it was a dark and dreary day..

or month, as it were. May has been a pretty rainy month and i have to say that i'd been feeling a little unmotivated by it all. i need some vitamin D!

still, i've been working on my writing when i can, mainly on DiD.

i can't pinpoint why, but this story means a lot to me. it's usual practice for a writer to get part-way through and the passion dies out, but this book is always in the back of my mind, even when i'm working on something else. maybe it's because the heroine never really shuts up. i'll be doing something completely mundane and bam! a fully-formed thought pops into my head in kari-speak.

mostly i think it's because kari is the kind of woman i wish i could be--sassy, creative, completely independent and she's never afraid to speak her mind. i'm not brave (although i don't consider myself a coward either), and more than one person has told me that i give off a 'don't talk to me' vibe. it's really just false confidence, if you want to know the truth. kari's kind of the opposite.

this all makes me wonder how many characters out there are based on their writers? or maybe the author just infuses all the bits and pieces that they wish made up their own personalities...

then again maybe not, because i've read a lot of really dumb heroines. i really hate to think that there are millions of women who run toward the scary noises or who will give themselves to a cruel man for the sake of their father's pride.

but i digress.

just as many times, i read heroines who connect with me on a very personal level. the author has managed to pinpoint and articulate exactly what it's like to live in the real world--you know, the one without multi-billionaire models who take one look at ol' suzy-q with the bad hair and cow-snot on her shirt and decide that she's the one?

that personal connection with a character is what gives me afterglow, as i call it. that special warm, sparkly feeling that you get when you've finished a book and you're just aching with the want of it to go on forever. in other words, your keeper shelf!

i just finished Attachments by Rainbow Rowell, and it's (so far) my favorite book of this year. major afterglow. i think you should buy it.

what book has given you afterglow?