February Wrap-Up

Writing

February has been a very good month for writing for me! I finished draft 2 of my YA paranormal monster-hunter WIP, The Tithe That Binds, and sent it off to beta readers. I continue to be blown away by how quickly this book is coming together; I wrote and story-mapped it concurrently in November last year, took a break over December, and then edited it over the course of January and February this year…I can’t wait to get my beta readers’ notes back and put together a plan for draft 3. I have a really, really good feeling about this book, and I love the story and characters. I guess this is what happens when you let yourself just fully indulge in writing the things that you enjoy!

And, speaking of beta readers…for the first time ever, I’ve sent my WIP off to betas I don’t know in-person. Which is scary! But also very exciting, and in a way there’s less pressure, as I was way more nervous for my irl friends to read it, because my brain tells me that they’re judging me for it (they’re not). One of the betas who has kindly offered to read my WIP is a writer whose own WIP I had a fantastic time beta-reading last year. I would love to do more beta-reading this year, and hope to return the favour of those who have volunteered to read my book (more on that below!)

I’ve also been working on my Middle Grade fantasy WIP towards the latter end of this month, which I keep telling myself I shouldn’t be doing, but then again, whichever story comes easiest is perhaps the one that I’m “meant” to write next…who knows. I need to rewrite The Langford Conspiracy, my YA paranormal alien conspiracy WIP, but it does need to be more or less entirely rewritten, and I need to let it marinate in my mind for a bit longer. When it’s ready for me to tell its story again, it will let me know.

So, I have a strong feeling that the MG WIP will be the next thing I write; it’s all coming together in my head in the same way that Tithe did. I can only hope that it will write as smoothly for me!

Reading

I’ve taken to setting myself a reading goal of one book a month, after I set myself a very high goal in 2020 and, when the pandemic struck and my usual routine went out the window, I very quickly fell behind and came nowhere close to reaching my goal. I set myself that same low goal of 12 books for this year—and, over the course of January and February, have read half of that. Part of me wants to increase my goal, but the rest of me knows not to tempt fate; I’ll keep it low, and be very pleased when I (hopefully) read a lot more than my target. We shall see.

I kicked off 2023 with the excellent Sir Callie and the Champions of Helston by Esme Symes-Smith, an absolutely fantastic MG fantasy about a nonbinary wannabe-knight who battles not only dragons but prejudice and treachery in the city of Helston, a place defined by its rigid social norms and rules. The cast of characters are so sweet and very individual, and Callie’s tendency to rush headlong into things is very endearing. The cover and title for the second book have recently been released and I am so excited to get my hands on that, too!

Next, I read Timberdark by Darren Charlton. Fun fact: I only read the first book in the duology, Wranglestone, because I saw that Waterstones were selling Timberdark with beautiful sprayed edges…I thought, wow, that’s a gorgeous book, checked out the synopsis of the first one, thought it sounded awesome, and bought them both. I loved Wranglestone; Timberdark…not so much. There were moments in it that were very creepy and atmospheric, and the mystery of the skull-headed ranger drove the first part of the story. After the big reveal I feel it lost a lot of its tension, relying thereafter on miscommunication between the two main characters to drive the plot. Miscommunication in a book is not one of my personal preferences, especially where I feel it’s very one-sided. I felt like Charlton empathised fully with one character, who was supposed to show the other the error of their ways, where I felt like this character bore more of the blame. Also, the book’s final twist and overarching message is one that I agree with, but I also felt a strong sense of frustration—I feel like we’re told, this is how things should be, and it’s something that is completely out of our grasp. Still, I rated this book 4 stars on Goodreads; a lot of the issues I had with it were personal preferences, and it remains excellently written and with a strong message and atmosphere.

After Timberdark came Tyger by S.F. Said—which is, quite frankly, one of the greatest books I have ever read. As a child, Said’s Varjak Paw and sequel The Outlaw Varjak Paw were my all-time favourite books; I dressed up as Varjak Paw for World Book Day one year, with my best friend dressing up as Tam. I have also read Said’s sci-fi novel Phoenix, which uses allegory to deal with issues such as xenophobia and Islamophobia. Reading Tyger, it’s like Said looked at the current state of affairs and thought…actually, allegory isn’t enough. Tyger throws us into a world where the British Empire never ended, and children born in Britain to non-British parents are deemed ‘foreigners’ in their own country of birth. It’s a moving, powerful, magical novel, with the reading experience heightened by Dave McKean’s captivating illustrations. Everyone should read this book. And, upon finishing it, I was faced with a conundrum: what on earth could follow this?!

The answer: Varjak Paw and The Outlaw Varjak Paw, of course. When I first read Varjak Paw all those years ago, it had been a library copy; years later, my older sister bought me copies of Outlaw and Phoenix when S.F. Said visited her school to do an author talk. When I bought Tyger recently and lined up all my S.F. Said books on my shelf, I realised that my collection was incomplete. So, I quickly rectified that and bought Varjak Paw, and promptly re-read it.

These wonderful books stand the test of time and continue to captivate me even as an adult. There are so many things I can’t believe I forgot - like Claude, Varjak’s imposing but soft-hearted giant dog friend - and others that I was unsurprised to find had stayed firmly in my memory, like the absolutely terrifying Sally Bones. I will always recommend these books to everyone, and they were a good in-between for Tyger and whatever I chose to read next.

Which, it turned out, was The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Not at all what I’d usually read, but it had been recommended to me by a friend and I found myself enjoying it greatly. Jenkins Reid is clearly a very talented writer and I found myself fully immersed in the story, finishing the book in just a couple of days. The only thing I will say is that I completely did not see the twist coming (because I missed a detail early on, so was left thinking, what?) and also the handling of Monique’s race was…a bit clunky, to say the least. Still, it was one of the rare books I’ve read that I could then lend to my mum, who doesn’t abide any kind of YA/adult fantasy and thus has no interest in 90% of what I read, so it was a worthwhile purchase overall.

Now, I’m just over halfway through Rebecca Mix’s The Ones We Burn, and will no doubt have thoughts on that by the time my March wrap-up comes around, but first…

I have been extremely lucky and am currently beta-reading Clawing For Dawn, the sequel to The Spears In The Dark, the YA anti-colonial fantasy by my extremely talented and completely wonderful friend Hadiyah Sama, and I am having the time of my life. I had five hours to kill before an appointment the other day (more on that below) and Hadiyah’s manuscript had just arrived the night before, so I was able to just dive into it for five hours of uninterrupted reading…and it was glorious. I’ve been completely sucked in; this story is masterfully written. I can’t wait for the world to have a chance to read this someday (hopefully sooner rather than later!)

Also on my TBR are The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas and Monstersona by Chloe Spencer. So I’ve got plenty to keep me going!

Misc.

Other things that have been going on this month…I’ve continued settling in to my new day-job, which is a billion times better than my old job, and the team are great so everything is going smoothly. Working somewhere where hybrid working is standard gives me such peace of mind, because I get more time to devote to my writing, and to my dear, wonderful, beloved boy Rufus…

…who, being a big fussy baby, has decided that not only am I not allowed to cut his dew claws, but the vet isn’t allowed to, either. I tried contacting groomers who might be willing to deal with a nervous, difficult Shar Pei, but nothing came through in time and Rufus’ claws were too long to leave any longer. So, after an anti-anxiety medication combo failed (they somehow made him more anxious???), one option remained: to have Rufus sedated.

Given how he is, I think it actually went very well. He fought the sedation all the way down, bracing himself against the floor instead of allowing himself to lie down and have a nap, but eventually he was out and his nails were trimmed, and samples taken from a suspect lump on his neck (which might just be a product of mucinosis, which is common in Shar Pei, but we shall see). He then took ages to come round and, when he did, he just stood up and tried to walk out, fully alert. This boy.

Obviously, sedation is not a long-term solution and I hope to never have to do it again. I’m toying with the idea of filing his nails regularly with like…a regular nail file, to see if that makes any difference. (I’ll have to see if he’ll let me handle his paws, though).

I’m always astounded by how the one being that brings me the most love, happiness and joy is also the one that brings me the most stress…but that’s just the way of things, I guess. Anyhow.

This is clearly a boy who has never done anything wrong in his life.

Something else I’ve done is buy the BBC Maestro course on storytelling by Alan Moore. I’d been eyeing it up for a while but the price had always put me off…then I saw it was on sale yesterday and I was sold. Having reviewed the course, I think it is more for beginners than more seasoned writers, but I’m sure there’ll still be plenty to glean from it. I am wondering whether it would have been better to buy the generic Maestro subscription, and have time-limited access to all the writing courses instead of lifetime access to one, but…it’s done now, and I think there’s plenty in it to help my hone my craft. I want to challenge and stretch myself as a writer this year, and I feel like that will culminate in conquering The Langford Conspiracy…

Wish me luck!