After a nice walk outside, I finally sat down to write today. Despite procrastinating, I'm proud to report that my adult historical/women's WIP has grown from 59k to 66k in the past week. My goal is to get it up to 75 and then begin the hard core editing. It would be great if this resembles a second draft by the end of my writing class at the end of June, but we'll see. One step at a time.
Last night, I had the lovely experience of sitting down and drooling through not one but two books. "Hurricane Dancers" by Margarita Engle was a fast read. Told in multi-voiced verse, it's the story of a mixed race slave and a Spanish pirate voyage near Cuba in the 1500s. It's a fast read, and I really liked the intertwining of the storylines.
"Clarity" by Kim Harrington is probably the best thing I have read all year. Hands down. Murder meets psychic powers in this realistic YA mystery. The characters are believable, and the book ends poised for at least a sequel. If you grew up on Nancy Drew and fantasy novels the way I did, you MUST read this.
Earlier this week, I finished "Zen in the Art of Writing" by the fabulous Ray Bradbury. This is another must read for all writers, but I'm sure you are aware of the copious amounts of books on craft that exist.
I also worked my way through a translation of "The Golden Ass" by Apuleius. I'm sure I lost some of the jokes (there's only so much work a good translation can do to bridge cultures and centuries), but I really enjoyed it for the most part. The encounter with the goddess Isis in the end was particularly beautiful.
Well, I guess this is it for April! Happy almost May, everyone. (Watch out, I may start singing songs from Camelot...)
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