It’s been a super long week. We only have 7 days left of school, and everyone is ready to be done. So I barely read this week. I think I'm going to start The Book of Azreal by Amber Nicole this weekend in paperback and I might dive into something crime fiction on my kindle but I don’t know what yet.
I'm glad your process still works and provided what you needed to keep going. It feels like it's always been that way for you because when you first started your author journey you were inspired by John Sanford/other writers. It's stressful to find the right author/story when you're on deadline and have such a heavy schedule, along with the ongoing parental health issues (so sorry!!!). I'm sure you were relieved it finally hit, but it just goes to show how important creative endeavors are to all of us, and why we should all keep going.
I'm reading THE CORRESPONDENT by Virginia Evans. It is a story told in letters written by the main character and the responses from other characters. It's about moving forward from a painful past and finding forgiveness.
I know I'm late to the party, but I wanted to thank you for your post on AI, and I agree with you. It should never be used to generate art, but I think Reese is right that we will be left behind if we don't embrace it, in whichever way seems ethical to you. That being said, I do think art will evolve to include it in a variety of ways. I feel big publishers are already using it more than we think/know. In addition, it is like every change in society like agricultural to industrial and so on that there will be good and bad things about it. I'm interested to see how the artificial intelligence era unfolds and fingers are crossed that we don't royally screw up things. Have a great weekend and may your fingers fly across the keyboard.
Thank you friend. It's been a nutty 18 months, and hoping things are going to calm down going forward.
I am on a huge waitlist for the correspondent. I may have to break down and buy it - enough people have told me it's wonderful now. I appreciate that about the AI. I have figured out how it serves me, rather than the other way around, and it's trained to stay the hell away from anything that's going to be my words to you, in any form. That's worked so far - it's a glorified Google that talks back. Sometimes, that is nice. : )
Have a super weekend! Hope the book is coming along nicely.
I try morning pages from time to time and inevitably let them fall away as life gets too busy ... but I love the reminder to go back to those pages and start writing them again as a way to let go of the drama and get back to the words and the stories! Sending best wishes for less medical drama all around!
It's a surprisingly helpful practice. My biggest issue is finding a notebook I enjoy writing in. This go around, it's a B5 Leuchtturm 1917. It's a good size and the paper feels nice.
I have the same problem. Of course, I have a collection of lovely journals and notebooks waiting to be written in ... but which one to choose is always the problem!
I just went through mine and discarded probably 30 that are not my right size, shape, feel, etc. I'm left with only what I know I'll write in. Freeing!
I forget how to write fiction every time I neglect reading! I remember reading Stephen King's book On Writing a long time ago, and how he stressed reading. When I was a journalist, writing 8 to 10 news stories a week, I had no problem writing good news stories, but fiction is a different beast. Reading good books always helps me to remember how to put sentences together --it's the best writing class we can take. I'm reading The Keeper by Tana French, and her descriptions and sentence structure are really inspiring. Since I live with my 100 year old mother, I know all about aging parents...but she has been surprisingly free of major medical issues. The last time she was hospitalized was when she had a hysterectomy at age 55. She has issues of course, a narrowing heart valve and stage 3 kidney disease, but except for walking very slowly with a walker and needing help to get out of bed in the night when she needs to use the bathroom, she only sees a doctor twice a year for checkups. She's full blooded Italian, which may have something to do with it. So we are blessed!
Glad you're on a better path with writing. I agree that reading is so important...no matter what you do for a living!
Aging parents are tough. I still have both of my parents and they live about 1 hour away, which is very helpful. I couldn't imagine navigating health issues for parents who dont live close by.
I finished OUR PERFECT STORM by Carley Fortune and it was wonderful. Once again, I want to check out Canada...where all of her books take place.
I'm almost done with REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES by Shelby Van Pelt. I know I'm super late to the game on this one, but what a fantastic book. I'll have to watch it on Netflix now.
We're winding up graduation season for us. One more party to attend on Sat and then we're done. We didn't make it to all of them, but we did the best we could. My husband has a huge family and his niece's and nephew's kids are now graduating. We had 9 on his side of the family and 1 from my side.
One last note, the Univ of Nebraska Softball team made it to the NCAA tourney, so go lady Huskers!!
It's hard, isn't it? My inlaws are here, so we help as much as we can. But my parents are in FL. My brother takes such good care of them but I wish we were closer geographically, for sure.
I haven't read Carly yet, waiting for the pool to be swept away. And i definitely want to read RBC before the movie comes out. I need a three week vacation with only books on my to do list. So far behind!
That's a LOT of graduations, Amy. A LOT. We have a party tomorrow night for a young grad, it will be so much fun. It's neat to see them grow up, isn't it?
Yeah my husband's family is ridiculously huge (10 kids in his family). We pretty much just go to things for his immediate family. We dont go to much for his cousins or Aunts/ Uncles. I couldn't imagine if we had to that as both of his parents also came from families of 10! You have to love German famers!!
He's pretty close to most of his brothers and sisters and we live very close to 3 brothers and 3 nephews. You can't throw a rock in our area without hitting a relative...which I've come to love!
So much good stuff here, JT! Lately, I've been so busy writing Zigzag Girl-adjacent pieces and trying to the word out, I haven't been able to read... and of course, I've lost the spark for my novel-in-process. I always forget that I need to keep reading no matter what!! As for morning pages, I can't live without them. They're my key to memory, inspiration, and daily wonder. So glad they helped you recapture your muse!
It is really hard to balance reading for pleasure, reading for work, writing, promoting, editing -- all at once. It's very easy to let the reading go - I do it all the time. BUT, it is the lifeline to the work. Maybe you can find a little time this weekend between events to relax with something fantastic. Congrats on all the success ZIGZAG GIRL is getting - it's on my list!
It’s been a super long week. We only have 7 days left of school, and everyone is ready to be done. So I barely read this week. I think I'm going to start The Book of Azreal by Amber Nicole this weekend in paperback and I might dive into something crime fiction on my kindle but I don’t know what yet.
I bet you are SO ready for school to be out. Can't wait for you!
I'm glad your process still works and provided what you needed to keep going. It feels like it's always been that way for you because when you first started your author journey you were inspired by John Sanford/other writers. It's stressful to find the right author/story when you're on deadline and have such a heavy schedule, along with the ongoing parental health issues (so sorry!!!). I'm sure you were relieved it finally hit, but it just goes to show how important creative endeavors are to all of us, and why we should all keep going.
I'm reading THE CORRESPONDENT by Virginia Evans. It is a story told in letters written by the main character and the responses from other characters. It's about moving forward from a painful past and finding forgiveness.
I know I'm late to the party, but I wanted to thank you for your post on AI, and I agree with you. It should never be used to generate art, but I think Reese is right that we will be left behind if we don't embrace it, in whichever way seems ethical to you. That being said, I do think art will evolve to include it in a variety of ways. I feel big publishers are already using it more than we think/know. In addition, it is like every change in society like agricultural to industrial and so on that there will be good and bad things about it. I'm interested to see how the artificial intelligence era unfolds and fingers are crossed that we don't royally screw up things. Have a great weekend and may your fingers fly across the keyboard.
Thank you friend. It's been a nutty 18 months, and hoping things are going to calm down going forward.
I am on a huge waitlist for the correspondent. I may have to break down and buy it - enough people have told me it's wonderful now. I appreciate that about the AI. I have figured out how it serves me, rather than the other way around, and it's trained to stay the hell away from anything that's going to be my words to you, in any form. That's worked so far - it's a glorified Google that talks back. Sometimes, that is nice. : )
Have a super weekend! Hope the book is coming along nicely.
I try morning pages from time to time and inevitably let them fall away as life gets too busy ... but I love the reminder to go back to those pages and start writing them again as a way to let go of the drama and get back to the words and the stories! Sending best wishes for less medical drama all around!
It's a surprisingly helpful practice. My biggest issue is finding a notebook I enjoy writing in. This go around, it's a B5 Leuchtturm 1917. It's a good size and the paper feels nice.
I have the same problem. Of course, I have a collection of lovely journals and notebooks waiting to be written in ... but which one to choose is always the problem!
I just went through mine and discarded probably 30 that are not my right size, shape, feel, etc. I'm left with only what I know I'll write in. Freeing!
I forget how to write fiction every time I neglect reading! I remember reading Stephen King's book On Writing a long time ago, and how he stressed reading. When I was a journalist, writing 8 to 10 news stories a week, I had no problem writing good news stories, but fiction is a different beast. Reading good books always helps me to remember how to put sentences together --it's the best writing class we can take. I'm reading The Keeper by Tana French, and her descriptions and sentence structure are really inspiring. Since I live with my 100 year old mother, I know all about aging parents...but she has been surprisingly free of major medical issues. The last time she was hospitalized was when she had a hysterectomy at age 55. She has issues of course, a narrowing heart valve and stage 3 kidney disease, but except for walking very slowly with a walker and needing help to get out of bed in the night when she needs to use the bathroom, she only sees a doctor twice a year for checkups. She's full blooded Italian, which may have something to do with it. So we are blessed!
Yep, the Italians are tough as nails. We are too, on my dad's side. My 91 year old plays golf 2-3 X a week...go Italiano!
The reading really is the key to the writing, I think. It's just essential to the process.
Glad you're on a better path with writing. I agree that reading is so important...no matter what you do for a living!
Aging parents are tough. I still have both of my parents and they live about 1 hour away, which is very helpful. I couldn't imagine navigating health issues for parents who dont live close by.
I finished OUR PERFECT STORM by Carley Fortune and it was wonderful. Once again, I want to check out Canada...where all of her books take place.
I'm almost done with REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES by Shelby Van Pelt. I know I'm super late to the game on this one, but what a fantastic book. I'll have to watch it on Netflix now.
We're winding up graduation season for us. One more party to attend on Sat and then we're done. We didn't make it to all of them, but we did the best we could. My husband has a huge family and his niece's and nephew's kids are now graduating. We had 9 on his side of the family and 1 from my side.
One last note, the Univ of Nebraska Softball team made it to the NCAA tourney, so go lady Huskers!!
It's hard, isn't it? My inlaws are here, so we help as much as we can. But my parents are in FL. My brother takes such good care of them but I wish we were closer geographically, for sure.
I haven't read Carly yet, waiting for the pool to be swept away. And i definitely want to read RBC before the movie comes out. I need a three week vacation with only books on my to do list. So far behind!
That's a LOT of graduations, Amy. A LOT. We have a party tomorrow night for a young grad, it will be so much fun. It's neat to see them grow up, isn't it?
Go Lady Huskers on your behalf!
Yeah my husband's family is ridiculously huge (10 kids in his family). We pretty much just go to things for his immediate family. We dont go to much for his cousins or Aunts/ Uncles. I couldn't imagine if we had to that as both of his parents also came from families of 10! You have to love German famers!!
He's pretty close to most of his brothers and sisters and we live very close to 3 brothers and 3 nephews. You can't throw a rock in our area without hitting a relative...which I've come to love!
That is the quintessential small-town lore that draws so many people to these kinds of books, too! You're living it!
The Things You’ll Never Know sounds fascinating!
It is really good. I'm enjoying it and nearly finished. I have some ideas but we'll see. It really is a locked room mystery at its heart.
So much good stuff here, JT! Lately, I've been so busy writing Zigzag Girl-adjacent pieces and trying to the word out, I haven't been able to read... and of course, I've lost the spark for my novel-in-process. I always forget that I need to keep reading no matter what!! As for morning pages, I can't live without them. They're my key to memory, inspiration, and daily wonder. So glad they helped you recapture your muse!
It is really hard to balance reading for pleasure, reading for work, writing, promoting, editing -- all at once. It's very easy to let the reading go - I do it all the time. BUT, it is the lifeline to the work. Maybe you can find a little time this weekend between events to relax with something fantastic. Congrats on all the success ZIGZAG GIRL is getting - it's on my list!
I’m thrilled that ZIGZAG GIRL is on your list! I hope you enjoy it!
Will start reading today at work, "The Mountains we call Home (The book woman's Legacy)
By Kim Michele Richardson
That sounds like a delgihtful story!