So many words. So little time.
Category: reasons I’m not writing
This has been a solid writing week. No fiction, but I wrote two book reviews, See How They Hide, by Allison Brennan and Last Twilight in Paris, by Pam Jenoff, both forthcoming. I also did three journaling sessions–I really hope they’re helping get my mind straightened out. It’s been a tough week.
Happy writing!
Last year, my goal was to get in five fiction sessions a week. Which I did except maybe three times. That sounds positive, but in the end, I ended up rehashing a lot of words and not accomplishing a lot, so I decided to make my goal a bit different this year: write every day (same as last year), but it can be any kind of writing. Fiction, book reviews, prayers, journaling (Yeah, that’s the headspace I’m in right now.)
This week, I’ve gotten a ton of writing done! I did get in one fiction session, but I also wrote my December reading post, my best books I read in December, What I Read in 2024, and four book reviews: Here Beside the Rising Tide, by Emily Jane, A Sea of Unspoken Things, by Adrienne Young, Capitana, by Cassandra James, and All Better Now, by Neal Shusterman (all forthcoming).
I also did three journaling sessions, so there was a ton of writing happening over here. How about you?
Books Read in December: 19
Books Read for the Year: 207/200
Yearly Books:
NIV Grace and Trruth Study Bible.
Unshakeable, by Christine Caine.
Topical Books/Monthly Goal Books:
The Iron Knight, by Julie Kagawa (Maybe a TBR, maybe a re-read.). I have no memory of actually having read this before, but I really enjoyed it!
Flora’s Traveling Christmas Shop, by Rebecca Raisin (TBR). This has been on my TBR list for a while. It made me laugh, but the the characters were a bit too liberal for me. And Flora…apparently learned nothing from all of her lies and manipulations. Only Colin seemed to change.
The Josiah Manifesto, by Jonathan Cahn (TBR, audio). I generally enjoy Cahn’s books a lot, but this one felt very repetitive to me, making my mind wander quite a bit. I understand the author was trying to illustrate his points, but it felt a little bit like being hit over the head repeatedly.
My Jane Austen Summer, by Cindy Jones. A selfish, ineffectual MC who believes she sees her own personal Jane Austen everywhere made this a chore to read. Do not recommend.
Maggie, by Charles Martin (TBR, audio). Like all of Martin’s other books, I loved this.
For Review:
The Paris Housekeeper, by Renee Ryan. I do love WWII fiction, and I enjoyed this one, although Vivian’s situation horrified me.
An Inconvenient Earl, by Julia London. I’ve enjoyed the books in this series, but I didn’t really care for this one. The MC is a liar, and that just doesn’t work for me.
Public Anchovy #1, by Mindy Quigley. This was a cute read. I hadn’t read any of the others in this series, but I enjoyed this one—especially the cats.
Northwoods, by Amy Pease (review forthcoming). At first, I wasn’t too sure about the MC, a self-destructive alcoholic. But he grew on me, although I still found the setting kind of depressing.
Principles of Emotion, by Sara Read (review forthcoming). I enjoyed this quite a bit! Definitely an opposites-attract romance, and I enjoyed how accepting they were of their differences.
A Body on the Doorstep, by Marty Wingate (review forthcoming). This was a cute, fun cozy mystery that was actually set in London (not very cozy-mystery-ish), but it woorked quite well.
The Heiress, by Rachel Hawkins (review forthcoming). This was a twisty thriller about a family of terrible people.
Sun Seekers, by Rachel McRady (review forthcoming). I enjoyed this a lot! It’s hard to do a child’s point-of-view well, but this was very well-done!
Just Because:
Iron’s Prophecy, by Julie Kagawa. I enjoyed this novella in one of my favorite series.
The Prince & The Apocalypse, by Kara McDowell. This was a cute read! I enjoyed the characters, and I’m looking forward to reading more.
Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell. A re-read of my favorite book. Yeah, Scarlett still sucks.
Seven Girls Gone, by Allison Brennan. I somehow missed reading this book in the Quinn & Costa series, and I couldn’t have that before reading and reviewing the fifth book.
Left Unfinished:
The Lace Widow, by Mollie Ann Cox. The POV was just too stiff/formal/distant for me in this. I felt like I couldn’t connect with Eliza, so it didn’t hold my interest.
The Book of Fire, by Christy Lefteri. This is the second book from this author I’ve DNFed, so I should accept that her writing style just isn’t for me.
A Fragile Enchantment, by Allison Saft. If I feel like the author is trying too hard to be diverse (or going out of her way to be diverse, when it doesn’t make sense for the character), this makes me ask, “Do I really want to spend the time to read this book?” In this case, I feel like the author was trying to shove square characters into round holes—just so she could say she’d written a diverse book. Not because she was being true to the characters. And dishonesty like that makes a book a DNF for me—and probably everything else this author writes, too.
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years, by Shubnum Khan. This just started off way too slowly for me.
This wasn’t a great writing week, but I did get two book reviews written: Plot Twist, by Erin La Rosa, which I DNFed, and The Fiction Writer, by Jillian Cantor (up in a couple of weeks). I also started my vacation, so that accounts for (some) of my unproductive week.
Happy writing
This was not a good writing week: I got in one fiction session…and that’s it. Better than nothing, I suppose, but life was just so busy this week! Work was super crazy and I worked around 50 hours. My dad had surgery on Tuesday, and instead of getting out of the hospital Wednesday as planned, he was in until yesterday. I ended up doing a 15k trail race yesterday that I hadn’t planned on, because my best friend’s mom had signed up and couldn’t go, and I had family and friends in town this weekend. I. Am. Tired. So, yeah. That’s it for me.
Happy writing!
I feel like every week lately has been crazy at work—and this week was no exception—but I managed to get two book reviews written this week: Thief Liar Lady, by D. L. Soria and Ladies of the Lake, by Cathy Gohlke. Thief Liar Lady was a retelling of Cinderella that I’m…ambivalent about. And Ladies of the Lake was an excellent historical fiction that I listened to on audio.
Happy writingF!
Well…I wrote no book reviews this week because of work chaos and DNFing Ciao for Now, by Kate Bromley (I’m not sure why I thought that was going to be a good fit for me in the first place: I avoid social media and superficial people like the plague). I did write a post over on A Little Bit Greener, though: Hello, beautiful! Hopefully this week will be a better writing week!
Happy writing!
This week, I only got one book review written, A Guide to Being Just Friends, by Sophie Sullivan. I’m actually fine with that, as I worked almost 50 hours…and there was a LOT of stress at work. I’m also mentally playing with an idea for a writing project, so that’s exciting.
Happy writing!
Well….I managed to get one book review written this week. I’m actually fine with that, considering the chaos/emergencies at work. Hoping this next week is calmer.
Happy writing!
This week, I only wrote one book review. Between vacation aftermath and work chaos—plus not reading much on vacation—there just wasn’t time. Better luck next week.
Happy writing!
Tomorrow Is Another Day 