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21
May
0

Review: Storm Front, Jim Butcher

By Monica | Filed in Review

Storm Front
Storm Front by Jim Butcher

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I listened to the audiobook — and couldn’t stop listening till I finished — two and a half days in all. This book grabbed me immediately, and it was all in the character in Harry Dresden (and perhaps in the great narration by James Marsters). The character’s voice is distinct, captivating, and utterly his own. Harry Dresden is someone I could see sitting down and having a beer with in our favorite pub. He’s not a tough guy, he gets sick at the sight of mangled bodies, he gets scared when, well, when any sane person would be scared. He truly wants to do the right thing, but sometimes people suffer for his efforts.

There’s plenty of his past we haven’t learned yet. We got a tantalizing taste of what his life has been like, but there’s clearly more to it. I look forward to learning all his secrets. I’m thrilled there are a dozen more books where I’ll get to know Harry better. It’s like meeting a new friend you really enjoy spending time with and can’t wait to meet up with again. How did it take me so long to read this? No clue, but I’m about to make up for it!


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17
May
2

Writing and Working Full Time – Really?

By Monica | Filed in Writing
etching of medieval writer

flickr credit: AJC1

Is it rude to say you’re unavailable so you can stay home and write?

You’ve wanted to do it. The weekend comes along, you’re finally going to get some writing time in. Then, BAM! A third cousin’s girlfriend’s mother’s birthday party is Saturday. And you have to bring a gift.

Hey, family’s important. I try to take time for family whenever possible. But free time has been even harder to come by lately.

I started working full-time hours at the start of the year and gradually saw my writing productivity shrink. At this point, I’m happy if I get in any writing at all during the week. The weekend doesn’t automatically mean writing time, of course. It means laundry, shopping, and yes, maybe a family event.

So I eagerly read an article at Writer Unboxed on writing while working a full-time job. A paying full-time job, that is. Writers know writing is itself a full-time job. We’re just hoping to get paid …someday.

The article had a couple of tips — basically, write first thing in the morning, schedule religiously, or get so excitedly about your story you don’t want to do much else. Read it if you’re struggling with the same issue.

There were a couple of links to articles, both of which said, again, to schedule maniacally; one of them also suggested to keep a notebook handy for those moments of inspiration.

I was left a bit underwhelmed, frankly. All of this was nothing I hadn’t heard before, not only in the context of working full-time while writing. Nothing about how to actually make time, find time, or make best use of your limited time. I can schedule down to the minute. But I’m still going to be getting home at six in the evening (if I’m lucky).

I need a bit more. And I’m asking for suggestions. Anyone who works full-time, or even full-time mommies who have their hands full 24/7, I ask, beg, plead, for ways I can try to fit writing into my day, if not daily, then most days of the week.

A couple of limitations

I already get up a couple of hours before work each morning to exercise. To also fit in writing time in the morning would mean getting up at hours I would term “ungodly.” Not quite an option (yet).

I get home about 6 pm. Finish with dinner about 7 or 7:30. I do not watch TV most evenings (unless I really need some brain-dead time). But I actually don’t have the ability to write when I’m tired. I know, it’s a real handicap for a writer. But something in my brain shuts off, and it won’t give me any more words. So I generally have till 10 pm, latest. That’s, what, 2 hours a night, max.

Give me your best shot.

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12
May
8

Weekend Writing Warriors: 12 May

By Monica | Filed in Writing

I’m back to posting for Weekend Writing Warriors! I’ve been using snippets from my WIP currently called STOPPING BULLETS. My main character is a young woman, Justine, with a talent for stopping bullets and moving other things with her mind. She lives a secretive life to avoid becoming a lab rat somewhere.

I’ll continue from my last post (in late March), where Quinn refused to leave and asked Justine what happened. (For the full story so far, see my past SSS posts! The first one is here.) For context, the last lines of the previous post were “Okay, this was not good. I had to get out of there.”

Here are the next eight sentences in the scene:

Before Quinn figured out who I was.
“I mean, what I saw, what I think I saw, that’s just not possible.”
“You’re alive. Enjoy it and leave it at that.” I was breaking another one my rules. I needed to shut up and leave.
“Yeah, thanks to you, but–”
“I’m leaving and so are you.”
 

This is a work in progress, so with that in mind, I welcome your comments!

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10
May
0

Review: Extraction by Preston and Child

By Monica | Filed in Review

Extraction
Extraction by Douglas Preston

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a short story by authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, meant to tide over their fans last year until the next Pendergast book came out. It’s a short but thrilling tale, where Pendergast tells a ghost story of sorts–his personal ghosts. It’s just the sort of story you’d imagine lurking in Pendergast’s past. The view into his childhood is revealing, especially his thoughts on his brother. He seems to genuinely regret his behavior towards his brother. And, most telling, he gives the impression he’s still a bit frightened by what he saw in that house. Extraction offers a bit of insight into how the character of Agent Pendergast became the man we read about.

A nice tidbit for reading in the dark!

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8
May
0

I’ve returned!

By Monica | Filed in Writing
once writers wrote like this!

flickr credit: footage

I’m baa-aaaack. Yes, April became a sort of unannounced hiatus. I’m sorry I never formally announced that I wouldn’t be posting. At least I had good reason — the best reason, actually. I’ve been writing! I’m deep into revising my novel, STOPPING BULLETS. Every moment I get, I’m typing away.

I wish I had a great word count to report. I made some good progress in early April. Then came The Epiphany. A tiny realization of something I had missed, and then another, and soon I had to accept that the whole second half of my story needed to be reworked. So while I had nearly reached the halfway point in revising the story, most of April was spent reworking the rest (and some of the earlier parts I had already revised — and I added more new scenes!).

I continue to call this a revision, since I do have a first draft. But so much has changed, so many new scenes are being written and planned for, that it’s nearly an entirely new draft. It’s certainly not the same story I first wrote. Oh, well, it’s exponentially better than the first first draft, so I’m not really worried — except about how long it’s taking!

I’m going to continue working on my novel, so my posting may be sporadic. I will participate in Weekend Writing Warriors, so you can expect to see more of the story unfold. I have many reviews to post. And if I can manage it, I will post more character interviews, so you can meet more of the characters that populate the world of STOPPING BULLETS.

Thanks for your patience! If there’s a particular topic you’d like to hear about, a particular character from my novel you’d like to know more about, please leave a comment!

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