This month has flown by. I participated in Camp NanoWriMo, wrote a short story, read twelve books, and met some of my favorite authors at a book festival!
Writing
My Camp NanoWriMo goal was 30 hours of brainstorming, revising, or editing. It’s a good thing I left it so open because after about two days of research, I quickly decided that I hated just about everything about the WIP I was planning! So I took two weeks off from doing anything writing related. Then I had this dream that was dying to be made into a short story. So I wrote a short story. It’s science fiction/suspense. I will probably try to publish it in some fancy way or another.
Last night my brain was going crazy thinking about my most recent WIP, The Sword of the Witch. This week, I plan to write out the history of all my countries and the backstory of my main characters. When I’m done, hopefully I’ll feel ready to tackle writing another draft of the story!
Reading
I read quite a few five star books this month and quite a few four star books that really stuck with me.
Lessons learned:
- First person past tense is not my favorite (Uprooted).
- As much as I want to hate them, apparently I still like reading about vampires (The Coldest Girl in Coldtown).
- If books don’t have a point and have an annoying protagonist, I will unabashedly hate them (The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett).
- Audiobooks can be AMAZING (Solo).
- Unexpected punches to the gut stick with you (Allegedly).
- Sentences with subjects first are easy and fun to read. Books written in that style maintain a fast and intense pace (Traitor Born). Also, kick-butt heroines are so much fun!
- Characters with unique personality traits are fascinating. They always steal my heart (Turtles All the Way Down).
- Fully evolved magic systems for the win (Veins of Gold, The Bear and the Nightingale, Uprooted).
Book Festival
I met Leigh Bardugo and Will Kostakis at a book festival this month! I also met two local authors I befriended on twitter: Johannus M. Steger and Jessica Olson. It was a long and full day with author panels full of stars like Sabaa Tahir, Holly Black, Melissa Albert, Angie Thomas, Renée Ahdieh, Tiffany D. Jackson, and Julie Buxbaum. Johannus M. Steger filmed the event and shared it on his youtube channel:
Up Next
I am currently reading five books, but I hope to do more writing in the month of May! I also hope to return to my World Building series on this blog. Check out World Building 101 and World Building 102 in the meantime and let me know what other topics you you’d like to see discussed!
R.Q. Woodward 