It’s September! SEPTEMBER! What is happening to time?Where has this year gone?
I haven’t caught up with you all in a few weeks, so it’s time for a big ol’ update. What’s Up Wednesday is a weekly post, created by blog friends Jaime and her sister Erin!
What I’m Reading
I went into hardcore reading mode in August, and blitzed through quite a few titles. It was nice to get some solid reading progress.
At the moment I’m reading Bird by Bird (if you’re a writer, READ THIS) and Charm and Strange (slow to start, but I’m half-way through and it’s amazing). I’ve also got The Lives of Tao back from some work colleagues who took a shine to it, and I’m looking forward to finally finding out how Wes Chu’s action-packed spy story ends!
What I’m Writing
I’ve been working on incorporating beta feedback on DIVIDE, and man, I’ve had some absolutely amazing advice from talented writers Rob Haines and Michael F Stewart. If you want to be in the second beta round, shoot me an e-mail (emma@emmamaree.com) and I will use your e-mails as motivation to revise with haste!
I’m also drafting out a few short stories and a super-secret-project for fun.
What Else I’ve Been Up To
I passed my theory test! *bounces* I’m so excited about that. Now I’m getting back to work on practical lessons.
As a reward for passing, Dave got me the excellent card games Star Fluxx and Pirate Fluxx. If you’ve never played Fluxx, it is one of the easiest card games out there to grasp: Draw one card, play one card. And from that one simple rule, things get interesting…
I also got a Chromebook as a portable writing machine. It worked well so far, especially after I got the ‘search’ key functioning as caps lock — I’m a self-taught touch typist, so I’m in the habit of quick-tapping caps lock the same way most people use shift.
(His name is Chronos, because the delivery tracker has him time travelling — I got a notice at 9pm on dispatch day to say he’d apparently been in transit since 9am. But there was a “problem”. That “problem” was them resolved, and he continued his journey that evening at 11pm.)
It’s a light weight machine with a lot of battery power, and plenty of power to handle my writing needs. However, it struggles a bit if I procrastinate and start opening a hundred tabs. This, it turns out, is for the best.
It also boots up from power off in no time at all (six seconds, maybe) and wakes up from sleep in a flash. It’s handy for a pick-up-and-go writing machine, and the constant saving to Google docs mean I can flip the screen down and fall asleep without worrying about finding a power socket or e-mailing myself a backup of the file.
(I still send myself and my Kindle back-ups regularly, though, because it’s unwise to rely entirely on the cloud.)
On a similar tech-geek tangent, have you seen the 2nd generation Kindle Paperwhite? (Old news for US readers, brand new for UK readers.) I’m kind of impressed by that pice tag, and if Kindle Matchbook hits UK shores (a program which sends you a free or reduced-price the e-book version when you buy selected physical book, similar to Angry Robot’s clonefiles initiative) I’ll probably be swayed to get one…
I enjoyed ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD–I hope you did, too. I was curious to see how YA and Horror could work together, and I thought Kendare did a good job of blending them.
I did see the new Kindle Paperwhite. I don’t have a Kindle (my iPad takes care of my ebook needs), but it does look like a cool devise, with a very cool price-tag. The only thing I wonder about if I were ever to get one would be whether the lack of colour would bother me. I know it seems trivial, but I like good book covers, and it annoys me when a great book has a lousy cover. If the book has a great cover, but I can only see it in black-and-white… yeah, that would bother me. I can be so shallow sometimes! :)
Have a great writing week, Emma! I hope Chronos stays anchored in the present long enough for you to make excellent use of him. :)
I absolutely LOVED Anna Dressed In Blood. So much so that I bought the sequel as soon as I was done. It was amazing. Brilliantly paced, and with *the* best boy voice I’ve read in YA. I’m so excited about reading Girl of Nightmares!
I don’t mind reading on the Kindle, since I use it for books (and manuscripts) only I don’t need colour. I still buy graphic novels in paperback, though, and as for pretty covers… well, you got me. When a book has a stunning cover I’ll buy it in physical form over Kindle.
So for Chronos is performing dutifully, and is happy to let me comment from the comfort of the living room couch.
I really loved Anna Dressed in Blood. The sequel was quite good too. I need to read the new Gaiman. Heard great things about it. :)
Anna Dressed in Blood was SO GOOD. SO VERY GOOD. I have the sequel on my shelves, itching to read it.
OCEAN was fantastic too, effortlessly beautiful in Gaiman’s usual way. I feel like it resonates more with middle-aged guys than with myself, but I still appreciated it.
Hooray for Chronos… which the geek in me thinks you totally named after the Klingon homeworld AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA! (Except that would be Qo’Nos or Kronos…)
*ahem*
I shall drop you an e-mail! I’d love to have another beta for Space!Story’s next edit if you’re interested? No worries if not!
YES YES PLEASE SPACE STORY PLEASE YES
(Since we’re both mid-edit, I’m happy to just critique as you edit if you want, eg sending a chapter as you do a chapter.)
I wonder if Kronos/Qo’Nos is a nod to the mythological personification of time? If so, laptop-Chronos can totally pretend he’s got Vulcan roots since they point to similar sources.
Awesome you passed your theory test, half way there! I’ve been thinking about Chromebooks, I’d love to hear how it works out for you.
Thank you! Chromebooks are good for basic purposes, internet browsing and Google Docs work. It’s a lot like a tablet, restricted to the internet and certain apps, not too powerful. The difference between it and a tablet it mostly the high-quality keyboard.
For a distraction free writing PC it’s great, but I still switch to my main desktop for art stuff, and watching a lot of media (eg high quality anime).
Awesome, thanks for the info! It sounds like it might be something for when I go to university next year, unless they expect us to run larger programs on it.
I kicked off the new year by reading BIRD BY BIRD and found it so practical and inspiring. I’m glad you’re finding it helpful too. Your new Chromebook looks awesome! I just got a new tablet and I’m finding that pretty handy as well. Good luck incorporating that beta feedback! I’m in the process of doing the same thing.
Good luck with your edits! I love getting feedback but doing the revisions themselves is hard work.