Anna Tan's Blog, page 18

#musicmonday: Nothing Without You | Will Reagan, United Pursuit

 
When I am tired and weak Lord, will you carry me? And when I'm feeling low Hold me close When I am tired and weak Lord, will you carry me? When I am broken in two Pull me through

#Flights2021 live tweet notes embed [closed 19/4]

Doing a mix of taking notes and tweeting, so am going to embed the start of my live tweets so I can find them again myself. 

It should be noted that these are my interpretations of what has been said (as processed and condensed at time of tweeting) & not verbatim notes. Hopefully, I do not misrepresent what any of them said! 

The Ingredients of a Breakthrough Short Story:

The Ingredients of a Breakthrough Short Story:
Mod: Coral Moore
Panel: Eliana Ugarte, Ande Dudak, Salik Shah...

#Flights2021 live tweet notes embed [to be updated]

Doing a mix of taking notes and tweeting, so am going to embed the start of the live tweets so I can find them again myself. 

The Ingredients of a Breakthrough Short Story:

The Ingredients of a Breakthrough Short Story:
Mod: Coral Moore
Panel: Eliana Ugarte, Ande Dudak, Salik Shah, Valerie Valdes
Starting with intros and a short story they loved. #BreakthroughShorts #flights2021

— Anna Tan (@natzers) April 17, 2021

Publishing outside the US

Alright, next up is #PubOutside...

#bookreview: Of Kindness and Kilowatts | Susan Kaye Quinn

Of Kindness and Kilowatts by Susan Kaye Quinn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ok, first up, I feel kind of mean that this is only a 3 star? But it is what it is. [It's a very personal-reason rating though, as in I liked it but not SUPER liked it mainly cos there was too much physics in it haha]

We're moving up the ladder in this series, where the problem of shady bosses in When You Had Power and nasty power outages in You Knew the Price have escalated to reach Southern California's Public Utilities Commiss...

#bookreview: Slow Brewing Tea | Randy Loubier

Slow Brewing Tea by Randy Loubier
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

80% of why I picked this up was the title; the other 20% was because well, it did sound intriguing.
To be honest, when I started reading, I wavered between "I hope he does it well" and "how terrible can this get?"

Loubier does quite well in the beginning. Itsuki's teachings start off mysterious and enticing, wrapped in Japanese sayings and Taoist words (I don't know how accurate this is) - though if you've been a long time Christian, it's ob...

#bookreview: Future Perfect | Felicia Yap

Future Perfect by Felicia Yap
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

On 8 June 2030, iPredict informs Police Commissioner Christian Verger that he has a 99.74% chance of dying tomorrow. A model was blown up at Alexander King's fashion show in New York City yesterday, the same show that's going to be at Old Billingsgate tonight - and he has to find the killer in time to make sure it doesn't happen again. Of course, this just has to happen on the day his fiancee leaves him.

Yap keeps you guessing with each new reve...

#musicmonday: So Afraid | Bebo Norman

That's not what you said
It's all in my head
And I throw my anger at you instead
So don't give up on me
I want to believe
That you'll never leave me

But I am so afraid
That I'll find myself alone
Looking for a saviour, looking for a home
I am so afraid
That I'll find myself alone
Deep into the ages, deep into the foam
I am so afraid
That I'll find myself aloneLooking for a saviour, looking for a home

So don't leave me here alone
Don't leave me here alone

On Publishing: How do you do it?

I met up with a secondary school classmate last Sunday for high tea. Meeting up was great, the high tea was so-so (real British high tea has spoilt me, sigh). 

We talked about various things, but one of the things that came up, as it tends to do nowadays, was the question "how do you do it?" in relation to the confidence of getting your work out there, and self-publishing - or at least that's how I've been thinking about it this past week. 

And the answer is... 

I don't. 

I don't have confidence.

I j...

#bookreview: Songs of Insurrection | JC Kang

Songs of Insurrection by J.C. Kang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Princess Wang Kaiya is just a pawn. The foreign (and very handsome) Prince Hardeep Vaswani wants her to wield her new-found magic to save his beloved country, Ankira. Her father needs to marry her off to the right noble to stabilise Cathay and his grip on the throne. What can a sixteen-year-old still learning to use her powers do in the face of such confusing politics and constantly-shifting allegiances? Are her powers even real?

I'd put t...

#bookreview: The Second Bell | Gabriela Houston

The Second Bell by Gabriela Houston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Salka is a striga who has spent all her life suppressing her second heart, which, if given any power, would turn her into an evil monster. It's their way of life, and the only way to keep their community safe. But when Salka is sent away, it comes down to a matter of survival: continue starving the monster and die or finally tap into her striga nature and live.

The Second Bell is a story of choices - not just the choices Salka has to make...