May 2023 Roundup

Writing A Book: Information Delivery ... The Bare Minimum Checklist

May 2023 Roundup

Welcome to the May 2023 roundup!

This month I went on my second writing retreat with some members of the #6amAusWriters from Twitter. Three of us (myself, KD Kells, and Belinda Grant) attended the same retreat last year, and this year we were joined by indie Fantasy author, Elise Carlson.

We spent two and a half days writing, brainstorming character arcs and event timelines on butcher’s paper, going on wind-filled walks to the beach, and cooking and eating lots of delicious food. We even spent a night sitting by a very warm fire, talking all things writing. As for the rest of the fifth month of 2023, this is what I got up to…

What I’ve Been…Writing

Blackbirch 4 – I used my time on the retreat to edit 9 chapters of Blackbirch 4, draft 8. I’m currently working my way through the rest of the chapters so I can get it ready for betas by the end of June. The final few chapters still have some story points to clarify, but I’m feeling good about how everything is progressing. I still have about 12,000 words to cut, and I need to rewrite/edit 7 scenes that are part of a story within a story that I haven’t looked at for the last few drafts. It seems like a lot of work, but I am really enjoying this book, and that always helps to keep the overwhelming freakouts at bay .

Watching

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3

While Volume 1 remains my favorite of the Guardians saga, the final volume earns its place in the story and is full of the usual action, quips, Groot conversations, Drax being Drax, and the heroes vs. new villains. A major part of the movie is Rocket’s backstory and how he came to be who he is. As he’s severely injured and in a coma for most of the movie, this is done through flashbacks and dream sequences, but it’s all very effective and emotional, as is the movie as a whole. As usual, stay for the post-credit scenes.

Firefly Lane (Final Season)

If you’re not familiar with Firefly Lane, it’s based on a book that covers the friendship of two women from the time they are teenage neighbors (on Firefly Lane), through high school, college, careers, marriages, children, and life’s ups and downs. It’s messy, fun, sad, happy, and probably best described as a modern-day Beaches. If you’re anything like me, it will have you up all night binging the last few episodes, sobbing your eyes out. It’s only 2 seasons, but that’s all that’s needed to tell this emotionally touching time-spanning story.

The Little Mermaid

The original is my fave Disney classic, so I was looking forward to seeing the live-action version. While I was a bit worried about the decision to make Sebastian, Scuttle, and Flounder look real after the emotionless disaster that was the live remake of The Lion King, the voice actors do pull it off, especially Daveed Diggs, who voices Sebastian. Sometimes the CGI looks off, and the darkness of the underwater scenes isn’t great, but the acting from Halle Bailey as Ariel, Jonah Hauer-King as Eric, and Melissa McCarthy as Ursula (although she does go over the top at times) made up for most things. I also liked the small tweaks made to the storyline and character arcs. The new songs aren’t instantly likable, but the classics are done well, especially Part of Your World and a new little reprise of it, which I had stuck in my head for days after.

Renfield

If you love gory violence, dark humor, and Nicolas Cage being Nicolas Cage, this movie is for you. Renfield, Dracula’s familiar (played by the always watchable Nicholas Hoult) has spent centuries finding victims for his master, and after following a potential victim to a support group for those in toxic relationships, he realizes he needs to end his involvement with Dracula. Trying to escape the Prince of Darkness is not that easy, however, and a lot of death, a team-up with the only good cop in the city, and some interesting uses of Dracula blood follow.

Reading

Surrender (The A’vean Chronicles #2) By G.R. Thomas

With the characters, myths, world-building, and main story established in book 1, book 2 of The A’vean Chronicles concentrates on two main events: Sophia escaping the prison she’s being held in, and the other angels and watchers looking for her.

This does make the book feel as if not a lot is happening, but there are important surprises, like the discovery of a box in the continuing quest for clues that’ll lead the angels home, and Sophia finding a long-lost family member. There are also some very interesting developments in her love/hate relationship with Ben and a great twist by the author in regards to the way she’s able to reset their relationship with some demon trickery. Another cliffhanger ending is the perfect lead into the next book in this adventurous series.

Edit Yourself: A Manual For Everyone Who Works With Words by Bruce Ross-Larson

A handy reference book to use while line editing. I think if you were to read this book page by page without having any writing to apply it to, the lessons would go over your head, so it’s definitely one to be using as you’re working with words.

It provides cuts, comparisons, and changes for cleaning up your sentences, and some basic overviews of common writing problems and solutions for them so you can make your sentences as clear and concise as possible.

Allegiance (The A’vean Chronicles #3) by G.R. Thomas

Still trying to unravel the clues to Enoch’s box to find the portal home, Sophia has to team up with Ben while unaware of her past connection with him. They must also work together to get back Jaz, who has been kidnapped in a bid to distract Sophia from her mission. New enemies crop up in this third book in the series, but none so great as the enemy Sophia faces during the final pages. It’s a twist you’ll love, and another excellent cliffhanger to close out this epic story and set up the final book in the series.

Christopher Pike Books

Inspired by the Netflix series, The Midnight Club, I decided to spend 2023 re-reading the books of my favorite author, Christopher Pike. It was his books that put me on the path to writing for Young Adults, and it’s interesting reading them now as a writer rather than just a reader. For these books, I’m enjoying the nostalgia and reading for fun and not to review.

This month I read The Visitor, The Last Story (Remember Me #3), The Last Vampire 3: Red Dice, The Last Vampire 4: Phantom, The Last Vampire 5: Evil Thirst, and The Last Vampire 6: Creatures Of Forever.

If you’ve got any good book recommendations, let me know in the comments, or be my friend on Goodreads and share your books/recommendations with me! You can also find and follow my reviews and book recommendations on Amazon and BookBub.

If you’d like to add the Blackbirch books to your Goodreads “Want to Read” shelf and/or check out the reviews, click the following links:

Blackbirch: The Beginning Blackbirch: The Dark Half Blackbirch: The Ritual

Taking Photos Of

My writing retreat. Here are some pics of what we got up to on the weekend away.

On The Blog

In case you missed any of my posts, or want to read them again, here are the latest blogs.

April 2023 Roundup The Do’s And Don’ts Of A Writing Retreat Writing A Book: Information Delivery Elements
Writing Tip Of The Month

#WritingTipWednesday posts are added to my social media feeds every week and here is the most popular tip for this month. It’s taken from my blog post, Tips For Rewriting A Finished Manuscript.

Blackbirch Snippet Of The Month

This snippet is from Blackbirch: The Dark Half, and was the most popular one posted this month on my social media feeds.

If you’d like to read the books released so far or find out more about each novel, here are the links:

Blackbirch: The Beginning (Book 1)Blackbirch: The Dark Half (Book 2)Blackbirch: The Ritual (Book 3)

If you’ve read any of my books—and haven’t done so already—please consider leaving a review or even just a star rating. It really helps indie authors get their books noticed, and also helps fellow readers find books they’ll like.

Quote Of The Month