Eeeking again.

Happy New Year!

 It's now all of 12 days into the new year, and people are already letting go of their resolutions, which is why I generally don't make them. (My pilates teacher managed one day of her dry January. This is exactly why I go to her, she is a regular person, not some Infallible.)

I did however list a couple of aims last year. I wanted to up my game in 2014; more quantity and more quality.  I did the quantity . I wrote three 100k women's fiction vomit drafts. I cannot comment on the quality aspect. Most importantlythough I practiced plotting, writing to quotas and deadlines and the big one, the hardest; the finishing. I learnt how I write a vomit draft in a way that doesn't maim or kill me. 

This year then, I aim to do something with them. I need to learn how I best revise to a first draft without it maiming or killing me either. I'm aiming to do this to one of them by April. Then there's the 2nd, 3rd and more drafts.  I have done such things before, with YA stories, but I have somehow forgotten my practice. This time I aim to write it down as I go, so that I can remind myself again and again, until I have it down as routine.

Last year, the aims felt rather daunting, (the post back then was called Eeek! afterall) Now having done it, having worked out my method, it wasn't as bad as I thought. Considering that the concept of redrafting has me quaking too, I'm just going to have to dive in and with a bit of luck, the same might apply. 

I'm hoping - hoping rather than aiming - to have something in a some submittable state some day soon, late 2015/early 2016 say, because wouldn't it be ace to see one's aims, even if not resolutions, bear fruit?

What aims have you got for this year?

*Cue jingling bells" My Winter 14 TBR Pile

And here it is, a few days late as seem to be the fashion nowadays, my Winter TBR pile;

Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers

Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers

Happy Ever After by Adele Geras

Jessie {hearts} NYC by Keris Stainton

This Charming Man by Marian Keyes

I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

Amelia Grey’s Fireside Dream by Abby Clements

Welcome to Rosie Hopkin’s Sweetshop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

How to be Good by Nick Hornby

I keep thinking that it is smaller than normal, but turns out it’s only by one book and there are still those neglected ones pending on the e-reader since summer.  I’ve finally finished that vomit draft I was working on, so now I figure I can submerge myself in other people’s words for a little while. The next writing sprint is planned for February and March.

The pile is very Women's Fiction heavy, but there is still a male writer in there and few YA represented too. My Lovely CP loves Stephanie Perkins and I have never seen so much as a word she's written, so this pile will change that. 

I’ll let you know at the end of Feb how the reading  went.

What are you reading this season?

Autumn 14 Gut Reactions

Soo, autumn books. This feels a little odd this time. I’ve made my way through the pile but not with the same rate that I normally do. I've also been writing a vomit draft, on which I have just knocked the 90K mark, so I have been slightly laying off other people's plots, trying to keep my head in the game. (I also enforced a Twitter-ban which made all the difference, but that’s another story.)

So thinking back it's a bit of a haze. And I haven't quite finished yet. I'm still on Saskia Sargison's The Twins. And I didn’t get to catch up the ones on kindle. (I like reading in bed, so the e-reader doesn’t really work for me, as I end up lying there with my eyes buzzing if I read from a screen at night. My sleep is duff enough as it is, I don’t need issues falling asleep too.) So the e-books will have to carry over again. I must try to apply myself during the Christmas break.

The pile looked like this; 

 I also snuck in Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers, because it appeared on order at the library, and Gayle Forman's Just One Night as it finally came out and some things just cannot wait.

Star of the Season, is sinner. Now, I know I always gush about Maggie Steifvater, but this genuinely was my favourite. A companion book to the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, I loved it -except the end, which I would have liked to have been a little more considered. The MC makes a decision and I wasn't convinced by it, at least not the speed of it.  But the dialogue to each character is perfect. And I love dialogue…

That sneaky one by Robin LaFevers, that was a good'n too. A historical YA novel based on Death's female offspring being trained as assasins in 15th century France. I do like me a bit of history, and I've ordered the remaining two of the trilogy in too. Brutal and dark in places, but romantic and intriguing too.

Gayle Forman's Just One... series is an oddity to me. I read the first one and the ending annoyed me so much that it was still bugging me when the sequal came out- so I had to (begrudgingly) read that too, to find out if it got resolved, but that ending annoyed me even more. So finally this novella turned up to finish it, and finally I got the ending I needed. Normally I would have left the series and not bothered, but this was like an itch that had to be scratched...

Morgan Matson's Second Chance Summer was a fab YA Contemporary story, and at risk of stirring up some people I preferred it to Matson's highly acclaimed first book Amy and Roger's Epic Detour. Set in a vacation resort it had everything about summer down pat. One of those books where when I finished I wanted to write something set in the same kind of place. Is that just me…?

Dawn O'Porter's paper aeroplanes promised to show girls’ experience through GCSE years. It pretty much nailed it. Angst, awkwardness, bitchiness, buffoonary and friendship in the 1990's, this book did covered it beautifully.

Part of my aim with this month's pile was to read more Women's fiction, in light of it being what I am currently writing. I've been enjoying Jenny Colgan's books a lot, she has a natural amusing tone, smooth and easy, without going overboard playing for laughs.

If you know any teen girls who like history and horses, then you can't go wrong with Marie-Louise Jensen's Runaway. I'm not a particular fan of horses, but it didn’t hinder my enjoyment. Perhaps I just got consumed by the romance and the Regency history, which were luscious.

Now that I look at it, there is a lot of history in the pile this season, whether recent to my life time, or far far back. Enemies at Home goes as far back as Roman times. I love Lindsey Davis. Love Her. She writes humorous Roman detective stories, which I know is niche, but for me it's a perfect cocktail. (For me, having been brought up on Inspector Clouseau films,  murder and funny is a lovely mix - Janet Evanovitch anyone?) Davis also wrote the book that I read once a year every year, but that too is a story for another time. Enemies at Home is the second in her new series and had the most delicate, fragile, tender love scene in it. No sex at all, but so intimate it was fabulous. And funny too. How skilled it that?!

Abbi Glines is one of the front runners of NA. Rush Too Far is a companion to her Rosemary Beach series, in so far as it is the male POV to the first of the series. I like reverse angle books a lot, so this one was a treat. 

Wonder. Simpl-, Every MG class in the world should read this book. By law. The world could be a nicer place. I made my 10 year old read it the moment I put it down.

and the rest;

  One of these books was a long struggle. Like another book in the pile, it was set in the past that I've been around for. So many people have raved about it, which is why I read it, but in the end it was so very slow. A few of the references were fun to be reminded of, but by and large I wanted more speed. (I suppose it is my issue now of having read lots of YA stories, adult fiction just moves at a much slower pace and it loses me.)

 One of these books, apparently a classic now in its genre or at least a forerunner, the sense of humour was soooo dry that I couldn’t warm to the MC. As in boyproof in last season’s pile, she came across as aloof and IMHO, I’m not sure if that works so well in Women’s Fiction.

One of these books gave me that feeling that there was hope for me yet. Essentially there was nothing wrong with it, it was fine but some of it felt clunky here and there and I came away feeling that given it has been published then maybe I can too. (I don’t know. Is that a mean thing to say?)

Not sure when I’ll post the Winter pile (due..oh, that would be today), because

a)    It currently isn’t much of a pile, more a wee stack

b)   I’m trying to bring this draft to conclusion

So any recommendations, get’em in!

(PS. Sorry about the font sizing. Not sure what is going on...)

Oh! I surprised myself

Please disregard that last post. Not the bit where I said Good Luck to Nanoists as that still holds, but the bit where I said I couldn't write 50k words in November. 

Turns out I just did.

Am smug. Sorry.

Still not finished yet though......

Good Luck, you nutters!

 I usually write a post about the lunacy that is NaNoWriMo. It has become a small annual event for me, even though I do not partake. Writing a Novel in a Month is just not a viable reality for me. And normally I spout about that, at about this point in the year.

This year though, things are a little different. Because this year I can't sit here typing that I wouldn't be able to get 50k words down in a month. And how do I know this? See this smug look here? Here on my smug face? That's there because in June, I did indeed write over 50k words in a single month. I have a badge from 750words.com to verify it, so do not roll your pretty eyes in disbelief at me.

Having an outline made the difference for me, along with a word-count goal. I said 10k a week, with the aim to have that done Monday-Friday which gave me the weekend to make up any shortfall or carry on, if I needed and wanted to. Normally this made it 2k words a day, but it was fluid, which helped. Fluid is good, I have found. Fluid equals less stress. And setting a timer for two batches of 45 minutes was key too. (45 minutes feels less draconian than an hour, to my deluded mind.) No checking t'internet in the timed slot made things way more focused and productive. Who'd have thought?!
 As things took off, I wrote more than the quota, which put me over the 50k mark in the month. 
Ta-dah!

So why am I not doing it again in November with all the NaNoists of the planet? Because November is not the month for me. Aside from it not even being a 31 day month, there are too many things going on. What I am trying to write will be more that 50k, so it'll pull closer and closer to Christmas, and if November is bad, then December is a nightmare for writing. And I'll want to get this sucker finished. In fact I started my current project at the beginning of this month, with the aim of finishing at the end of November.  So I'm having two months to do it, I guess. 

Maybe this just means I cannot play with the other kids. Really I think it just means it isn't my timing.  But what I can definitely say for NaNoWriMo this year is: 

Good Luck and Go to it, I know you can do it. (You Nutters...) 

So late it doesn't deserve a fanfare - My Autumn TBR pile

Yes it is late. I know, I know. But there was school start and an important exam for one of them, which is now done, hurrah. So here's the pile, which seems fairly hefty, particularly as I also have three left over on the e-reader from last season.

The pile looks like this:

 The books are:

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

Rush Too Far by Abbi Glines

Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater

Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan

The California Club by Belinda Jones

Runaway by Marie-Louise Jensen

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

From Notting Hill with Love… Actually by Ali McNamara

Paper aeroplanes by Dawn O’Porter

Wonder by R.J Palacio

The twins by Saskia Sarginson

 Enemies at Home by Lindsey Davies

 The Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank

 As usual it is a mix of Teen and Women's fiction, with a dash of Historical Crime. Sinner is the one I am most looking forward to (This, thanks to Lovely CP is a signed copy, with a limited edition artwork in it too. Boasting? Moi? Sorry, not sorry. I'd frame it and put it in my fantasy writing room.)

 There are precious few male-authored books in there. Sorry about that male population. Nothing personal. Just the luck of the draw this time around.

So I'll update you at the end of November, if all goes well. If I haven't bitten off far more than I can chew this season.

What are you reading this autumn?

FREEBIE!!!!

Just to let you know, that for today and tomorrow (September 11th & 12th), Sunlounger 2 is free. Like, no pennies. At all. Nada. Zilch.

Here.

 Did I mention the free bit? 44 stories. On your e-reader for absolutely nuffink.

tis truly a gift!!