It has been too long. Sorry for that. I got caught by another minor cold followed by a slip on the ice that drove posting here out of my mind. I'm nearly all better now... the slip took out my hand for a few days, but its working now, even if its still hurting when I type too much. I've been drawing a bit and doing a lot of reading. I have gotten a bit of editing done, and gotten my new photos taken, so I should have those to show you soon.
So, yeah, just a super short update to let you know why I haven't been posting. Since my hand is still hurting a bit if I use it too much, I'll go back and rest, hopefully coming back with a full post later in the week.
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Goodreads Reading Challenge
Every year since I've found out about it, I have taken part in it. Last year, I only just made my goal of 100 books and so this year, I finally decided to lower it. Instead of 100 books, I'll be going for 75. It's an easy goal, it will keep me reading and, most importantly, I should be able to avoid feeling super stressed out about it. Last year, and just a little bit the prior year making that goal of 100 books stressed me out. It isn't good for my writing, or me in general, to get that stressed out over such a little thing. Especially since it isn't a competition. My goal is not to wow people with how many books I read each year. Those that will be wowed, would be as wowed by me reading 20 books as they would be by my reading 100.
Having said all that, I have read 7 books to date this year (available here if you want to see which books they are). I have four books on the go in my to be read pile now and you can check out what those are, right here.
Another thing I'm doing this year is to try and be creative in more ways. To that end, I'm working on drawing more this year. If you want to follow my work, you can check out my drawings here. The ones I'm working on now will all be going into my scrap file, since they're just scrap work, essentially. I used to work on my art a lot more often, but once I started writing, it went to the backburner and recently, I don't draw much at all. Because of that, my pictures aren't really very good yet. However, I am working with an app that gets you to draw something each day, so I can only hope my work will improve as time goes on. Right now, I only have one drawing up and one inking practice sheet, but it should be interesting later on.
Are you working on being more creative this year? Did you sign up for the Reading Challenge of 2017? Let me know in the comments! Lastly, if you want to keep your Friday evening open this week, I'll be hosting an evening of #fntwp on Twitter again. Come and join me if you want to write, talk about writing or have some questions you'd like to ask me there!
Having said all that, I have read 7 books to date this year (available here if you want to see which books they are). I have four books on the go in my to be read pile now and you can check out what those are, right here.
Another thing I'm doing this year is to try and be creative in more ways. To that end, I'm working on drawing more this year. If you want to follow my work, you can check out my drawings here. The ones I'm working on now will all be going into my scrap file, since they're just scrap work, essentially. I used to work on my art a lot more often, but once I started writing, it went to the backburner and recently, I don't draw much at all. Because of that, my pictures aren't really very good yet. However, I am working with an app that gets you to draw something each day, so I can only hope my work will improve as time goes on. Right now, I only have one drawing up and one inking practice sheet, but it should be interesting later on.
Are you working on being more creative this year? Did you sign up for the Reading Challenge of 2017? Let me know in the comments! Lastly, if you want to keep your Friday evening open this week, I'll be hosting an evening of #fntwp on Twitter again. Come and join me if you want to write, talk about writing or have some questions you'd like to ask me there!
Saturday, January 21, 2017
My Year in Books- 2016 Edition
Hello, everyone! Welcome back. I have a few things I'm going to have to get working on, but I told you earlier this year that I wanted to let you know what my year in books was. So I took a picture of the Goodreads graphic and I thought you'd find it interesting as well.
Firstly, I read 100 books in 2016! A few of them were rather short, and one was actually a children's book (still counts). It made up for at least one of my books actually being a trilogy in a single volume, I feel. That 100 books was 31,739 pages worth of reading! I was more than a little stunned when I realised that as well.
The shortest book I read was only 36 pages long; the children's book, Nobody Likes a Goblin by Ben Hatke. Offhand, if you have young children and are a bit of geek, I totally suggest this one. The writing is fun and simple for kids, but if you game, it's even better. Goblin is "hanging out his friend Skeleton" and the picture clearly shows them playing a D&D/Pathfinder type of game in one page. Another is when Goblin finds the heroes who have stolen his treasure, they have taken a buxom wench as part of the treasure. The woman herself seems quite displeased with that turn of events as well. It was entirely hilarious and worth reading.
The longest book I read was Anne Bishop's, The Black Jewels Trilogy. The book contains the books Daughter of the Blood, Heir to the Shadows and Queen of Darkness. Pagewise the volume itself is 1,204 pages long. A great book for anyone looking for something to read. Anne Bishop books all contain a very feminist outlook, this one detailing what actually happens when women take too much of the power back and start abusing it to boot. As well, her books have been perfectly described by a friend of mine as "Violence meets Marital Bliss" which strangely works super well together.
The most popular book I read this year, by far, was Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I shared that books genius with nearly 2,250,000 other people! The least popular book I read was a manga of Overlord, Vol. 3 by Kugane Maruyama. Only 8 other people worldwide read it with me. Sort of an insane difference, isn't it?
I learned that I tend to rate books rather highly since last year my average star rating was 3.9 and that the highest star rating all around for a novel that I read was Brandon Sanderson's Bands of Mourning which overall have a 4.46 average rating on Goodreads.
Next week, I'll talk about this reads Reading Challenge with Goodreads (Yes, I'm doing it again, with a lower total this year). Today, I'll leave you with an apology; I forgot to mention in my last post that I had also received Miss Peregrin's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. I can't wait to read it later on this year.
Firstly, I read 100 books in 2016! A few of them were rather short, and one was actually a children's book (still counts). It made up for at least one of my books actually being a trilogy in a single volume, I feel. That 100 books was 31,739 pages worth of reading! I was more than a little stunned when I realised that as well.
The shortest book I read was only 36 pages long; the children's book, Nobody Likes a Goblin by Ben Hatke. Offhand, if you have young children and are a bit of geek, I totally suggest this one. The writing is fun and simple for kids, but if you game, it's even better. Goblin is "hanging out his friend Skeleton" and the picture clearly shows them playing a D&D/Pathfinder type of game in one page. Another is when Goblin finds the heroes who have stolen his treasure, they have taken a buxom wench as part of the treasure. The woman herself seems quite displeased with that turn of events as well. It was entirely hilarious and worth reading.
The longest book I read was Anne Bishop's, The Black Jewels Trilogy. The book contains the books Daughter of the Blood, Heir to the Shadows and Queen of Darkness. Pagewise the volume itself is 1,204 pages long. A great book for anyone looking for something to read. Anne Bishop books all contain a very feminist outlook, this one detailing what actually happens when women take too much of the power back and start abusing it to boot. As well, her books have been perfectly described by a friend of mine as "Violence meets Marital Bliss" which strangely works super well together.
The most popular book I read this year, by far, was Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I shared that books genius with nearly 2,250,000 other people! The least popular book I read was a manga of Overlord, Vol. 3 by Kugane Maruyama. Only 8 other people worldwide read it with me. Sort of an insane difference, isn't it?
I learned that I tend to rate books rather highly since last year my average star rating was 3.9 and that the highest star rating all around for a novel that I read was Brandon Sanderson's Bands of Mourning which overall have a 4.46 average rating on Goodreads.
Next week, I'll talk about this reads Reading Challenge with Goodreads (Yes, I'm doing it again, with a lower total this year). Today, I'll leave you with an apology; I forgot to mention in my last post that I had also received Miss Peregrin's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. I can't wait to read it later on this year.
Monday, January 16, 2017
Finally Getting Better
It has been a bleh couple of weeks folks. Even admitting that January/February is usually when I get my worst illnesses of the year, this one has been a doozy. I have a touch of SAD (seasonal affective disorder) or something like it; basically, I don’t do as well when the I’m not getting my preferred amount of light (I used to joke that I was obviously photosynthesizing. I get a little bit depressed, I’m a little more likely to get sick and I’m much more likely to wallow in my own depression about it. Normally by the end of March I’m champing at the bit, desperate to see green plants and bright sunlight again. Enough so that every year I take pictures of the new green buds just because they fill me with so much pleasure.
Anyways, now that you’ve had the long story, I can say (short story) I caught the flu and it took me out for two weeks. Now I’m mostly over it, just a bit of achy muscles, a stuffed up nose, and a bit of tiredness in general left. It means that I haven’t gotten much writing or editing done in the last two weeks, though I am very glad that ‘less’ in this case doesn’t equal ‘none’. I finished editing two chapters of Hunter and have a paragraph started for a completely new chapter I’m adding to the novel. I can't wait to get even more done on it. I recently figured out an entire section to add, while quietly cutting down the storyline that my MC deals with in town.
Speaking of my editing experience, I must say, when I first saw the changes my editor suggested I was horribly disappointed in myself. Now, I can see why she made the suggestions. Her comments really made me look at my story and decide not only what I wanted but what would make my book even more exciting for my readers. I can't wait to get even more of those changes done.
Lastly, I finally had a chance to get to Chapters so I can now tell you about my New Years novel. The one I chose is an awesome little fantasy called Skyborn (by David Dalglish) about twins who join their local army; using magic and mechanical wings as their weapons. It sounds interesting and I'll be starting it after I finish reading the novel I'm currently reading.
Have any of you read any of David Dalglish's novels? What did you think of them and this one in particular? Oh, make sure you come keep an eye out for my next post where I'll be talking about what I read last year in Goodread's Reading Challenge and what my challenge for this year is!
Monday, January 9, 2017
Unlucky
Bleh, my new year has sucked so far. I started feeling sick on the 2nd of January and the flu has not receded yet. I haven't even gotten to my local Chapters to pick up my New Years book. I'm hoping to go on Friday. I have been sick enough that I haven't even been able to read or write lately (though I have been able to listen to books. Thank the gods for Audible). Words were too much for me. I seem to be on the mend finally and I'm hoping to be back at work tomorrow and writing soon. Until then, I'll keep this as a short update and get back to resting.
Oh! I did forget to mention one other book I recieved this season in my last update. I got Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. I'm really looking forward to reading this one when I get a chance; certainly before the movie comes out.
One other thing, I signed up for Goodread's 2017 Reading Challenge again. I tend to read about 100 books a year, but I found that I really had trouble reaching it last year. This year I decided to go for an easier goal of 80 novels.
Anyways I'm going back to bed in the hopes of getting back to work soon. What have you read this year? Have you signed up for the Challenge? Let me know in the comments below.
Oh! I did forget to mention one other book I recieved this season in my last update. I got Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. I'm really looking forward to reading this one when I get a chance; certainly before the movie comes out.
One other thing, I signed up for Goodread's 2017 Reading Challenge again. I tend to read about 100 books a year, but I found that I really had trouble reaching it last year. This year I decided to go for an easier goal of 80 novels.
Anyways I'm going back to bed in the hopes of getting back to work soon. What have you read this year? Have you signed up for the Challenge? Let me know in the comments below.
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Jolabokaflod!
First off, I'm certain some of you are wondering what the hell that word above is. It's the name for an Icelandic holiday that I have begun celebrating in recent years. It translates roughly as "Christmas Book Flood" and the idea is that on December 24th you give friends and family a new book and chocolate. You are then supposed to spend the rest of the evening, warm in your bed, with chocolate at your side and begin reading your new book. It is a huge thing over there... all of their new book releases tend to be released from September to December just to make the most of this holiday. Also, when they buy books, they don't go cheap. Hardcovers are the preferred gift here and I assume they get snazzy about their chocolate too, though don't quote me on the last.
Now I've changed that a bit in my own gift giving. For instance, I tend to give softcovers or hardcovers, and the books aren't always newly released. I do my best to not give books out that I haven't read, though it does happen on occasion. I do that so that we can chat about the books once they're done reading it... it's a guaranteed conversation starter later that year. I am also not hung up on giving chocolate. I prefer caramel or salty snacks to chocolate, so I tend to try and give people their preferred snacks (as an example, I gave out small bags of Kernels Christmas flavour popcorn this year and everyone seemed super pleased). But everyone I know gets a book and snack to enjoy.
Unfortunately, Jolabokaflod is over this year already, but I figured I'd share with you the books that I was given as gifts or that I picked up for myself as part of my Yule book buying binge. I stress that these are in no particular order.
Firstly, I received Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I've read the Harry Potter books and while they aren't favourites of mine (I was already over 20 years old when they were released), I do quite enjoy the series so I'll be looking forward to reading this one later this year.
Next is a super fun and nerdy book called Wordsmiths & Warriors: The English-Language Tourist's Guide to Britain by David and Hilary Crystal. This book is exactly what it sounds like. A look at Britain through the very specific lens of the Warriors who fought for Britain and its poets, writers, ect that helped shape its culture. As a language buff who loves weapons, I can't image a better book for me. Really looking forward to this one.
Next are three books I bought myself. I am a big fan of the Log Horizon anime and I love the light novels they're coming out with to accompany them, so when I found out that Log Horizon had a set, I picked them up. Last year, I picked up books 1-3 and quite enjoyed them, but then I didn't hear anything else about them until this Christmas when I found books 4-6 gracing the shelves. Needless to say, I picked up all three for myself. I already re-read the first book in the series to prepare for the new set!
Monstress Volume 1 is a graphic novel that I picked up earlier this year in digital form, but had never finished reading it. A friend of mine picked it up for me in paper copy and I finished it within a day. It's well-written, it has interesting characters and the art is really nice. If you're looking for a good graphic novel to read, you can't go wrong with this one. I think I gave it 4/5 stars on Goodreads.
Lastly, there's another gift, The Fox & the Peach by Nick Thaler. A YA novel about a kitsune who is being hunted during the time of Oda Nobunga's reign in Japan, I started this one just a few days ago and am quite enjoying it so far. I was really excited to start this one since its a book about a kitsune that I hadn't heard of yet! That is always a pick me up!
I'll leave you with my personal New Year tradition. Every year, I head to the bookstore on the 31rst or the 1st and buy myself one book. That book must fit three critia to be bought. One is that I must enjoy the cover art. Two, I must find the idea of the book interesting. Three, I must have never read anything written by that author before. Basically, it's like a blind date with a book and makes sure every year I am giving at least one new (to me) author a go. Sometimes I find authors who aren't my thing, and sometimes I find new favourites. The point is that I'm always trying something new for the new year.
Do you have any bookish traditions? What do you think of the books I got? Either way, let me know and I hope you have a great New Year!
Now I've changed that a bit in my own gift giving. For instance, I tend to give softcovers or hardcovers, and the books aren't always newly released. I do my best to not give books out that I haven't read, though it does happen on occasion. I do that so that we can chat about the books once they're done reading it... it's a guaranteed conversation starter later that year. I am also not hung up on giving chocolate. I prefer caramel or salty snacks to chocolate, so I tend to try and give people their preferred snacks (as an example, I gave out small bags of Kernels Christmas flavour popcorn this year and everyone seemed super pleased). But everyone I know gets a book and snack to enjoy.
Unfortunately, Jolabokaflod is over this year already, but I figured I'd share with you the books that I was given as gifts or that I picked up for myself as part of my Yule book buying binge. I stress that these are in no particular order.
Firstly, I received Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I've read the Harry Potter books and while they aren't favourites of mine (I was already over 20 years old when they were released), I do quite enjoy the series so I'll be looking forward to reading this one later this year.
Next is a super fun and nerdy book called Wordsmiths & Warriors: The English-Language Tourist's Guide to Britain by David and Hilary Crystal. This book is exactly what it sounds like. A look at Britain through the very specific lens of the Warriors who fought for Britain and its poets, writers, ect that helped shape its culture. As a language buff who loves weapons, I can't image a better book for me. Really looking forward to this one.
Next are three books I bought myself. I am a big fan of the Log Horizon anime and I love the light novels they're coming out with to accompany them, so when I found out that Log Horizon had a set, I picked them up. Last year, I picked up books 1-3 and quite enjoyed them, but then I didn't hear anything else about them until this Christmas when I found books 4-6 gracing the shelves. Needless to say, I picked up all three for myself. I already re-read the first book in the series to prepare for the new set!
Monstress Volume 1 is a graphic novel that I picked up earlier this year in digital form, but had never finished reading it. A friend of mine picked it up for me in paper copy and I finished it within a day. It's well-written, it has interesting characters and the art is really nice. If you're looking for a good graphic novel to read, you can't go wrong with this one. I think I gave it 4/5 stars on Goodreads.
Lastly, there's another gift, The Fox & the Peach by Nick Thaler. A YA novel about a kitsune who is being hunted during the time of Oda Nobunga's reign in Japan, I started this one just a few days ago and am quite enjoying it so far. I was really excited to start this one since its a book about a kitsune that I hadn't heard of yet! That is always a pick me up!
I'll leave you with my personal New Year tradition. Every year, I head to the bookstore on the 31rst or the 1st and buy myself one book. That book must fit three critia to be bought. One is that I must enjoy the cover art. Two, I must find the idea of the book interesting. Three, I must have never read anything written by that author before. Basically, it's like a blind date with a book and makes sure every year I am giving at least one new (to me) author a go. Sometimes I find authors who aren't my thing, and sometimes I find new favourites. The point is that I'm always trying something new for the new year.
Do you have any bookish traditions? What do you think of the books I got? Either way, let me know and I hope you have a great New Year!
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
OMG, Its Been How Long?!
Sorry guys, I am normally a lot more on the ball about stuff like this. I did not realise that it had been this long.
In my defence, between Nanowrimo and Christmas end of the year preparations, my life has focused down and down. Not down as in depression or anything, just that I required a hell of a lot of focus this year. Normally I just buy all of my family books for the great Christmas Book Flood. This year, I decided to paint a set of nine pictures for a friend of mine. They turned out gorgeously, a geeky Mario 3 type slot machine effect where I made a fire flower, star, and mushroom. My friend loved it, but it took me hours and hours to finish, especially since I actually had to change colours on the flower about half-way through.
Okay, so I agree, it's a sucky defence. I still had time to at least do an update for you wonderful folks. In fact, I wrote two that simply got saved to drafts instead of posting (which will teach me to believe that I'll just finish it up later that night). So let's get right into the update.
Nanowrimo was not the bubbling joy it has been in years past. I still enjoyed myself, but I felt more stressed than I did jubilant. I think a large part of that was the fact that I was still in editing mode. I had sent Hunter to my editor and was waiting on pins and needles to get it back. More on that later, though. I did finish Nanowrimo though I was writing right to the 30th of November to do it, and when I did, I pretty much just stopped. I got 50,281 words (I think, it was right around there anyway). The story was going well, but it felt a bit weird. I figured out half-way through that one of my characters didn't really have a story, yet I was still trying to give her a fourth of the "screen time". So, I changed my format again and just started writing which chapter came next. I fully think that by the time I get back to it, I'll have quite a bit to go over and rewrite on it. Still, I wrote some great stuff and managed to figure out my religions much more concretely.
The big thing was that I got my readers review back from my editor. She found a lot of points where I could tighten the story, make things better and pointed out a few idiosyncracies in my writing that make it so my words don't hit emotionally as hard as they could. I have lots to work on which wasn't a huge surprise. This is the first manuscript that I've sent out and its still drawing from its roots a bit too much. I was hoping to start working on it during December, but beyond looking at her review, I had to put it down and finish gifts and other stuff for the holidays. So I still have a lot of work to do on it, but I'm hoping to have it done in only a month or so. Then I'll send it back to my editor again, and get her outlook on it. Hopefully, I'll be able to give you a concrete date for release at that point.
I did have a lovely holiday season, I spent a lot of time with family and friends, had my birthday celebration as well as celebrating the holidays. I got some awesome gifts this year, but as always, it was the people in my life that meant the most.
Wow, this post has stretched. I think I'll end this update here and start again with my bi-weekly posts. That means you can expect at least one more post this year. We'll chat more then!
In my defence, between Nanowrimo and Christmas end of the year preparations, my life has focused down and down. Not down as in depression or anything, just that I required a hell of a lot of focus this year. Normally I just buy all of my family books for the great Christmas Book Flood. This year, I decided to paint a set of nine pictures for a friend of mine. They turned out gorgeously, a geeky Mario 3 type slot machine effect where I made a fire flower, star, and mushroom. My friend loved it, but it took me hours and hours to finish, especially since I actually had to change colours on the flower about half-way through.
Okay, so I agree, it's a sucky defence. I still had time to at least do an update for you wonderful folks. In fact, I wrote two that simply got saved to drafts instead of posting (which will teach me to believe that I'll just finish it up later that night). So let's get right into the update.
Nanowrimo was not the bubbling joy it has been in years past. I still enjoyed myself, but I felt more stressed than I did jubilant. I think a large part of that was the fact that I was still in editing mode. I had sent Hunter to my editor and was waiting on pins and needles to get it back. More on that later, though. I did finish Nanowrimo though I was writing right to the 30th of November to do it, and when I did, I pretty much just stopped. I got 50,281 words (I think, it was right around there anyway). The story was going well, but it felt a bit weird. I figured out half-way through that one of my characters didn't really have a story, yet I was still trying to give her a fourth of the "screen time". So, I changed my format again and just started writing which chapter came next. I fully think that by the time I get back to it, I'll have quite a bit to go over and rewrite on it. Still, I wrote some great stuff and managed to figure out my religions much more concretely.
The big thing was that I got my readers review back from my editor. She found a lot of points where I could tighten the story, make things better and pointed out a few idiosyncracies in my writing that make it so my words don't hit emotionally as hard as they could. I have lots to work on which wasn't a huge surprise. This is the first manuscript that I've sent out and its still drawing from its roots a bit too much. I was hoping to start working on it during December, but beyond looking at her review, I had to put it down and finish gifts and other stuff for the holidays. So I still have a lot of work to do on it, but I'm hoping to have it done in only a month or so. Then I'll send it back to my editor again, and get her outlook on it. Hopefully, I'll be able to give you a concrete date for release at that point.
I did have a lovely holiday season, I spent a lot of time with family and friends, had my birthday celebration as well as celebrating the holidays. I got some awesome gifts this year, but as always, it was the people in my life that meant the most.
Wow, this post has stretched. I think I'll end this update here and start again with my bi-weekly posts. That means you can expect at least one more post this year. We'll chat more then!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)