A weekly recap of reading, writing, and random nerdery.
New Releases I’m Excited For
Amazing cover reveals and book announcements!
(Oh, hey, that last one’s mine!)
Tristina Wright sold her “queer teens in space” saga to Entangled Teen.
Poe Dameron is getting his own comic book series.
Recommended reading:
- Delilah S. Dawson discusses all the tools/training you REALLY need to be a writer.
- New Year, New Reading Resolutions on Kirkus Reviews on reading more diversely in romance. (h/t Justina Ireland)
- #DahlBC: The Dahlia Book Club for January 2016 (win prizes for writing reviews!)
Writing things accomplished:
- Smoothed some emotional inconsistency in A Darkly Beating Heart. Still revising.
- Completed sample chapter of potential YA proposal. Loved the spooky dark unstable exchange between heroine and villain. May have hugged my laptop on the train.
- Started drafting Act III of rhymes-with-“fey hairwolves” project. Time to start answering questions (at least a few of them) about how all this wacky science fantasy works!
- Realized I’d written myself into a corner on the dumb sithbaby fanfiction. Reaffirmed why yes, seriously, I need to outline. Beat head against wall for a bit.
- Wrote lots of promotional material for The Witch Who Came In from the Cold and the A Tyranny of Petticoats anthology, both of which launch soon!
Still mainly in revising/promotional mode, so my 2016 word count isn’t doing too hot so far. February promises to be much better, however.
I wrote a detailed post on how I drastically improved my drafting speed and writing output in 2015, and people seemed to like it! Maybe you will, too!
Other Tidbits
The AMPAS announced their 2016 Oscar nominees and, with #OscarsSoWhite you need sunscreen, I’ve almost entirely written these awards off. Some smart people said smart stuff about it: Tu Books’s infographic on the (lack of) diversity in Oscars, incredible performances by non-white actors that were snubbed, responding to AMPAS’s “conspiracy” tweet. I will confess a tiny thrill that Mad Max: Fury Road (one of my top movies of 2015) got several nods, though none for that amazing soundtrack that fueled at least 50% of my 2015 writing time.
Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) hosted Saturday Night Live last night, and the Undercover Boss: Starkiller Base skit was everything I’d hoped for.
That Dragon, Cancer, an independent game created by a man coping with his own son’s terminal illness, released this week. I haven’t played it yet, but with the cancer-related deaths of greats David Bowie and Alan Rickman this week, I’m going to have to stock up on tissues to tackle this one.
How’s 2016 treating you so far?