As I write, the sun is shining, the windows are open, and a lovely breeze is flowing through the house. Yes, spring has finally arrived in northeastern Ontario. I’m feeling good.

Before we get to the month in writing, here are your monthly PSAs:

All lives cannot matter until BIPOC lives matter.

Even if there are no longer restrictions in your area, please continue to mind public and national health advisories. Wash your hands, maintain physical distance, mask indoors/on public transit, and, if you’re old enough, or immune compromised, please register to get your second booster. Not only is covid endemic now, but these health practices will help you to avoid other viruses, like the flu and even the common cold.

I stand with the Ukraine and deplore Putin’s unprovoked destruction of civilian targets and lives.

The month in writing

April was … not good.

It’s the new fiscal at work and, most days, my spoons ran out before I could devote any time to revision. There were other issues, but I’ll get into those in filling the well.

This month, I resisted the urge to amend my revision goals part-way through the month once I saw they were unattainable, as has been my habit in the past.

So, of my 20,000-word revision goal, I only revised 8,333 words, or 42%.

I wrote 4,866 words of my 5,000-word blogging goal, or 97%.

I revised one short story (which needs more work, but I’m letting it sit). I added 202 words to the draft. My goal was 250 words, which works out to 81%.

I was notified part-way through the month that a piece of short fiction that was accepted in 2021 would be appearing in the next issue of Polar Borealis. The issue has not been posted yet, so I won’t like to it, but it should be available by my next update.

Work on the anthology that accepted my story in January progresses. Cover and TOC reveals should be coming soon. Again, I’ll keep you posted.

I have my eyes on a couple open calls and hope to submit something to them in May.

At the end of January, I had applied to Your Personal Odyssey, the Odyssey Workshop’s new one-on-one mentorship program. I was notified in February that I had not been accepted from the early bird applicants, and in April, I learned that I had not been accepted at all. As with Odyssey, the new program had generated a lot of interest. Thousands of applicants for a handful of seats. While I am disappointed, I know the competition was intense and I was encouraged to try again next year. I will 🙂

Filling the well

On April 4^th, I attended “Death to Show, Don’t Tell,” a webinar from Writing the Other. Excellent, as always. On the 13^th, I attended the joint CAA/SFCanada webinar “How to Land that Writer’s Grant” presented by A.M. Todd. I’ve been entertaining applying for grants again.

I watched a couple of Jane Friedman webinars, “Maybe it’s not your Plot” presented by Susan DeFreitas, and “Building Better Critique Groups” by Lisa Cooper Ellison.

On the 19^th, I started another series with Dan Blank with “Define your Creative Voice.” The second, “Create a Sharing System” was on the 26^th. Then, I attended “First Pages” with Emily Colin through Authors Publish on the 20^th.

Also, on the 26^th was an OAC information session. It was focused more on visual artists, collaborations, and organizational funding, but I still gleaned some good information. Finally, I attended “Outlining for Pantsers” by Henry Lien through the Rambo Academy on April 30^th.

There was a lot of writerly learning going on 🙂

The DTA situation is resolved. For now. I think. There may be further repercussions, but I’ll deal with those as they arise. I had to continue the trial accommodation through to the end of April, on labour relations’ insistence. My doctor declined to answer the additional questions LR wanted answered. If they’re not satisfied, they may send me for further evaluation with Health Canada. Whatever. I may have to contact my union representative again.

That uneasiness also put me off my game and the enforced days off only made me feel like I was behind at work. Another stress.

I had another therapy session and meeting with my support group.

When I saw my doctor to have the functional abilities form filled out again, I consulted him about some shoulder pain I’ve been experiencing. He suspects tendinitis. And I’m off to see a physiotherapist next week.

What I’m watching and reading

I watched a lot in April. A side effect of all those days off, I guess.

Phil and I watched the final season of The Last Kingdom. It was good, but it felt rushed. As with many series rushing to their endings, various characters acted out of character, changed their minds or opinions in quick succession, but it turned out all right. Uhtred got Bebbanburg back and secured King Edward’s rule.

I watched the final season of Killing Eve. I enjoyed it right up until the ending. I’ve read a few opinion pieces about it, because apparently, I’m not alone, but none of the reasons cited really sat well with me. Based on the series name, a foreshadowing the series continued to hammer home with a tarot card reading which predicted glory for Villanelle and Death for Eve in the final episode, I would have expected Eve to die. I might not have been happy with it, but it would have made sense. I might even have been okay with Villanelle dying. I was not at all satisfied with how the series did it, though. Carolyn did not deserve the win.

Yes. I get it. The world of spies and assassins is cutthroat. Carolyn was one of the OG Twelve. She’s got it in her. But she’s a traitor twice over. She decided to let Villanelle and Eve (the former more than the latter) take out the twelve for her and I could see that she was going to use Villanelle to get back in with MI6, but it felt unjust for her to succeed. I hoped that when Pam walked away from her offer, that Carolyn might have been scuttled, but really all it did was steel her determination to kill Villanelle. It makes sense. But it was deeply unsatisfying.

I finished off the first season of The Hardy Boys. It was cute. The retro, middle grade entry in the CW’s cadre of reboots.

Then, I finished watching the final season of Lost in Space. A good ending, all in all, but, like so many other series I’ve watched recently, the ending felt rushed.

Season two of The Witcher was ok. I’ll watch the next season. Still haven’t read any of the books, though.

I also watched Get Back. It was interesting to see the Beatles’ process in action even as they were slowly moving toward their breakup. The tension and dissatisfaction were palpable, even through the old footage.

Brené Brown’s Atlas of the Heart was fabulous, though. Big fan.

Finally, I watched two movies. The first was The Adam Project. It was made by the same team that did Free Guy but wasn’t quite as much fun. I did enjoy it, though.

The Batman wasn’t bad. Given how many reboots the series has had and how many actors have played the role, I was surprised they were able to pull together something original.

In terms of reading, I read another four books in April.

The first was A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders. It’s a great craft book, but I’ve never been that fond of the Russian authors.

Next, I read Victories Greater than Death by Charlie Jane Anders. A bit of a twist on the usual YA SF. A young girl grows up with the knowledge that she’s an alien and that her people are coming back for her when her beacon activates. When the beacon activates, she learns she’s actually the clone of a dead war hero who never wanted to be cloned. She returns in the middle of a galactic war and when the military tries to reinstate her original memories (essential for fighting said galactic war), the procedure fails. And things go downhill from there.

Then, I finished Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries. I know the novel won the Booker, but—can I say this? I liked the series better. The novel feels reminiscent (to me) of Moby Dick, but instead of whaling, the narrator (he’s not a protagonist) seeks to ease his troubles in the gold fields of New Zealand and gets wrapped up in the mystery involving Anna Wetherell, Emery Staines, and Crosbie Wells. I appreciated the conceit of astrology, but the central characters of the novel (again, my opinion) are largely absent until the last third of the novel.

Finally, I finished Allaigna’s Song: Overture, by J.M. Landels. I enjoyed it. It’s a quiet, secondary world fantasy, though. More court intrigue and legacy of secrets than action and adventure.

And that was the month in this writer’s life.

Until next tipsday, be well and stay safe; be kind and stay strong. The world needs your stories!