Celebrate the Small Things 30-5-25

   

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 a long weekend too.

I made it longer by taking Friday off as well, so I have four days to myself.  Friday is a writing day and I'm planning to bed myself deep in the new novel.  Really push the narrative forward so I have some momentum to keep going.

Only one rejection for A Stranger to Kindness this week.  A bunch of agents open for the first week of the month, so next week I'll be sending out a bunch more queries.  Fingers crossed this version works.

Nothing much else has been going on, so nothing much to celebrate, I'm afraid.  It's that time of year where we're sinking into winter and everyone's going into hibernation.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Loved: Invisible Son

 

I didn't think I was ready to read a book about the pandemic and all the political unrest that came about alongside it.  Turns out I was wrong.  Because I really liked this book.

It opens with Andre getting out of juvvie, with an ankle monitor and a lot of kind, but gruff instructions from his case worker.  Andre is a little indignant about the whole thing because he knows he's innocent of the crime he was convicted of, but he wasn't able to convince anyone else of that, so he did the time.  He feels that it's totally unfair that he still has to be monitored.

His indignation fades when he gets home to discover his father hasn't even bothered to stay home from work to greet him.  He's embraced by his grandparents and quickly reconnects with his next door neighbors, one of whom is his long-term crush, Sierra.  But everything isn't the same.  Sierra's brother Eric is gone and no one seems to know where or why.  Andre has suspicions - Eric was definitely involved in the crimes he was convicted for - and he's been counting on him to be able to prove his innocence.

Andre starts searching for Eric, but things just don't add up.  Leads turn into dead ends and it becomes increasingly certain that Eric's adoptive father is lying - but about what?  As COVID19 spreads and people begin getting sick and dying, even those close to Andre, the search for Eric becomes more complicated and dangerous.

And when Sierra joins the Black Lives Matter protests on the streets, Andre is forced to make some difficult decisions about his own life and the community he so desperately wants to hold together.

There were a lot of issues brought up in this book, but because they are all seen through Andre's eyes, it never felt overwhelming.  He is a wonderful POV character, a good kid who has seen and experienced too much to be innocent, but wants more for himself than the life he sees others falling into.  He's smart and passionate (especially about 80s and 90s music, which makes for an interesting quirk) and endlessly loyal to the people he cares about.  He's not naturally a rule breaker, but is not above exploiting a loophole if he finds one and it's useful.

The other thing I liked very much about this book was that Andre's family were close by. So often in YA books, parents and authority figures are killed off or just absent (and yeah, I'm guilty of that as much as any other YA writer) but both Andre's family and Sierra's were very present in the book,  whether for good or bad.

The background of COVID and the riots grounded this story into a reality that felt very contemporary and scarily accurate.

So I'd recommend this one.  It's exciting, sad, scary and very relevant.

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

From the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of This Is My America comes another thriller about a wrongly accused teen desperate to recclaim both his innocence and his first love.

Life can change in an instant.
When you’re wrongfully accused of a crime.
When a virus shuts everything down.
When the girl you love moves on.

Andre Jackson is determined to reclaim his identity. But returning from juvie doesn’t feel like coming home. His Portland, Oregon, neighborhood is rapidly gentrifying, and COVID-19 shuts down school before he can return. And Andre’s suspicions about his arrest for a crime he didn’t commit even taint his friendships. It’s as if his whole life has been erased.

The one thing Andre is counting on is his relationship with the Whitaker kids—especially his longtime crush, Sierra. But Sierra’s brother Eric is missing, and the facts don’t add up as their adoptive parents fight to keep up the act that their racially diverse family is picture-perfect. If Andre can find Eric, he just might uncover the truth about his own arrest. But in a world where power is held by a few and Andre is nearly invisible, searching for the truth is a dangerous game.

Critically acclaimed author Kim Johnson delivers another social justice thriller that shines a light on being young and Black in America—perfect for fans of The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas and Dear Justyce by Nic Stone.

Weekly Goals 26-5-25

 I didn't get much work done on my book over the weekend because I forgot that I'd signed up to do a 48 hour short story contest, so most of my writing time was taken up writing my story for that.  But I don't mind because it was fun.  We had to include three objects - a gun, a daisy and a canoe - set a scene on the beach, and have one character rob a bank.  Quite a lot to fit into a story between 1,000 and 3,000 words.

But I managed.  I'll find out next week if I win.

So this week I need to get my head back into the book.  It's a long weekend, so I took Friday off work to be able to have four days off and will use Friday as a writing day.  I know it hasn't been long since I last had some writing days, but I kind of feel like I wasted them writing all that stuff I've ended up throwing away.

After not getting a lot of rejections last week, I've three in the last 24 hours, two of which were from agents that really sounded like they were looking for my book.  So that's disappointing.  On the plus side, I still have a few queries out, and my list of agents still to query is long.  I guess I might need to tweak the query again.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 23-5-25

  

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 have absolutely nothing I have to do.  What luxury!  

My critique group are working through the first part of my new book and seem to be liking it so far.  Hoping to add a few chapters this weekend so there's a little more to get on with.

Only one rejection for A Stranger to Kindness this week.  No requests yet either, but I'll take it.  I'm on my 4th version of the query now, but I'm still not sure it's doing the trick.  Have I mentioned that I really, really hate querying?

I've taught five classes at the gym this week because of people being sick, so should be a decent payday.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've read: Mister Magic

 

While I didn't particularly enjoy Kiersten White's first book for adults, I have enjoyed her YA books enough that I was willing to give this second adult outing a bash.  And I'm glad I did, because I actually enjoyed this one quite a lot.  It was creepy!

Back in the day, Mister Magic was a kids' TV show. No one who saw it has forgotten it, yet there are no recordings, no clips on You-Tube, no evidence that it actually existed except in the minds of its viewers.  And those memories have to be skewed - people remember it being on at all hours of the day and night; what TV show for kids does that?

Now, 30 years or so after it went off the air because of an accident on set, the five remaining cast members are brought back to the place the show was filmed and face-to-face with the past they've all tried so hard to forget.

Or maybe, not forget exactly.  The Circle of Friends, as they were known while on the show, may have forgotten the details of what happened back then, but they've never stopped longing and searching for the happiness they felt while they were all together.  And now they're together again, they all seem to be sliding far too easily back into the roles they used to play.

And as they talk about what they did as children, and the mysterious figure that gave the show its name, they begin to suspect they were being used for something far more nefarious and sinister that entertaining children.

This was a fun read that delves deeply into the weirdness of childhood memory and the way we can feel nostalgia for something we only half remember.  Not to mention the often-unpleasant conditions child performers are expected to work within to keep their adult bosses happy.

Add to these things a sinister and all-too-perfect town in the Utah desert, some uniquely unpleasant characters, a house that feels like it's probably haunted and the still-traumatized performers as adults and you have a recipe for a chilling psychological thriller with something supernatural at its core.

What that is, I won't go into, but it is definitely worth a read to find out.

So I'd recommend this one.  It's eerie and layered and really got into my head when I read it.

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

Who is Mister Magic? Former child stars reunite to uncover the tragedy that ended their show—and discover the secret of its enigmatic host—in this dark supernatural thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hide.

Thirty years after a tragic accident shut down production of the classic children’s program Mister Magic, the five surviving cast members have done their best to move on. But just as generations of cultishly devoted fans still cling to the lessons they learned from the show, the cast, known as the Circle of Friends, have spent their lives searching for the happiness they felt while they were on it. The friendship. The feeling of belonging. And the protection of Mister Magic.

But with no surviving video of the show, no evidence of who directed or produced it, and no records of who—or what—the beloved host actually was, memories are all the former Circle of Friends has.

Then a twist of fate brings the castmates back together at the remote desert filming compound that feels like it’s been waiting for them all this time. Even though they haven’t seen each other for years, they understand one another better than anyone has since.

After all, they’re the only ones who hold the secret of that circle, the mystery of the magic man in his infinitely black cape, and, maybe, the answers to what really happened on that deadly last day. But as the Circle of Friends reclaim parts of their past, they begin to wonder: Are they here by choice, or have they been lured into a trap?

Weekly Goals 19-5-25

 I did a bit of writing this weekend and have consolidated a bunch of old, short diary entries into single longer ones.  Which means I've managed to get Arlo and Devon together in less than 10K instead of the 30Kish it took me when writing from Devon's POV.  And there are a couple of entries that maybe aren't needed. But I'll leave them for now.  I can always cut them later.

So my goal this week is to keep going.  Write more and progress the story.  There's something really freeing about writing this book in journal entries because it's so subjective.  I always write first person POV, but writing it like a journal means it's even more in the character's head and he's only going to write the things he's thinking about and noticing.  I'm enjoying it.

I'm teaching a bunch of extra classes at the gym this week because some of the instructors have come down with Covid.  I did one yesterday and am covering two today.  Should be a good week for both fitness and my bank account.

What are your goals this week? 

Celebrate the Small Things 16-5-25

 

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 had an okayish week.  Didn't start off too hot, but got better.  Went and saw my friend perform a stand-up show in the Comedy Festival which was hilarious.  And because it was my birthday, the friend I went to the show with took me out to dinner beforehand and I had the most beautiful piece of steak.  It's been months since I had steak.  Yum!

Then I had the opportunity to go to an author talk with Neal Shusterman.  I've reviewed a few of his books on the blog, including two recently.  So it was fascinating to hear him talk about the books and his writing process.  Always interested to hear how other writers write.  It's always so different to the way I do it...  Afterward I got to get my book signed.  A little embarrassing since I read this in the bath and it got a little damp in places so the copy I gave him was rather fat.

Got a little more written on the new book.  I put the first few sections up for my critique group and so far, feedback is good.  Will write more this weekend although I just got asked to cover a class at the gym tomorrow and it's new release week so I need to learn the class.  I didn't do it earlier because I didn't think I'd have to teach it - there were no days scheduled where the regular instructor wasn't going to be there.  Luckily I've done this a couple of times, so I don't think it will take me too long.

Only one rejection this week so far.  I've tweaked my query again and I think it works better now.  I've only sent the new version out to about 4 agents, but I'll use this one for the next batch I send and see if that helps.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece

 

I'm usually a little skeptical about reading books by well-known actors (thank you, James Franco for writing the most pretentious drivel I've had the misfortune to read) but this one seemed so in the wheelhouse of the writer, I decided to give it a whirl.  Plus, after spending 30+ years working in the film industry, I figured it would be kind of in my wheelhouse.

And it was!

It's kind of slow to start with and initially, I struggled to figure out how the various parts might fit together, but they did and it was all quite delightful.  The historical sections reminded me a little of books by Fannie Flagg even if the characters here weren't quite as sharply hilarious as Fannie's always are.  Maybe it's the small town setting and the time period...

Once we got through the history and into the making of the big, Marvel-type movie, things became more familiar.  Enough so that the little footnotes about what things mean got irritating after a while.  But that's a small criticism.  So often books about filmmaking gloss over the actual filmmaking process to move on to the more glamorous parts of the business - premieres, press junkets, awards shows and the like.  This book got right in there, with the assistants and assistants of assistants, with the make-up artists and bit players.

And who better to do this than Tom Hanks, who's spent so much of his life on sets with these people and knows exactly the rhythm and chaos of making a film?  Some of my favorite moments were those chaotic ones when you know everything is spiraling out of control, yet somehow, you have to claw yourself back to safety, get back on track because very day over schedule you go is costing millions.

And as a bonus, this book has actual comic books built in!

Yes, there were parts that got a bit baggy and some of the characters were less characters than types, but in a book with enough characters to demand a 10-minute credit crawl, there were enough distinctive people in there to make up for the handful of sketched-in types.  Some more editing could definitely have been done on this book to tighten it up, but overall, I enjoyed reading it very much.

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

From the Academy Award-winning actor and best-selling author: a novel about the making of a star-studded, multimillion-dollar superhero action film . . . and the humble comic books that inspired it. Funny, touching, and wonderfully thought-provoking, while also capturing the changes in America and American culture since World War II.

Part One of this story takes place in 1947. A troubled soldier, returning from the war, meets his talented five-year-old nephew, leaves an indelible impression, and then disappears for twenty-three years.

Cut to 1970: The nephew, now drawing underground comic books in Oakland, California, reconnects with his uncle and, remembering the comic book he saw when he was five, draws a new version with his uncle as a World War II fighting hero.

Cut to the present day: A commercially successful director discovers the 1970 comic book and decides to turn it into a contemporary superhero movie.

Cue the cast: We meet the film's extremely difficult male star, his wonderful leading lady, the eccentric writer/director, the producer, the gofer production assistant, and everyone else on both sides of the camera.

Bonus material: Interspersed throughout are three comic books that are featured in the story--all created by Tom Hanks himself--including the comic book that becomes the official tie-in to this novel's major motion picture masterpiece.

Weekly goals 12-5-25

 I didn't get a whole lot of writing done over the weekend, but I did some.  I think writing this book from Arlo's perspective is definitely the way to go.  He's way more fun to write.  I hope to get another 4-5K added this week.  I'm aiming for each of his entries to be around 1K give or take.  Then when I get to the part of the story where Devon takes over, her parts can be longer or shorter as need be.

I sent a big batch of queries out, so will wait and see what happens with them before I send any more.  One rejection already, but that was from an agent I did wonder about sending to.

Got a draft of the cover art for Standing Too Close and I'm excited to share it with you.  It just needs a little tweaking to get it right.  Hopefully I'll get the final version before the end of the week so I can share it.

It's my birthday this week, so I'm going to do my best to celebrate that too!

What are your goals this week?  

Celebrate the Small Things 9-5-25

 

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!

It's been a long week so I'm looking forward to it.  Not that I have a whole lot planned...  I have a new spin class to learn for next week, but I've been through it once already, so it shouldn't be too hard.

I haven't done a lot of writing this week, but the prompts for the contest I try to do every day worked for diary entries a couple of times this week, so I have two new Arlo sections to add to the book.  I hope to go through and bulk up the existing entries a little and then move forward with the rest of the book all from Arlo's POV.  We'll see how that goes...

Only had a few rejections this week, and weirdly, they have mostly been for Guide Us, not for A Stranger to Kindness. I stopped querying Guide Us in October, so these are from a long time back!  Not sure yet if the new query is working better - I've had one rejection from that version so far.  No requests from either yet.  It's kind of brutal!

Got feedback from a new beta reader which was really positive.  She even wanted to know more about Meg and Ozzy so it was fun to be able to say that Ozzy actually has his own book which is already published.  She emailed me back the next day to say she'd bought it.  That's what I like to hear!

And that's about it for me.  What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: Break to You

 

Continuing on my Neal Shusterman kick, I read this book he co-wrote with two other authors.  It's set in a juvenile detention facility which I was interested in since A Stranger to Kindness also has some parts set in a facility like this.

Or, not quite like this - this centre houses both boys and girls, but they are strictly segregated with the common areas being used by girls and boys at separate times.  Which opens the doors for a clandestine romance between inmates when a girl accidently drops her journal in the library and a boy discovers it.

The pair then write back and forth, using the journal to get to know one another and to fall in love.  And then to set in motion a daring plan to actually see one another in the flesh.

I enjoyed this book and feel like the depiction of detention is more realistic than in some other books I've read with similar setting.  The characters were interesting and diverse and I particularly liked the contrast between the boys' behaviour and that of the girls. 

I learned some interesting things too, like the fact foster kids with nowhere to go sometimes end up in detention centres.

The planning and the way everyone on both sides of the prison worked together to get this pair of wannabe lovers together was probably very unrealistic, but made for a very satisfying story nonetheless.

The only thing I found disappointing, was the ending which seemed very abrupt and not entirely satisfying.  I felt like it was almost like the authors were leaving things open for a possible sequel, but not quite...

But overall, I enjoyed this very much and raced through it far more quickly than I've read a book recently.

So I'd recommend it.

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

Bestselling author of Scythe and Challenger Deep Neal Shusterman, here with coauthors Debra Young and Michelle Knowlden, tells an intense yet tender story of two teens, trapped in impossible circumstances and unjust systems, willing to risk everything for love—no matter the consequences.

Adriana knows that if she can manage to keep her head down for the next seven months, she might be able to get through her sentence in the Compass juvenile detention center. Thankfully, she’s allowed to keep her journal, where she writes down her most private thoughts when her feelings get too big.

Until the day she opens her journal and discovers that her thoughts are no longer so private. Someone has read her writings—and has written back. A boy who lives on the other side of the gender-divided detention center. A boy who sparks a fire in her to write back.

Jon’s story is different than Adriana’s; he’s already been at Compass for years and will be in the system for years to come. Still, when he reads the words Adriana writes to him, it makes him feel like the walls that hold them in have melted away.

This fast-paced, highly compelling tour de force novel exposes what life is like in detention—and reveals the hearts of two teens who are forced to live in desperate circumstances.

Weekly Goals 5-5-25

 As I suspected, I didn't get a whole lot of writing done over the weekend.  I did rework my query letter for A Stranger to Kindness after getting a couple more rejections.  It's not significantly different, but I think the stakes are a little clearer now.  I hope, anyway.  I sent this one out to four or five agents, so we'll see if it works better.  A whole swathe of agents I identified as being a good fit for this book are currently closed, so fingers crossed some of them re-open.

I toyed around with Arlo's diary entries, and I think it might work to have the whole book told this way.  It just feels terrible to have written 30K already and then just ditch it all.  But I think this is the direction I need to go.  I thought Devon's arc was the most compelling one, but I think Arlo actually has more growth to make..  And we'll still see Devon's arc, just through Arlo's eyes.

So my goal this week is to work on this.  I'll need to pad out the diary entries I've already written since they're only about 300 words at most, and I'll need them to create more of a driving narrative to move the story along.

So that's my goal for the week.

I also have this horrible thing going on with my lips that's making life quite unpleasant.  I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, so hopefully we can figure out what the issue is and do something to fix them up.  It's annoying not being able to smile.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 2-5-25

 

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 a few things on this weekend, so I'm probably not going to get a whole lot of writing done.  Plus, I'm starting to think that maybe the problem I'm having with the book is that I'm writing it from the wrong POV.  I've been enjoying writing Arlo's diary entries far more than Devon's parts, so I'm curious about maybe trying to write the whole this as Arlo's diary.  There is a section he wouldn't be able to write, but I think it could make sense for Devon to fill in his diary at that point.

So I might have a go at splitting out the diary entries and having a go at telling the whole story that way.  Why do I always prefer writing boys?  And why do my boys always have more voice than my girls?  It's weird.

I've had a couple more rejections for A Stranger to Kindness which is disappointing.  I need to get to sending another round of queries.

We had a huge storm here yesterday and it has got really, really cold.  I think winter has hit for real now.

What are you celebrating this week?