November 2022 - found paints and doors to other worlds.
Hi Everyone,
I can’t believe it is November already, it seems that summer just ended—especially considering the unseasonably warm September and October here.
I’m still plugging away on making collages as a way to recharge my creative batteries. Check out the particularly sickly yellow one above. I wasn’t really aiming for that colour (yet, I kinda like it), but it’s what happened when I cracked out some paints I hadn’t touched in years. So far with my collages, not everything has gone as planned, especially since I’ve decided to up my game.
The only redeeming factor of the collage I made before the one above, is this guy with a crane head. He’s particularly dapper.
Nevertheless, I’m still enjoying just making them. How they turn out is significantly less important.
What I’ve been reading
Recently, I found The Ten Thousand Doors of January in my, rather out-of-control, to-be-read pile (I had to transfer the pile onto a new bookcase to keep it from toppling over).
The story is set around 1901 about a young woman, January, living in our world, except there are doorways scattered about that open into other worlds. These adjacent worlds bleed into our world shifting new ideas, artifacts and even people. January is a product of this, which she discovers as the book goes on.
There's a book within the book and a world where written words have actual power. In a lot of ways it reminded me of The Night Circus as is wound it’s way towards a satisfying ending.
I love this kind of magical realism—yet I find myself plotting how I could replace the doors with portals and set it in the future.
On the topic of plotting a new story…
Drafting the next book
Below is my outline (subject to change as I write) of this years’s NaNoWriMo novel. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and the goal is to write 50,000 words over the month of November. Having a goal like this works well for me, this year is my fifth time doing it.
I’m temporarily calling this year’s novel Crash Landing (I’ll come up with something better later).
There seems to be an endless debate on wether it’s best to plan out a novel before you write (plotting) or make it up as you going along (pantsing). I’ve tried both ways, and my conclusion is that different books require different methods. That said, I like to have some sort of plan before I sit down to write—especially for NaNoWriMo. And yes, this year’s cunning plan is based on coloured stickies.
Is anyone else doing NaNoWriMo? If you are, my user name is jeannetteB and I’m always happy to have new buddies on the platform.
I guess I should go and start writing…
Cheers,
Jeannette
Here’s a books by a fellow indie author worth checking out:
A swashbuckling upper YA/NA LGBTQ+ sci-fi western you don't want to miss!
Cor, Ellie, Zach, and Gabe thought they were in the clear, but their bad luck said otherwise. As soon as they stepped foot on land, the four were arrested for a new crime they didn’t commit, and there was only one person who would have the resources to turn another town against them.
As they wait for Byron to retrieve them from the town’s prison, the group comes up with a plan to escape. But what happens when one of them doesn’t make it out? Do they risk their lives to go back for that person, or do they save their own skin?
Book 3 of the City of Kaus series
My Books:
Encoded Orbits
Fractured Orbits - direct or from the shops
The Alien Algorithm - direct or from the shops
Settler Chronicles
Day 115 on an Alien World - direct or from the shops
Far Side 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
And if you aren’t already a subscriber, what’s stopping you (especially if you have read this far)?