Anna Tan's Blog, page 55

#musicmonday: Sinking - Jars of Clay

I was reminded that I haven't been posting Music Monday songs.

Here's a random.

Short + Sweet Theatre Penang: A Completely Biased Review

In the interest of full disclosure, I'll say right from the start that I have stakes in this.

Not very high stakes, but some stakes. So yes, I am biased, but I shall try to be as unbiased as possible.

Now that's out of the way, let's begin.

What to expect in general:
A mix of everything. There's drama, comedy, and confusion. (We'll get to the last in a bit.)


I haven't been to watch S+S in a while so I didn't know quite what to expect. There were eight short plays altogether - half in BM, half in E...

#nanowrimo updates

I'm taking a break from #fridayflash in November (not that I was terribly consistent before) because I'll be posting writing updates from NaNoWrimo over at my Patreon page. (Or you can just see my graph on the sidebar.)

If you want sneak previews of the snazzy new novel I'm working on, head over to https://www.patreon.com/annatsp and become a patron! You'll only be charged once I publish the novel.

#fridayflash: Open skies

Clear blue skies. Not a good day for dying. Nadira focused on putting one foot in front of the other. Tiny beads of sweat collected around her neckline and she looked up at Riz. He'd stopped a few steps in front of her and was gazing out into the distance, his hands outstretched.

"What are you doing?" Nadira asked as she stopped beside him.

He dropped his arms and shrugged. "Waiting."

"For?"

"It's stupid, you know? The way we internalise things. Our perception is skewed from birth."

"What?"

"Okay,...

#bookreview: Dancing Dragon or Headless Chicken

Dancing Dragon or Headless Chicken: Unleashing The Leader In You by Robert J. Kirby
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Nonfiction books hardly ever make my to-read list, but this was given to me by a writer friend of mine (who happens to be his daughter) and the title was super catchy. So *shrug*

As leadership books go, I suppose this is useful. It's got all the things I've heard before in the millions of leadership seminars I've attended for work and church. Dancing Dragon or Headless Chicken focuses heav...

#bookreview: The Hush | Skye Melki-Wegner

The Hush by Skye Melki-Wegner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Chester Hays is a musician—a very good musician. But he hasn’t been (and doesn’t have the money to) audition at the Conservatorium. Which means he isn’t a Songshaper and he shouldn’t be able to connect to the Song or play Music—that special sort that was made of sorcery and secrets—but he can. And he doesn’t know how. Or how to stop it. Travelling from town to town in search of his missing father, Chester makes a terrible mistake out of prid...

#bookreview: Lawless by Janeen Ippolito @thequietpen

Lawless by Janeen Ippolito
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

To be honest, I went into Lawless a little warily. I had a rocky start with it--liking the snarkiness between Kesia and Zephryn, but stumbling a little to figure out what was going on. Fleetwings? Talents? Congruency? Scepters? What? But confusion soon cleared and then it was off on an adventure!

The dragon-human war has dragged for years with no resolution. On the dragon side, Kesia, convicted murderer, serves as a soldier for the Pinnacle in h...

#musicmonday: Waiting Here for You | Martin Smith

Because it was time to go back to a classic.

#Guestpost: Worldbuilding Cultures: Cultivating Sensitivity through Creativity by @Rebekah_Loper

Today, for the final post of what apparently became worldbuilding week, Rebekah Loper talks a little bit about cultures and sensitivity as part of her book launch tour.

Rebekah is a fellow A to Z blogger and Wrimo, who, coincidentally, introduced me to Realm Makers!
Worldbuilding Cultures: Cultivating Sensitivity through CreativityLast summer, I read an article about fiction readers being more empathetic people than non-readers. There doesn’t seem to be a formal article or study about writers b...

#bookreview: The A-Zs of Worldbuilding by @Rebekah_Loper

The A-Zs of Worldbuilding: Building a Fictional World From Scratch by Rebekah Loper
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Covering everything from Architecture to Zoology, The A-Zs of Worldbuilding is a comprehensive workbook on how to build a fictional world from scratch. Evidently.

Each chapter provides some background on the chosen topic, giving examples of how that specific aspect may affect people or culture, both individually and as a whole. This is followed by exercises: questions about the topic, pl...