Month: December 2022

What I’ve Been Reading Lately (December, 2022)

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews1 Comment

Happy almost Christmas!  I’ll be doing a round-up of reading for the past year soon, but for today, time to look at recent reads for the last month of the year.

I’ve read a couple of very interesting nonfiction books.  First, Deep Work by Cal Newport, about boosting concentration and focusing on priorities.  It had some interesting insights, though the focus was a little narrow towards either academia or office work.  Second, The Skeptics’ Guide to the Future by Dr. Steven Novella (what a name for an author!), a look at what the future might hold in science and technology.  The book mostly looks at current science and scientific theories and tries to extrapolate forward, with some glances at science fiction ideas too. I liked that it was predominantly hopeful about the future – although I have to wonder if Dr. Novella doesn’t worry about mad scientists destroying us because he is one…!

Continue reading “What I’ve Been Reading Lately (December, 2022)” →

Writing Update (December, 2022)

On By cherylmahoneyIn Writing1 Comment

After a very busy November, writing has slowed down a bit in December.  However, I did finish the first draft of my NaNoWriMo project, otherwise known as Thorns Saga #3!  I did 50,000 words during November, and finished out the project with only another 5,000 words.  I plan to expand significantly in the revision process, so after I finished drafting I read back through it and made notes on additions and new details.  Not sure when I’ll actually do the revisions, but at least I have the plans for them.

After that, I turned back to Thorns #1, to hopefully finally get this finished.  I have one chapter to write still – my most recent revision pass involved moving things around and I need a new chapter to fill a hole, and it gives me the chance to intro some characters who will be more important in later books.  So that’s what I’m working on right now.  Then one more complete review and we should be about there!  I’m hoping to get this one out into the world in the first half of next year.

With that in mind, I’ve been working on a different project that’s not strictly writing, but is related – I’ve been doing cover designs for all five planned books in the series.  So far they’re turning out very nice, so I’ve been enjoying that!  Can’t share them for a while though… 😉

I’m aiming to finish the new chapter in Thorns #1 plus a few other edits by the end of the year, then plan to primarily work on Thorns #2.  Lots of drafts in process!  Hopefully I can get some complete soon. 🙂

NaNoWriMo: End of the Month Update

On By cherylmahoneyIn NaNoWriMo, Writing2 Comments

It’s December 1st, meaning NaNoWriMo wrapped yesterday – and I’m pleased to say that I hit my 50,000 word goal!  This is the first time I have since the pandemic and having a toddler, so it feels especially significant to have got back to that level of writing.

I did a lot of planning throughout the month, trying to build up word cushions before days that I knew would give me less opportunity to write, and that worked really well. I wound up with an easy final day, only needing 835 words, or half of a typical NaNo day.  I finished the month out with 50,076 words, so I’m very pleased with that!

I’m also pleased that I’m most of the way through the novel draft.  I think the total will end up only around 55K words, which is shorter than many of my first drafts in the past.  It seems to be how this series works though – the very first “complete” draft of Thorns 1 was a 27K word novella, Thorns 2 was 67K words at first draft, and Thorns 4 is 62K words.  So 55K is a little short, but not by a lot, and I already have ideas of about four chapters I want to insert, just as a start!  This may also be a slightly shorter novel than some of the others, which I’d be fine with too. Continue reading “NaNoWriMo: End of the Month Update” →