Mrs. Harlow’s Quarantine Reads! Ep. 9

Hiya Bloggarts!

I’m back with another video and a trip through theoretical wormhole science. Yippee!

 

I hope you all enjoy!

 

BZ

Goals Summary 2020 – Wk #16

Another week gone by in the era of COVID-19. Even as they drag by they somehow slip through my fingers. Highlights included beating Ripto’s Rage, signing up for MasterClass, and eating lots of good food.

Last Week

• Tavi revisions
• Read Finna
• Create and post Vengeful video review
• Write 800+ words

How’d I do?

• Tavi revisions
  • Yep! I edited 6 chapters last week and am actually enjoying the process so far, which is weird.
• Read Finna
  • Yep! Finished it in a day.
• Create and post Vengeful video review
  • Yarp. Had fun, struggled, learned some things. It was all good.
• Write 800+ words
  • Nope. Not much writing at all. But hey, a little is better than zero!

Weekly Word Count: 228

I somehow forgot that, when I’m editing, I don’t write much. It’s hard for me to switch modes, I think. So, there wasn’t much writing, but oh man there was so much editing! Six whole chapters of Tavi and another draft of The Lament of Kivu Lacus. I’m just waiting to hear back from a couple more readers before I do any last polishing and send it out. Reactions so far have been very positive (and tearful), so that feels pretty ding dang good.

Reading is keeping a steady pace. I finished Finna and will probably finish The Last Sun in the next couple of days. And, despite a FAT stack of books (more like 6 fat stacks) I have no idea what to read next. I’m gonna just decide when the time comes.

I still have two short stories out. One is in a contest, which closes to submissions this week. I submitted it in… January? Yep. January. I’m looking forward to hearing back something soon(ish).

MasterClass was running a buy one subscription get a second one free special, and I found someone to split the cost with me! I’m very excited because I’ve always wanted to try MasterClass but was too cheap to do it, haha. So I have those to look forward to for the next year.

What’s Next?

• Tavi revisions
• Finish The Last Sun
• Make and post Finna video
• Write 800+ words

You know the drill by now. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. This routine is working (mostly), so why make any changes? At least, not right now. Not with all the weirdness in the world.

My big focus this week will be continuing Tavi revisions and polishing Lament. I’m looking forward to more reading and making another video and watching more MasterClasses.

That’s about all I got for you today Blogland. Short and sweet. Have a great week, y’all.

 

BZ

Mrs. Harlow’s Quarantine Reads Ep. 2!

In just a couple of days, my first video has almost 100 views. I received a lot of wonderful comments from friends on Facebook and a lot of enthusiasm from students and staff! So here, have another episode!

I’ll be back on Monday with a *drumroll please* Weekly Update, and another Quarantine Reads!

Thank you all and have an awesome day!

 

BZ

 

Goals Summary 2019 – Wk #47

The end of the year is creeping up. Does anyone else feel like they’re running out of time?

Last Week

• Publish two blog posts
• Read Gideon the Ninth
• Write 5000 words

How’d I do?

• Publish two blog posts
  • Yarp. The Circe book review is up now.
• Read Gideon the Ninth
  • No. But, I read two graphic novels and finished an audiobook, so I’m not sad about it.
• Write 5000 words
  • Hahahaha… No.

Weekly Word Count: 649

I hit a major inspiration block in writing this week. I don’t know if I’m just burned out, if work is too stressful, or if this just isn’t the right project for Nanowrimo, but I’m not being very productive this month. I keep bouncing between the novella and fanfic, and then bouncing between fanfic projects. Then, when I feel totally uninspired, I play video games instead.

I like the idea of writing, I feel that familiar mental swirl of a story taking form, but I lack the motivation to actually put ass to chair and make it happen. I’d rather read, play video games, or watch Disney+. It doesn’t help that my family will be here in a week and there’s still a lot of chorin’ to be done.

Let’s just blame it on stress and move on.

I finished playing Uncharted 4 and Beyond: Two Souls. I liked them both, a lot, and am glad to have played them. They were both right up my alley and long overdue.

I decided to withdraw Lifelike from a market that had it for over six months. The website hadn’t been updated since April and the email for the editor was no longer valid. I think it’s safe to say that wasn’t going to get picked up. Exodus: Descent was rejected today, but it was a personal rejection, which is always nice. Both stories will be submitted somewhere else by the end of the week.

So, What’s Next?

• Publish two blog posts
• Finish Gideon the Ninth
• Write 3000 words

Keeping it pretty straightforward again. I have no idea what writing project I’ll work on, and honestly, I don’t much care. I just want to write before the holiday sneaks up and steals all my time. We’ll see if anything demands my attention.

I’m just over halfway through with Gideon the Ninth now. I expect to have it done in the next couple of days. I finished listening to City of Ghosts and will have the book review up before the end of the work week. I want to start listening to the sequel, Tunnel of Bones sometime this week too.

So, yeah. Lots of reading, writing, cleaning, and working. We’ll see where that takes us before the holiday season swallows me whole.

Talk at you soon, Bloggarts.

 

BZ

Goals Summary 2019 – Wk #46

Ah geez, here we are again, late on a Tuesday. But, we’re here and we’re ready to talk about the week.

Last Week

• Publish two blog posts
• Finish reading Circe
• Write 5000 words

How’d I do?

• Publish two blog posts
  • Yep. Reading Round Up is out now!
• Finish reading Circe
  • Not technically. But I did just finish it before writing this so… hurray?
• Write 5000 words
  • Hahaha no. Writing ground to a halt over the long weekend. Whoops.

Weekly Word Count: 3,414

That’s not a bad word count. At least if it wasn’t non-Nano season.  But it is Nano season so, uh, that’s not so great. I needed at least 5k to stay on track, but I’m feeling really unmotivated with this story. I don’t know if it’s all the distracting video games right now (Uncharted 4, Beyond Two Souls, Jedi: Fallen Order) or if I’m really just not ready to tell this story.

There’s also the fact that my weekends are pretty full this month. November is always a struggle for me, creatively, because it’s the holiday season and there are birthdays to boot. My social life doesn’t mellow out until the late winter and that’s when I can really start pumping out words. Which means I really have to hunker down and focus if I want to hit 25k this month.

In personal news, I’ve started a new medication to potentially help prevent my migraines. I’m skeptical, mainly because I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I’ll know in the next couple of weeks if it helps or not. Fingers crossed.

So, What’s Next?

• Publish two blog posts
• Read Gideon the Ninth
• Write 5000 words

Well, here we are. Reading. Writing. Lather, rinse, repeat. The two blog posts will be a cinch this week because I’ll have the book review for Circe. If Gideon the Ninth is as gripping as it sounds, I might even have that review to write too. And I’ve only got two hours left in the City of Ghosts audiobook. Reviews could abound.

I’m not too optimistic about the writing, but I won’t give up. I can come back to it and keep going out of sheer force of will. That’s my usual m.o. anyways.

I don’t have much by way of plans this weekend, other than cleaning and prepping for holiday visitors. Writing and reading should definitely happen.

I’ll be back soon Bloggarts with the Circe book review!

‘Til then,

 

BZ

 

The Reading Round Up – October 2019

October was a wonderful return of my reading habits. You can tell a lot about my mental state by the number of books I read, and October was a breath of fresh air, like opening the front door and stepping outside for the first time in months. I loved it, even if I didn’t love everything I read.

Title: Vicious (Villains #1)
Author(s): V.E. Schwab
Format: Trade Paperback
Goodreads Rating: 5/5 Stars
Thoughts: I could go on forever about Schwab and how much I love her and this book. In fact, I sort of did in my review. You should check it out!
Recommend: Yes! This is the first book in a short series and a fantastic introduction to Schwab’s writing. You should absolutely give it a shot!

Title: The First Wife’s Secret
Author(s): Addison Moore
Format: Kindle ebook
Goodreads Rating: 1/5 Stars
Thoughts: Hm. I have a lot of thoughts about this book and none of them are good. I purposely chose not to write a book review for this title because I didn’t want to be hurtful to the author. That’s how much I disliked this book. I’ll just leave my Goodreads Review here for you:

So. One star. I don’t want to sound cruel because I know writing is incredibly hard work that comes from a personal place, always. That being said… The plot was tangled in so many subplots, the characters were inconsistent and jumped to so many conclusions. If the main characters had just TALKED to one another they could have figured it out in half the time (like I did). The writing was repetitive and featured a lot of jarring and sometimes misused vocabulary. Ultimately not worth the time. Wah, wah.

Recommend: Absolutely not.

Title: The Last Tsar’s Dragons
Author(s): Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple
Format: Trade Paperback
Goodreads Rating: 3/5 Stars
Thoughts: This novella was confusing. I liked it, because I liked the interpretation of Rasputin. But I didn’t find any of the other characters likable or compelling. Also, the dragons hardly featured in the book at all and were a bit of a macguffin. Which, given the title and the awesome artwork, was pretty disappointing.
Recommend: Meh.

Title: Dragon Age: Knight Errant
Author(s): Nunzio De Filippis and Christina Weir, with Fernando Heinz Furukawa and Michael Atiyeh
Format: Trade Paperback
Goodreads Rating: 5/5 Stars
Thoughts: I was always going to love this. It’s a Dragon Age comic and Varric is in it. Yes. I love it. BUT, I thought this one was pretty especially well done. I liked the character dynamics and how things keep leading us to Tevinter. We’re getting closer to the next game and I CANNOT WAIT.
Recommend: Sure. If you’re a fan of the series you definitely should. If you’re not familiar with the Dragon Age franchise, it’s probably not the best place to start.

Title: March: Book One (March #1)
Author(s): John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, with Nathan Powell
Format: Trade Paperback
Goodreads Rating: 5/5 Stars
Thoughts: It took me a while to get into this book. The artwork is amazing and I love the choice to do the entire thing in black and white. The narration really did feel like being told someone’s life story, which was great but also made me want to take breaks. I needed to absorb what I’d been told from time to time. Not a binge-able book for me.
Recommend: Oh, for sure. I think now more than ever, this Graphic Novel series is so important.

Title: “Our Faces, Radiant Sisters, Our Faces Full of Light”
Author: Kameron Hurley
Format: Trade Paperback
Collection: Meet Me in the Future: Stories
Editor(s): N/A
Goodreads Rating: N/A
Thoughts: This story is very untraditional, which I appreciate. Not much actually happens, but there’s power in the lines nonetheless. I liked it and could probably use to read it again to let it steep in my brain.
Recommend: Yes. I love Hurley’s writing and she’s fast becoming one of my new favorite authors.

Title: “The Improbable War”
Author: Kameron Hurley
Format: Trade Paperback
Collection: Meet Me in the Future: Stories
Editor(s): N/A
Goodreads Rating: N/A
Thoughts: This story was so so short. It hit hard and fast and honestly I’d need to read it again to even begin to tell you what I thought of it.
Recommend: Yarp. See above.

Title: “The Women of Our Occupation”
Author: Kameron Hurley
Format: Trade Paperback
Collection: Meet Me in the Future: Stories
Editor(s): N/A
Goodreads Rating: N/A
Thoughts: I’ll be honest, I read these stories in quick succession, and while I know I enjoyed them all, this was the only one that really struck me. It was the longest of the three, which probably had something to do with it. This wasn’t a story that I necessarily liked, it didn’t leave me with any strong feelings one way or another, but it left me thinking. I always like that.
Recommend: Yarp.

Goals Summary 2019 – Wk #45

Fall is fading fast, succumbing to the darkest nights and the frosty air of winter. I’m not ready for it and can already feel the toll on my mood. I hate how early it gets dark after Daylight Savings Time ends. I’m off work at 4:00pm. The sun should not be setting while I’m walking out to my car. That’s some bullshit. It makes me tired, even more so than usual, and generally unmotivated.

Not that I let it stop me this week.

Last Week

• Publish two blog posts
• Read Persepolis
• Start Exodus: Defeat

How’d I do?

• Publish two blog posts
  • Yep. The October Recap is up and at ’em.
• Read Persepoli
  • Yep. It took some concerted effort. While I enjoyed it, I wouldn’t call it binge-worthy.
• Start Exodus: Defeat
  • Yep! Nanowrimo started on Friday and so the words are flowing once more!

Weekly Word Count: 3,499

I don’t really have much to say about the week. It was Halloween and school went by really quick because of it. I sang karaoke on Friday night and celebrated the husbando’s birthday over the weekend. I still managed to get some good writing in and am looking forward to continuing the trend this week.

So, What’s Next?

• Publish two blog posts
• Finish reading Circe
• Write 5000 words

I think that’s it. Lots of reading and writing this week. I have the Reading Round Up for October to share this week so that’ll be the blog post. I’m having difficulty with Circe already. I think I’m like 30 pages in and I’m bored. So much telling to start with, which, you know, is supposed to be bad or whatever. I’m going to keep trying. If I could read The First Wife’s Secret then I can read this book.

I don’t have any major social plans this week, which is nice. There’s a Willamette Writers meeting on Wednesday and lots of events at work, but my home life this week should be calm. Hurray!

I’ll be back, probably on Friday, to talk about all the things I read in October.

Til then, Blogland.

 

BZ

 

The Recap – October 2019

And just like that, October came and went. It was filled with pumpkins and rain and friends and all those cozy fall things. It was also a busy work month and a busy writing work month. Which probably explains why it went so quickly.

October Goals

• Finish The Lament of Kivu Lacus rough draft
• Revise and polish Exodus: Descent
• Continue short story submissions
• Keep reading!

How’d I do?

• Finish The Lament of Kivu Lacus rough draft
  • YES! This story took a long time.
• Revise and polish Exodus: Descent
  • YES! It’s out for submission right now!
• Continue short story submissions
  • YES! Three stories are out and The Cost of Rain was accepted this month!
• Keep reading!
  • YES! I read five titles this month, which is a huge improvement over the last couple of months!
    

    

    

    

    

Total Word Count: 865

Holy Crow y’all. My whole month is in the black! When did that happen? I felt like a did a whole lot of nothing this month, but the whiteboard doesn’t lie. I got shit done! I think this earns me a happy dance.

I really gotta work on this unrealistic expectations thing I have going. Even when I’m working hard and making progress, I always feel like I haven’t done anything. I need to relax y’all.

But, November is hardly the month for relaxation. Nanorwrimo, birthdays, holidays, family visiting… Yep. There’s the stress. Found it.

November Goals

• Write 25k words
• Read 10 titles
• Continue short story subs

Short and sweet and oh so challenging this month, y’all. I love this time of year. I love the weather and the clothing and the general good feeling of spending time with loved ones. But man, I’m exhausted just thinking about the month ahead.

The biggest stressor is probably my family coming up from Arizona for Thanksgiving. Now, let me be absolutely clear: I AM SO F*&%ING EXCITED to have them spend the holiday with us. I’ve been looking forward to it for the better part of six months. We’ve gone down to AZ for the holidays a few times now, and I love seeing everyone, but this is different. This is my nuclear family coming up and seeing my house for the first time, eating our food, and sharing my space and life during my most favorite time of year.

I don’t know. It feels so much more special this way. I am so happy and excited to see them.

But, all of that being said. Hosting any sort of event with a houseful of people is stressful to me. I like my house the way it is. Husband, dog, and me. It’s quiet and relaxing. An actual sanctuary against the outside world. Inviting others inside is… stressful. That’s all there is to it.

Add to this stress not just normal Nanowrimo stress, but HOSTING Nanowrimo stress and, well, yikes. Again, exciting stuff, but a ton of work. And somewhere in all of this I need to read and write. A lot.

Which means I need to wrap this up and get to work! I’ll be back next week with the Goals Summary and October’s Reading Round Up.

‘Til then, Bloggarts!

 

BZ

Goals Summary 2019 – Week #44

Better late than never, right Bloggos?

Last Week

• Publish two blog posts
• Begin outlining/brainstorming for Nanowrimo
• Read something!

How’d I do?

• Publish two blog posts
  • Nope. Just the one post actually.
• Begin outlining/brainstorming for Nanowrimo
  • Yes? I’m stewing on it a bit and at least know where I’m starting. Not too bad.
• Read something!
  • Yep! I finished the graphic novel March: Book One. I also started the next book club book, Circe by Madeline Miller.

Weekly Word Count: 0

I won’t lie, there wasn’t much concerted effort in last week. I played video games, thought a little bit about the novella, planned for Nanowrimo for my students (still not used to that… my students…), and generally decompressed.

So of course I got a migraine over the weekend, because why the hell not?

So, What’s Next?

• Publish two blog posts
• Read Persepolis
• Start Exodus: Defeat

Not a big ask there. The most challenging bit will be finishing Persepolis before the end of the month. It’s a bit long as graphic novels go, and tomorrow evening is reserved for carving pumpkins and watching The Crow (as is tradition). Then, of course, it’s Halloween, so it’s spooky movies and handing out candy. Which means I need to wrap up this blog post and get to reading!

I have an appointment to get my tires rotated (not a euphemism) on Friday, which is downtime I’ll use to get a bunch of writing done on day one! Gotta start strong!

Friday should also see another blog post, the monthly recap. Despite my lackluster weeks October isn’t actually looking too shabby.

So that’s the plan. Read. Enjoy spooky season. Then write write write.

It’s my favorite time of year.

 

Goals Summary 2019 – Wk #43

Another quick week. I feel like I got a ton of work done, both in the library and in writing, and I had an awesome weekend celebrating my BFF’s 30th birthday.  A whirlwind week to be sure.

Last Week:

• Publish two blog posts
• Revise two chapters of Exodus
• Read a short story

How’d I do?

• Publish two blog posts
  • Nope.
• Revise two chapters of Exodus
  • Yes! And then some. More on that below.
• Read a short stor
  • Yep. I read a few out of Kameron Hurley’s new collection before I had to return it.

Weekly Word Count: 119

That’s more words than I expected since I was editing, but I feel good about the changes made. So good, in fact, that I kept revising until suddenly there were no chapters left to edit. I submitted the story to my preferred market for it last night!

Social activities took up the bulk of my weekend, which for once was exactly what I wanted. We sang karaoke, went to a pumpkin patch, and played video games with friends. It was a nice, relaxing fall weekend.

I’m not reading as much as I ought to these days, but I’ve been playing some video games and catching up on Letterkenny and the Great British Bake Off.

But, the big news, the news I’ve been skirting around this whole blog post is… The Cost of Rain has been ACCEPTED! I’ve signed the contract so now it’s just a waiting game until it’s published. I’ll have more details the closer we get to the publication date, I pinky promise.

So, What’s Next?

• Publish two blog posts
• Begin outlining/brainstorming for Nanowrimo
• Read something!

Keeping it simple this week. I’m ahead of my goals for this month, writing-wise, so I have every excuse to take it a little easier this week. Besides, I can use this “down-time” to let my Nano project marinate and start coming together. I’ve built the playlist, which is always a great first step. Now to see where that takes me.

I read a graphic novel last night, and have two more I’m in various stages with. I’d like to get them each done this week, plus start my book club book and read at least one short story. I’m WAY behind on my reading goal, but that’s no excuse not to read as much as I can.

I’m battling some serious Dragon Age cravings right now, which is why I’m reading the graphic novels and eyeballing the novel tie-ins right now. I think another announcement about the next game will be coming out in the next month or so and I am so freaking excited it’s ridiculous. So I read things and wildly theorize and wait.

So, you know. Reading, writing, gaming, lather. rinse. repeat. I don’t know if I’ll be back on the blog this week. I don’t have a book review for you, but if I think of anything else to chat about, I’ll be here.

Til then, Bloggos.

 

BZ