Writing

17 September, 2018

August in a Nutshell

Whoa, August 2018 was a heckuva month. And now that I’m all caught up on the June and July recaps, it’s time to dive in to what happened last month! But first, your monthly Mac photo.

A labrador dog lying down with a stuffed hedgehog toy in his arms — Good boy Mac and his soft toy hedgehog

Edited a TON this month. Finally got my various versions of Divide wrangled together into a coherent file, which was an incredible workload and waaaaayyyy more difficult that I even imagined. But I made huge progress, getting my Scrivener files in order and into one Word doc. I tried to love Scrivener, but I’ve slunk back to Word yet again.
Wrote 36,000 words!
Drove to Dundee for a charity derby event and ate some mega-fancy food. This one ended up being quite a pivotal moment in my month because it gave me the time away to think about how my year was going and make some changes for the better.

Myself and my partner by the waterside in Dundee — Myself and Dave enjoying Dundee! It’s so pretty there.

Started a 5-mins-a-day meditation habit. It’s been nice! I use the Headspace app/website for daily themed 5-min meditations.
Painted our conservatory (sunroom, for American readers). It’s looking so good!
Celebrated my 11th anniversary with Dave. We had pizza. :)

An aerial picture of a couple and a labrador. It's us, from above! — It’s us!

Joined a new gym! It was super overwhelming and terrifying but I did it! I also attended a ‘ladies who lift’ class. Had a lot of fun and managed not to get too disheartened when I failed to bench press the Olympic bar. It’s okay, I’ll get stronger!
Took some time away from roller derby. This was a sad one but I’m not giving up skating and hoping to get back to it soon.
Since I’m taking a skating break, I got back into running! Resumed my Couch 2 5K program (I’m using the BBC app because having Sarah Millican as a coach is neat) and got from week 6 to week 8.
Prepped to return to skating with increased strength training
Took part in the ‘#NoWrongPath’ hashtag which is a local Moray initiative to help teens who’re getting their exam results recognise that results aren’t the be-all-and-end-all to a career, and there are multiple paths into the workforce.

Switched from audiobooks to podcast to shake things up a bit. Current favourites: The Adventure Zone, Strange Animals Podcast, Archive 81 (Season 3 is SO good), Welcome to Night Vale.
I’m also doing a writing course in podcast form—the wonderfully-named Couch to 80k by Tim Clare. Really enjoying it so far, just finished Week 1. It’s fairly low effort with 10-mins-a-day writing exercises and a really positive, upbeat approach.

When you change the things you notice, the things you notice change.
Tim Clare, paraphrasing Dr Wayne Dwyer

Read: The Adventure Zone comic (an amazing adaptation), and uh, that was it. Not a good reading month.
Helped a few lost tourists, including the lost French couple who were 8 miles away from where they should be and the lovely South Carolina couple who wanted to see the local golf course.
Dave visited Skye! I did not get to go and was mega jealous.
Watched the Orkney Viqueens vs Inverness City roller derby game! It was Orkney’s first game and they did amazing.
LEARNED THINGS! I finished the Coursera ‘Learning How to Learn‘ course and really loved it. It’s a free course that helps people learn more effectively and tackle procrastination habits. It’s really helped me a lot with keeping writing and artistic focus.
Started the Mindshift course by the same people, which is aimed at helping people shift into learning difficult or unfamiliar-to-them subjects.
Tried to get a fancy haircut, ended up walking out because the stylist was mid-transphobic-rant and it only got worse as I sat there. August was definitely an ‘all out of fucks to give’ month, especially towards the end.
But it’s okay because the haircut I got from someone else was AMAZING. Look at these heckin’ cute curls!

Played SO MUCH DND. SO MUCH. It’s the best. My wereshark fighter became the apprentice of a grumpy soap-making hardarse old lady, and my traumatised Tiefling had a VERY BAD DAY on a boat.
Watched a bit of anime, finishing Samurai Champloo and watching a bit of Digimon Tri.
Watched a ton of TV, including: Luke Cage S2, Critical Role, Talks Machina, Voltron: Legendary Defender S7.
Didn’t do much art, but watch this space because I’ve got some new gadgets that should REALLY change that next month. I’ll sign off for today with my first sketch on my new gadget.

A white-haired girl with a birthmark on her face. She's hiding her mouth behind a white cardigan collar. — Current Work in Progress: Birthmark Girl

Wishing you all an awesomely spooky September.

Love,

Emma

1 September, 2018

SPOOKY SEASON HAS ARRIVED!

AUTUMN’S HERE! WE MADE IT! Crunchy leaves, pumpkin spice, rainy reading days and crisp cold starry nights all lie ahead.

It’s autumn. My favourite season is upon us, and you guys, I am SO ready for it.

A seasonal autumn drink called a Pumpkin Spice latte with the text 'pumpkin spice & everything nice'

This summer has felt really unfocussed and unproductive, though looking back on that I wonder how much of that was just me… having a good time and enjoying summer. Doing summery things.

I’m still actively working hard to get away from my past ‘MUST BE WRITING ALWAYS’ attitude. I achieved a lot in these last few months! It’s just very different stuff to what I used to define as productivity. I used to measure productivity in finished manuscripts and wordcount, but instead these last few months are measured in social events, new things tried, experiences had, and good habits formed. It’s quite a shift to get used to.

I had an awesome summer, full of Dungeons & Dragons and travel, and I’m looking forward to talking more about it over the next few days with my June, July and August recap posts.

Now we’re hitting peak books-and-writing season, and I’m ready to get my words in order.

With that in mind, some goals for the month ahead:

WRITING: Finish the Divide the Sky (epic fantasy with m/m romance) edit
WRITING: Write 30k.
WRITING: Blogging catch-up! Buckle up for the June, July and August recap posts as well as a one-year-overdue Helsinki photo post.
WRITING: Get to Week 5 of the Couchto80k writing course.
WRITING: Start the Witch of the Western Isles (urban fantasy with f/f romance) book rewrite

READING: Read 6 books, with a focus on finishing all the ones I’ve started but not finished because my focus was so scattered this summer. I’ll be joining in mind-reader Miss Cole’s amazingly named SEPTEMBER TBR PILE DECIMATION challenge as I tackle those six books!
It’s a bit funny looking back at when I last did this challenge in July 2015. Some of those books are still sitting on the TBR pile. …Woops.

HEALTH: Lose over 5lbs.
HEALTH: Finish Couch to 5k and start doing regular 5k lunchtime runs with the Zombies, Run! app
HEALTH: Continue increasing strength work to build up core strength/squats/quads for roller derby.

LISTEN: Listen to The Night of Cake and Puppets by Laini Taylor, the Alice Isn’t Dead Podcast, the Bright Sessions.
LEARN: Finish the Mindshift course.
ART: Create and share five illustrations.

LET’S GO GO GO! Onwards into autumn! I’ll leave you with a surreal autumnal Tumblr post that always makes me laugh.

young man
there r leaves all around
i said young man
eat a leaf off the ground

i said young man
won’t they make a cool sound
when you stuff! them! in! your! leaf hole
Tumblr users puppercat (first verse) and r5h (second verse). SOURCE.

(Please do not actually eat leaves.)

Love,
Emma

GIF of a dancing man with a pumpkin mask on

3 June, 2018

May Recap: Cherry Blossoms and Busyness

Whoa, May was a busy month! I’m feeling good about my progress: 21k words written, two beta reads delivered, and 6 goals met.

Of all the books I read this month, I think my favourite was the fantasy novel Heir to the North by Stephen Poore, which delivered some really fresh twists on traditional tropes, and the writing craft book 5,000 Words Per Hour by Chris Fox (which is a freebie from his mailing list). 5K Per Hour really surprised me… it’s such a simple method, and can basically be summed up as ‘do writing sprints’, but here’s something about his system that I loved:

He tracks editing sprints and writing sprints separately. And what really made it click for me was hearing other writers over on the ‘20 Books to 50K‘ Facebook group talk about their editing goals, with a few writers tracking similar ways to Chris: aiming for editing 1,000 words an hour in the early edits, and 3,000 words per hour later when the draft is more polished.

I love this! I’ve previously tracked editing page count, but that one can be flaky because I chop and change so much that the page count can go down as much as it goes up. But having solid goals of ‘I will edit at least 1k an hour’ is really helping me out of my editing hole.

So this month, I’m going to keep going with timed writing sprints and timed intervals (using my beloved Tomighty timer app, though I might try and use the Android app Forest for this purpose too and see how that goes).

Let’s go! Onwards to this month’s goal of 30k words and a finished draft!

Mac’s IB GDBY post code makes me crack up every time, I’m so weak

Gaming

I’m still playing Mystic Messenger. This month’s route: the traumatic backstory for the sunniest boy of the group, and the K-drama behind the rich catmum and corporate heir. The rich corporate cat-fancier’s route was… weird, and definitely as far from my cuppa tea as you can get. But now I’m moving towards the end of adorable hacker/secret agent 707’s route, so it’s going to be a fun way to start the month.

Life, the Universe and Everything

It’s peak cherry blossom season here in Scotland, and I have been LOVING IT. This is one of my favourite times of the year: not too hot yet, not too many midges, and I get to live my best anime life with cherry blossoms everywhere around.

I lost my exercise groove a bit towards the start of the year, but I got it back this month with my spinning routine and skating routine! June is looking trickier, unfortunately, with a change in skating times, a bit of work travel, and some troubling knee pains that I’m going to try and address with strength training… but I’m going to hang in there and do my best.

I finally got the hang of one-foot glides in roller derby! Feeling super good about that. And there was a new members intake yesterday so I got to meet some awesome new skaters, who all had great skills straight off the bat. I’m looking forward to seeing them again at other sessions.

IT ME! SQUINTING AND BAD AT TAKING SELFIES ON SUNNY DAYS!

Dave helped clean up Forres river! He was amazing, and I watched from the banks because I was too chicken to brave the river. He was awesome.

Food food food

Okay, so, time for me to fess up: despite having weight loss goals for every month this year, I’ve not been meeting them. I’ve been fairly lax about my food choices over the last months, buying in too much white chocolate, alcohol and ice cream (…which isn’t a problem in itself, it’s more the speed at which I make both things disappear).

So we’re both getting back into the healthy meal game, as well as the meal-prepping game. May was a month of slowly getting back into the flow of eating healthy and not keeping too many temptations in, and that’ll continue into June.

Dungeons ‘n Doggos

It’s weird thinking that I only had my first Dungeons & Dragons game this April, because we’ve been having games weekly recently and it’s become a regular part of my life. I’m really loving it: in Campaign 1 (‘Murderhobos’) my traumatised teen warlock is still fumbling around to find her place in the world, while in Campaign 2 (‘The Trio Not Terrible/TNT’) I’m playing an awkward half-orc fighter gal who’s also a WERESHARK.

I’ve been keeping her shark form under wraps for a couple of weeks and I finally got to unleash her last Friday. YESSSSS SHARK POWERS ACTIVATE.

A photo from the ‘Street Sharks’ cartoon.

That’s about it for May recap! It wasn’t all sunshine and cherry blossoms, mind: work was incredibly busy and complex, and I had a few moments of overwhelming frustration at my stalled Roller Derby progress and stalled weight loss.

My elderly neighbours also had an accident late in the month which lead to a very stressful Bank Holiday night, most-midnight… I won’t go into details, but if you ever have a chance to learn first-aider skills, please take it. This is the second occasion where my office first-aider course has helped me in the middle of a terrifying and unexpected situation outside of work.

My Goals for June

Next month: MORE WORDS! Let’s go!

I also neglected my in-progress reading pile ~~a bit~~ a LOT so I’m going to spend a chunk of time this month getting through all the awesome books I’m in the middle of.

My goals:

Write 30k
Finish Divide draft. I’ll be using timed sprints to get this done.
Be ready to quick-draft Leviathan book over CampNaNo in July.
Beta Read #1 – for J
Beta Read #2 – for T
Roller Derby: Figure out crossovers.
Health: Work on quad muscles, hips and glutes using Strong Curves strength training.
Health: Lose five pounds.
Create art
Read 6 books, focusing on finishing my in-progress reads.

1 February, 2018

January Highlights

Photo of a January planner

January Weeks 3 and 4 were a bit of a whirlwind: travelling to London, travelling to Aberdeen, and unwinding with a new video game. Before I get to that, you might have missed my previous January posts:

Week 1, where I was super happy about roller derby (I am ALWAYS super happy about roller derby) and food (ditto).

Week 2, where I was super happy about new ice cream, video games, and spin cycling.

Good Things that Happened

Met up with the team in London. It was a really fantastic trip and it was so nice to see my colleagues in person, most for the first time in a year but some for the first time ever!
Went to Aberdeen for Dave’s birthday, had sushi, and geeked out a lot about Dungeons & Dragons and our current TV show addiction: Critical Role, a D&D campaign starring a bunch of professional voice actors.
We had our newbie intake day at roller derby! It went really well, the new folks are so inspiring. I picked up a bunch of new kit while in London, which won’t be delivered for a while, but I’m very excited to get it.
Got a haircut and perma-dyed my hair for the first time. Made a few mistakes and learned from them!
Kept up spinning class.
Started playing Persona 5, which keeps the fun gameplay of the previous games but has a pretty ‘meh’ storyline so far. Lots of gross sexist tropes, it’s been pretty disappointingly written.
Caught up with a ton of radioplays while travelling: the Good Omens BBC radioplay and the entirety of one of my old favourites, airline comedy show Cabin Pressure.
Finished season 3 of the ever-funny Brooklyn 99. Netflix has just released season 4, perfect!

I got to hang out with the family a lot, and ticked off a 2018 goal of trying a hot chocolate at Inverness’s SoCoco.

Watched Dave try out 3D printing for the first time, with super-cute results.

And our dog was adorable, of course. It’s not a new year without a new dog photo, right? Right.

Mac the labrador, looking upset when I left for New Year’s Eve

He’s actually been lying beside me while I type this post, rubbing his face with his paws, and it’s exactly as adorable as you might imagine.

Goals for February

I didn’t get the writing momentum in January that I wanted, so my focus for Febuary is: find my flow again. Get back into a writing routine, an exercise routine, and a productivity routine.

There’s going to be a few challenges in the way: the Roller Derby World Cup starts this Thursday, and I’m visiting lovely Dundee later in the month. But I’ll get through them!

The main thing holding me back at this point is fear: my current writing project is big, and very close to my heart, so the thought of saying goodbye to it is difficult. But I’m looking forward to ploughing on and getting past The Fear.

And hey, once I’ve done my wordcount for the day, I can dive headfirst into new video games. I can’t think of any better reward than that.

Onwards, to a Fearless February!

3 January, 2018

Autumn Recap

Location: Looking back at Autumn 2017

Welcome to the really really REALLY really late autumn recap post, covering September and October.

I know, I know, that was FOUR MONTHS AGO. We’re in January now, Emma! New year, new goals, who cares about the past! I care about the past, friends. The past had lots of cool things happen.

I think this is my most overdue blog post ever. But in my defense I had really good reasons to be distracted.

Previously in Adventures

In September, I went on a bat-watching walk! How cool is that? THE COOLEST. We walked along the river Nairn and the local wildlife ranger explained absolutely everything you could want to know about the local bats: the super common pipistrelle bats, the brown long-eared bat, water-loving Daubenton’s bats swooping across the river to hunt. There’s loads more though, and here’s an awesome illustrated PDF about the variety in Scotland.

My birthday happened! I turned 26, and much cake was eaten. You might remember from my ‘Things That Rocked in 2017‘ post that I got a graphics tablet monitor to make 2018 THE YEAR OF PICTURES, and yess, four months on in this glorious future I’m still super-hyped to use it.

This blog post is very timey-wimey, I’m enjoying myself.

Previously in Reading

After frantically cramming for the Hugos before Worldcon, it was time to move on to the beta reading backlog, the library book backlog, and the NetGalley backlog.

The beta reading backlog is in progress, slowly (grah), the library book backlog has been vanquished, and the NetGalley backlog is down to one book. My focus for September is on the overdue beta reads — I have so many wonderful stories to read, and I can’t wait to get to them!

Previously in Writing

August (and the first five days of September, because I totally blew my goal) were a chaotic mess of revising queries and synopses and generally doubting…. but… I did it! I’m back in the query trenches with the giant robots book!

[Hah, okay, reading this post from the future where I’m agented and on sub to publishers is REALLY weird. Spoilers: the query trench return went well! Don’t ever give up!]

It’s had a year of change since my last time querying, and I can’t believe both how long it’s been and how much the story has changed. I’m super excited about what lies ahead for this story.

Previously in Life

I went to watch my first derby match in Aberdeen with the Helgin ladies in the crowd! It was a fab day, though next time I’ll be bringing a thermos flask because the sports hall is freeeezing.

Next Time in Goals

Read at least two beta reading novels.
More blogging! Aye, that’s right, you’ll be seeing more of me very soon with some Helsinki photo adventures!
Revise a manuscript.
Continue towards my weight loss goals. This month, I hope to reach my lowest weight since I was 16! [And I did!]

A Word of Advice

I saw this photo of Octavia Butler’s journal on Twitter, showing a lot of positive self-talk, and I found it so inspiring. This year I’ve been doing a bit of research into things like mirror affirmations and written affirmations, as well as trying them out, and I’ve found them really powerful. Mirror affirmations in particular seem so ridiculous an idea, but it feels so good to take a moment to make eye contact with yourself and encourage yourself like you would a friend.

So my advice today is: give yourself some encouragement.

Let me know what you’re feeling proud of in the comments! I can’t wait to hear.

31 December, 2017

32 Things that Rocked in 2017

Location: The last hour of 2017

Oh heck, is 2017 done already? It doesn’t feel like so long ago that it was just beginning!

As is my yearly tradition, I’m going to list a few things that really rocked this year. I know I’m going to miss a few, so I’d love it if you could comment with anything I missed.

I TRIED ROLLER DERBY! And you know what? I loved it. I’m not a natural skater by any measure (I have terrible balance, and I’m very slow to pick up all the moves). I’m probably the slowest learning among this batch of fresh skaters, but by pure stubbornness and showing up for all the classes, I’m actually getting on really well now. It’s been a really powerful lesson in the power of carrying on in spite of failure. And it’s helped me meet lots of amazing new female friends!
🎶 I get knocked down, then I get up again…. 🎶
Leaned to fall good. I’m now a pro at falling. My knees have regrets, but I’ve had fun turning a weakness (falling over ALL THE TIME) into a strength (KNEE TAPS! Knee falls! Turtles! Coffin falls!).
Got myself a literary agent! This was the culmilation of…. a ton of work. So much work. And I’m so happy to finally be here. You can read more about that here.
Revised and polished ALL THE BROKEN THINGS, my ‘twisted sci-fi Twilight’ book about a warmachine engineer dealing with her monstrous stalker. It’s been the focus of my year, and I’ve taken it through loooots of crucial revisions and created a work I’m really proud of.
Went on submission to publishers All the Broken Things! I won’t be talking about this one on the blog beyond just going ‘OMG YAY I DID IT’ — but for real, this is a milestone I’ve been waiting to cross for so long, and I’m delighted to have done it. No matter what happens from here on out, I’m happy.
Visited Helsinki with Dave and met up with some absolutely amazing writing friends! And I got to see all the sights and sounds of Helsinki.
Met up with so many buddies at Helsinki! Kate Shaw, host of the amazing Strange Animals podcast and writer of the superfun steampunk story SKYTOWN. Sam Hawke of the upcoming CITY OF LIES. Andrew Reid and Lisa, Laura Lam, Jeremy Szal, Neil Williamson, Tim Martin and his wife, and ogod I’m probably forgetting lots of people. IT WAS WILD.
I GOT TO HUG DAVEED DIGGS (from Hamilton and the amazing rap band Clppng). IT WAS A BIG MOMENT FOR ME.
Wrote 182,000 words! Less than planned, but still a total I’m proud of.
I met with my Menagerie writing group buddies in London! We went to the London Dungeons! IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. Shout out to Hedgie, Muppet, Buz and Bats. I had an amazing time hanging out with you all and it was wonderful to meet you in person.
I also tried paddleboarding down in London. I was terrrriiiiible at it but I had fun. (I am not sure the instructors who had to keep shoving me forward had fun though, woops.)
Along with hanging out with my beloved groups of writing and reading buddies (The Menagerie, The Inkbots, and The Muskedragons) I joined the Codex professional writers forum! That’s been great craic.
Read 60 books!
Lots of driing adventures this year! Drove to Aberdeen (4hr round trip) for the first time. For sushi, that’s literally all we went there for. It was worth it.
Saw my first live derby game in Inverness, and before long I was making a regular habit of seeing the pro team games in Aberdeen.
DROVE TO FRIGGIN’ DUNDEE to meet my amazing buddy Theo in Cupar, Fife. This was a really fun drive and not as scary as I thought. Dundee City is lovely and surprisingly not terrifying to drive through.
Lost 32lbs (two-and-a-bit stone). It’s been pretty tough, especially as I get closer to my final goal weight, but I’m getting there.
Got into the normal weight range for my height! I’m always conflicted about this one because BMI is a crock of shit and downright harmful to a lot of my buddies, but… it was a big personal milestone for me, to be back at my 16-year-old-me weight, and I’m proud of achieving that.
WENT ON A BAT WALK! Saw so many bats! I now know more about bats than ever before.
Kept up my spinning! I’m still a regular at the stationary cycling classes, and it’s a big part of my week now.
Became a latte-making wizard. Who wants a pumpkin spice latte? I’m a boss at them now.
I was very lucky and got a graphics monitor for my birthday/Christmas present from Dave, and it’s helped reawaken my love of drawing. That’s been a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to drawing more in the new year.
Took part in Inktober! I didn’t get much art done this year, but I got my grove back and cranked out a ton of art pieces in October.
Dave went to Loch Ness for the first time! We didn’t get into Urquhart Castle, but hey, that sounds like a fun 2018 goal.
Sent a LETTER TO THE EDITOR to the local Press & Journal paper because a local politician insulted the Gaelic community. Gotta stand up for my wee minority group.
Dressed up as Jessica Jones for Halloween! First time dying my hair (just temporary dye) and it gave me quite the taste for it.
Paid off the loan we picked up a couple of years back to help us afford our house.
Watched SO MUCH good TV. I’ve been doing a big The Office watch all year, and also catching up on some beloved anime like Black Butler, Ancient Magus Bride, and Blue Exorcist.
For movies, I really loved The Boy and the Beast, Your Name, Hidden Figures, Get Out, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Moana, Wonder Woman, Logan, Thor: Ragnarok, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Spiderman Homecoming, Okja, John Wick Chapter 2, and Beauty and the Beast.
Joined a new social network, Mastodon (particularly the tootplanet.space instance of it) and made new friends over there. I got overwhelmed by social media a lot this year, but Mastodon was the opposite of that: comforting, and fun, and small. I really like it over there.
Gave blood successfully! Seventh time trying it, only my third time succeeding. Stubbornness prevails!
And best of all? We survived. Let’s be real, for a moment: it’s a tough year, between Trump and Brexit and shootings and atrocities like the Grenfell Tower disaster. This has been a difficult year for everyone, and my anxiety and depression have definitely been pushing hard at the gates… but you know what, I made it! And so did you! And I’m so proud to be here with you today.

Let’s make 2018 amazing, okay? I know we can, if we just do our best.