I read: A Grief Observed

A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis

I read this mostly because I'm exploring the concept of grief and how everyone deals with it differently. Mostly to reassure myself that I'm not doing it wrong. I'm finding that books written specifically for someone like me don't attract me much at all, or make me feel like I need to justify how I'm reacting to everything.

I read: A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Another classic that I don't think I'd ever read before. This is a super cute edition, which is why I picked it up. It's part of a very small series that I was introduced to by a friend of Puffin Chalk Classics.

I read: Wham! George Michael & Me

Wham! George Michael & Me: A Memoir by Andrew Ridgeley

I'm so pleased that Ridgeley wrote this book. Wham! existed during a time before we could get every bit of information about every moment of every celebrity's life.   It's nice now, thirty years later, to revisit the days of Wham! without the lens of social media or tabloids; to be able to read what it felt like from the inside.

I read: Wolf's Bane

Wolf's Bane by Kelley Armstrong

So excited to have this to read.  It's the first in a duology, focussed on the next generation of the Otherworld series.

The Otherworld series may be my absolute favourite books, so this was going to be a slam dunk for me. I love Kelley Armstrong's writing, but especially in that series.

I read: Life Is Short and Then You Die

Mystery Writers of America Presents Life Is Short and Then You Die: First Encounters with Murder -  edited by Kelley Armstrong with stories by Kelley Armstrong, R.L. Stine, Y.S. Lee, Melissa Marr, Amanda Witt, Rachel Vincent, Jeff Somers, Eileen Rendahl, David Bart, Jeff Soloway, Julie Tollefson, Joseph S. Walker, Anthony Franze and Barry Lancet, Emmy Laybourne, Jonathan Mayberry, Stephen Ross, Caleb Roehring, and Barry Lyga.


Obviously, I picked this one up because of the Kelley Armstrong connection. I will read anything that she writes because she has been so consistent. Because I trust her writing, I also trust that she wouldn't be involved in anything that doesn't live up to her standard, so I never shy away from reading anthologies that she's involved with. I do, in fact, read everything included in the anthology. And this one is no different.

I read: The Isis Trilogy

The Isis Trilogy by Monica Hughes 

(includes Keeper of the Isis Light, The Guardian of Isis and The
Isis Pedlar)

I read these books when I was in grade 7 or 8.  I recall finding them immensely interesting because I think they were the first things I read that were in the sci-fi genre.  Set in the future, but about humans as if they're now, these are an interesting study of people.

I write: Dialogue

In Week 5 we talked about dialogue and beats, with a quick review of narrative summary and theme. Our in-class exercise was to write some dialogue, based around the idea of True Confessions.  Initially we were to right just the dialogue, with simple tags, and we were instructed to write beats that fit in afterwards.   I don't follow direction well - when I write dialogue, the beats go right along with it.  So while everyone else was writing their beats, I just wrote some additional dialogue, and little internal monologue.

Here's what I wrote:

I read: The End and Other Beginnings

The End and Other Beginnings: Stories from the Future by Veronica Roth

This was a lovely collection of short stories or novellas.  The six stories were a collection of different characters, some of whom we'd met before in other of Roth's work and some new. 

I felt comfortable in these stories, not because I recognized some of the characters but because the writing was familiar and easy to follow.

I write: Internal Monologue

Second exercise in Week 4 of class was Interior monologue - which I call internal monologue.  (Interior makes me think the person was speaking to themselves inside.)

Direction was to write a paragraph or so of internal monologue, inside the head of the main character, whatever seems appropriate for your protagonist to say.

And here's what I wrote:

I write: Narrative Summary

Week 4 of the writing class - still working with the same character, we're talking about narrative summary.  In class, we wrote a narrative summary of no more than one or two paragraphs.  Where the character is, what they're doing, in first or third person POV.

This is what I wrote:

I read: The Offering

The Offering by Kimberly Derting 
(Book 3 in The Pledge trilogy)

I'm glad to be finished this series.  I didn't dislike it, but I'm happy to be done.  Something about this one just didn't let me be drawn into it the way I had been to other series of similar genre. It's well written, and the characters were well done, but there was just something missing.  The individual novels weren't very long which could have limited the depth of the story.  But I do think the conflicts and tension could have been more extensive.  Each conflict seemed to take longer to become something than it took to be resolved.  Maybe that caused me to gloss over them a bit.  It didn't really feel like I had much at stake.

I'm giving it three stars.  It wasn't bad, but not one of my favourites either.

I write: character description

For week 3 of the course, we were writing 200-250 words that included description of our character, their location and something they might be doing.  It was described as a paragraph of each thing, but it felt simpler to write it as a cohesive scene that dropped elements of each of those into it. 

This is my second version because my character changed - so the character study from the last class isn't even the same person as this one.  Things shifted as I was thinking about her.  And after hearing about plot things adjusted again.  I know all of these elements already, but it's refreshing the knowledge that I have and reinforcing how I should be handling the story.  I'm always trying to rush ahead, write the scene, write the dialogue.  But focusing on the character is giving me a good place to start that directs my story. 

I read: Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

FINALLY!  I've been trying to read this book for years.  And years.  It's been on my Goodreads Currently Reading list for at least three years, if not more.  I hear often around the internet what a wonderful book it is.  But honestly, I don't understand.  Everyone just seems very selfish and self-absorbed.  Which I guess isn't that far from being true to life.  People are pretty selfish, and more interested in their own life than anyone else's.

I Write: character study

In the class I'm taking, we did a 10 minute writing exercise based on The Proust Questionnaire which asks several questions and expects you to describe the answer as a way to build your character.  Essentially answering the question as your character.  3 of the questions are:
1) What is your idea of perfect happiness?
2) what is the trait you most deplore about yourself?
3) what do you consider your greatest achievement?

I took it as my character pondering the questions and answering as if she'd been asked it directly.  It's a bit rambly, but I wrote from her view, and it seemed consistent with her.

My unedited character piece is below...

I read: The Essence

The Essence  by Kimberly Derting
(Book 2 in The Pledge trilogy)


I don't dislike this series, but I can't say that I absolutely love it either.  The story is interesting, but it absolutely has to be a series.  Which to me means that it really should just have been one longer book.  In my opinion and experience, if a series is well written, you could read each book on its own, but the writing makes you not want to. So far, each book hasn't really had its own story at all; it's all part of the grander scheme. 

New Challenges

This week, I begin a course in Fiction Writing through Continuing Education at a local University.  There is potential to earn a Creative Writing Certificate if I take 5 other classes including one required class. 

I chose to take this class because I needed something to motivate me to write.  And I needed something to confirm whether I should even bother or not.  I still feel like I need to write, and I want to write, but I don't find myself writing or making myself even want to try.  By taking the class I'm challenging myself to do what I've talked about doing for my entire life.   Write.

I plan to post things that I've written for the class here.  I'm not looking for encouragement or critique - I just want to make sure that I'm actually doing something with the writing.

As of Wednesday, I will be a practicing author again.  Let's see how this goes.

I read: The Pledge

The Pledge by Kimberly Derting  
(Book 1 in The Pledge trilogy)

Another dystopian series, which I would describe loosely as a combination of any other dystopian series with the twist of The Selection added in.   It's an interesting concept, and I was carried easily through the novel - I did read it in one day, so it's either that easy to read, or I was just that motivated to find the ending.

I read: A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying

A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying by Kelley Armstrong 
(Book 1 in series of same name)



Written by one of my very favourite authors, I had no doubt that I would enjoy this book.  It is a bit different than other things she's written, but it's enjoyable and still has well-developed characters and a plot that you know is headed somewhere big, even if you don't know exactly what that will be.

I read: Becoming

Becoming by Michelle Obama

I don't have a lot of say about this book, except that I continue to be impressed by how transparent Michelle Obama continues to be.  She shares, seemingly sincerely, from portions of her entire life and candidly writes about how she wasn't initially in favour of her husband's political career.  She shares struggles and dreams, fears and hopes and everything in between.

I read: Freedom

Freedom: The Ultimate Tribute 1963-2016

Mostly a coffee table book, with some great concert photos, this book gives a glimpse into the life of George Michael, starting from the beginning and going right to the final days.

George Michael was one of my first celebrity crushes.  Honestly, I don't even think I knew that's what it was at the time - but I knew that I loved Wham!  And the music wasn't the only thing.

I read: Signs Point to Yes

Signs Point to Yes by Sandy Hall

I picked up this one because I had so enjoyed A Little Something Different by the same author.  This one didn't disappoint.

It's a super quick but satisfying read, with an adorable love story and some personal dram in the midst. 

I read: Playing to the Gods

Playing to the Gods  by Melanie Rawn
(book five in the Glass Thorns series)


I've been a fan of Melanie Rawn since I first read the Dragon Prince series.  I had never in my life read an entire series of books straight through without breaking it up with other side things to keep from getting bored.  But I devoured those books, breathing them in like they were air.

The Glass Thorns series has been a very different experience because I was picking them up as they were released, and having to hunt for them because they didn't seem to be on any regular schedule.  But I still enjoyed every minute spent reading them.

I read: The Book of Spells

The Book of Spells by Michael Johnstone

I'm trying to cull down the list of books that I'm "currently reading" on Goodreads.  So this one has been sitting there for a while since I initially picked it up.   The Book of Spells: White Magic to Make Your Dreams Come True by Michael Johnstone.

It's a cute little book that begins with a history of magic, following with a description of spell-casting, and spell-casting essentials and finishing up with a number of simple but potentially highly useful spells, mostly focussing on love, relationships and success/money.

It's what could be considered non-fiction if you believe in that kind of thing, so I don't have any particular feelings to share, but I would say that if you're into the Wicca, spell-casting or witchcraft concepts, then this is a quick, but possibly useful read.

Just gonna leave this here

I read: Eleanor & Park

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Bear with me here because I'm not good with book reviews.  I like to savour the feelings of a book
rather than break it down into the pieces of why I enjoyed it (or didn't.) 

However, I feel that in order to improve my writing I need to understand what I think is well written, and why that piece is evoking whatever feelings it's brought forward in me. 

I likely won't talk much about plot points or structure or anything you would have discussed in a high school literature class.  I will tell you what I liked or didn't like because I think art is subjective, and writing is art so I'm not planning to critique so much as sharing my perspective.


So we embark on this new journey with a review of the novel I finished last night -- Eleanor & Park written by Rainbow Rowell.

It's a brand new day

It's July 25.  People might say it's Christmas in July.  I'm not sure why when June is really the 6-month mark to Christmas.  And nobody really celebrates Christmas in July.

But for me this is a monumental day purely because I say it is.  I'm beginning anew.  A new stage of my life, and a new habit, I hope, to go along with it.  This will become my place to share thoughts on what I read, and what I write.

I realized recently that I have developed a fear of sharing my thoughts and my writing publicly.  I think that's why I don't finish what I write.  Because without an ending, there's no reason to share it.  An audience can't be expected to provide their own ending.   I've signed up for a fiction writing course, that leads to a creative writing certificate.  My biggest qualm in signing up for the course is the requirement to share.  I have a lot of issues with the critics in my own head, and the idea that external judgement shouldn't really matter.  External judgement can be constructive.  Internal judgement makes me afraid of external judgement.  If I can't be kind of myself, why would anyone else be?  But old wisdom says we are always our own harshest critic.

So, I've registered for the class, hoping for constructive criticism as well as tips and tricks in the writing process that may spike my creativity and actually help me get past that internal critic.  And I re-start the blogging process, hoping that by sharing my thoughts on what I'm reading, as well as what I'm writing that I may get more used to sharing what I do.

I don't have any expectations regarding my audience.  I know that I don't have one as of yet, because I've only ever sporadically blogged before.  But if even one or two folks acknowledge my existence in any kind of positive way I can feel better about sharing, and potentially increase my confidence in doing so.

And, that then is the grand opening of the new Breathe, write, read.

Welcome. I hope I can provide some kind of entertainment for you.