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EmmaMaree.com

Scottish Writer of Fantasy & Sci-Fi

Books

Reading and Recharging

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It’s the end of another month, and in April, I kept up promise last month to be brave and try new things.  This month has been quieter: a month of reading and recharging.

The end-of-month round up, ‘Previously’, is organised by Miss Cole, with lovely banner by Carrisa Taylor.

Previously in Writing

This month was CampNaNoWriMo, a writing event where you set your own goals and work with a group of your most eccentric mates to meet your goals together.

My writing goal was 20k, which has been met, and the project in focus this month is still DIVIDE. It’s been a real experience, going back to a project from 2013/2014.

if you’ve been following this blog for long, you’ll know I get worn out hard when doing rapid redrafts. Rewriting the same project multiple times in a year, or two years, is incredibly hard on me but often necessary.

Coming back to a project after two years apart from it, though? Turns out I love it. It’s so refreshing, coming back to these old friends and familiar faces and worlds with a stronger grasp of my own writing style. The change in my ability is immediately visible, and oh man, it feels so great!

Next month, the goal is to finish DIVIDE, send it out to betas, and move on to my next WIP.

Previous in Reading

So, I finally did a tally-up of my fearsome Kindle, physical, and library to-read piles. Here’s how we’re looking.

Ebook Must-Read Pile: 79 Books
Physical TBR Pile: 83 Books
Library Pile: 3 Books
Audible TBRs:  3 (United States of Japan; The Diviners by Libba Bray; Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman)
Total: 168

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Jeez. That’s a heck of a lot to get through, to the point where I’m thinking up increasingly intricate rewards systems to get myself through it all. At my current rate of reading that’s maybe three years of reading, but I’m hoping to get that number down to 150 sooner rather than later, and step one is being transparent about what I’m adding and removing from the hoard.

But  I read 10 books this month, so I’m off to a solid start!

Books Added this Month:

Storm in a Teacup by Emmie Mears [eBook]
Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters (2) [eBook]
One Crow Alone [eBook]
A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge [eBook]
Story Engineering by Larry Brooks [eBook, Kindle Unlimited]
Writing 21st Century Fiction by Donald Maass [eBook, Kindle Unlimited]
Writing the Breakout Novel  by Donald Maass [eBook, Kindle Unlimited]
Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass [eBook, Kindle Unlimited]
The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass [eBook, Kindle Unlimited]

Books Finished & Removed:

Mr Katz is a Zombie [eBook]
Spectacles by Sue Perkins [Audiobook]
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Theif [Paperback]
Stormdancer [eBook]
Pirate Story [BETA READ]
Sleepless [eBook]
Envy of Angels [eBook]
Building an Author Platform That Can Launch Anything [eBook]
The Girl with all the Gifts [Audiobook]
Shrike: The Masked Songbird [eBook]

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This month’s favourites

Next Time In Goals

Goals for the final week of May, heading into June…

  • FINISH DIVIDE.
  • Make some art.
  • Continue with choir.
  • Continue with exercise.

A Word of Advice

 It’s alright to take a break to recharge. This hasn’t been a great month for me when it comes to forward momentum, but I’ve been reading like a machine, trying to get my energy back and to troubleshoot where I’m going wrong.

Spending some time to just focus on reading and studying the craft has been pretty damn wonderful.

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I Aten’t Dead

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It’s Writing Wednesday! Back in black (and white). HALF AN HOUR TO GO UNTIL IT’S NO LONGER WEDNESDAY, CAN I GET THIS POST OUT IN TIME?

(You bet I can!)

What I’m Writing

Still continuing, slowly, with my rewrites. My goal a fortnight ago was….

1. Get to 70% by the next weekly update.

Honestly, even with an extra week I missed the mark and only hit 65%. But we’re into a new week and a whole new month, with fire at my heels, so I’m setting a brand new goal for next week:

1. Get to at least 80% by the next weekly update.

2. Get those 155 pages rewritten and shiny, or at least, shinier than they currently are.

3. Send it to the awesome betas.

4. Celebrate being one step closer to querying, and then…

5. Work on a shiny new project!

It’s been a really mad month, all things considered — writing progress has been a bit unsteady, but it’s still been moving forward, and for someone that’s only been driving for a month I’ve had a LOT of car adventures and road trips (plus an unexpected week of being sick as a dog).

Let’s hope for a September of kick-butt writing action.

What I’m Reading

Okay, so, confession time for the To-Be-Read pile decimation challenge.

I’ve been doing it. I’ve done pretty well, actually, with 6 books read in August, bringing me closer to caught-up with my yearly goal to read. But I’ve also… been buying books.

This month I picked up RAGING STAR (to finish the Dustlands trilogy), THE SHEPHERD’S CROWN (the last Terry Pratchett book! I had to!) and the gorgeous Waterstones exclusive of Patrick Ness’s latest book, THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE.

  So yeah, my TBR Decimation has been… somewhat ineffective this month. But totally worth it. THE SHEPHERD’S CROWN was my highlight of the month, an absolutely heartbreaking read in a lot of ways but still loaded with Pratchett’s signature humour and social satire.

I really miss Sir Terry. I always will. But he left an absolutely amazing legacy of work behind him, and I’m so glad to be able to experience the Discworld.

For September, I have some pretty big beta reading projects to get through so reading is going to slow down for a wee while.

What Else I’ve Been Up To

After a rough August of chest colds and grumpiness, my health’s back on the up and up, and I’m carving out a balance between work, writing and relaxing. It’s not always an even balance, today especially, but life would be boring if it always went as planned! I’ve been messing around with the site layout a bit. It’s still not 100% what I was going for, but it’s a change, and that’ll do for now. I also took a look at my art progress through the year, which has been remarkably steady, which is always nice to see. But it’s scary to see how little of the year is left!

Chuck Wendig had a great post with advice for rookie writers, including a great demonstration of common dialogue punctuation mistakes.

Lastly, I’ve been playing video games. Because, of course, when time is a rare luxury, I’ve been playing on my dusty, well-worn old PS2 console. It was only one night, and it was a ton of fun, so I’m hoping to fit in some more relaxing gaming evenings soon.

So that’s it for just now — I’ve got work to be doing! I’ll be back soon enough, but until then, I hope everyone’s projects go awesomely and everyone has a great week.

Kushiel’s Dart Read-Along, Week 8

It’s time for another week of the KUSHIEL’S DART read-along! This week we’re bobbing along, singing a song, across the beautiful briny seaaaa~

This post is really late, which is frustrating, because I read this section a fortnight ago and had the questions all ready to go until fates conspired to stop me finishing the post. Ah well.

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Week 8: June 28, Chapters 64-73, Hosted by Lynn at Lynn’s Book Blog. You can find the read-along schedule HERE, and anyone and everyone is welcome to join in. There’s also a Goodreads group for SF/F read alongs.

Follow below the cut for a spoiler-y discussion of our adventures along the long road ahead.

[Read more…] about Kushiel’s Dart Read-Along, Week 8

#CampNaNo Begins!

It’s Writing Wednesday! Or it was, but it’s Thursday now, because but anyway… it’s my weekly update about reading, writing, and all the stuff I’m doing where I should be writing.

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July means it’s CAMP NANOWRIMO, a month-long challenge to write a ton of words.

What I’ve Been Up To

DiegoCollarUpFullBodySmallJune was supposed to be my month off after finishing the never-ending edit, though I got bored after about five days of my break and went back to work. As you do.

So, I started a new edit, plotted out my #CampNaNoWriMo project, and dabbled in game (adventure game/visual novel) development… which is super fun, and definitely something I want to work with more over the coming years. I’m careful not to let it distract from my writing WIPs though, which need to remain the focus.

Also, I drew this demon dude on the right, stretching out some rusty art muscles.

What I’m Writing

I’ve just received some amazing beta feedback for ALL THE BROKEN THINGS, so I’m looking forward to implementing all that this month and then sending it out to the next round of betas.

I’m also working on a brand new draft of DIVIDE THE SKY, which is a lot of fun, and gives me something to look forward to once the heavier editing is done.

This months goal is to write 40,000 words. Going to be a fun month!

What I’m Reading

Still adoring KUSHIEL’S DART, and nearly at the end of that now. This month I’ve got to finish KUSHIEL’S DART, finish a medium-sized beta read for a friend, and start and finish a full novel beta read for another friend. Super super super busy, oh man.

Miss Cole started up a TBR Pile Decimation Challenge, which I’m hoping to keep doing through the months — because my to-read pile is, um, probably going to take a couple of years to get through. I wish I was joking.

That's right, there's a mostly-hidden back row of paperbacks stacked two high.
That’s right, there’s a mostly-hidden back row of paperbacks stacked two high.

…I’m a monster.

My JULY TBR plan is…

— Two beta reads

— Kushiel’s Dart

— As many library books as I can.

— And then the massive Avatar comic and BLOOD RED ROAD paperback.

What Works For Me

 

My latest adventures in game programming have been a lot of fun — they’ve been a good way to learn how to slim down my stories even more, and make the more confusing elements clear for anyone reading. It’s definitely something I hope to keep doing on the side, especially because it ties in nicely with the skills I need for the day job.