The next chapter: August 2023 update

September 3, 2023 / Melanie Marttila

Welcome to September, the meteorological beginning of fall (and the return of all things pumpkin spice).

The weather in August was indeed lovely. Despite that, I did not get out to the patio to write. I kept updating my laptop. I intended to go out. A few days, I only opened the documents that are on the hard drive of my desktop, but eventually gave in and opened up the rest, as needed, and did my usual.

I have been enjoying longer walks with Torvi, looking at the houses, imagining what it might be like not to live on a busy streetcorner, to be able to sleep in the quiet, or for Phil to have a dark night sky to take out his telescope and actually do some astronomical observation.

Yes. I’ve been daydreaming.

The big project at work was completed early. And it’s been a huge relief. Despite that, my brain is definitely not braining. Executive function is compromised. Dysregulation is the rule of the day. I’m taking time off as I need to and I’m practicing self-compassion. Or trying to.

It’s one of those things. After a protracted period of hyperfocus, you need to rest and recover. This is even more important for an autist (or other neurodivergent).

The second phase of the big project is yet to come, and with it, more stress, but this is the career I chose.

The month in writing

I had two more meetings with Suzy Vadori on the 10^th and the 31^st. Our meeting on the 10^th was a bit of a revelation. I had to restructure and compress the timeline at the start of Act 2. I thought I had done it, but I hadn’t gone far enough.

In our meeting, I said I’d have to think about how to do it. Delayed processing. It’s an autistic thing. And I told Suzy, I’d restructure the piece in outline and move on.

Reader, I did not do this.

Having restructured, I realized I needed to know the specifics. I couldn’t write forward until I knew the content of this section. I am not the kind of writer who can write out of order. At least, not right now and not with this project.

After a day, I had my strategy in hand and went through the draft-to-date again, trimming where I could. I also asked for an extension. I was supposed to have my next submission ready to go August 20^th but was still struggling with the previous session’s revisions.

My extension was granted. Still, I struggled with the rewrite until the day before my next submission. I’m not happy with it, but it’s time to move on. I can’t spend any more time on it now. I have to get to the half-way point, story wise, if I hope to have a reasonable-sized draft by the end of my sessions with Suzy.

Our meeting on the 31^st led to discussion of just that—the size of the novel and how to mitigate the growing wordcount. I’ve decided to redo my inside outline. There have been a lot of changes and there will probably be more to come. Having a smaller document than my map will help me to manage things better, I think. I hope?

I’ve already committed to another 6-session package with Suzy (to finish off the revision), but I may take a wee break in between. I have to write my grant report for the CSFFA, work on my short fiction presentation for my fall writers in the schools visit—which has been approved; more on that in a bit—and submit another grant proposal.

An Excel spreadsheet that tracks wordcount.

I set up a Substack account on the 7^th. This month, I played around and set things up. I’m starting my newsletter in September. Basically, it’s going to be this update with a few strategic additions. I’ll keep publishing news and announcements on my blog/web site and try to figure out how to get a signup set up on Always Looking Up.

I’m also going to keep posting these updates to my blog. I’m going the free route with Substack. If I decide to move into paid territory, I’ll have to think of something sweet to put behind the paywall!

I may move back to weekly updates at some point in the future. And I may add a limited amount of curation into those, like a top five blogs/articles I read this week, or some such. Right now, there are a lot of things happening and I’m not quite in the right headspace to commit to a weekly newsletter.

On the 9^th, I received a lovely email to let me know that one of my stories has moved to the shortlist for an anthology I submitted to earlier in the year. I’ll find out more in September. Watch this space!

I had my photo session with Gerry Kingsley on the 16^th. I arranged to have my makeup done by Dana Lajeunesse and reported to the park just before 7. It was my first photoshoot and Gerry was very kind about my awkwardness.

The pictures are fabulous, and I can’t wait to share them with you.

The end of the month was a bit of a momentous rollercoaster with regard to acceptances, non-acceptances, and other publishing news.

On the 29^th, I was notified that one of my grant applications from the spring was not funded. So that means one funded, one approved but not funded, and one not approved or funded. One more to go, and I should hear about that in September.

Also on the 29^th, one of the two creative non-fiction pieces I submitted earlier in the year was not accepted.

Then, I received a TWUC newsletter indicating that the writers in the schools (WITS) approval notifications had all gone out. I hadn’t received an email one way or the other. I also thought, things come in threes, so this is it. I haven’t been funded for this, either.

But I enquired and, of the two WITS visits I applied for, one was approved—yay! Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough funding to award all applicants for all WITS visits. I’ll take the win!

And then, my publisher got back to me about the cover for The Art of Floating. We had chatted about requesting a print from Gillian Schultze, who just happens to be my cousin (second, in fact), and she agreed. The draft cover looks amazing!

Again, watch this space. I will be doing a more formal cover reveal when the final cover is approved.

Filling the well

Lughnassadh was a quiet affair. I lit my altar and did a guided meditation for the full sturgeon moon in Aquarius, which was the same night.

The new Holly moon was on the 16^th, which was also the evening of my photoshoot. It was lovely being out at a park on the shore of a lake.

Then, the full blue supermoon in Pisces arrived on the 30^th to finish off the month in lunatic style. The moon was gorgeous as I watched her rise during my evening walk with Torvi. Sadly, my phone camera has proven that it isn’t good enough, even in night mode, to capture a picture of the moon without significant lens flare. I partook of another guided meditation.

My pagan practice is quite simple.

My weekly card pulls tended to be positive this month and in general, I’ve felt positive. I’m seeing it all as a good sign for the future.

July was FULL of online writing events. I dialled back a bit for August, because I was kind of overdoing it. Enjoying it, but definitely overdoing it. Also, big project at work continued, and I need to be mindful of my energy levels.

I started the month with an Authors Publish webinar presented by Ley Taylor Johnson about creating a dynamic act one. It was in the middle of the workday on August 2nd, so I watched the replay, which came with a free ebook by the presenter (on the same topic).

Then, in anticipation of taking the dive into Substack, I attended Dan Blank’s “Launch & Grow Your Email Newsletter with Substack.” A lot of good information.

The next Free Expressions webinar in the Donald Maass series was “Advanced Microtension” on the 10^th. Because my meeting with Suzy was on the same day, I watched the replay. Excellent, as always.

On August 13^th, I had the opportunity to attend “From Helplessness to Habit: Backstory as Behavior,” a webinar by David Corbett offered exclusively to past applicants and current students of the Your Personal Odyssey program. Really good.

I signed up for a DIY MFA webinar on “Unleashing Your Platform’s Storytelling Superpower” on the 22^nd. It’s an extension of the storytelling superpower quiz, taking the four archetypes and extending them to authorial personas.

I signed up for “Hiding Exposition in Plain Sight” with Mary Robinette Kowal on the 27^th. I really just vibe with her teaching style.

On August 28^th, I lucked out on a webinar with Beth Revis about plotting your novel offered through Inked Voices. I really like her system. It’s intuitive.

I attended a Cross-Pollinations reading offered through the League of Canadian Poets on the 30^th. The specific topic was about organ donors and recipients. Interesting reading.

Finally, I signed up for a CAA/SFCanada webinar on Pushing the Boundaries of Urban Fantasy with Jes Battis, another autistic author, also on the 30^th. It was a fabulous presentation.

Something that I neglected to mention last month was that I seized the opportunity to take a pilot course from Taylor Heaton (Mom on the Spectrum) about unmasking. It’s self-paced with video, transcripts, worksheets, and other resources. I enjoyed it. I’m still on a long journey to true unmasking. I learned the skill early and practiced it diligently until I received my autism confirmation in 2021.

I will recommend it to any adult or late-diagnosed autistics, though. We need all the help and support we can get, and MOTS is a great online community to be a part of.

This month, I signed up for Patricia Tallman’s Wake up with Me! I subscribe to Pat’s newsletter and have flirted with some of her offerings in the past (e.g., Tame Your Fear Dragon). And yes, Pat is the actress from Babylon 5 and a former stunt woman. I already have a morning routine, but figured it could use some tweaking 🙂

What I’m watching and reading

I watched Guardians of the Galaxy 3 (Disney +) when it came out on streaming. And then, Phil and I watched it the next night together 🙂 It was a fabulous conclusion to the trilogy, and I got teary at several points. Teefs, Floor, and Rocket go now! Finding a litter of racoons! The release of the animals! The High Evolutionary was a little one note, but every heavy or dark scene was undercut with GOG’s signature humour. One of the better Marvel movies of recent years.

I watched the season two finale of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (network). I really think it’s the best ST series to come out in recent years. The Lower Decks crossover was hilarious. And the musical episode was fun. Very enjoyable, all around.

I finished watching the final season of Nancy Drew (network). I started watching this series in hope, but it soon became apparent that ND suffered from the same deficits as most other CW shows of recent years. It was a supernatural soap opera for teens. The final few episodes rushed to tie up lose ends and send the Drew Crew off into their separate lives.

Then, I watched Z for Zachariah (Amazon). This 2015 adaptation was a radical departure from the book, and starred Margot Robbie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Chris Pine. In the novel, Ann Burden lives alone with her dog and believes she is the last survivor of a nuclear war. Somehow, the valley in which she lives was protected from the fallout. John Loomis is a scientist travelling in a “safe-suit” of his own design. He comes upon the valley and Ann and though he suffers with radiation sickness, she nurses him back to health.

As soon as Loomis recovers, he begins to direct Ann—what to repair, what to plant. It’s clear he wants to rebuild and part of that includes producing children with Ann. She runs away, there is a confrontation (during which Ann must kill her dog—*sob*), and she leaves the valley in the safe-suit in search of other survivors.

The movie starts out the same, but Loomis isn’t half as odious as he is in the book. Then another survivor, Caleb, shows up (even though everything outside the valley is supposed to be radioactive) and there’s an awkward love triangle. It’s implied that Loomis kills Caleb, and the movie ends with Ann playing a hymn on an old organ. The dog disappears partway through the movie with no explanation. It was not good.

But then, I watched Polite Society (Amazon). OMG, so hilarious. And kickass. Ria wants to be a stunt woman and her sister Lena wants to be an artist, but after an EID Mubarak party, Lena begins to date the host’s son, Salim, and Ria acts out of jealousy, going so far as to attempt to smear Salim’s reputation with Lena. But Ria soon finds evidence of a more insidious plot and must rescue her sister from her own wedding. Excellent.

The first book I read in August was Shveta Thakrar’s novella, Into the Moon Garden. A lovely paranormal romance about a young scientist trying to come to terms with her mother’s death. The story alternates with chapters from a book about the moon gods and goddesses from around the world, each with a lesson for the protagonist as she navigates her grief.

Then, I listened to Robert A. Heinlein’s Orphans of the Sky. The book was noted as a “fix up” of a 1941 novelette and a 1963 novella. Interesting premise. A mutiny kills the skilled crew of a generation ship and the ship floats aimlessly in space while generation after generation is born, lives, and dies on the Ship, which is all any of them know of the universe. When Hugh learns that everything he’s been taught is wrong and that the Ship is actually intended to reach a destination, he tries to convince the current captain to let him pilot the Ship.

The book itself is hugely problematic. Civilization on the Ship has devolved into a patriarchy where the captain and crew are figureheads and the scientists have more in common with clergy. Children born with mutations are killed. The “muties” who survive are at war with the rest of the Ship, and none of the people on the Ship are depicted well. The muties practice cannibalism. Women, when they appear, are hysterical slaves, and men practice spousal abuse and bigamy. I must confess to being terribly disappointed.

Next, I read Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis. Yeah, I’ve been on a classic SF kick recently. It was better than the Wells and Heinlein books I recently read, but it was pretty much a sausage party with nary a female character in sight. I appreciated Lewis’ take on the typical male explorer, however. At least Ransom got to know the various peoples of Malacandra (which he later figures out is Mars) and actively prevented his fellow humans from exploiting them. It seems to me that this book was in part written out of colonizer guilt.

Then, I listened to Powerful Women Who Ruled the Ancient World, a The Great Courses lecture turned into an audiobook, by Kara Cooney. It wasn’t just Cleopatra. Cooney unpacks the gendered rules of the ancient world and then profiles women rulers from Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and China and how they worked around those rules to seize power. Verra cool.

I read Binti: The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor. I’d previously read the first in the series, but unintentionally skipped over the second to read this one. I didn’t realize my error until I was already into the novella. Though it bothered my autistic sensibilities, I persisted, and was rewarded. Loved it.

I read J.A. Andrews’ Pursuit of Shadows. I read the first book in The Keeper Chronicles a couple of years ago. She was part of my critique group, but already not active when I joined. The first book focused on Alaric. This book was Will’s story. Will considers himself a second-rate keeper, but he’s out searching for the next generation—and his sister, abducted when they were both children. Good story, solid character arc, nice romantic subplot. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

And I finished my reread of The Raven King. Did I ever mention how much I love these books?

I’m taking a break for a few days, and then I’m picking up another favourite series: The Fionavar Tapestry.

My next listen was another Heinlein novel, Double Star. Not as bad as the other Heinlein, but there was all of one female character in the whole thing. Also, the protagonist, a down-on-his-luck actor, was demonstrably racist. Yes, it was against Martians, but still. The actor is hired to be a politician’s double after the politician is abducted. Not bad. It won the first Hugo Award. It was written in 1956. Makes me wonder what I’d think if I read Stranger in a Strange Land again …

Then, I read Callahan’s Legacy by Spider Robinson. A good friend is a big fan, but the only other Spider Robinson book I’ve read is Variable Star, which was actually a Robinson completion of a book Robert Heinlein left unfinished.

Callahan’s Legacy is filled with pun and pathos. A nigh on unstoppable enemy is headed for Earth and Jake and the gang at Mary’s Place have no choice but to come together around the birth of Jake and Zoe’s child, achieve telepathic communion, and stop the creature in its tracks with an offer of … freedom and friendship?

Finally, I finished off the month with Bellwether, by Connie Willis. The protagonist, Dr. Sandra Foster, studies fads for a corporate research facility called Hi-tek. The plot is largely absurd, centring on the influence of a Hi-tek employee named Flip, who brands her forehead, wears duct tape as a fashion statement, and feels she is being abused in her position as mail clerk, though she is basically lazy and incompetent.

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

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

The next chapter: a month in the writerly life.
melaniemarttila.ca

The next chapter: July 2023 update

August 6, 2023 / Melanie Marttila

Welcome to August, everyone! Enjoying your summer?

For me, the answer to that question is yes … and no. I am enjoying the summer in the sense that I still get out twice a day to walk Torvi and I enjoy the light and the warmth and the activity. The no part of the answer comes in with the long stretches of higher-than-seasonal temperatures we’ve been having.

It’s too hot most days to enjoy the patio/summer office during the day and, by the time it cools off in the evening to the degree I could enjoy the office, the insects emerge and cause a whole new kind of misery.

And the days when it isn’t unseasonably hot, it’s overcast and raining.

Have picked raspberries, though. It’s a decent crop this year.

The other complication to my summer is work. I should really learn to take more time off in the summer. I could avoid a lot of aggravation if I did. Unfortunately, I need to take more time off in the fall and winter. I’m a hibernator. And I’m not due more vacation for a few years yet. Almost when I’ll be thinking about retirement. Le sigh. First world problems. Privileged white woman first world problems.

And, as July ends, we’ve had a lovely break in the weather. Maybe I’ll be able to get out and enjoy the rest of the season 🙂

The month in writing

In general, I’m keeping on. I’ve narrowed focus to Reality Bomb, which I’m revising in 20-page chunks with Suzy Vadori’s guidance.

I have a side project in the form of revising a short story, but there’s no deadline for it. It’s just something I can dip into from time to time when I need a change of pace.

In other news, I’m really enjoying not curating content and moving back to monthly updates (with the odd addition of posts about writerly news, which tend to be short). It’s been a relief, which tells me that it’s been more onerous than I thought. It also gives me more time to write, which is what I really need to be doing right now.

Also, work is kicking my butt with another big project. This seems to be the way of things in the summer over the past few years. We may need to do some strategic thinking about workload. What this means in practical terms for my writing is that I’m often out of spoons by the end of the workday and weekends are focused on recovery. When do I write? When I can, which is not as often as I’d like, but often enough to make progress.

I’m trying to have compassion for myself. It’s harder than it sounds.

Welp, I was informed by email on July 5^th, that while my Access Copyright Foundation Professional Development Grant application was recommended by their assessment committee, there were not enough funds to award all the applicants who were recommended. I did not make the cut. So, a bittersweet notification.

I will definitely apply again in the future. Maybe not for the PD grant again, but we’ll see what else is on my creative horizon the next time I wade into the grant waters.

On the 5^th, I also met with a professional photographer, Gerry Kingsley, and we discussed getting a shoot together. We’re starting with a vision board but hope to have the shoot scheduled by the end of the month/early next month, and the photos ready for use by mid-August.

Unfortunately, another project took precedence for him and we’re kind of in limbo.

I had my second session with Suzy on July 6^th and my third on the 19^th. Things are progressing. I still feel that I’m not picking up on her methodology as quickly as I should. But that’s on me. She reassured me that I’m doing fine.

I have over 150 pages of revised novel now, though (from the work I did with her Oct 2022 to Jan 2023 and now). I don’t know if I’m actually going to cut any words/pages in the end. Most of Suzy’s suggestions have me adding words, not cutting them, or cutting and then adding in more 🙂 I’ve currently overcome the cutting I did earlier in the year, and I’ve added more than 3,000 words (!) It was the middle and the ending that were bloated, though, so I could end up cutting a bunch later on. We’ll see how it goes.

On July 31^st, I received an email that I’ve been accepted into the League of Canadian Poets as a full member! So now I’ve dipped my toes in (almost) all the professional associations. Updated my website and CV. I am now qualified as all get out 🙂

Filling the well

I enrolled in a longer Writing the Other course, Crafting Diverse Relationships, which ran July 1^st to the 23^rd. It was awesome, and I’m beginning to think I may be asexual, or maybe grey ace. I’ll have to delve into it more. It was also helpful for interracial relationships, polyamory, and character arcs in general.

I met with my publisher on the 2^nd, and we discussed the publishing process for The Art of Floating from here out. I have some time to work on some of the promotional materials she requested, but I had already taken a run at it and I’m not sure how much of what I submitted is usable and how much I’ll have to rework and resubmit.

I signed up for a webinar on the 11^th about writing characters intentionally and respectfully by Jenny Kleiman through Chill Subs. It was good, but WTO is the premiere purveyor of this kind of content.

I also registered for a Tiffany Yates Martin webinar through Jane Friedman. How to Write Powerfully in Deep Third POV was on July 12^th. Because it was during the workday, I watched the recording. Excellent, as always.

Augur Magazine presented Writing YA in SFF with Sarah Raughley on July 15^th. Very good.

Over on Free Expressions, Tiffany Yates Martin presented Five Steps to an Airtight Plot on the 20^th. The work/spoons situation I realized that I’ve actually taken this course before, through Jane Friedman. Ya know what? Repetition is reinforcement. I clearly still feel the need to absorb more information from this one.

I signed up for another Mary Robinette Kowal webinar on Middles and Try/Fail Cycles. That was on July 23^rd. This is kind of what I need right now as I wade into the middle of RB.

On the 26^th, it was Author Platform Building with Catherine Baab-Maguira. I’m still trying to figure out platform, especially now that I’m moving toward the launch of The Art of Floating.

Also on the 26^th, but in the evening, Graeme Cameron, publisher of Polar Borealis and Polar Starlight, who’s published one of my short stories and quite a few of my poems, offered a CAA/SF Canada webinar on getting published.

The next in the Free Expressions series of Don Maass webinars was DIY Archetypes on the 27^th. It was all about how characters become iconic.

Then, thanks to my virtual attendance of the Nebula conference weekend, I was able to attend a Connecting Flights Panel on Sticking the Short Story Landing on the 29^th.

Good Company interviewed me for the new facilitator position, but ultimately went with another candidate. To be honest, this is a good thing. As I mentioned last month, I may have been taking on more than I should.

Due to stresses at work, I’ve stalled a bit in my smoking cessation journey. I’d made it as far as 6 or 7 cigarettes a day, but then couldn’t hack it. I’m back up to 12 a day, which is about half of what I was smoking. I might hold here until the big project is done.

Füm released three new citrus flavours for their cores. I quite like the orange vanilla, but don’t care for the sparkling grapefruit or the raspberry lemon flavours. Think it’s going to be orange vanilla, crisp mint, and maple pepper from here on out.

I had a massage on July 20^th. Desperately needed relaxation, that.

On July 27^th, I saw my doctor about a mole on the side of my nose. It’s right under the nose pad of my glasses, and there are issues. He chose to freeze it, and now it’s swollen worse than before. The swelling subsided by the end of the month, but now the problem is that the nose pad of my glasses rubs on the scab and keeps on tearing it open.

On the 29^th, I took Torvi for a Furminator bath and brush. The house is basically wall-to-wall fur right now. In her absence, I de-furred the house (AKA vacuumed).

What I’m watching and reading

Before I start in on the month in viewing, I would like to express my solidarity with the Writers’ Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild strike. They deserve better pay, protections, conditions, and job security. Like many other employers, the Hollywood machine seeks to maximize profit and disenfranchise their most vulnerable workers.

Having said that, most of what I’ve watched this month was written and produced long before the strike began, and none of it is paid promotion. Just my own opinion 🙂

I watched Nimona (Netflix). A movie based on a comic property I’ve never read. It was awesome. A futuristic world, but still based in magic. A young knight is set up for the murder of the queen and only an immortal shapeshifter can help him prove his innocence.

I finished the first season of Shrinking (Apple +). Entertaining. Harrison Ford is surprising as an embittered therapist with Parkinson’s trying to help his colleagues sort their sh*t out as a means of avoiding his own. And there’s a lot of sh*t to be sorted. The cliffhanger promises an entertaining second season, too.

Then, Phil and I watched Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Netflix). I didn’t think it was as bad as the reviews imply. It’s the best of the D&D-related films I’ve seen. The whole Hasbro/Wizards fiasco (which is still ongoing) may have contributed to the poor reception, but we enjoyed it.

I started off the month by reading Mira Grant’s (Seanan McGuire’s) Rolling in the Deep. It’s pretty much straight up horror, which I’m not a super fan of, but it was well-written and short 🙂 A research ship is sponsored by a “reality” TV channel when it travels to the Mariana Trench to find evidence of mermaids. Unsurprisingly, the “mermaids” find the ship and its crew, first.

Next, I listened to the Audible Original, The Original, by Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal. Holly wakes up and is informed that she is a Provisional Replica, or PR, and that she is tasked with finding and killing her Original for the murder of her husband, Jonathan. She has four days to do this, or the nanites in her system will kill her for her failure. Very cool SF thriller.

Another short Audible Original was John Scalzi’s Murder by Other Means, the second of his Dispatcher novellas. It’s set in a world where people who get murdered tend to wake up, naked, in their beds (or wherever they feel safe). Natural deaths, accidents, and suicides seem to be the exception to the rule, but there is a small chance that you actually stay dead when someone kills you. Enter the Dispatchers, a service to fit the times. Dying of cancer? Call the dispatcher and have a second chance at life. Accident leave you in a coma? Your spouse will call the dispatcher to set things right.

But after 12 years, it’s getting harder and harder for dispatchers to find legitimate work. And Tony, the protagonist, has taken to accepting questionable jobs to pay the bills. When several people he’s recently worked with start committing suicide, one by one, Tony’s implicated, and he has to find out what’s really happening and who’s responsible before he’s murdered by other means.

Then, I read Passing by Nella Larsen. Irene encounters an old friend, Clare one afternoon and, before long, Clare has insinuated herself into Irene’s life. Both light-skinned Black women, Irene embraces her Black identity, while Clare has chosen to pass and has married a racist white man. As the relationship progresses, Irene has to face some tough truths about Clare … and herself.

Passing was one of the novels to come out of the Harlem Renaissance.

As part of my WTO course, I read ACE: What Asexuality Reveals about Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen. Excellent. Well thought out, compassionately argued, and hella interesting.

I read another of Adrian Tchaikovsky book: Walking to Aldebaran. A ship and crew are sent out to investigate an anomaly in the Oort cloud beyond Pluto. Told in alternating timelines, the sole survivor of the ill-fated landing crew wanders “the crypts” meeting aliens, stumbling upon gateways to other worlds, and eating just about anything he stumbles upon … or kills, and recounts the events that brought him to this juncture. A fun/weird/horrific read.

Then, I read H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine. It is a classic, but I found it just a bit boring.

Next, I listened to the third novella in the Dispatcher series, Travel by Bullet, in which Tony gets himself into a lot of trouble trying to help his friend Mason. The title is a conceit used in both Scalzi novellas I listened to this month. If you’re far from home and want to get back there, fast, or if you need to escape a difficult situation while far from home, you just have to get someone to shoot you in Dispatcher world. If you’re not one of the small percentage of people for whom death is permanent, you wake up, naked, at home.

Another book I read for my WTO course was Stant Litore’s Write Characters Your Readers Won’t Forget. Solid craft advice about characters and character arcs. I’d purchased this book the first time I took Stant’s Character Arcs Course through WTO, but hadn’t actually read it until now (!)

Then, I read Sarah Gailey’s Upright Women Wanted. In a future American Southwest, Esther stows away in a librarian’s wagon, escaping the horror of her father hanging her beloved, Beatrice. Gailey’s librarians draw on the history of the packhorse librarians, who were hired by Roosevelt Franklin to distribute reading materials in Appalachia during the depression (remember The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek?), but she subverts them by also making them queer activists who distribute non-approved reading materials and escort persecuted queer people to safety.

Finally, I listened to Erin Macdonald’s The Science of Sci-Fi, a Great Courses course offered through Audible Originals. Absolutely fabulous! Lots of help/ideas for my current work-in-progress.

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

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

Image of an open book with mist rising from it.
The Next Chapter: A month in the writerly life.
melaniemarttila.ca

The next chapter: June 2023 update

July 4, 2023 / Melanie Marttila

I should have posted this on the weekend, but I was having trouble getting into my WordPress account. Turns out all I had to do was delete cookies and history on my browser. Sometimes it gets backed up like that. My apologies.

Picture of clouds with crepuscular rays.

And welcome to July! The year is passing so quickly.

Let’s backtrack a bit.

This has been a weird spring. After a brief few days of above-seasonal temperatures (I wore shorts in March!) it got cool and rainy. Then there was the strike (more news on that in a bit). Soon after, the temperatures began to rise again, and the last part of May was essentially a heat wave. The first part of June was seasonal, but just in time for the Solstice, we got our second heat wave, and now a third. Thanks, global warming.

Since we don’t have central air conditioning, this meant closing up the house to the degree possible during the day in an attempt to keep things cool. After the first week, the house got hot no matter what we did. And I started to get heat edema (swelling of the extremities due to heat). This meant that I wasn’t keen to go outside and do things except to make sure Torvi got her walkies.

This year has also meant something completely different for me—seasonal allergies (!) I’ve never been so stuffed up before. Complicating this may be the smoky haze blown into the area by the surrounding forest fires.

So, I haven’t been posting/reporting on the seasonal changes as much as I have in past years.

Rest assured; the monstrous rhubarb is still monstrous. We’ve been inviting everyone to come and take what they want. There’s always more than we can use.

The pin cherries blossomed at the end of Victoria Day long weekend. The lilacs followed a week later, and the honeysuckles bloomed a week after that. The pines candled brilliantly. The Finn rose is thriving.

Phil dug up and replanted our strawberries in the fall and, while we lost a few, we had flowers, and the berries began to set. Unfortunately, birds and chipmunks got to them before we could harvest one berry. I’m so disappointed.

The raspberry patch survived the winter and should produce fruit. Now if we can only remember to get out and pick the berries!

And Phil has planted our garden again this year. Swiss chard, beets, some carrots, and radishes, and he’s even giving peas a chance 🙂 We have one tomato plant and hope to soon have more.

Phil’s also set up the patio set and solar panel. He had to rework some of the ‘lectrics, but my summer office is technically open for business. Now if I can just pry myself away from my desk and get out there.

In an update from last month, the tentative contract was ratified by the membership. We’ll get out retro pay, etc. in about six months. So, either a nice Christmas present or a fabulous start to the New Year.

The month in writing

Second round revisions of The Art of Floating (yes, my poetry collection has a name!) were completed by the 4^th, and I sent the revised manuscript off to Heather at Latitude 46. She wanted to read it through before we discussed next steps.

On the morning of June 5^th, I received an email from one of the granting bodies I applied to informing me that the status of my grant application had changed. I figured I’d been screened out, and logged into the site, hope and dread warring in my gut. But it was good news! My application is moving forward to the assessment process! There’s still no guarantee. I just made it past the initial screening and my application may ultimately not make the grade, but I think moving on to formal assessment by committee is impressive for a first-time applicant (!)

Later that same day, SF Canada member and Aurora Award recipient Graeme Cameron reviewed Pulp Literature 38 in Amazing Stories and had some lovely things to say about my story, “Psychopomps Are Us.”

Sorry, but I just have to copy from the review:

“Premise: Psychopomps are guides leading souls into the afterlife. Leave it to science to add the profession to the ranks of social workers. Not an enviable job.

Review: This story has interesting concepts to express about astral forms, ghosts, spirits, and how they interact. All quite plausible, given the premise.

What is particularly interesting is that the job involves a certain amount of B.S. in that no one has any actual experience of what the afterlife offers, such that all promises made to the reluctant departed as to why they should continue their journey are pure speculation. Can’t tell the “client” that, of course, as it would fail to convince them to get on with it. So, a series of no nonsense and hopefully convincing lies are in order.

The story is a delightful exercise in extrapolation of certain implications in the underlying belief system of modern spiritualism. Turns out the job of Psychopomp is more akin to that of a psychiatrist than a social worker. You not only need to understand the newly dead, but also how to manipulate and motivate them. Challenging, to say the least.

I don’t believe in ghosts, but their point of view, if they were to exist, is well laid out and makes for an amusing contest of wills. I quite enjoyed this story. I believe you will, too. Just plain fun to read.”

Needless to say, June 5^th was a very happy day.

On June 10^th, I applied to the League of Canadian Poets on the advice of my publisher, whom I met at Ann-Marie MacDonald’s event (see below). I was a member, back in the 90s. We’ll see if they accept my application (again) in 6 to 8 weeks.

I also sent out some initial enquiries about setting up some writers-in-the-schools visits in the fall and winter. I got a response from a teacher in the Catholic board pretty quickly and she arranged to firm things up with me later in June after the crazy ended. She’s now been in touch and firmed things up. Now, I’m just waiting to hear if anyone in the public board is interested. The application is due on July 17^th.

My first submission to Suzy was due June 11^th and we met on the 15^th. It was a good session, but I was frustrated with myself because I’m not internalizing Suzy’s methodology as quickly as I’d like. I’m trying to be gentle with myself, treat myself like I would a good friend. I can do the thing! I will be successful! It’s hard, though.

I finished another creative non-fiction piece for a call on the 15^th and submitted it. Again, as I’m such a noob in the CNF sphere, I have no idea how I’ll do. The good thing is that the more I write in the genre, the better I’ll get. Practice makes better. So, no pressure on either of these CNF pieces. It’ll be great if something happens, but I think it’s more likely they’ll both be rejected.

Screenshot of an Excel tracking sheet showing my writing and revision progress. — As in recent months, you may peruse if you wish.

The Canadian Authors Association scheduled its annual general meeting (AGM) on the 24^th.

Then, the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association’s AGM was on the 25^th.

Think I’m AGM’d out, now.

On impulse, I applied for a facilitator’s position with the therapist who organizes my support group. Eep! I’m beginning to feel like I’m taking on too much. Again.

At the end of the month (26^th), Heather sent me the first of the next step emails with respect to The Art of Floating. This one was about filling in the marketing information for the collection, including supplying a headshot.

I promptly started querying photographers.

And … I delivered my #ActuallyAutistic Author webinar on the 28^th! I think it went well. The feedback I’ve received so far has been positive.

Filling the well

I went to an in-person (!) event on June 5^th. Ann-Marie MacDonald came to Sudbury for the Canadian University Women’s Federation’s Celebrate Women 2023. It was wonderful. MacDonald is hilarious. And, of course, I got a signed copy of Fayne.

Free Expressions offered a webinar by Eric Maisel, “Writing Your Book from Beginning to End,” on June 8^th. Due to a big project at work and relatively few spoons, I watched the replay. I have several of Maisel’s books and wanted to see what one of his webinars was like. It was good.

I signed up for the video only option for Stant Litore’s “Write Characters Your Readers will Love,” a Writing the Other offering. It was a full day workshop over June 10^th and 11^th and I needed the weekend to myself to recover. I watched the workshop in parts from the 13^th to the 19^th. Stant’s one of those presenters with an absolute wealth of knowledge. I took the workshop in the pre-times and just wanted to brush up.

I signed up for another Free Expressions webinar by Janice Hardy, “Make the Most of Your POV,” on the 15^th. I didn’t think I’d have the spoons to both meet with Suzy and attend the webinar on the same day (and I was right), so I once again watched the replay. It was one of Janice’s posts on Fiction University that twigged me to the real meaning of show, don’t tell (a lesson I’m still learning). Her webinar on POV was just as valuable.

The Locus Awards weekend was from the 21^st through the 24^th. I had to miss the readings on the 21^st (see below) and 22^nd but caught the Friday readings and attended the sessions on Saturday leading up to the Locus Awards ceremony. It was my first time attending virtually and I think their first time producing a hybrid conference. There were some technical glitches, but it was good overall.

The second of Donald Maass’s Free Expressions Webinars took place on the 22^nd. Our World in Your Nutshell was a bit more of his usual fare. Making the specific universal.

Then, on the 28^th I attended a TWUC webinar called Intersectionality Tomorrow with Tanis MacDonald, Nisha Patel, and Carla Harris. It was fabulous.

I went to Little Current to attend friends’ 25^th anniversary celebration on June 21^st. They renewed their vows with family and friends. It was a lovely evening.

It was too hot (see above) to light up all the candles on the altar for the solstice, but I took an eerie-cool picture of the moon and Venus through the haze.

Picture of the crescent moon and Venus through smokey haze.

The Sudbury Writers’ Guild’s summer social was at College Boreal on June 29^th this year. Met up with several friends.

In health news, I’ve purchased a Füm. I’ve finally had it with cigarettes. I hate the taste and the way they stain my teeth and fingers. Füm is a habit alternative. A metal and wood holder for essential oil infused cores. They taste much better than cigarettes and still allow me to satisfy my oral and fidget fixations as well as to satisfy my need to do something socially with Phil and my mom when they smoke.

I’ve been doing some thinking and I didn’t start smoking until I was 25 and away trying to make it through the coursework requirement for my master’s degree. My mom smoked throughout my childhood, and I didn’t start smoking. Phil smoked when we started dating (and still does), and I didn’t start. I’m pretty sure that I started smoking not only because of the stress of my degree, but also because I needed a substitute for stimming.

When I was a kid, I’d chew pencils and pens (and pen caps) to pieces. I think this was one of my stims. But in university, I stopped using a pen outside of lecture notes and started using a computer. The clack of the keys occupied my fingers but did nothing for my oral fixation. Enter smoking.

After the first week with the Füm, I managed to halve my cigarette consumption. And I haven’t had a major nicotine fit … yet. Think I’m going to hang here for a while before I take the next step. A 27-year habit is not broken in a week. And there is a component of addiction that has to be overcome.

Phil had his bone scan scheduled for June 2^nd. It went without a hitch. He was advised that they’d be in touch if there was anything of note in a few days. He’s heard nothing, so we’re assuming no news is good news.

What I’m watching and reading

I watched Judy Bloom Forever (Amazon). She’s had a fascinating life! Loved.

Then, I watched Avatar: The Way of Water (Disney +). I remember the first Avatar. At the time, I was blown away. Then I became aware of the problematic nature of the story (white saviourism) and remembered is a bit less fondly. TWoW suffers from some of the same issues, compounded by the fact that despite being in an avatar, Jake Sully’s managed to transfer enough human genetic material to his kids that they all have four fingers. Worse is that Quaritch, killed at the end of the first film by Neytiri, has been cloned into a Na’vi body and his son, left behind with the scientists who were allowed to stay on Pandora, is a kind of adopted son to Jake, though Neytiri can’t forget his origins and rejects him as a part of their family.

I enjoyed the movie, but not as much as I might have if I didn’t know what I know, know what I mean?

Next, I watched Women Talking (Amazon). Based on the novel of the same name by Miriam Toews and on real events (!) In a Mennonite community in Latin America, women and girls were drugged and raped for years. The real case resulted in seven of eight charged men convicted of rape. In the movie (and, I assume, the book) the women gather and decide to leave their community to protect themselves and their children. It’s compelling and terrifying and totally worth watching. The performances are amazing.

I finished the second (and final) season of Warrior Nun (Netflix). All loose ends were tied up. Ava may or may not be dead as she was taken to the other side, halo and all, after defeating Adriel. Fans are apparently trying to revive the series, but I don’t know if they will be successful.

I watched Moonage Daydream (Amazon), a surreal documentary about David Bowie. It was interesting to hear from Bowie in his own words. The last part of his career wasn’t covered in as much depth, which was disappointing because that’s the part of his career I was most interested in.

I seem to be in a docu-mood. My next watch was Stan Lee (Disney +). A fascinating look at a fascinating life in a fascinating industry 🙂

Next, I watched the season three finale of Superman & Lois (network). Lois gets cancer (and survives), Clark and Lois try to take down Bruno Manheim (and they do), and, in the last two episodes, Lex Luthor is released from prison and comes after Lois, but he starts by stripping her of her protection. He gets the General out of the way with a honey pot, and then finds the now-feral Bizarro, torturing him until he becomes Doomsday, and sends him after Clark. It was quite a cliffhanger.

Finally, I finished the first season of Gotham Knights (network). I think this is the best of the DCEU series to come out recently. But of course it got cancelled. Bah.

In reading, I finished Kate Heartfield’s Armed in Her Fashion. In this historical weird, the devil’s wife, only known as the Chatelaine, traps her husband deep within the hellbeast that is their living home. She takes over and brings the hellbeast to the surface in the hope of becoming a ruler in a time when women cannot rule. Enter Magreit and her daughter Beatrix, trying to survive in Bruges after the Chatelaine and her forces attack. The Chatelaine is doing this to win the favour of the French King and win the city as her own kingdom.

Her main force is composed of chimeras, people combined with beasts or objects, or both, in the hellforge to become her faithful warriors. The rest are revenants, killed by the chimeras but somehow brought back to half-life. Magreit’s husband is a revenant, and when she discovers him taking a hidden chest from their home, she demands her rights, and her daughter’s. He is dead. What’s in that chest belongs to his family. It could mean the start of a new life for Magreit and Beatrix.

Though she has contracted the Grief, a wasting sickness that infects revenants’ loved ones, Magreit will go to any lengths before she dies to get her daughter’s inheritance, even into the bowels of the hellbeast.

Next, I read Nalo Hopkinson’s short story collection Skin Folk. Soundly entertaining and a wonderful peek into the Caribbean diaspora by one of our best storytellers.

Then, I finished my re-read of Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater. I realize I’ve just been raving about how much I love the series and not offering anything in terms of the plot. Let’s fix that now, shall we?
The Raven Boys — Blue Sargent, who’s always been told that if she kisses her true love, he’ll die, is drawn into the orbit of Gansey and his friends Ronan, Adam, and Noah, as they search for a mythical Welsh king who Gansey suspects is buried somewhere in Virginia. In order to find Glendower, they must revive the ley line, but someone else is on the same quest and wants to beat them to the punch.
The Dream Thieves — Ronan Lynch is a dreamer, that is, he can pull things out of his dreams and into reality, like his pet raven, Chainsaw. The ley line is awake, but still needs to be healed, and Adam made a deal with the mystical forest Cabeswater to be its eyes and ears. But someone called The Gray Man’s come to town in search of an artifact called the greywaren which has the power to make dreams real, and Ronan learns he’s not the only dreamer in Henrietta. They’re both in danger.
Blue Lily, Lily Blue — Blue’s mom has disappeared and left a cryptic note: Glendower’s underground and so am I. The Gray Man’s employer has come to town determined to find the greywaren, and Gansey’s mentor Mallory has come to help the gang finally track down Glendower. Blue doesn’t care about any of that unless it helps her rescue her mother.

And now it’s onto The Raven King!

Next, I finished William Gibson’s Idoru. Rez, of the rock duo Lo/Rez, has declared his intention to marry an idoru (idol, in Japanese) an AI entertainer. No one understands how this is supposed to happen, including his staff. So, they hire Colin Laney, a man with an uncanny and inexplicable ability to find nodal points in any data stream to find out if anyone is manipulating Rez. At the same time, Chia Pet McKenzie, a member of the Seattle chapter of the Lo/Rez fan club is sent to Japan to investigate.

The next book I read was Patricia Briggs’ Fire Touched. It’s number nine in the Mercy Thompson series. I’ve only read the first book in the series before. Mercy and her werewolf mate Adam must protect a human changeling who has escaped Underhill, where he lived for a very long time and was imbued with the elemental power of fire. The Gray Lords of the fae want Aiden, though, and some of them will stop at nothing to get him.

I also read Nalini Singh’s Angel’s Blood. It’s a steamy paranormal, so be aware of the potential of explicit sex. The world building’s a little weird, but in Singh’s world, angels create vampires as servitors or slaves. Humans, trained or with innate hunter talents, hunt rogue vampires for the angels. Elena is a born hunter and one of the best in her field. She’s called upon by the archangel Raphael to hunt not a vampire, but a corrupted archangel whose bloodlust could consume every mortal in existence.

Then, I read Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Once again, I am struck by how much I like Dickens. Just in general.

Finally, I read The Prynne Viper by Bianca Marais. Bianca’s the co-host of The Sh*t No One Tells You About Writing podcast and I was curious. Solid courtroom drama set in a futuristic world in which predictive algorithms determine who gets to be born. Naomi Prynne has been to court three times and lost. Now, she’s pregnant again and desperate not to lose.

Intriguing worldbuilding, most of which I can’t tell you without spoiling the story, but I will note the use of Prynne as the protagonist’s last name (harkening to Hester, methinks), and let you know that viper is a short form/portmanteau of viable person.

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

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

Picture of a book with mist rising from it.
The Next Chapter
A month in the Writerly Life
melaniemarttila.ca

The next chapter: May 2023 update

June 4, 2023 / Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

Welcome to the next chapter monthly update for May 2023. It’s going to be another epic update. Actually, it’s epic-er. Lots of stuff to cram into this month.

I woke up May 1^st to the news that a tentative deal had been reached and the strike was over (for now). The deal still had to be formally announced, information sessions held, and members vote on whether to accept the offer or not. And if the membership doesn’t vote to accept, we could be picketing again if further negotiations fail.

CRA workers were still walking the picket until their bargaining team had an agreement they could present to their members. This happened within the week.

Our ratification kit was sent out on May 10^th. The ratification vote was called on the 24^th, but the voting period doesn’t close until June 16^th, so you (and I) will have to wait until next month to learn the results.

Two people in Incledibles costumes on the PSAC picket line. — Two of our superheroic picketers on a very rainy day.

In the meantime, life threw us another curve ball. Our break line blew, and the car was out of commission until we could find an appointment at a repair shop, which was more difficult than you’d think. The garage we’ve been with for 20+ years was booked solid for six weeks. Our dealership was booked for three. Ultimately, we found a garage that could help us, got the car towed there, and the necessary repairs completed in five days.

It was interesting living without a car for those few days. I hope that the universe doesn’t have any further surprises in store for us. With Phil’s broken shoulder, the strike, and the car, that’s three. Things have to turn around soon.

The month in writing

I worked on a creative non-fiction piece and finished it (I think) on May 6^th. Actually, I gave it a few more passes and submitted it on the 8^th. There is such a thing as editing the life out of a piece. It’s my first CNF. I have no idea how it will fare.

I continued to edit my poetry collection, work on notes and acknowledgements. I sent it back to Tanis (who was having fun in Finland—I’m so jealous) over the Victoria Day long weekend. She’ll have final notes back to me in June.

Actually, she returned the second round edits May 29^th. I’ll work on it on the weekend (June 3^rd and 4^th) and then forward it to my publisher, Heather, for final copyedits, formatting, cover, and all that jazz. April 2024 is getting closer!

I revised a short story for an anthology call due May 31^st. That, too, I finished (after several passes) and submitted on the 28^th. And then the call was extended until July 31^st. Oh well.

And I finally got back to Reality Bomb. I reviewed the chapters I’d done before, added a stack of Post-it notes to my map, and generally prepared to dive back into editing with Suzy in June. I officially contracted her on the 24^th and paid my fee. It’s happening!

Mellie's writing and revision progress for May. — Once again, I’ll just leave this here for you to peruse.

Mel holding up the CSFFA Professional Development Grant letter.

Related to that: My ah-MA-zing news (that I alluded to last month): I received the CSFFA Professional Development Grant! W00t!! Now the first session with Suzy will be mostly covered! I was informed by email on April 30^th but asked to hold back on announcing the news until the CSFFA made their official announcement. Now they have, and I can! You may have seen my blog post about it earlier in the month. I thought it bore mentioning again 🙂

I submitted my application for my first Ontario Arts Council Northern Arts Grant on May 1^st (again, for better or worse). There was a lot more to it than the OAC grant I applied for last fall. I have no idea how well I did (or did not). I’m still committed to applying for every grant I can. The more grant applications I submit, the better I’ll get at writing them. That I worked on this one while in the midst of the strike … let’s just say it probably wasn’t my best work. But I have no objectivity, so who knows?

I read my poetry at the TWUC Ontario region virtual open mic on May 2^nd. It was good to share my poems again.

On May 3^rd, I received an email from Odyssey Workshops notifying me that my application to Your Personal Odyssey was not accepted. Each year, the email’s a little longer and this year, Jeanne Cavelos said she enjoyed reading my writing sample. There were even more applicants than last year, and the competition was fierce. I’ll see it as a “one step closer to yes” rejection 😉

On May 12^th, I received the package from the K. Valerie Connor Memorial Poetry Celebration contest and judging was underway. More than twice as many poems as were predicted, but I managed.

I attended a CAA board meeting on May 23^rd. It will be one of my last. I’m stepping down after two terms to focus more on my writing.

Filling the well

I virtually attended the FOLD from April 30 to May 7, watching most of the sessions in replay. Always a great literary festival.

I watched the first of the Donald Maass series of Free Expressions webinars on May 5^th, the Eight Lacks that Torpedo a Good Manuscript. Thought-provoking as ever.

I signed up for another Tiffany Yates Martin webinar through Jane Friedman and watched it on May 7^th. The Power of Dialogue in Fiction was a different offering than I’ve seen from her before. Excellent, as always.

The TWUC Webinar, Construction of a Story Arc, featured past winners of the Danuta Gleed Award. Interesting insights into process.

I attended Writers Read for Dawn Walker on May 10^th. I’d already signed and shared the petition through change.org and when I was notified of the reading, I decided to show my support. Also, Kim Fahner was one of the readers (and Alicia Elliott and Louise Bernice Halfe and Dawn herself). It was a compelling and heart-wrenching evening. I’ll encourage you to support Dawn’s legal defense fund.

I signed up for Your Novel’s Four Key Scenes with Susan DeFreitas, once again, through Jane Friedman. And once again, I watched the replay. She got into the neuroscience of story. Mirror neurons. Semantic and episodic memory. All the good things.

From May 12^th to 14^th, I attended the virtual version of the Nebula Conference and Awards Ceremony. There were a lot of great panels including one on revision and one on neurodivergent writers 🙂

I registered for Cece Lyra’s Putting the Hook in Your Book webinar on the 18^th. I had a conflict and watched the replay. Full of insight. Cece introduced me to a new way of thinking about story in terms of pitch or query.

Then, I signed up for Carly Watters’ Preparing Your Pitch Package for Literary Agents webinar on the 24^th. A bad couple of days at work meant that I had to watch the replay. I did not have the gas. But it was an amazing webinar that covered both fiction and non-fiction queries/packages. And the resources!

I watched a Word on the Street virtual webinar on creating time & space to write on the 25^th. It’s not that I don’t already have time and space to write, it’s just that I can always learn something new, and Melissa Yuan-Innes (Yi) was on the panel 🙂

I’m just signing up for all the things 🙂 On the 31^st was Jean-Louis Trudel’s “To Enter the Writing Multiverse,” another CAA/SFC webinar. An excellent presentation on creating a diversified writing career.

I had a lovely massage booked with my RMT on the 24^th. Much needed respite.

Phil actually got to see the endocrinologist on May 9^th. He received a year’s worth of prescriptions, a referral for a bone scan, and an appointment for next year.

He had another appointment with Dr. Vokey on the 12^thand this was his last. Unfortunately, the x-ray technician asked him to contort his arm into a weird position and then Vokey manipulated the joint as part of her final exam. He was so sore, he bailed on Mother’s Day dinner.

Speaking of which, my sister-in-law hosted Mother’s Day dinner at her place. It was a lovely weekend for it. Super-delish pasta and strawberry shortcake for dessert. Torvi stayed home with Phil.

He also had another physio appointment on the 29^th. This, too, would be his last. There’s really not much more they can do for him. He just has to keep up with his exercises and see how things go.

Picture of the moon in a cloudy sky over trees. — One of my favourites of the last month.

What I’m watching and reading

It’s finale season. Just warning you now, there are a lot of shows I’m going to be running down.

Phil and I watched Seven Kings Must Die (Netflix), the movie finale of The Last Kingdom series. It basically covers Bernard Cornwell’s most recent novel in the book series the BBC/Netflix series and movie are based on. The series benefitted from being able to cover the events of each novel over up to ten episodes. The movie suffered from having to cram everything into less than two hours. It felt like several novels crammed into one movie. We enjoyed it, but not as much as the series. I have yet to read the books (though I have purchase several).

Season five of The Rookie (network) ended with a wild conspiracy that had all the LAPD and their partners on edge. Riddles, masks, ambush attacks, home invasions, abductions … it was a lot. And at first, I was worried they were going to kill of another Black character. But it all worked out and in the last moments of the episode, the mysterious mastermind of the attack drives out of town, his own goal accomplished and the LAPD none the wiser. I guess that’s setting up next season.

The Rookie: Feds (network) completed its first season. There was a lot of crossover between The Rookie and its spinoff throughout the season. I like Feds, but not as much as The Rookie. The finale was a win-lose scenario. Moral grey area. They’re waiting to hear if they’ll be renewed.

The first season of Will Trent (network) was excellent, however. I really like the series and will have to check out the books it’s based on by Karin Slaughter. The finale involved a serial killer with links to Will’s past.

The next seasonal domino to fall was True Lies (network). I liked the movie, so I figured I’d give it a shot. The series was nothing like the movie. Mission briefings were slick, digital cheese. It wasn’t as funny as I hoped, either. The season and series finale (it’s been cancelled) sets up a second season that will never happen. Unless one of the streamers picks it up.

I watched the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy (network). I don’t know how much longer the series will go on. Everyone’s leaving. And now that Ellen Pompeo has stepped back … I mean is there a Grey’s Anatomy without Meredith Grey? I like the new interns well enough, but it’s becoming a lot of the same old, same old.

Phil and I watched Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania (Disney +). I enjoyed it, and Phil was interested enough to actually watch the whole movie with me in one sitting. Jonathan Majors is a tour de force. Hank’s ant farm! “I have holes! Rawr!” >munch, munch, munch< Much fun.

Then, I watched Still (Apple +), the Michael J. Fox documentary. It was amazing.

I needed a little mindless entertainment toward the end of the month, and Jolt (Amazon) fit the bill. Kate Beckinsale plays Lindy, a woman with intermittent explosive disorder who’s just trying to live in the world without harming anyone. She connects with Justin, on the advice of her therapist, but shortly after their third date, Justin is killed, and Lindy decides to use her disorder to find the murderer.

Onto the reading. And, as kismet would have it, I finished reading a lot of books this month, too.

I read Brian Staveley’s The Emperor’s Blades. Solid epic fantasy, but there was a continual stream of objectification and fridging going on, which robbed what might otherwise have been thoroughly enjoyable of the thoroughly part. The emperor is murdered, and his three children have to contend with the fallout while trying to step into their own destinies. I enjoyed Kaden and Valyn’s journeys, but Adair’s was not as well-developed, another reason I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I could have.

Then, I finished Austen Kleon’s Steal Like an Artist. It’s not a long book, but it’s filled with pithy common sense that every writer needs to read interspersed with clever blackout poetry and nifty sketches. Yes. Every creative needs to read this book. That is all.

Next, I turned my attention to some shorter works.

I read Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. Depressing story. Before he woke up a giant cockroach, Gregor was the sole provider for his family, but they took him for granted. He had ambitions to send his sister to the conservatory, so she could pursue her talent with the violin. After, his mother, father, and sister all get jobs. His father has some savings, but he decides they should only be used in an emergency. Like his son turning into a cockroach isn’t an emergency. All the while, poor Gregor wastes away as his family withdraws their love and support, the only “food” he really wants. When they finally decide they must get rid of him, Gregor dies, almost as a favour to them. And life goes on.

I also finished my re-read of Maggie Stiefvater’s The Dream Thieves. Not a shorter work, but this was the order I finished it in … I don’t know how to be objective about this series. I love it so much. And I can only hope some of her brilliance might rub off on my as I study her work. Now, it’s on to Blue Lily, Lily Blue.

Another short piece I re-read was “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving. I have a story idea that plays with Sleepy Hollow, but I haven’t been driven to actually write it, yet. I like to keep in touch with the story from time to time. This was one of those times.

Next, I read Penric’s Fox by Lois McMaster Bujold. I’d only read Penric’s Demon before, but I don’t think it matters what order you read these tales in. This is apparently the fifth novella in the series and involves Penric investigating the death of another temple sorcerer whose demon may have made its way into a fox. I liked it a lot.

I finished Aliette de Bodard’s In the Vanishers’ Palace. Yên, a failed scholar, is sold into the indenture of Vu Côn, one of the last dragons, to pay her village’s debts. The dragon takes her to a reality-bending palace, where death waits around every tessered corner. Yên expects to be killed, but Vu Côn makes her teacher of her twin children. Another surprise: Yên begins to have feelings for Vu Côn.

The Wild Wood by Charles de Lint was another short read. It was originally published in 1994 when concern for the environment wasn’t so much a part of our daily lives. The author even composed an introduction to this anniversary edition in which he apologizes for the overt “we have to care for our environment” vibe. Eithne is an artist who lives near a marsh and forest just outside of Ottawa. When faerie begin to appear in her artwork and dreams asking for help, she has to decide whether her desire to help is worth the sacrifice she’s been asked to make.

Then, I dove into Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir. It’s a delightful, queer riff on the Rapunzel fairy tale. The witch who traps Floralinda is overzealous. And very experienced. She traps princesses all the time, but artistry is her thing. In Floralinda’s tower, there’s a different monster on every floor, starting with a diamond-scaled dragon. In the first months of her imprisonment, hundreds of princes try to rescue her … and the dragon is very well fed. As summer turns to fall and winter threatens, Floralinda decides she has to rescue herself. LOVED!

I read “Seasons of Glass and Iron” by Amal El Mohtar, a shot story from The Starlit Wood anthology of fairy tale retellings. A woman cursed to walk until she wears out seven pairs of iron shoes meets a woman who volunteered to be sealed away in a glass cage. A lovely, sapphic tale of two women discovering how they misogyny of their loved ones has caused them to suffer and the freedom they find when they choose one another.

Next (I did warn you—I read a lot this month), I read Bryony and Roses by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon). A lovely retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Gardener Bryony and her beleaguered pony Fumblefoot are caught in a blizzard on the way back from getting rutabaga seeds. As she begins to lose the feeling in her extremities, Bryony finds a mysterious estate. The estate is sentient, and the beast is in trouble. Fabulous.

Then, I read The King of Elfland’s Daughter, by Lord Dunsany. A prince wins the hand of the king of Elfland’s daughter. They have a child, but the king misses his daughter and lures her back to Elfland where she pines for her husband and son. So, the prince, now a king, goes in search of Elfland to retrieve his bride, while his son, who hears the horns of Elfland, but does not heed their call, hunts unicorns with trolls and will ‘o’ wisps. Happily ever after isn’t … until the king makes a sacrifice that will change both the Kingdom of Erl and Elfland forever.

Finally, on May 31^st, I finished Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. A novel and a movie are necessarily two different things, but, with the exception of a few details, which the author is careful to note in his foreword, the novel evoked Kubrick’s movie quite well.

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

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

Image of mist and light rising from an open book.
Test: The Next Chapter: A month in the writerly life.

The next chapter: April 2023 update

April 30, 2023 / Melanie Marttila

Welcome to the first next chapter, back in its monthly format. This means it will be epic. Sorry, not sorry.

The month in writing

I’ve had to completely revamp my annual plan. Well, not completely, but mostly 🙂

My original plan had been to finish mapping out Alice in Thunderland in January and finish the first draft in February and March while continuing to work with Suzy on Reality Bomb. But a budget situation at work and the attendant loss of income meant I couldn’t continue working with Suzy. We parted ways at the end of January.

I then thought I’d continue working on my own and sign up again once my position and salary had been restored, but Phil had his accident (on Valentine’s Day, I’ll remind you), and all writing work was suspended until such time as he recovered.

In the interim, I got the hare-brained idea to start applying for grants. All of them.

Now that Phil’s recovered, I’ve committed to …

Finish my #ActuallyAutistic Author presentation script and resources,
Revise my poetry manuscript from now through June (in progress),
Write a creative non-fiction (CNF) piece for a call due in early May (in progress),
Work on another CNF piece,
Revise a short story for an anthology call later in May (started),
Start working with Suzy again (come hell or high water, as they say),
Revise another short story for a potential project,
Apply for more grants in May and June (working on one, now),
Deliver my #AAA presentation in June or July,
Revise yet another short story for future submission,
Revamp my web site (some of it’s already done—just bits and pieces left),
Work on new poetry,
Work on a CNF project,
Start work on my new fiction project in September, and
Apply for more grants, September through November.

You can see why I’ve decided to cut back on blogging in the interim.

Alice is taking a back seat, for now. I think it was a good project, but I don’t have the head space or energy to get back to it right now. I do have the outline finished and a solid idea of where I need to head when I do get back to revisions. So, it’s in a good place.

That was the only big change from my original plan, aside from pushing out some timelines because life is what happens when you may other any plans.

So far, the experiment in rearranging my creative life (i.e., giving up curation and returning to monthly updates) seems to be working. I’m a lot less stressed out, that’s for sure. Or I was.

Just gonna let the Excel speak for itself.

Unfortunately, the universe couldn’t take it easy on me. An added stress is that a general strike was called on April 19, 2023. I’m showing up and showing solidarity, but the first day was bitterly cold and I had to take a nap after I got home (which I never do) to warm up and recover. Subsequent days weren’t any easier, though I planned a bit better each day.

My executive function is definitely compromised. Meltdowns each morning, naps most afternoons, and I’m having trouble functioning on any level. At least I didn’t have to picket on the weekends. As of today (April 30, 2023) there’s a new offer on the table, but I haven’t heard anything yet. I expect we’ll be back on the picket line tomorrow.

In other developments, I’ll be one of three judges for the K. Valerie Connor Memorial Poetry Celebration contest held by the Leacock Museum in Orillia this year. I’m honoured to have been considered.

I received another bit of amazing (ah-MA-zing!) news this morning, but I’ll have to wait a bit before I make that announcement. Stay tuned! And yes, I’m a tease.

Filling the well

Just picking up from where I left off in my next chapter weekly updates. I’m not recapping the whole month (!) As you’ll see, it’s been a month FULL of events.

I attended the online book launch for Fonda Lee’s The Untethered Sky on April 10^th. A great conversation between Fonda and Andrea Stewart about all aspects of the creative process.

I had signed up for a FOLD Academy webinar with Liselle Sambury on April 8^th, but was unable to watch it live, because recovery. I watched the replay once it was posted to their YouTube channel. It’s an interesting method, and Sambury offered a lot of alternatives for outlining and tracking your novel.

I signed up for an Authors Publish webinar on a new (to me) poetry form, the zuihitsu, with Eugenia Leigh. Because it was held during the workday, I watched the replay. Zuihitsu is a fascinating form, but I don’t know if I could manage the consciously disordered nature of a zuihitsu collection. It does track with some of the ideas I’m hoping to play with poetically, though. We’ll see where it leads.

I met with my poetry editor, Tanis MacDonald, on the 12^th. It was less fraught than I thought it would be (and that would have been on me—Tanis was lovely). Now I have my marching orders and some work to do 🙂

I attended the Writing Success Series Discovery Night on April 13^th. I’ve signed up for the Donald Maass six-webinar package and will return for individual sessions by Eric Maisel, Janice Hardy, Tiffany Yates Martin, and Beth Baranay.

I signed up for another Dan Blank webinar about defining your identity and creative voice on April 14^th. Again, because it was during the workday, I watched the replay. Dan has a lot of good information about how to engage with social media on your terms and it all begins with defining your identity and creative voice.

On April 15^th, my friend and former poet laureate of Sudbury, Vera Constantineau, launched her poetry collection. Enlightened by Defilement is a collection of haibun inspired by the 108 defilements of Buddhism. It was a lovely afternoon at the Hilton Garden Inn, good food, and a lot of familiar faces that I haven’t seen in a while 🙂

That was a big week of writing-related events, I realized, and dialled it back a bit. Yeah, all of the above was in one week. I might have overdone things a bit.

Just four more writing-related events in the month.

I purchased a Rambo Academy webinar on revision that I could watch at my leisure, which I did.

I attended Mary Robinette Kowal’s Barriers to Writing webinar on Sunday, April 23. It was extremely helpful in a few different ways.

Finally, I registered for a TWUC webinar on marketing and self-promotion presented by Rod Carley and Ali Bryan, which I also watched in replay. With my debut poetry collection coming up next year, it was very helpful!

I almost forgot! The FOLD started on April 30^th, but as the bulk of the event is in May, I’ll leave the details until next month’s update.

In the self-care department, I had an appointment with my doctor because of a bump on the inside of my wrist. It’s a ganglion cyst and nothing to worry about unless it gets bigger and/or starts causing pain or impeding my range of motion. Something to monitor for now.

Phil had another physio appointment and an appointment with an endocrinologist for his type II diabetes. Unfortunately, the diabetic clinic is being shut down. It’s disappointing because he was finally getting the treatment and support he needed. And then his appointment with the endocrinologist was cancelled. Super frustrating.

I took Torvi to the vet for her annual exam and flea/tic/worm medication. An expensive trip, but she was her crazy, adorable self for Dr. Andrews, and she’ll be protected for the coming year.

What I’m watching and reading

I finished watching The Witcher: Blood Origin (Netflix). An interesting origin story for the witchers, with great characters, fight scenes, and a tie-in to the main series. Also, it was only four episodes, so it didn’t have time to fall prey to some of the gaffs other series suffer from.

Next, I watched The Wonder (Netflix), based on the novel of the same name by Emma Donoghue. Mystery and pathos. Lib Wright is a nurse who is called upon, with a nun, to perform a 14-day watch on a girl is a small Irish village who hasn’t eaten in four months. Ah, my heart.

I finished watching the first season of The Peripheral (Amazon). Bizarre and brain-twisty, but I loved it. Virtual reality isn’t just VR. It’s time travel and the creation of alternate realities called stubs. A VR gamer and her ex-military brother are inducted into a program with new technology, and a whole new world of complex future and present political and corporate intrigue changes their lives.

I also finished off the first season of Extraordinary (Disney +). In a world where most people develop powers (some of which are bizarre, and others, totally useless), protagonist Jen is powerless. She’s also a horrible person who has no money to pay for the expensive treatment that could rectify the situation. Growth happens. British series. British humour.

Then, I watched Ghosted (Apple +). It was the fun escape I needed after three days of picketing. Lots of cameos by popular action actors. I was laughing out loud. It might have been the dysregulation, but I enjoyed it. There was some problematic content, though, like the white male protagonist getting all stalkery (repeated texts, tracking her, a surprise trip to see her) on his love interest after she apparently ghosts him. Unfortunately, the stalking is critical to the plot. Like, there would be none without his intrusive and unwanted behaviour.

In reading, I finished T.J. Klune’s Wolfsong. The protagonist, Oxnard, or Ox is clearly autistic coded. And bisexual (pan?). I loved the book for that alone, but it was a love story between a human boy and his wolf pack. Correction, packs. There are some explicit sex scenes if you’re not into that kind of thing. My heart (again)!

Then, I finished The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michelle Richardson. A fascinating historical fiction based on true events. Look up the blue people. They were an actual thing. And the packhorse librarians. Loved it!

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

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

The next chapter: December 2022 update and year-end wrap-up

January 1, 2023 / Melanie Marttila / 3 Comments

Happy New Year, everyone!

Your monthly PSAs:

All lives cannot matter until Black, Indigenous, and people of colour lives matter.

Continue to observe public health guidelines (washing hands, maintaining physical distance, masking where you can’t, getting your vaccinations—not just covid, but flu, etc.—as recommended). Covid is endemic. It ain’t going nowhere. Take care of yourselves and the people you love.

Russia’s unprovoked war in the Ukraine continues and continues to be deplorable. I stand with the Ukraine!

Reproductive rights are everyone’s fight!

Starting in the New Year, the monthly PSAs will cease. They have become performative, despite my best intentions. Y’all know my views. No need to harp.

The month in writing

First, I decided to let Alice in Thunderland sit until the 5^th. Though this year’s NaNoWriMo wasn’t as exhausting as it sometimes can be, I still needed a break. Plus, I had some other writing work to do.

Even when I returned to Alice, though, the words weren’t flowing. I’m trying to listen to my body and brain more and on the 11^th, I decided to let Alice sit until the New Year. She’ll still be on my mind, though. I have to think about the best way to end the story, which might involve me rewriting the beginning. Thinking of a circular, or echoing ending.

I had to do some work with Reality Bomb for Suzy, in any case, but I decided to take things easy and not stress out.

I had a stretch of vacation and wanted to focus on planning for the New Year and resting up. The dark time of the year is here, and I wanted to see what it would feel like to actually give myself some hibernation time when my energy reserves are low.

It was nice. I watched a lot of movies (see below) 🙂

Here’s how the month broke down:

The only writing/revision I did on RB this month was for my assignments. It wasn’t tonnes. No goal, but I wrote 9,398 words.

Like I said, I decided to let Alice percolate after the 11^th. Between the 5^th and the 9^th, I wrote 1,008 words. Initially, I had thought Alice might be a full novel and I had committed to continue drafting through December. My goal was therefore fairly steep, and I chose not to change it (this time). So, 1,008 of 17,250 words works out to 6%.

For the first time all year, I didn’t meet or exceed my goal for the blog. That’s because I counted the bulk of my work on last month’s next chapter update towards my NaNo goal. Even including what I’d written of this update up to December 31^st did not crack my goal. I wrote 4,644 words of my 5,000-word goal, or 93%.

I received the welcome news of another short story acceptance on the 8^th. More on that later in the year.

And I received a lovely gift, just in time for the holidays, two of my poems, “Avalon” and “Blood Flower Moon,” were published in Polar Starlight 7.

And now for the year in review …

The year in writing

At the beginning of the year, I made what I thought were reasonable plans. I wanted to finish next round revisions of Reality Bomb by June (six months should have been doable, but alas), spend the summer focusing on poetry and short fiction, and then prep Maurshka for NaNoWriMo.

Welp, I was still working on RB in October when I signed up with Suzy. I decided to give up bulling my way through the revisions and see what Suzy had to say.

I did work on some poetry and sort fiction in the summer, but the short story I started (just something for myself) petered out and I haven’t thought of a way to proceed with it yet. I also decided that I’d set Marushka aside and prep Alice in Thunderland for NaNoWriMo instead.

With RB on hold, I did move on to work on Alice for NaNoWriMo, but I wasn’t aiming to win. I decided to take things easy and thought that Alice might be a novella, anyway.

And you already know how December worked out.

In terms of publication, it was a good year for me.

It started out with the publication of “The Undine’s Voice” in Polar Borealis 21 (May 2022), followed by the publication of my poem “Pillar” in Polar Borealis 22 (July 2022).

In August, “Torvi, Viking Queen” was published in Pirating Pups, edited by Rhonda Parrish, from Tyche Books.

And, as I mentioned above, I had two poems published in Polar Starlight 7 in December. So, two stories and four poems.

This may not seem like a lot, but it was great for me. In 2021, I had one story and four poems published and in 2020, I had three poems and a reprinted poem published. Slow progress, yes, but progress, nonetheless.

Also, I signed a contract with Latitude 46 for my first solo poetry collection, to be published in April of 2024. That’s not nothing 🙂

Here are the annual stats:

Project	Goal	Actual	Percentage
Reality Bomb	Revise 50,000 words	Revised 79,517 words	159%
Alice in Thunderland	Write 90,000 words	Wrote 29,307 words	33%
Blog	Write 55,000 words	Wrote 67,405 words	123%
Short Fiction	Write 6,000 words	Wrote 2,915 words	49%
	Revise 10,000 words	Revised 478 words	5%
Poetry	No goal	Wrote 20 new poems	—

As you can see, I undershot the most with respect to the short fiction. I only wrote one new story, revised a couple, and stalled out on the second short story I started.

I’m not counting Alice as an undershot because of the novella thing. I think it will probably come out between 40 and 50k by the time I’ve finished drafting it and revised it.

Here’s another look with a monthly breakdown:

This year, I’m giving myself ten months to revise RB down to my 100k goal length, and then I’ll work on a query and synopsis, and hit the trenches.

I’ll finish Alice by the end of March and revise her by the end of June.

Sometime in the spring, I’ll be working with an editor on my poetry collection. Not sure how long that will take, but I’m scheduling six months.

I’m hoping to write and revise 6,000 words (each) of short fiction this year. We’ll see how that goes.

I’m toying with a creative non-fiction project. Not going to talk about this too much until there’s something to talk about.

And I’ve chosen my NaNo project this year. More on that in the future.

Again, I think the goals I’ve set are reasonable ones, but that always changes as the year progresses.

Filling the well

I have to backpedal a bit to November. I signed up for Tiffany Yates Martin’s Prologues webinar through Jane Friedman and watched the replay. I always learn something from Tiffany’s webinars and she’s a great presenter.

On December 4^th, I attended a Revisions workshop with Mary Robinette Kowal. Her approach really speaks to me. I’m learning a lot.

I signed up for another Jane Friedman webinar, this one from Allison K. Williams about writing your second draft.

And I signed up for an Authors Publish webinar about writing layered stories readers will love with Nev March.

I had my second call with Suzy on Dec 7^th. Part of my assignment was to work on my protagonist’s “why,” but I wasn’t sure if the why I had established was compelling enough given the why of my antagonist. There’s some massaging to do, but we can make it work.

I received my next assignment, to reframe and reorganize the first 20 pages of my draft given her review of my first chapter. Our next meeting was on the 21^st. Again, progress was made. I think I just have to learn to trust myself more. Our next meeting is January 19^th.

I attended the in-person holiday get-together of the Sudbury Writers’ Guild on the 17^th at Twigg’s. I had a lovely crab salad sandwich and London fog. And some cookies.

We lowkey celebrated Mom’s 79^th birthday on the 20^th. Chinese and cake.

Christmas was going to be at my mom’s on Boxing Day this year. Unfortunately, my brother- and sister-in-law got covid and we had to postpone. I’ll leave the decorations up until then, I think, though Phil says he wants to take down the railing garlands while the weather is mild.

Phil went full techie on my desktop, trying to keep things running well for as long as he can. I cannot afford a new computer right now.

I got a long-overdue haircut.

I also got my flu shot and had another meeting with my support group.

What I’m watching and reading

In the viewing department, Phil and I watched Wednesday. And we really enjoyed it. Jenna Ortega does an awesome job of letting us see what a teen Wednesday would be like. Yes, there were some overly complicated story beats.

Then, I watched The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special while putting my Christmas tree together. Silly, fluffy, and kind of dumb, but totally enjoyable for all that 🙂

I watched Spirited (Apple+). A fun take on A Christmas Carol. Old Marley runs a whole spirit division dedicated to reforming curmudgeons every year. The current ghost of Christmas present (Will Farrell) sets his eyes on an “unredeemable.” I won’t spoil the twist 😉 And really, Ryan Reynolds makes anything fun.

I received a holiday surprise 🙂 Fraggle Rock (Apple+) released a holiday special, too! Comfort/nostalgia viewing.

Black Adam (Crave) was next. It was a movie. Dwayne Johnson was fine, but I prefer his comedic roles. And Pierce Brosnan was a good Dr. Fate, but I really didn’t care about the other superhero characters and wasn’t given any reason to.

Then, I watched Wolf Walkers (Apple+). A balm to my pagan half-Irish soul. And beautiful. Just watch it, y’all.

I also watched Glass Onion (Netflix). As brilliant as Knives Out, but totally different. Janelle Monae was spectacular.

I decided to watch Guillermo Del Torro’s Pinocchio (Netflix). A dark and decidedly anti-fascist take on the traditional tale. The ending was bittersweet.

Then, I watched Slumberland (Netflix). A touching tale about grief and the power of dreams.

Phil and I watched the last season of His Dark Materials. Really good. Loved, in fact.

Moving on to the month in reading, I listened to The World We Made by N.K. Jemisin. Living cities versus eldritch horrors, vol. 2. Awesome. Robin Miles is one of my favourite audiobook narrators, and Simon & Schuster does a good job of the production.

Then, I finished Fevered Star, the second in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, by Rebecca Roanhorse. It was good, and I’m eager to read the third book.

I finally read Embers by Richard Wagamese. Brilliant and soulful. Teachings to return to.

I followed that up with another Wagamese book: One Story, One Song. The same as the above.

Then, and I think it was the weirdest read of the year, I read Bunny by Mona Awad. At first, I thought it was magical realism, then the body horror entered into the story, and then I wondered if everything was all in the protagonist’s head. It was a real trip, whatever it was. With thoughtful homage to, and feminist commentary on Alice in Wonderland, Frankenstein, fairy tales (Red Ridinghood, in particular), with a touch of Heathers and The Craft, Bunny was a wild critique (ha!) of MFA programs and the white privilege rampant in the university system.

Though it took me a while, I finished Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Real and the Unreal. There are a lot of stories in this collection, which was originally published in two volumes. A little Orsinia, a little Hainish, some science, and some whimsey. Good, but epic.

Next, I finally grabbed A Dead Djinn in Cairo, by P. Djèlí Clark. The missing piece of the Fatma puzzle! It explains a few things in Master of Djinn that were alluded to, but not fully fleshed out. Very good.

I finished Diana Gabaldon’s Lord John and the Hand of Devils. I didn’t realize how much of a lush Lord John was (!). Entertaining, and again, filled in a few gaps.

My favourite non-fiction read of the month was Chloé Hayden’s Different, not Less. Awesome to read about and autistic girl who received diagnosis and supports before she became an adult.

I didn’t quite meet my 2022 reading challenge. 55 books of my 60-book goal. Close, but no cigar. 92%. Not bad. This year, I’m taking my reading goal down to 40 books. Because I intent to do some close study/rereading this year, I don’t think I’ll be able to read many more.

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

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

The next chapter: November 2022 update

December 4, 2022 / Melanie Marttila / 1 Comment

December is here! Time to trundle out the seasonal decorations 🙂

I’ve been mulling over a few things, and I’ve made a couple of decisions. First, using my current system (template and fill it in as I go in dribs and drabs) I’ll be converting my monthly updates into weekly updates starting in January 2023. This will be in anticipation of converting my updates into a newsletter, down the road. (Perhaps way down the road? Honestly, I’m not sure.)

Second, I’m going to be trimming down thoughty Thursday, cutting out the newsy bits (y’all get enough of all that in the real world) and refocusing on articles and resources that will either a) generate ideas, AKA get your mental corn popping or b) help you in your research, worldbuilding, or other non-writing aspects of craft.

TT has always been the less visited, less liked, and less commented-on curation post.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments if you like the idea of shorter, more frequent updates and smaller TT curations. Or if you don’t. I’m happy to hear from you, either way.

Your monthly PSAs:

All lives cannot matter until Black, Indigenous, and people of colour lives matter.

Continue to observe public health guidelines (washing hands, maintaining physical distance, masking where you can’t, getting your vaccinations as recommended). Covid is endemic. That means it’s here to stay, like the flu or colds. Take care of yourselves and the people you love.

Russia’s unprovoked war in the Ukraine continues and continues to be deplorable. I stand with the Ukraine!

Reproductive rights are everyone’s fight!

The month in writing

It was refreshing to focus on drafting a new novel idea after so long working on revision. For that reason alone, NaNoWriMo 2022 was a win.

Here’s how the month broke down.

Week 1 – 3,378 words on Assignment1/Reality Bomb; 3,469 words on Alice; 1,219 words on the blog; total 8,066 words.

Week 2 – 8,492 words on Alice; 320 words on the blog; total 8,812 words.

Week 3 – 6,548 words on Alice; 380 words on the blog; total 6,928 words.

Week 4 – 7,718 words on Alice; 364 words on the blog; total 8,082 words.

Last three days – 2,072 words on Alice; 1,880 words on the blog; total 3,952 words.

I wrote 28,299 words of the 50k-word goal of Alice in Thunderland, or 57%. It’s definitely going to be a novella, which is something new for me. I usually write long. Like way too long.

There were two curation posts (the last of October) plus a weekly NaNo mini update for each week of November. I also counted whatever words I’d written in this post as of November 30^th. This resulted in 4,163 words of my modest 2,500-word goal, or 167%.

Finally, I also counted the assignment I wrote up for my book coach, Suzy. That was 3,378 words.

This adds up to a grand total of 35,840 words for the month, all of which I counted toward my NaNo goal of 50,000 words. That worked out to 71%. So, I didn’t “win” NaNaWriMo 2022, but I made good progress on a new story and got a few other things done.

Filling the well

In writing events, Wordstock Sudbury took place from November 3^rd to 5^th. I split my time between online events and in-person events. The venue’s just up the road from me, so it’s convenient, but when Torvi sees me (or Phil) walk away without her, she is inconsolable for at least an hour. I didn’t want to inflict her howling on Phil more than I had to.

The solution? I drove to the venue on the main day of the festival. Torvi was just fine.

The sessions were great, both online and in-person. I particularly enjoyed Kathy Friedman’s “Writing Our Lived Experience” workshop and Tanis MacDonald’s “Measure Twice, Cut Once,” all about the editing and revision process. I got to see Danielle Daniel’s workshop on writing across genres and Liselle Sambury in the “YA for Everyone” panel. David Robertson was also in that panel, and I caught him again in the “Tell a Good Story” panel, with Ernie Loutit and Waub Rice.

It was probably the best Wordstock yet. Already looking forward to next year.

Something else that happened at Wordstock: I now have an editor for my poetry collection (!) She won’t have room in her schedule for me until Spring, but I think we’re going to work well together 🙂

I did what I could with the first assignment and submitted it to Suzy. We met to discuss it on the 22^nd. It was good, but I rambled on … Things are taking better shape. I now have a second assignment and another meeting on Dec 7^th.

I attended the launch of my friend, Kim Fahner’s latest poetry collection, Emptying the Ocean on November 24^th. It’s always a grand time. And I got to catch up with another friend from out of twon who’d also come to support Kim.

I attended AugurCon online (November 26 and 27). It was fabulous.

Finally, on November 30^th, I attended another webinar by Mary Robinette on short stories. Though I have gotten better at writing these over the years, I can always improve.

Another filling the well thing:

I watch Shaelin Bishop’s YouTube channel, Shaelin Writes. Recently, her vlogs have been a great comfort. Though she writes literary fiction, I find I really relate to her. She was originally a pantser, switched to outlining, and discovered that she preferred pantsing. Which is something I’m learning myself.

She did a great vlog on why telling isn’t a bad thing 🙂 and several about how she thinks of structure in short stories and novels, which have been revelations to me.

More recently, she was lamenting that, after years of revision and editing, she was finding it difficult to get back to writing. In fact, she thought her most recent novel was crap. It wasn’t sparking joy for her like her other novels did. She decided to work on it for NaNoWriMo, not with the intention of “winning,” but with the intention to work on it every day. After the first week, she thought she was going to have to shelve it, but in the second week, the story broke for her, and she decided to stick with it.

It’s so nice when things work out—she was so happy! It gives me hope for similar breakthroughs in my own work.

In non-writing-related events, I celebrated a friend’s retirement on the 19^th. Low key. And I celebrated my mom-in-law’s 81^st birthday on the 25^th. Also, low-key.

Finally, I engaged in some self care with an RMT appointment and a meeting with my support group.

In the health issues department, my semi-annual outbreak of blepharitis has decided to complicate my November. This means four to five sessions of hot compresses a day, and the necessary sacrifice of writing time 😦

What I’m watching and reading

In the viewing department, I have to rewind a bit. Because I wanted to get October’s next chapter update out before the end of the month, I missed out on a couple of October viewings.

The first was that I finished my rewatch of Veronica Mars (Crave). The fourth season ending wasn’t satisfying. The true bomber wasn’t caught. I’m a little disappointed. Though I really like Kristen Bell and the series. Up next, the movie, which takes place between seasons three and four.

Then, on Hallowe’en night, Phil and I watched Altered Carbon: Resleeved (Netflix). There’s a nice set piece that can make the animated movie standalone, but there are also call backs to the series that, if you watched it, will help everything make more sense. Take or leave that caveat as you will. Kovach is resleeved and assigned to protect a tattoo artist for the Yakuza. Lots of blood and violence. Decent story, though.

Phil and I also watched Weird Al, the parody biopic, when it came out on Roku. Hilarious, and we were pressed to identify the actors playing various cameos (and sometimes the cameo characters, like Gallagher).

Then, we watched Enola Holmes 2 (Netflix). I think it was better than the first one. Fun, fourth wall-breaking protagonist, witty banter, and a whole bunch of butt-kicking women.

The Handmaid’s Tale (network) finished its latest season on the 9^th. With Commander Fred literally torn apart at the end of the last season, this season focused on June and Serena and issues of motherhood. Both characters vacillate between out-for-revenge bloody-mindedness and motherly solidarity, ending the season on the latter.

The series seems to be diverging from the books (which are, admittedly, bookends to the series), but I’m still interested in seeing how it all works out.

I watched Horns (Amazon). This is a 2013 movie based on a 2010 Joe Hill novel. Ig (Ignatius), the protagonist, has been accused of his girlfriend Merrin’s murder, and everyone believes it’s true except for his best friend and lawyer Lee, his brother Terry, and another of their childhood friends, Glenna.

After a drunken and grief-driven one night stand with Glenna, Ig sprouts horns. After that, everyone is seemingly compelled to share their deepest, darkest secrets with Ig, except Lee. Ig uses this paranormal ability to find out who really killed Merrin.

I watched the ill-fated first (and only) season of Tom Swift (network). It’s considered a spin-off of Nancy Drew, because of the character’s appearance in one episode last year. It wasn’t terrible, but it suffered from the same problem many CW series have, which is characters doing 180s continually (i.e., acting out of character for no discernable reason).

I also watched the first season of Vampire Academy (network). Fairly standard YA fare set against a political backdrop. I was curious to see what Julie Plec would do with it. If Paramount+ renews, I’ll probably watch it.

The first season of The Time Traveller’s Wife was great. I’ve seen the movie but haven’t yet read the book (guess what’s next on my TBR list?).

Moving on to the month in reading, I read Grady Hendrix’s The Southern Book Club Guide to Slaying Vampires. The concept is straightforward. Hendrix imagined what would happen if his mother had to deal with a vampire. It’s set in the 90s, but it read like the 50s. A weird dissonance.

Then, I dove into Maggie Stiefvater’s Greywaren, the third in The Dreamer trilogy. I always feel sad when I finish a Stiefvater book, and then ravenous for the next one, but this was the end. The. End. Epilogue and everything. I read the first book of the Raven Cycle and listened to the rest in audiobook. Will Patton really gets these characters. I’ve decided that next year, I’m going to start rereading and studying my favourite books. I’m starting with The Raven Cycle.

Next, I read Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Spare Man. It’s The Thin Man, in spaaaaaace. If you think you’d enjoy Nick, Nora, and Asta … in space, then read this book. Loved, loved loved! Another book that I was sad to finish. That’s all Ima say.

I finished reading Lauren Beukes’ Shining Girls. I’m also watching the series on Apple +. The two are quite different. I’ll probably finish watching the series next month.

Through a strange series of events, a man in the Depression is drawn to a house, which sends him on a series of quests to murder the girls that shine. The house takes him through time to accomplish his grisly tasks, until one of the shining girls survives and hunts him down. It ended a little abruptly, but I was okay with that.

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!

The next chapter: October 2022 update

October 31, 2022 / Melanie Marttila

Ah, November. Time for NaNaWriMo and a break from weekly curation 🙂 Getting this update out early before the word rush begins.

I’ll be providing mini updates every week, as I have in past years but, with my new system, a regular update on November’s doings should be feasible. Look for that in early December, just before curation resumes.

Your monthly PSAs:

All lives cannot matter until Black, Indigenous, and people of colour lives matter.

Continue to observe public health guidelines (washing hands, maintaining physical distance, masking where you can’t, getting your vaccinations as recommended). Covid is endemic and new variants continue to crop up. Get your bivalent booster when you can (got mine!). Take care of yourselves and the people you love.

Russia’s unprovoked war in the Ukraine continues and continues to be deplorable. I stand with the Ukraine!

Reproductive rights are everyone’s fight!

The month in writing

I continued working through Reality Bomb but had to give up around the 15^th. By then, I’d only managed to cut 4,000 words. I realized that my map was failing me almost as much as the draft. I need to step back, take an objective view, and prepare myself for more rewriting, I think.

So, the only writing tracked this month was on the blog.

Including this post, I wrote 6,774 words or by 5,000-word goal, or 135%.

But … I made my choice and am now working with editor and book coach extraordinaire, Suzy Vadori 🙂 She’ll help me whip my WIP into shape.

I also had a Canadian Authors Association Board meeting on the 24^th.

Filling the well

The Writer Unboxed OnConference continued through to the 16^th. Lots of great sessions with Donald Maass, David Corbett, Desmond Hall, Kathryn Craft, Keith Cronin, Julie Duffy, Gwen Hernandez, Tiffany Yates Martin … there were just so many excellent sessions!

I attended the virtual launch of Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Spare Man on the 10^th.

Then, I kind of did the crazy about mid-month. I signed up for Sandra Wickham’s five day “Outline Your Novel” workshop from the 12^th to the 16^th, and I had already signed up for Can-Con (virtual stream) from the 14^th to the 16^th. Both events overlapped with the OnCon. Thank goodness for replays.

I then continued the crazy by signing up for Daniel David Wallace’s Escape the Plot Forest event from the 22^nd to the 25^th. Again, replays saved my butt.

Finally, I attended Mary Robinette Kowall’s No Prep NaNoWriMo on the 29^th. It’s the second time I’ve attended and I’m hoping that her techniques will help me draft my next project.

I read some of my poetry for the first time since the panini hit (and, truthfully, a long time before that) at the French Kiss open mic on October 4^th. It was a lovely evening, and I got to reconnect with Pandora Topp and Chloé LaDuchesse. I also received some news from Latitude 46: the publisher has a line on a poetry editor for my forthcoming collection.

Had Thanksgiving supper at my mother-in-law’s. For simplicity and convenience, we opted for Chinese (few of us really enjoy Turkey). It was delicious, and we had apple cake for dessert.

We had to leave Torvi at home alone (for the first time) for the 2 hours we were there, as my mother-in-law’s building doesn’t allow pets on the premises, even to visit. The good news, Torvi—though she went ballistic when we got home—was a VERY good girl who deserved all the treatos 🙂

A non-writing event I attended was the Beyond Limits Autism Conference on the 23^rd.

I got my second covid booster (Moderna bivalent) on the 12^th. I will say that my arm was the sorest with this vaccine, but I’m as protected as I can be. For now.

What I’m watching and reading

In the viewing department, I finished watching the first season of Severance (Apple +). Weird and creepy and totally absorbing. Twists abound, but no answers … yet.

Phil and I watched She-Hulk (Disney +) and we both loved it. I read She-Hulk (both savage and sensational) when I was young, and the series reflects the comics. A focus on the difficulty of trying to be a lawyer and a superpowered person? Check. Breaking the fourth wall? Check. Fun sex positivity? Check (check, check)! And the finale was so meta.

I watched the third live action Full Metal Alchemist: The Last Alchemy. Again, it adheres to the FMA: Brotherhood storyline, but I liked the divergences. Subplots are all tied up at the end.

I watched the first season of House of the Dragon. I liked it, despite repeated misogyny and body horror. I know it’s being done for a reason, but honestly, I could have done without it.

Finally, I watched Red Notice. Fun triple-heist, opposites attract/buddy comedy, long con, double cross, and double-double cross, with a little Indiana Jones thrown in. You’d think with so many tropes, the movie wouldn’t be coherent, but the writers dove into each trope with such gusto, it all worked. And Ryan Reynolds is always entertaining.

Moving on to the month in reading, I read Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun. It’s very Velveteen Rabbit and gave me the same feels. Klara is an artificial friend (AF) who is purchased for a young girl, Josie, by her mother. Josie is sick and needs Klara is ways most other children don’t need their AFs. Klara is solar powered but has a special relationship with the sun. She plans to cure Josie with the sun’s “special energy.”

But the mother has other reasons for purchasing Klara and as the mystery unravels and Josie gets sicker, Klara takes drastic measures to save her girl. The ending is bittersweet.

Then, I listened to The Sandman, Act III by Neil Gaiman. S&S Audio pulled out all the stops. Orchestral score, sound effects, actors like James MacAvoy. I can’t imagine how long it takes to produce these things, but bravo. And I loved it.

Next up was Gail Carriger’s Changeless, the second in her Parasol Protectorate series. Alexia stops a humanizing “weapon” from being used to manipulate the supernatural world, but her friend Ivy elopes with an actor and, when it’s revealed she’s pregnant, her werewolf husband suspects her of infidelity, because supernaturals can’t procreate.

I also finished reading Tanya Huff’s The Future Falls. It’s the third in the Gale Women series, but I suspect that each book is fairly standalone. Essentially, Gale Seer Aunt Catharine (all the powerful women in the family are Aunts—the capital counts) Sees that an asteroid is going to strike Earth in an extinction-level event. The Gales can protect themselves, but Charlie wants to save the world. She’s kind of grown to like it, mostly because of the music.

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

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

The next chapter: September 2022 update

October 2, 2022 / Melanie Marttila

October, already! I know pumpkin spice latte season officially started in September, but October feels more PSL to me. So here: have some guinea pigs talking PSL 🙂

An oldie, but a goodie 🙂

Your monthly PSAs:

All lives cannot matter until Black, Indigenous, and people of colour lives matter.

Continue to observe public health guidelines (washing hands, maintaining physical distance, masking where you can’t, getting your vaccinations as recommended). Covid is endemic and new variants continue to crop up. Take care of yourselves and the people you love.

Russia’s unprovoked war in the Ukraine continues and continues to be deplorable. I stand with the Ukraine.

Reproductive rights are everyone’s fight!

My new plan for my updates, to have my template open and write throughout the month as things happen is working a treat. Going to keep doing it.

The month in writing

I took it easy. Kind of. There was a flurry of writing admin at the start of the month. Finished the beta read/crit I promised (haven’t heard back, though, so thinking I might have overstepped?). Submitted the Ontario Arts Council grant application, for better or worse. Continued vetting book coaches.

Then … I took it easy 🙂

Continued my slow way through Reality Bomb (again) in anticipation of working with a book coach. The good news is that It’s resulted in a net loss of words. There are still several chapters that are longer than I’d like, but progress is being made. I probably won’t be finished until part-way through October.

Other that that, and blogging, I didn’t do much else. The short story’s stalled. The poetry is still pedestrian. I haven’t read any more of the Ascension series or worked any further on Alice in Thunderland.

Not sure what all this means. Think I just need a break.

As I did last month, I didn’t set a revision goal for RB. If I added words to the draft, I noted it in my tracker. If revision resulted in a negative word count, I didn’t. The interesting thing is that, though I added about 1,500 words between August and September, the overall word count on the draft has shrunk by more than 2,000. I’m now entering the second half of the second act, where most of the cutting has to occur, so I anticipate a lot of shrinkage between now and the time I complete this pass. I don’t know if the net loss will get the draft down to 100k, but we’ll see how far I get.

I blogged 118% of my 5,500-word goal, or 6,477 words.

And that was that.

I also had a meeting of the Branch Support and Development Committee for the Canadian Authors Association (CAA) to attend on September 29^th.

Filling the well

I watched the replay of Dan Blank’s “Identify Your Ideal Readers” webinar, facilitated by Jane Friedman, and two Authors Publish webinars, Marin Sardy’s “How to Create Vivid Metaphors that can Transform Your Writing” and Michael Kleber Diggs’ “The Art of Poetic Efficiency.” I also watched the replay of Krista Ball’s “Going Solo: A Beginner’s Guide to Finding Readers with Indie Publishing,” a joint presentation from SF Canada and the CAA. Replays are such a blessing.

Finally, the Writer Unboxed OnConference started on September 29^th. I appreciate that they’re extending the OnCon over several weeks and holding major sessions and workshops in the evenings or on weekends. It’s a great model for writers with day jobs 🙂

I attended a family get-together on the 10^th out at my sister-in-law’s. Her kitchen is mostly done, and it looks beautiful! A great barbeque (hamburgers and hotdogs) with potato salad, bean salad, and baked beans. With no-sugar-added blueberry pie and strawberry-rhubarb crisp with no-sugar-added ice cream. Gotta love the Chapmans 🙂 It was a rare chance to indulge.

The lovely reno—all the cabinets were salvaged/recovered. Phil did the counter tops.

My support group is back in session for the fall and the September session was about burnout, which was beneficial. My semi-annual dentist appointment has resulted in some changes to my oral care routine. The fractures in my teeth haven’t progressed, but my lower labial frenula is pulling my gums down. If things progress, I might need a frenectomy (not looking forward to that).

I also had my orthotics checked and got a new pair along with new shoes, both needed and expensive. The shoes are Gore-Tex, though and will be waterproof and longer lasting. My toes poke through the mesh of regular runners. And I had an appointment with my registered massage therapist.

Last month, Torvi turned five! She’s clearly not impressed.

What I’m watching and reading

In the watching department, Phil and I caught The Sandman (Netflix). Having listened to the audiobook production, I really appreciated the choices made to bring what was a serialized comic, with a number of episodic digressions, to a more or less cohesive whole. Phil enjoyed it, too, but we’re both worried that Netflix will do the stupid and not fund the second season. Because subscriptions.

Then, we watched the final season of Locke & Key (Netflix). There were a plethora of irritating plot holes. For instance, Dodge hitches a ride with Bodie when he uses the time key to try to defeat her in the past and then, when he attempts to escape using the ghost key, she jumps into his body, leaving him a ghost tethered to the family graveyard. But there’s a fail safe on the time key that returns any out-of-time elements to their proper time when the timer runs out. Dodge, still in Bodie’s body when this happens, disappears along with Bodie’s body. There is a contrived solution using the animal key that apparently pulls Bodie’s body back from the past so he can inhabit it again. And what happened to Dodge’s body hidden under Bodie’s bed? We never find out.

Stuff like that took much of the enjoyment out of the series.

Next, I watched Thor: Love & Thunder (Disney +). I loved it. Phil started watching it with me, expecting the typical Marvel movie, and had to leave part way through to run his virtual RPG, but he’s going to watch the rest of it himself at some point (actually I watched the second half again along with him 🙂 ). You’ll laugh, you’ll cry (maybe), you’ll love it. I’ll say no more.

Season three of Snowpiercer (Netflix) ended in a weird place, but I’ll have to back up for context. At the start of the season, the train has separated (again) and neither is thriving. Using Melanie’s data, they’ve been searching for a habitable place in the world, to no avail. Layton does pick up a survivor, however, and decides to rejoin and take over Big Alice before heading to the final data point on Melanie’s list of possible habitable zones, the Horn of Africa.

The train reunites, with the requisite battle and loss of life, Wilford is taken into custody, and Layton puts their destination to a vote, but asks the survivor to lie to support going, even though there is no guarantee they will find what they’re looking for.

There’s a lot of side drama, including a knife battle between Layton and Pike, because Pike thinks Layton will get them all killed. They find Melanie, miraculously alive, but she outs Layton’s lie and the risks associated with going to the Horn, igniting another civil war, which Wilford capitalizes on.

Melanie seems to ally with Wilford, but it turns out to be a secret plan between her and Layton to expel Wilford from the train and then split the train (again). Layton and the passengers who wish to, will head for the Horn, and Melanie will continue on with the rest of the passengers, even though the train is falling apart.

Months later, Layton reaches the Horn and habitable conditions are confirmed. Meanwhile, Melanie sees an explosion in the distance. Apparently, season 4 will be the last.

Bridgerton season two was much better than season one. Not half so self-conscious of the messages they were trying to convey. It was more enjoyable as a result.

In terms of books, I read The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin. I liked it a lot. I only had time to read part of the novel in university because the summer course was only six weeks, and I didn’t have time to read everything. I enjoyed the novel a lot but see some of the problematic aspects that some readers complain of.

I read Rocannon’s World a long time ago, and The Dispossessed in that same science fiction class I couldn’t finish TLHoD for. I might fill in the gaps in the Hainish Cycle.

Then, I read Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao. A fabulous futuristic reimagining of history. Zhao has talked about this on her YouTube channel. 18-year-old Zetien signs up to be a Chrysalis (giant, transforming robot) co-pilot, with the aim of revenging her sister’s death in the misogynist pilot system. She achieves her goal fairly quickly, but then she’s taken into custody and forced to co-pilot with Li Shimin, who’s chi is so strong, his co-pilots never survive. There’s political intrigue, polyamory, and alien mecha-beasts that turn out not to be so beastly, or alien, in the end.

Next, I read … Nona the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir. What can I say? I lurve the Locked Tomb series. I know there are readers who can’t get around her style and structure of storytelling, but I have to consume these books as soon as they’re released. So looking forward to Alecto the Ninth.

In Gideon, the titular character, sacrifices herself so that Harrow can become a lichtor. In Harrow, things aren’t going well with the transition to lichtorhood, and … almost everyone seems to die, though with necromancers, you just know that never sticks. Now, in Nona, the titular character has no memory of who or what she is, and her remembered life is all of six months. I won’t say anything more for fear of spoiling the experience for you.

Finally, I read Brenda Ueland’s If You Want to Write. This classic craft book has been on my shelf for years and I finally read it. It’s a kind, gentle, and short book about allowing yourself to write, enabling yourself to write. She’s firmly in the pantser/gardener/discovery writer camp.

And that was September in this writer’s life.

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

The next chapter: August 2022 update

September 4, 2022 / Melanie Marttila

Ah, the weather’s already getting cooler. This summer was a good one up in northeastern Ontario. I’m sad to see the shortening days, this year.

Having said that, it’s pumpkin spice latte season!

Your monthly PSAs:

All lives cannot matter until Black, Indigenous, and people of colour lives matter.

Continue to observe public health guidelines (washing hands, maintaining physical distance, masking where you can’t, getting your vaccinations as recommended). Covid is endemic and new variants continue to crop up. Take care of yourselves and the people you love.

Russia’s unprovoked war in the Ukraine continues and continues to be deplorable. It’s been six months and there’s still no end in sight. I stand with the Ukraine.

Reproductive rights are everyone’s fight.

The month in writing

I was all over place in August. Some revision on Reality Bomb, a little short fiction, a little poetry, blogging, a little work on the Ascension series, some review of Alice in Thunderland (my alt-history/steampunk project), and I worked on a beta review as part of an exchange.

In terms of projects I’m tracking, here’s how the month worked out:

For RB, I didn’t put a revision goal up, but my main thrust is to cut 25k words from the last draft while also strengthening the plot and character arc. I didn’t count the days when I cut but noted when I added words. I’m still in the first half of the novel, which doesn’t need a lot of cutting.

I added 626 words but reduced the overall wordcount by just over 200 words. Not bad.

In terms of blogging, my massive July update contributed to achieving 142% of my 5,500-word goal (7818 words).

Short fiction stalled partway through the month after only writing 232 words. That’s 15% of my 1,500-word goal.

I set my poetry goal at 10 poems again and only wrote 8 (80%). I’m trying to turn my hand to capturing my autistic journey in poetry on the recommendation of a friend, but the result isn’t satisfactory. They’re all rather pedestrian. Lists of events, symptoms, reactions. I’ll have to revisit the lot of them at some future time. They’re not coming to life for me. Maybe poetry isn’t the medium for this? I don’t know.

With regard to projects I’m not tracking, I worked a little on the Ascension series master document based on the reading I’d completed to date. Then, I set it aside once other priorities started to take precedence.

I worked on my critique for the author I’d agreed to do a critique exchange with. It’s almost done. I’m hoping to be finished in the next day or so.

And I worked on my OAC grant application (see next section for more on that).

On Friday, August 12, I read an excerpt of “Torvi, Viking Queen” at the launch of Pirating Pups at When Words Collide (WWC). It was a lovely, intimate reading, done virtually. More on WWC in “filling the well.”

I also started my search for an editor/book coach to get RB ready to query. I’m now thinking that I’ll be ready to work with someone in October. There have been emails, intake forms, zoom meetings, and all kinds of administrivia going on around that effort.

I attended the CAA Board orientation on August 22^nd. It’s the first time I’ve actually been able to attend one of these. Informative, but intimidating.

And I attended a special general meeting for SFCanada focused on the implementation of a new anti-harassment policy and amendment of the bylaws on August 27^th.

Filling the well

I attended an information session from the Ontario Arts Council about applying for grants on Tuesday, August 9^th. And … I started working on my application (!) for a literary creation project grant.

On the weekend of August 12 to 14, it was WWC 2022. I actually signed up for a couple of workshops on Thursday and Friday, and watched a few sessions live over the course of the weekend. I’m hoping that this year, more sessions will be made available on their YouTube channel, because there are always 10 sessions going on at the same time, and I can’t attend everything.

I signed up for a CAA/SFCanada webinar on August 17^th with the intent of attending but didn’t have the spoons and ended up watching the replay. The session was presented by Den Valdron on publishing contracts, and he sent an impressive array of samples and resources.

Then, I attended a webinar about writing interiority delivered by agent Cece Lyra of PS Literary on the 18th. It was a-MA-zing. I found out about it after starting to listen to “The Shit No One Tells You About Writing” podcast. I think I’m going to watch the recording a few more times before I lose access.

I also signed up for a Mary Robinette Kowal webinar called “Earth’s future climate: a proactive SF approach” with Dr. Tom Wagner on August 23^rd.

The next Tiffany Yates Martin webinar hosted by Jane Friedman focused on suspense and tension. It was during the day on August 24^th, so I watched the replay.

Finally, Jane Friedman hosted a free roundtable discussion about the Department of Justice-Penguin Random House antitrust trial on the 26^th. Again, it was during the day, and I watched the replay.

I also had an appointment with my optometrist and got myself some new (very expensive) glasses. Progressive lenses, anti-glare, and transitions. I’ll probably take a new headshot when I get them so y’all can see.

What I’m watching and reading

In the viewing department, I watched Lightyear (Disney +). It was fun and, as with most Pixar offerings, sentimental. Poor Buzz is so focused on completing his mission, he doesn’t realize he’s failed to live. The reveal of who Zurg is—I’ll leave that to you to find out. A recommended watch.

Then, I rented Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. Oh. My. God. So good. Everyone’s already said all the things about the movie that I could and then some, so I won’t waste your time. Best movie I’ve seen all year. This is one I want to own. Love and google-eyes, y’all.

The Groot shorts on Disney + were cute. I felt sorry for the … squirrel-bird? And the bonsai. And the mimic. And the little whatever-they-were. Admittedly, in the last instance, Groot felt bad about squishing them, too. And he tried to make it up to the bonsai. Emphasis on tried. Just a root-ball ‘o’ chaos, Groot.

I watched the last episode of season 4 of WestWorld on August 14^th. The writers’ collective fondness for not letting their audience know when they’re watching continues to be irritating. Everything comes together, eventually, but until it does, the viewer is left feeling confused and stupid.

Dolores is now Christina, who works at a gaming company, writing stories for in-game characters. Her alternate, Charlotte Hale, has now *SPOILERS* created a world in which most people have been infected by what I assume is a technological virus, which makes them subservient to the AIs. There’s a resistance cell of people who’ve managed to avoid or are resistant to the virus (delivered by fly—I get it, but ew!) and they’re trying to defeat the AIs and free the humans.

Caleb, who died last season, appears to be back, but his consciousness has been repeatedly uploaded into a host body, which we know from past seasons never works out well. His daughter, Frankie/Cookie/C, leads the outliers as the resistance is called, and one of her main missions is to find her father.

Bernard returns from the Sublime, having run infinite simulations about how things in the world outside will turn out. Stubbs has been his faithful guardian in the meantime and the two set off to find the outliers, resurrect Maeve, who was killed early in the season (and then again later—but what is later, really?), infiltrate Hale’s city to rescue what’s left of Caleb, and set the next iteration of WW into motion.

Almost everyone dies in the end, but Christina is returned to the Sublime by Hale (after which Hale commits suicide) and begins her final, most dangerous experiment, which looks suspiciously like the original WW she was built for. Frankie gets back to her people, which are the only humans left alive after AI-William sets every other AI and human into a homicidal/suicidal frenzy. *END SPOILERS*

I guess we’ll see what Dolores has in store for us some time in 2023 or 4, now that Ed Harris spilled the beans that filming on season five will begin next spring.

I watched Luck (Apple +) next. I like anything Simon Pegg’s in, even if he’s a cat 🙂 It’s a cute story. Sam is the unluckiest person in the world. She’s just aged out of an adoption centre but wants better for a young friend (a forever home). She has her own apartment and new job. We follow her through a typical day, just to set up the fact that if any can go wrong for Sam, it will. Until she shares a panini with a black cat and finds a lucky penny for her friend when it leaves.

The next day, penny in pocket, Sam can do no wrong. Despite enjoying the hell out of her new luck, she’s going to give the lucky penny to her friend. Until she accidentally flushes it down a toilet. Re-enter the black cat, to whom she tells her tale of woe. And when he demands, in a Scottish accent, “What did you do that for?” Sam’s whole world changes. Fun and sweet and feel-good.

Phil and I watch Fullmetal Alchemist: The Revenge of Scar (Netflix). This is the second of the live-action FMA movies and does follow the FMA: Brotherhood series of events. Phil and I have seen all the iterations of the anime, animated movies, and now the live-action movies. If you’re a fan, you’ll want to watch it.

After a month of being locked out of Goodreads, they’ve finally fixed the issue. And I’m still five books behind in my reading challenge, even after entering the books I read during the outage 😦

I read Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone. While it appears to be the first book published, it’s the third in the series (as its title implies). On his site, Gladstone says each book is standalone and I found this to be true. There was only a little bit of disorientation, but I find that I like books that expect me to figure things out on my own. I enjoyed the legal/spiritual/craft interweave in the novel and the world building, based on the magic system, is superb.

Then, I finished Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad. It’s been a while since I watched the series on Amazon, but, in this instance, I like the book better. It’s cleaner than the series and more direct. Cora’s journey is Cora’s alone and the cruelties of the slave owners and catchers aren’t explained. There’s no need for explanation.

Next, I read The North-West is Our Mother by Jean Teillet. It’s a non-fiction book about the history of the Métis Nation. It was an interesting and informative read.

I read Micaiah Johnson’s The Space Between Worlds in gulps (it was just so tasty!). Traversers are recruited for a peculiar reason: they die a lot—in alternate realities. Because you can’t traverse to a world in which your alternate exists. The multiverse kills you for the offense.

Earth Zero identifies worlds that are similar enough to have the same resources and similar technologies because the main thrust of the traversers is information. Once the prospect world’s resources and technologies are identified, automated missions extract them to enrich Earth Zero.

I don’t want to get into the plot because it would be major spoilage and I don’t want to deny you the treat of reading this book for yourself.

Then, I finished Elan Mastai’s All Our Wrong Todays. I’ll be brief about this one too. It’s another fabulous read.

Tom Barren is a chrononaut, but he’s also a fuck-up and after he manages to derail the inaugural time travel mission, he breaks his timeline. How he tries to fix it is the story. And it’s hilarious and heartbreaking in equal measure.

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!

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