading because of it.

How important is Harry Potter to you? Let me know in the comments.

Week in Review – June 26, 2017

Ups and downs would define the past week. What’s positive? Feeling good about some of the things I’m doing for my YouTube channels, and I feel optimistic. What’s negative? Well, things I’d prefer to keep private, although one experience was quite interesting. But how about the blog and other things? Let’s find out.

Reading

I had a dream I was reading. Okay, I’m going to read tonight. I’ll push myself to do it!

Writing

I haven’t felt the desire this past week. Too much going on, and I have way too much on my mind.

Videos

Four videos in the past week! Three were uploaded to my main channel, including a fascinating tag about male booktubers. The other was uploaded to my science channel, which I’m getting back into doing. I have another video to upload soon.

Patreon

As I work more on the science channel, I’ll be doing a lot more on the Patreon page.

Languages

A bit of French done, but not much.

The Blog

Starting catching up on comments. I’ll be doing more to get that done this week. I plan on doing 2 months’ worth of monthly reviews. I still haven’t done May’s. I’ll do it this week before the end of the week.

Studying

Nothing.

The Next Week’s Goals

I have a big video to do this week, and that’s a Q&A for my 1 year anniversary on Booktube. But it’s going to be live streamed! It’ll be done via my phone, so I’ll be trying out mobile streaming for the first time ever. I’m curious about how it’ll do.

I also want to do a lot more Star Trek stuff on YouTube and watching. I need to get the videos caught up. I’ll also start up a Star Trek blog for my reviews and videos.

How was your week?

Authors Answer 136 – Living in a Book

Ever want to give up your life and transport yourself into the book you’re reading? Just completely start a new life and become someone new, living in a new place. It’s quite likely a lot of people do. One of the great things about reading books is the ability of the readers to lose themselves in the book. Some are great to live in, others not. What would we choose?

Question 136 – If you could live in any book, which one would you choose?

Eric Wood

Game of Thrones? To live in dark times where I’d probably die? No thanks. Love the books, don’t want to live there. Harry Potter? To be a wizard would fun, most definitely. Maybe in Terry Brooks’s world in “Kingdom For Sale, Sold“. The main character lives in today’s world but finds a portal to a magical kingdom. I like that so I could travel back and forth between worlds.

Gregory S. Close

If I could live in any book… I think I would live in In Siege of Daylight. Not just for self-promotional purposes, but because if anyone knows all the secret ins and outs of the world and could use that to his advantage, it would be ME. I know the history. I know what everyone is thinking. I know the magic system. I know the secret passages, secret societies, secret affairs… I know it all.

I think it could be pretty fun to play in my own sandbox. 🙂

C E Aylett

That is a tricky one. I’m not sure there’s any book where I’d want to live, not with all the awful things that happen to some of the characters! Could you imagine living in Westeros? No thank you very much.

Elizabeth Rhodes

This is a tough one because so many stories are set in the middle of serious conflict for obvious reasons. While that makes for good story, it’s not the safest place to live, and I’m not sure I’d last long in a battle of wits, much less swords or sorcery. The Harry Potter universe probably gets my vote. I can settle down with a nice magical ice cream and cake shop and have little to worry about other than competition with Florean Fortescue.

Tracey Lynn Tobin

Hmmm…that’s actually a really tough question, mainly because of the types of books I read. I wouldn’t want to live in the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series for sure…way too short a lifespan. And I read a lot of Stephen King books, but, I mean…come on. I considered the “Chronicles of Narnia” series, but given the nature of the ending of those books, perhaps not.

I read way too much horror and bloody adventure to answer this question in a way that wouldn’t immediately result in my impending death. Maybe I can just say one of the manga series I read? Yeah, sure, let’s go with that. “Fruits Basket” seems like a safe enough universe to live in. lol

Beth Aman

I think I’d have to say Narnia. ​That series will always have a special place in my heart, and I think Narnia would be (most of the time) a wonderful place to live. ​I grew up reading those books (like many kids grew up reading Harry Potter), and I always wished I could find a secret wardrobe of my own.

D. T. Nova

The ending of The Light of Other Days by Stephen Baxter (based on a synopsis by Arthur C. Clarke) is about as utopian as they come, so I’ll go with that.

Jean Davis

Whichever book I’d pick, it would be the end of the book. Living at the beginning is where everything goes wrong. The stakes are high in the middle, and I’ve already got enough stress to deal with. No, sir. If I’m going to set up house in a book, I’m taking the happy ending section and living out my years there.

Paul B. Spence

Joy of Sex. Just kidding. My books? I’m not sure I’d want to live in the worlds I imagine; they are scary places. Other people’s? I don’t know, maybe Anne McCaffrey’s Pern? Other than Thread (I know!), it seems like a really cool place. I’d really like a fire lizard, too. I’m too old at this point to Impress a dragon, but that would have been even cooler. I’m not sure beyond that. I kind of like where I am now, for the most part.

H. Anthe Davis

I would probably live in my own books, because I know all the hotspots and the nice safe interesting places — whereas in most of the books I’ve read, the concentration has always been on Danger! and Adventure! and Disaster! and I personally don’t want to be anywhere near that stuff. I’ve outgrown the fluffy nice worlds I read as a kid, and definitely don’t want to live in the dark fantasy/military space opera stuff I read now — too many explosions. Though, hey, maybe Beta Colony from Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga… That might be nice…

Jay Dee Archer

Paul took my answer! I’d love to live on Pern, but as it is a long series covering hundreds of years, things change a lot over that time. I would love to be a part of the Dragonsdawn period, which is the very beginning. The chance to explore would be amazing. But the period around The Masterharper of Pern might be nice, even to be taught by Robinton himself. Other than that, I’d love to live in 3001: The Final Odyssey. The technological advances and the ability to travel between the planets would be remarkable. Although I wasn’t thrilled by the book, the way life was seemed peaceful. You could study and explore anything you wanted. Sounds nice!

How about you?

If you could live in any book, which one would you choose? Let us know in the comments section below.

Week in Review – June 18, 2017

The first week back from Japan was somewhat productive. I had to get over jet lag, though. It was difficult to go to sleep at night, and difficult to wake up early. My daughter was out very quickly at night, until tonight. Tonight was terrible! She wouldn’t sleep until midnight. Well, that’s done, and now the update!

Reading

Why do I try? I haven’t really had the privacy or the ability to stay awake when I had the privacy.

Writing

Same as reading. No privacy, especially when my daughter’s friends keep ringing the doorbell.

Videos

6 new videos! 5 of them are on my main channel, including 3 videos about our trip to Japan. More to come. But I also revived my family channel, featuring my daughter and I. It’s called Tommy and Dad. I uploaded 1 video there.

Patreon

I did a little work updating some things, but the push will come after I have more science videos out.

Languages

My daughter’s been using Japanese more recently. Does that count?

The Blog

Getting back to regular posts, though I won’t be doing daily posts until July. I’ve been hoping to get back to the Star Trek posts, but wasn’t able to.

Studying

Nothing.

The Next Week’s Goals

A bit of Star Trek, a bunch of videos related to booktube, Japan, and science, and hopefully some reading. But, I have a couple of busy evenings. One night is my daughter’s kindergarten’s magic show. The other night is a world record attempt by my sister’s company. I’m participating in a world record attempt! And free food.

How was your week?

We Went to Japan! The Jay Dee Show 32

Thanks to our trip to Japan, there was a lack of updates and videos. But since coming back, I’ve been able to put up a few videos, including Japan travel vlogs! There will be many more, though. I also did some Booktube videos. Since the last time, I’ve uploaded 6 videos with a couple more coming today.

All videos except one were uploaded to my main channel. The other was on my old channel dedicated to my daughter and I. I’m reviving it!

Starting off with my main channel, I talked about our trip to Japan before we left. Here it is!

And then we went to Japan with a silence on the channel for two weeks. But when we got back, I started on the Japan videos again. Here is the one all about our flight to Japan. And jet lag.

During our time in Japan, I celebrated a milestone. 1 year on Booktube! Here’s the video, and I’d like you to ask me some questions for a Q&A video.

The next Japan video was about readjusting to life in Japan. We visited many places which may seem mundane to people in Japan, but may be much more interesting for people who have never been to the country.

And finally, my daughter has a very important message about reading and school for you. Check it out.

As I said, there is a third channel! It’s called Tommy and Dad, and I started it long before my science channel. I actually started it when my daughter was only 2 years old. She’s 5 now. I’ve decided to make this into a family vlog channel which I will update a couple times a week. Check out the first video, all about Father’s Day.

Over the next week, I have new science videos coming, as well as a tag video which is very interesting. I’ll also resume Authors Answer and I’d love to have a Star Trek and/or Read the World video up, too. And of course, more Japan!

Let me know which videos you liked the most in the comments below.

Week in Review – June 11, 2017

We’re back from Japan, and I have a 3 week review to do now! There are some things I missed out on doing at the end of the month, but I’ll get to that in a moment.

Reading

Reading? What reading? Still at 79% in Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan. I always say I’m going to read when I fly, but end up watching movies. I did read 2 pages, though.

Writing

Can’t write when on a trip.

Videos

I posted a whopping 2 videos in the last 3 weeks. But I also recorded several while on our trip. Expect all of them in a next couple weeks. They’re about my trip, but I’ll also make some other regular videos. Both of these videos were on my main channel.

Patreon

Going to work more on this over the next couple weeks as I get back into the swing of things.

Languages

I used Japanese. Is that good enough?

The Blog

I expect everything to return to normal by July. I’ve also decided to start a blog dedicated to my Star Trek reviews. It’ll have the text and video reviews, as well as any other Star Trek stuff.

Studying

Nothing.

The Next Week’s Goals

Lots of videos to edit and upload. I also plan on doing the Month in Review for May, which I never got around to doing because I wasn’t in the country and had limited computer access. So many things to do.

How was your week (or last 3 weeks)?

Week in Review – May 21, 2017

The past week has been very, very interesting. Especially yesterday. But more on that later, because I do have a video to show you. That’ll come tomorrow. So, let’s check what happened.

Reading

Still at 79% in Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan. I didn’t actually read anything.

Writing

Nothing much. I haven’t advanced.

Videos

I recorded and posted a total of 3 videos. On my main channel, I posted 2 videos, and neither one is my usual video. But they are about some very interesting things. Definitely check them out. On my science channel, I actually posted something! Very important question for you.

Patreon

Nothing yet. I’ve been going through some things about making my Patreon page look good. I’ll be implementing them this week.

Languages

A little bit of French. I want to work on Japanese, though.

The Blog

Not a whole lot going on this past week, but I’ve been making some more progress on The Star Trek Project. I’m trying to watch a lot more.

Studying

Nothing.

The Next Week’s Goals

In a bit over a week, we’re going to be traveling to Japan for a couple weeks. There will be no updates beyond next Monday for a while. So, until then, things will be as normal, though I want to do as much as I can in terms of recording videos, watching Star Trek, and maybe even a swim in the pool.

How was your week?

Week in Review – May 14, 2017

Things seem to be getting back to something that resembles normal. Not quite at a post every day, but I think I’ll try get back to doing that in July. Videos are doing better. So, how was my week?

Reading

Still at 79% in Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan. I think I’ll read for a few minutes tonight!

Writing

I think I’ll try writing for 10 to 15 minutes a night this week!

Videos

Well, what do you know? I posted more videos than last week. I have 3 new videos on my main channel, but nothing on my science channel yet. I’m going to be doing a vlog on my science channel, which I think I’ll do somewhat regularly. But it’s definitely related to science and the channel.

Patreon

Nothing yet. Still need to promote and grow my science channel first. Then this will grow.

Languages

I studied a tiny bit of French, but it was mainly just review of something I already know.

The Blog

I must do a better job at promoting the blog via social media. I keep getting behind. I also missed doing Commentition for the second month in a row. But that has a lot to do with not keeping up with comments. I need to improve that.

Studying

Nothing.

The Next Week’s Goals

More videos, regular blog posts. Expect more Star Trek posts. Also expect a return of Japan videos. I’d love to get those done. There’s a lot of work I have to do, but I won’t commit to doing a ton of work this week. It’s just two weeks until we go to Japan, and then blogging will almost completely stop during that period.

How was your week?

It’s Spring! The Jay Dee Show 29

Feels good to be making regular videos again. I didn’t upload a lot, but they are pretty regular booktube videos. I was able to upload 3 videos, all to my main channel. I’m going to do a quick vlog for the science channel tomorrow, and resume regular uploads for it.

On my main channel, there are a couple regular videos plus a new tag I dreamed up while out walking. Let’s take a look.

I started off with my monthly wrap-up and TBR video. Excited about one of the books I’ll be reading soon.

Since it’s spring, and I really like seeing the colour green popping up everywhere, I created the Spring Green Book Tag. It’s an original!

And finally, the return of Authors Answer. This time, I talk about the books I’m writing.

Coming up in the next week will be some new science videos, as well as more Star Trek! I’m looking forward to that.

Which video did you enjoy the most? Let me know in the comments below.