July 2022 - a crisis, some progress and abandoned books
Hello Everyone,
I’ve taken the week off to spend time with my daughter and work on my various writing projects. I’ve also gone on a collage making binge, example up above (this time with penguins!).
The Crisis
Normally, I write on my iPad with a keyboard. Years ago my mom made me take typing in junior high, grade seven I think it was. We used ancient, analogue, typewriter—the kind that clacked with each letter and pinged at the end of each row forcing me to move the carriage back to the other side. My mom’s logic was that touch typing was the kind of skill future me would need irregardless of what I did with my life—and she was absolutely right. I type as fast as I think which has made my life easier in so many ways.
But back to the iPad keyboard… Several months back it decided not to recognize the down arrow any more—annoying, but I could live with that. Monday, it decided to ignore the Return/Enter key rendering my iPad into a useless writing device. I haven’t been able to slump into my comfy chair and play in my fiction worlds, and that’s making me grumpy.
But, never fear—the replacement keyboard is on its way. And I printed out the final book in the Encoded Orbits trilogy and have been going through it with a green pen (because I couldn’t find my red one).
Abandoned Books
In a highly unusual twist for me, I abandoned two novels half-way through recently because they just weren’t working for me (the books themselves are probably fine, just not my thing). In both cases, the were elements to the writing style I just didn’t like—however, if the story was compelling enough, I wouldn’t notice that kind of thing. The characters were fine, but I just didn’t care what happened. Part of me wanted to push thought and finish them but, really there are plenty of other books that I’d like to get to.
Next up for me, I’m going to delve into a novel by Stanisław Lem. He’s a Polish science fiction writer who put out a number of science fiction novels in the 1950-80s. Here’s a delightfully creepy short story by him about what where we might find evidence of life.
After much looking, I found a physical copy of Solaris which was first published in 1961. It’s a short novel with an intriguing premise—a planet wide alien intelligence trying to interact with a group of humans. Currently, I’m about half-way through. Other than a complete lack of decent female characters (a problem I find with most scifi of this era), its shaping up to be an interesting book.
It appears that there have be three movie versions made, but I’ve only seen the George Clooney version (which I enjoyed). I might watch it again once I’ve finished the novel.
And Finally Some Progress
I’m finally making solid progress on Subject 34, the conclusion to the Encoded Orbits trilogy. The story is taking on shape and there’s plenty of action scenes, which I find very fun to write.
In a writing process tidbit — I find printing out a manuscript and going through it forces me to see the story in a different way. I notice nuances I don’t see on a screen. But it does use up a lot of paper (which I consider a cost of doing business—and then make note paper out of the manuscript later). I’ve heard other authors say that just changing the font, to something ridiculous like comic sans, has the same effect for them.
Random Tidbits
Here’s a new book by a friend that I can’t wait to read:
Cheers,
Jeannette
My Books:
Encoded Orbits
Fractured Orbits - direct or from the shops
The Alien Algorithm - pre-order here
Settler Chronicles
Day 115 on an Alien World - direct or from the shops
Far Sid of the Moon - direct or from the shops
Abandoned Ships, Hijacked Minds - direct or from the shops
The Alien Artifact - direct or from the shops