Books I've Read: I Cheerfully Refuse

When I first got the Libby app on my phone, this was one of the first books I found that I wanted to read.  Unfortunately, I needed up being 400th on a waiting list for it.  So, it was a surprise the other day to walk along the shelves at the library and find it just sitting there.  Of course I took it.  Lief Enger has been a favorite author of mine since I read Peace Like a River many years back and while I did enjoy aspects of this book, I didn't love it.

Set in an undefined near future, the book follows Rainey, a bass player, as he embarks on a dangerous journey on Lake Superior following the loss of his wife.  Lake, his wife, was clearly the driving force in his life, a force of nature whose intelligence and curiosity was enough to drive them both.  In this particular dystopian future, she ran a bookstore, selling something that is no longer valued by most people.

Unable to face staying in the house they shared after she is killed, Rainey takes off in the ramshackle boat he and a friend have been restoring.  He has a vague idea of going to islands where he and Lake once spent the happiest days of their courtship.  If she remains on Earth, he's sure what remains will be there.

But the lake is capricious and dangerous as are the people who live on and around it.  Rainey's journey has him facing storms, beaurocrats, dangerous thugs and more.  Yet, he also encounters human kindness and compassion.

The future world Enger paints here is one deeply divided.  The wealthy, ruling class (known as astronauts) is happy to keep the rest of society illiterate and increasingly dependent on a mysterious supstance known as "willow".  Those who work for the "astronauts" are virtual slaves, while those who refuse are forced to scrabble around for enough scraps to subsist on.

I enjoyed Raineys journey and the colorful cast of characters he met along the way.  I also ejoyed the way Rainey became almost a hero by the end, inadevertently leading a quiet revolution against the powers that be.

What I struggled with was how unemotional he was about everything.  I never felt that Raney was struggling despite him saying he was.  None of the emotions felt like they were being experienced in real time and it made it difficult to connect to the characters.

Which is a shame, because the story is gripping and beuatifully written.  I just never had the kind of emotiional immersion I need to truly love a story.

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

Set in a not-too-distant America, I Cheerfully Refuse is the tale of Rainy, an aspiring musician setting sail on Lake Superior in search of his departed, deeply beloved, bookselling wife. An endearing bear of an Orphean narrator, he seeks refuge in the harbors, fogs, and remote islands of the inland sea. After encountering lunatic storms and rising corpses from the warming depths, he eventually lands to find an increasingly desperate and illiterate people, a malignant billionaire ruling class, a crumbled infrastructure, and a lawless society. As his guileless nature begins to make an inadvertent rebel of him, Rainy’s private quest for the love of his life grows into something wider and wilder, sweeping up friends and foes alike in his wake.

Weekly Goals 17-8-26

 It's probably the busiest two to three weeks of the year, so of course I've picked up a bug.  It's not terrible and hasn't stopped me from doing anything yet, but I don't feel that great.  It seems to be settling in my chest too which is not wonderful.  In the middle of the night I was certain I'd need to take the day off work today and was trying to figure out how to shuffle everything around to make that work,  but now that I'm up, I think I'll probably be okay to go in.  So long as no one minds me coughing like a dog barking...

So again, this week is going to be about getting through it.  I have a lot to do to get ready for the new ticketing system to go live next week, plus I'm going on tour one the weekend.  Not to mention, I have tickets for six films between now and Thursday!

Which leads me to the films I saw over the weekend.

The Best Summer is a doco by Tamra Davis that she made from some old video tapes she found when packing up stuff to escape the fires in LA a couple of years back.  In 1995 she went with her then husband, one of the Beastie Boys, on a tour of Australia and Asia, filming behind the scenes and concert footage as she went.  With the line-up including Sonic Youth, Bikini Kill, Foo Fighters, Rancid and more, this film captures the camaraderie, the youthful exuberance and excitement of these young bands on tour.

Kim Novak's Vertigo is a fascinating doc about the blonde star of Hitchcock's most enigmatic film.  Having left Hollywood while still relatively young, Novak has spent years living with a range of animals and painting which was, apparently, her first love.  The director has access to her attic where she's stored all the memorabilia and trinkets associated with her long-gone film career and manages to get her to open up about her acting (or, as she describes it, re-acting) and the two characters she portrays in Vertigo.

Goodbye, Cruel World is a French film about a young boy, bullied relentlessly at school, who decides he's had enough.  He writes a letter, makes enough copies to post to everyone in his class, firmly laying the blame at their feet, and goes to kill himself by leaping off a bridge into a fast-moving river.  But he doesn't die.  Frustrated, he hides out in an abandoned nunnery, knowing he can't go home.  When he's discovered by a classmate walking her dog, she hides him in an unused room at her mother's hotel and they quickly become friends, then more, making plans to leave together and build a new life.   I enjoyed this one, but felt like it stayed very much on the safe side.  There was a lot more the writer could have done with the premise and it annoyed me a little that the story didn't push outside its comfort zone a little more.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 14-8-26

 

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

So what am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend!

Although, not much of a weekend for because we have concerts tonight and tomorrow night.  But in between I plan to do a lot of resting and relaxing because this week has been mayhem.

And seeing some films since the film festival has started.  I've only seen two so far, but I liked them both.

Father, Mother, Sister, Brother is the latest film from Jim Jarmusch who I've been a massive fan of since the early '90s.  This is an episodic film, three distinct, yet linked stories about familiar relationships.  In the first, siblings (played by Adam Driver and Mayim Biaylik who look eerily like they could be related) go to visit their father  (Tom Waits) in his ramshackle house in the middle of nowhere.  He's a shambling guy, always underemployed and his kids have had to help him out frequently with groceries and household repairs.  Yet everything isn't quite what it seems on the surface.  In the second vignette, a mother (Charlotte Rampling) is having her daughters over for afternoon tea.  Apparently this is the only day of the year they see each other, despite all living in Dublin, so it's a big deal.  Again, not everything is as it seems on the surface.  And the final piece is about a brother and sister, twins, dealing with the sudden death of their bohemian parents and clearing out their belongings from their Paris flat.   I really enjoyed this film.  It's quiet, but has the same subtly delicious humor Jarmusch always manages to capture, yet was also quite heartbreaking in all the different ways family relationships can be broken.

Mouse was a pleasant surprise.  I couldn't remember what it was about when I went in, and it ended up being a beautifully captured portrait of grief and grieving.  Just before going into their senior year, besties Minnie and Callie are dreaming about the future.  Callie, the outgoing, exuberant one, has huge plans for her life, while Minnie has smaller ambitions.  But when Callie is killed in a car crash, it sends Minnie spinning.  Callie's presence gave her life meaning.  Who is she now Callie is gone?  Alongside Minnie's story is that of Callie's mother, a once-promising concert pianist who gave it all up to be a mother.  As she and Minnie deal with their individual grieving, their lives become increasing tangled which may or may not be complicating things as they try to reset their own lives.  I liked this one very much and it was a lovely continuation of the themes from the previous night's film, with its focus on mother-daughter relationships.

I have another three to see over the weekend... I'm tired and a little sick, but hopefully I'll make it through them all.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: Lycanthropy and other Chronic Illnesses

I picked this one up at the library because of the title.  I mean, who wouldn't?  And it was a super fun read that I whipped through in just a few days.

Priya is at home again after getting sick while studying pre-med at Stanford.  The fallout from her Lyme disease leaves her weak and in constant pain and she feels like a failure for not being able to live out the dreams she worked so hard to achieve.  Yet every day is such a struggle to get through, she can't imagine going back to that life.

The only bright spots in her life are her online pen-pal Brigid and the support group they form with other chronic illness sufferers.  Here she can be honest about how she's feeling, how hard it is to get through each day and know the others will relate.

When Brigid suddenly vanishes from the group and won't respond to Priya's messages, she decides she needs to take matters into her own hands, steals the family car and drives to Brigid's house in the next state.

Where she finds something that might be a werewolf?  And the werewolf might be Brigid?

As their friendship deepens and Brigid's condition worsens, both young women have to face up to the fact this might just be their new normal.

I really enjoyed this book.  The idea that lycanthropy is a chronic illness kind of tickled me in the best possible way.  All the characters felt very real in this book and even at their most preposterous, the challenges they faced were handled with conviction and flare.

But the best thing about it is the depiction of friendship and the lengths people will go to for their friends.  Even if it does cause friction within your own family.  And then, to boot, it's also great fun.  Especially when photographers catch sight of Brigid in her werewolf form and internet rumors start to spiral...

So I'd recommend this one.  It's fun and silly, but has a lot to say about chronic illnesses and the way people suffering from them can be treated.  Especially when it's not something easily visible to others.

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

Teen Wolf meets Emergency Contact in this sharply observed, hilarious, and heartwarming debut young adult novel about friendship, chronic illness, and . . . werewolves.

Priya worked hard to pursue her premed dreams at Stanford, but the fallout from undiagnosed Lyme disease sends her back to her childhood home in New Jersey during her sophomore year—and leaves her wondering if she’ll ever be able to return to the way things were.

Thankfully she has her online pen pal, Brigid, and the rest of the members of “oof ouch my bones,” a virtual support group that meets on Discord to crack jokes and vent about their own chronic illnesses.

When Brigid suddenly goes offline, Priya does something out of character: she steals the family car and drives to Pennsylvania to check on Brigid. Priya isn’t sure what to expect, but it isn’t the horrifying creature that's shut in the basement.

With Brigid nowhere to be found, Priya begins to puzzle together an impossible but obvious truth: the creature might be a werewolf—and the werewolf might be Brigid. As Brigid's unique condition worsens, their friendship will be deepened and challenged in unexpected ways, forcing them to reckon with their own ideas of what it means to be normal.

Weekly Goals 10-8-26

 The next three or four weeks are going to be the busiest weeks of the year, I think,  in terms of my day jobs, so I'm not setting any goals outside of that.  We have until around the 24th of August to get the new systems up and running so the season launch on 4 September goes smoothly.

I'm teaching five classes at the gym this week on top of that, plus the film festival starts and I have tickets to several films.

I also have concerts Friday and Saturday night and my son's band are playing their last ever gig on Wednesday.

To say I'm overcommitted would be something of an understatement.

So, this week I'm not setting any goals for myself in terms of writing.  I've told my critique group I'm out for three or four weeks and I'm going to use whatever spare time I might be able to find to rest and read and do things that don't require much brain power so I can try and make it through this crazy period.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 7-8-26

 

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

So what am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend!

It has been a crazy week and next weeks is going to get even crazier, so I'm going to try and do as much nothing as possible this weekend.  I do have some gym work to do on Sunday, and that involves learning a new class, but other than that, I'm not planning to do much work this weekend. 

My big project at work is going well, but time is very quickly ticking away and we're getting very close to the wire with finishing it.  We have less than a month until the new season launches and less than three weeks to get all the new systems to support it up and running.

Ack!

So, I haven't had any time to write or to really think about writing.

And the film festival starts this week.  I suspect I may have been a little ambitious in buying tickets to thirteen films when we have five concerts in that time too, plus all these new systems to get up and running.

But we'll see.  I'll do my best to do it all.  I can sleep in October.

What are you celebrating this week?

IWSG - August 2026

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

Thanks so much to  Shannon Lawrence, Diedre Knight, Liza, and Pat Garcia for being our hosts this month.

This month's question is a good one!

As a writer/author what is something you regret? Or something that you wish you'd done differently in your writing process?

I'm not sure if it's really regret, but if I knew what I now know, I would have done things quite differently in terms of my writing career.  I'm not unhappy with what I've achieved, but I definitely think I made a few mistakes along the way.

My biggest mistake, I think, was not trying to get a new agent as soon as possible after mine left the business.  The world, and most particularly the publishing world has changed immensely in the 10 years or so since then, and my experience trying to get an agent now is very different to the one I would have had if I'd just jumped right back into the trenches then.

But, at the time I was kind of traumatized by how everything had happened and I didn't feel like I wanted to go through it all again.  So, I accepted a small press offer and went ahead with publishing my books that way.  And don't get me wrong.  I'm proud of those books.  I'm thrilled with the emails I get from readers whose lives I touched, and the reviews have been almost universally great for all of them.  I just can't help thinking they'd be better books and would sell better if they'd had the benefit of a bigger publisher.

Not to mention, I might have a better chance at getting an agent now if I didn't have six well-reviewed books with a very low sales figures (except one: my first published novel, An Unstill Life, has been an Amazon bestseller twice) to my resume.

But, it's too late to change anything now.  I made the decisions I made at the time for a reason, so now I have to live with them.  It doesn't stop me wondering where I might be now if I had taken a different path back then...  

What is something you regret about your author-life decisions?

Weekly Goals 3-8-26

 The next month or so are going to be crazy busy for me at work, so I'm trying not to set myself a bunch of unrealistic goals around anything else.  Between my main job and teaching 6 classes this week, I'll be lucky if I find the time to even do any critiques for my writing group.  Luckily I finished my beta read yesterday, so that's one more thing off my plate.

I will try to write a few pieces of flash fiction just to keep that part of me satisfied, but I'm not hopeful about getting to one every day.  Last week I managed one.

I figure things will settle down a little innate September or October and I'll be able to start thinking about writing again then.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 31-7-26

 

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

It's the weekend!

It has been a busy week (again), so I'm looking forward to a little downtime.  Although, a little is what it will be.  I have a lot of chores to get through, a beta read to finish and I'm teaching on Sunday.  But at least it's a little different to everything I do at work during the week.  Except the teaching... I've been doing a lot of that.

Things are really ramping up at work with the new ticketing system and website needing to go live in about three weeks.  God.  Is it August already?  Yep.  Three weeks.  Ack!  That's really soon...

I don't think I'm going to get any writing done for a few more weeks.  With everything else going on, I don't see myself having the time to commit to anything other than the odd piece of flash fiction.  And even that is going to be a struggle to get to.  

I went to the dress rehearsal of the opera on Thursday night and really enjoyed it.  I don't usually like operas much, but I keep trying because I feel like they're something I should enjoy.  So I was pleased that I actually did like this one.  There were a lot of school kids n the audience at the dress rehearsal and they were very vocal which was fun.  I don't imagine the audience on opening night will be anything like as raucous.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: We Fell Apart

I've read a bunch of other books by this author, so when I found this one in the bargain bin at The Warehouse, I decided to give it a whirl.  

When Matilda gets a letter from the father she's never met, she jumps at the opportunity to visit him.  Her mother has recently moved to Mexico with a new lover, leaving Matilda behind with a former boyfriend.  With a few months before college starts, Matilda is searching for connection and this seems like an opportunity to finally connect with her father, a celebrated artist.

When she arrives on the island, she finds no father.  Apparently he left to sell a painting.  What she does find is Meer, a brother who is almost exactly the same age.  Meer is lovable as a puppy and Matilda finds herself instantly bonding with him.  Also living in the house are Brock, a former child-star battling addiction and seeking meaning in is post-Hollywood life, Tatum, a brooding, intense boy with a love of water, and June, Meer's mother who seems startled by Matilda's arrival and not at all welcoming.

Without her father,  Matilda tries to navigate life in this strange place while trying to find answers to her myriad questions.  But the more she discovers, the more secrets she stumbles upon.  And with each new secret, she becomes more and more certain that something weird is going on in the house.  And that everyone in it is lying.

I enjoyed this book.  The three boys Matilda finds at the house are well drawn and very distinct.  I did feel like June might have been a little over the top as the kind of wicked stepmother, but once the big reveal was ... revealed toward the end, her character made a lot more sense.

So, it you're a reader who likes twisted families with secrets, a touch of romance and wealthy people behaving badly, this might just be the book for you.

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

The invitation arrives out of the blue.

In it, Matilda discovers a father she’s never met. Kingsley Cello is a visionary, a reclusive artist. And when he asks her to spend the summer at his seaside home, Hidden Beach, Matilda expects to find a part of herself she’s never fully understood.

Instead, she finds Meer, her long-lost, openhearted brother; Brock, a former child star battling demons; and brooding, wild Tatum, who just wants her to leave their crumbling sanctuary.

With Kingsley nowhere to be seen, Matilda must delve into the twisted heart of Hidden Beach to uncover the answers she’s desperately craving. But secrets run thicker than blood, and blood runs like seawater.

And everyone here is lying.

Weekly Goals 27-7-26

 I don't have a huge number of goals this week.  The weekend was predictably exhausting, so I'm sitting her on Monday morning struggling to even think about what the week ahead might bring.  I am taking the day off today, so hopefully by tomorrow I might have a better idea what's needed.

I'm doing a beta read for a friend, so I'm hoping to finish that this week.  Then I can turn my attention to the new book I may have accidentally started.  I'm really not sure what it is, or if it's anything yet, but I'm sure it will come to me.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 24-7-26

 

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

It's the weekend!

Well, sort of...  I don't really get a real weekend this week because we're playing a concert in Christchurch on Sunday afternoon, so I have to go down there on Saturday evening.   On the plus side, I'll have time to catch up with a friend who recently moved down there.

It's been as busy a week as I suspected it was going to be and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by the amount to stuff I learned about our new system in just a few days.  Luckily I have a bit of time to practice before we get the live site, and then a couple of weeks to build everything on the live site and get things tidied up so they look the way I want them to look.  

No new rejections this week, which is good, I guess.  Although, with so many queries still outstanding, I'd rather know for sure they're passes than to keep waiting, just in case.

I'm hoping next week will be more manageable in terms of the workload, so I'm hoping to get caught up on some things.

I had a great idea for the opening lines of a new novel.  I just need to figure out the story to go with them...

What are you celebrating this week?

Weekly Goals 20-7-26

 I had a pretty quiet, restful weekend which is what I needed.  I started beta reading a book for a writing friend, but that was pretty much the extent of my writing work.

This week isn't going to be a good one for writing either since I have three days of all-day training sessions for using our new ticketing system, and concerts on Friday and Sunday.  It's going to be busy and exhausting.

As a result, my goals for the week are very small.  I plan to do a little more work on Rebecca's book where I can.  That's it for writing related stuff.

In life-related stuff, I just need to get through the week.  Trying to find time to do anything outside the training is going to be challenging, but I may just have to pull some late nights.  especially since I'm teaching at the gym during a few of the lunch breaks I've built into the schedule.

My son's band is playing on Thursday, and I really want to go, but I'm not sure if I'll be up to it after the three days of training and 4 classes I will have taught by then.  I guess we'll see.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 17-7-26

 

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

It's the weekend!

And boy do I need it.  It has been a crazy busy week at work, and next week is going to be even more so.  I feel like I'm not going to get any real chance at downtime until the Christmas break.  And that feels like it's a long way away.

No new rejections this week which is nice.  Although, I don't have a huge number of outstanding queries that aren't old enough for me to call them rejections purely based on the fact it's been 5 or 6 months with no response.

Film Festival tickets went on sale this week, and after a very frustrating day of trying to book and the system crashing, I managed to get tickets for everything I wanted and can go to.  Annoyingly, the orchestra is playing both weekends, so I'll be working and traveling when some of the films I most wanted to see are on.

And that's about it for celebrating this week.  I've been so busy I haven't even managed to do flash fiction this week.  I suspect it might be a while before I manage a full week of that again.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: On the Subject of Unmentionable Things

I admit it.  I picked this one up because of the cover.  It was just too pretty not to.  Thankfully, it turned out to be a pretty good read too.

Phoebe lives in a small town with her parents who are caring, but very busy with their business and one another.  She's a star journalist on the school paper and has a good group of friends who support and love her. She's a good girl who follows the rules, sometimes almost too well.

What no one knows about Phoebe is that she's Pom, the anonymous person behind a blog that's frank and open about all things sexual and doesn't shy away from difficult questions.  Phoebe's research is thorough and she started the blog out of a curiosity about sex and recognizing that the sex education taught in schools was not useful for real-life teens.

When one of the town's conservative mayoral candidates stumbles upon the blog and decides it's an affront to morality, she tweets about it and the blog goes viral.  With a sudden explosion of followers, Phoebe finds herself - or her alter-ego, Pom - in the firing line as the candidate demands Pom reveals their identity.  Suddenly the mayoral race becomes much more interesting as Phoebe fights to protect the things she believes in while desperately trying to keep her true self under the radar.

This was a fun read that deals with some important real-world issues facing us today.  It shows the power of social media and the responsibility people using it have.  It also shows how the clear abuse of power and platform can polarize people and spur them into action.

I just wish the characters had been a little better drawn.  I found Lydia, the Mayoral candidate almost cartoonish in her "bad guy" role.  And I never really warmed to Phoebe as a main character, which is a problem in a first-person narrative.  I did like her boyfriend, Jorge, and I thought the editor of the newspaper was a better villain than Lydia in many ways.

But overall, I enjoyed the book and the questions it posed about modern society.  Well worth a look!

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


A girl rewrites sex education, one viral post at a time, in this fiercely honest and delightfully awkward novel by the award-winning author of Words on Bathroom Walls.

Phoebe Townsend is a rule follower . . . or so everyone thinks. She’s an A student who writes for her small-town school newspaper. But what no one knows is that Phoebe is also Pom—the anonymous teen who’s rewriting sex education on her blog and social media.

Phoebe is not a pervert. No, really. Her unconventional hobby is just a research obsession. And sex should not be a secret. As long as Phoebe stays undercover, she’s sure she’ll fly through junior year unnoticed. . . .

That is, until Pom goes viral, courtesy of mayoral candidate Lydia Brookhurst. The former beauty queen labels Phoebe’s work an “assault on morality,” riling up her supporters and calling on Pom to reveal her identity. But Phoebe is not backing down. With her anonymity on the line, is it all worth the fight?

Julia Walton delivers a brutally honest novel about sex, social media, and the courage to pursue truth when misinformation is rife. Who knew truth could be so scandalous?

Weekly Goals 13-7-26

 Despite the freezing weather, I had a good long weekend.  I saw a couple of movies, which was good and I went to the final of the Song Quest, New Zealand's competition for opera singers which was fun.  The guy who won was 19 and already has the most amazing control of his voice as well as stage presence to burn.

This week is going to be all about getting stuff done because next week is crazy busy at work.  I also start teaching two extra lunchtime classes at the gym for the next few weeks which is going to add some complexity to my life.

I don't have a new book idea that's clamoring to be told yet.  I have several pieces of new books spinning through my head, but nothing that's ready to be written yet.  Which is probably a good thing, given how busy the next few weeks are going to be at work.  So, I'll stick to my daily flash fiction and wait for something to spark.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate the Small Things 10-7-26

 

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

Long weekend!

Yes, it's Matariki here, the Maori New Year, so we have an extra day to the weekend.  Unfortunately there's another freezing weather bomb upon us, so it's not the best weekend to have an extra day off, but I'm sure I'll find some way to make it enjoyable!

Had to take the cat to the vet this week which was an adventure and a half.  She does not like it one bit!  But, on the plus side, she seems to be fine now and has even forgiven me relatively quickly.  She's slept on my bed the last two nights.  Almost makes the hefty price tag worth it!

No rejections so far this week which makes a nice change, although I'm not really expecting anything other than rejections at this stage.  So disappointing.  But, I guess that books goes back in the trunk with all the other ones I haven't managed to get a bite with while I figure out what to do with the next one.

What are you celebrating this week?

Books I've Read: The Staircase in the Woods

 

I was excited when I found this one at the library last week.  I follow Chuck Wendig's blog and have been looking forward to reading this since he started talking about it.  

There are definite parallels to Stephen King's IT in this one in that it focuses on a misfit group of friends across two time periods, the first in childhood, the second when they reunite as adults to reckon with the terrifying event in their youth. 

As teenagers camping in the woods, this friend group discovered a staircase in the woods.  Just a staircase, no sign of a house or any other part of a structure.  One of their number went up the stairs and never came back.

Twenty years later, they gather at the behest of the one who stayed in town and find another staircase in the woods.  Determined to find out what happened to their missing friend, they all go up this time and find themselves in a strange, ever-morphing house where every room holds a new horror, some familiar, others strange.  With no windows and every door opening to only another horrific room, these four people must try to figure out the house's reason for existing if they are to find their friend or the way out.

While this was certainly a creepy horror story, it also had some interesting questions to ask about what makes a house a home, and whether a house can absorb the crimes and passions of its inhabitants.  It also plays out as kind of a puzzle as the characters, some of whom have been gaming since childhood, try to use gaming logic to figure out the way the house works.

The characters are for the most part well drawn and each has their own unique trauma, the thing that brought them together as friends in the first place and yet may be the thing that breaks them in this house of horrors.

I enjoyed it, even though some of the particularly gooshy things they saw in the house made my stomach turn.  I don't think I'm quite as good at dealing with truly horrific horror as I was when I was younger!

So, I'd recommend this one.  Unless you're particularly squeamish.

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

A group of friends investigates the mystery of a strange staircase in the woods.

While on a camping trip, five high-schoolers bound by an oath to always protect one another discover something in the middle of the forest: a mysterious staircase to nowhere. One friend climbs up but does not come back down. Then the staircase disappears. Twenty years later it reappears, and the friends return to find the lost boy—and what lies beyond the staircase.

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.