So once again I find myself with nothing to do this summer. How does this always happen?

When I was little, it was okay: kids under fourteen can't get a job, and I had summerschool (usually drama classes) to give me something to do.

But now I'm stuck in that last pesky summer between high school and college with nothing to do. My family has decided against breeding our dogs this summer (we have two purebred German Shepherds, and last summer they had a little of three) due to family obligations, so I don't even have that to take up my August. I don't have a job (tiny town where hiring is more based upon who knows you than your qualifications + recessions + little previous experience = ignored applications and frustration), and, now that I've finished my college orientation and held my grad party... well, I've got nothing to do. 

Last year, this was a very bad thing. It lead to depression, disgust with myself, and little to no progress on anything, be that getting a job or finishing one of my novels. (It's really hard to be depressed with three adorable balls of fluff at your cuddling disposal, but, believe me, it's possible.)

So, I've decided to set some goals for myself. First of all, I want to write at least 1000 words a day (which is actually a rather conservative goal for me since I got used to 2000 during NaNoWriMo).

Recently, I found a bunch of dusty but gorgeous copies of various classic books tucked away in a closet. This horrified me. I moved them to my bookshelf. After a bit of inspection, I discovered that the majority of them had not been touched--not only were they dusty, but most were never even opened, and my mother's owned them since the sixties.

Heinous.

I decided to read those beautiful books. I've never heard of quite a few of them, but I figured it'd be worth a try. After all, since I want to be an English major, I'm going to be stuck reading them anyway. I might as well perfect my old-book technique.

And, natch, I'm going to Hub about the experience. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is first on the list, and I'm about half-finished, so expect that pretty soon.