Books I've Read: The Epic Story of Every Living Thing

 I picked this one out at the library because I've enjoyed other books by this author and the storyline sounded like it was right up my alley.  In reality, maybe not so much.

I find it interesting that the description calls it "fiercely feminist" because I didn't think of it that way at all.  Maybe it's just me?  The only kind of feminist part of it were the diray entries at the start of each chapter and they really just served to highlight how wimpy our modern day heronines were in comparison to the women in the 1800s.

The book is about a girl called Harper who has always known she was the product of artificial insemination.  She and her over-protective mother have lived with that knowledge between them forever and while Harper has wondered about the man who donated the sperm, she's accepted that she'll probably never find out.

Then, when she stumbles across an Instagram post from a person who looks just like her, the questions begin to pile up.  She gets in contact with a half-sibling and discovers she is not alone.  In fact, there might be a whole lot more, just like them.  It doesn't take long for them to uncover the donor's identity and whereabouts, leading to the rash, and perhaps foolhardy decision to go to his home in Hawaii and confront him.

Having just broken up with her boyfriend, and still seething with anxiety from the COVID epidemic, Harper defies her mother and goes.  The man they discover, and the truths he has to tell, will change all of them forever.

There were lots of things to like about this book, but to be honest, a lot of things about it annoyed me too.  Harper was an annoying main character, obsessed with her phone and constantly trying to curate the world around her to be picture perfect.  I didn't blame her boyfriend for breaking up with her.  I probably would have too.

And her anxiety and terror of everything got annoying after a while too.  I get that her mother has always been super protective and involved in absolutely every aspect of her lfe, but that she's bought into those fears so completely irritated me.  Maybe it's my own personality shining through here - I tend to do the opposite of what anyone tells me to do in situations like that.  Often not the best decision, but there we are...

Setting the book with the COVID lockdowns in the very recent past gave some context to Harper's anxiety, but it also wasn't necessary.  It was something that only seemed to get brought up when it was conveninent, rather than being a real part of the book's world.  I also got kind of irritated by how suddenly better Harper's life got when she lost her phone.  It felt really preachy and not at all natural.

So, while there were a lot of things to like about this book, I think the negatives ended up outweighing the positives, so I'm not strongly recommending this one.  

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

From the award-winning author of Honey, Baby, Sweetheart comes a gorgeous and fiercely feminist young adult novel. When a teen travels to Hawaii to track down her sperm donor father, she discovers the truth about him, about the sunken shipwreck that’s become his obsession, and most of all about herself.

Harper Proulx has lived her whole life with unanswered questions about her anonymous sperm donor father. She's convinced that without knowing him, she can't know herself. When a chance Instagram post connects Harper to a half sibling, that connection yields many more and ultimately leads Harper to uncover her father's identity.

So, fresh from a painful breakup and still reeling with anxiety that reached a lifetime high during the pandemic, Harper joins her newfound half siblings on a voyage to Hawaii to face their father. The events of that summer, and the man they discover—a charismatic deep-sea diver obsessed with solving the mystery of a fragile sunken shipwreck—will force Harper to face some even bigger questions: Who is she? Is she her DNA, her experiences, her successes, her failures? Is she the things she loves—or the things she hates? Who she is in dark times? Who she might become after them?

Weekly Goals 12-10-26

 It's the start of my four days off today, so today is the day I start a new book.  I know who my main characters are and a little about them, but that's about it.  I know the first scenes I want to write, so that's a bonus.  We'll see what happens.

If things go well, I'm hoping I can get between 15K and 20K written before Friday.  Unfortunately, I have a really sore back, so I'm not sure that sitting for as long each day as I'll need to is a good idea.  I'll just have to remember to get up and walk around every hour or so.  Hoping that's going to improve by tomorrow when I have to teach again.

Don't really have any other goals at this point for the week.  I think that's a big enough one to get on with.

What are you hoping to achieve this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 9-10-26

 

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

So what am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend!  And I have four days off after the weekend!  That's six days with no work.  Well, apart from teaching at the gym.

So, yeah!  I'm celebrating.

The plan is to get all the things I have to do done over the weekend so the four days next week are free for me to write.  I have very little idea what the story is I'm going to write, but I'm sure it will become clearer once I start.  I really never know what a book is going to be when I start, but for some reason, this time that feels a little scarier than it usually is.  Maybe because it's been a while since I started something new.

I don't think four days is long enough to write the whole book, of course, but I'm hoping it will kickstart the project and get me far enough in that I'll have momentum to keep going.  It's not that long until the end of the year and I have close to a month off over the summer where I can work on it too.  

What are you celebrating this week?

Insecure Writers Support Group Ocotber 2026

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

Huge thanks to our hosts this month,  Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Liza at Middle Passages, JH Moncrieff, and Jemima Pett!

This month's question is an interesting one:

Many people are calling for writers who use AI to disclose it. Most who employ ghostwriters do not admit it - do you think authors who use ghostwriters should have to disclose that, too?

To be honest, I wasn't aware that people who use ghostwriters don't disclose it. I've read and seen numerous autobiographies and memoirs that claim to be written by a celebrity in large letters on the cover, but, in smaller type say something like "with Ghostwriter". But maybe this isn't the only context in which ghostwriters are used. Certainly I know some of those long-running book series like Nancy Drew and Sweet Valley High weren't all written by the person whose name is on the cover, but by a variety of different authors all using that name. Is that ghostwriting? I feel like it was more a business model like that of book packaging companies who hire authors to write stories they come up with. And I also feel like it's common knowedge and was even back then, in the eighties, when a new Sweet Valley High book came out every month or so.

In general, I think any author who doesn't actually write 100% of their own books should disclose it. But how do we define that? As an author, I write my own books without AI or a ghostwriter, but before publishing they go through my critique group, beta readers and an editor, all of whom play a part in making the finished product what it is. Yes, I'm the one who makes any changes to the MS, but sometimes the feedback I get from others has a huge influence on the direction I take. Is that also something that needs to be disclosed? Other than thanking them in my acknowledgments?

Is asking real people for help with writing a story really that different from brainstorming with a chatbot?

I'm playing devil's advocate here, because I believe it is different. I have never tried brainstorming with a chatbot, but I can't believe you'd get the same give and take you get from unravelling a story problem with another author, one idea sparking another until you suddenly find you've come up with something entirely different to what you thought you'd end up with, but that makes everything somehow, remarkably, work.

I have actually done some ghostwriting. I worked with a woman on her memoir for a while, helping her shape the stories of her remarkable life. She told me the stories, and I wrote them, trying to keep as much of her voice in there while making it readable as a piece of narrative. We never got to the point of publishing it or even finishing the book, but right from the start it was agreed that it was her book, but that I would be recognized as assisting with the writing of it. And most importantly, that I'd get a share of any royalties. I think that's how it should be, so long as the ghostwriter wants to be recognized that way.

I can also see the flipside where a ghostwriter might be brought in on a project they don't want their name anywhere near. A job where they're a writer for hire to either write someone's story the way I did, or to polish up some terrible writing by someone else. In that scenario, the person whose name is on the book should disclose they had help, but if the writer doesn't want to be associated with it, their name never needs to appear.

Transparency is important. I don't care that a celebrity didn't actually write their own memoir - I don't expect them to. Just because you're good at one thing, doesn't mean you have the skill, time or ability to write a book. But I think it's important to acknowledge that. And to acknowledge that the help you got was from a human, not a robot.

Weekly Goals 5-10-26

It's going to be another busy week at work, so I'm keeping my goals realistic.  With having next week off to write, I need to get my writing brain kickstarted, so I'm going to try and write flash fiction every day.  I'm not sure it's entirely possible because I'm teaching four classes this week too, but I'll give it a shot!

With daylight saving having started, I'm hoping to ride my bike to work most days.  Not taking the bus ten or more times a week really saves a lot of money.  Unfortunately the weather doesn't always cooperate...

And that's about it for goals.

What do you hope to achieve this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 2-10-26

 

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

So what am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend!

It has been another busy week with concerts in Wellington and Auckland and sales for next year still going strong.  My week off has been kind of stymied by so many meetings and events being piled on that I have moved it to the following week.  Next week my assistant will take time off instead.

Gives me a little more time to think about the book I'm hoping to at least start that week.

I wrote a few piences of flash fiction this week.  A couple of them were okay, I think, but the prompts weren;t things that excited me a lot.  I feel like unexciting prompts are often the best for stertching creativity, but they do make it harder to start writing.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: The Unexpected Consequences of Bleeding on a Tuesday

I'll admit 100% to picking this book up because of the title.  I mean, how could you not? 

Turns out it was a good choice because not only is this a genuinely frank book about endometriosis, something that isn't talked about nearly enough given the number of women who suffer from it, and as voicey as hell.

Delia has a great life with big plans for her future.  She's in a exclusive prep school, has been accepted at her dream college and is just about to start an internship with the doctor she's dreamed of working beside.

Then, off schedule, she gets her period.

No big deal, right?  A little inconveninece, maybe, an uncomfortable day or two.  No.   Delia's periods are a nightmare that rule her world.  Not just that they're heavy, but the pain that accompany them is enough to make her throw up and pass out.   They rule her life and she knows something is wrong with her.  Unfortunately, all the doctors she's seen up until now don't seem to take her seriiously or understand quite how debilitating this is.

Which is why she's so determined to intern with Dr. Steele who has a reputation of really listening to women and finding solutions for their health issues.  And why she's so determined to become the kind of doctor she really wants to see. 

But, with her period threatening to force her to skip school (again), Delia does something desperate and uses marijuana for the first time as a way to manage her pain so she can make it through this all-impotant meet and greet with the doctor of her dreams.

It does not go well, and weeks from graduation, Delia finds herself expelled, her college acceptance rescinded, her internship cancelled and with it, her chance to get close to the one doctor who might have answers for her.  To ensure her period doesn't continue to wreck havoc on her future, Delia is forced to advocate for herself as she navigates the final weeks of high school, having to face the best friend who humiliated her back in middle school and a boy who seems to really care about her.

This is the first book I've read that deals with endometriosis and the frustrating realities of how difficult it is for women to get treatment for it.  I have several friends who have suffered for years with periods as painful and debilitating as Delia's and who have had an equally difficult time gettitng diagnosed and treated for it.  In fact, I recently discovered that I had endometriosis, but only found out when having a hysterectomy because my periods had become so unmanageable.  Which made me angry because I'd suffered through it for 40 years with no one ever mentioning the word endometriosis.

So, I'd recommend this book.  I think it's important to talk about this topic and for young women who are suffering through this debilitating pain every month to understand that they're not freaks and that there is treatment.  If only they can get a doctor to actually hear them.

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

Delia Bridges is striving to become the compassionate doctor she's been unable to find in her journey to diagnose her excruciating period pain--but when a single rule-breaking incident jeopardizes her future, she must find a way to reclaim her dreams in this funny, period-positive novel.

High school senior Delia Bridges has the most amazing mom and sister, a killer GPA--and periods that are so painful they make her scream, pass out, and throw up. Though she doesn't know it yet, Delia has endometriosis, an affliction plaguing millions of people that is notoriously difficult to diagnose.

Pain makes everything harder, but Delia is just one semester away from graduating from Stockwood Prep and pursuing her dream of become the kind of doctor she's never one who takes her symptoms seriously. But when she breaks a rule for the first time ever and is caught using marijuana at school to manage her pain, Delia is expelled.

Her expulsion jeopardizes her college acceptance, her planned mentorship, and everything she had carefully planned for years. Without her academic success and no closer to a diagnosis, is Delia anything more than her period?