This morning I listened to an excellent and timely episode of the Writing Excuses podcast which encouraged me (nay, instructed me) to switch off social media for a week. But, what about my blog?! I thought, having been trapped in a guilt-induced spiral of needing to post on Instagram about a new blog for the last fortnight or so, but never actually doing it. And then I thought…
…just write the damn blog because the blog is the point.
So here we are.
Wins!
A win has to be that I’m nearing the end of the first draft of novel #3… Currently on 76k words, and only two chapters (~5-6k words) left to go. I feel like for the last ~20k I’ve been flinging myself around in the dark to come up with more plot, but it’s also led to more twists and turns, more conflict, more reveals, higher stakes… Basically, all the good stuff.
Rejections
This week I received a rejection for novel #2 thanking me for my ‘astonishing patience’. To be fair to them, I did have to scroll down to my original email because I sent this one off so long ago that I hadn’t a clue what was being rejected…
I also had a moment of minor rage when I didn’t place in a flash fiction challenge, and the person who won didn’t actually follow the rules… Maybe I was doing the writing community a disservice by not calling it out, but the organiser is a big, well known player (and therefore the win was not a mistake), so more likely I’d have only frustrated myself by giving in to the pettiness. Instead, I’m moving on and submitting that piece elsewhere.
Learnings
I’ve been listening to several great podcasts recently (and not just the one I mentioned at the top of this blog), so I thought I’d mention them here.
First up, there’s The Book Club. Come for the deep dive on books you ought to have read, including analysis of their plots, authors, and social contexts; stay for the Tabby and Dominic banter, and the warm book club vibes.
Secondly, I adore The Shit No one Tells You About Writing. Come for the exceptionally helpful Books With Hooks segment, where Carly and Cece dissect query letters and opening pages with brutal honesty; stay for the Shooting the Shit segment about publishing trends and gossip. Honestly, it’s like distilling ten zillion newsletters into one podcast episode.
The other ones I return to again and again are Writing Excuses (bitesize nuggets of writing advice), Bookshelfie (author interviews where you can tell the interviewer, Vick Hope, is really listening), and Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics (because that lady knows how to tell a story).
Readings
Finished: Rachel Joyce’s The Homemade God. This was such an interesting one, and I still don’t think I can fully decide on the genre. It started with crime / thriller vibes (a dead body! sibling rivalry!) and kept this up for a decent portion of the book, so it felt anticlimactic when the dead father wasn’t murdered after all, but was just a failed artist with a weak heart. Possibly I went into it with the wrong expectations, because there was also so much I loved about the book (the writing in particular is beautiful and so commanding) that I would still definitely recommend it, but perhaps with a genre caveat.
Currently reading: Raven Leilani’s Luster, about a young woman entering an older couple’s open marriage.
Musings
I’ve realised I don’t enjoy celebrating milestones with cake. I still love cake, don’t get me wrong.
But I’ll eat the damn cake whenever I like, thanks, not after I’ve written another 10k words.
Instead, I celebrated 60k words with a long walk in the woods (made even longer by a closed path) and 70k with a trip to the trampoline park (ow—for some reason—shoulders).
What will 80k bring? And then the end of the book? Well, you’ll have to wait and see…
Till next time,
Vicky
