L.R. Lam's Blog, page 6

Books Read in May, June & July

I haven’t updated it for 3 months. Oops. So for length I haven’t included the summaries as I often do. Click on the links to go to Goodreads.

May:

1. A Court of Mist and Fury – Sarah J. Maas

2. Pedagogy of the Oppressed – Paulo Freire

3. Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living – edited by Majula Martin

4. I’ll be Gone in the Dark – Michelle McNamara

5. The Cruel Prince – Holly Black

6. A Touch Wicked – Katrina Kendrick

7. The Swedish Prince – Karina Halle

June:

1. The Forgotten Garden – Kate Morton

2. Children of Blood and Bone – Tomi Adeyemi

3. The Thirteenth Tale – Diane Setterfield

4. Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World – Cal Newport

July:

1. Being Hers – Anna Stone

2. Pop Gun War Volume 2: Chain Letter – Farel Dalrymple 

3. Halfway Home: A Lesbian Romance – Anna Cove

4. I was Born for This – Alice Oseman

5. The House at Riverton – Kate Morton

6. To Kill a Kingdom – Alexandra Christo

7. Zenith – Sasha Alsberg

8. Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels – Gwen Hayes

9. Research Methods in Creative Writing – edited by Jeri Kroll

10. So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love – Cal Newport

Total this year: 41 books

Loose reading goals:

Read more romance: A Court of Mist and Fury, A Touch Wicked, The Swedish Prince, Being Hers, Halfway Home
Re-read some old favourites: N/A
Read more classics: The Thirteenth Tale
Continue to read diverse books/books by marginalised authors: Children of Blood and Bone, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, some authors in Scratch, maybe the authors of the F/F romances? Need to read more books by POC.
Read nonfiction: Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Scratch, I’ll be Gone in the Dark, Deep Work, Romancing the Beat, Research Methods in Creative Writing, So Good They Can’t Ignore You. 
Read women: Basically all of them except for Cal Newport and Paulo Freire.

Introducing: Patreon!

Ahh, today is the day!

I’ve been planning this Patreon for over three months. I kept shifting it and tweaking it until it felt right. Ran it past friends and family. And now–it feels ready!

The Patreon is live and has loads of information, but I’ll post the Why Patreon? section here:

This Patreon helps me, you, and others:

1. Helps me with upfront costs for self-publishing F/F romance novellas

2. Provides you with exclusive content – craft posts, a breakdown of my self-publishing journey (including sales, the result of any ad spend or other marketing campaigns, etc), a monthly Q&A, tips on balancing mental health and writing, productivity hacks, more details on my works in progress. You basically get a lot of behind the scenes of my life as a writer.

3. Provides me with time to give back to the community via writing workshop sessions for marginalised & underserved groups within Edinburgh (LGBTQIA centres, schools, senior centres, women’s groups, etc). You in return would receive notes on the craft elements I taught to the students, or potential recordings (with all attendees’ consent).

If this interests you, I would very much appreciate your support if you can put a few dollars a month my way. Signal boosting is also SO appreciated. If the Patreon can get a good initial boost, it has a greater chance of growing or reaching people out of my usual circles.

Thank you!

L x

Waterstones Newcastle Event, Book Club & Waterstones Glasgow Sauchiehall Event

Happy Monday!

A reminder that if you’re near Newcastle, I have an event tomorrow at Waterstones at 7 pm. I’ll be joined by Mari Hannah, Alice Oseman, and Natasha Pulley. We’ll be talking LGBTQIA books. Come join us!

Also, if you’re in Manchester, tomorrow there’s a book club about False Hearts at 7 pm. Details here.

On July 25th, I’ll be chairing an event with Elizabeth May, Sasha Alsberg, and Alexandra Christo at Waterstones Glasgow in Sauchiehall Street. This is also at 7 pm. Come say hi!

 

Families Belong Together – Kidlit Raffle now Live

Kidlit has banded together to raise money for the families who have been separated at the border. I have three things up for grabs if you donate to this great cause!

1. Auction item: Classroom Visit with Laura Lam

Either in person within Scotland (though if very far from Edinburgh, I may request assistance with travel/accommodation), or via Skype if elsewhere. Retail value is around $250.

2. Raffle prize: Signed Book ($25 and over)

Any one of my five books: Pantomime, Shadowplay, Masquerade, False Hearts, Shattered Minds. I’ll also send some bookmarks and other swag.

3. Raffle prize: Phone Call ($30 and over)

A Skype mentoring session from me, including written feedback on up to 3,500 words of creative work. My day job is as a creative writing lecturer, where I regularly mentor students on plot/structure, characterisation, world-building, and other elements of craft.

HOW TO CLAIM:

There are two ways to contribute and win: Raffles and Auctions

HOW TO ENTER RAFFLES

1. Make a donation to Kid Lit Says No Kids in Cages.

2. Browse our raffle items here.

3.Enter as many raffles as you like up to the dollar amount you’ve donated. For instance, if you donated $50, you can enter to win signed books, a critique of your work by a published author, and more!

4. To enter, fill out your your name, contact info, and proof of donation. You must enter this information for each giveaway you’re entering.

HOW TO ENTER AUCTIONS

1. With auctions, you can bid to win specific prizes, ranging from query critiques, signed first edition New York Times bestsellers, and a lot of other really cool stuff. Check out the auction items here. Interested in specific categories? Hover over “all items” in the dropdown to see the various categories available. These include: a chance to get feedback from some of the industry’s best agents and editors, query critiques, exclusive phone calls, and more.  Want to search all YA/MG items? Click here. Picture book: click here.

2. The starting bid for all auction items is $25.

3. If you’d like to bid on an item, place your bid along with your name and email address in this format name (at) emailprovider (dot) com in the comments section before 11:59pm on Sunday, July 15th. 

4. The final highest bid by 11:59pm on Sunday, July 15 will win the auction. Once you’ve been notified that you have won, you can make your donation to Kid Lit Says No Kids in Cages.  You will be notified at that point how to send proof of your donation to claim your prize.

Unless noted otherwise, all signed books and other physical items are US only.

Sign up for my F/F Bookish Romance!

As I have a publishing gap before Seven Devils in 2020, I thought it was a perfect chance to fill it with some F/F romance!

I’m launching a semi-open pseudonym (as in, I probably won’t link the two names publicly all that often, but I’m definitely not keeping it a secret). The novellas are centered around bookish subjects—-SFF conventions, publishers, and writers, and more. Sign up to the newsletter to learn more!

This newsletter will be used sparingly–to announce when my Patreon goes live, when new releases are out, when books are on sale. Once a month, max, most likely.

I’ve made a landing page here, but that seems to sometimes not work on other browsers (though definitely works on Chrome). I’ve also pasted the sign up link below:

#mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; }
/* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block.
We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */




Subscribe to Romancing the Page

Upcoming Event: Read With Pride at Newcastle Waterstones w/ Alice Oseman and Mari Hannah!

On July 17th at 7 pm, I’m doing an event discussing LGBT+ fiction and signing books with Alice Oseman and Mari Hannah!

Please come if you’re in the area and bring your friends. It’ll be a great event.

Writing Update: March, April, May

My, my, I’ve been neglecting the blog. End of term, recovering from moving, balancing a few projects. Life.

I’m never sure if anyone finds these interesting, but here is a writing update:

March was mostly a write-off due to moving. Once I eased back in, I finished re-reading a rewrite and then wrote about 6k more of a new draft of a thriller. Between that and nonfiction work, March’s total was a grand total of 9,100 words. Still, better than no words!

April saw me finishing the rewrite of the thriller. I also wrote a little bit of romance and brainstormed my current WIP, which I’ll call Project Ash. Fiction total: 12,637 words. Nonfiction: 6,800. Total: 19,187 words.

May meant I was finishing marching at Napier, but I also worked on Project Ash and more romance. 16,569 words of fiction. Nonfiction included my academic paper on vampires and fairies in YA literature that I presented in Transylvania at IFVAF, which was fun to write. Nonfiction total: 4,971 words. May total: 22,440.

That meant that by the end of the 5th month of the year, I’d written 100k or so. I’d hoped to be further into several projects by this point of the year, but it was still nice to make headway on new projects after what felt like a solid year of editing both the thriller and Seven Devils.

June so far is proving productive, but I’ll go into more detail in the next writing roundup. I’m currently 15k into one romance project and nearly 17k into Project Ash. I’m hoping to finish a draft of the romance novella and get to around 25k in Ash before Seven Devils edits come through…at some point.

Sometimes bouncing between 2-3 projects is difficult. A lot of people prefer to work on one project at a time, which I can understand. But as I’m trying new genres, new directions, it’s quite frightening, so switching gears to something else can make that less frightening. Or, if one project doesn’t go anywhere, I have other things waiting in the wings. But I won’t lie–writing this year has been difficult and confusing. Is branching in so many directions wise or am I just diluting myself and my work? I don’t have an answer. I love what I’m writing, but often worry I’m spinning my wheels rather than gaining traction. Yet, objectively, I’ve also accomplished a lot. I’ve been involved in such cool projects, and had so many opportunities through writing and the day job at Napier. Things are great. Things are terrifying. Pride, fear, joy, frustration. The recipe for a writer.

The only way out is through.

Books Read in April

Not a lot this month. Lots of marking, and there were about four books I was partly done with but didn’t finish by the end of the month.

 

 

1. Successful Self-Publishing – Joanna Penn [I’m considering self-publishing romance novellas under a related name]

Do you want to successfully self-publish?

There are thousands of new books being published every day, but many self-published books quickly sink to the bottom of the pile.

Many authors are frustrated because there are so many options for self-publishing, and they don’t know which one to choose or what will be best for their book.

Others spend thousands of dollars to publish and end up broken-hearted with the result.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

I’ve spent the last seven years self-publishing bestselling fiction and non-fiction books and in 2011, I left my day job to become a full-time author entrepreneur. I’ve made lots of mistakes along the way, but through the process of self-publishing 17 books, I’ve learned the most effective way to publish and market your books. In this book, I’ll share everything with you.

2. Out of the Dust – Karen Hesse [wanted to read a book in verse for research for a project. Enjoyed!]

When Billie Jo is just fourteen she must endure heart-wrenching ordeals that no child should have to face. The quiet strength she displays while dealing with unspeakable loss is as surprising as it is inspiring.

Written in free verse, this award-winning story is set in the heart of the Great Depression. It chronicles Oklahoma’s staggering dust storms, and the environmental–and emotional–turmoil they leave in their path. An unforgettable tribute to hope and inner strength.

Total this year: 20 Books

Loose reading goals:

Read more romance: N/A
Re-read some old favourites: N/A
Read more classics: Out of the Dust
Continue to read diverse books/books by marginalised authors: N/A
Read nonfiction: Successful Self-Publishing
Read women: both books!

Did you read anything good this month?

Books Read in March

Despite this being one of the busiest and most stressful months of my life, I managed to sneak in some reading.

1. The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood (re-read)

Told in a style that magnificently captures the colloquialisms and clichés of the 1930s and 1940s, The Blind Assassin is a richly layered and uniquely rewarding experience.

It opens with these simple, resonant words: “Ten days after the war ended, my sister drove a car off the bridge.” They are spoken by Iris, whose terse account of her sister Laura’s death in 1945 is followed by an inquest report proclaiming the death accidental. But just as the reader expects to settle into Laura’s story, Atwood introduces a novel-within-a- novel. Entitled The Blind Assassin, it is a science fiction story told by two unnamed lovers who meet in dingy backstreet rooms. When we return to Iris, it is through a 1947 newspaper article announcing the discovery of a sailboat carrying the dead body of her husband, a distinguished industrialist.

2. Places in the Darkness – Christopher Brookmyre

Hundreds of miles above Earth, the space station Ciudad de Cielo – The City in the Sky – is a beacon of hope for humanity’s expansion into the stars. But not everyone aboard shares such noble ideals.

Bootlegging, booze, and prostitution form a lucrative underground economy for rival gangs, which the authorities are happy to turn a blind eye to until a disassembled corpse is found dancing in the micro-gravity.

In charge of the murder investigation is Nikki “Fix” Freeman, who is not thrilled to have Alice Blake, an uptight government goody-two-shoes, riding shotgun. As the bodies pile up, and the partners are forced to question their own memories, Nikki and Alice begin to realize that gang warfare may not be the only cause for the violence.

3. A Court of Thorns and Roses – Sarah J. Maas

Feyre’s survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price …

Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre’s presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.

4. The Soldier’s Scoundrel (The Turner Series #1) – Cat Sebastian

A scoundrel who lives in the shadows

Jack Turner grew up in the darkness of London’s slums, born into a life of crime and willing to do anything to keep his belly full and his siblings safe. Now he uses the tricks and schemes of the underworld to help those who need the kind of assistance only a scoundrel can provide. His distrust of the nobility runs deep and his services do not extend to the gorgeous high-born soldier who personifies everything Jack will never be.

A soldier untarnished by vice



After the chaos of war, Oliver Rivington craves the safe predictability of a gentleman’s life-one that doesn’t include sparring with a ne’er-do-well who flouts the law at every turn. But Jack tempts Oliver like no other man has before. Soon his yearning for the unapologetic criminal is only matched by Jack’s pleasure in watching his genteel polish crumble every time they’re together.

5. The Tesla Legacy – K.K. Perez (ARC, out in 2019)

The Tesla Legacy is the story of a young woman whose powerful abilities are unlocked while visiting the “Tesla Room” at the New Yorker hotel, leading her into an epic battle that’s been raging for generations.

Total this year: 18 Books

Loose reading goals:

Read more romance: The Soldier’s Scoundrel, A Court of Thorns and Roses
Re-read some old favourites: The Blind Assassin
Read more classics: The Blind Assassin
Continue to read diverse books/books by marginalised authors: The Tesla Legacy, The Soldier’s Scoundrel
Read nonfiction: none this month
Read women: The Blind Assassin, A Court of Thorns and Roses, The Soldier’s Scoundrel, The Tesla Legacy

Did you read anything good this month?

False Hearts is 99p all of April!

False Hearts if on sale this month in ebook for only 99p in the UK in April. I’d super appreciate you taking a look if you’ve not picked it up before, or recommend it to a friend if you have. If you’re outside the UK, I’d still love if you’d consider picking it up at its not-quite-so-cheap price.

This book is one of my favourites I’ve written. It stars formerly conjoined bisexual black-Samoan twins who were raised in a cult. They escape, are separated due to their failing heart, and fitted with mechanical hearts in near future San Francisco. One is accused of murder and the other must go undercover as her sister, prove her innocence, and save her life.

And if you do pick it up, a general plea that I’d love a short review on Amazon/Goodreads/Barnes & Noble/any other retailer website. They help with algorithms that can improve visibility of the book. Even just ‘I liked this’ as a review is fine! Quantity is key.

Lastly, of course, if you enjoyed False Hearts, the standalone in the same world, Shattered Minds, is out now in paperback.

Here is more about the book and purchase links. Thank you L xx

 

Purchase links:

Forbidden Planet / Indiebound / Book Depository / Amazon US / Amazon UK (where it’s cheap!) / Audible / Barnes & Noble / Powells / Booksamillion / Waterstones / Fishpond / Kobo / iBooks / Hive / Indigo

Audiobook is available on Audible and iTunes.

Read the prologue and chapter one on the Tor/Forge blog.

UK Hardcover

UK Paperback

UK cover copy:

One night Tila stumbles home, terrified and covered in blood.

She’s arrested for murder, the first by a civilian in decades. The San Francisco police suspect involvement with Verve, a powerful drug, and offer her twin sister Taema a chilling deal. Taema must assume Tila’s identity and gather information – then if she brings down the drug syndicate, the police may let her sister live. But Taema’s investigation raises ghosts from the twins’ past.

The sisters were raised by a cult, which banned modern medicine. But as conjoined t

wins, they needed surgery to divide their shared heart – and escaped. Taema now finds Tila discovered links between the cult and the city’s underground. Once unable to keep secrets, the sisters will discover the true cost of lies.