Weekly Goals 30-9-24

 I got some writing done over the weekend.  I skipped forward a bit and wrote a scene toward the climax off the book.  From here I kind of know what needs to happen and how, so it shouldn't be hard to keep going.  There is still stuff that needs fixing further back, but I'll do that later, when I go back to try and fill in all the places I've left things to move on because I wasn't sure how to make the transition.

I'm just over 43K now, which is starting to feel like a book.  And probably around about where I should be at this point in the story.  I think I have another 25-30K to write until the end.  So once I've filled in the gaps and tidied up some stuff, I should be around the 80K mark which s pretty standard for one of my books.

So my goal for this week is to keep going, keep moving forward.  I really think it's realistic to finish this before the end of the year now, so that's my ultimate goal.  Once the Jazz Festival is over, I'll have some more time off up my sleeve, so I'll probably try to take a couple of days a week in November to write - kind of like NaNo, but without actually doing NaNo.

Why are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 27-9-24

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 (except the usual chores etc) planned.

My son's band had a gig on Wednesday which I went to.  They were really good (not that I'm at all biased) and there was a really good crowd which was amazing for them.

I did another practice teaching session and it went well.  I have a few technical things to work on, but I'm feeling fairly confident I can do it.  I actually think it will be easier in front of a class than just for the trainer.

I haven't had a chance to get any more writing done during the week, but I plan to do some more over the weekend.  I think I'll skip forward or write a new scene further back that I think I need to write because I'm kind of wallowing in the scene I've been working on.  Maybe that will help unstick me!

I also want to try and do some reading.  I've been reading the same book for close to 3 weeks now, which is very unlike me!  I usually read 3 books a week!  I've been on kind of a reading slump recently - nothing has really excited me for quite a while.  If you've read anything that's blown you away recently, please share...  I need something amazing to break my streak of pretty blah books.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: Funny You Should Ask

This book read something like a fantasy.  Not fantasy in the sense that it's an alternative world with magic and dragons and wizards and such, but more like the kind of day-dreamy fantasy you might indulge in while taking a walk or trying to go to sleep at night.  Or maybe that's just me...

Set across two time period the book jumps between events happening 10 years apart.  In the past, Chani is a young, hungry journalist trying to make a living writing puff pieces about celebrities in Hollywood. When she's assigned to do an interview about Gabe Parker, the surprise choice to take on the iconic role of James Bond, she expects it to be more of the same.  The only difference being she's long held a celebrity crush on Gabe.  She determines to keep it professional, but somehow the afternoon interview spirals into a whirlwind weekend that has the gossip pages frothing.

Ten years later, Chani is still trying to escape the notoriety that one profile has given her.  despite building a very respectable career as a writer, that article is always the first thing she's asked about.  So when Gabe's PR team ask her to do a follow-up interview, she's inclined to say no.  But she has never forgotten the time they spent together and having watched Gabe's spectacular fall from grace from afar, she's curious. So she agrees.  

Even if it means she'll have to face some of the most humiliating moments of her life.

This was a very quick and easy read that follows most of the standard romance novel tropes.  The Hollywood backdrop gives it a little added glamour, especially the inclusion of an iconic character like James Bond - basically just a shortcut for telling us how gorgeous and charming this guy really is.

But this also makes the whole book read a little like a fan-fiction fantasy.   Which isn't necessarily a bad thing!  I mean, who hasn't daydreamed about dating a fabulously beautiful movie star at one time or another?  There's a certain kind of glamour about it that you just don't get with dreaming about the guy at the dry cleaner or the courier with amazing legs...

So, I enjoyed this for the fluff it is.  Nothing substantial or even very satisfying, but a sweet, confection spun out of dreams.  if your brain needs a break or you just need to get away from the grimness of the real world for a while, you could worse...

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

Then. Twentysomething writer Chani Horowitz is stuck. While her former MFA classmates are nabbing book deals, she's in the trenches writing puff pieces. Then she's hired to write a profile of movie star Gabe Parker. The Gabe Parker--her forever celebrity crush, the object of her fantasies, the background photo on her phone--who's also just been cast as the new James Bond. It's terrifying and thrilling all at once... yet if she can keep her cool and nail the piece, it could be a huge win. Gabe will get good press, and her career will skyrocket. But what comes next proves to be life-changing in ways Chani never saw coming, as the interview turns into a whirlwind weekend that has the tabloids buzzing.

Now. Ten years later, after a brutal divorce and a heavy dose of therapy, Chani is back in Los Angeles, laser-focused on one thing: her work. But she's still spent the better part of the last decade getting asked about her deeply personal Gabe Parker profile at every turn. No matter what new essay collection or viral editorial she's promoting, it always comes back to Gabe. So when his PR team requests that they reunite for a second interview, she wants to say no. She wants to pretend that she's forgotten about the time they spent together, years ago. But the truth is that those seventy-two hours are still crystal clear, etched in her memory. And so... he says yes.

Chani knows that facing Gabe again also means facing feelings she's tried so hard to push away. Alternating between their first meeting and their reunion a decade later, this deliciously irresistible novel will have you hanging on until the last word.

A restless young journalist with big dreams interviews a Hollywood heartthrob--and, ten years later, it's clear that their time together meant more than meets the eye in this sexy, engrossing adult debut novel.

Weekly Goals 23-9-24

 I actually did manage to get a bit of writing done over the weekend.  It isn't great and I'm not entirely happy with it, but at least I'm moving forward.  I feel like I may need to skip some stuff and move on because I feel like I'm wallowing in the scene I'm working on.  I know what needs to happen and why; I just can't seem to make it work or to get the things happening to make sense in the context of my characters.  I feel like I'm letting them down...

So this week's goal is to see what I can do to get back on track with this.  It may be I need to go back and write some more stuff earlier on again.  I feel much better about the stuff I'd written earlier once I did that last week.  Or I may need to skip forward a bit, write the climax and then go back to fill in the stuff that leads there.

Writing is so hard sometimes!  Especially when I feel such a responsibility to Harley to get his story right.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 20-9-24

 

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 had today off to write which makes it a long weekend.

I had a good writing day and finished writing the couple of scenes I wanted to add earlier in the book.  I feel much better about the early part of the book now (although I know there is still work that needs to be done) and will keep going now.  I'm almost at the climax.

I taught my first practice class on Wednesday.  It wasn't so bad...  I till need to work on not slowing down or speeding up when I start talking, and I need to add a couple of things to my "script".  I have another practice class to teach this coming week, so I'll have to do some work on that over the weekend.

Hoping to get a bit more writing time in this weekend, but may not be able to squeeze it in.  It's looking like a busy one...

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've read: Scripted

This is one of those books that could have been just a good, fun story, but was a little too heavy on the message to be as much fun as it should have been.  I hate being preached at in books and this one felt way too much like a self-help book to be wholly enjoyable as a novel.

Jade is a nice woman who is kind of stuck in a rut.  She's not happy with her partner, but is so used to having him around, she can't bring herself to kick him out.  Her boss treats her like a lackey and constantly asks her to do things that make her uncomfortable.  Her sister takes advantage of her and her father never fails to remind her she's living in a property he owns - even though she pays the full rent.  Her mother drinks to much and has never managed to get over her divorce, despite it being 20 years ago.

Something needs to change, but Jade doesn't know how to do it.

She finds a script while out running one day and is dumbfounded when the characters appear to be herself and her partner.  And when the conversation she read on the page actually happens not long after, she is incredulous.  

The scripts keep coming and the more she reads them ahead of time, the more she hates the way she never stands up for herself.  Yet any attempt she makes to change the scripts fails and she finds herself being taken advantage of again.  And with her sister's wedding coming up, there are a bunch of difficult situations she's going to need to face and conversations she needs to have to make sure her future is the one she actually wants for herself.

I really liked the premise of this book, but the writing and the way the story unfolded felt very preachy to me, like it was trying to teach the reader something.  I get that it was doing this, but there was no subtlety to it and the message felt bigger than the story or the characters.  I love it when a book teaches me something, but I don't like it being so signposted and obvious.

So while the message in this one is good - and god knows I could do with learning how to say no more often - I didn't really enjoy it as much as I could have if the message wasn't hammered into my head every few lines.

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

Jade Shaw has lost control of her life.

Pushed around by her warring family, and taken for granted by a boyfriend who's more interested in his "brand" than their relationship, she knows that somewhere along the path to being an adult she's lost her way. And she can't seem to find it again.

The last place she expects to discover answers is on the floor outside her flat. But there it is: a script. Containing her name, and her boyfriend Adam's - and depicting another huge argument in which Jade fails to stand up for herself. The weird thing is: this argument hasn't happened yet.

The row becomes reality. Jade tries and fails to find her voice. Then more scripts appear, predicting infuriating scenarios in which Jade's boss, mum, and bridezilla sister walk all over her. Whoever is leaving these scripts knows Jade inside-out. But who is writing them? How are they able to predict her future so accurately?

And what can Jade do to re-write the script?

Weekly goals 16-9-24

 I had a weird writing weekend this weekend.  I wrote a bunch on Saturday which was pretty terrible, then realised I really needed to go back and fix some stuff earlier in the book before moving on, and had a great writing day on Sunday.  Moral... I need to trust my gut when it tells me I need to fix something.  The writing was a dream as I added to that earlier scene.  A complete contrast to Saturday's session where I knew what I was writing was garbage.

So my goal this week is to try and keep it up and to write more.  I'm feeling quite inspired and I'm determined to finish at least a first draft of this book before the end of the year.

I also have to practice-teach my first class this week, so I want to do well at that.  I have a pretty good script worked out for the first track because there's a lot of set up and stuff to talk about, but after that, I'm going to have to wing it because I don't have much prescribed stuff to say.  A bit nervous about that, to be honest, but I'm sure I'll figure something out.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 13-9-24

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 a long-running, very stressful situation I've been dealing with since April has (fingers crossed - I haven't got the paperwork yet) finally been resolved.  And in my favour, for once!  So that is a huge relief.

I have nothing planned for my weekend, which is nice.  I have a bunch of stuff to learn for my spin teaching, so I suspect I'll be busy with that and I'm hoping to get some writing done too.  I'm back with some of the old critique partners and having them read my chapters again is amazing!  I just now need to decide if I keep writing forward or if I go back and try to fix some of the stuff I know is wonky further back so I can put those chapters up for critique.

I suspect writing forward is the way to go - things that happen going forward are likely to impact stuff further back, so if I go back to change stuff now, I'll need to do it again later.  But the temptation is there...  It's always there.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: Final Girls

 

This one was more like a novella than a full novel, so it was a very quick and easy read.

The book starts with a journalist, Esther, heading to a state-of-the art facility to interview a scientist who has supposedly developed a revolutionary VR therapy that uses horror movie scenarios to heal deep-seated psychological wounds.  Esther is skeptical.  Her father's life was ruined by another popular psych theory and she's determined to debunk this one as being phoney.

After watching what seems to be a miraculous healing of a fractured sisterly bond, Esther agrees to undergo the therapy herself, allowing a cocktail of drugs to be injected into her veins while the doctor oversees the building of a specific scenario designed to fulfil her own purpose.

As Esther navigates through her fabricated nightmare, things begin to go awry as outsiders, desperate to get control of the technology for their own purposes, take over the facility.

This was an intriguing story that was somewhat let down by a rather weak and predictable ending.  I very much liked the way the horror movie scenarios played out, but couldn't help being as skeptical as Esther about its ability to actually help.  It all felt very manipulative, especially when the doctor inserted herself into Esther's scenario purely to get her to think favourably about the product.

But, there were definitely things I found intriguing about this idea, and because it was such a quick read, it didn't bother me too much that there were aspects I didn't like.

So if you're a fan of sci-fi and horror, you'd probably quite enjoy this mash-up.

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

What if you could fix the worst parts of yourself by confronting your worst fears?

Dr. Jennifer Webb has invented proprietary virtual reality technology that purports to heal psychological wounds by running clients through scenarios straight out of horror movies and nightmares. In a carefully controlled environment, with a medical cocktail running through their veins, sisters might develop a bond they’ve been missing their whole lives—while running from the bogeyman through a simulated forest. But…can real change come so easily?

Esther Hoffman doubts it. Esther has spent her entire journalism career debunking pseudoscience, after phony regression therapy ruined her father’s life. She’s determined to unearth the truth about Dr. Webb’s budding company. Dr. Webb’s willing to let her, of course, for reasons of her own. What better advertisement could she get than that of a convinced skeptic? But Esther’s not the only one curious about how this technology works. Enter real-world threats just as frightening as those created in the lab. Dr. Webb and Esther are at odds, but they may also be each other’s only hope of survival.

Celebrate the Small Things 6-9-24

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 don't have much planned at this stage, so I'm hoping to get some good writing time in there.  An old critique partner reached out to me this week about re-starting a critique group we had going about 10 years ago and I'm excited about getting feedback on the early part of the book which I feel is in pretty good shape.  It's only once I get to chapter 5 or 6 that I feel like things start happening in the wrong order and that I'm not quite getting things right.  

Having a good critique group is so valuable and I always write more when I know people are waiting to read the next chapter, so I'm hoping this new (old) group might kickstart my writing energy a bit more.

Other than that, I hope to get some reading done - I have a pile of fresh library books waiting for me - and there's a classic movie at mt local cinema on Sunday that I'd like to go to.  Johnny Guitar, one of the campiest westerns ever made, starring Joan Crawford.  I saw it in a festival years ago, and remember loving it, so I'm looking forward to seeing it again.

What are you celebrating this week?

IWSG - September 2024

 

It's the first Wednesday of the month so it's time for the Insecure Writer's Support Group!

The awesome co-hosts for the September 4 posting of the IWSG are Beth Camp, Jean Davis, Yvonne Ventresca, and PJ Colando!

This month's question is a goodie!

Since it's back to school time, let's talk English class. What's a writing rule you learned in school that messed you up as a writer?

There are two things I was taught at school that messed me up as a writer.

The first is that you should never use contractions in writing. So no can't, don't, wouldn't. It took me a long time to get over that which left a lot of my writing feeling wooden and formal, especially dialogue. People just don't say, "I would not go there." or "I cannot do that."

Once I realized that using contractions in fiction writing is completely okay, I really found my voice as an author and I haven't gone back.

The other thing I learned in school that hampered my writing for a long time was being encouraged to use adverbs. At school I was told to use them liberally (see what I did there) and my early writing is full of colorful adverbs to describe the way characters move and talk. I do still like to toss in the odd one, but very judicially these days and to make a point in most cases. I prefer to lean on good, strong verbs these days instead.

I'm sure there are other things I learned at school that screwed me up, but those are the things that sprang to mind when I saw the question.

What did you learn at school that hasn't helped you as a writer?

Weekly Goals 2-9-24

 I got a little bit of writing done over the weekend, which was good.  I feel like I'm back into Harley's headspace, so will be able to continue on with this in the next few weeks.  I enjoyed the writing too, which is always good.  I definitely feel like there is a lot I need to change in what I've already written, but I'm going to forge on to the end first, because it's easier to change stuff earlier on once I know how things play out in the rest of the book.

So, my goal this week is to write more this week.  I hope to be able to take a day off next week to write, but need to see what I have on before I can commit to that.

I have my first real training for being a spin instructor on Wednesday morning, so I have that to work towards too.  Must go through the tracks I've learned again before then so I can make sure I know what I'm doing.  When I showed the tutor that I'd learned the choreo on Saturday, I missed one section in the first track because I thought I was one chorus further ahead than I actually was.  D'oh!

And that's about it for goals this week.  What do you hope to achieve?