May: Back to the Writing Board

The Month So Far:

Okay, so the month hasn't been overly long, yet, but I missed posting last month, so you get this one for free.

This week, I'm back to writing Out of the Blue. Quite the accomplishment. I felt especially accomplished once I looked back at my February post and realised I was on 19,000 words then. I just passed 21,000 yesterday.

-.-

This morning, I had a visit from a side character who doesn't get introduced to the story until 20,000 words in, but I think he might end up being another of my favourite characters. At 8.30 this morning, he decided he just had to share this with me.

I'm loving this series of books. I'm getting a lot of short stories out of it that I can throw at publications.

Speaking of, I've had a small one this week, a section of a larger piece, at this blog: http://littleravenpublishing.com/2014/05/02/featured-writer-nicole-field-nee-fergusson/

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And books. I've been reading so many and I feel quite snowed under by my current set. The only problem with borrowing from a library is that they have to be read within a certain time.

This month, I had a bit of a difficult time figuring out which was the most truly amazing and stand out book I'd read since last month. Philippa Gregory and Laini Taylor are hard acts to follow. Still, I think a compelling argument can be made for the first book in Catherynne M. Valente's series The Girl Who Circumnativated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. 


This could be seen as a children's book. Certainly, the subject matter of a 12 year old girl getting pulled out of her own life and going through a fairy tale-esque adventure could be seen as aimed at kids. And I would be right behind that, except for the lyrical writing.

It is at times lyrical, whimsical, self-referential and literary. The narrator herself is almost a character in the story, but not in such a way that it takes away from the narrative or others characters. Every part of this story is planned in such a way as to make it all look effortless and, again, that is just another part of its charm. By the second chapter in, I wanted to quote every line.

These little illustrations at the beginning of each chapter were just the cherry and icing.

I'd only read Palimpsest by Catherynne before, but somehow The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland made me immediately run out and grab Deathless, which I've been vaguely meaning to read since it came out in 2011.