January 2023

It's January, and here are some things that I've been up to. 

I'm currently reading Becky Chambers - A  Prayer for the Crown Shy. It's the second Novella in the Monk and the Robot Series, and I love it. It's sci-fi, referred to as hope punk, and it has a robot and lots of tea. It's as perfect as the first one. I'm looking forward to reading more of her books

Brandon Sanderson - Tress of the Emerald Sea. The first of the secret books from Sanderson's Kickstarter. I have not read much of Brandon Sanderson's work, but I like this one. It's been a great bedtime read. Interesting enough to read before bed but not so insane that I can't put it down to go to sleep. There are three more books coming this year as part of the Kickstarter.

Grady Hendrix - How to Sell a Haunted House. I pre-ordered this just from seeing the title with the hopes of one day when selling our house, leaving it lying around for the visits of potential buyers to see. Jen, the grownup, has since talked me out of it, but we found some middle ground. We'll leave a copy someplace for the new owners to find once it's been sold. I'm going to read it first. 

I watched Petite Maman. It's a sweet french film that handles traveling through time as normal and everyday as experiencing a memory. No drama, no paradoxes, just experiences. I loved it. 

I also caught up on the third season of Servent on Apple TV to be caught up for the season finale. Lauren Ambrose is such a good actor. So many faces in every scene that I could feel myself going crazy along with her. 

The only writing that has taken place has been to create the world for the new story I'm working on, along with some of the characters. The plot and the actual story are coming. I have had a lot of ideas that I have acknowledged and put aside. Some may come back, and some might not. I lean toward a scary story, but at the same time, I also want a nice story with good characters and most doing good things. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to blend those two. Actually, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to blend those two, but I'm going to try. 

I'm not editing anything this month, but I have a couple short stories I plan to clean up next month.

I heard back from the agent I submitted my query letter and the first 10 pages of Disappearing to. Fairly quickly. They declined it but were thankful for the opportunity, as most are. It was a canned response, but I get it. I know last month I said that I would send another one out right away, but to be honest, I really have to be in the mood to submit a query letter and put myself out there for potential rejection with the slight hope that maybe someone will find the work interesting enough to want to push it. This month I have not been in the mood. Maybe next month. 

Until then, I will slowly continue to build out my new story and maybe even start writing it.

This is a picture from a hike following some snow this weekend.





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