Weekly Goals 6-7-26

 I still have a bit of a cold, but I don't think it's bad enough to keep me from going to work.  I just feel like it's going to be a long day.  I also have a feeling my cat might be sick and I need to try and get a vet appointment for her.  I have no clue how I'll get her to the vet.  She's skittish at the best of times, and when she's feeling bad, she tends to hide, often under the house where I can't to her.  She is still coming in to eat, so I'll just have to try and get her into the cage when she comes for food.  Wish me luck!

I read through an earlier draft of Street Smarts over the weekend, one of the attempts I made at having Devon as the MC, and it wasn't as bad as I remembered it being.  I still think I like Arlo's POV more, but I think the structural things that are a bit of a problem in my Arlo version aren't such a big problem in my Devon version.  I'm waiting on another beta reader to comment on the Arlo version, but I feel like it might be worth spending some time finishing the Devon version too.  I wrote over 30K twice in her POV before switching entirely to Arlo's, so there's a lot of material there already.  Plus, she takes over his diary for a period in the middle of the book already, so it wouldn't be too hard to massage those sections into shape.  It's definitely something to think about...

I don't really have any other specific goals this week.  It's a long weekend for Matariki, so that will be nice, even if I don't have any real plans for it yet.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small things 3-7-26

 

It's the end of the week, so what am I celebrating?

It's the weekend!

Unfortunately I have a bit of a cold, so I think I'm going to have to put most of my plans on hold and just stay home to rest.  I have too much to do next week to be sick, so better to take the time to kick it over the weekend.

I was asked to beta read for a writer I beta'd for last year, so that ought to keep me busy, at least.  And I'm going to have to walk up to the pet store to get more cat food at some point, so that'll be some exercise since I don't think I'll go to the gym.

I got my anthology turned in on time, so we'll see what happens there.  The results aren't due until the end of August, so I have a while to wait.

No new rejections this week, which is always nice, but I'm not hopeful about a request coming in from any of the outstanding queries at this stage.  I think I'll just shelve that book for a while and see if I can get Street Smarts into any kind of shape to query.

What are you celebrating this week?

ISWG - July 2026

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

Our hosts for the July 1 posting of the IWSG are Rebecca Douglass, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Cathrina Constantine, and Jacqui Murray. Thanks so much to them!

This month's question is a really good one, and something I've been thinking about a lot over the last little while:

Is there anything you'd like to see changed, added, and/or rearranged about the book publishing industry?

To be honest, I'm not even sure where to start with this one. There are so many things that frustrate me about publishing.

The main one, I guess, is how difficult it is to get a book published that doesn't fit within a very narrow set of parameters. I understand that books need to be marketable, but everyone seems to be looking for the same books to fill the same narrow market. Which makes it difficult for anyone who writes something different to get a chance to even have their book read by anyone who can get it in front of a mainstream publisher.

I know tastes and trends will change and what's popular today won't be in another five years, but that's five years of our careers we have to put on hold in the hope the trends swing in another direction. And even if they do, it's likely to be in another wildly specific direction that only a small number of writers can fulfill. Not that everyone won't try to jump on board whatever that next trend is, but I'm not someone who can or wants to write to a specific market. Especially when that market is likely to shift long before that book is finished.

One of the other frustrating things is how slowly publishing moves. Even if your book does get picked up by a publisher, it's likely to be two years or so before it hits shelves, which is another reason I'm wary about writing to a specific trend. A lot can happen in two years and the last thing you want is to have written a book to a trend that's on its way out. How well that book performs in stores is likely to define whether or not you get to have a writing career.

I'm not sure I have any helpful suggestions about how to improve the industry because I know how difficult it is, especially now that anyone with half an idea and Chat GTP can "write" a novel. But that said, I'd have to imagine that in a world where you're wading through acres of AI slop, something different that doesn't follow the rules, that doesn't fit neatly into today's "popular" list, might stand out in a good way as being wholly and defiantly human.

What are the things you'd like to see changed about publishing?

Weekly goals 29-6-26

 I got the anthology as ready as it's going to be over the weekend, so that's been made available for the judges.  Now it's just a matter of wait and see...

I guess I have to decide on a new writing project now, so I'll give myself a week or two to let my brain do its thing.  I have my little MG novel I can work on if I feel like it, and Street Smarts needs some editing.

It's going to be a super busy week at work, so it's probably a good thing I don't have any major creative projects to work on as well.

I tried to go to the movies yesterday, but the session I bought a ticket for was cancelled.  Maybe next weekend...

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 26-6-26

 

It's the end of the week, so what am I celebrating?

It's the weekend!

It has been a busy week, so I'm glad to have some time out.  I also have the house to myself for the whole weekend because my son has gone to Sydney for a few days and my partner is housesitting up the coast.  Luxury!

Unfortunately, we're in the throes of a winter storm and it's wet and windy and freezing cold.

I finished the last story in the anthology.  It needs a little work, I think, but all the stories probably need a little tweaking and changing to make them work.  I plan to get this work done over the weekend so the collection is ready to be judged from the end of the month.  I did have a quick peek at the other entries yesterday, just to see how many people are close to the finish line, and it looks like quite a few writers might have fallen by the wayside.

I was long listed in the Australian Writer's Centre Furious Fiction Showcase for the third time this year, which is nice.  I really enjoy this super-short flash fiction contest once a month.

I had a rejection on a partial for A Stranger to Kindness which is disappointing.  I think it's time to stop querying this one.  Clearly no one is interested in this story.  Which is a real shame.  I still think it's the best thing I've written.  And I really feel like Street Smarts is going to be an even tougher sell, if I ever get to the point of querying that one.  I think I need to restructure it a bit so Arlo and Devon meet sooner than they do now.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: Hood

 

I have to admit I found this one a bit of a slog to get through.  Maybe it was because I was on tour when I was reading it and consumed it in tiny bites, but I suspect I just didn't enjoy it much.

Set across a variety of different time periods, the book follows Pen through the week directly after her lover of 13 years is killed in a car crash.  Not that Pen has ever really admitted to anyone that Cara was anything more than a friend.  Still largely closeted, she teaches at the Catholic school she and Cara once attended, lives with Cara's father in the home she grew up in and hasn't even told her mother she's gay.

This makes grieving challenging.  How can you be a widow when you've never admitted to being in a relationship?  

Pen navigates the week as best she can, doing all the practical things she can to distract herself from the 
Cara-shaped hole in her life.  Yet, occasionally, memories bubble up and blindside her.

These flashbacks show the relationship through the 13 years the two women knew each other.  It becomes clear that Pen was actually obsessed with Cara's older sister, Kate, and only met Cara when Kate tossed a casual invitation Pen's way one afternoon.  Thid history makes things charged when Kate returns from America to attend Cara's funeral.

I know this book is set in a different time, and in Dublin where the influence of the Church is far-reaching, but even with that knowledge, I found it difficult to understand Pen's reluctance to admit she was in love with Cara, that they were a couple.  Or that everyone around them didn't see the truth, especially Cara's father who shared the house with them and surely knew they were sleeping in the same bed.

Pen is stoic to the point of obstinance and I think that's why I found it so difficult to get into this story.  Cara was clearly not a nice person, running out on Pen often to have affairs with men and other women.  Yet Pen remained a dependable presence, always there to take Cara back when she'd had her fun.

So, while I found many things about this book interesting, it wasn't an enjoyable read.  I didn't like Pen and the way she let herself be treated like a doormat, denying who she was and constantly putting herself down for being large.  Books about grief and dealing with it are hard enough even when the person grieving is someone you like.

I did find it interesting how the flashbacks were told in present tense though, while the rest of the book was in past.  Something to play with at some later point, I think...

I'm not recommending this one, I'm afraid.  It's well written and a definite picture of a place and time, but it's hard work to get through.

Don't just listen to me though.  Here's the blurb:

Penelope O’Grady and Cara Wall are risking disaster when, like teenagers in any intolerant time and place—here, a Dublin convent school in the late 1970s—they fall in love. Yet Cara, the free spirit, and Pen, the stoic, craft a bond so strong it seems as though nothing could sever it: not the bickering, not the secrets, not even Cara’s infidelities.

But thirteen years on, a car crash kills Cara and rips the lid off Pen’s world. Pen is still in the closet, teaching at her old school, living under the roof of Cara’s gentle father, who thinks of her as his daughter’s friend. How can she survive widowhood without even daring to claim the word? Over the course of one surreal week of bereavement, she is battered by memories that range from the humiliating, to the exalted, to the erotic, to the funny. It will take Pen all her intelligence and wit to sort through her tumultuous past with Cara, and all the nerve she can muster to start remaking her life.

Weekly Goals 23-6-26

 I wrote another story for the anthology yesterday afternoon.  I'm not sure it's any good, or if it fits the theme of the song very well, but we'll see.  I have one more to go to finish out the collection and I hope to get through that one on Friday when I have the day off.  Which gives me the weekend to read through and edit the whole lot.

The thing that's impressed me the most most about writing these stories is how easy it has been to just sit down and bash out around 2500 words in three or so hours.  I think having a deadline helps.  I've had no real idea what these stories were going to be until I sat down to start writing, and the writing has just flowed.

I wish writing a novel was so simple.

I need to think about wha I'm going to work on next.  I might take a couple of weeks off from writing anything other than my little flash fiction pieces.  The Film Festival is coming up and I'm heading into a super busy time at work, so probably not the best time to start a new novel.  But sometimes I find being so busy is a great time for being creative because everything is already at kind of a peak.

I guess I'll wait and see if anything grabs me and demands me to write it.

What ar your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 19-6-26

 

It's the end of the week, so what am I celebrating?

It's the weekend!

I didn't get much of a weekend, so I'm looking forward to this one.  Even if I do have quite a lot on already.  

I have two more stories to write for the anthology, so I'm hoping to get one of those written this weekend.  I have next Friday off work, so I'll get the last one written then, and hopefully have a little time to go back through the whole lot and do some editing before the 30th.  

It has been an interesting project.  I like some of the stories more than others, but overall, I'm quite happy with them.  They've given me a chance to explore different topics and voices and styles.  I don't know what I'll do with them once the competition is over, but we'll see what happens.

I guess once I've finished the anthology project, I'll need to start thinking about writing a new novel.  I still have an idea, but it hasn't fully come together yet.  I have an interesting main character, but none of the other parts of the story or other characters have revealed themselves, so I'll need to wait for that to happen before I can do much more than noodle around with the voice and stuff.

Or wait for another idea to grab hold.  That often happens when I'm noodling.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: Fugly

This book was not what I expected at all.

The main character is Beth, a first-year university student, still living at home.  She's fat and from the very first page you understand how being fat makes her feel.  She's angry at herself for being fat, but also hates the way people look and act around her because she's fat.  She has an unhealthy relationship with food and no one is looking out for her at all.

Her father recently left and her mother is suffering from depression as a result.  Her younger brother is running wild and no one is doing anything about it.  The only thing that makes Beth feel better (other than chocolate) is going online and trolling girls whose feeds are full of themselves being happy and beautiful and thin.  When she gets someone to delete their account, she feels powerful.

While online, she meets Tori who is even more vicious when it comes to trolling.  She and Beth team up and find they make a great team, eviscerating beautiful people with abandon.  They chat and share and Beth soon realizes she's falling in love with this person who calls herself Tori.

But then there's the relentlessly perky girl at Uni who keeps talking to her too.  Never having had friends, Beth isn't sure how to react to this, but she likes it.

So, when Tori picks a target that's a little too close to home, Beth decides she needs to stop her trolling.  But, Tori doesn't want her to stop.

I have to say, rarely have I disliked a main character more than I disliked Beth.  From the very first page I thought she was whiny and all too ready to blame everyone else for her unhappiness.  Throughout the book she makes the absolute worst choices for herself and while I understand that the author was doing this to show the depths of her self-loathing, it didn't feel realistic.  I think even the most depressed person has some tiny well of hope in there somewhere.

So, reading the whole book and spending time with this awful person was hard.  Yes, se did learn some things about herself and made changes, but I feel like a lot of it was too little too late.. By the time she made those realizations, she was so deep in the mess she'd made for herself, I didn't feel like she really deserved any redemption or even a semi-happy ending.

So, unless you really want to spend time with someone who makes other people miserable, this is probably not the book for you.  I does offer some insights into a modern problem, but it isn't an enjoyable read at all.

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

A wrenchingly honest, thought-provoking exploration of a girl judged and dismissed by society who must break the cycle of shaming that traps her in her real life and comforts her in her online one.

In real life, eighteen-year-old Beth is overweight, shy, and geeky. She's been bullied all her life, and her only refuge is food. Online, though, she's a vicious troll who targets the beautiful, vain, oversharing It Girls of the internet. When she meets Tori, a fellow troll, she becomes her online girlfriend-slash-partner-in-crime.

But then Tori picks a target who's a little too close to home for Beth. Unsettled, Beth decides to quit their online bullying partnership. The only problem is, Tori is not willing to let her go.

Weekly Goals 15-6-26

 I just realized when I opened up my blog this morning, I missed last week's regular posts.  I was away for work, and it was busier than I anticipated.  I didn't have time to even think about my writing life, really!

But, since I got back late on Saturday, I have managed to write a new story for the anthology.  That leaves me two more to write before 30 June.  Doable, I think.  I'm just concerned I may not get much time to go back over them, to check if they actually work together and if they are actually any good!

On the plus side, with having been away and doing so many extra hours, I'm owed a lot of time off.  There's never a really good time to take it, but I may try and take a little each week for the next few weeks so I can have that editing time I need.  Starting with taking half of Friday off.  I'd take the whole day, but I remembered I'm teaching a lunchtime class in town, so it doesn't really make sense to do that.

So, my goals for this week are to catch up on the stuff I didn't manage to get done while I was away and to write at least one more story for the anthology.  I also need to catch up on reviews for the others in my crit group.

what are your goals this week?

Weekly Goals 8-6-26

 I'm away on tour for most of this week, so I'm not going to set myself a ton of goals - I probably wouldn't hit them.

I managed to write another story for the anthology over the weekend.  I'm not sure it's very good, but again, a place to start.  I have three more songs to write stories for, so I'm no track to finish by 30 June if I write one a week.  I think I'll try to take a day off during the last week of June to do some serious editorial work on these stories before the final due date.

So, this week's goal is to write another story.  I think this one is the one I've been looking forward to writing the most and I already know exactly what I'm going to write.  Most of the others haven't been planned at all and I've just gone with whatever my mind came up with at the time.  My mind is a dark and spooky place sometimes.

I may discover I have more time than I think on the road, and I may get more done than I think I will.  But I'm not counting on it.

I am looking forward to catching up with my bestie in Auckland on Friday though.  It's been far too long since we got to talk for more than a few minutes.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 5-6-26

 

It's the end of the week, so what am I celebrating?

It's the weekend!

Despite being a short week, it felt like a really long week, so I'm glad for the weekend.  Especially since I'm away on tour most of next week.  Which is always fun, but also a lot of work as you try and squeeze a full workday in around travel and concerts.  But it's a beautiful concert.  Prokofiev is my favorite composer, so I always enjoy concerts featuring his work.

No new rejections this week.  I think I'm going to wind down querying Stranger at the end of the month and dive into some revisions on Street Smarts so I can start querying that one.  I need to do some major shifting around of some of the entries, I think, to try and get the REAL inciting incident closer to the start of the book.  Even though I don't think doing that will really do the book any favors.  The reason that incident works as a catalyst is because by that point, you really understand Arlo's desperate loneliness, even if he doesn't acknowledge or even recognize it.

I have four more stories to write for my anthology and 24 days to do it.  Possible, I think, but it's going to be tight.  If I can get one written this weekend, I'll feel better about it.

I'm going to see my favorite Douglas Sirk film on Sunday as part of the Film Society's 80th birthday celebrations.  Very excited to see it again.  I don't think I've seen it since I wept my way through it in a university class about melodrama.

What are you celebrating this week?

IWSG - June

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

Thanks to this month's hosts, Victoria Marie Lees, Sarah Foster, Natalie Aguirre and C. Lee McKenzie!

This month's question is a good one!

Do most of your story ideas come from one place (the news, dreams, etc.) or do they hit from all over the place?

My ideas come from all over the place.  Things I read, movies I see, stuff that happens in real life, music I listen to.  Anything and everything can be the inspiration for a story.  

For example, I watched a documentary about something that happened at the 1984 LA Olympics and that ended up sparking the idea for a novella I wrote for an anthology.

Another documentary, this one about a musician I used to know, ended up sparking The Sidewalk's Regrets.  Weirdly, it was one line someone said that set the whole idea into motion, but when I went back and watched the doco again, I couldn't find the line.

Stumped was inspired by a talk given by an Australian sex worker.  An Unstill Life came from a newspaper article about a boys' school that wouldn't allow same sex couples to attend a school dance.

Chasing the Taillights was supposed to be an adult book inspired by something that had recently happened in my life, but when I started writing it, I needed to understand how Lucy and Tony came to have the relationship they had at the beginning of that story.  And how they came to have that relationship ended up being Chasing the Taillights. 

My Murder Year was a response to the legalizing of same-sex marriage.  Standing Too Close was one last shot at trying to tell a story that's haunted me since I was twelve.  Turns out, all the other times I tried to write it, I was getting too close to what actually happened in real life.  I had to use a lot of the truth and move it sideways to be able to actually finish it.

A Stranger to Kindness came out of research I did for Standing Too Close. I talked to some people about foster care and while some of them had excellent foster parents and being in foster care was the best thing for them, others had less stellar experiences and I wanted to explore what that might look like.

My most recent book, Street Smarts, came from working with an organization that uses food waste to provide restaurant-quality meals for people who can't necessarily afford to eat out or to eat at all.

A lot of the time, the ideas aren't conscious decisions. It's like the characters move into my head and start telling me their story.  I often have to trace things back after I've written the book to find where it all began, but I can usually figure it out.

Where do your story ideas come from?

Weekly Goals 1-6-26

 How is it June already?  I swear it was only just Christmas...

It's a public holiday here today, so this week is a short work-week.  It's going to be a busy one because we have a concert on Friday and various other things going on as well.  Then, the following week, we're on tour, so I'll only get one day in the office before leaving for five days.

So, my goals this week are pretty small.  

I managed to write two stories for the anthology this weekend.  One is better than the other, but I think I can work on the one I don't like so much.  Assuming I get a little time to edit before these are due to be judged.  I hope to find time to write one more next weekend, which leaves three left to finish the anthology.  Do-able, I think, even if I don't find the time to take some of my time in lieu days.  You never know.  I may even find time to write one while I'm on the road.  But, I doubt it.

I have to learn a new ride class next weekend too, because I'm teaching ride for the next four Sundays.  I'm sure I could fall back on one I've taught a lot of times before and no one will notice, but it does feel a little like cheating.  I'd do the new one I learned a couple of weeks back, but we've been doing that the last three weeks and it's past its shelf life.  I'll see what's available in my arsenal...

And, that's about it for goals for me this week.  I like to keep them small when I know I'm busy.

Celebrate the Small Things 29-5-26

 

It's the end of the week, so what am I celebrating?

It's the weekend!  And even better, it's a long weekend!

It's been a busy week, one of those weeks where I feel like I'm constantly rushing from one place to the next.  And unfortunately, the weekend feels like it's going to be a bit crammed with stuff to do too, so I don't foresee much time to rest.

I need to write a couple of stories for the anthology this weekend.  I have 4 weeks left and 6 stories to write, so I need to tray and knock a couple off this weekend.  I'm hoping to get one written on Saturday nd one on Sunday because I've got plans with my old team on Monday.

I got a rejection on one of the fulls I had out this week, which was disappointing.  I had such hopes that A Stranger to Kindness would be the book that broke out for me, but there just doesn't seem to be a market for that kind of book right now.  I'll keep trying for a little while longer though.  I love those characters too much to give up on them.  

Plus, I know the new book will be an even harder one to sell.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: The Ballad of Darcy and Russell

I've read all Morgan Matson's other books and really enjoyed them, so it was a no-brainer to pick this one up at the library.  And I was not disappointed.

It's a romance that initially is set up to be like the Before Sunrise movies, where the whole story plays out in one night.  That's actually what the main character, Darcy, wants it to be. She's a romantic who adores movies like this and has been hanging out for her own moment of magic.  

Of course though, things never quite work out the way they do in the movies...

The weekend before leaving to go to college on the East Coast, Darcy throws caution to the wind and goes with an acquaintance to a music festival.  Her dad's favourite band, the one she grew up listening to, is playing and she's excited to experience it firsthand.  All this happens before the book actually starts, and we catch up with Darcy after the festival, after her "friend" ditched her and left her to take the bus back to LA.  The bus breaks down, leaving her stranded at a remote bus station in Nevada.  Her phone's almost out of charge and her friend accidentally took her charger, so she has no way to top it up.  Her flight to college is the next night, so the clock starts ticking the moment the bus breaks down and she's told a replacement won't be able to get there until the next morning.

Russell is also stranded at the bus station.  He and Darcy cross paths because news travels that she's looking for a charger.  He doesn't have one either, and his phone is dead too, but suggests they go for a walk into town to see if they can find one.  She agrees and they set out together.  As they walk and talk, they start getting to know each other and there's a clear attraction between them.  By the time they discover this is a town that basically closes on a Sunday afternoon, things are going really well.  Sparks are flying and Darcy starts to think this is the romance she's been dreaming of.

Then they get caught swimming in a motel pool and everything changes.  It turns out Russell's phone isn't dead after all when he has to make call to his dad to keep them from being arrested for trespassing.  And then the truth about who Russell really is comes out and Darcy finds herself flung into an entirely different adventure.

I won't reveal any more of the plot because what's so enjoyable about this book is how far away from the expected it takes you.  After setting up to be the meet-cute-one-night-romance, it becomes something very different, but no less enjoyable.

Darcy and Russell are delightful protagonists with real flaws and charms, and backstories that inform their current situations in the best possible way.  The people they come across along their adventure are also very engaging and interesting and even Darcy's best friends who we never meet, but hear from through the voices in her head, are very well drawn.

So, I'd recommend this one.  It's fun and light and romantic, even though it isn't the romance it promises to be in the first few chapters.

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

Darcy believes in love at first sight. Even though it’s never happened to her, she’s spent her whole life waiting for that magical moment, hoping that when she meets the right guy, everything will fall into place perfectly.

But right now, her life is anything but perfect. Heading home from a music festival, engine trouble means she’s stranded at a Nevada bus station until morning. Even worse, it’s the day before she leaves for college, her phone is dead, and she has no cash. Darcy’s convinced nothing good can come of this night…but then she meets Russell. Cute, nice, funny, and kind, this is the guy—and the moment—she’s been waiting for. As they walk and talk, the two connect, and Darcy is able to put aside all her fears and doubts about the future to focus on this perfect guy.

Over the course of one fateful night, Darcy and Russell discover things they never imagined about each other and themselves. But can you really know someone after only a handful of hours? Is it possible to fall in love in less than day? Before they part, both their lives will be changed, and Darcy and Russell will have to decide if it’s worth saying hello when you know you’re destined for a goodbye.

Weekly Goals 25-5-26

 I didn't end up writing a story this weekend.  Life somehow got in the way and I ran out of time for it.  So, next weekend I'll need to try and write two.  Luckily, it's a long weekend, so I get an extra day in there to write.

I have six more stories to write to get to the end of the album, and about a month to do it in.  I think I'm going to be pushing it a little to get done, especially since I'm going on tour with the orchestra in the second week of June.  But, I'll try.  I'll have a lot of hours owing to me when I get back from tour, so I may be able to take a day or two off to write and get back on track.

My son is graduating this week, so I get to go and watch him get his degree.  It's going to be long and hot and boring, but it's one of those important things you have to do.  A real milestone in his life.

And that's about it for goals this week.  I suspect it's going to be another busy one at work, so I don't want to overwhelm myself.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 23-5-26

 

It's the end of the week, so what am I celebrating?

It's the weekend!

It's been a busy week with a Board meeting, a concert tour and a lot of other stuff going on.  I haven't had much chance to write, partly because I've been too busy and partly because I'm tired.  I only taught three classes this week, but that was enough!

I got a rejection for Guide Us which made me laugh because I stopped querying that book more than 18 months ago.  I know agents are snowed under, but if it's taking two years to respond to a query, maybe it's time to close for a while and get things to a more manageable place?

I'm going to try and write another story for my anthology this weekend.  I'm up to the song I think is the most challenging on the album, and I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to write.  I might try writing a dialogue only story for this one, where the main character speaks only in riddles.  Sounds like it might be hard, but I think if the other character - who will probably be the therapist trying to get through - can tell most of the story through the questions and comments they make, it could work.

The whole point of writing this anthology is to experiment, so this will definitely fit the bill!

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: Under the Same Stars

 

I've loved all of Libba Bray's books, so when I saw this one in the library, I knew it was a must read for me.  And I wasn't disappointed.

The book is set in three different time periods - Nazi Germany during the early part of the war, 1980s Berlin and 2020 New York during the pandemic.  Very different times, very different characters, but somehow, all the people in these three eras are connected.

The story centers on a tree known as the Bridegroom's Oak.  Legend has it, if you write a letter and post it in the tree, your true love will write back.  In 1940s small town Germany, Sophie is still young enough to believe in fairy tales even as her best friend Hanna urges her to grow up and think about other things.  But Sophie continues to write to the tree, the letters she receives back the only bright thing in an increasingly dark world as war sets in.  

When she and Hanna join the Resistance, the oak and its legendary powers become critical to their mission to get innocent people out of the country before they are put to death.

In 1980s Berlin, Jenny has just arrived with her family to spend the summer.  She's suffocating under the weight of their expectations and unsure if the life she wants is the one she sees her mother living.  When she meets Lena, a punk determined to tear down the wall splitting the city in two, everything changes.  And then there's the old lady in her apartment building whose secrets are too intriguing to ignore.

And in 2020, the pandemic has everyone shut into their homes.  Miles, just finishing his final year of high school, is alone in his apartment, on of his mothers trapped overseas, the other staying away because she works as a nurse at a local hospital.  When his friend Chloe receives a strange package from her Swedish grandmother, they embark on a mission to discover the truth behind a mystery from 80 years ago - how two girls went missing near the Bridegroom Oak.

When I started this book, I had no idea how these three very disparate stories might relate to one another and how they might come together.  I was fascinated by the portrait of Berlin in that 1980s period - I lived in Berlin later, in the early 2000s, and by that time so much of the division between East and West had already been erased.

When, at about the halfway point, I started to figure out how each time period related to each other, I was compelled to keep reading, desperately wanting to know how everything played out.

The details of each time period were vividly drawn .  There must have been a lot of research done to get each time and place feeling this authentic and lived in.  And even though the wartime story was the the central one, neither of the other ones felt like they were in service of it or existed solely to push through ideas and information that would help resolve that one.  Every set of characters had their own lives, loves and things that concerned them, outside of the other story.

So, I'd recommend this one.  It's well written, well researched, and more importantly, a compelling story that will keep you turning the pages as each new revelation comes to light.

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

It was said that if you write to the Bridegroom’s Oak, the love of your life will answer back. Now, the tree is giving up its secrets at last.

In 1940s Germany, Sophie is excited to discover a message waiting for her in the Bridegroom's Oak from a mysterious suitor. Meanwhile, her best friend, Hanna, is sending messages too—but not to find love. As World War II unfolds in their small town of Kleinwald, the oak may hold the key to resistance against the Nazis.

In 1980s West Germany, American teen transplant Jenny feels suffocated by her strict parents and is struggling to fit in. Until she finds herself falling for Lena, a punk-rock girl hell-bent on tearing down the wall separating West Germany from East Germany, and meeting Frau Hermann, a kind old lady with secrets of her own.

In Spring 2020, New York City, best friends Miles and Chloe are slogging through the last few months of senior year when an unexpected package from Chloe’s grandmother leads them to investigate a cold case about two unidentified teenagers who went missing under the Bridegroom’s Oak eighty years ago.

Weekly Goals 18-5-26

 It's going to be another busy week, although a little less busy than last week.  I'm only teaching three classes instead of six this week.  But my day job will be busy because we have concerts this week.

I managed to write another story for the anthology yesterday.  A really nasty story that I'm not sure I'll keep, but for now it works.  I really don't know where my imagination comes from sometimes.  This week I plan to write another story and hopefully get a few flash fiction pieces written too.  I didn't get much flash done last week because I was too busy.

I haven't been to the movies in a few weeks either, and there are a few things on I'd like to see, so I'm going to try to do that too.  It's tough to find time for everything I need to do at the moment.  Weekends just aren't long enough!

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 15-5-26

 

It's the end of the week, so what am I celebrating?

It's my birthday!

But, I'm not really celebrating as such.  I have to go to work today because we have a concert out of town I need to get some things ready for and I'm teaching a class at lunchtime.  I am going to take the afternoon off, but I have to learn the class I'm teaching the next two days during that time.

Because I knew I wasn't going to have time to do anything much today, I went to a show last night and got my nails done beforehand.  Nice little treat for me.  And on Sunday a friend is cooking dinner for me, which will be lovely.  I haven't seen much of her recently, so I'm looking forward to that.

Otherwise, not a whole lot to celebrate this week.  Had a work win and have managed to push a big new project over the line.  It's going to mean a lot of work for me between now and September, but in the long run, I think it will make everything much easier.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: Brother, Brother

 

Once again, I read this book and discovered after reading it that I had read it before.  A long time ago, but still... weird that nothing about it rang a bell for me.  Usually I get a sense of familiarity when I re-read something, but not this time.  And even stranger, I really enjoyed this book, so you'd think I'd remember it.

It's about a boy who has always been called Brother.  He's lived with his grandmother since his mother died, but she's been sick with cancer for years and as the book begins, she too dies, leaving Brother alone.  Among her things, he finds a newspaper story about a senator she's vocally despised for years and his son.  The accompanying photo shows the son and Brother is shocked to recognize his own face.

Understanding that this can only mean one thing, Brother heads to the near--private island where the senator lives to find out why he is only now discovering he has a twin.

On the way, he meets Kat, a smart, resourceful and very exciting girl who is eager to help him.  Not being someone who accepts help easily, he accepts her assistance grudgingly, but quickly finds he enjoys her company.  

On the island, he takes his time before approaching the senator, meeting his stepsister first and learning a little about the family he never knew was his.  He also begins to understand his grandmother's relationship with the family and reasons behind her ongoing hatred of them.

As secrets layer on lies, Brother has to decide if he even wants to be a part of this family who have claimed him, or if he'd prefer to make a family of his own.

I really enjoyed this book.  Brother's voice and perspective were unusual and effective and the supporting characters were well drawn.  I particularly enjoyed little Jack, the five-year-old Brother finds himself saddled with for the journey after his guardian disappears for a few days.

It's a fairly simple coming of age story, but Brother is an interesting character to spend time with and watching him figure out who he is and who he wants to be was satisfying.

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

After his grandmother's death, seventeen-year-old Brother sets out, with the abandoned son of a friend, on a 200-mile trip to North Carolina's Outer Banks to find his twin brother, of whose existence he just learned.

Part coming-of-age story, part love story, this is a book about finding out that who you are and where you come from aren't necessarily the same thing.

Weekly Goals 11-5-26

 It's looking like a busy week, so I'm not setting myself any big goals.  I'm teaching every day at the gym except Monday because it's our new release week and some classes need two instructors to launch the new programs.

After saying on Friday I hadn't had any new rejections, two came in yesterday, including one for a query I sent on Saturday.  Which was disappointing, but I always feel like it's better to know than to have to assume it's pass because it's been six months with no word.

I wrote a story yesterday for my collection.  I'm not sure I like it much, but I'll sit on it.  If I still hate it when I've written the rest, I'll write a different one to take its place.  My crit group are giving me good feedback on the ones I've already written.  I hope they can get through the bulk of them before I have to submit the story to the contest.

This week's goals are to write another story for the anthology and to learn all the spin classes I need to learn in time to teach them.  I think I've got the R30 one down, but tomorrow morning will be the test of that.  Once I've done it a couple of times, it'll be in there for good.  And I only need to learn half of the Ride for the weekend, so I'll do that on Friday.  It's my birthday, so I'm planning to take half a day off to celebrate (and to learn the class).

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 8-5-26

 

It's the end of the week, so what am I celebrating?

It's the weekend!

And it has felt like a really long week too.  Unfortunately, I have a lot to do this weekend, so it's not going to be as restful as I'd hoped.

I want to try and write the next story for the anthology, but I also have a lot of other things I need to do.  I have 10 bags of mulch sitting on my lawn that need to be spread over the garden.  The weather isn't that great, but looks like it might improve on Sunday, so I think I'll do it then.

I'm teaching 6 classes next week, so need to learn both the new R30 and the new Ride classes for that.

And my house hasn't been cleaned in over a week, so that needs to happen too.  Plus, I'm going to have dinner with my extended family on Sunday.

But, on the plus side, I got no new rejections this week and a nice note from an agent who has my MS to tell me she's just behind, not ghosting.

On the work front, we sold out two out-of-town concerts, which is an exciting work-related milestone.  And a big piece of work I've been doing is close to getting the green light as a new project for us.  

I've taught four classes this week on top of all that, plus done a tuition session, so it's no wonder I'm a little tired.

What are you celebrating this week?

IWSG - May

 It's the first Wednesday of the month so it's time for....

The awesome co-hosts for the May 6 posting of the IWSG are Jenni Enzor, Jemima Pett, Jamie of Uniquely Maladjusted but Fun, and Kim Lajevardi!

This month's question has me scratching my head: What is the most inspiring feedback you received from readers, including agents, editors, and beta readers?

I have, and have had, tons of amazing feedback over my many, many years as a writer, so picking the most inspiring is a really tough ask!

But I think when I get down to it, I always feel the most satisfied when one of my readers (and most of all one of my crit partners - she's tough) tells me I made them cry.  I know...  it's not usually a positive thing to cry, but my books tend to have heartbreakingly sad moments in them and when a reader tells me they cried, I feel validated.  I did a good job and nailed the emotional intensity the way I wanted. 

Realistically, it's not just crying either; I write emotional stories about people going through a range of things in their lives.  I want the reader to feel the giddiness of falling in love for the first time, or the joy of reuniting with a loved one they thought they had lost forever.  So, if a reader tells me they felt those emotions along with the characters, that's a win for me.

Weirdly, one of my crit group stopped reading my latest book because he found it too difficult to keep reading.  Is it strange that I felt almost triumphant about that too?  If he felt that deeply about the situation my poor Arlo was in, I must have done it right.  Admittedly, I feel like that doesn't bode well for trying to sell the book, but I feel like there are enough lighter moments in the story to carry it through the darkness.

I also really like it when people enjoy my description.  I try hard to balance my writing and give just enough description to allow the reader to understand the setting.  And if I can use description to give character details as well, all the better.  So, it's a real treat for me when readers tell me they liked my descriptions.  Apparently I'm really good with food...

What pieces of feedback have really resonated with you?

Weekly Goals 4-5-26

I had a busy weekend, so I didn't get any real writing done, just a 500 word story for a monthly challenge I take part in.  So, this week I need to write at least one more story for the collection I'm working on.  I also have a lot of gym work coming up, so I need to learn some classes for the new release week next week.

And... that's about it.  I expect a busy week at work because we have out of town concerts this weekend, but one of them is sold out already and the other is close to sold out, so I could be wrong about that.  I'm not going on this tour which might be a mistake.  One of the venues is one we've never used before.

I have a lot of mulch arriving for the garden sometime this week, so I'll need to get that out next weekend too.

And that's about it for my goals.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 1-5-26

  

It's the end of the week, so what am I celebrating?

It's the weekend!

And how is it already May?  It's my birthday in two weeks and it feels like we just had Christmas.

It has been a rather uneventful week which is probably worth celebrating.  I had a couple of new rejections for A Stranger to Kindness, but one of them was very lovely and articulated exactly why she was passing.   Amazing how a thoughtfully worded rejection can hurt so much less.

I have a busy weekend ahead of me, so I'm not sure if I'm going to get much time to write a story, but I'll give it a go.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've read: 16 Forever

 

I picked this one from a list of books recommended to me by the Libby app when I was searching around for something to read on my phone.  And it was a fun read.

The book opens with Carter Cohen waking up, excited for his 16th birthday, certain his life is going to change today.  His first inkling that something is wrong comes when his annoying younger brother isn't hogging the bathroom as usual. And when he goes into his brother's room, it's strangely tidy.  Then, when he gets downstairs, his parents sit him down and explain that this is the 6th time he's lived this day - every year when he reaches the eve of his 17th birthday, he loops back in time and has no memory of the previous year he was 16.

In his last loop, Carter and Maggie fell in love.  She was hoping that telling him "I love you" on the eve of his birthday would be the key to him turning 17.  But, when he doesn't contact her that morning, she knows it hasn't happened.  Worse, at school, he doesn't even recognise her.  Unable to deal with the pain of being with someone who will forget her in a year, Maggie vows to pretend she doesn't know him.

But pretending is harder than she thinks it will be, and Carter senses something about her.  It becomes harder and harder for them to be apart, and more and more necessary because Maggie is keeping something a secret from everyone.

Over the course of the year, Carter and Maggie fall in love again.  But with college on the horizon for Maggie, and Carter's 17th birthday approaching again, can they figure out a way to keep him from forgetting her all over again?

This was a fun premise to start with, but as the problems Carter encountered got more and more challenging, the fun part of it got a little dark.  I mean, poor Carter woke up younger than his little brother!  And his poor parents, having to deal with a teenager long after they would have expected to have adult children who had left the nest.

There was some fun stuff in there, like the way Carter used his ID, with his actual birthdate, to legally buy booze and cigarettes and vapes for his friends.  Technically, not breaking the law..  But it was sad how he developed a talent one year, only to have lost the ability when looped again.  I can only see this as being a horrible way to live, no matter how much you enjoy being 16.

I enjoyed this book because Carter was a pretty fun character to spend time with mostly.  I didn't like Maggie so much, which was a shame because she's the POV narrator for some parts of the book.  I kind of understood where she was coming from, but there were places where she was unnecessarily cruel and that bugged me.

But if you're looking for something kind of light and fun to read, but with a little substance, you could do worse than this one.

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

It’s the morning of Carter Cohen’s 16th birthday, and everything’s going his way.

He’s psyched and ready to get his driver’s license, his little brother’s not hogging the bathroom, and, man, something smells good for breakfast…

But when Carter bounds downstairs, Mom bursts into tears. It happened again. It’s Carter’s 16th birthday—for the sixth time. Every time he’s supposed to turn 17, he loops back a year. His memory gets wiped clean, his body ages backward—the rest of the world moves on, just not him.

Maggie Spear, on the other hand, has been dreading this day ever since she and Carter started dating. When she spies him in the halls and he doesn’t seem to know her at all, it’s obvious that it’s over between them. She can’t be in a relationship with someone who is just going to forget her again and again. Since Carter doesn’t remember that they’re together, then it’s probably better if she just pretends that they never were.

Except Carter senses that there’s more to their story than Maggie’s letting on, and Maggie’s keeping secrets of her own—but in the process of trying to let the other go, they find themselves falling in love all over again.

With Maggie soon leaving for college and Carter’s birthday quickly coming around again, will they be able to find a forever that isn’t stuck at 16?

Weekly Goals 27-4-26

 I haven't managed to get as much writing done this weekend as I hoped.  The story I'm working on right now, just isn't singing and I'm kind of slogging through.  I may leave it unfinished for now and move on to the next one to see if that works better for me.  It's frustrating after having had such a productive day on Wednesday.

I guess I'll see how I go this afternoon.

I'm glad I've done as much as I have done already though.  The next couple of weeks are looking pretty busy and I may not have a lot of writing time available, so having a good buffer in terms of how much I've already written is good.  The end of June is not as far away as I think it is.

I'm teaching four classes a week for the next two weeks, so that's going to keep me busy, and that's on top of my regular job which is winding up into being very busy too..

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 24-4-26

 

It's the end of the week, so what am I celebrating?

It's the weekend!  And it's a holiday weekend so we get three days!

I had a good writing day on my day off on Wednesday and drafted two stories I'm not entirely happy with, but can work on.  The bones are there for me to polish up once I've finished the others.  I hope to write another two over the weekend, if I can.  I don't have much else on this weekend, so I should be able to get enough writing time in to do that.

That said, I do want to do a bit of resting this weekend.  I taught five spin classes this week and am teaching four per week for the next two weeks at least, so I think I need to give my body a little time to recover.

We had some pretty heavy rain this week and my garden took a bit of a battering, so hopefully the weather will be good enough on one of the three days for met t get out there and do some work on tidying things up.  Thankfully we didn't get flooded like so many other people around town.  Which is kind of a miracle considering the house is on a flood plain.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: Always Jane

I've read several other books by Jenn Bennett and have always enjoyed them, so when I saw this one, I thought I'd give it a whirl.  And I did enjoy it, despite there being a few things about it that bugged me.

Jane is the daughter of a chauffeur to a wealthy music producer and as such, she's lived a fairly privileged life in the big houses and summer homes he owns.  The summer house is at a lake town that is sleepy and quiet most of the year, but bursts into a hive of activity each summer as they host a legendary music festival.

The family behind the festival are the Sarafians, and Jane has long had a crush on the oldest boy, Eddie.  A couple of summers back, she and Eddie were at the town dam listening to music from a nearby club when Jane fell in and nearly drowned.  Now she suffers from aphasia, a disorder where she can't always find the words she wants.  But, on the plus side, since the accident Eddie has been attentive to her and she has been enjoying their long-distance relationship and looking forward to spending time with him at the lake over the summer.

So, it's a surprise when Eddie shows up at the airport when she arrives and says he's heading to the Philippines on business for his dad.  And when Jane wanders into the local vinyl store and meets Eddie's brother, she's surprised by his intensity.  Eddie has always been competitive with his brother and has never spoken kindly of Fen, so Jane is shocked by how likable this black-sheep brother seems to be.

Fen has long had a crush on Jane, and no more so since he pulled her from the water when she almost drowned.  And now she's back, and Eddie isn't there to overshadow him with his sweet talk and charm.  That he and Jane begin falling for one another is inevitable.

This was a good set up for a romance, the two brothers making two out of three points in a love triangle, but the fact Eddie left town in the first chapter or two, made it less effective.  I would have liked to see the brothers actually compete for Jane's affections, rather than Fen winning basically because he was there.  I also failed to see what was so great about Jane that she had both brothers falling all over her.

As a POV character, Jane was pretty thin.  She didn't have any real goal in the story and just kind of drifted through it.  There was some backstory about her possible parentage, but she didn't;t even seem that curious to find out if Mad Dog was her real father or not.

But it was still a fun read that kept me engaged all the way through.  The music festival setting in the background could have been played out more - that, for me anyway, was interesting, but it never really got used.

So, if you like sweet romances and love triangles, this one might be for you.  It's not perfect, but it's not a bad way to spend a few hours.

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

Eighteen-year-old chauffeur’s daughter Jane Marlow grew up among the domestic staff of a wealthy LA rock producer, within reach of bands she idolizes, but never a VIP. Every summer, Jane and her father head to the Sierras to work at the producer’s luxury lodge at Lake Condor—a resort town and the site of a major musical festival.

The legendary family who runs the festival are the Sarafians, and Jane’s had a longtime crush on their oldest son, Eddie—doltish but sweet. So when a long-distance romance finally sparks between them, she doesn’t hesitate to cross class lines.

But Jane’s feelings about Eddie are thrown into question after she returns to the lake and reconnects with his alluringly intense brother, the dark horse of her placid summer plans. A fellow lover of music—and hater of the game—Fen Sarafian has been ousted from the family and is slumming it at a vinyl record shop. He burns for Jane like a house on fire and will do anything to sabotage his older brother, even if it means taking a wrecking ball to a multi-million-dollar music festival. Or Jane’s heart.

Weekly Goals 20-4-26

 I managed to get a lot out of my short weekend and got everything done that I wanted to, even with having to work half of Saturday.  

I wrote the second story in my story anthology and I'm much happier with it than I am with the first one.  I'm sure I'll need to polish and tweak all of these when I'm done writing, but having something to polish and tweak is a start.

I've written the opening of the third story too, so I have somewhere to launch from when I start writing again on Wednesday.  I'm looking forward to having a full day to write and seeing what I can accomplish when I have that stretch of time to work.

Plus, I 'd forgotten this weekend is a holiday weekend, so I have an extra day up my sleeve.  If things go well, I could have five or six stories drafted by the end of the weekend - way ahead of the pace I thought I needed to set for this.  I might even have time to go to a movie as well!

Work-wise, this week isn't the most intense because we have no shows for a couple of weeks.  But I am looking into new systems and will have to make a decision relatively quickly to meet the timeframe we'd need to get everything up and running by September.  

What are your goals this week?

Celebrated the Small Things 17-4-26

 

It's the end of the week, so what am I celebrating?

It's the weekend!

Well, sort of.  I do have to work on Saturday because we're running a school holiday program at the museum.  It's going to be crazy - both sessions are sold out with over 350 kids in each. Although, the weather is supposed to be horrible on Saturday, so we may lose a few people to that.

While that's not going to take my whole Saturday, it's definitely going to cut into my leisure time, so writing this weekend might not be as productive as last weekend.  But all is not lost!  Because I'm working this weekend, I'm taking Wednesday off and plan to go to the library to write all day.  I think I should be able to draft at least two stories in that time, if I'm lucky.

Nothing much else to report here.  It's that time of year where winter is just about to kick in, but we still have some gorgeous days that feel summery.  I don't think that's going to last too much longer though.  I probably only have another three to four weeks left in which I can ride my bike to work.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: Rent a Boyfriend

 

I'm a huge fan of Gloria Chao.  I discovered her first book, American Panda, before it was published and she entered parts of it in a contest I was slush-reading for.  The voice and humor just leapt off the page.  I can't remember if she won the contest or not (I think she did), but it was not a huge surprise when the book was published.

Rent a Boyfriend mines similar ground in that it's about the massive divide between an American-born Chinese girl and her very traditional Chinese parents.

Chloe (or at home, Jing Jing) is at college in Chicago.  With the holidays looming, she's terrified about going home to California and facing her overbearing parents who have basically promised her to the worthless son of a wealthy family in their community.  In an attempt to put the brakes on this arranged marriage, Chloe uses a company called Rent for Your 'Rents and hires a boyfriend for the holidays - Drew, who arrives as serious, studious Andrew.

Her parents aren't entirely convinced that her relationship with Andrew is real, and are not sure he's from a good enough family to support her the way they want her to be supported.  There's friction, fighting and some hilariously bad food involved.  And somewhere in that mess, Chloe and Drew begin to have feelings for each other.

With the arranged marriage still on the table, Chloe hires Drew again for the next holiday and the lies begin piling up as she blows her entire family's lives apart.  And somewhere, within all this chaos, she and Drew fall in love.

Drew's family have basically disowned him for not following their dream for him becoming a doctor or lawyer or architect.   Instead, he dropped out of college to try and become an artist, something that is not going well because he doesn't have the confidence to show anyone his art.  If Chloe's parents find out the truth about Drew,  they will definitely not trust him with their daughter's future.

As Chloe and Drew grow closer, she gives him the confidence to try and move forward with his art while he shows her that she doesn't have to give up her Chinese side to have a happy life.

This was a deeply uncomfortable read.  Chloe's parents are so well drawn with their traditions, superstitions and neuroses.  To anyone not familiar with Chinese culture, they could be seen as borderline abusive, but if you understand, you can see it's just their way of showing their daughter they love her.  Unfortunately, Chloe has been brought up n western culture and doesn't want the things her parents want for her.

Drew's character was kind of under-written in many ways.  He lacked direction, I think.  If he dropped out of college to pursue art, he should have been pursuing it, rather than hiding it in his room, too afraid of failure here too to even make an attempt.

Yet, despite being somewhat under written in places, the book felt too long.  There were several places it could have ended and didn't.

I didn't dislike it, but there was definitely some tightening that could have been done.

But if you enjoy reading about cultural clashes and people finding the strength to defy their parents and go their own way, this is a good place to start.

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

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before meets The Farewell in this incisive romantic comedy about a college student who hires a fake boyfriend to appease her traditional Taiwanese parents, to disastrous results, from the acclaimed author of American Panda.

Chloe Wang is nervous to introduce her parents to her boyfriend, because the truth is, she hasn’t met him yet either. She hired him from Rent for Your ’Rents, a company specializing in providing fake boyfriends trained to impress even the most traditional Asian parents.

Drew Chan’s passion is art, but after his parents cut him off for dropping out of college to pursue his dreams, he became a Rent for Your ’Rents employee to keep a roof over his head. Luckily, learning protocols like “Type C parents prefer quiet, kind, zero-PDA gestures” comes naturally to him.

When Chloe rents Drew, the mission is simple: convince her parents fake Drew is worthy of their approval so they’ll stop pressuring her to accept a proposal from Hongbo, the wealthiest (and slimiest) young bachelor in their tight-knit Asian American community.

But when Chloe starts to fall for the real Drew—who, unlike his fake persona, is definitely not ’rent-worthy—her carefully curated life begins to unravel. Can she figure out what she wants before she loses everything?

Weekly Goals 13-4-26

 I drafted my first story for this short story collection over the weekend.  It's not great.  I was on a real roll with it on Saturday, but when I came back to finish it on Sunday, I'd kind of lost what I was trying to do.  I guess I'm so used to writing fast flash fiction where the story just comes out in a burst, stopping in the middle was kind of a mistake.  On the plus side, I know what I need to do to fix it.

My goal this week is to write at least one, probably two more stories.  The timeframe for this contest is pretty tight, so I need to work fast.  I figure if I get rough drafts of all the stories done quickly, then I'll have some time to polish and finesse them before they're due.  

I'm working this weekend, so I plan to take a day off during the week next week and if things go well, I should be able to draft at least two, if not three stories that day.

I should find out tomorrow if I've won another contest I entered.  It's exciting (and a little nerve wracking).  I don't expect to win, but it would be nice...

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 10-4-26

 

It's the end of the week, so what am I celebrating?

It's the weekend!

I have some writing stuff to do, so I'm glad I'm not away or otherwise occupied this weekend.  I signed up for a writing challenge where you have to write a short story of up to 2500 words for each song on an album.  As someone who has been quite obsessive about music since I was young, this was a challenge I couldn't pass up!  It closes at the end of June, so I have just over 2 months to write my stories - 14, because the record I chose has 14 songs - which is both a very short time and quite a long one when you consider that I usually write a 1000 word story every day.

I have a theme for my stories, and after listening to the record again yesterday, I think I have some ideas for the stories in this loosely connected collection.  I'm setting it n a psychiatric hospital and while I initially thought I might write some horror or supernatural stories in that space, the ideas that have come to me are all characters, so I think we're probably looking at a collection of stories about different people in that space.  

But, it's early days yet, so that may change as I write.

It means the new novel I was planning to start is kind of on the back burner, but I don't think that's a bad thing because it hasn't really started coming together in my head very well yet.  Maybe by the time I finish this other project I will have a better idea.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: The Last to Let Go

I really enjoyed a previous book by Amber Smith, so when I saw this on the shelf at the library, I jumped.  And I was not disappointed.

Brooke feels like her life is about to begin for real.  She's been accepted at a great school for her last two years of high school and feels like she is finally on track to live her dream: get a college scholarship and get out of town.  She has the grades and the drive and nothing is going to stop her.

Then her mother is arrested after murdering her father.  

It's a shock.  Her dad has always been abusive, but Brooke never thought her mother would do anything but forgive him and make excuses the way she has for years.  No one knows exactly what happened, even Brooke's younger sister who saw the whole thing happen.

Suddenly, Brooke's world is in turmoil and rather than getting through her summer reading list, she's staying with her mother's best friend she never knew existed, picking her sister up from a therapist's office and meeting a grandmother she's long assumed to be dead.  Plus, dealing with her older brother who fled the house a few years earlier to move in with his girlfriend rather than face their father's continual abuse.

I thought this book was very realistic in the way it portrays the long-term effects f living in an abusive home.  Brooke has always hated her family's dynamic, yet is the most unable of her siblings to give up on keeping the family together as best she can.  When she forces her brother to move back into their apartment and act as guardian to her and her sister, I knew it was not going to work out.

Alongside the family struggles, Brooke's clumsy attempts at first love and finding friends at her new school plays out in a very realistic way.  As someone who has been keeping their home life struggles a secret her whole life, Brooke's inability to open up to the girl she likes is wholly realistic.  And as the secrets pile up, her increasingly desperate attempts at holding what's left of her family together have a devastating effect on not just her, but everyone around her.

It's not an easy read.  It's actually quite harrowing in places, but that's what makes it so strikingly realistic.  Brooke is so stubbornly a teenager, despite all the responsibility she takes, and her inability to foresee the consequences of her actions is very realistic.

So, I'd recommend this one if, like me, you enjoy gritty, realistic stories about characters going through traumatic things.

But don't just listen to me.

Here's the blurb:

How do you let go of something you’ve never had?

Junior year for Brooke Winters is supposed to be about change. She’s transferring schools, starting fresh, and making plans for college so she can finally leave her hometown, her family, and her past behind.

But all of her dreams are shattered one hot summer afternoon when her mother is arrested for killing Brooke’s abusive father. No one really knows what happened that day, if it was premeditated or self-defense, whether it was right or wrong. And now Brooke and her siblings are on their own.

In a year of firsts—the first year without parents, first love, first heartbreak, and her first taste of freedom—Brooke must confront the shadow of her family’s violence and dysfunction, as she struggles to embrace her identity, finds her true place in the world, and learns how to let go.

Weekly Goals 6-4-26

 It's a concert week this week, so it's going to be busy at work.  Especially with the short week.  Plus, I'm teaching an extra class at a different gym as well.

As a result, I'm nt going to put a lot of pressure on myself with goals.  I planted a whole bunch of new stuff out the front of my house, so my goal is to keep it alive if I can.   I haven't had a great track record in that particular part of the garden and picked plants that I think will be hardy enough to survive the winter, but they will need watering and maybe some fertilizing to keep them healthy.

I haven't started writing the new book yet.  Unusually for me, I know how it starts, but everything beyond that is a little vague and I feel like I need to know more about what happens after the start to be able to keep going.  So, I'm sitting on it.  I'll write that first part soon, but I know there's a second character who's important to the story and I'm beginning to think she may need to be a POV character too to make this story work.  I think maybe having the whole this in the MC's voice might be too much.  So, I need this other character to introduce herself more fully so I know her deal.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 3-4-26

 

It's the end of the week, so what am I celebrating?

It's the weekend!  And it's a long one!  Four days because of Easter.

I have a few things I need to do over the long weekend.  When my house got painted, the painters wrecked my garden with their ladders so I had to pull everything out.  This weekend I'm going to get some new plants and get them in the ground.  I also have a screenplay to read for a friend and give notes on.  Plus, a monthly flash fiction challenge to write and maybe start the new book that's beginning to clamor for attention. 

I won't be bored.

I saw a new film, The Drama, which I enjoyed.  I love a good character study and this film was a great example of exploring why and how people do things in specific circumstances.

What are you celebrating this week?

IWSG: April

 It's 1 April so it's time for the Insecure Writers Support Group!

The awesome co-hosts for this  posting of the IWSG are Melissa Maygrove, Cathrina Constantine, Kate Larkindale, and Rebecca Douglass!

This month's question is an interesting one:

If you have a playlist (or could put one together) that either gets you in the groove to write or fits with one of your books, what is it? What type of music or what songs?

I usually don't listen to music while I'm writing, and if I do, I listen to music without lyrics or with lyrics in a language I don't understand.  I also don't find I have a particular playlist for a specific book most of the time.  With a few very important exceptions.

The Sidewalk's Regrets had a soundtrack, but it's a book about music and falling in love with music.  The specific album I thrashed while writing that one was Teenage Snuff Film by Rowland S. Howard.

Guide Us also had a soundtrack, but a very different one.  That book was fueled by musical theater songs.

The rest of my books don't really have specific songs associated with them, although I guess you could say Standing Too Close was partially inspired by the Police song Don't Stand Too Close to Me. The title anyway.  And the fact there's an inappropriate teacher-student relationship in there.

Mostly, if I listen to music while writing, I listen to a playlist of classical music I call Classical Music for Metalheads.  It has all the really bombastic classical music moments, the ones that show the clear line between classical and metal.  It's great for amping up the energy.

Or, I listen to Arabic music which is achingly beautiful even though I can't understand the words at all.

And, I love Elgar's cello concertos.  They're amazing to write to.  So many different textures and emotions in there,

I have a new book brewing in my head right now.  I'm not sure if I'm a good enough writer to tackle it because the main character is going to be a huge challenge to write.  I need a little more time for him to settle (why do all my main characters at the moment seem to be boys?) in my brain, and there are some other characters that haven't fully revealed themselves yet.  I wonder if this book will have a playlist. and if so, what it might be...

What kind of music do you like to listen to when you write?   Do your books have playlists?