October 2025 Reading Challenge: Matchy, Matchy

My third blackout poetry and art book, Carried Away was published a couple months ago and is the color palette for this month's reading challenge! Match covers to the Carried Away color scheme: yellow, brown, turquoise, green, and a splash of red. So matchy-matchy!

October Reading Challenge

Matchy, matchy!

Here's the color-coordinated reading list (Amazon links included):

1.) Carried Away: Blackout Poetry and Art by Stacia Leigh

2.) Burn Collector by Al Burian

3.) Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts by J. Drew Lanham

4.) This Is How the Bone Sings by W. Todd Kaneko

5.) A Bit Much by Lyndsay Rush

6.) Two-Minute Mysteries by Donald J. Sobol 

________________________________________________

"The best color in the whole world

is the one that looks good on you." ~ Coco Chanel

Blackout Poetry and Art on Display!

Art Wall

South Bellevue Community Center

Sixteen original blackout poems are framed and hanging on the art wall at the SBCC from now until the end of September. My previous books--Sounds Complicated and Distance Between (Amazon links) are represented as well as my latest book, Carried Away, available today!

Carried Away: Blackout Poetry & Art

by Stacia Leigh

June 2025 Reading Challenge: Complimentary Colors

This June, I'm visiting the color wheel since I have yellow and blue book covers sitting tip-top on my TBR pile. It just so happens they're complimentary. I'm staying in the blue/yellow range for the month with an assortment of genres (AMZ links included):

1.) Murder Your Darlings by Roy Peter Clark - Writing, Non-fiction

2.) The Housemaid by Freida McFadden - Psychological Thriller

3.) Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam - Apocalyptical Suspense

4.) Swear to Howdy by Wendelin Van Draanen - Middle Grade

June Reading Challenge

Complimentary Colors

"Little by little one travels far."

Big heart corner-bookmark

--------------------------------------------------------

Color Fidget

by The Gray Muse on Etsy

Christmas Movies: Best of All Time

While writing a Christmas themed YA romance, I found myself in need of a list of Christmas movies that are loved and recognized by many to include in my story...my heroine is a Christmas movie buff. Coming to my rescue was this article by Entertainment Weekly: "The 23 Best Christmas Movies of All Time" by Chris Nashawaty and Kevin Jacobsen. For more detailed descriptions and the full article, do check out their site, otherwise, the numbered list is below with the movies I've seen in bold.

Drum roll, please! Ready?

The top 23 BEST OF ALL TIME movies, in order, are as follows:

1.) It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

2.) A Christmas Story (1983) 

3.) A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

4.) Elf (2003)

5.) How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)

6.) Love Actually (2003)

7.) Bad Santa (2003)

8.) The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

9.) The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974)

10.) Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)

11.) Home Alone (1990)

12.) Trading Places (1983)

13.) The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

14.) White Christmas (1954)

15.) Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

16.) Die Hard (1988)

17.) Scrooged (1988)

18.) National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

19.) The Holdovers (2023)

20.) Gremlins (1984)

21.) Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

22.) Klaus (2019)

23.) The Santa Claus (1994)

A little internet research showed other movies out there that perhaps could/should be considered for "the best" list, and they are:

Polar Express (2004)

Christmas Eve (1915)

A Christmas Carol (1938 and 1984)

While You Were Sleeping (1995)

Family Man (2000)

We're No Angels (1955)

It Happened on 5th Ave (1947)

Auntie Mame (1958)

Holiday Inn (1942)

Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962)

A Christmas Tale (2008)

Jack Frost (1979)

The Rise of the Guardians (2012)

I haven't seen half of these on this page and don't remember all the ins and outs of quite a few. Hard to imagine watching these over the hot summer months, but apparently there is a thing called Christmas in July. Lol. A mind-bender for me in the PNW.

Anything missing that's worth a shout out? Let me know!

_________________________________________________

Christmas in July

Fabulous Five: Favorite Reads for 2024

I've read over 180 books for the 2024 Goodreads Reading Challenge, which is mostly due to picture books (125) and DNFs (17). And I get it -- "Did Not Finish" doesn't translate into "read" by most people. But for me, if I cracked it open and got as far as I wanted, then that's read enough for me. Personally, this challenge is not a competition, but a way of keeping books and TBR piles straight in my mind. It's a jungle up in there, folks. Lol. And I don't want to pick up the same book twice, because life's too short, ya'll.

 Goodreads | Stacia’s Year in Books

With so many picture books under my belt this year, five favorites come to mind quickly. See below (AMZ links included).

TOP FIVE CHILDRENS BOOKS:

1.) The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig (Teachers' Pick!)
4.) We Found a Hat by Jon Klassen (Editors' Pick!)
3.) Whopper Cake by Karma Wilson
4.) The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak (Editors' Pick!)
5.) What Do You Do with a Problem? by Kobi Yamada (Goodreads Choice!)

Picture books aside, eleven books in other genres were marked as 5-star reads, and it was a fun-less job choosing which to eliminate. But since this is called Fabulous Five for a reason, five it shall be. The following books made the cut for my 2024 ultimate faves:

1.) All around best-of-the-year goes to this MYSTERY...

None of This is True

by Lisa Jewell (Editors' Pick!)

2.) A MEMOIR worth remembering is...

The Glass Castle

by Jeanette Walls

3.) A POETRY with all the feels...

Feel Your Way Through

by Kelsea Ballerini

4.) A juicy SCREENPLAY...

The Crucible

by Arthur Miller (Best Seller!)

5.) A beautiful REFERENCE book about art, color, and nature...

Nature's Palette: A Colour Reference System...

by Patrick Baty et al.

_________________________________________________

"Life's too short for regrets."

Third Place!

 

PNWA Literary Contest Winner!

Young Adult

I'm on the big screen! I won third place in the young adult category for my unpublished Christmas romance last weekend. Also up there is my dog, Tilly Bean, who loves the camera more than I do. Not a very professional picture you might say, but not to worry! A long-overdue update is on deck 😉 📷🌟

July 2024 Reading Challenge: Pens & Pencils

What's your writing tool of choice? Colored, mechanical, lead, ink, ballpoint...pen or pencil...whatever gets the ideas onto paper is the point of July's reading challenge: pens and pencils on the cover. I found a few that I'm looking forward to reading. Here's my TBR:

Penciled in for a reading assignment.

1.) The Creativity Project by Colby Sharp

2.) Murder Your Darlings by Roy Peter Clark

3.) Embrace Your Weird by Felicia Day

4.) The Art of War for Writers by James Scott Bell

5.) To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

____________________________________________________

"I've got this." - Personalized Pencils 

Photo by Madrona Pencils