I’ve only lived in 3 states. Arizona, California and Florida. Know what these states have in common? They’re mostly hot and they have no seasons.  I have never seen fall, until last week.  I’ve never seen snow except in patches either, but that will have to be remedied another time.

Last weekend we drove up to Asheville, North Carolina to finally see fall.

We had way more adventures than would logically fit in a weekend, and I decided that I’m going to spend the week writing about the various things we did while up there. I also decided to try Blogher’s NaBloPoMo again, which is a challenge to write a blog post a day everyday in November so I’ll be sharing something about the trip everyday this week.  Spoiler alert, I’ve never finished a single challenge I’ve ever decided to try, but there’s always a first time, right? And I have a ton to say at the moment. Here’s a preview of what I’ll be writing about this week.

Wish me luck on my latest writing challenge!

PS: I wrote this tomorrow, because I didn’t actually join NaBloPoMo until the 2nd.  In my defense, I hadn’t checked my emails.

I, like most of the world, am a big Stephen King fan.  I can’t say that I like everything he’s written but I do like most of it!  I’m pretty sure even the horror fans that don’t care for King’s writing (if there are any) liked The Shining. Red Rum anyone? Of course when I heard there was a sequel coming out I had to read it.  I couldn’t for the life of me imagine what it would be about though.

The story follows the son from The Shining, Dan Torrance, into adulthood. How would the son of an alcoholic who lived through the less than nurturing events at the Overlook Hotel and has to live day to day with the shine turn out?  Ya, about like this. Dan grows into an alcoholic just like dad which unfortunately has a ring of truth to it. He seems to have spent his time up to the point where we meet him again  running away from life in general.

We pick up again with Dan just in time to witness one of his life’s lower moments and then to witness his struggle to stop drinking and settle down.  Of course that’s just about the time in life you’d get an unexpected twist. Dan’s twist is his becoming aware of a child with a killer case of shining and then finding out about the evil group of not quite humans that want her shine for themselves.  And how they intend to take it and use it is nothing like pretty.

I don’t want to ruin the story in case you wisely decide to read it so I won’t tell anymore.  But I would definitely recommend this book even if you haven’t read or watched the Shining, this one can stand on it’s own.  But I bet when you’re done reading it you’ll want to see The Shining just to see what all the fuss is about.

Have you read Doctor Sleep and if so what did you think?  If not get to it!