Books Read in 2024

I read 33 of the 35 books I challenged myself to read in 2024, which isn't too bad. I won't list them all, but I do want to share some highlights or you can visit my Goodreads year in review to see them yourself.

Highlights

33 books            6,382 pages read

shortest book: My Name is Elizabeth! by Annika Dunklee, Matthew Forsythe (Illustrator); 24 pages

longest book: The Wonderling by Mira Bartok; 450 pages

Recommended Reading

I really enjoyed everything I'd read in 2024 but here are just a few of my favorites. (This way I can list some of them without listing everything - haha!) Just a heads up, I read a lot of young adult, childrens, and fantasy so my recommendations (from the books read in 2024) are in those genres.

Fairy Tale / Folklore / Remix fiction:

1. How to Save Your Tail*: *if you are a rat nabbed by cats who really likes stories about magic spoons, wolves, with snout-warts, big, hairy chimney trolls ... and cookies, too. by Mary Hanson, John Hendrix (illustrator)

Similar to Scheherezade in 101 in 1001 Arabian Nights, a cookie-baking rat name Bob spins tales to keep from being eaten by the two hungry cats - Brutus and Muffin - who've caught him. He tells tales of familiar fairy tales in not so familiar ways in the hopes of distracting the kitties long enough to keep his cookies from burning and of changing their minds from eating him. Really cute book!

2. The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley, Marian Tomas Griffin (narrator)

I chose to listen to the audiobook and am glad I did. The narrator really brought the tale alive and transported me into orphan Corinna's world. Those familiar with certain folktales of the area (no spoilers from me) will recognize the clues sprinkled about in the story. I really enjoyed this original folk story and have added Franny Billingsley's books Well Wished and The Robber Girl to this year's To Read list. Definitely a must read.

3. Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry by Rosalie K. Fry

The Secret of Roan Inish is one of my favorite films, so I decided to finally read the book which had inspired the film. This was a magical story, full of family, friendship, and a child's faith and determination .. oh, and selkie lore. (hee hee) It's a wonderful book to share with the young people (and young at heart) in your life. 

4. Once More Upon a Time by Roshani Chokshi

A delightful remix of various fairy tale princess stories and trope - a prince named Ambrose, a princess names Imelda, a curse, a quest, magical creatures! It started out as a sort of Twelve Dancing Princesses but with a twist and didn't disappoint in the end. Roshani Chokshi is another author on my To Read list.

5. The Wonderling by Mira Bartók

Although it's not an obvious fairy tale or folk tale or a remixing of classic wonder tales, this story about a shy fox-like foundling with one ear who sets out to find his family is a magical tale worthy of the book's title. 

Rereads:

1. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, Andy Serkis (narrator)

It's been decades since I last read The Hobbit, and it's as good as I remembered it, all these years later. Who better to narrate the story then Gollum himself? Andy Serkis was remarkable, and I looked forward to listening to this on my walks.

Series:

1, The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place #1-6 by Maryrose Wood

Starting with The Mysterious Howling and ending with The Long-Lost Home the books follow governess Miss Penelope Lumley and her charges, the Incorrigbles of Ashton Place - Alexander, Beowulf, and Cassiopeia. The series is full of mysteries, including who are Penelope's parents, why were the children running wild in the woods, and what has Lord Ashton got to do with it? The series is full of interesting characters like the mysterious coachman Old Timothy, the Babushkinovs, Simon, Edward Ashton, .. and full of adventures and mysteries-within-mysteries - wolves, pirates, balloon rides, the Rainbow pony books-within-the-book which Penelope adores, a runaway ostrich ... I absolutely loved how Miss Lumley was written, too. A really fun series to read.

I actually listened to these books and highly recommend doing so because the narrators Katherine Kellgren (#1-5) and Fiona Hardingham (#6) do such a wonderful job. I couldn't figure out why the narrator had changed for the final book until listened to the author's note at the end. *sniffs*

2. A Memory of Fire (The World Gates #1) by Holly Lisle

I've read the first book in the series and have the others on my To Read list. Holly Lisle created a vivid, living, breathing otherworld (other universes) in this book with unique inhabitants and rules. I've followed Holly online for years for her writing advice and lessons, which are offered on her site and are also highly recommended. She was a prolific writer of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

3. Legends & Lattes (Legends & Lattes #1) by Travis Baldree

Cozy fantasy / high fantasy with a twist. The orc Viv retires from the warrior's life and sets out to open a coffee shop in the city of Thune. A fabled artifact, a mysterious cat, the succubus Tandri, Thimblet's cinnamon rolls, friendship, love, perseverance, and the courage to try something new are just some of the people and the themes we encounter in the tale. I'm reading book #2 Bookshops & Bonedust right now.

4. The Light Fantastic (Discworld #2) by Terry Pratchet

Continuing right where we left off in the first book, Sir Terry Pratchett introduces us to more of the fabulously imaginative Discworld through the eyes of the wizard Rincewind, tourist Twoflower, the Luggage, Cohen the Barbarian, and of course, Death. The Great A'Tuin and a malevolent red star seem to be on a collision course, and Discworld's savior happens to be Rincewind, the wizard who failed out of Anhk-Morpork's Unseen University.

5. The Bookseller's Tale (Oxford Medieval Mysteries #1) by Ann Swinfen

Oxford, England 1353. The body of a student is discovered floating in the river, an apparent drowning, but bookseller Nicholas Elyot and his scholar friend Jordain discover clues suggesting the young man was murdered. While the mystery unravels, Nicholas's family is put in danger. Great for fans of period mysteries, I think.

Cat Gerlach's Indie Authors Advent Calendar 2024

2024 is the 10th anniversary of author Katharina Gerlach's Indie Authors Advent Calendar. If you're unfamiliar with the online advent calendar, it's a collection of flash fiction from indie authors shared on her website's calendar each day in December, which is next month! (How did December come so quickly? *sigh*) If you sign up for the advent calendar emails, you'll also receive bonus stories along with other bonus items like recipes and pictures. 

Three of my stories* were accepted for this year's calendar (yay!) and will appear in the bonus emails, so if you'd like to read them be sure to sign up for the email notifications. The emails go out to advent calendar subscribers during December only. It's not necessary to sign up for the emails, of course. You can simply visit the calendar each day to read a new story, but you miss out on the bonus material. This will also the last year Cat will be hosting the calendar so be sure to sign up if you'd like to be reminded to visit the site and read the stories. Once December has ended, the calendar is closed. The stories are not archived. 

Indie Authors Advent Calendar

Sign up for Advent Calendar Emails

*One of my stories in this year's advent calendar, "A Familiar Kind of Magic," first appeared on author Holly Lisle's Alone in a Room with Invisible People (AIARWIP) Halloween episode 2. The other two are brand new. I actually discovered Cat Gerlach through the forums on Holly Lisle's website. Holly, who passed away in August of this year, was not only an author of over 30 books and short stories but also a mentor to many writers and a wonderful teacher. She’ll be missed by her fans, her students, her friends, and her family.

Imperfect but Nearly Finished

I say nearly because it's rewrite-time for my nanonovel. I'm in the home stretch of Holly Lisle's writing course: How to Think Sideways, learning about revising my novel and finding the right ending for the book. Query letters, what to expect while working with agents and editors .. and now I just have to get crackin' on that NaNoWriMo novel of mine and make it all shiny. Shiny but not necessarily perfect. Nothing is ever perfect. And that's okay.

"Safe never starts. Perfect never finishes." - Holly Lisle

This morning as I got ready for work I daydreamed about this novel of mine, about my unfinished ones and the ideas I have yet to start. All the while I was smiling. I couldn't help myself. It was a good start to the day.

Next week, that's what I'll be doing. Daydreaming and revising but not necessarily in that order.

So This is What It's Like in the Winner's Circle

On my fourth attempt, I have completed the challenge of NaNoWriMo. :)

At around 1am this morning I finished, with a little over the required word count of 50,000 and uploaded my story to the NaNoWriMo site for word verification. Somehow an extra 200 words were added in the process, but hey! that's fine by me. :) I'm quite pleased as you can imagine. It was very difficult to focus but focus I did and finished. Hoorah! The novel will need major reworking and revision, but I think the idea is a good one and has promise. So again I am happy with the results. :D

I really believe that part of the reason I was able to finish this year is the course How to Think Sideways that I'm taking. Without it I couldn't have pre-plotted without over plotting, and I think that helped me a great deal. I was able to plot just enough. Not over, not under, just enough structure to aid me as I struggled to get from one part to the next. And yes, it was a struggle, but it was so much easier this year than past years! :) Another reason was attending the Boston Kick Off party - fantastic motivational day. Then, of course, having writing buddies like atomicpagan kept me motivated as well. Finally, if I was stuck, I would think invisible robot fish or crime fighting tomatoes, grin like an idiot and start writing again.

I've decided that next year I won't be writing my nanonovel in my notebook. I'll just type it out. Writing then typing is not fun, especially when you're writing 50,000 words in 30 days. Some stories need to be written on paper, doodled on, scribbled over and dotted with asterisks and side bars full of conversational snippets for a later time. NaNoWriMo stories are better suited to being typed out with the first words that come to mind .. or to fingertips, as the case may be. Spill it all out on the keyboard! More efficient that way.

I've crossed NaNoWriMo 2008 off my 1001 list. Three down, 98 more to go!

NaNoWriMo Update

I like to write on paper with a nice pen. I like the way that feels, and it enables me to take notes, cross things out, make doodles in the margins as I write. So, for this year's NaNoWriMo attempt I did just that. I bought a notebook and wrote. I find I write best in the morning so I tried to do most of my writing at that time before I went to work and then finish off some more words at the end, but when I reached over 20,000 words, the realization of it all hit me like a mack truck. In order to have my word count validated and to officially "win," I would have to type it all in and upload it to the NaNoWriMo site by November 30. *headdesk*

I've since switched gears. I've started typing in the mornings what I've written so far, and I type new scenes into my laptop at night. Physically typing at night isn't foreign to me since that's when I'd usually check my email and respond to people online. I'm better at staying awake when I'm typing into the computer at 11:30pm than I am when I scribbling into my (paper) notebook. At night I have a stream of consciousness thing going on that works well for typing out a nanonovel. In two days/nights, I've typed around 7,000 new words of my story. (yay!) I'm aiming for 30,000 words before I go to sleep tonight. I know there are many who are way ahead of me (congratulations!!) and many who are behing me in word count (don't give up!!), but hitting the 30,000 mark would be such a confidence boost for me.

Luckily, I had written a series of sentences lite for the story as part of my class work in Holly Lisle's How to Think Sideways: Career Survival School for Writers course. Those little scene sentences are a godsend! I can easily stay on track and create new scenes at the same time. Taking Holly's class was a wise decision for me.

Oh! and Scrivener is working out great. Once the trial period is over, I'll have to purchase the program. I've been able to keep all my notes, sentences lite and work in one spot. And Scrivener keeps a running word count for me, and shows me a little graph/bar with my progress. How cool is that? Very cool in my book.

Writing Things

Holly Lisle is once again opening the online writing course I'm taking for a limited time starting Monday Oct. 6 until Mon. Oct. 13, and she offered a pdf which gives others a glimpse of some of the lessons along with a link to download a free module from Lesson 7. I personalized it a bit with my name (hee hee) and included the link here if anyone wants to take a peek. The course costs but the pdf and link inside the pdf are free. :)

Think Sideways PDF

The course is opening up to a limited number of students so if it fills up before Oct. 13, she'll close it again for a bit.

I'm using this course right now as my prep for NaNoWriMo. (I'm determined to finish it this year!) I *will* be using it to help me along with some other writing that's on hold and for web series plotting & character help.

Oh, and I'm enjoying Scrivener so far. I can see loads of potential for organizing and writing .. and less chance of me misplacing my notes when I go to write something. :)

cross-posted to live journal

Writing & Other Updates

I've joined Twitter. Holly Lisle dangled prezzies in front of me, and I'm learning so much from How to Think Sideways that I couldn't resist signing up/the opportunity for a free writing clinic. Holly has a rockin' way of celebrating her birthday. ;)

I've also downloaded a trial for Scrivener. If anyone has thoughts on that particular program, please feel free to share. I'll be playing with the program a bit this weekend. Hopefully I get a good sense of it.

This weekend will be busy. I promised to start on a simple (because I can't do anything more than simple & basic *g*) web site for my sis. We'll be showcasing and selling some digital art (hers more than mine *g*). I'll post a link once we're up and running. ;) I need to find a dress for Laura's wedding! I also need to clean (why are you laughing?) for S.'s arrival next weekend. Maybe get some con book letters out (I've already missed a few deadlines!) And write. And research. And go to Boston Sunday with L.? And figure out the dinner plans for next Wednesday. What I won't be doing is finishing any videos for the Burbank con. I didn't get much feedback from the people I showed them to, and I have no energy to start new ones since my mind is focused elsewhere anyway. Actually, this weekend won't be very busy compared to next. Next weekend will be action-packed but fun. Scott & Laura's wedding, S. visiting, maybe an outing in town or to Salem or somewhere else (depending on the weather), maybe a concert Sunday night .. busy, busy.

Prepping for NaNoWriMo & Jumping Slightly Ahead of Myself

I've put my current writing aside while I prep for NaNoWriMo. Part of that preparation is Holly Lisle's Think Sideways course. I'm using one of the ideas generated during the coursework as this year's nanonovel. The techniques and lessons learned so far are helping me with plotting and characterization, and I think I will feel ready to just write come November 1. Plus, most of what I've learned so far (and I'm not even done with the course yet!) can be applied to other ideas I'm working on. In fact, this'll help with the duality issue I've been having with one of my characters (that story is on the backburner while I prep for this year's NaNoWriMo). I think I'll be able to pinpoint what exactly is wrong and where; I'm very excited to jump ahead and rework the idea using techniques I've learned. For now though it's best for me to focus a bit on what I'll be writing this November.

In fact, many of Holly's techniques will help me with the web series idea, too, since I've been having problems with that as well. But I'm jumping ahead of myself again. (One step at a time, D.!)

Speaking of jumping ahead, I've just received in the mail business cards I ordered from VistaPrint. Yes, business cards. I figure something semi-professional looking that states my interests in writing (and filmmaking) & has my contact info. on it will aid me in realizing my dreams. I know that sounds a bit silly, but if I have a card that says I'm a "writer" or "filmmaker" (aspiring!) that I can pass out at networking events or classes/workshops, I feel I will come across less nervous (scribbling my name & email addy on a tiny scrap of paper becomes an illegible mess to anyone but myself) and more willing to learn & gain experience. Plus, at the end of a long day, when someone looks over the contact info. collected at a networking event, I figure a neat, professional card will have more of an impact than a hastily written note on a torn piece of paper. Don't you think? "Yes, I'm a writer. Keep in touch." "If you need an extra hand on your film, I'm willing to learn. Here's my contact info." "Oh, yes, I sell some of my photos online. Here's my card. Take a look. Drop me a line."

Today was an okay day at work but still stressful so it's the little things (like the business cards!) that keep me motivated to continue pursuing that which interests me the most. Creative opportunities ahead .. I can't help but feel a bit excited and hopeful. When I finish my nanonovel, I have every intention of revising and then sending out queries and proposals. When I have a few episodes of my web series written out to my satisfaction, I will start filming and posting the series online. And there are other things cookin' in the not-so background. I'm trying my best not to jump ahead of myself. :)

* I'm still involved, though from afar, with S.'s film "Passengers of 7D." The website will be update once the film goes into post, I think. (I just remembered I have to get my bio to Sharifa!) I'd intended to blog about my film experiences at New Film Nation (formerly Beanywood) but haven't gotten over there much lately. (research! writing! work!) I'll point you over there once I've posted a few updates. For now if you're interested in the film, check out the site. More info. will be available as the film nears completion.