Celebrate the Small Things 15-8-25

 

It's the end of the week, so it's time to Celebrate the Small Things.

What am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend!

And I only have another three days in my current job.  That feels very, very weird, I tell you!  It's been so busy, I don't think it's really sunk in.  I have a couple of days off at the end of next week to try and re-set my head to get ready for the new role, but I've already managed to book a lot of stuff for those days.

Reviews for Standing too Close are beginning to trickle in.  They're good.  Not raves, but everyone seems to have enjoyed the story and its heartbreaking nature.  I think heartbreaking is my brand...  I never let my kids get away without breaking a few hearts along the way.

The film festival started and I've seen two films so far. 

 It Was Just an Accident which won the Palme d'or at Cannes this year was a surprisingly funny film.  Very twisty too.  It really kept you guessing all the way through at the same time as showing some of the absurdities of living in modern Iran.  The characters were all very real too, acting inexactly the contrary way people do in times of stress.  I enjoyed it very much.

Mirrors No.3 is a German film about a young girl who is kind of adopted into a stranger's family after her boyfriend is killed in a car crash she miraculously escapes unharmed.  The family is trying to recover from a tragedy of its own, and the role Laura takes in their lives becomes increasingly disturbing as more details of what they've been going through come to light. I didn't love this one, but it definitely had some interesting moments in it.

I have another nine films to see over the next eight days, so I'll keep you posted.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Loved: I Will Call It Georgie's Blues

I Will Call It Georgie's Blues is a story about a family in crisis.  Mr. Sloane is a Baptist minister in a small town and has very fixed ideas about the image he and his family need to maintain.  But while outwardly the Sloane family might look picture perfect, behind closed doors each member of the family has their own problems, all stemming from Mr. Sloane's subtle tyranny.

Oldest daughter Aileen rebels by failing school and running around with the most inappropriate boyfriend she can find, flaunting her father's rules openly.  Neal escapes his problems through music, keeping his passion and talent for jazz a secret from everyone.  And youngest child, Georgie, creates a vivid fantasy world to explain why he feels so alone, even while surrounded by the people who are supposed to care most for him.

Told from Neal's point of view, the book covers a period of weeks in which Georgie's fantasy world overwhelms him and the family's secrets explode in a way that forces them all to reassess the way they behave to each other, and what they present to the world.

I really like this book because while it deals with an abusive father, he's not violent and the wounds he inflicts on his family are psychological, not physical.  The characters and their reactions to him feel very real and the portrayal of small-town life where everyone is under scrutiny all the time also rings true.

Definitely recommended.

But don't just take my word for it.  Here's the blurb:

Reverend Mr. Sloan is a time bomb waiting to go off. Behind his kindly public persona is an intolerant, demanding parent who terrorizes his children. Neal escapes his father in the world of music, but his frail brother Georgie is headed for a breakdown that almost no one will realize.

Weekly goals 11-8-25

 I didn't get as much writing done over the weekend as I had hoped to.  I did a little on Saturday, but I've basically been sick all weekend means I've done very little of the stuff I intended to do.  On the plus side, I did read a couple of books.  It's been a long time since I've sat down and read a whole book in a day.

Standing too Close released and it looks like it's doing pretty well.  Weirdly, Amazon has it listed under a whole bunch of really weird tags - Fantasy, Sci Fi, Royalty?  I've asked my publisher to look into it because those are clearly not right.  But I guess I can be happy that it's sitting at #35 in any category?

The film festival starts on Thursday, so I won't be getting much writing done for the next couple of weeks.  Guess it's good - gives my CPs time to catch up.  

Going to be stupid busy at work the next week or so too because I only have another week and a half before I finish up there.  And we go on sale with Jazz Festival in that time.  I also have a LOT of funding applications to get in, and I need to train up the woman who is replacing me.   Plus, this week is new release week at the gym and I'm teaching five classes.

So, a very busy, busy time!

My goal is to just get through it all.  What do you want to achieve this week?

Standing too Close releases today

 

Standing Too Close: Available Now!

Yes, Standing too Close is now available at all ebook retailers!  So get yourself a copy today!  Print will be available in about a month.  I'll keep the blog updated with details as I have them...

AVAILABLE NOW

~Editor's Pick~

Seventeen-year-old Blue Lannigan believes in exactly one thing: his two younger brothers deserve more than the crappy apartment and abusive, drunken mother they’re stuck with. And when he comes home to find one brother bruised and bleeding (again), the other cowering in terror (again) and their mother drunk off her ass, blaming all three of them for her tanked singing career (again), Blue decides waiting until he’s 18 to leave is no longer an option.

Deciding to hole up in an empty house at the lake until Blue can figure out what to do next, things get more complicated when the owner of the house arrives unexpectedly. Especially when Blue realizes the unconscious woman they’ve tied up on the couch isn’t a stranger after all, but someone who could give him just what he’s looking for.

After avoiding reality and playing house, a scene at the grocery store lands him in handcuffs and his brothers with a social worker. Add to that losing his job and being stuck in a group home he hates, and Blue’s sole purpose becomes finding his brothers and getting them out of whatever hellhole they’re in. Blue’s hopes unravel, and betrayal rips his heart in two as he tries to reconcile the role he plays in his brothers’ lives while trying to figure out his own.

REVIEWS:

"I truly have no idea where to start with this review. My heart is just well and truly broken after reading this book....Standing Too Close is a book I couldn’t put down. I was spiralling page after page after page. It was a hard hitter, that’s for sure - Occult Library Co

"I wholeheartedly recommend this book to readers aged 17 and above who are in search of a contemporary novel that not only entertains but also sheds light on the myriad struggles faced by children and families navigating the turbulent waters of addiction and familial strife. "Standing Too Close" is not just a story; it is a mirror reflecting the resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity." - Mikayla's Bookish Creatives

"Standing Too Close is a heartfelt book that highlights the importance of community and letting others help you when things get overwhelming for you to handle on your own. This book highlights Blue’s strength on his own as he navigates caring for his brothers, while also showcasing how much Blue was able to accomplish when others stepped in to help him." - Unconventional Quirky Bibliophile

EXCERPT: 

Mom’s dancing when I get back to the living room. She clutches the bottle of bourbon in one fist as she sways to the music. When the verse begins, she raises the bottle to her mouth like a microphone and starts singing into it.

I stand in the doorway for a second, watching.

From the speakers, my mother’s voice blazes out, the strong pure alto I remember from sitting proudly at the side of stage after stage. The voice that won her awards and accolades, got her offers of movie roles and sold-out stadiums.

What comes from my mother’s mouth now is ragged and raw. She can still hit the notes, but there’s no purity now. Her voice is a hoarse, ruined parody of what’s playing through the speakers. Like the way she still dresses the same way she did; dresses which flowed around her narrow frame now cling snugly to her drink-bloated stomach, strain across her hips.

She spins around and takes a swig from her “microphone”, staggering backward as she does. Her heel catches the edge of the rug and she falls, crashing onto the coffee table on her ass. It cracks under her and dumps her to the ground amid a cascade of old magazines.

I wince.

“Ooopsy daisy!” Mom catches sight of me in the doorway and drags herself up, leaning heavily on the ruined furniture. “Mommy’s clumsy today.”

“Mommy’s drunk,” I say. “As usual.”

“I’m not drunk, baby boy.” Mom sways on her feet and looks blearily around for her bottle. She finds it under the magazines, empty now, the remaining bourbon soaking into the filthy carpet.

“No?" I watch her shaking the bottle over her mouth, trying to get any last liquor out. “Looks that way to me.”

“You worry too much. I’m fine, Bluebell. I’m celebratin’”

Celebrating? What the hell does she have to celebrate? Kicking the shit out of Sage? Terrifying Wiley so much he barely speaks? “Don’t call me Bluebell.”

“Oh, I forgot. My baby boy is too big for pet names.”

I roll my eyes but ignore it. There are more important things to deal with. “It’s bedtime,” I say, tugging the bottle away from her and setting it on the broken table. “You’ve had enough.”

“Darlin’,” she snarls, leaping away from me. “I haven’t even started yet.”

She reaches into the stereo cabinet and pulls out another bottle, this one smaller and slimmer. She unscrews the cap and takes a healthy belt. “Damn. That’s the stuff. Here.” She holds the bottle out to me. “Have a drink, baby. You know I don’t like to drink alone.”

I take the bottle, but don’t take a sip. For someone who doesn’t like drinking by herself, she spends a lot of time doing it. Like, every day. All day. Since giving up singing, drinking has been her career.

Who am I kidding? She never gave up singing. People just didn’t want to listen to her anymore.

Celebrate the Small Things 8-8-25

 

It's the end of the week, so it's time to Celebrate the Small Things.

What am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend!

I've been stupidly busy with work and book stuff for the release of Standing too Close, so haven't done any work on the new book this week.  Hoping to get to it this weekend.  I know next weekend is going to be kind of toast because the film festival starts on Thursday and I have a lot of films to go to.  Lucky I'm not on a deadline!

My role at work has been filled, so I'm actually getting a chance to do a hand-over which is good.  I was a little concerned about not having that because there are so many small, fiddly parts to my job that people who aren't in there wouldn't know about.  So having a couple of weeks to go through things with Sally before I leave is very useful.

Nothing much else to say, this week.  I'm just hoping for a solid release of Standing too Close and some more nice reviews.  Have you bought your pre-sale copy yet?  You can..  Go on.  I'll wait.

What are you celebrating this week?

IWSG - August 2025

 It's the first Wednesday of the month, so it's time for the Insecure writers Support Group.

The awesome co-hosts for the August 6 posting of the IWSG are Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Natalie Aguirre, Sarah - The Faux Fountain Pen, and Olga Godim.

This month's question is intriguing:

What is the most unethical practice in the publishing industry?

This question had me really scratching my head.  There are any number of things I feel are not right or unethical about the way the publishing industry works, but which one do I think is the MOST unethical?

I mean, there are whole swathes of so-called publishers out there who charge exorbitant fees for things self-publishers can do themselves far more easily and cheaply, and often with better results.  I'd consider that unethical.

There are also a lot of scammers out there, impersonating agents and publishers and film executives to prey on authors.  It's hard enough being an author and dealing with endless rejections and the crises of self confidence that come with them, without adding in impersonators out to grab cash for junk services.  Not to mention the false hope they give authors who might, even for a fleeting second, believe that someone is finally, actually taking notice of their work.

Then there's traditional publishing contracts that pay the author on the net profit for their books, not the gross profit.  This means all costs are taken out of the royalties before anything gets paid to the author.  And the author rarely, if ever, gets a breakdown of what those costs are, so they may receive nothing if the publisher decides to assign monetary value to things like social media posts as marketing expenses.

A new one is the use of AI in publishing.  I think it's unethical for anyone to use AI and then claim the work as their own.  It's not.  The words the AI spits back at you are not yours; they're other people's words that have been tossed around and regurgitated in a different order.  And if you use AI generated art in your cover design, you're taking legitimate work away from real artists in favour of a machine mashing together the work of multiple artists to create something that's likely not even half as good as something a human can do. 

In a way, AI use is actually plagiarism.  And that's definitely up there in the top five unethical publishing practices.  Stealing someone else's work and passing it off as your own, is not, in any way, okay.

I also feel like asking anyone to work without getting paid for it is unethical.  It's one of those things that happens all the time in all arts careers.  You get asked to do your creative work for "the experience" or to get your foot in the door.  I feel like that's unethical.  It also devalues the work and work in the the arts is already valued far too little.  For something that can give joy, explain complex ideas and issues in ways that can make them more easily understood, something that can bring people together and create community, the arts are not given enough credit.

Time to jump down off my soapbox... I get quite passionate about this, as you can probably tell.

What do you consider to be the most unethical publishing practices?

Weekly Goals 4-8-25

 I didn't get any writing done over the weekend, at least, not on my book.  I had too many other things I had to do - mainly gym stuff.  So this week, I need to get some writing done.  I'm pretty close to finishing the first draft of this book.  And it's only been a few months too.  Not bad for a not-NaNo draft.

Standing too Close is out at the end of the week, so I need to keep the publicity going.  I have a blog tour booked and the last time I did a tour with this company (for My Murder Year) I got a lot of reviews through it too, so fingers crossed it's the same this time.  I've also started following a content calendar for August so I have something to post every day, even if it isn't necessarily about Standing too Close.  Finding things to talk about every day on social media is always tough for me.

I'm going to be super busy at work for the next couple of weeks because I have a lot to finish for them before I leave.  And with only having a couple of days between the two, I'm not going to get the break I would have liked to have had.  

Plus, the Film Festival starts next week and I have films booked every night for 10 days and I'm doing an extra shift at the gym for two months while one of the other instructors is away.  Ack!

What are your goals for this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 1-8-25

It's the end of the week, so it's time to Celebrate the Small Things.

What am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend!

I got another lovely early review for Standing Too Close.  Maybe I was being too doom and gloom about this one - I was certain the reviews would be...controversial.

And in other exciting news, I have a new job.  On 25 August I will be starting a new role with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (and no, I won't be playing an instrument).  I'm sad to be leaving my current job because I really like the culture and the people there, but this is a more senior role and has a more senior salary to go with it.  Plus, I'll get to do some traveling.

I have a pretty busy weekend ahead of me.  Lots of gym stuff.  I have to refresh my memory on a new class to teach next week, and we have tuition on Sunday for the new release that goes into rotation in a couple of weeks.  Hoping to claw some writing time out too, but that might be a little hard.  Maybe some reading instead.

And that's about it for this week.

There's still time to sign up to be part of  the blog tour for Standing Too Close!  If you'd like to take part, you can join here.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've read: Perfect Little World

 

I've read a few of Kevin Wilson's books and have always found them to be both hilarious and slightly odd.  So when I found this one in a second-hand bookstore, I bought it right away.

And while I did enjoy it to a point, it certainly doesn't have the same weirdness or sense of humor that so captivated me in his later books.

It's about an experiment in family, where a professor brings together ten sets of parents with babies born around the same time to bring their families up as a collective.  The main character is a young woman called Izzy, the only single parent in the group.  Funded by an unusually hands-off billionaire, the project has all the resource it needs, a beautiful campus on which the families live and enough money to pay research assistants and servants.

Initially planned to run for ten years, the families move into their "perfect little world" and surrender their children to a nursery where they are kept.  Called the Infinite Family Project,each parent plays a role in every child's life, but the children don't really have any idea which set of parents is their own.  They are collectively loved and collectively cared for.

And at first, the perfect little world is exactly what is sets out to be.  But as time goes on, personalities, ideologies and feelings clash, making things within the Infinite Family Project more challenging.  And for Izzy, the only member of the family without a partner, things grow more complicated when she realizes she has feelings for Dr. Preston Grind, the man whose idea the compound was.  How can she continue to take part in his experiments when she's aching to take him into her bed?

The ideas behind the experiment were intriguing and I was interested to see how they played out.  The communal living and communal caring brought to mind a feral hippy commune, but without the drugs and free love.  I thought it might turn into some kind of cult, but Dr. Grind was never that kind of leader.  And the children were always so well cared for, had such structure to their lives, there was no risk of them turning feral.

In fact, far more than the children, it was the adults who turned dangerous, unable to maintain the kind of rigor expected of them by the Doctor.  Which is, I suspect, the problem with experiments of this type. You may be able to control a lot, but people are unpredictable, and being placed into an environment like this may not be the right choice for everyone.  Or, anyone.

So, while I'm not raving to the rafters about this one, I did enjoy reading it.  And if you're someone who's interested in social experiments, you might be too.

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

When Isabelle Poole meets Dr. Preston Grind, she’s fresh out of high school, pregnant with her art teacher's baby, and totally on her own. Izzy knows she can be a good mother but without any money or relatives to help, she’s left searching.Dr. Grind, an awkwardly charming child psychologist, has spent his life studying family, even after tragedy struck his own. Now, with the help of an eccentric billionaire, he has the chance to create a “perfect little world”—to study what would happen when ten children are raised collectively, without knowing who their biological parents are. He calls it The Infinite Family Project and he wants Izzy and her son to join.

This attempt at a utopian ideal starts off promising, but soon the gentle equilibrium among the families unspoken resentments between the couples begin to fester; the project's funding becomes tenuous; and Izzy’s growing feelings for Dr. Grind make her question her participation in this strange experiment in the first place.Written with the same compassion and charm that won over legions of readers with The Family Fang, Kevin Wilson shows us with grace and humor that the best families are the ones we make for ourselves.

Weekly Goals 28-7-25

 I got some writing done yesterday, which was good.  I'm at that annoying point in the book where there are a whole bunch of different directions I could go in, and I'm not entirely sure which one I should take.  I know where I want to end up, but there are a few different ways I could get there.  So, I'm trying one, and we'll see where we get to.  

I may end up having to go back and re-write, but I'll need to do that anyway for some other parts.

Tried out a new version of my query and got the fastest rejection ever - less than eight hours.  Not sure if that's the query or just the agent having something very specific she's looking for, which isn't A Stranger to Kindness.

So this week, my goal is to keep writing and see where it takes me.  Arlo's been pretty good at guiding me this far, so I'll trust him.  It's Devon who took me the places that made things tricky.

I may have something exciting to share soon, so keep checking in.  And it's less than two weeks until Standing Too Close releases. 

Celebrate the Small Things 25-7-25

It's the end of the week, so it's time to Celebrate the Small Things.

What am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend!

I haven't got much writing done this week, partly because of time and partly because I've been doing a beta read for another author.  I'm hoping to finish that today so I can use the weekend for my own writing.

Only one rejection for A Stranger to Kindness this week, so that's good.  I hope to get a couple more queries out today too.  I've tweaked it again, so we'll see if that makes a difference.

Got a second very good review for Standing Too Close which makes me happy.  I was seriously expecting some diabolical ones, so that my first two, before the book even launches, are so good, is gratifying.

And that's kind of it for this week.  What are you celebrating this Friday?

Books I've Read: Leave the Girls Behind

 

This was the book my book club picked to read this month, mainly because the public library had multiple copies available via the Libby app.  Perhaps not the best way to choose a book to read; I suspect I'm the only one who finished this one, and I probably wouldn't have if I didn;t commute to work by bus and like having a book to read on my phone.

I'm not a habitual reader of thrillers, but I do like a good one, especially if it has a lot of good twists in it and a character I really want to root for.  This book tried for that, but didn't really succeed.

The main character, Ruth-Ann is clearly damaged from the very first page.  She works in a bar, dropped out of college and is obsessed with true crime.  As we get to know her better, we discover her childhood friend was abducted from a playground and was later found murdered.  So when another child is abducted from the same town - one Ruth-Ann's parents moved away from shortly after the abduction - Ruth-Ann's obsessive curiosity is piqued.

The rest of the book follows Ruth-Ann down the rabbit hole as she chases ghosts from her past while trying to solve the current missing child case.  With the man accused of the original crime long-dead, Ruth-Ann's obsession becomes fixed on finding an accomplice.  She's certain he didn't act alone, and becomes fixed on the idea that it was woman who helped set up the abductions.

Her single-minded pursuit of the truth sends her on a journey around the world and throws her into the orbit of three very different women, one of whom just might hold the key to both today's mystery and the ones that have haunted her since childhood.

Having the MC of this book being so unbalanced is a great idea.  Ruth-Ann sees and speaks to the ghosts of missing girls each night and allows herself to be guided and influenced by their opinions. Her family barely speak to her and the only stable relationships she has are with her uncles, the owner of the bar she works in and her elderly dog.  And all these people treat her like she could break at any minute.  

So, right from the start you begin to guess that Ruth-Ann is maybe not the most reliable character to be guiding us through the story and makes her impulsive decisions feel all the more dangerous and ill-advised.

I didn't hate the book, but it never really engaged me in the way I want a thriller to engage me.  I want to be so invested in the story I can't put the book down.  I put this one down numerous times, only picking it back up because I was on the bus and had nothing else to do.  But bonus points for taking the main character to New Zealand!

So, I don't really recommend this one.  I imagine it might be a good plane read, where you have a long stretch of time to fill and few options for entertainment.  But I certainly found it hard to come back to once I'd put it down.

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

The acclaimed author of the “tour de force” (The New York Times Book Review) Before You Knew My Name returns with a fresh suspense novel about a woman haunted by a serial killer and the ghosts he left behind.

Ruth-Ann Baker is a college dropout, a bartender—and an amateur detective who just can’t stay away from true crime. Nineteen years ago, her childhood friend was murdered by suspected serial killer Ethan Oswald. Still tormented by the case, Ruth can’t help but think of the long-dead Oswald when another young girl goes missing from the same town. And when she uncovers startling new evidence that suggests Oswald did not act alone, she is determined to find his deadly partner in crime.

Embarking on a global investigation, Ruth becomes close to three very different women—one of whom might just hold the key to what happened to the missing girl. And her childhood friend, all those years ago.

From an author who “pushes the boundaries of crime fiction in all the right ways” (Alex Finlay, author of The Night Shift), Leave the Girls Behind is another spine-chilling thriller that will linger long after you finish the last page.

Weekly Goals 21-7-25

I got more writing done over the weekend than I thought I would, which was good.  I got through all of Devon's diary entries and am back with Arlo now.  I think I may have made a wrong turn in Devon's part, but I'm not sure.  I'll leave things as they are right now, but I suspect I may need to go back and rewrite some stuff later.

My goal for this week is to keep up the momentum and keep writing.  I'm at just over 45K now, and I don't foresee this being a super long book - 60Kish, I imagine - so I'm not too far from the end.  I do have quite a busy week ahead of me, but the weekend is looking very chill.  I was going to be doing some entertaining, but that's fallen through.

I need to figure out some more (and better) social media promo for the new book, but I'm really just not that good at it.  I'm trying to only post about the book once a week or so, and spend the rest of the time interacting with people on various platforms and sharing stuff that's interesting.  I don't much enjoy social media though...

I've been doing some beta reading for a couple of authors which has been fun.  Having some new voices to read for and to read my stuff is interesting.  My regular critique group and beta readers are amazing (huge shout outs to Breanna, Bill, Kim & Jeanne), but getting perspectives from people who aren't familiar with my style has been good too.

And that's really it for this week.  What are your goals?

Celebrate the Small Things: 18-7-25

It's the end of the week, so it's time to Celebrate the Small Things.

What am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend!

Standing Too Close got its first review, and it's a goodie.  It's so encouraging when the first one's a good one.  Especially since I know this one's going to have its haters.

I've booked my films for the Film Festival, so hanging out for August.  I feel like I'm going to be exhausted by the end of it because I'm teaching all the early morning classes at the gym over that period as well.  Lucky it's only a couple of weeks.

I have a few things on this weekend, but I'm hoping to get a clear spot on Sunday to write.  I feel like I'm getting close to the big climax of the new book, but I also kind of feel like I may have written myself into a corner a bit.  Damn reality for being so...real.  I've done all the research and there's no way for these kids to not have Child Services get involved in their lives in some way, so I'm going to have to figure out a way for that work with the story.  Once again, my timeline's not co-operating.  I may have to move the start of the book later in the year to make it work, but that's a hassle because all the seasons will be wrong.

I foresee a lot of editing in my future.

Lucky I like editing.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: This Book Won't Burn

 

In a world where books are being removed from libraries and various groups of right-wingers are advocating for laws that will remove books from bookstores, this was a particularly relevant read.

Big-city girl, Noor, is uprooted from her life when her father walks out on the family and her mother decides to re-group in a quieter small town.  This would be disruptive enough for someone only months from finishing high school, without the small town having only one other Muslim family living in it.

When, on her first day at her new school, Noor discovers a large number of books have been removed from the school library and are being challenged by a small group of parents, she's outraged.  especially since most of the challenged books are by authors of color or those in the LGBTQIA+ community.

Despite her mother warning her to just keep her head down and graduate, Noor can't ignore something that goes so far against her personal beliefs.  She and a couple of friends start a reading group - off campus to avoid angering the school administration - and read aloud from these challenged books.  Other students soon join in and before long it has become a movement within the school community.

But everyone knows Noor is the instigator, and that puts a giant target on her back.  Especially when the school's administration cracks down hard, punishing all the students, not just those who joined the subversive group.  As things get heated, and more dangerous by the day, Noor must decide how far she's willing to go for a cause that's important to her, even if it puts herself and those she cares about in danger.

 It's a brave thing for an author to take such a hot-button topic and face off with it. I imagine this is a book that instantly rocketed to the top of the "challenged book" list the text objects to.  And I object to it too.  I believe strongly that books can change lives, can save lives.   So many people feel alone in this world, certain they are the only ones feeling a certain way, but if they can see themselves and the challenges they face in a book, they can know they're not alone.  And that can be enough to save a life.

Noor is a brave protagonist, but not without flaws and that's what makes her the perfect narrator for this story.  She's grappling with some difficult things in both her homelife and her new school, so she could easily be excused from taking on a difficult social issue, especially since it makes her stand out even more than she already does in her predominantly white school.  But Noor's sense of justice is well honed and her personality is such that she can't just stand by and watch injustice unfold before her eyes.

So, I'd recommend this one.  It's not perfect and does occasionally lean too hard into the message to the detriment of the actual story, but it's an important topic and one that anyone who reads should be 100% behind.

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

From the New York Times bestselling author of Internment comes a timely and gripping social-suspense novel about book banning, activism, and standing up for what you believe.

After her dad abruptly abandons her family and her mom moves them a million miles from their Chicago home, Noor Khan is forced to start the last quarter of her senior year at a new school, away from everything and everyone she knows and loves. Reeling from being uprooted and deserted, Noor is certain the key to survival is to keep her head down and make it to graduation. But things aren’t so simple. At school, Noor discovers hundreds of books have been labeled “obscene” or “pornographic” and are being removed from the library in accordance with a new school board policy. Even worse, virtually all the banned books are by queer and BIPOC authors. Noor can’t sit back and do nothing, because that goes against everything she believes in, but challenging the status quo just might put a target on her back. Can she effect change by speaking up? Or will small-town politics—and small-town love—be her downfall?

Mid-year check-in (late of course)

 I meant to do this at the beginning of July and now it's halfway through...  But better late than never, right?  Her's my (late) mid-year check in on how I'm tracking on my goals for 2025.  

Dear Me,

I did pretty well with 2024's goals, so here's to doing as well in 2025.

Despite having got absolutely no traction so far in querying Guide Us, I will keep persevering with it.  I know this is a good book and I'm really weirded out that it hasn't had any requests.  The last book I queried was the same, but at least with that one, I knew there was something in it that might prove difficult for agents and/or publishers even if I didn't advertise it in the query.  With Guide Us, I don't think there's anything too controversial in there... I guess religion could be controversial though.  Especially questioning it.

I haven't done this.  I decided I'd be better off holding onto this one in case I got an agent for the next book and they wanted to see something else.  So I'm sitting on Guide Us for the moment.  We'll see what happens.  I probably need to publish a girl POV book next, so maybe this will be the one.

I have a book - Standing Too Close -  coming out sometime later in the year; I'm still waiting for a date for that.  Hopefully I'll find out soon because I'd like to be able to start things rolling as far as publicity goes as soon as possible.  I'm also waiting on edits for that one and would like to get through those before I dive into revisions and editing on A Stranger to Kindness.  They're both boy narrator books but the voices are very, very different.

It's coming out 8 August, so I'm deep in publicity mode now, having done edits and all that.  It's available for pre-sale if you haven't already clicked to that...

And talking about A Stranger to Kindness, the plan for that is to get it revised and ready to query before the end of the year.  I feel like that's going to be a tough one because I love this book so much and if it winds up getting the same response as Guide Us, it's going to be somewhat devastating.  I need to mentally prepare for that.

Done this too and have the rejections to prove it.  Keeping on keeping on with the querying and hoping one sticks eventually...

Luckily, by the second half of the year my work will have ramped right up so I will probably be far too busy to get too upset.  Here's hoping anyway...

Nope.  I'm busy and it still hurts.

And as far as non-writing goals go, I suppose they're much the same as they have been for the last few years.  To keep exercising, to keep reading as much as possible and to see films at the cinema least every two weeks.

Doing this.  Not hard.  It's part of my routine.

The exercising should be easy enough since I'm now an instructor at the gym and I'm hoping to pick up a couple more regular classes this year.  I've been teaching only 30 minute spin classes, but I'm starting to learn the hour-long ones now too, so will probably pick up some of those classes in the next little while.

So far no regular one-hour classes, but I do a bit of covering for other instructors.

I've lowered my reading target for 2025 to 110 books since I've failed to meet my goal the last two years running.  I've been reading more adult books than YA recently and they tend to be both longer and more complex than my usual YA reads, so they take me longer to get through.  Here's hoping the large number of books I got through during my holiday last week - the weather was not great so there was a lot of time to read - kickstarts things well.

I'm behind on my reading goal but that's primarily because I've been writing a lot this year.  I didn't expect to dive right into a new novel as soon as I finished revising A Stranger to Kindness, but I did.  Two new novels, in fact...  Yeah, I'm insane.

There are a lot of films opening the next few weeks that I want to see, so I should be able to keep up my film-going at least in the early part of the year.  Things might get a little more challenging once the Award Season movies dry up, but by then the Film Society should have started up again.

I finally managed to (sort of) break my nail biting habit in 2024, so I will endeavor to keep my nails nice in 2025 too.  Preferably without having to pay for expensive manicures every few weeks.  I do like having my nails done properly, but it does become expensive.

Not biting them, but still getting them done semi-regularly.  They're just stronger and better that way.  When I leave them natural for too long, they get ragged and then I pick and bite at them to smooth them out.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

What are your goals for the New Year?

Celebrate the Small Things 11-7-25

It's the end of the week, so it's time to Celebrate the Small Things.

What am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend!

To be honest, I don't have a huge amount planned for it, but that's not a bad thing.  I'd like to try and get some writing done.  It feels like it's been ages since I did anything but tinker with my new book and I want to try and write some new bits.  I'm just not sure what direction to go in.  So, I might skip past the bit I'm not sure about for now, write the test, and hopefully what needs to happen in that section will become clear.

I got a query critique from an agent on my query for A Stranger to Kindness, and it was super positive.  She just said that with a boy POV, I'm writing for a very limited market and it would take a lot of queries to find the right agent.  So, I'm feeling good about the query.  But with another couple of rejections this week, I'm wondering if maybe it's the pages.  Or if the agent is right, and people don't want boy POVs.  Especially a mute boy's POV...

I find that odd.  I love writing boy POV and it's something I've always been comfortable with.  Maybe because all my best friends growing up were boys and I have two sons.  I also don't think books with a male POV are necessarily for boy readers.  Look how obsessed people - especially girls -  still are with The Outsiders - possibly even more now that before the Broadway musical - and that's a boy POV.  I certainly think all my boy POV books are just as enjoyable for girls, but maybe that's just me.

Had a couple more reviewers reply to me about Standing Too Close, but mostly it's been either declines because they have too many books to read already, or the reviewers want to be paid for reviews.  I don't pay for reviews.  It's not ethical, in my opinion, so if a reviewer asks for money, I just thank them for responding and explain that.  There seem to be an awful lot more asking for payment this time around, though.  Curious if any of you other writers pay for reviews?  And if it's worth it?

What are you celebrating this week?  

Books I've Read: Midnights With You

 

Those dark, late night hours when everyone else is asleep can be a sanctuary and this book really leans into that idea.

It's about two damaged kids, dealing with family trauma who wind up living across the street from one another and sharing their secrets in those night-quiet midnight hours.  Deedee is an only child whose over-protective mother smothers her on the one hand, and ignores her on the other.  Nothing she does is ever good enough and her mother never misses an opportunity to remind her of this.  She just tells her the Filipino ghost stories she grew up with but never explains to Deedee what they are supposed to mean or how they relate to their life the America.

Jay moves in across the street with his mother and sister.  Deedee quickly notices that he too spends time awake after midnight.  It is inevitable that their paths will cross while each tries to enjoy their solitude.  Deedee's mother won't let her learn to drive and Jay practically lives in his car.  When he offers to teach Deedee, in secret,  she jumps at the chance.

And little by little the barriers each of them have erected to protect themselves from the people and the world that insist on hurting them, begin to fall and the pair begin to rely on one another, and maybe even to fall in love.

There was a lot to like about this book.  The characters felt, for the most part, real and their problems were real-life problems that kids, especially the kids of relatively recent immigrant families might face.  There' s a real sense of the disconnect between the generations, one of which grew up immersed in a different culture to the one the current generation has been brought up in.  The difference in expectations and behaviours. 

That said, I wasn't 100% convinced by Deedee's mother as a character.  She was just too awful too much of the time - and to everyone.  Even the most evil of people have moments of compassion and humanity, and by the time Deedee, and therefore us, get to see this side of her, it was really too late.

But there was enough else to like about this book that I didn't let one cartoonish character ruin it for me.

So, I'll recommend it.  It's not perfect, but I definitely enjoyed reading it.

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

Two high school seniors with family trauma keeping them up at night fall in love over a series of secret late-night driving lessons.

Seventeen-year-old Deedee’s life is full of family ghosts and questions she can’t ask. She longs for an escape, but guilt holds her back—that, and the fact that her strict Filipino single mom won’t let her learn to drive. But one sleepless night leads Deedee down a road she never thought possible: secret driving lessons with the new boy next door, Jay, whose turbulent family life also keeps him up until sunrise.

As midnights stretch into days, Jay helps Deedee begin to unravel her past, and as shared secrets blossom into love, Deedee starts to imagine a life where happiness is possible. But the deeper she digs into the trauma that has shaped her, the more that trauma threatens to tear Deedee and Jay apart. Together, these two must decide if the pain they’ve both inherited has the power to choose their fate, or if they have the power to choose for themselves.

Weekly Goals 7-7-25

 I had a pretty busy weekend, so while I did some writing related stuff on Saturday, I didn't actually get any writing done.  So this week needs to be about writing.  I'm just over 40K into the new book, which is probably around two thirds of the way in.  I know how it ends, but I'm just not quite sure what happens between now and then.  There are a couple of different directions I could go and I suspect I need to write them both to figure out what needs to happen.

This is a downside of my chaotic writing process.  I often need to a write a lot of stuff that doesn't go anywhere before I find the right direction.

Other than that, I don't have much planned for the week.  The film festival progamme is launched tonight, so I will need to spend some time picking out my films for this year, but that doesn't usually take me too long.  I'm excited!  The film festival is always among the best two weeks of the year for me.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 4-7-25

 

It's the end of the week, so it's time to Celebrate the Small Things.

What am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend!  And Happy 4th of July to all my US friends!  Hope you're enjoying a long weekend.

I've had some luck with book reviewers for Standing Too Close.  Not as much as I would have liked, but there are still a bunch of people I've reached out to who haven't responded yet, so fingers crossed.  Early days yet...

Only one or two more rejections on A Stranger to Kindness.  I think I'm going to take a little break from querying, get the new book out and then re-start.

Been getting some great feedback from my crit group on the new book.  It's at a really messy stage right now where I'm not 100% sure if what I had planned to happen is a good idea, so I'm going to have to write two possible scenarios and see which one works the best for me.  Sigh...  I always have to go and make things harder for myself.

I have quite a busy weekend ahead of me, so i'm not sure how much writing I'll get done.  I have to learn a couple of spin classes because I'm covering an hour-long class on Sunday which I haven't taught in a few weeks, plus I need to move to a different release for my regular classes.  Luckily I have one of those I know super-well and it's been a while since I taught it, so I'll go with that for the next fortnight.

I was interviewed about Standing Too Close and my weird-ass writing process over at Literary Rambles on Wednesday, so pop over and check it out!  You could win a pre-order copy of the book.

What are you celebrating this week? 

IWSG - July

It's the first Wednesday in July, so it's time for the Insecure Writers Support Group. 

The awesome co-hosts for the July 2 posting of the IWSG are Rebecca Douglass, Natalie Aguirre, Cathrina Constantine, and Louise Barbour!

This month's question is interesting:

Is there a genre you haven't tried writing in yet that you really want to try? If so, do you plan on trying it?

To be honest, I think I have tried writing across most genres at one time or another. I do daily flash fiction challenges using prompts and often the prompt includes a genre (for example, this week I had to write fan fiction for one prompt and sci-fi for another), so I've experimented a lot across genres. Often these prompts are quite challenging for me because I'm not a huge fantasy or sci-fi reader, so when I have to write in those genres, it's a stretch.

But, that's really what doing these daily flash fiction challenges are for. To both keep my writing muscles limber when I don't have time to dive into my current project, and to stretch me in directions I might not otherwise go.

I don't think I'd ever write a sci-fi or fantasy novel, but never say ever, right? An idea might grab hold of my brain and not let go. I think it's unlikely, though.

What about you? Is there a genre you've never written that you're gagging to try?

Weekly Goals 30-6-25

 I got some writing done over the weekend, but not as much as I would have liked.  There just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything I need to do at the moment.  It's my ideal situation to have one book about to release, one I'm trying to sell, and one I'm working on, but it does create a lot of work.

I'm busy contacting reviewers and doing marketing stuff for the one about to release,  querying the one I'm trying to sell, and attempting to find time to write the one I'm working on.  It's a lot.

And this week is more of the same.

I only had one more rejection for A Stranger to Kindness over the weekend, so that's good.  And I've had three reviewers say they'd like to review Standing Too Close so far.  

So this week, my goal is to just keep it up.  Work on the new book, write to reviewers and send out a query or two each time a rejection comes in.  I've been playing with different versions of the query again, seeing if I can make a better one by mashing together a couple of different ones.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 27-6-25

It's the end of the week, so it's time to Celebrate the Small Things.

What am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend! 

With having had a holiday on Monday, it was a short week, but busy.  Lots to do at work, and I'm starting to send ARCs of Standing too Close out to reviewers as well as continuing to query A Stranger to Kindness and keep working on the new book(s).  Not much spare time, I tell you!

Only more rejection this week, so far.  They all seem to come on Sundays, though.

I have my girlfriends coming around for a potluck on Saturday, which should be fun.  Otherwise, it's just a regular weekend.  Hopefully I'll get some writing done in there somewhere.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've read: What the Woods Took

I know you're not supposed to judge books by their covers, but the cover was what attracted me to this one.  Then I read the blurb, and knew I wanted to read it. I'm kind of fascinated - in a kind of horrified way - by wilderness therapy programmes.  So a wilderness therapy programme as a setting for a horror with monsters?  Go ahead and take my hard-earned money.

The book opens with Devin, an unruly foster kid who's been in trouble for years, being dragged out of her bedroom by a couple of strangers  Next thing she knows, she's deep in the Idaho woods with a group of other, equally confused kids.  Eventually, a couple of counsellors tell them they're in a wilderness therapy programme and they have fifty days to survive out here and to change their destructive behaviour.

Initially determined to escape, Devin keeps herself apart from the other kids, especially the bitch Sheridan, a lavender-haired bully who does her best to tear apart every exercise the group undertakes.  But as they get deeper into the woods, strange things start happening.  Faces from their pasts start appearing amongst the trees.  And then suddenly, both counsellors disappear, leaving the kids alone with no map and no certainty that the food drops they've been receiving will still come.

As they try to figure out how to save themselves, it becomes apparent that perhaps the shape-shifting monsters creeping between the trees are not the most dangerous threat they're facing.   it might be each other.

This was one of those books that so beautifully weaves together real life and mythological horror.  It's eerie and atmospheric and has some excellent characters who really grow and change across the course of the book.  Some of the "issues" that brought the kids to the therapy camp were a little slight, in my opinion, but that probably reflects more on those kids' parents than on them.

So, overall, I would recommend this one.  It's creepy and fast-paced and quite genuinely scary in places - although not always in the ways you would expect.

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

Yellowjackets meets Girl, Interrupted when a group of troubled teens in a wilderness therapy program find themselves stranded in a forest full of monsters eager to take their place.

Devin Green wakes in the middle of the night to find two men in her bedroom. No stranger to a fight, she calls to her foster parents for help, but it soon becomes clear this is a planned abduction—one everyone but Devin signed up for. She’s shoved in a van and driven deep into the Idaho woods, where she’s dropped off with a cohort of equally confused teens. Finally, two camp counselors inform them that they've all been enrolled in an experimental therapy program. If the campers can learn to change their self-destructive ways—and survive a fifty-days hike through the wilderness—they’ll come out the other side as better versions of themselves. Or so the counselors say.

Devin is immediately determined to escape. She’s also determined to ignore Sheridan, the cruel-mouthed, lavender-haired bully who mocks every group exercise. But there’s something strange about these woods—inhuman faces appearing between the trees, visions of people who shouldn't be there flashing in the leaves—and when the campers wake up to find both counselors missing, therapy becomes the least of their problems. Stranded and left to fend for themselves, the teens quickly realize they’ll have to trust each other if they want to survive. But what lies in the woods may not be as dangerous as what the campers are hiding from each other—and if the monsters have their way, no one will leave the woods alive.

Atmospheric and sharp, What the Woods Took is a poignant story of transformation that explores the price of becoming someone—or something—new.

Weekly Goals 23-6-25

 I shouldn't have said anything about not getting rejections on Friday.  I got three in a single day over the weekend.  So I sent out a handful more yesterday.  I think I may need to tweak the query again because this one really doesn't seem to be doing the trick.  Just not sure what else I need to add.

Made some progress with the new book over the weekend and tested my idea about the diary pages blowing away with one of my CPs, and she thought it was a great idea.  So I'm going to write a couple more random entries that can go in between where I left off and where the next big thing happens, and then I can start writing the meatier stuff.

I have a writing day ahead of me today, so I'm hoping to get a good chunk done.  I also have to decide if I want one of the things I thought I might write in Devon's section to happen.  The more I think about it, the more I wonder if it's the right choice for the story.

I have a busy week ahead with a lot of film-related stuff to do, so probably won't get a chance to write much again until next weekend, so I had better get some real work done today.

With Standing Too Close on pre-sale, I'm going to try and ramp up social media a bit to get it out there.  I've sent all the materials to the publicist doing a little book tour for me around the release week, and I will start reaching out to reviewers who have enjoyed my books previously to see if they'd like a crack at this one too.  I have ARCs, if you'd like to review it.  Just shoot me an email.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 20-6-25

 

It's the end of the week, so it's time to Celebrate the Small Things.

What am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend! And it's Matariki.

Standing Too Close is now available for pre-sale.  Very excited by that!  Pre-sales are so important for an author and really help a book launch well, so if you have a spare $5 lurking in your pocket, I'd really appreciate it if you'd pre-order this beautiful little story.  Think of it as a treat for your future self.  Come 8 August, you'll probably have forgotten you bought it, so when it shows up in your e-reader, it'll be a nice surprise.

Haven't got as much writing done during the week as I had hoped to, but plan to get some real time over the next few days.  Our Board gifted us an extra day of leave on Monday, so I plan for that to be a writing day.

I think I'm a little stuck because I know where I want to go with the story, and what happens when I get there, but I can't figure out how to get there without having to write a whole pile of journal entries that don't really drive the plot.  At this point, Arlo's used up all the pages in his notebook and is writing his journal on whatever paper he can find - receipts, newspaper, movie tickets - so it would be realistic if he lost a bunch of them, but is that a cop out?  I felt like I could just re-start at a point where he gets a new notebook and then we could skip over a couple months where nothing much happens.  thoughts???

Had two more rejections for A Stranger to Kindness this week.  So, I sent out a handful more queries.  Beginning to think this is going to be just like the last two books I queried and get no requests.  Which is so frustrating when I know the book is good.  I guess I just don't know what agents and publishers are looking for anymore.

What are you celebrating this week?  

Books I've Read: The Sunset Crowd

 

I picked this book up at the library because it sounded like it could be a fun read. I mean, Hollywood in the 1970s?  Kind of right up my alley, right?  

The book is told through the eyes of Bea Dupont, a New York rebel who wound up in LA after a stint is an exclusive Swiss boarding school and a failed attempt at college.  Making a living as a photographer, Bea is part of the downtown LA scene because of her profession, but isn't wholly a part of it.  her position behind the lens gives her a unique perspective and it from this viewpoint we meet the rich and famous characters that populate her world.

There's Evra, the daughter of Hollywood royalty who has turned her back on movies and makes her living by clothing the elite and famous from her iconic store, Sunset on Sunset. She parties with models and rock stars and sleeps beside the hottest up and coming screenwriter in Hollywood, Kai de la Faire.

Bea is Kai's oldest friend, having been to school with him in Switzerland. He wa the subject of her first great photograph and she's harbored a crush on him since she was fifteen.

When Theodora Leigh steps into Sunset one day, returning costumes from the Paramount lot, she catches everyone's eye.  Not only is she strikingly beautiful, but she speaks perfect mandarin and ushers through a $30K sale in Evra's store without blinking an eye.  

Before long, she's a part of the crowd, using every connection and invitation to advance her dream of producing a movie.  It's not until the group reach the Riviera and the Cannes Film Festival that the truth starts to be revealed and Theodora's facade begins to come down.

This was a fast-paced book full of intrigue and jealousy.  Theodora was a delightful villain, the depth of her ruthlessness and ambition revealed little by little as the pages turn.  And this is a rarified world few of us ever get to experience, so it was fun to get taken to these glamorous places and events, and to brush shoulders with the rich and privileged.

I do have to say, I wasn't a huge fan of the ending.  I was there until they left Cannes and the delightful series of reveals that sent Theodora's facade crashing, but everything after that didn't quite ring true to me.  And after watching Bea hang on the fringes for so long, I really wanted her to get her moment in the sun.

But, if you liked Daisy Jones and the Six, this is a pretty good comp title for that, and you'll probably enjoy it too.

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

From Rodeo Drive to the French Riviera, Karin Tanabe's The Sunset Crowd is a tale of survival and reinvention, of faking it until you make it, and the glittering appeal of success and stardom, as it seeks to answer that timeless question―who gets to have the American dream?

Money and fame: in 1970's Los Angeles, everyone is fighting to reach the top, but very few have the talent, ambition, and luck to get there.

Meet LA darling Evra Scott. The daughter of an Oscar-winning director and a Brazilian bombshell actress, Evra is the city's reigning style queen. By day, she's at the helm of Sunset on Sunset, the store beloved by Hollywood's young and beautiful. By night, she's on the arm of Kai de la Faire, Hawaii's hottest export, and the screenwriter of the moment.

Enter Theodora Leigh. The twenty-something Paramount assistant looks like a big screen star, but her sights are firmly set behind the scenes, as she fights to become a movie producer in a town where sex and sexism sell. Theodora's got the talent and instincts, but she's not willing to wait. Luckily, getting ahead by any means necessary is LA's mantra.

Observing it all is Bea Dupont, a photographer for Rolling Stone and Vogue, who never misses the party, but always keeps to its fringes. A Manhattan blue blood turned West Coast bohemian, Bea holds Evra's Sunset crowd together. She's also Kai's oldest friend, and she's harbored a not-so-secret flame for him since they met at an elite Swiss boarding school.

But in Hollywood, no one stays on top forever. And it's not long before Theodora's unrelenting ambition sets in motion a dramatic quest for power in an industry that is as glamorous as it is duplicitous. From Rodeo Drive to the French Riviera, The Sunset Crowd is a tale of survival and reinvention, of faking it until you make it, and the glittering appeal of success and stardom, as it seeks to answer that timeless question--who gets to have the American dream?

Weekly Goals 16-6-25

 I had a pretty busy, social weekend this week, so didn't get a ton of writing done.  I did add about 2K to the MS though and started writing Devon's parts for later in the book. I figure she'll take control for about 20K in total, so we'll see how I do there.  I have a 4-day weekend this week, so hope to get a lot done over those days.  The Monday is a bonus day off, so I'll go and do a full day at the library writing.

Had one more rejection for A Stranger to Kindness.  Disappointing because that agent's MSWL sounded like she really wanted that book.  Still have quite a few out there, but a couple are reaching that "no reply means no" kind of length of time, so might be written off.  

So the goals this week are to write, write, write.  And to send out another small handful of queries.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 13-6-25

It's the end of the week, so it's time to Celebrate the Small Things.

What am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend!

I have quite a busy one this week, with two parties to go to tomorrow night and a movie to go to on Sunday - it's one of my all time favourite films, Sunset Boulevard which I'm pretty sure I've never actually seen in a cinema. So, looking forward to that.

I accidentally started a new book this week.  It's MG, which is not like me at all, but so far it's come really easily.  It is a story I've had hanging around for years though.  One of those books I wrote as a baby writer that never worked the way I wrote it.  I'm not putting any pressure on myself with it now, but it's kind of a fun thing to play around with.

It's been a long time since I had two novel projects on the go at the same time and I'm not sure how it's going to play out.  I'm definitely committed to Arlo and Devon's story first, but it's kind of fun to have an email window open to jot down bits and pieces of this other story whenever things come to me.  Which is how I've written what I have - I didn't realize it was close to 5K until I transferred it into Scrivener.  Quite a fun way to work, to be honest, no pressure, not work count awareness, just an email to myself to keep adding to as I wish to.

I hope to get some work done on Arlo and Devon's book over the weekend, but it probably won't be a lot to be honest.  Thankfully the following weekend is another long one, so I plan to get some serious writing done over that.

What are you celebrathing this week?

Books I've Loved: Glasgow Boys

 

I picked this book up at the library without really looking at what it was about, partly because I enjoyed Young Mungo and partly because the cover said something to me.  And boy am I glad I did!  This book could have been written for me.

It's about two boys in the foster system in Glasgow.  Finlay is 18 now, and out of care.  He's just starting a nursing degree at university and is struggling to balance coursework, a placement and the job he needs to keep himself fed.  He's always been shy and finds connecting with people both difficult and terrifying, yet he needs a support network in this new environment.  He's just not sure he can have it.  Not with Akash, the handsome medical student he hasn't seen since primary school, or with the two girls who seem determined to make him part of their group.

Banjo is a year younger and still at high school.  He's just been placed with a new family and has started a new school.  He wants desperately to stay here until he ages out, but is so filled with hurt and anger, he finds it difficult to contain and keeps getting himself into trouble. He meets an enticing girl at his new job and is quickly brought into her warm circle of family and friends, but even this isn't enough to keep him from seeking out violence to calm the rage blazing inside him.

Three years earlier, Banjo and Finlay were roommates at a care home and developed a bond that still ties them together, even though they haven't spoken in three years and both think their relationship has been damaged beyond repair.  

If these two boys are going to be able to move on, to love new people, they need to forgive each other and themselves.

Set against the grim background of Glasgow's working class, this book talked to my heart.  Both Finlay and Banjo are the kind of beautiful, broken boy I love to read about and, indeed, to write.  They have huge hearts, but have been so beaten up by life, it's hard for them to let them show.  There are definitely some massive parallels between this book and A Stranger to Kindness.  I understood these kids in a deep and powerful way.

It's a story about love and connection on so many levels.  Not a romance (but there are elements of that in there) it's really what I would call a true love story, a story examining all the different kinds of love that exist in the world.  And the power all those different loves haave to heal even the deepest of wounds.

So, I strongly recommend this one.  It's heartbreaking in all the best ways and will likely bring a tear to your eye more than once.

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

A striking debut exploring the power of identity, community and the Scottish working class. This coming-of-age story is an incisive look at young masculinity and the way even the most fraught childhood is not without hope.

Neither Finlay or Banjo can remember the last time they had a hug.

Against all odds, 18-year-old Finlay has begun his nursing degree at Glasgow University. But coming straight from the care system means he has no support network. How can he write essays, focus on his nursing placement and stop himself from falling in love when he's struggling to feed himself? Meanwhile, 17-year-old Banjo is trying to settle into his new foster family and finish high school, desperate to hold down his job and the people it contains. But his anger and fear keep boiling over, threatening his already uncertain future.

Underpinning everything is what happened three years ago in their group care home, when Finlay and Banjo were as close as brothers until they stopped speaking. If these boys want to keep hold of the people they love, they have to be able to forgive one another. More than this, they must find a way to forgive themselves.