I wanted to do some more microfiction today, but I couldn’t come up with anything I thought was worth sharing. Maybe next time. In the meantime, I’ve made some progress with my other projects, though not as much as I’d been hoping.
Editing
I finished rereading the latest draft, but as I neared the end, I started to feel like I was doing more damage than good, so I figured I’d best just hunt for typos and leave it at that. I really need to get some miles (or hours, or both) between me and that story, so I’ve sent it off to one beta reader and handed it off to another, and I plan on sending it out again to one or two more people by week’s end.
In the meantime, I don’t even want to touch it, think about it, or look at it. I managed to fix a few things with the second draft, but I discovered I somehow managed to create other problems with the fixes, so I think I’ll wait for the feedback and see what everyone thinks before I try to get back in there and change anything.
Latest Book Reviews: TBR Challenge
I finished two of the books on my list for February so far, and one that wasn’t on the list, and while I might finish one other that wasn’t on the list, I think the others are going to have to be pushed back.
This was a really tough month for me to read, not because of time, but I think because the books I chose were tougher to get through than I had anticipated. Stephen King or not, I’ve always had a harder time getting through the short stories, and so I’m only about a quarter of the way through Skeleton Crew. Also, considering how much trouble I had with the first Bourne book, I should have expected that the second wouldn’t be much easier.
Then, the book I’m reading for book club has been a slog as well. I got the audio book, renewed it once, and still couldn’t finish it by the return date, so I took it back to the library and swapped it for the hardcover. It’s a decent story, but I think there was too much going on – too many changes in perspective – for me to be able to follow the action over audio. With the hardcover version, I’m hoping I’ll get more out of it and be able to finish it now.
Timeline by Michael Crichton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I went on a Crichton bender at the bookstores/book sales last year, and picked this one up without even reading the entire description on the back cover. So I didn’t even realize it was a time-travel book until someone else who had already read it mentioned that to me. Yeah.
That said, while it was sort of a surprise to find that out (as I hadn’t gotten that far into the story when I discovered that the bulk of it was going to be about time travel!), I wasn’t deterred and it actually turned out to be pretty good. I love the Doctor Who series on BBC, but other than that, I haven’t read/seen a whole lot of time travel stories.
What drew me to the book initially was the science of the time travel, as the back cover mentions some pretty hefty technology, and seeing as I’m working on my own technology-related piece of fiction, I thought a book like this might lend some insight to my own writing. In fact, it did–Crichton is nothing if not thorough, we should know this by now. He even has a bibliography, for a novel, which I thought was incredible… [Read the rest of the review on Goodreads]
Crooked House by Agatha Christie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I’ve been reading Agatha Christie since I was probably 12 or 13 years old. There have been some good ones, some weak ones, and some incredible ones. I wouldn’t go so far as to call this one incredible, but it’s up there among the better ones.
The story centers on Charles and his participation in the investigation of a murder involving his fiancee’s grandfather. Technically, they are not engaged, but the offer’s on the table, and Sophia is only withholding her answer as a result of the upheaval in which her family now finds itself… [Read more on Goodreads]
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I saw the movies (1 and 2 so far), and having done so first, I can say that the first movie seemed pretty accurate, if a little one-sided. One-sided in that the film was highly focused on the action, as opposed to the conflict within the main character’s conscience and emotional state.
I listened to the audiobook version, and I have to say I was not happy with the narrator. Katniss, Rue and Primrose sounded extremely childish–that’s childish, not childlike–which demeaned the intelligence of them, no matter what their ages were. And all the men–Haymitch, Peeta, and even Gale–sounded crude, oafish, and a little wooden. The words came through–which admittedly, were a little amateurish at times, especially in the dialogue scenes–but the voices did not do anything to help secure the characters’ roles or personalities in my mind.
That said, it is a very good story, and I now wish that the film had included more of it… [Read the rest of the review on Goodreads]
Writing?
Camp Nano came around at the perfect time for me last year, right as I’d finished one publishing project and was ready to get back to writing something new. This year, a gap has opened up earlier and I think I’m going to take it. Maybe slowly, but that’s ok.
I would also like to work on catching up on my reading, and I’d like to have some time to work on my other blog, so time away from editing will be good, but I still have a couple of ideas in mind for new stories that I’d like to work on. I haven’t made up my mind which one, and I’d still like to do a little more pre-writing before I jump into either one, but I think it would be good for me to work on something new and completely different for a while after weeks/months of the same editing project.
A big part of what’s been hampering my progress has been the weather. It’s been good for reading, because the cold and the snow and the ridiculous wind we’ve been having makes you want to curl up and stay indoors, but it’s been bad for writing and other creative endeavors because it dampens the mood and the attitude, which tends to foster procrastination. I’m more than ready for spring to settle in and expel some of this damn cold! It’s been pretty nice today, but they’re calling for snow again tomorrow!
Don’t forget! If you want to read the current edit-in-progress and give me your feedback on it, please visit the book page and check out the details! I’d be glad to hear your thoughts.
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