November 2023 Roundup
Welcome to the November 2023 roundup!
What a month I had! I spent the first half getting everything ready for when my twin sister came to town for two weeks. As soon as she got here, we went on a 4-day Disney Cruise with two friends to Hobart, which is in Tasmania, Australia. We’d never been there before, and I’d certainly like to go back and explore it for longer. The cruise (also a first for me) was fun, and I got to tick a bucket list item off, which was seeing a movie on a boat. We watched The Marvels while on the cruise, as well as three great Broadway-style shows: Frozen, The Golden Mickeys, and Dreams: An Enchanted Classic as the entertainment each night. Below you’ll find some pictures of the cruise and my holiday if you’re interested. As for the rest of the eleventh month of 2023, this is what else I got up to…
What I’ve Been…WritingNot much! For the first time in years, I wasn’t working on a Blackbirch book, and that’s because the final book is out now! Blackbirch: The Collector was released on the 27th, and although I was feeling a little overwhelmed about the end of the series before I went on holiday, as soon as it was released, I felt nothing but happiness. I’ve been dreaming/thinking/plotting/writing this series for 22 years, and I couldn’t be prouder of what it ended up being. I hope anyone who reads it feels the same.
To celebrate the release, I will be holding a giveaway where you can win signed paperbacks and book swag like bookmarks and a pin! Be sure you’re following at least one of my social media accounts (links at the bottom of this blog) so you can enter when I announce the details tomorrow!
The Marvels
Picking up after the events of the Ms. Marvel TV series, which saw Kamala Khan switch places with her hero, Captain Marvel, aka, Carol Danvers. The body-swapping shenanigans go up a notch when Monica Rambeau is roped into them too. The sequences add to the fun of the movie, which sees Carol, Monica, and Kamala join forces to defeat an enemy who is seeking revenge for an incident that destroyed her home planet. Nick Fury and Goose the Flerken also make appearances, as do other characters that I won’t spoil here. It also wouldn’t be a Marvel movie without a twisty ending, and a mid-credit scene!
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
This is the only Hunger Games book I hadn’t read before seeing the movie adaption, so I went into it not knowing what it was about other than an origin story for Snow (The Hunger Games villainous president) and that it’s set years before Katniss. I liked not knowing the story, and I liked this movie as a whole. My sister, who is a big Hunger Games fan, preferred the other movies, but I think this one has its place in the franchise. When 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow is assigned to be one of the first mentors in the 10th annual Hunger Games, he does what he can to keep his charge, Lucy Gray Baird from District 12, alive, while also fighting growing feelings for her. The movie is broken up into 3 parts, showing Snow go from underdog to hero, his fall, and the start of the path to becoming Panem’s future president. With plenty of Hunger Games easter eggs along the way, Tom Blyth is great as the young Snow, and Rachel Zegler is perfectly cast as the songbird, Lucy Gray.
Reading
The Woman In Me by Britney Spears
Britney, the real Britney, not the media-created version, is finally free to tell her own story instead of others telling it for her, and it’s an eye-opening, disturbing, honest read, with the occasional moments of joy.
Starting with her dysfunctional childhood and moving through her career, touching on big moments those who grew up in the late 90s/early 2000s will remember, the book moves through her biggest relationships, failures, becoming a mother, being stalked by paparazzi, having a mental breakdown fueled by betrayal and grief, and then finally onto the 13-year-long conservatorship, and her escape from it.
It’s not a light read, and you can feel her anger for the way she was treated by those closest to her and by the media. There’s also an underlying naivety. Britney trusted too much and gave in too much to those around her, not advocating for herself until pushed to limits that would have broken others. Britney has stated that she’s moved on after writing this memoir and how therapeutic it was for her, and I really hope that’s true because she certainly deserves that right. Recommended for fans of Britney, and those who like quick-read memoirs.
The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing by Meg Leder, Jack Heffron, Writer’s Digest Books
Another interesting collection from The Writer’s Digest series. This book covers the basics of writing and features interviews with well-known authors, like Margaret Atwood and Tom Clancy. Highlights for me were the articles, The Plot Thickens, The Fifty-Page Dash, How To Start, A Four-Step Plan for Revision, Twenty-One Tweaks to a Better Tale, Producing a Knockout Novel Synopsis, and Marketing Your Novel: The Ten Commandments. Recommended for writers of all levels, but especially those in the beginning stages.
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 Red Queen, and Thirst 5: The Sacred Veil.
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! 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 BeginningBlackbirch: The Dark HalfBlackbirch: The RitualBlackbirch: The Collector
Taking Photos OfMy Disney Cruise on the Wonder, Hobart, The Friends Experience, and a one-night-only show from Christina Aguilera during her first visit to Australia in 15 years.
In case you missed any of my posts, or want to re-read them, here are the latest blogs.
October 2023 RoundupThe Basic Book Launch Marketing ChecklistBlackbirch: The Collector Cover RevealBlackbirch: The Collector Is Out Now!Other blogs and sites!
This month I was invited to write a character interview for The Glorious Outsiders blog, Laurie Bell posted a fabulous book review for Blackbirch: The Collector on her blog, and the Australian Book Lovers site featured my book as one of their Fantastic Features Of The Week! Thank you to my fellow amazing authors for the opportunity to feature on their blogs/sites, and for their amazing support! You can check out the pieces at the following links:
#WritingTipWednesday posts are added to my social media feeds every week and this was the only one I posted this month, so it wins a spot in my roundup by default! It’s taken from my blog post, How To Add Unpredictability To Your Story.
Blackbirch Snippet Of The Month
This month I posted the first snippet from Blackbirch: The Collector, which is the opening sentence of the book. Fun fact, it mirrors the first line of book 1 (The Beginning) and the closing sentence of The Collector’s epilogue. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do in a story, and it was a fun feat to pull off.
If you’d like to read the books 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)Blackbirch: The Collector (Book 4)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
I didn’t post a quote this month, so I’ll just reuse last month’s because it’s such a good one. I hope you’ve enjoyed my November Roundup. Let me know what you got up to in the comments, and don’t forget to keep an eye on my socials for The Collector giveaway!
— K.M. Allan
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K.M. Allan
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