Celebrate the Small Things 31-10-25

It's the end of the week, so it's time to celebrate the small things.

So, what am I celebrating this week?

It's my anniversary.  My partner and I met at a Halloween party 28 years ago.  And believe me, it does not feel like it has been that long.  But then, I also just went to see our son's final performance before he graduates university with a music degree, so the timing tracks.

I finished the new book this week.  Or, to be more accurate, I finished my first draft of the new book.  I'm not sure if it's any good...  To try and tidy up some of the dangling plot threads I (or Arlo, to be perfectly honest) wrote a very long essay about one of the most difficult challenges he's faced.  So, now the book is made up of Arlo's journal, a section where Devon takes over the journal, and now this essay as well.  I'm not certain it's going to work, but I'll leave it alone for a few weeks and come back to it and see what I think then.

I now have quite an expanse of free time on my hands.  I do have another book I've been playing with - it's ostensibly a middle grade story, but I suspect it might actually be an adult book with a child protagonist.   I kind of need to figure that part out.  I figure I'll tinker away at that while I'm letting Arlo's story rest for a bit.

I got a personalised rejection from an agent this week - the very first one - and it was illuminating.  I wish I had received it earlier, because it indicates that there is a single word in my synopsis that might be the reason why I've been racking up rejections like a champ.  I've changed that word out now, and I'll send a few more queries this weekend and see if I have a different result.

And that's about it for celebrations this week.  Apart from the fact I won some movie tickets in a competition.  Which is cool.  Guess I'll be going to see Bugonia this weekend...

What cool things are you celebrating?

Books I've Read; Chosen Family

 

I was sent this one by NetGalley, so thanks, NetGalley.

It's an Australian book, set in Sydney and follows a friendship between two girls/women across decades.  The story is told in a non-linear way, so we get hints of the future while still following the girls' early years in the past.

Eve and Nell meet at the age of twelve.  Eve is new to school and instantly attracts attention because of her super-short hair.  Nell, who has always been kind of an outcast, is fascinated by this newcomer who seems utterly unafraid of anything.  They soon become best friends, but there is always something more underlying that friendship.  

During high school, that "something" becomes more palpable and leads to the pair breaking apart, something that is devastating to Eve who finishes high school friendless, struggling to understand herself and her sexuality.  

At university, she reinvents herself, finds her crowd amongst the queer community and finally begins to live the life she's always known she deserves.   So it's a shock when Nell appears at a party she's throwing, still the same as she always has been.  The friendship re-kindles, but that underlying "something" is still there.

Throughout the years, Nell and Eve will continue to be drawn to one another, to love one another and to hurt one another.  Their friendship is the bedrock of their lives, but it isn't as solid and sturdy as they'd like to think it is.

Eve is often unnecessarily cruel to Nell, who takes this cruelty without questioning it.  As the more outgoing of the pair, she's brash and often thoughtless and headstrong in her decision making.  Her idea is always the best idea....even when it isn't.

And Nell never really grows up from the twelve-year-old she once was, so pathetically grateful to finally have a friend she'll do anything at all to keep her close.

I enjoyed this book even though the characters often frustrated me in their inability to just talk about the things that constantly simmered under the surface.  So many of the things that hurt each of them could so easily have been fixed if they'd just talked to each other about their feelings.  But I guess, the things that matter most are always the hardest things to talk about.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

Books about friendship are not often described as love stories, but this is one.
At the age of twelve, Nell has accepted that hers will likely be a friendless existence. She's not interested in boys or makeup or competing to see who can eat the least - so fitting in at her all-girls' school feels impossible.

But then, a new girl arrives at school.

Eve has short hair like a boy's, a wicked sense of humour and an unshakable confidence that she will find her place in the world. And the moment they meet, Nell begins to rethink the whole friendless existence thing.

As they grow into themselves, Nell and Eve will love each other and hurt each other - through the chlorine-scented savagery of adolescence; long, drunken nights in share houses and gay bars; the highs and lows of parenthood.

And always, despite unspoken feelings and sexual confusion, they will choose each other. Again, and again. As friends, as lovers, as family.

Weekly Goals 27-10-25

 I missed my Friday post because I was in Auckland for work and didn't think about it when I got back.  First time in a long time I've missed a day.  Oops!  But never mind.

Goals this week...  Well, the main one is to try and finish the new book.  I'm taking a couple of days off work to write and hopefully that will be what it takes to actually finish the draft.  I know there's a lot of stuff I need to go back and fix and revise and tidy up, but if I can get to the end, it'll be an achievement.

This book has been an interesting one for me in terms of figuring out if I actually have a process for writing books because I've done a bunch of things differently and they haven't worked for me at all.  I started off trying to write the book linearly - from start to finish - and it didn't work.  It took me far too long to hit the plot points I needed to hit, even when I tried writing the story in two different ways.  Didn't help that I also started writing from Devon's POV which turned out was the wrong one.

Then, I didn't write an ending early on in the piece, which I usually do.  I actually didn't have any real idea for the ending other than the fact Devon and Arlo are still friends at the end, even after everything they have to go through.  And not having an ending to aim for, meant all these little things I dropped into the story along the way didn't necessarily have a purpose, but still needed to be wrapped up.

Which is why I think I'm struggling with the ending.  It's not what I expected it to be and is a much bigger, more climactic ending than I ever intended it to be, and involves characters I didn't expect to be more than distant memories for Arlo.  Yet, I feel like what happens is 100% true to his character and there isn't really any other way it could go.

We shall see how it ends up.  And then, how my critique group respond to it.

What are your goals this week?

Books I've read: I Kissed Shara Wheeler

 

I picked this one up at the library because I thought the cover looked like one of those old pulp lesbian novels they used to sell in wire racks at the back of drugstores (yeah, I'm old).  Then I realized I've read other books by this author and sort of enjoyed them, so decided it was coming home with me.  It's been a while since I read a whole book over a weekend, but this one was a quick, fun read and I breezed through it.

Just a few weeks before graduation, Sarah Wheeler, queen of the senior class at the strictly religious Willowgrove Academy, disappears.  And before she does, she kisses her arch rival for valedictorian, Chloe.  Chloe has long been an outsider at Willowbank.  She's from California and only moved to the small town a few years back, a curiosity because she has two moms.

Shara's disappearance doesn't seem to be ringing alarm bells for anyone else, but Chloe needs answers. What did that kiss mean?  And where the heck is Shara?  Desperate to try and figure it out, she breaks into Shara's house and searches her room.  While she's there, the bad boy next door, Rory, breaks in too.  Turns out, Sarah kissed him too in the hours before fleeing prom.

Soon Chloe, Rory and Shara's boyfriend Smith find themselves on an unlikely scavenger hunt, uncovering clues Shara has left all over town.  Thrown together with these two boys she barely knows, Chloe finds herself going places and seeing things about the town she lives in she's never seen before.  Not to mention discovering things about people she never expected.  Including herself.

I had fun reading this book, but I found the ending a little disappointing.  Once Shara's mystery is solved, the rest of the book just seems to fizzle out even though there are still some more revelations to be had before the final page.  I think this is because the real Shara is way less interesting than the Shara we see through Chloe's eyes.  Not to mention entirely unrealistic.

But up until that point, I found this a fun mystery with a couple of interesting characters and enough action and intrigue to keep me turning the pages.

So, I'd recommend this if you're looking for something quick to read over a weekend.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

Chloe Green is so close to winning. After her moms moved her from SoCal to Alabama for high school, she’s spent the past four years dodging gossipy classmates and a puritanical administration at Willowgrove Christian Academy. The thing that’s kept her going: winning valedictorian. Her only rival: prom queen Shara Wheeler, the principal’s perfect progeny.

But a month before graduation, Shara kisses Chloe and vanishes.

On a furious hunt for answers, Chloe discovers she’s not the only one Shara kissed. There’s also Smith, Shara’s longtime quarterback sweetheart, and Rory, Shara’s bad boy neighbor with a crush. The three have nothing in common except Shara and the annoyingly cryptic notes she left behind, but together they must untangle Shara’s trail of clues and find her. It’ll be worth it, if Chloe can drag Shara back before graduation to beat her fair-and-square.

Thrown into an unlikely alliance, chasing a ghost through parties, break-ins, puzzles, and secrets revealed on monogrammed stationery, Chloe starts to suspect there might be more to this small town than she thought. And maybe—probably not, but maybe—more to Shara, too.

Fierce, funny, and frank, Casey McQuiston's I Kissed Shara Wheeler is about breaking the rules, getting messy, and finding love in unexpected places.

Weekly Goals 20-10-25

 I did some more writing yesterday and got through to the end of the mammoth chapter.  It's over 5K, so I may need to break it up somehow.  I also think I need to give Devon more to do.  But that's all stuff for the next draft.  I'll just write myself a note and move on.

So this week's goal is to keep going.  I'm so close to the end of this book I can smell it.

I'm going to Auckland for work at the end of the week which will be fun.  I rather stupidly didn't think about adding on a day or so after the work stuff to catch up with friends, but I'll do that next time.  There will be plenty of next time.

Long weekend this weekend too, and I'm hoping to take an extra couple of days after it so I will be able to finish the book.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 17-10-25

 

It's the end of the week, so it's time to celebrate the small things.

So, what am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend!

It's been another busy week at work and on top of that, I've had a lot of other things on as well.  The Jazz Festival is happening and I went to two gigs on Thursday night with my old colleagues.  Which was fun.   Except I didn't get to bed until almost 1am.   Friday?  Not so much fun.

I've had three rejections for A Stranger to Kindness this week.  Seems excessive, really.  Not quite sure why I keep persisting when it's becoming pretty clear nobody wants my beautiful mute foster kid story.  And if they don't want that one, I'm not sure they're going to like my new book any more,  Homeless, lame rent-boys don't strike me as being high on agents' lists of desirable subject matter.

Hoping to get some writing done this weekend.  Next weekend is a long one and I'm hoping to tack on a couple extra days after it to try and finish my book.  Especially since I'm traveling with the orchestra next week and won't get to start my weekend until Sunday.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Loved: Lola in the Mirror

 

After loving Boy Swallows Universe when I read it earlier this year,  I decided I needed to read more books by Trent Dalton.  This one didn't disappoint.

It's about a homeless girl whose mother has kept her on the run as long as she can remember.  To keep her safe, she's never been told her real name.  The threat of violence is real and has hung over them the whole time they've been running from town to town, city to settlement.  Now, almost eighteen and determined to become a world-famous artist despite her background, the girl and her mother live in a junkyard near the river in Brisbane.  To keep themselves afloat, both help distribute drugs for the city's feared drug lord, Flora Box.

When the mother drowns in the midst of undertaking an heroic act, the girl is set adrift, the one person anchoring her to the world gone.  In the aftermath, she begins to discover things about herself that change the portrait she's drawn of both her mother and the person she thinks she's becoming.   The one person who can talk to her and offer some guidance is Lola, the mysterious woman in the red dress who appears in a mirror the girl salvaged somewhere.  Lola seems to have all the answers when the world keeps throwing up more and more difficult questions.

Questions about love, morality, identity, violence and revenge.

I loved this book.  It's tough and gritty and violent, but also beautiful and sensitive.  The girl with no name has an artist's eye and her perspective on the grimmer sides of life are often beautiful, even when laced with the pragmatism of survival.  Somehow, throughout a life spent on the run, living in cars or tents, answering to a different name every few weeks, she's managed to maintain a love for life and a belief in the inherent goodness of people.

Before each chapter is a gorgeous illustration which is described on the following page like an artwork in a gallery catalogue, referencing the way the girl narrates her life like a documentarian making a film about the artist's life.

I highly recommend this book.  It's exciting, fast paced, beautifully lyrical in places and filled to the brim with characters you won't easily forget.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

'Mirror, mirror, on the grass, what's my future? What's my past?' A girl and her mother are on the lam. They've been running for sixteen years, from police and the monster they left in the kitchen with the knife in his throat. They've found themselves a home inside an orange 1987 Toyota HiAce van with four flat tyres parked in a scrapyard by the edge of the Brisbane River – just two of the 100,000 Australians sleeping rough every night. The girl has no name because names are dangerous when you're on the run. But the girl has a dream. Visions in black ink and living colour. A vision of a life as a groundbreaking artist of international acclaim. A life outside the grip of the Brisbane underworld drug queen 'Lady' Flora Box. A life of love with the boy in the brown suit who's waiting for her in the middle of the bridge that stretches across a flooding and deadly river. A life far beyond the bullet that has her name on it. And now that the storm clouds are rising, there's only one person who can help make her dreams come true. That person's name is Lola and she carries all the answers. But to find Lola, the girl with no name must first do one of the hardest things we can sometimes ever do. She must look in the mirror. A big, moving, blackly funny, violent, heartbreaking and beautiful novel of love, fate, life and death and all the things we see when we look in the mirror. All of the past, all of the present, and all of our possible futures. 'Mirror, mirror, please don't lie. Tell me who you are. Tell me who am I.'