Sorta Break

Hi, how are you today?

I hope everything is okay in your corner of the world. I know it's hard at the moment because there are so many crappy things going on all the time, but that's why it's important to find happiness.

So, after spending last week doing an intense round of edits, I enjoyed a nice mental break. Which is actually a good thing because not only was I mentally exhausted, but the weather has been so shit lately that I caught a cold. I felt pretty shitty most of this week. 🤧

And yes, I was sickish on my birthday. Ugh.

It sucks, but I kept up with my daily walks around the river. Hell, I even managed to finish the first draft of the story I've been working on. The word count ended up being 10k, and I just completed the second draft about ten minutes ago.

It's now 12k. 🦇

I really didn't expect this particular character's story to end up past 10k, but I'm not surprised because it's really a tale that covers several changes between two different characters. Also, last night I came up with a very small tweak that made a huge difference to the second draft.

Love when that happens!

Oh, and I finally got a chance to read! I've been so busy with my own writing and organising my new bookshelves lately that I didn't get a chance to read for a while. I read two cool books: THE NIGHT GUEST by Hildur Knútsdótti and SUNBURN by Laura Lippman. Really enjoyed both of them, especially TNG.

Also started watching the DAISY JONES & THE SIX TV show and I'm enjoying it. A lot. I'm four episodes in and can't wait to see how it turns out. I read and absolutely LOVED the book last year, SO MUCH. The 70s vibes and music match the book so far, plus the aesthetics are beautiful. 🎶😍🎶

Also, the MURDERBOT S1 finale was awesome.

Well, that's about it for now. I'm looking forward to enjoying a nice and relaxing weekend with my husband.

Have a great time!

SUNBURN by Laura Lippman

Sunburn by Laura Lippman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After reading a great book the other day, I wanted to get stuck into another story, so I went through my Paperwhite... and started reading this one yesterday.

When Polly walks out on her husband and daughter during their summer vacation, she ends up in Belleville, Delaware. And inside a tavern, she crosses paths with the alluring Adam. Both are apparently passing through on their way to better places, but the secrets they hide bring them together. And will probably tear them apart...

Well, this book turned out to be quite interesting. It's well written and there are secrets buried within secrets that lead to an unexpected conclusion. There's also a great cast of grey characters that prove good people can do bad things, and bad people can do good things.

It all starts with a seemingly average woman, Polly, sitting in a bar after leaving her family because she wants to be free before her husband leaves her. But it doesn't take long to realise that there's a lot more to her story. Then there's the man, Adam, watching and assessing her every move because he seems to be interested in her. Yet, he has ulterior motives too.

I liked the way this unravelled. Told mostly in the POV of Polly and Adam, there are also several other POVs peppered throughout that provide clues that help round out the overall mystery. And these definitely help the reader figure out exactly what's going on with Polly.

Cool book, glad I read it.


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THE NIGHT GUEST by Hildur Knútsdóttir

The Night Guest by Hildur Knútsdóttir
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've been busy working on writing, revision, edits, and a whole bunch of other stuff. But this week I wanted to get stuck into a bit of reading, and started with this novella.

Iðunn is desperately trying to find out what's going on with her. She's always tired, wakes up with bruises and knows there's something wrong. But doctors can't help her and won't even take her seriously. Until her life starts to unravel when she figures out she's leaving the house at night. While she's supposed to be sleeping...

Well, this is quite the creepy tale.

It's also full of snappy chapters that flow so well into each other that I found it hard to put my Paperwhite down. Seriously, I read this in one sitting that took a few hours.

There's a lot I enjoyed about this story. The writing style. The mystery. The narrator that's so confused she takes the reader along for the ride. The many breadcrumbs the author lays out in the narrative. The social commentary about how women are ignored, or are expected to behave, how so many are practically invisible. How shitty men hide in plain sight with their 'good intentions' on show but secretly hide obsessive, controlling agendas.

Yeah, it's all there and works really well in the context of what happens to Iðunn's life. She's trapped in a cycle she can't escape while awake, which I think says a lot about how things turn out.

I also love the ending. Some might call it ambiguous, and while that might be true, I think the answers are there if you pay attention. Not to mention that leaving the conclusion open for interpretation is very cool.

Loved it!!


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Busy Week Full of Words

Hey! How are you today? I hope you're well and finding some happiness and fun during the shittiest timeline ever. 🙄

Every single morning there's a new stupid and cruel thing happening. It's awful to watch. I wish people had paid proper attention and saw exactly what we did. But hate means more to some people than anything else. It's a shame.

See the lovely demon girl above? That's Destiny. She's the main character in my upcoming novel from Brigids Gate Press. Why am I talking about her? Well, I spent this week revisiting her story during an intense round of edits, which I completed early this morning.

It was nice to catch up with Destiny, Kenan, and all the other occultish characters. It's a stand-alone cozy/urban fantasy novel about a demon who is hired by a nun to find an angel. 

You know, Hellboy x Constantine. 😁

Oh, just a quick note about the graphic I posted here. I made this on a website called Picrew several years ago. Picrew is a doll maker website where human artists upload their art and users can make cute versions of themselves. Or as I like to do, my characters. This isn't AI. You all know how I feel about AI. I despise gen AI and don't use it for absolutely anything. Personally, I don't understand people's dependency on it, but that's a different story.

I just wanted to make it clear that the graphic I made isn't AI slop. It's from a cool doll maker website I've been using for years.

Anyway, let's get on with the rest of the post. LOL.

As I mentioned above, I spent all week working on edits. It's been a while since I last read this novel, so I paid special attention to everything. Really happy with the result and I'll keep you updated on the cover, release date, etc.

Although I spent most of my time editing, I also squeezed a bit of writing into the week because my two vampire boys are loud and demanded I keep telling their story. I added another 2k words, which brings the total to 5,600. Yeah, this one's going to be a much longer one.

I didn't get a chance to continue my Kallax organising, but my bookshelves are a WIP, so that's okay.

Well, that's about it for now. I'm kinda mentally and physically exhausted right now, so having a three-day weekend is going to be great. Yeah, my husband is taking Monday off because the 7th is my birthday. 😊

Have an awesome weekend!!