Book

A few years ago I had a dream that was so vivid and fully formed, I decided that I had to write it. It's a SciFi dream, complete with aliens and a post-apocalyptic humanity. The dream was brief, but with it came a complete history and cast of characters that I really want to read about. Since they don't exist except in my head, I guess it's up to me! I am no writer, and I'm a busy girl and my days are full of house-mom chores, self-employment responsibilities, and a to-do list a mile long of things I want to do more of (hang with friends, garden, draw, declutter, read, etc...)

It is still in my head even after all this time. Like a favourite novel that I want to revisit.

The good news is that my husband goes to bed VERY early.... after he hits the hay the house has to be very quiet. Since he has to get up for work at 4:00am, he must sleep to get even the facsimile of enough sleep. And though I don't have to go to bed at the same time, I usually follow after settling the kids into bed and reading them a story. It's just easier.

For me, the advantage of lying awake for some time before sleep comes is that I get to tell MYSELF a bed time story to settle my mind after a busy day.  The "story" is unfolding night after night. An exploration and gestation of that original dream.

Well I have finally started writing it down.

I hate sitting in front of my desktop keyboard after doing it all day for work, and the story just seems to freeze when I sit in this office chair. The couch position is great for the dialogue to come (not quite as good as my dark room and comfy quilt while falling asleep though). I have been attempting to put pen to paper in front of the evening TV time... but everything is puking out so fast that it is getting jumbled and messy.

Perhaps I should "borrow" my husband's laptop for this. At least I will be able to read the typed stuff. We will see.

In short, I am excited about what has started in my head. Even if it's never published, it will be something of me in words. When I am ready to share it, I hope it will be worthy.

Don't you love a good story?

I got the "preview" on my kobo on a whim (yes the cover got me) and by the time I finished the free chapter I was completely hooked. I wanted to know this character, I wanted to got through her struggles and explore her world as long as I could. So I logged onto the library website and reserved it. And in just 3 days (some kind of record for me) I devoured all 400 some odd pages.

 

Seraphina
Author Rachel Hartman
(Cover artist Andrew Davidson)
Wikipedia says: Seraphina is a 2012 fantasy prose set in the kingdom of Goredd and follows the sixteen-year-old Seraphina, a court musician. She's drawn into a murder mystery when the Crown Prince of Goredd, Rufus, is found decapitated in a manner that insinuates that he was murdered by dragons. The murder occurs on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the signing of a treaty that ended the war between humans and dragons.

But its so much more than that! I loved the depth and detail that was in the construction of this world and characters. I was so sad to say goodbye to Seraphina when the book was done. I really liked her. The novel's build up is graceful, the love element is not too much like mush (almost), the mystery is complicated enough to be challenging (but not too frustrating). I didn't get subjected to any dramatic sound effects in my head at the end of the chapters like some popular fiction - oh how I loathe those cheap literary hooks. It was gentler than that while definitely NOT being boring. It may be youth fantasy, but it wasn't immature or simplistic.

I hope Ms Hartman (of Vancouver) writes more stuff like this I really do.

Book Block

Remember that book idea?

Well I thought it out so much, and did a bunch of research and the story was evolving very nicely in my head as I was waiting for sleep every night.... even put alot of ideas down at the computer!.... then Christmas happened.

Now that the holiday season is wrapped up and I am focusing on my trip to England, a strange phenomenon has happened surrounding the book progress.

I feel like the idea of the book is in the same part of my head that books I HAVE ALREADY READ live. My subconscious has classified it as "a good book, I should read it again sometime". And when I think about it now, it's in the past tense.

To the writers out there:

Is that normal?

Does that mean I am done with it and should let it go to leave room for current dreams?

I still think it is a valid premise for a book, and I like the characters and plot.... but I am not feeling the urgency I did before.

This and That

Along with the grief and reflexion that has been on the forefront of my mind these days, I have had to stay in the present with keeping up with housework, satisfying clients, caring for kids (and dog) and I have been asked to think of the near future with making solid commitments around Christmas.

And mixed in with all that stuff has been my book idea. I lie in bed thinking about it.... if I could type while laying there, I'd probably be halfway done! As it is I have a whopping 9 pages... not too impressive. But also whilst waiting for sleep to come, I thought of another (much smaller) book aimed at the 8-12 year old group. This one is more of the escape/fantasy/adventure genre, and would probably be best for girls (no princesses appear, but it could still work).

I am way over my head for ideas.

Christmas is looming, and there are many youngin's on my shopping list! And the grown ups are even more challenging!

And then there are the unfinished projects that MUST be finished before the tree goes up.... my dressers are in the living room right now. Thanks to the Thanksgiving Sale at a local flooring place last month, we purchased cork flooring for the master bedroom! And then got paint. So all but the bed went out to the living room, and the bed got shoved out to the middle of the room and the paint made it on the walls over the course of a couple weeks --a neutral, warm grey kind of colour. And the paint went on so well that we had lots left over, so I painted Stevie's room too (now its no longer a vibrant lime/chartreuse), it looks much more grown up for his approaching teens. The thing is, I don't know how to install the flooring myself (lots of cutting around closets, sliding doors and passage doors), and T has been SO BUSY with other things, so the dressers are just hanging out in the living room indefinitely, and the flooring stays stacked in the foyer. But it really should be done before Christmas, in fact it really HAS to be. I think I may have to call in my stepdad, or pay my carpenter neighbour (the carpenter brother-in-law is too busy these days). It's weird having to go to the living room to get my clothes in the morning.... but on the other hand having a sparse bedroom has been very soothing.

And the car-hunt continues. We just could not get excited about spending SO MUCH MONEY on that grey econo-box, no matter how shiny and new it was. We are holding out for something more interesting, even if it's older and with more miles on it. Maybe an Audi, a VW Passat or a BMW!!!! There are candidates on the web-classifieds, but they are all significantly out of town and would involve an entire day of coordinating and travelling to go look at. WHO HAS TIME FOR THAT?! Meanwhile the reliable little Golf keeps getting us where we want to go cheaply, and we just try to ignore the saggy headliner, and all the rattles and squeaks, and the ugly rust on the wheel wells.... by exercising patience we have more money to spend when we find the right car.

So now I better do some more of those things that must be done... there is dinner to think about, laundry to put away, sweeping to do, bathrooms that need a good scrubbing, and a story that's not going to write itself!!! (Oh ya, I guess I should do some work too).