books - what's coming up

(all thrifted and waiting to be read - The Dead Zone and Hearts in Atlantis from Re-Tail)

    I've always been an avid reader. I was first to read in my kindergarten class, and I was one of the first to start reading "chapter books" in elementary school. Since then, I've read almost anything I could get my hands on.

    When I was eleven or twelve, I discovered the worlds that Stephen King had written, starting with Cujo. I was an animal lover (then and now), so of course I started with a book about a dog, though morbid. Since then, I've been reading every Stephen King book I could find. I can remember just starting to drive and spending all my time in book stores reading the back covers of King's novels in the horror section, trying to decided which one I'd take home. I ended up with quite the collection of little paperbacks before I stopped buying the expensive books in stores and resorted to thrifting and online shopping. It was almost an unconscious thing, though, buying King's work. Every time I entered a thrift store I'd always end up in front of the books, scanning every title hoping for KING to pop out at me. I've been doing that for eight years. It's been slow progress, but fairly lucrative. I've only had one or two trips that I haven't found at least one novel I haven't read, but the number's dwindling. I've been finding lesser known novels each visit, which is fine with me, but I know my search will come to an end soon.

    The books above are my latest finds. As soon as I finish the last book in the Dark Tower series, I plan to start these. I can't wait!

a fresh start

    I recently started fresh with this blog, lucky bandit. I deleted every post and changed things up a bit as far as the design goes. I've had this blog for seven years, and it's changed numerous times. Names, layouts, designs. It had gotten so I was posting just to post, and quickly throwing together harebrained content that no one really cared about. Oh, look, I threw together a Google search of random things. Wow, cool. So I had strayed from what I had originally intended this blog to be; a journal of my life.

    Of course if a blog is public, you're writing for the general public. I have another reason that I have this blog - my mother. She and my stepfather moved to Tennessee, six hours away, last year. We talk on the phone all the time, of course, text frequently, and she follows me on every social media site I have an account on. Blogging, however, is different than following someone's tweets or Facebook statuses. I want her to be able to take a look into my life here in Virginia. Then she can see pictures of our dogs, what recipes I'm attempting to cook, and what projects I'm working on.

    What I'm trying to say is that I think I'm finally in a place where I can buckle down and become a "blogger". I can invest time into lucky bandit and produce content. I have some other ideas in the works, including a second blog, but this is becoming my main ongoing project for now. I've got ideas and projects and so much going on in my head. It's time I write it all down here instead of making endless notes in the hundreds of steno pads I have strewn through our home.

    So with that being said, welcome back! Sit, stay, have a cup of tea. There will be more photos, more posts, and just more in general coming soon. I hope you enjoy!