It's been about three months since I did one of these so there's a little bit of catching up to be done. First, I guess, we should start with writing.
I had plans a year ago of finishing the first draft of TMWWRWs during 2012 and being well into Hunting Demons as we turned into the new year. The reality is I struggled mightily with TMWWRWs. I've gone on about the struggles through the year but round it up quite nicely in this post about emotional colour.In trying to raise my profile and that of Chasing Innocence I thought I'd publish some of the longer stories I'd written back in 2006. Only three were of a commercial grade and I wanted four, so I needed another one. The result was the devoted and quite enigmatic: Mahrie. You can get a preview for each of the stories including the cover art, in Snapshots are coming.
During the last quarter of 2012 WordWatchers decided they'd publish their first anthology, which I'm pleased to say features my short story: 'Eye for an Eye'. Abbie Todd edited the stories and Chris McCormack produced the paperback via CreateSpace with cover design inspiration from John Hoggard. I did the Kindle conversion which I'm very pleased to say dynamically supports both the advanced features of the Kindle Touch and Fire devices, along with the basic features of the older Kindles. Chris additionally produced the iBook version.I love doing Kindle book conversions and am currently producing a number of tutorials you'll seen be able to see on my blog and youTube. Hopefully I'll have some links next month.As for writing this couple of months I've been busy editing Mahrie . The story is set between 1950 and 1980 and required a lot of work researching and then editing the detail from that time. In spare writing moments I've been editing the first part of TMWWRWs to reflect the slightly altered point of view.Because I've spent so much time struggling with TMWWRWs the next Sarah Sawacki book has had chance to ferment and really take shape. The story planning is so full of rich detail with three primary threads, with all the main characters from the end returning. There is a really great concept for the main bad guy: really, really bad guy. It makes my toes curl just thinking about it. I can't wait to start writing it, which is all the more motivation for me to finish TMWWWRWs.
I've read some pretty excellent books these last couple of months, starting with Christopher Hitchens' memoir: Hitch22. There is something remarkable about Christopher Hitchens' writing that leaves me feeling somewhat wiser come the last page. Reading Hitch22 and Christopher's attempt to understand his mother's suicide led me to William Styron's incredible look at depression, titled: Darkness Visible.
I love a book recommendation, which is how I came to the haunting dystopian 'Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood. It left me with an adjusted perception of the female mindset and for society's almost default stance of devaluing woman.
If you're looking for a fun read then you can't go wrong with the very original 'Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window and Disappeared', a compulsive tale not only of what the 100 year old man does after he climbs from the window, but also of the incredible life he has led. Very much reminded me of Forrest Gump in places and quite charming.
My top pick for you though as a must read is David Mitchell's 'Cloud Atlas', the most innovative and brilliant pyramid of separate but related stories covering almost one thousand years of a single soul.Happy writing, see you next month.
