On Wednesday, I cleaned out Peanut's cage. Well, as it happened I set the water bottle incorrectly or something because he wasn't able to drink any, and we didn't notice…for over fourteen hours. The poor thing was so dehydrated and in great pain, barely moving the next morning. Fortunately Hero Material found Peanut and started giving him liquid-rich food. Our little hamster's doing much better now, and let me just say that they don't call Hero “Hero” for nothing.

On the writing front — I'm now done with the fifth step in the revision process for All's Fair!

chapters: 21 / 21 (100%)

And I sent out the revised draft to my 1st beta, so now I'm done with six out of nine steps.

steps: 6 / 9 (67%)

I just finished Jeannie Lin's Harlequin Historical Undone The Taming of Mei Lin. Despite its length, it was excellent. I recommend it highly.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is by far the best novel I've read this year. I don't really care that much for dystopian books because they tend to be very boring and/or unrealistic. But The Hunger Games was just perfect. It actually made me believe that such a future is very possible in America.

The book's fast-paced, immediate and pretty violent, but nothing unsuitable for teens. Recommended highly.

Grab your copy at Amazon or BookDepository or your favorite store.

Blurb:

Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, “The Hunger Games.” The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.