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Writing 365,000 Words in a Year Update #26

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Something has changed with the arrival of summer, and unfortunately that appears to be the amount of time I have for blogging and writing. I’ve been doing a miserable job keeping up here, and also keeping up with my 1,000 words a day goal. It’s been off and on lately. The good news is that if I forget one day, I tend to remember and prioritize it the next. I’ve found a few hours this weekend to dedicate to a “mini-marathon” and maybe I will somehow be able to catch up on the 23,000 words I’m behind on. If I could manage to catch up, that would mean I’d almost completed the draft of The Torc, the new thing I’m working on. Here’s a look at my word count chart for the beginning of June:

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The large number on the right is my current deficit. I realized the other day that if I was caught up, I would have less than 100,000 words to write before reaching my goal! That makes me feel pretty close to achieving my target with approximately 3 months to go. Time is ticking away quickly and there is still a lot I want to get done before September 1st, when my goal will shift to rewriting, though I plan on continuing to draft a lot, since drafting makes me happier than rewrites.

My day job has kept me busy, so busy that I haven’t even had time to read much, though I was traveling so I did finish a couple audiobooks. Being busy hasn’t stopped me from buying more books to read either. Or planning to read more books. I was terribly behind on my GoodReads entries, and just paused to enter all my recent reads. The funny thing is that I feel like I’ve missed entering a book, but if I have, I don’t know which one. This is why I use GoodReads, because otherwise I forget what I’ve read! Here’s a shot of some new books in my garden. They’re so pretty.

So, after catching up on my GoodReads entries, I’m still two books ahead of my GR goals, which is awesome. I wound’t be anywhere close if I hadn’t listened to so many audiobooks this year, but listening to books at the gym has been inspiring both for my reading and writing, and also for working out. My current listen is Graceling, which i’ve just started. It will probably take me a while to get through as it is 11 hours, and I don’t have any solo road trips planned, though I do have a family trip.

Alright, so for the next week, my goal is to catch up on blogging, aim for 1,500 words a day, and just continuing enjoying books. What are your plans?

JEH

What I’m Reading: Moonlight Over Paris by Jennifer Robson

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I picked up this book because it was on the sale rack and I have a weakness for anything Paris. I’ve been there three times and I’d gladly go again, and I would love to go there in the 1920’s when this book was set.

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Moonlight Over Paris by Jennifer Robson is about Ellie, a broken-hearted young woman who almost dies. When she realizes she’s going to live, she decides to attend art school in Paris for a year and live with her Auntie A. This is an historical romance, set during one of my favourite periods. I’m a huge fan of Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, and this book was a bit like that movie, with famous Parisians of the 1920’s making cameo’s here and there throughout the novel.

There were a few cheesy parts, but the author did a great job of setting the scene. I loved Ellie and her friends, and was actually kind of jealous of her life, as I really wished I could be the one attending art school in 1924. Ah, to dream. If you’re like me and love Paris, or are just a historical romance person, I recommend this book. It was a good, quick read.

4/5 Stars

JEH

What I’m Reading: Spirit Animals Vol 1. Wild Born by Brandon Mull

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The title is kind of a lie. I actually listened to this on audiobook and didn’t read it. But I did enjoy it. I haven’t read the books, so I can’t compare the reading experience to the listening one, but I really enjoyed the audio book of this children’s fantasy adventure.

Spirit Animals: Wild Born by Brandon Mull follows four eleven-year old kids who call The Fallen as their spirit animals. There is quite a bit of set-up in this book, but there are seven books in the series, so I appreciate all the time taken to give the story a good base. Even with the set-up, there was a good amount of action. The story had me longing for a spirit animal of my own, and I keep hoping one will just appear any day now.

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Spirit Animals Wild Born is definitely children’s fiction, not young adult, but I think for any fan of the fantasy genre, the Spirit Animals world would be an enjoyable one, especially if you have a secret longing to be a veterinarian, like I do. This is the kind of book that I would like to read to my children one day—maybe once they are old enough to sit through more than on sentence from a board book. This is the kind of fiction that is uplifting, and good to read on a stressful day.

As for the audiobook, it was read by Nicola Barber and I thought she did a wonderful job with all of the varying voices and accents and characterization. Though I think she actually did a better job of the male voices than the female voices, which I find to be a problem with a lot of audiobooks. Or maybe it’s just me.

Have you read or listened to this book? What did you think?

4/5 Stars

JEH