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EmmaMaree.com

Scottish Writer of Fantasy & Sci-Fi

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April Recap, with dog pics a-plenty

It’s an April Recap! April really flew by this year, and May is rapidly zooming along too. 

Reading and Writing

Here’s your Mac of the Month. He be snoozin’.

This month I: wrote 18k, less than my goal of 20k words, but close enough that I’ll take it. I also totally flunked out of my CampNaNoWriMo, but hey, I got lots of words in!

Read 5 books:
X All Systems Red
X Empire of Storms (audiobook)
X The Art of Loish
X Roller Girl
X Earthsea (Twitter Readalong)

My favourites this month around were ALL SYSTEMS RED (a great novella about a murderbot trying to be better) and ROLLER GIRL (a graphic novel about a young derby skater). EARTHSEA was also a fun surprise: I didn’t like it going in but wow, the twists had me hooked.

Gaming

Finished the short, cute dating game Rose of Winter and started the weird and wonderful free mobile dating game Mystic Messenger. Honestly, this is one of the most novel and fun mobile games I’ve ever played: the whole premise is that cute boys (and a cute girl) hang out with you in a chatroom, send texts and call you, and the story plays out in that format. It’s such fun. In April I tackled the routes for long-suffering adorable admin assistant Jaehee, and narcissistic actor Zen.

I also picked up The Witcher 3, which is a masssssiiiive game and feels like it will take a lifetime to get through. But I’m super enjoying playing Gwent!

Life, the Universe and Everything

Mac and Luna
  • Had a lovely Easter Sunday meal with my parents and Dave.
  • Tried Hawaiian (pineapple and ham) pizza. It was not good. Waste of a ham pizza, that.
  • Our Dungeons and Dragons group had its second session. Go go Murderhobos!
  • I had a chance to hang out with my friend Rachel, and Mac met her lovely pup Luna.
  • Climbed up Nelson’s Tower, a monument to Lord Nelson built in Forres a year after he won the Battle of Trafalgar.
  • Re-started the C25K running program.
  • Finally got to grips with walking on my toe stops in roller derby! This month had a lot of kit-adjustment frustrations, but hopping around on my toestops made it all much more enjoyable.
  • We defrosted our freezer! ADULTING.
  • Went to a derby game in Inverness, and had a fab time introducing my parents to the sport.
  • Returned to the Ukelele Club, and continued making the plinky-plonky noises.

 

Hello, September

What’s Up Wednesday is a weekly themed post for readers and writers,  so y’all know what I’ve been up to and I find out what you’ve been working on! It was created by created by Jaime and Erin.

Wanna join in? Leave a link to your What’s Up Wednesday post in the widget on Jaime´s blog.

what'supwednesday

It’s somehow both gloomy-looking and sunny outside, so lets brighten things up a bit!

What I’m Reading

I am SUPER ADDICTED to Rainbow Rowell right now. I read FANGIRL earlier this year and I looooveeed it. I started ATTACHMENTS last week with a bit of uncertainty, not sure if a more ‘grown up’ novel would be my cuppa tea.

IT WAS. IT WAS MANY CUPS OF TEA.

I immediately went onto Elanor & Park, which was equally good. Now I just need to read LANDLINE… but I should probably try and get through my TBR pile before I go buying it.

If you haven’t read Rainbow Rowell, I recommend starting. She’s an absolute gem and her books are fantastic.

What I’m Writing

THE NEVERENDING REWRITE IS FINISHED…. sort of. Kind of.

celebrate

True to its name, the Neverending Rewrite isn’t quite done — the denouement (aka the end bit) is lacking something.  I’m gonna move on to the pre-beta readthrough in the hope I figure out how to fix it. If I don’t, I might ask some betas to hit it with a hammer.

So, betas, be ready. I’ll be needing your help very soon.

And now, I’m going through the final read-through and getting ready to start GLORIOUS GLORIOUS DRAFTING OF NEW THINGS.

I can’t wait!

What Inspires Me

Driving lessons! I’m going into the city weekly now, getting ready for THE TEST dun dun duuuuunnnn. Still a while off yet before I’ll be ready, but I’m hoping to get it done by the end of the year.

I never would have considered driving lessons “inspiring”, exactly, but it’s nice to see my confidence improve week by week. Very nice indeed.

What Else I’ve Been Up To

Also, if you’re been following on Twitter you might have noticed some murmurs about househunting. I can’t say much until it’s all formalised, but for now, I’ll say that our efforts to buy a home of our own have suddenly raced forward.

dogehouse

It’s Almost the End of August!

Time to bring out the autumnal What’s Up Wednesday pictures!

WUWAutumn

What’s Up Wednesday is a weekly meme geared toward readers and writers, allowing us to touch base with blog friends and let them know what’s up. It was created by created by Jaime and Erin. Want to join the party? Go right ahead, and remember to leave a link to your What’s Up Wednesday post in the widget on Jaime´s blog.

What I’m Reading

I adored Rainbow Rowell’s FANGIRL, but I was nervous about trying her other stories because how could anything compare to that amazing celebration of geekery?

Still, ATTACHMENTS appealed to me — despite being an adult novel, not YA, it involves IT work and 90s nostalgia — so I picked it up and I’m loving it. She takes a really tricky concept, morally, and works it well.

Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that someone is monitoring their interoffice email …

But they can’t quite bring themselves to take any of it very attachmentsseriously. Jennifer tells Beth everything she can’t tell her husband about why she doesn’t want to start a family. And Beth tells Jennifer everything, period, especially if she thinks it will get a laugh.

Lincoln O’Neil knows that he should stop reading Beth and Jennifer’s email.

He should just send them a warning. He should have sent it the first time he caught them breaking the company rules. But they both seem so nice… They’re smart and funny and interesting, and he likes them. Especially Beth.

By the time Lincoln realizes how much he feels for Beth, it’s too late to unread all of her personal messages. And it’s way too late to introduce himself. What would he say? “Hi, I’m the guys who reads your email, and, also, I love you …”

But he can’t just do nothing. Falling for Beth makes him realize he’s been doing nothing for far too long.

Attachments is a fast, funny romantic comedy about three people at the end of their 20s, at the end of the last Millennium. It’s a book about falling in love with the person who makes you feel like the best version of yourself. Even if it’s someone you’ve never met.

What I’m Writing

The neverending edit is slowly, slowly creeping towards a close.

But more importantly, I started a ‘just for fun’ project codenamed “HellaFunWIP“. Writing buddy and general good influence Miss Cole recently kicked butt with a lightning fast draft of a just for fun/just for me writing project, her Violin!Story, and it inspired me to take a break from commercial work and do the same.

HellaFunWIP is fun sometimes, and dark sometimes, and I’m having a whale of a time writing it and knowing there’s no pressure to get it up to submittable standard.

What Inspires Me

PLEASE WATCH THIS VINE VIDEO WHERE A GUY IS HOLDING A CHICKEN

PLEASE

Ahem. What else?

My driving instructor’s back from her holiday, which means DRIVING LESSONS ARE BACK ON HECK YES. I’ve been visiting a large local town for the first time which is very exciting!

Aside from that, I’ve just been enjoying the great outdoors…

greatoutdoors

…and watching too much anime shows involving boys seriously drinking tea.

teaserious

Hayfever-y Road Trip Wednesday

*SNEEZES MORE THAN ANY HUMAN BEING SHOULD SNEEZE*

sneezingsimba

What’s Up Wednesday is a weekly meme geared toward readers and writers, allowing us to touch base with blog friends and let them know what’s up. It was created by created by Jaime and Erin. Want to join the party? Go right ahead, and remember to leave a link to your What’s Up Wednesday post in the widget on Jaime´s blog.

What I’m Reading

the-snake-charm-cover (1)If you’ve been following my Twitter, where I am infinitely more interesting and witty than here,  you might have seen me fangirlnig about Laura Lam‘s new novella, THE SNAKE CHARM.

Here’s my Amazon review:

Oh, man, I loved this little story. It reads a lot like a smaller scale version of “Pantomime”: a quick read (maybe 2 hours, depending on your reading speed) but with the same twists, turns, atmosphere and fight scenes.

It’s also completely standalone, and if you haven’t read Laura’s “Pantomime” I’d read this first — it adds even more depth to the circus members.

I’m now reading J.B. Rockwell’s BREAKSHIELD, and I’ll fangirl more about that this time next week. But I want you to know that it contains adorable foxes.

foxgif

What I’m Writing

Still revising. In that odd little point of space and time where ideas take shape about of absolutely nowhere, and plot issues seem to just unknot themselves in the moments when I’m doing nothing much at all.

It’s a strange and magical part of the process, though it’s all frustrating as all hell because there’s no way to predict it and no way to speed it up.

What Inspires Me

Procrastination, for all its faults, seems to be inspiring me at the moment. Brain down-time is important.

Also, this comic should strike a chord with all writers:

writingpanel1 writingpanel2

writingpanel3

writingcomic

Source is this artist. (Page autoplays music.)

What Else I’ve Been Up To

On a running break to recover from some minor ailments, and I’m on a driving lesson break while my instructor goes on holiday, so there’s not much to talk about here.

I’ve been posting little dairies of my running training so far, and you can read PART ONE and PART TWO if you’re interested in the foibles of a newbie runner.

Just writing and reading. And sneezing.

What’s Up Wednesday?

I’m trying something new today instead of my usual Road Trip Wednesday post — blog friend Jaime and her sister Erin are hosting What’s Up Wednesday, a new blog meme. Let’s give it a spin! what'supwednesday

What I’m Reading

I’ve just finished UNRAVEL ME by Tahareh Mafi, which I enjoyed, and now I have a host of new books to chose from — I’m looking forward to Chuck Wendig’s THE BLUE BLAZES in particular. (ARC Provided by Angry Robot.)

What I’m Writing

I’ve just passed the 30k mark on Leviathan Rises, and the voice is finally starting to feel solid. I managed to go back and fix the first chapter, which had been not-quite-right for a while, and now I’m working on the rest.

This story is proving tricky because I wrote those 30k haphazardly: jumping around the timeline, skipping to exciting scenes, writing sections with no idea where they’ll fit. Now that I’m on the end stretch, I need to go back and pull it all together into solid chapters, and that’s rough going.

Worth it, though. I really love this ridiculous oddball of a story.

What Inspires Me Right Now

I’m on a musical kick! Mostly listening to Fall Out Boy’s new album Save Rock and Roll, and this gorgeous track by a new musical find, the band Les Friction:

“This force is in love with you. It wants you safe. It wants you well.”

What Else I’ve Been Up To

I’m thinking very seriously about doing my theory test in the near future, and I’ve been studying for it in my spare moments.

I’m also trying to eat healthier — more fruit, less sweets, more water, no fizzy juice, and multivitamins ahoy. It’s working reasonably well, my sleep is settling down and I’m more aware of issues with my blood sugar level. I just need to up my exercise amounts to go along with the new regime.

Last but not least, I’m playing the free horror game Ib. I wasn’t convinced an 8-bit game but be creepy, but I’ve jumped out of my seat a few times. It’s a great little game.