Majanka Verstraete's Blog, page 18
January 15, 2019
My Bullet Journal
I like to get organized. I like the feel of having a neat calendar or agenda where I can keep track of everything, or even a journal for that matter, or a task or to do list. I love scratching off items from a to do list. The only problem? I can get organized…for a while. I always tend to give up, and rather fast, or simply no longer have time for it when the main purpose of getting organized is to get more spare time… Sigh.
Anyway, this year I’ve decided to give things another try, as one of my goals and resolutions for 2019. Get my writing more organized, write more consistently, and just basically get my entire life more organized. I was doing pretty well back in 2017 but when I started my new job, things became hectic fast and I lost track of it. 2018 was, in all terms, a hectic year, and I’m trying to get back some control.
That’s a very long way to explain that… I’m just excited to show you guys my bullet journal!
Let’s start with the first page which, as in most bullet journals, shows the keys and colours. I also drew a key that, for someone who is not gifted at drawing at all, doesn’t look too bad! The colour codes will be used throughout the journal. Most bullet journals start out with an index and a key page, so I figured it was a good place to start.
On the second image, you can see I made an overview page for the month of January, with “to do” items on my calendar, and a quote of the month. The colours used on the calendar and future log are similar as to on the keys page. My quote for January: “Don’t wish for it, Work for it.”
Drawing with a pen is fun but also gives some drawbacks – when you make an error it’s not that easy to correct. I first had this issue with the quote since I almost made an error when writing “work” and the purple lines are not as straight as I’d like them to be. But, we can’t have it all, and it’s still fun to keep this quote in mind for the month!
Next up, I created a larger monthly overview for the month of January, where I can write more information for each day, again using the colour codes I picked on the keys page. There’s also some room for notes, which I thought could be useful.
The next page is a run-down list of tasks relating to cleaning the house that should happen ideally every week (but for some reason, never happen once a week, more likely once a month…) And also some daily tasks, like doing the dishes. I do like this run-down since it helps not to forget of any tasks (especially those tasks relating to garden work or cleaning up the garage, I’m more likely to forget now it’s winter…)
Next page includes my writing goals for January 2019. I wrote them all down with boxes in front, so I can cross off the boxes when the task is completed.
Next up, I created a weekly spread for the first week of January, with each day of the week, room for all my goals for that particular day. Additionally, on the left you can see a tracking area, where I can keep track of whether I prepped a (healthy) lunch, worked out that day, etc. There’s also a section of notes, a future log regarding the next week, and a reminder to complete the weekly chores. On the right, there’s a tracker for hours slept on any particular night of the week, a tracker for work-outs, and a weekly word count tracker. I also drew some books and a reminder for myself not to forget to read.
I used to read about 150+ books a year, but with a full-time job, building our own house this year, writing, and so on, I barely have any time to read, so I wanted to build in a reminder that I should make some time to relax and read as well.
I hope these pages can give you some in-sight in the creation of my bullet journal. I’m sure I’ll add more pages as we go. So far, I’ve also created pages for daily tasks, where I can better keep track of them, and divide them into more seperate tasks (I figured I did not have sufficient room for this on the spreadsheet). If anything, so far the bullet journal has helped me to keep better track of everything, and that’s already a bonus!
What about you? Do you use a journal – maybe a bullet journal? If so, can you share any tips to this beginner? If not, then maybe my post has inspired you to start your own bullet journal, which would be great!
January 14, 2019
Monday Musings #47
Monday Musings is a post in which I talk about my writing goals for the upcoming week, and the progress I made on my goals for the past week.
Goals for last week (January 7 – January 14):
Write an essay.
Write a short story for the week.
Write five more reviews for I Heart Reading (total: 0/5).
Make up for the word count I didn’t meet last week on YA Warlock Book #1 -> write 7k words.
Write 10k additional words in YA Warlock Book #1, for a total of 20k/60k words.
Unfortunately, I didn’t finish as many of my goals as I was hoping for last week.
Goals for this week (January 14 – January 21):
Write a short story for the week.
Write five more reviews for I Heart Reading (total: 0/5).
Write three reviews for Ind’Tale Magazine (total: 0/3).
Make up for the word count I didn’t meet last week on YA Warlock Book #1.
Finish second round of edits for The Sign of The Serpent;
Write three more blog posts to finish blog post count for the week (total: 7/10).
What are your goals for this week?
January 10, 2019
TV Series Review: Perfume
“Perfume” is a strange series to release just around the holidays. Christmas holidays makes you long for fluffy, warm, feel-good series, and “Perfume” is anything but warm and fluffy, or feel-good. In fact, it’s quite the opposite: cold, chilling, and with the uncanny ability to create an acute sense of unease for anyone viewing it.
Nadja Simon is a female profiler who is slightly reminiscent of Gillian Anderson’s character in “The Fall”. Nadja is detached, cold, but she also has a passionate side which is shown by highlighting her illicit affair with one of her colleagues. The only times when Nadja shows real emotion is during this affair, and it’s intriguing to see the two sides of her personality. In fact, we can get this double-edge for most of the characters. All of them are flawed. One abuses his wife frequently, hitting her and raping her, and then to top matters off, putting the blame on her. Another one of the characters is a pimp who owns a brothel and isn’t exactly friendly towards the prostitutes working for him.
Based on the novel “Perfume” but set in a contemporary era, you can already imagine that the story starts off with a murder. The murder here is of a beautiful young singer, Katharina, who apparently had a whole harem of men doting on her, all thanks to her extraordinary scent. The murder scene pretty much screams “this isn’t my first time killing someone” because the victim is left with her head shaved, deep sections of skin of the victim were taken from her underarms and vaginal region, and one string of hair of the victim was left behind. This all screams “signature”, but the only one who seems to follow this line of thought is Nadja.
Nadja meets a lot of opposition during her investigation, and if the story focused solely on the police investigation, it could be rather dull. However, the majority of the story focuses on the five: a group of friends who all knew Katharina and who all had motive and reason to kill her. There’s Roman, the wife-abuser I mentioned earlier, and his wife Elena who might have equally good reason for killing Katharina considering the latter was sleeping with her husband. There’s Moritz de Vries, a perfume maker who is obsessed with smells. There’s Daniel Sluiter, the one who didn’t seem like he fit in their friend group at all but for some reason was included, and who is still suffering from past traumas due to his friendship with the lot of them. And then there’s the pimp I mentioned earlier, Thomas Butsche.
Nobody is perfect, but it’s particularly bad here in “Perfume” where nobody can even be considered remotely good. Still, I quite liked that and the dark, unsettling feel it gave to the entire story. My favorite parts were the flashbacks that explained what happened in the past, and the strange connections binding five individuals who couldn’t possibly be more different from one another. The story isn’t afraid to shy away from some gore and the macabre, but this all seems to work in a strange, almost spellbinding way.
The only letdown about the series would be the ending, which was a tad predictable. I predicted it during the second-to-last episode, but I still enjoyed watching it unfold. The scene seems set for a second series, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for that.
Fans of murder mysteries and the macabre should definitely tune in to this series. Even if it’s far removed from the fluffy feel-good we expect during the Christmas season, it’s still very strong, memorable and entertaining.
January 7, 2019
Monday Musings #46
Monday Musings is a post in which I talk about my writing goals for the upcoming week, and the progress I made on my goals for the past week.
Goals for last week (January 1 – January 7):
Finish edits of The Sign of the Serpent (chapter-by-chapter edits).
Write a short story for the week.
Write two blog posts for the week (I actually wrote some more, totalling 7/10 blog posts already for the month).
Write five reviews for I Heart Reading (total: 5/5).
Update list of books read in 2018 on I Heart Reading and I Heart Yearly Reads.
Join reading challenges for 2019 on I Heart Reading.
Write 10k in YA Warlock Book #1 (total so far: 3k/10k words).
Goals for this week (January 7 – January 14):
Write an essay.
Write a short story for the week.
Write five more reviews for I Heart Reading (total: 0/5).
Make up for the word count I didn’t read last week on YA Warlock Book #1 -> write 7k words.
Write 10k additional words in YA Warlock Book #1, for a total of 20k/60k words.
January 3, 2019
Monthly Goals January 2019
I think I’m cursed that whenever I set myself some goals, I tend to stick to it for like a month… And then I fail utterly. Same as with this series of blog posts, each year I start again with good intentions… And then I fail utterly.
But I keep on trying, and maybe, just maybe, 2019 will be the year where I don’t utterly fail at this. You never know, eh?
Anyway, if you want to check out my huuuuuge list of goals for 2019, then head over here. This post is not about my yearly goals, but about my goals in the month of January 2019. Because it’s all about chopping those goals into smaller, achievable bits.
Here are my January goals:
Finish edits of The Sign of the Serpent (chapter-by-chapter edits).
Finish second round of edits of The Sign of the Serpent.
Write a short story a week (total: 0/5).
Write two blog posts here per week (total: 2/10, because this post and the New Year’s Resolution post also count).
Post at least once a week on my Sims4 Stories blog (total: 0/5).
Write five reviews for I Heart Reading (total: 0/5).
Update lists of books read in 2018 on I Heart Reading and I Heart Yearly Reads.
Join reading challenges for 2019 on I Heart Reading.
Write an essay.
Review three books for Ind’Tale Magazine (total: 0/3).
Write first draft of YA Warlock Book #1 (total: 0/60k words).
Tied to the previous goal, write 2k words a day Monday-Saturday.
Prepare for release of The Chronicles of Blood, Season 1.
That’s a long list of goals for one month, but I’m determined to make the best of it! What are your goals for this month?
January 2, 2019
Game Review: Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective – The Thames Murders & Other Cases
One of my Christmas gifts was a Sherlock Holmes-themed board game, Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: The Thames Murders & Other Cases.
Yes, that’s a thing. Yes, it exists. No, I had no idea it did, or I would’ve bought it years ago.
There’s no better way to get in the mood to write the next book in The Adventures of Marisol Holmes Series, than play a Sherlock Holmes-themed board game. Since I spent half of the Christmas holidays editing the previous book, The Sign of the Serpent, and am now in full-on drafting modus for the next book, The Wolf of the Baskervilles, this board game was ideal to put me in the right mood.
Even better, it’s an excellent board game for anyone who has ever dreamed of being a consulting detective. In the game, you are a member of the illustrious Baker Street Irregulars, who act as assistants for Sherlock Holmes. When a new case turns up – and there are twelve cases in the box – you have to solve it, preferably before Sherlock Holmes does, or he’ll laugh again at how slow and dim-witted you are.
You get a map of London, which helps you to track down certain locations and travelling time. Yes, this is one of the few mystery board games where you can actually rule out suspects based on how long it would take them to get to the crime scene! That’s one of the aspects of this that I enjoyed the most, so far.
You also get a book specifically for this case,which is filled with clues and background stories.
Then, as you read up about the case, you decide what to do. Do you want to visit the crime scene? Talk to a witness? Go to the coroner’s, or the police precinct for more information? It’s all your choice. There’s no set way you need to begin: just follow your intuition, and think like Holmes.
My downright favorite part of the game however, is the newspaper articles. For each case, you get access to the newspaper of the day, and you can also consult all previous newspapers for any clues. The articles in the newspapers are so much, and some seemingly-unrelated information can still prove very useful.
When it comes to gameplay, the game is pretty easy and straight-forward. However, the mysteries themselves are not always cut-and-clear, and you have to pay a lot of attention to detail. There are ten mysteries included in the game, each with their own casebook.
Once you uncover the mystery, you write down the answers to several questions Holmes asks. Then, you can compare your answers to those of Sherlock, and the clues you checked based on those Sherlock checked. Here comes the one downside to the game, however. Sometimes, Holmes barely checks any clues, making it impossible for him to answer the additional questions asked – he only solves the core mystery: who’s done it? But the extra questions, he doesn’t solve. However, if you check more clues than Holmes did, you get points deducted for that. And if you’re thorough like me and want to follow every single lead, no matter how small or insignificant, just so you can be absolutely 100% positive you’ve got the right culprit, then that adds up to a lot of points being deducted, just for being thorough.
Still, even despite that, the game is a lot of fun. The game really makes you feel like a detective, as you follow lead after lead. However, while the game states it can be played by 1-8 players, I would suggest keeping the number small, maybe 2-3 at most. Else, it could be tedious to argue which lead to follow and to settle on a common solution to the mystery. But for a smaller amount of players, it’s perfect!
December 31, 2018
Yearly Goals 2019
Rather than refer to these as “New Year’s Resolutions”, as I did for the previous years (check here my goals for 2016, 2017 and 2018) this year I’m going to refer to these as my yearly goals for the year.
So rather than my writing resolutions for next year, here is my list of goals ofr next year.
Draft one book per month. This is an ambitious goal, I know, and so far I’ve failed every signle year. But this year might just be the year when I actually achieve this.
Write 2k a day Monday-Saturday. This is related to the previous goal. However, I already know there will be some days when I won’t be able to write, so I have to find a way to cope with that, by either then catching up over the weekend or getting a head-start, or a mix of both.
Write one short story a week. Again, a goal I’ve been trying to achieve for years and have always failed. But I’ll try again!
Rewrite / Revise Allegro Academy #1. Surprisingly, I’ve actually made some progress on this one this year. The book needs some serious polishing, but I’m about halfway through ,I’d say.
Rewrite / Revise Allegro Academy #2. Same as above.
Finish the second book in the Ghost Slayer series and send it to my publisher.
Finish edits for The Sign Of The Serpent, the second book in The Adventures of Marisol Holmes series.
Finish writing my serial The Chronicles of Blood and get it published.
Blog at least 2 times a week.
Rewrite / Revise The Sleeping Kingdom. Another one that’s been on my to do list for years.
Make a decision concerning The Angel of Death Series.
Write Snoebels, Cat Detective books 1-3 get them published.
Edit Murder in Mind, the first book in my YA sci-fi thriller series, that will get published next year.
Publish The Gatekeeper and finish at least one more books in this series.
Keep the website updated with new and upcoming books.
Finish the third book in The Adventures of Marisol Holmes series.
Write 2 more books in the Sally Sleuth Series and get them published.
Write first book in the YA warlock series I’m planning.
Write a story on my Sims 4 Stories blog at least once a week.
As you can see, a lot of goals. I just hope I achieve at least some of them. If you’re setting some writing goals for yourself, please share, as I’d love to read them.
Anyway, here’s to 2019. May it be the best year yet.
December 19, 2018
Author Interview with Sunayna Prasad
Author Interview
Why did you decide to create a second edition of “From Frights to Flaws”?
I was disappointed that Amazon kept deleting my book’s reviews, thus my overall rating got lower. Also, sales were not so great. The reviews were fine, but I decided that I could get better reviews if I updated some minor content.
The cover has changed too from the first edition, I see. Which cover is your favorite?
The second one for sure.
Will you update the other books in the series as well?
Yes, I will update the sequel, “Wizardry Goes Wild”. I hope I don’t have to update the rest of the books.
Do you plan to write any more books in the Alyssa McCarthy’s Magical Missions series?
Yes, I plan for 7 books total.
Have you set any writing goals yet for next year, 2019?
Yes, I want to write my fourth installment and much more quickly than the first 3, but carefully, of course.
About the Book
Title: From Frights to Flaws
Author: Sunayna Prasad
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Originally published in 2013, the book has been updated to its full potential with edits, while keeping the storyline the same.
Twelve-year-old Alyssa McCarthy longs for a better life. She lost her parents at age seven and her aunt at nine. Her uncle also enforces unfair rules. But Alyssa discovers something she has never thought existed before… magic. A wicked sorcerer hunts her down. He kidnaps her from her ordinary New Jersey town to Yanowic, an enchanted island in Fiji.
Alyssa is trapped in the country due to a giant shield covering it. She must defeat dangerous creatures and the evil wizard in order to leave. But with sorcerers and enchanted technology getting in her way, can Alyssa succeed?
Author Bio
Sunayna Prasad has published a few books between her late teens and her mid-twenties. She has won a Pacific Book Review Award for her novel, Wizardry Goes Wild, which will return as a new edition, like From Frights to Flaws. Sunayna also has a blog on different creative and entertaining topics, including writing and fiction. It is called “Sunayna Prasad’s Blog”.
Aside from writing, Sunayna also likes to cook, do art, and watch videos online. She has graduated from college in May 2017 and is looking to continue more writing as well as hold a graphic design job soon. Sunayna lives on Long Island, NY.
Links
December 5, 2018
Release Blitz My Way To You
About the Book
Title: My Way To You
Author: Lyndell Williams
Genre: Romance
Lawyer Simon Young is smart, confident, and adept at keeping things with women casual—until he meets his best friend Marcus’s sister, Regina. Immediately intrigued by Regina’s beauty, Simon becomes increasingly enthralled and ultimately risks his friendship to have her for himself.
Social justice writer and activist Regina Kent is usually cautious and savvy. Yet, unable to resist her attraction to the handsome Simon, she plunges into a torrid affair, knowing that she chances angering big brother and her less tolerant followers, many of whom will not accept that one of their most popular pro-Black bloggers is dating an Asian man.
As their clandestine romance evolves, Simon and Regina fall deeper in love. Making sure that things stay between them becomes progressively impossible, and neither knows how much longer they can keep Marcus in the dark and the world at bay.
Author Bio
Lyndell Williams is an award-winning writer as well as a multifaceted editor, romance scholar and author. She is a managing editor and columnist for various media platforms and serves as a content editor for a select group of clients. She’s had numerous short stories published in collections and enjoys a growing list of subscribers to her Layla Writes Love online short story series.
Lyndell is an adjunct instructor as well as an anti-racism and gender equity advocate. She is committed to the traditional use of literature as social commentary to affect positive social change.
Links
November 28, 2018
Author Interview Dearly Beloved
Author Interview
How do you plot novels? Do you outline?
I am a diehard plotter and outliner. I could never sit down and simply begin to write. I need to know who my characters are, where they are going, and how they are going to get to their HEA. I outline the events that need to happen in my books in order for the characters to move from nothing toward love. I do detailed character outlines with not only the stats – weight, hair color, etc, – but their emotional journeys, flaws and foibles, as well.
Do you write in one genre, or in many different genres?
Just one: contemporary. I’m a here and now kind of girl. But within contemp, I write the subgenres of RomCom and small town romance.
What is your favorite part of the writing process? In truth, all of it. From the plotting, to the scene design, to coming up with my characters and their flaws, writing to me is like breathing. It’s my oxygen. If I didn’t have air, I couldn’t breath and I would die. That’s the way I feel about writing. If I couldn’t do it, I would emotionally wither and die on the inside.
What is your dreams as an author?
Obviously the shallow one is to be on some kind of bestseller list someday. But really, I just want to write stories that resonate with people. I want people who read my books to laugh on one page, cry on the next, and then smile again when they turn the page again. I want them to be invested in the characters or their actions so much, they can see themselves reacting in the same way, or sympathizing with how they handle a situation. And ultimately, I dream that the reader of my books likes what I’ve given them and wants to come back for more.
What would you like from your readers to take away from your novels? Do you have a few hours, because, there are sososososo many things! Hee Hee. I guess, ultimately, what I want readers to come away with after reading one of my books is that there is nothing more precious than family, love truly can heal every wound, and people are basically good. There is so much darkness in the world right now, I want my readers to feel lighter and happier after they finish one of my books. I want them to be hopeful for a world where love – as corny as it sounds – truly can conquer all.
What are your strong points when it comes to writing? What are your weak points? I’ve been told numerous times that my dialogue writing is spot-on. I have an ear for how people talk, how they get their points across, and that I can make my characters all identifiable just by the way they speak. My weakest point is that I use 50 words to describe something when 5 will do!! Still learning to self edit as I go, but it’s a struggle. Every. Single. Day.
Are you working on something at the moment?
Several things, in fact. Book 2 in the Match Made in Heaven series, plus I recently wrote the first book in a three book arc about a private detective agencies of brothers. It’s romantic suspense lite, and I’m looking for a publishing house for it right now.
About the Book
Title: Dearly Beloved
Author: Peggy Jaeger
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Colleen O’Dowd manages a thriving bridal business with her sisters in Heaven, New Hampshire. After fleeing Manhattan and her cheating ex-fiancé, Colleen still believes in happily ever afters. But with a demanding business to run, her sisters to look after, and their 93-year-old grandmother to keep out of trouble, she’s worried she’ll never find Mr. Right.
Playboy Slade Harrington doesn’t believe in marriage. His father’s six weddings have taught him life is better as an unencumbered single guy. But Slade loves his little sister. He’ll do anything for her, including footing the bill for her dream wedding. He doesn’t plan on losing his heart to a smart-mouthed, gorgeous wedding planner, though.
When her ex-fiancé comes back into the picture, Colleen must choose between Mr. Right and Mr. Right Now.
Author Bio
Peggy Jaeger is a contemporary romance writer who writes about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can’t live without them.
Family and food play huge roles in Peggy’s stories because she believes there is nothing that holds a family structure together like sharing a meal…or two…or ten. Dotted with humor and characters that are as real as they are loving, Peggy brings all topics of daily life into her stories: life, death, sibling rivalry, illness and the desire for everyone to find their own happily ever after. Growing up the only child of divorced parents she longed for sisters, brothers and a family that vowed to stick together no matter what came their way. Through her books, she has created the families she wanted as that lonely child.
Tying into her love of families, her children’s book, THE KINDNESS TALES, was illustrated by her artist mother-in-law.
Peggy holds a master’s degree in Nursing Administration and first found publication with several articles she authored on Alzheimer’s Disease during her time running an Alzheimer’s in-patient care unit during the 1990s.
In 2013, she placed first in two categories in the Dixie Kane Memorial Contest: Single Title Contemporary Romance and Short/Long Contemporary Romance.
In 2017 she came in 3rd in the New England Reader’s Choice contest for A KISS UNDER THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS and was a finalist in the 2017 STILETTO contest for the same title.
In 2018, Peggy was a finalist in the HOLT MEDALLION Award and once again in the 2018 Stiletto Contest.
A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, she is a member of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.
Links
