Month: October 2023

What I’ve Been Reading Lately (October, 2023)

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews1 Comment

Happy almost-Halloween!  I think I’ll kick-off this month’s recap of reading with my one spooky book – Goosebumps: Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes by R. L. Stine.  My book club opted to go fun and nostalgic this month, and each of us picked a Goosebumps book to read.  I was actually never a fan back when I was the target age (although I later read Phantom of the Auditorium…of course) but this was a fun, silly read now.  It’s a basic enough premise of lawn gnomes who come to life, create mischief, and get the twelve-year-old boy protagonist in trouble until he figures out their secret weakness (spoiler: it’s the dog whistle).  I will say, though, I deeply, personally related to the boy’s older sister, who alphabetizes her books by author, and the main character and his best friend really were as obnoxious and annoying as the sister thought they were!  Fine to read, would drive me nuts in life I’m sure.

I finished out a trilogy with The Master Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg, trying to finish the sloooow burn romance of the previous two books.  They did ultimately get together, but there was surprisingly little pay-off for the long build-up.  The couple went from maybe to inevitable with very little fireworks about it.  The magic was good though, and the adventure was enjoyable too. Continue reading “What I’ve Been Reading Lately (October, 2023)” →

Writing Update (October, 2023)

On By cherylmahoneyIn WritingLeave a comment

It’s been a little while since I did a writing update – while projects were moving along, there wasn’t much new to report!  Drafts finally feel like they’re moving to a new stage though.

I made some revisions to Thorns 2, then sent that out for a second-round of beta reader feedback.  I received comments back without huge edits needed, so that’s always encouraging to see!  I made some final-ish revisions, then printed the draft out and have started reading it out loud to my husband, to find any final revisions to make.  The book should be on track to be out late 2023 or early 2024.  Depends on how the rest of life goes!

While Thorns 2 was being reviewed, I did some work on Thorns 3, making  revisions and plans for future revising, especially in the second half of the book.  I’m setting that aside for now, while I read through Thorns 2 and start making plans for NaNoWriMo – which, incredibly, is only a couple weeks away!!  I’ve done some character exercises, and now I’m working on building out more of the outline for my planned project: The Queen of Thorns, the fifth and final book in the series.  I have ideas, but I want to see if I can get more details worked out before I start on the actual writing.

So, lots of books in different stages, but it’s fun to move between the different parts of writing.  Hopefully I can make good progress reading Thorns 2, firm up my outline for Thorns 5, and be ready to launch into NaNoWriMo on November 1st!  I’ll let you know how it goes.