Read a Book (or a Bunch of Them) part 2

Goals Update:

Books read: 45

Words on WIP:12,500

Submissions: 2 rejected, 1 accepted, 1 outstanding
Words on spangly new secret project, part 1: 6,000/8,500

Events: Rocket CityAuthor Event July 21, Huntsville, AL VBC

Last time, I recommended books where we were the monsters and books where characters navigate the complexity of grief. For this set of recommendations, I want to dig into types of characters that I love reading 

I’m still open to suggestions for types of recommendations you’d like to see. If there’s a type of book you want to pick my brain about, drop me a line in the comments to let me know.

But let’s get to those book recs.

HEEL-FACE TURN/FACE-HEEL TURN

Admittedly, this one is a little difficult to give recommendations based on—revealing a heel-face turn or its reverse is often spoilery. But I’m going to do my best to keep these recs as spoiler-free as I can. Each book has several characters who struggle with their loyalty.

This struggle—what side am I really on? Have I been making things worse or better? Why am I so bad at being good?—is one of the most interesting types of conflict. This ties in with my overall greater interest in bad guys who think they’re the good guys. I’d rather read about a villain who thinks they’re a hero than about someone who just wants to watch the world burn.

My recommendations

My first recommendation is LABYRINTH LOST. The heel-face/face-heel turn in this book isn’t necessarily a huge part of the story, and it’s a little difficult to put the character doing the turning solidly on one side or the other, but conflicting loyalties is a pretty major part of the book.

Alex comes from a family of brujas, and she herself is the possessor of some powerful magic—but she doesn’t want it. When she tries to get the Deos to take her powers back, things go off the rails and she has to rely on Nova, a brujo she’s not entirely sure she can trust to help her navigate the world of the Deos so that she can get her family back. A companion novel to this book, BRUJA BORN, just came out this summer, so this is really two recommendations for the price of one.

CHILDREN OF BLOOD ANDBONE has been pitched as what you’d get if Avatar: The Last Airbender was based on African culture rather than Asian culture—and we all know that A:TLA had one of the best heel-face turns of all time. Put another way, this book is Black Panther with magic. This novel uses multiple points of view to show different sides of the world’s power structure. Magic disappeared one night, and since then, people that bear the mark of that lost magic have found themselves crushed under the monarchy’s heel. Zelie has a chance to bring magic back, but the powerful who wish to keep things the way they are will do whatever they have to to stop her. This is also a good one if you like heroes with complicated feelings toward their antagonists. This book is also part of a series, but I don’t think the release date for the next installment has been announced yet.

QUEER GIRLS FIGURING OUT WHO THEY ARE

Identity is complicated, and folks who grew up when I did didn’t get much chance to see their journey’s reflected in books at the time. Thankfully, this is a trend that’s changing. This category is one that I wish someone had been able to give me books for when I was a teen. (As an interesting note, both of these books also take place in the south, which, for me, is another nice layer of representation.)

My recommendations

In RAMONA BLUE, the titular Ramona’s life has been unsteady since Hurricane Katrina hit. In spite of the tumult, she clings to a few certainties—things like her love for her family, her attraction to girls, and her dreams of something bigger and better than her life in Eulogy, Mississippi. 

Though Ramona’s only a teenager, circumstances have pushed her to take on the role of an adult in her household. So, when her childhood friend Freddie moves back to town, he’s a welcome distraction. And, as their friendship picks up where it left off, Freddie convinces her to give swimming a try—and she loves it. And thinks she might love him. 

Ramona’s journey is one that delves into the fluidity of sexuality, resilience of family, and learning how to adjust to life’s changes.

IVY ABERDEEN’S LETTERTO THE WORLD is actually a middle grade book (meaning that it’s written for preteens, with POV characters on the younger end of middle school). This is a book about a first crush. Ivy’s got a notebook full of secret drawings of girls holding hands. When a tornado rips through her Georgia town and destroys her house, her notebook full of secret drawings goes missing. She’s in a panic that gets worse until her secret drawings start showing up, one-by-one, in her locker. She thinks—or maybe hopes—that the person giving them back to her is her classmate, a girl named Jane that she thinks she might have a crush on. Ivy’s got to decide if her secret drawings—and her secret feelings—need to come out in the open.

Y’all, I’m not a crier, but this little book got me. I seriously can’t recommend it enough.

I’ll be taking a break from recommendations next post to do a recap of the Author Event (tickets available through the link above!), but look for more book recommendations in August.

What are some of the books you keep recommending to your friends? Drop some in the comments! Let’s help build up each other’s TBR piles.

BELLES AND BRUJAS Recap

Goals Update:

Books read: 43

Words on WIP: 10,250

Submissions: 1 outstanding

Attending book events is a relatively recent thing for me. I didn’t start going to conventions as an attendee until my mid-twenties, and last year was my first time going to a show as a vendor. I’d never been to a book signing.

Some of this is a result of where I live. My city might be big for Alabama, but it’s not exactly a giant metropolis. Book tours don’t frequently stop in my town, and I frankly haven’t had a whole lot in the way of time to travel for something like a book tour.

But, this past week, a perfect opportunity arose.

I managed to make it to the Nashville stop of the “Belles and Brujas” Tour. The tour is for a couple of books that came out this year: THE BELLES by Dhionelle Clayton which came out in February and BRUJA BORN by Zoraida Cordova which came out this month. Throughout the tour, other authors have joined as guests. For the Nashville stop, the guests included Julie Murphy (author of, among other books, RAMONA BLUE which just barely missed my top five reads for 2017) and V.E. Schwab, who’s got a long list of works that includes the book THIS SAVAGE SONG, which I’ve mentioned here several times. (SEVERAL times.)

 Going to this event was a huge deal for me. These authors’ books have been some of the most captivating recent reads. And I got the chance to listen to them talk. To meet them in person.

Obviously, one of the benefits of going to this event was the swag.

Swaaaaaaag

I got some books signed and got some book-themed goodies. I’ve worn the RAMONA BLUE pin, like, every day since I got it. And there’s something really cool about flipping open your favorite book and seeing a message from its author to you, personally.

But what I really got from this event—the most important swag I came home with—was a spark.

The book signing was the last part of the night. Most of the event was a panel discussion with the four authors. (If you’re interested in the content of the panel itself, Zoraida Cordova has—or at least had—video of the whole thing on her Instagram: @zoraidasolo.)

Listening to authors talk about their work and why they do it is always fascinating. Everyone’s process and reasons are different, and, since our work is shaped by our contexts, getting insight to where different people are provides fresh perspective to the words on the page.

One of the most interesting questions that the authors took on during the panel was the question of with whom or what their work is in dialogue. All four authors talked about using their writing as a way of negotiating their own identities and of making sure that the things that they couldn’t find in books as kids are there for young readers now. They spoke about addressing problematic and frustrating trends in the industry, breaking the patterns to show how a different type of character or arc or archetype can carry a story and be meaningful to readers.

All of the questions were answered with thought and care, but this one, I think, brought out the most passion. It was so wonderful to see authors who clearly care so much about their work and its readers—and society in general.

Being around authors and readers talking about their work and the dialogues surrounding it lit a fire in my belly.

As was said during the panel, so much of writing makes an island out of you. The work can be so lonely. And, for me, I get so in my head. I love creating worlds and stories, but my desire for perfection can start to pull me to pieces. Being around other people who know the struggles, who care about their work, who have sat in front of a page and just wanted to tear their hair out, helps me feel a little more grounded.

I got to spend a couple minutes talking to V.E. Schwab (and managed not to cry/pass out/throw up—good job, me) about the struggles I’ve gone through with my space opera. When I told her how much I appreciated the fact that she is open about the tumultuous relationship she has with her own work, she said that part of the reason she shares the struggles is because, when she started in the industry, there was no transparency. That glossing over of the struggles, she said, can make people feel like there’s a gulf of talent between them and the folks who have “made it” when that’s not the reality.

I know that—have known that. So many factors play into a person getting an agent, getting a book deal, getting sales. Market demands. Agent preferences. Social climate. The phase of the freaking moon.

But when it’s just you and a screen or a page, it’s easy to forget that. To think that the reason that your work still only lives on your flash drive or in your notebook is because of you—because there’s some problem with you or your work or both.

Being around other people who write and other people who care about books, hearing writers you respect voicing some of the same insecurities that you experience makes the whole thing less lonely.

I’ve been struggling to get words on the page this year. Part of it was the whole holding-four-jobs-at-once thing, but part of it was that I was feeling lost. I had so many false starts. So many things about the book I love so much weren’t working (and, to be fair, a lot of them still aren’t, but I’ve at least convinced myself that it’s okay to let the thing breathe for a while).

I left the event Tuesday night feeling buoyant. I felt hopeful. And, most importantly, I wanted to write.

It’s still slow-going—it usually is for me—but I’m making progress. I hit 10,000 words on the WIP. I jotted down some skeletons for a couple of new short projects. I even think I can go back to CANUS in a while and make it shine.

The tour event was the refresher I needed. I’m back. I’m ready.

Read a Book (or a Bunch of Them) Part 1

2018 Goal Update
Books read: 40
Words on WIP: 8,500

I'm deep in the drafting cave right now. Since I (finally) settled on a project that I'm excited about pursuing, I've been doing my best to get a first draft on the page.

The thing with first drafts is that they pretty much always make me feel like I don't know anything about writing. So, I'm not going to be posting about writing for the next few weeks.

Instead, I'm going to talk about books I've read.

Since I'm a person that reads a lot, I get asked for book recommendations pretty regularly.

Rather than just listing books I like, I want to tie my recommendations to specific tropes, archetypes, and trends that I like. I read a pretty wide variety of books, but there are some specific things that pretty much always catch my attention in books. For these lists, I'll tell you a little about some of my favorite elements and recommend a book or two that showcase that element.

We Are the Monsters

I read a lot of genre fiction that pits humans against supernatural creatures or beings from outer space. A pretty frequent theme in these stories is humanity banding together to defeat a common enemy. But what's more interesting are the stories that make me question what it means to be human--ones that point out that human and monster aren't mutually exclusive categories.

My Recommendations

I've talked about this duology before, but it's one of my favorites. In the Monsters of Verity series, violent acts create actual monsters--the worse the violence, the smarter and more dangerous the monster. The city of Verity is divided. A human, Harker, offers protection from the monsters in exchange for a hefty fee. On the other side of the wall, Flynn pushes for stopping the problem of monsters before it starts--and using the most dangerous type of monster, soul-stealing Sunai.Harker's daughter, Kate, wants to prove that she's worthy of her father's monstrous reputation. Flynn's Sunai son, August, just wants to be a normal boy. These books were based on one idea: Plenty of humans are monstrous, and plenty of monsters know how to play at being human.

Grief and Grieving

Loss is always difficult to cope with, and reading has been one of the tools I've used to work out my own feelings. Art--movies, plays, books--give us an chance to vicariously experience the emotions of grief. They help us find catharsis. They give us some tools to deal with these difficulties in our own lives without us having to go through a trauma of our own.

My Recommendations

For this category, I have a genre recommendation and a contemporary recommendation.

THE ASTONISHING COLOR OF AFTER follows a girl named Leigh who is navigating the aftermath of her mother's death by suicide. Leigh is convinced that, after her mother died, she turned into a bird. To find out what her mother's spirit is trying to tell her, she takes a trip to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents and connect with the parts of her mother she never knew. This book is devastating--and I mean that in the best possible way. Leigh's journey is as much about figuring out how to manage the way her life has changed as it is about developing an understanding of her mother's struggle. Plus, the prose is beautiful.

UNDEAD GIRL GANG is one of my favorite reads from this year. Mila's best friend was found dead in the park in what the authorities think was part of a suicide pack with two of their school's queen bees. Unsatisfied with the official explanation, Mila casts a spell to bring back the dead, hoping that her best friend will be able to tell her what happened. Unfortunately, she also brings back the other two girls and is no responsible for managing three undead girls for a week while they work out who killed them. This book isn't the gut-wrencher that ASTONISHING COLOR is, but it does dig into the power of grief. Though Mila gets her friend back temporarily, she does have to figure out how to live in a world where her best friend is there. It's got some great action, wonderful friendship, and magic.

That's it for part one! I'll be back with another round of recommendations. If there are specific tropes, trends, or archetypes you'd like to see recommendations for, let me know.

 
 

Schedules and Recs

2018 Goal Update
Books read: 39
Words on WIP: 6,000/?

So I guess I took a month off from blogging?

May was an exercise in figuring out my new circumstances. Though my new job leaves me with much more in the way of energy and is something that I'm actually done with when I leave for the day (no more student emails in the middle of the night!), it requires my physical presence for a greater number of hours than my previous jobs did. I'm still figuring out the best way to manage this.

I haven't been slacking in my absence. Though there have been a few false starts, I've finally settled into drafting my new WIP. It's not BRUSHSTROKES or Space Frankenstein (though I'm holding on to my notes for both of those--I want to write them, but now's not the time). It's an older project that I made a couple of half-hearted attempts at last year. I think it's had time to percolate, and I'm really enjoying digging into it. As much as it's possible for me to enjoy the torturous process of writing a first draft.

That being said, finding the time to put together blog posts has been a struggle. I plan to keep blogging, but I'll likely be switching to posting on a different day, and maybe once every other week as opposed to once a week. More updates on that as they come, I guess.

June's going to be a month of reorganizing. Hopefully, I'll have my act together by the time of my next in-person author event.

I'll be a guest at the Rocket City Author Event in Huntsville, AL on July 21. It's a day-long event, and tickets are pretty cheap (I think $5 for guest tickets and $7.50 for VIP tickets?). I'll have copies of EVIN and MATA HARI, so it's a great chance to get those signed if that's the kind of thing you're into.

Since I'm going to be busy in the drafting cave and doing event prep, I'm trying to plan out my next few blog posts. What I think I'm going to do is a series of book recommendations. I'll start with ones based on my favorite things in books--favorite tropes or character archetypes or settings. But what I'd really like to do is give recs for things you're looking for.

So here's what I'd like you to do: in the comments, tell me what things you're looking for in books. I'll see if I've got anything on my list that hits those marks.

Catch you in a couple weeks.

Breather

2018 Goal Update
Books read: 18
Words on LIBRARIUM: 1800/? (5000 maximum)
Words on WD Contest story: 200/? (2000 maximum)

This hasn't been the best week for writing. In fact, I haven't actually written a word this week. Some of the lack of productivity has been due to a series of migraines (it's that time of year, I guess). Some of it has been because of the work load at my day jobs--and the work load that goes along with trying to find a different day job. But, if I'm honest, most of it boils down to my needing a break.

This time last week, I had just finished this round of revisions on CANUS. I did a little work on my two smaller projects to round out the week. My brain, though, hasn't been cooperating with me. Going from revisions to a first draft is always disorienting: I've been (re)polishing work for so long that the little things that you're not really supposed to worry about in a first draft scream at me. But I've been working non-stop really since last January, between revisions, short stories, the project that I still can't talk about, and the Mata Hari story ("Lady or the Dagger," which is now available!).

I mentioned in my 2017 reflection post that I wrote fewer words in 2017 than 2016, but that doesn't mean that I did less work. I'm proud of the work that I did, and I'm glad that some of it is now ready to be shared.

I started this blog back in April of 2016, when I decided to seriously pursue writing. Since then, I've been doing just that: devoting frequent time to my writing work (though I'm still not great a sticking to a schedule), pounding out new projects, perfecting larger projects, publishing pieces. I love the work. Even when I hate it, I love it. But we're approaching two years of almost non-stop work.

So I took this week off. On the one hand, I do think the break was earned. Of course, I still felt guilty about it the whole time.

I plan to ease back into work this coming week. It's a good time for it. I'll get feedback from my writing group on my LIBRARIUM story, which should spark some forward movement. And I should have some extra time to play around with the contest story.

I'm hoping the breather has helped me recharge a little. And I'm hoping that I can forgive myself for actually taking a moment to take a break.

Either way, it's time to get back in the saddle. The work won't do itself.

Small Press FAQ

2018 Goal Update
* Chapters left to revise: 1 (so close!)
* Books read: 15
* Words on LIBRARIUM: 1678/? (5000 maximum)

Last week, I signed my latest publishing contract, so I can officially announce that my story, THE LADY OR THE DAGGER will be included in the MATA HARI: THE EYE OF DAWN anthology coming soon from Pro Se Productions.

More details as they arrive

THE LADY OR THE DAGGER marks my third contract with a small press (and a fourth is on the way), so while I wouldn't call publishing old hat for me yet, I think I can reasonably be considered experienced in the realm of working with small presses. I sometimes get questions from other writers considering submitting work or pitches to small presses. Everyone's questions are different, but there are a few topics that come up pretty regularly. So, consider this my Small Press FAQ.

Contracts

Every press is going to have a different contract boilerplate, but there are a few things that you should be sure are present in your contract:

• Rights: print, electronic, and (if applicable) audio. The contract to clarify what type of rights the publisher is seeking. Usually, this is going to be first rights for the various media, meaning that the publisher is the only one that can produce the work until the contract expires or after a specific period of time dictated by the publisher (when this will occur varies based on publisher, but most will not ask for "life of the work" rights--they'll establish rights for a number of years with the option for continuing and renegotiating). This section should also spell out what rights the author retains--things like copyright, which the author should always retain.

• Publisher obligations: things like the publisher's responsibilities regarding cover art, editing, binding, marketing, and other aspects of production. This part spells out what the publisher is going to do for you. Do they have in-house artists and designers that they contract for cover art? How many editing passes are they willing to do with an individual work? What is their timeline for publication (this will usually be framed as a tentative timeline--sometimes things come up that slow the process)? To what degree will the publisher aid in marketing the work?

• Royalties: the percentage of sales that go back to the author--how much money you make per unit sold. This is not the same thing as an advance, but I'll get into that later. This will usually be presented as a percentage of the profit. Sometimes the publisher will offer a percentage of every unit sold; sometimes they'll specify that the royalties are a percentage of the profits. The only real difference is that one delays payment until production cost is met. This section should also spell out when  and how payment will be received.

• Buyout and Cancellation terms: if either party wants to exit the contract, what is the procedure for doing so? This will spell out what is expected of the author if they want to get out of the contract. Usually, this will involve some kind of payment to offset the cost the publisher took on in production. It should set up what you get to keep--can you use the cover art that was created, for instance? Likewise, this section will spell out under what conditions the publisher can exit the contract. Things like failure to produce the manuscript in a timely manner may be listed as cause for the publisher to revoke the contract.

• Miscellaneous: There are some other odds and ends that may be present in some contracts. For shorter fiction, there might be clauses about the publisher's ability to include the work in other collections. Most will spell out what non-royalty goodies the author gets--things like free or reduced-price copies of the work--or what expectations there are regarding conferences and author events.

Small Press vs. Traditional Publishing

 One of the main things I get asked about working with small presses is how does it compare to traditional publishing with big house publishers. There's only so much I can answer about this, honestly, since I haven't published anything with a major publisher, but there are a few comparisons to make.

• Agents: While small presses allow authors to submit their work for themselves, larger publishing houses often require that work be submitted via a literary agent. There are some exceptions: Tor, for instance, allows unagented submissions. Most major publishers, though won't take submissions direct from an author. Not everyone is interested in signing with a literary agent. If you don't want to go through the querying process and seek out an agent, then small presses will probably work better for you. Or, if you want to build up your resume to make yourself more appealing to an agent, you might consider working with small presses first.

• Advances vs. Royalties: Small presses usually don't offer advances. The author makes money based on sales without getting any payment upfront. This is because small presses usually don't have the funds to risk on advance payments. Major presses, though, offer advances of varying sizes based on how well they think the work will sell. The author gets to keep the advance even if the book doesn't meet sales expectations, but no royalties are earned until the sales cover the production costs and the amount of the advance. Major publishers can do this because they will typically have a few books that will be major sellers--think like a tentpole blockbuster from a movie studio that covers its own cost as well as the cost of a few smaller, less profitable movies. Small presses are less likely to have those runaway bestsellers, so they prefer to pay out as sales roll in.

• Distribution: Where will your book be on shelves? Small presses tend to lean more on digital platforms. Usually, you'll be able to find your book through online retailers--Amazon, Smashwords, etc. Sometimes you'll be able to find your work on the online versions of some of the big box stores. What's less likely to happen, unless your sales are fantastic, is for you to see your book on physical shelves in major retailers. Small presses typically don't have the power to make deals with major retailers. Major publishers, though, do. Publishing through a large house drastically increases the likelihood of your book being available in chain bookstores, where it's a little easier for potential readers to stumble across it.

• Marketing: With small presses, the weight of marketing falls largely on the author's shoulders. Marketing is expensive, and there's usually not enough money for small presses to pay for major marketing campaigns for each book, though they will frequently offer resources that authors can make use of to market themselves and their books--lists of events, group ad buys, and the like. Major publishers don't always throw a ton of money at marketing for each book, but there's generally more money available for marketing. The author still bears significant responsibility for advertising their own work, but the major publishing house is still a powerful ally to have in the author's corner.

Small Presses vs. Self-Publishing

Most of what small presses vs. self-publishing boils down to is the question of how much of the work the author wants to do or is able to do themselves. Small presses offer aid in cover design, formatting, editing and some help in the arenas of marketing and distribution. With self-publishing, the author takes on all the work and all of the expense of preparing, publishing, and selling a book. That's a lot to take on, and the monetary cost can get pretty high pretty quickly. But the author also gets all of the money from the sales. If the sales are high enough, they might make more money than they would with a publishing contract. Whether self-publishing works better than publishing with small presses is really a matter of cost-benefit analysis on the author's part.

Navigating publishing is complicated no matter which path you take, but I hope this post has answered some questions for those trying to decide which method will work best for their writing.

Favorite Reads from 2017

There are still a few weeks left in it, but I can safely say that 2017 has been a hell of a year. One positive thing that's come out of what's otherwise been pretty much a dumpster fire of a year is that I spent more time reading.

I've loved reading since I learned how, but it's been tough to make it a priority in recent years, between college, graduate school, work, and my own writing. But I've found that if I consider it part of my writing work--you can't write well unless you read, and you can't know the business of publishing unless you keep up with it--I put more effort toward it.

I set a conservative reading goal this year: 30 books from January 1 to December 31. I'm sitting at about 47 right now, and I'll likely make it to 50 before the year's out. That's still about half of where I'd like to be, but it's a start.

Around this time last year, I posted a list of my five favorite reads from 2016. I wanted to do the same this year, especially since I'd read so much more. This is that list.

I don't have very many rules for inclusion, but I do want to give some insight into how I built this particular list.

Books on this list don't have to have been published in 2017 (though many of the books I read this year were--following literary agents on Twitter definitely helps me keep up with new releases); I just have to have read them in 2017. I limit my list to one book per author, which came in handy this year, since I discovered a new favorite author and read a couple whole series this year. This list is for single books and not series, so, for series that I want to have represented, I pick one to represent the entire series.

I don't have a quota for what I read, but I do try to read across age groups and genres. I also make an effort to read underrepresented voices. This doesn't mean that I avoid books by white guys, but I try to make sure that they don't make up all of my reading list. This year, I came pretty close to gender parity. My specific goal for this year was to read more books by women of color, and I think I did that pretty well.

So, all that in mind, here's my list of favorite reads from 2017, in no particular order. And, as always, buy links are provided.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

 This is maybe an obvious choice, but there was no way this book wasn't going to be on my list. Angie Thomas's debut novel spent the better part of this year sitting at the top of the NYT Best Seller list. The Hate U Give follows Starr Carter a teenage girl who has to navigate the world of the mostly-white private school she attends and the mostly black urban neighborhood she where she lives. Her worlds collide when her childhood friend, Kahlil is the victim of a police shooting. Thomas creates characters that the reader becomes immediately attached to, and she gives a face and a point of connection to a larger social problem. Apart from being an emotional and entertaining read,  The Hate U Give provides an opportunity to build empathy. I started putting this book in other people's hands as soon as I finished reading it. I can't recommend this book enough.

The Last Colony by John Scalzi

The Last Colony is actually the third book in John Scalzi's Old Man's War series, all of which (except for the sixth and final book which I haven't been able to get my hands on) I read this year. Humans have built colonies in space, but they're not the only species vying for territory. Where the first two installments of this series are more concerned with battles in space, The Last Colony focuses on the struggle of keeping a colony afloat amid galactic conflict and under the thumb of a manipulative governing body. I recommend the entire series (or, you know, the five I've read), but this was my favorite of them.

 Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

I'm way behind the curve on this one. Bad Feminist came out in 2014, and Gay has published several books and stories since this one. I also read a collection of her short stories this year (Difficult Women), but this essay collection hit me hard. Gay writes about feminism from an intersectional perspective, discussing the ways that class, race, appearance, and sexuality all complicate the experience of womanhood and feminism. She writes about mass media and issues of representation, about the treacherous world women have to navigate, and about the internal struggles of feminist movements. Gay's style is forthright and personal, and she doesn't flinch away from difficult topics. Definitely a worthwhile read.

Want by Cindy Pon

This was another of the new releases I picked up this year after hearing about it from lit agents. Want is set in a near-future Taipei, where air pollution has hit levels that make it dangerous to go outside without a special climate controlled suit. But those suits aren't free, so the rich buy them up while the poor suffer and die from illnesses related to the pollution levels. Jason Zhou and his friends have a plan to change the status quo, but it involves Zhou going undercover as one of the wealthy elites he despises. Want hits a lot of my buttons: a hero that's willing to take questionable actions to achieve their goals (but who's also not immune to the emotional consequences of those actions); shady corporate actions; the relationship between quality and length of life and access to resources (can't get away from the sociology, I guess). Want is powerful and atmospheric, with elements of scifi and some pretty neat heists.

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

So, in a discussion with an agent at a conference, I mentioned that I wanted to write across age groups, to which the agent said, "Like Victoria Schwab?"

I said, "Yes, exactly!" And then decided that I should, you know, maybe read some of her stuff.

As of right now, I've read eight and a half (I'm not quite through The Near Witch) of her works since October, and I've loved each one. But her Monsters of Verity duology were my favorites. This Savage Song is the first in that duology. The story follows Kate Harker and August Flynn, a human and a monster who are on opposite sides of conflict in the city of Verity. Kate's the daughter of a crime boss who uses his influence to protect anyone who can pay from the monsters that roam the city. August is a powerful monster who's been raised by the man trying to make the city safe for everyone. Schwab's prose is beautiful, and this pair of books checks so many of my favorite-thing boxes. This Savage Song is the only book that I read twice this year. I loved this series so much; I think I'm gonna get a t-shirt made that just says "Talk to me about Monsters of Verity."

And that's my 2017 list. It's more YA-heavy than last years, but I don't think that's a bad thing.

What were some of your favorite reads this year? Let me know in the comments.


 

 


 

 

Light at the End

November turned out to be productive, but not as productive as I wanted. The novella is finished--or at least the first draft has been turned in to the publisher. The Downtown Writers anthology is out (you can get it here; proceeds go to the library). Revisions on Project 2016 are moving along, though it's slower going than I'd like. I plan to have revisions finished by the end of the year so that I can start querying again in January.

And also get started on my next manuscript. As much as I love Project 2016, I am ready for a change of pace.

This means I have quite a bit of work ahead of me. We're talking roughly three weeks to complete revisions on thirteen chapters, some of which have to be rewritten from scratch. Which means that I won't be able to devote the time to write the type of lengthy process posts that are the main content for this blog.

I'm not going completely silent, though. I'll take the weekends of Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve off, but there will be new posts the next two weeks.

It's December, which means the time is right for some year-end wrap-ups. Next week, I'll write about my five favorite reads of 2017. I had the chance to do a lot more reading this year than last and read things by authors I'd never read before, so I'm looking forward to delving into what books stole my heart this year and why.

After that, I'll have a post about my year in writing. There were some pretty big moments for me this year. Hopefully, I'll be able to announce some upcoming work. Even outside of publication, this was a big year for me as a writer. I did some good work, took some new chances, and became part of a larger writing community in ways I really hadn't been brave enough to before. I'll be looking back over what successes I had and trying to pin down the areas where I still need improvement.

For now, though, I have to get back to the grind. After all, the year's not over yet, and there's still so much to do.

Anthology

Coming soon! An anthology of retellings of Grimms' Fairytales.

I've mentioned before that I've been participating in a local writers' group. In the past few months, we've been working on a story anthology. This anthology is due for release by the end of the year and will be available for purchase via Amazon and the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library.

Proceeds from this anthology will benefit the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library. There will be a release even in conjunction with the library's NaNoWriMo events, so watch this space for details!

My short story, "Red Snow, PI" is included in the anthology, so if you want to read more of my work and help a local library, this is a great opportunity.

Author Interview with Bria Lexor

This week's interview is with YA author Bria Lexor, whose Gargoyle Redemption trilogy has just released.

·         Tell us a little about yourself.

I am a YA Urban Fantasy Author and my Series: The Gargoyle Redemption Trilogy released on September 25^th!

·         What type of books/stories do you write?

I have written about vampires, gargoyle shifters, aliens, Angels and Fallen Angels, a game book, and a female wrestling book so far.

·         What does the start of a project look like for you? (Where do your ideas come from, what prep work do you do before starting a new project, any writing rituals, planner or pantser, etc.?)

I write down all the names of characters I want to use and the story outline. My ideas come from whatever pops into my head at that particular moment in time and I write it down before I forget it. I start writing the book after I get the characters into place as I picture them in my mind. No, I just sit at the computer and start writing away.

·         What did your path to publication look like?

It’s a hot mess! I have found the worst publishers who are out there, excluding a couple. It’s been a struggle for me to have to refind my audience after signing with Foundations, LLC, who is amazing by the way! I’m hoping this time around my books will finally reach the right audience and will be on the Best Sellers list one day soon!

·         Is there anything that you’ve learned through the process that you wish you’d known at the beginning?

Gosh yes! Not to sign with any publisher who is super pushy and ends up treating you badly to the point where doing what I love isn’t fun anymore.

·         Do you have any tips/tricks/resources you’d like to share with other writers?

Just keep writing and you will find the right publisher for your work one day. Never give up on that!

·         What part of the writing process do you find most exciting?

Starting a new series is always exciting for me because I have fresh characters to show everyone who reads and enjoys my work in the future. It’s an awesome feeling inside!

·         What part of the writing process do you find most challenging?

Right now it has to be making a grid for my new series. I just haven’t figured out why I can’t do something so easy. That is challenging for me.

·         Any new work from you we should be watching for?

Absolutely! I have 4 new book series to look for in the future: My Fallen Angels series, my Sports Fiction series, My Alien series and my Game book series are all going to be unique and fresh from me!

·         What’s one piece of advice you’d give new writers?

Keep writing. No matter how long it takes to finish writing that first book, keep at it. You will get there. I promise.

Thanks, Bria! If you want to find Bria, check these links:

Bria's Website

on Facebook

on Twitter

on Tumblr

on Instagram

Bria's blog

You can find Bria's work here. Be sure to check her out.