writing progress

The next chapter: June 2023 update

/ 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 4th, 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 5th, 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 5th was a very happy day.

On June 10th, 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 17th.

My first submission to Suzy was due June 11th and we met on the 15th. 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 15th 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 24th.

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

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 (26th), 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 28th! 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 5th. 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 8th. 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 10th and 11th and I needed the weekend to myself to recover. I watched the workshop in parts from the 13th to the 19th. 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 15th. 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 21st through the 24th. I had to miss the readings on the 21st (see below) and 22nd 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 22nd. Our World in Your Nutshell was a bit more of his usual fare. Making the specific universal.

Then, on the 28th 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’ 25th anniversary celebration on June 21st. 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 29th 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 2nd. 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 weekly: Feb 19-25, 2023

/ Melanie Marttila

Greetings, my writerly friends, and welcome to week eight of 2023 🙂

This week, I again had a repeat pick, this time from the tarot: the king of wands. Just a reminder, then, that this card represents inspiration, charisma, and natural leadership. I chose to focus on the inspiration aspect of the card last time, largely because I don’t think I’m that charismatic, nor do I exhibit natural leadership.

This time around, I think I’ll focus on the imagery in the card, rather than the traditional Rider-Waite-Smith deck images that I’ve been sharing. The tarot deck I’m using is the Somnia Tarot by Nicholas Bruno. It’s a breathtakingly beautiful deck and I’d rather you check out his work for yourselves.

The card shows a figure draped in white cloth sitting in profile on an austere throne in the dark. The cloth flows out from the figure to cover the floor where a candelabrum, a fallen chandelier, and several candlesticks are lit. There are two more candles at the top of the throne and a sconce extends from the king’s covered face. In the king’s hands is a book and they read by their own light. Haunting image.

It speaks to me, though. I’m in a place where, though my mind is still brimming with ideas and I have the sincere desire to write, life circumstances leave no room for creative pursuits.

I’ll have to keep my candles lit until Phil’s recovered.

cock-eyed again …

The Celtic oracle card I drew was the Boar. Boars are fearsome beasts and Celtic legend is filled hunts for magical boars, and people being killed by boars (I believe Robert Baratheon’s death by boar in GoT was inspired by this tradition).

The sow is associated with the goddess Cerridwen, the Welsh goddess of rebirth, transformation, and inspiration. Her cauldron, Awen, is one of poetic inspiration. She consumed her servant, Gwion Bach, and later birthed him as Taliesin. From the Mabinogion is Hen Wen, the oracular pig, who ate the beech nuts of the tree of wisdom.

Either way, the boar/sow represents power, something I’m in need of, right now.

Monday was the new rowan moon in Pisces. I spent some time on my intentions for the coming weeks. I want to focus on supporting Phil in his recovery and not stress about not being able to write. But … if the opportunity to write presents itself, I want to run with it.

The week in writing

As you might guess, not a lot of writing or revision happened this week. But I did manage to fit some in (!)

I received a kind rejection of one of my stories. Once again, feedback says it reads like the beginning of a longer story. It’s not, though. So, I’ll have to figure out how to tweak it into story shape. I has some ideas 🙂

Here’s how the week went.

On the 22nd and 23rd, I worked on Reality Bomb. I cut another 721 words, bringing the monthly total to -1,049, and the total to date to -1,681. It’s still a far cry from the 24k words I want to cut, but if I keep up in this vein, I should be able to make it 🙂

I also, on the 22nd, finished my freewritten outline for the remainder of Alice in Thunderland. Now I just have to go back and add in the bits and pieces the last four chapters plus epilogue require in my revision notes, and I should be good to go for the writing. If I can make the time.

I had thought that I’d already be writing the last part of Alice by now, but it wasn’t to be, so I eliminated my February writing goal for this project. We’ll see what March brings.

On the blog, I wrote 1,649 words for the week and 6,382 words for the month to date, exceeding my goal of 6,000 words. And there’s still one more tipsday before the month ends.

Filling the well

I didn’t have any writerly events to attend and tried to focus on reinforcing my reserves of energy, creative and otherwise.

I still haven’t watched the replay of the TWUC tax strategies webinar.

I’m just trying to take it easy and keep up with the household chores and errands.

What I’m watching and reading

In the viewing department, I finally finished The Rings of Power (Amazon). I see the criticisms levied against it (harfoots abandoning their people on the road, ill-timed cavalry charges, too obvious Gandalf tease), but I enjoyed it.

Then Phil and I finished season one of Lockwood and Co. (Netflix). An interesting and light YA horror series. A mysterious event in the past has turned the world (or at least the UK) into ghost central and only young people have the gifts to fight them. Most companies are headed by adults, but Lockwood and Co. is an independent, and Lucy, their newest recruit is a star who’s afraid to shine.

Then, I watched The Woman King (Crave). A-MA-zing! Viola Davis was robbed.

Moving on to the week in reading, I read Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Loved! The human race (being the human race) is on the decline. Earth is uninhabitable and off-planet settlements are struggling. In a last-ditch effort to save humanity, several teams travel to candidate planets to terraform them to support the dwindling human race. One ambitious project is seeding new life in the form of chimps (they’re only called monkeys) and a nanovirus intended to bioengineer them into a better version of humans. Only something goes wrong, and the monkeys die, but the nanovirus makes it to the planet and finds the next most intelligent creatures it can. Spiders.

Don’t let that put you off. Tchaikovsky (brilliantly) makes spiders empathetic (!) even though he writes them in omniscient.

And that was the week 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 weekly: Feb 12-18, 2023

/ Melanie Marttila

Greetings, all, and welcome to week 7 🙂

This week, I pulled the seven of cups from the tarot. This card represents temptations, choices, or bewilderment. This week, I was supposed to have a poetry reading, and a special general meeting for one of my writing organizations to attend. It was also predicted to be a hectic week at work with a very important project (not mine, thankfully) that had to get done.

I was thinking that I’d have to make some tough decisions and maybe not work on either Reality Bomb or Alice in Thunderland for a couple/three days. Turned out to be more than that due to an unfortunate accident (see below). This was a good reminder to be cognisant of my energy levels and plan accordingly.

In the Celtic oracle, I drew The Bride of the Waters, or Boann, goddess of the Boyne River and or poetry, fertility, and knowledge. You may remember a couple of weeks ago, when I first drew The Father/Dagda, that Boann was his mistress. It was a good omen for the poetry reading.

Here’s a little more information on Boann from the Discover Boyne Valley site.

It’s been a pretty tight grouping of interrelated cards for the past few weeks. Interesting …

So. Before I get to the week in writing, I want to tell you what happened. On Valentine’s Day, Phil slipped on some black ice in the driveway and fractured his shoulder. When he came in and told me what happened, I dissociated and went full on factual Mel. It’s how I handle crises.

I got him to the hospital, he got x-rays, a sling, and a prescription for pain, and an appointment with a specialist on Friday. He’s in a lot of pain and has to sleep (or try to) in our La-Z-boy recliner.

On Friday, the specialist confirmed that we’re doing everything we can. Surgery, thankfully, is not necessary. We’re in a holding pattern for two weeks until he’s reassessed, and physio begins. Six weeks after that, Phil might be in a position to transition back to his regular level of activity.

And he has arthritis in his shoulders, too.

Family has arranged for a snow plough to keep the driveway clear, and everyone has been offering us food. Phil just did a fairly big shop last weekend, so we have food that needs to be cooked and/or eaten first.

So, I’m doing the cleaning and some of the cooking. Phil’s stubborn that way. I’ll also be shopping, running my mom to any appointments she needs to go to, and all that jazz.

Needless to say, I have had to redirect from creative pursuits. It’s just the way it is.

The week in writing

My intention was to proceed with the next chapter/group in RB, but I decided to divert to some work in the map, reworking it to match my revamped chapters so far. I figured it would be easier to work on that periodically and then get back to working of chapter four after the hectic of the week was over.

I managed to get this done on Monday.

The good news is that I don’t have any other events or meetings scheduled for the month. Things should open up after this week.

I also wanted to finish freewriting the last chapter and epilogue for Alice, and then go over what I had and tweak until I was satisfied.

Welp, the work emergency (mentioned above) turned out not to be (an emergency), so that was a relief. But then Phil’s accident turned the rest of the week on its head. I thought I’d picked the wheel of fortune last week!

Here’s how the week turned out.

As I mentioned, I reworked the RB map for the three chapters I’d already rewritten on Monday. But I only worked on RB one day this week, the 14th. And I only got that work done while I was waiting for Phil to be released from the hospital. I reduced a further 38 words on the draft, making the monthly total -328 and the year to date total -960.

I finished freewriting chapter 28 of Alice and moved on to the epilogue (also on Monday), but I haven’t touched it since.

On the blog, I wrote 1,890 words for the week, bringing the monthly total up to 4,733.

Filling the well

I attended a Mary Robinette Kowal webinar on Diagnosing Story Problems on Sunday afternoon. The more I attend her sessions, the more I learn.

As I mentioned off the top, I had a reading on Valentine’s Day, but with Phil’s injury, I had to cancel.

I signed up for a TWUC webinar on Tax strategies for writers but will watch the replay in the future.

And then, I had a special general meeting (SGM) for SF Canada to attend. They were in need of one more board member. As I’m already on one board, I did not put my name forward. We didn’t get quorum, so we’ll be trying again in three weeks, as per the bylaws.

And … I applied for associate membership in the Science Fiction Writers Association (SFWA). It may be up to 30 days for them to assess my qualifications. I’ll get back to you about that.

What I’m watching and reading

I watched The School for Good and Evil (Netflix) on Saturday night. An interesting take on the YA magical school trope. The school teaches heroes to be heroes and villains to be villains, with an eye to maintaining balance. Occasionally readers of fairy tales get thrown into the mix, as is the case with Sophie and Agnes. And of course, there’s something wrong at the school … Entertaining. I enjoyed it.

I have to backtrack a bit for the week in reading. That I forgot I finished reading The Spectral Arctic by Shane McCorristine may tell you something about what I thought about the book. The topic was interesting enough. It’s about how ghosts, dreams, Inuit shaman, remote viewing, and other psychic phenomena played into the search for Franklin’s expedition and shaped the whole tenor of Arctic exploration for ensuing adventurers. But the book was clearly an academic dissertation and while the author included colourful citations from the likes of Charles Dickens and Margaret Atwood, it was … just … boring. Sorry.

Definitely not boring was Luane G. Smith’s The Vine Witch. A sweet paranormal romance about a winemaking witch, who, after freeing herself from a cursed life as a toad, returns to her vineyard to find it sold and the grapes suffering under several vile spells. Multiple mysteries, adventure, and, of course, smoochies.

I also finished my re-read of Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Boys. You already know I loved the book, and the series. I didn’t mark up the book as much as I intended, but I did note some structural and stylistic patterns. It was a rewarding exercise.

And that was the week 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 weekly: Feb 5-11, 2023

/ Melanie Marttila

Welcome to week six of 2023!

This week, the tarot card I drew was The Wheel of Fortune. This card symbolizes infinity, boundless energy, turning point, destiny, life cycle, endless possibility, and purpose. It can represent unexpected changes, in either a positive or negative direction.

I’m seeing this card as a positive change in my life, both at work and creatively.

From the Celtic oracle deck, I pulled The Father/Dagda, for the second week in a row. And I shuffled that deck.

Pairing The Wheel of Fortune and The Dagda seems portentous.

The 5th was also the full cold moon (and moon in Leo for the astrologically inclined). I renewed my goal to rid myself of a certain kind of autistic inertia and get to bed at a reasonable hour. It’s getting better, but I’m not as rested as I need to be.

The week in writing

I worked most days on Reality Bomb and finished freewriting ideas for chapter 27 in Alice in Thunderland. I’ve moved on to chapter 28, but I’m thinking I have to rework these last four chapters before I get to the actual drafting. But I will get to it before the end of the month (!)

I took Friday and Saturday off after a full week of work. I just needed a break.

Copy edits for my forthcoming story in Pulp Literature arrived and were actioned promptly.

My application to the Writers Union of Canada (TWUC) was accepted (very quickly—within a week). I’m updating my CV, etc. today 🙂

Here’s how the week broke down:

I managed to reduce RB by a net 401 words for the week, a net -290 words for the month so far, and a net loss of 922 words on the draft overall.

I’m moving on to the next chapter using the pattern I started with Suzy, i.e., combining three chapters and paring down to a reasonable length. In RB, I have this nasty habit of repetition, like everything has to happen three times before I move on. I also write events in an inefficient order. Working on cleaning those issues up.

As I mentioned, I finished chapter 27’s freewritten outline and moved on to chapter 28 in Alice. This week, I hope to finish chapter 28, sketch out the epilogue, and tweak the whole climax and denouement in preparation for finishing the first draft.

In creating my map for Alice after drafting most of it, I’ve been marking in each chapter how it needs to change, what foreshadowing needs to be added, and how cause and effect can be strengthened. I think it’s a good approach. We’ll see how it works out and whether I want to use it for future projects.

I’ve blogged 1,615 words for the week and 2,843 words so far in the month.

Another Shaelin Writes video cracked open the concept of subtext for me. Look for that on tipsday. I really relate to her process and way of thinking about writing, even though she writes literary fiction and I’m a genre writer.

Filling the well

I attended a FOLD webinar, “How to Write a Great Book” presented by Evan Winter on February 11, 2023. It was a good presentation. Unfortunately, Evan’s journey to publishing was anomalous, i.e., he self-published his book, attracted the attention of a publisher, who helped him get an agent before moving forward with the deal.

I had my biannual appointment with the OBSP, AKA the booby squishing, on Monday. Not as bad as the first time.

I took my mom to our next hair appointment on Saturday.

What I’m watching and reading

In the viewing department, Phil and I finished watching The Legend of Vox Machina (Amazon), season 2. The series really strikes the perfect balance between comedy and drama. And most of the characters progressed in their arcs/got their moments to shine.

I also watched The Banshees of Inisherin (Disney +). Good movie, but it made my poor heart hurt.

Moving on to what I’ve been reading, I finished Sue Lynn Tan’s The Daughter of the Moon Goddess. There’s a lot of fighting and battles, but the story had an overall dreamy feel to it. It was gentle and lovely. I really enjoyed it.

And that was the week 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 weekly: Jan 29-Feb 4, 2023

/ Melanie Marttila

Welcome to next chapter weekly, a look at the week in this writer’s life.

This week I drew the three of wands from the tarot and the father from the Celtic oracle deck.

The three of wands represents discovery, negotiation, great effort, and foresight. This felt fortuitous as this is the week that I intended to get back on my writing game in a more serious way.

The father represents the Dagda, the “great god” of Irish mythology and one of the Tuatha Dé Danann. He controls life and death, the weather and crops, and time and the seasons. He can be equated to Zeus or Odin from other mythologies.

He was married to the Morrigan, but Boann was his mistress, and Brigit, or Brigid, is one of his children.

February 1st was Imbolc, or Brigid’s Day. Brigid is, among other things, the patron saint of poets and scholars. How apropos 🙂

I lit the candles and incense on my altar with special intention on Tuesday. The light has been steadily returning and I’ve had a distinct upswing in energy of late. It’s time to rededicate myself to my creativity.

The week in writing

Last week was all about playfulness and reacquaintance. I may not have written or revised every day, but I read things over, maybe accepted some track changes, or deleted some comments that were no longer needed.

This week, starting on February 1st, I got back into writing and revision more consciously and decisively. At least that was the plan. But you know what life does when you’re making those …

So, yeah. I didn’t get back to Reality Bomb or Alice in Thunderland until the 3rd. That was Friday. Better late than never?

Here’s how the week broke down. To show you the whole week, I have to give you two screenshots. The last three days of January are on this first one.

And the first four of February are on this second one.

Again, I entered my curation posts for the coming week before I took this screenshot. I’ll learn, eventually.

For RB, it was a week of net gains. 45 words on the 31st and 111 words between Friday and Saturday for a total of 156 words. There was some deletion in there, too. In fact, chapter two has shrunk a page. I’m hoping to finish up chapter three and move on to chapter four.

I closed the month with a net reduction of 632 words. I decided to take out the word goal for the months. My ultimate goal is to reduce about 25,000 from the draft. That’ goal is now in my annual tracking page as a negative number, and I’ll keep track of it there. Right now, it’s showing -521 (-632 + 111) words of the -25,000-word goal, or 2%.

On Alice, I finished up my freewritten notes for chapter 26 and I’m moving on to chapter 27 (of 28—getting closer!). I’ve also decided to add an epilogue. Originally, I had intended to begin writing in January to finish off the draft, but that hasn’t happened. So, I took out the wordcount goal for January on Alice as well.

For the blog, I wrote 1,708 words for the week between curations and this update, 1,228 of those in February. I finished out January with 7,306 words, or 104% of my 7,000-word goal.

Filling the well

I took this week as annual leave for myself. I needed to recalibrate after the cold, dark months of the year.

I signed up for a Dan Blank webinar this week: A simple plan to share on social media, in newsletters, and more. Though I could have attended, I chose to watch the replay. I prefer digging into webinars in my own time, when my head’s in the right space for it.

I applied for membership in The Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC). It may be a while before I hear back.

I also had my annual checkup with my doctor. I came away with a referral letter for my registered massage therapist, a prescription to help with my next outbreak of blepharitis, and a vaccination for pneumococcal pneumonia (Prevnar 20). I am as protected as I can be until next fall’s flu/potential covid booster.

What I’m watching and reading

In the viewing department, I watched Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Disney +). I appreciated Coogler’s focus on grief and the tribute to Chadwick Boseman, but it was a Marvel movie 🙂

I also finished watching season 2 of Res Dogs (Disney +). SPOILERS The dogs finally make it to California and Bear wants to stay. It seems likely since their car and money have been stolen. We’ll see what happens in season 3.

Catherine Called Birdy (Amazon) was a delight. Bella Ramsey is awesome as Birdy (and a stark contrast with her character in The Last of Us). It’s a total fantasy, but I loved it.

Moving on to the week in reading, I finished Jay Baruschel’s Highly Legal (Audible Originals). An entertaining examination of the legalization of cannabis in Canada, and it’s ongoing challenges.

Then, I finished reading Tanis MacDonald’s Straggle. An in-depth consideration of what it means to be a woman walking through the world. This creative non-fiction collection of essays and poetry looks at one woman’s experience through engaging with wildlife, birding, reflections on youthful walks, and some not-so-youthful. Excellent.

And that was the week 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 weekly: Jan 22-28, 2023

/ Melanie Marttila

Welcome back to the next chapter weekly, my personal update on what’s going on in this author’s life.

This week, I pulled the king of wands from the tarot and the eagle from the Celtic oracle deck.

The king of wands denotes inspiration, charisma, and natural leadership. This may be the week where I find my way back into writing, which is my intention, anyway. I don’t know about the charisma thing or the natural leadership thing. Maybe I’ll take control of my own creative ship? Learn to implement some of Suzy’s lessons on my own? We’ll have to wait and see.

Sorry for my lopsided photography.

The eagle is considered one of the oldest and wisest of animals in Celtic mythology, second only to the salmon of wisdom, which I picked last week. The Eagle of Gernabwy features in the Welsh Mabinogion. In the tale of Culhwch and Olwen, one of Culhwch’s tasks, in order to win the hand of his beloved, is to find the missing and magical child, Mabon. He asks a number of animals for guidance, and eventually gets a handy clue from this ancient and wise bird.

One thing I forgot to mention last week was that I did set a new moon intention to get back in touch with my creativity. I’ve had this feeling lately that we’ve been working at arm’s length. Gonna do some courtin’.

The week in writing

This week was about getting back on track in little ways. Touch Reality Bomb and Alice in Thunderland every day, but not force anything. This will be a week of gentle exploration and playfulness.

I also received and actioned the edit notes on “Psychopomps Are Us,” the story that Pulp Literature has accepted. One step closer to publication 🙂

Here’s what the week looked like:

With respect to RB, I cut a net 71 words this week, bringing the word count for the month to -677. That was four days of playing around.

On Alice, I free wrote my way to the end of chapter 25 (of 28).

On the blog, I wrote 1,286 words for the week, bringing the monthly total to 6,826. I remembered not to enter my curation before my weekly update this time, so the numbers on the spreadsheet reflect reality for once.

And … I’m trying my hand at another application for Your Personal Odyssey. Will the third time be the charm?

This week also saw the quarterly board meeting of the Canadian Authors Association.

Filling the well

I signed up for another Tiffany Yates Martin webinar through Jane Friedman, “The Biggest Mistakes Novelists Make.” Because the webinar was during the workday, I watched the replay.

I also signed up for a webinar on revisions presented by Emily Colin through Authors Publish. Again, I watched the replay.

On Saturday, I went out for supper with some friends, and my best friend and her spouse, visiting from out of town, came back to our house for a visit afterwards. It was lovely. A different kind of balm for the soul.

In the self-care department, I met with my Canada Life financial advisor and took stock of my investments. That ten of swords got me thinking 🙂 Fortunately, it looks like we’ll be in decent shape. I don’t have to go to extremes to ensure a decent retirement.

What I’m watching and reading

I did not finish any series or watch any movies this week. It was bound to happen sometime 🙂

In reading, I zipped through The Mistletoe Mysteries (Audible Originals). Fun, flirty, Canadian cozy mystery—they even mention Sudbury (!) And who wouldn’t want to listen to Cobie Smulders?

And then I moved on to Wildlife Confidential (Audible Originals) with Samantha Bee and Andrew Phung. Fun stories of animals, dramatized by intrepid reporter Cameron the Crow (Bee) and researcher Gordo the Groundhog (Phung). Entertaining and featuring a cast of Canadian voice talent as the interview subjects.

And that was the week in this author’s life.

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

The next chapter weekly: Jan 15-21, 2023

/ Melanie Marttila

Greetings, all!

This week, I pulled the King of Swords from the tarot, and The Horse from the Celtic oracle deck.

The King of Swords represents a catalyst or wise council. This is good, because I’m meeting with Suzy this week, and a mentor at work. But really, I’m thinking that it’s time I seek the wise council within, know what I mean? I really have to develop (or redevelop) my self confidence.

The horse represents Epona, Gaullish horse goddess, the Great Mare. She was the protector of horses and possibly a fertility goddess. She was the only Celtic deity to be worshipped by the Romans as the goddess of cavalry. Unfortunately, her origins are lost because no one recorded the mostly oral Gaullish myths and legends. There is a Roman tale that survives about a guy that, fed up with women, decided that a horse would make a better mate and produced Epona. Typical Greek/Roman stuff.

I did find this on the OBOD web site, though:

“Epona is the Patroness of all journeys, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. She is the Goddess of the Land and its seasons, of fertility in all things. …. I feel Her presence beside me keeping me safe, giving me strength for each day. I see Her touch in every new green shoot of the Spring and in every fruit of the Autumn. I hear Her voice in the whispers of the breeze through the trees and in the song of the river.”

So, I think I’ll take it as a sign that I’ll be going on a metaphorical journey (I have no plans to travel physically). We’ll see where it leads 🙂

The week in writing

Continuing as I have so far this month, I aimed to finish my map for Alice in Thunderland by Jan 20th and then leave the project for the rest of the month before returning to it and finishing the last four chapters. I submitted my fourth assignment to Suzy on the 15th, so I had a few days off Reality Bomb.

But things changed mid-week. It was a busy week with appointments, sometimes several on the same day. It was a bit hectic and thank goodness for Phil, who managed to get me supper on the busy days. I didn’t get any work done on the Alice map after Monday. I decided to take it easy for the rest of the month and get back to it in February.

I met with Suzy on the 19th. Again, it was a fruitful meeting. But just as we were getting some momentum, I had to withdraw (because of that work/financial situation I mentioned a couple weeks back). We were at the end of our scheduled meetings, and I don’t have the disposable funds to continue, though I really want to because I’m learning a lot. The accountability is also great. When I have external deadlines to work toward (i.e., someone’s waiting/depending on me to do the work), I tend to get it done.

She’s going to check in with me mid-April to see if a resolution is on the horizon.

On that topic, I received notification on Friday that I was successful in the assessment process and am now part of a qualified pool of candidates. Though my employer won’t be able to take any action until at least April, the way has been cleared. So, I guess the resolution (partial though it may be) to my financial difficulties has come through within ten weeks. Thanks, inverted ten of swords 🙂

On the downside, my application for an OAC grant was not successful. I received that notification Friday morning. Another Sudbury writer was successful, though. All congratulations to her. She deserves it.

I’m really getting the vibe that I should take December and January off. From big projects, anyway. Mapping in preparation for revision, poetry, short fiction—I think these would all be doable, but heavy revisions or drafting may be out of the question, at least for my neurodivergent brain.

Here’s how the week broke down.

I wrote a net 16 words on RB on Sunday, and then left the project to rest.

I added the last two drafted chapters of Alice to the map and started freewriting ideas for the next chapter before the week got to be too much. That, too, is sitting for a bit.

I blogged 1,731 words for the week.

So, total revision 16 words and total writing 1,731 words for the week and a net -606 words in RB and 5,540 words in the blog for the month.

Filling the well

I attended the Spoonie Authors Network Launch on the 15th. It was a lovely reading, and I won a copy of Nothing Without Us, Too 🙂

I had a massage on the 17th and a meeting with my support group on the 19th. This month’s topic was trauma. Both informative and cathartic.

What I’m watching and reading

I didn’t finish any series this week, but I did watch Where the Crawdads Sing (Amazon). So good. Gave me a Grisham movie (at their best) vibe. Another book that’s moving up on my TBR list.

This week, I finished Stephen Fry’s Secrets of the Roaring Twenties (Audible original). It was an interesting historical podcast and, because it’s adjacent to the time period Alice is set in, very informative.

I also read Lori Devoti’s One Soul to Share. A vampire looking for a soul meets a mermaid looking to make a deal with the sea witch Melusine for the same. A straightforward paranormal romance.

And that was the week 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 weekly: Jan 8-14, 2023

/ Melanie Marttila

Welcome to the next chapter weekly for the second week of 2023.

I must say that coming into this experiment, I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough to fill up a weekly update, but I think I like this new format. What do y’all think? Let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you.

This week, I drew the Ace of Cups and The Salmon.

The ace of cups represents abundance, relationships, and contentment. I was hoping that the abundance might have something to do with my financial situation, but alas, that was not the case. Instead, I received the confirmation that all would be status quo at least until the new fiscal (April 1, 2023) and probably longer.

What I did have an abundance of this week was workdays with minimal meetings. I was able to make progress on a project and that did, indeed make me content. I also made progress on my creative endeavours. More on that, below.

And I was quite content in my relationships, noting several of them in my nightly gratitudes. I try to record three before I go to bed. Sometimes, I record them when I get up the next morning. I haven’t successfully incorporated this new piece into my bedtime ritual.

The salmon of knowledge or wisdom is associated with a young Fionn mac Cumhaill, who inadvertently absorbed the salmon’s knowledge when he burned his thumb while cooking it for the poet Finegas.

Am I becoming wiser? I don’t know. More knowledgeable, certainly. About instructional design, about autism, about my craft. If only I could access that knowledge “on demand” by biting my thumb, like Fionn does 🙂 

The week in writing

My goals were again simple. Seven more chapters of Alice in Thunderland in the map and more work on Reality Bomb’s first three chapters.

I accomplished both, but I’m still experiencing a lot of self-doubt when it comes to revisions for RB. My next assignment is due on the 15th, so the night this post goes live, and at this point, I have no idea if I’ve managed to do a good job. I’ll find out next week, one way or the other.

Here’s how the week broke down.

Again, there was a lot of up and down with respect to RB. I edited down the second chapter by a couple of pages. I think. But it’s still too long and I’m not sure how to shrink it further. Same goes for the third chapter, which is, again three chapters slapped together.

This week, I’ve cut a net 636 words. Not bad. And despite the adding and cutting, I’m now down a net 606 words on the first three chapters overall. We’ll see what Suzy says next week.

My two weekly curations and this update amount to 1,785 words, and my total bloggage for the month so far is 3,807 words.

I meant to mention my new colour coding on the Excel. This year, I’ve decided to give myself a visual of my days off, days of significance, like full and new moons, and appointment days on my spreadsheet. My hope is that it will help me be more realistic with respect to my creative output on any given day.

I got the idea from “colour blocking” my calendar at work. So far, I like it. Visually, if nothing else 🙂

Filling the well

On the 14th, I attended a FOLD webinar called “Unsettling Poems” presented by Liz Howard. It was an interesting session and I think I have some ideas swirling around in my head. I’ll let them percolate for a while, I think.

I also attended a webinar about “Autism and Mental Health” on the 10th presented by Dori Zener, the therapist who set up the autism support group I attend. It’s all part of my learning.

What I’m watching and reading

In the viewing department, Phil and I finished watching the first season of Willow, the series (Disney +). It was a little uneven. The elements didn’t all come together for me. I enjoyed it, don’t get me wrong, but I was hoping for better.

I’ve seen some critique of the series as too grimdark for the original movie, but I don’t think that was the case. I think, rather, that it’s the result of things not being properly woven together, as I mention above. Their attempts to attain the comedy of the original were clearly there, but they didn’t land. I’m not sure if it was the script or the acting, but that’s my opinion.

As for the grimdark content, I read the book that was written as the sequel to Willow, yeeeears ago. It was called Drumheller, and I can’t find it online. Madmartigan and Sorcha were both dead, and Elora Danon was purposefully hidden, as in the series, because a powerful sorcerer wanted to control/enslave her and failing that to kill her. Unfortunately, when her guardians die, Elora is lost, and Willow has to become the Drumheller (a process that almost kills him) to find and protect her before the big bad does his worst. If memory serves, it made the series look like Looney Tunes by comparison. Now that was grimdark.

Then, I watched The Boys: Diabolical (Amazon). Fun shorts that are as bloody and chaotic as the series.

I also watched Swiss Army Man (Amazon). I decided to check it out, because it’s another movie by the Daniels, who were behind Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. I’m kind of glad I didn’t see SAM first. I would have gone into EEAaO with completely different expectations.

It’s as much of a mind fuck as Bunny was. Right up to the end, you’re wondering if the main character is delusional or if any of this is really happening.

Moving on to the week in reading, I read Another Richard Wagamese book: One Native Life. Another balm for the soul, but also, a compassionate look back at the author’s life and what it taught him as he struggled to regain his identity as an Indigenous man.

In audiobooks, I’ve decided to catch up on the podcasts I followed. Catherine Hernandez’s Imminent Disaster was fun. I’m not big into sketch comedy, but it was good.

And that was the week 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 weekly: Jan 1-7, 2023

/ Melanie Marttila

Greetings, all! Welcome to the revamped next chapter weekly 🙂

I’m going to try something a little different. At the start of each week, I’m going to draw a tarot card and a Celtic oracle card to see if they offer any guidance.

This week, I drew the ten of swords, inverted, and Blodeuwedd.

The ten of swords represents fear of betrayal in relationships or fear of financial ruin. Inverted, it can represent temporary success.

While I don’t think there’s any problem with any of my significant relationships, there has been a little financial insecurity in my life recently. The two-year acting assignment as an instructional designer I achieved in November 2020 came to an end at the end of November 2022. Though I had been successfully deployed to my current division, it was an “at level” deployment, at a step lower in salary. So, I’m doing an instructional designer’s job for a courseware developer’s pay.

I have been working through another assessment process that should get me into a qualified pool from which I could be assigned to a position at my acting (or actual) salary, but as a business analyst. There’s also another possibility that I could have my salary bumped up by other means, or by an assignment to another team in my division.

I’m interpreting the inverted ten of swords to mean that this unfavourable financial situation will be resolved, one way or another, in the near future. It might involve some change, which I’m rarely comfortable with, and perhaps several changes, before all is said and done, however.

Bloddeuwedd represents a claiming of one’s own power, steering your craft, or directing your fate. I’m seeing this divination in terms of my vocation as an author. I’ve been taking steps to improve my craft and those steps will lead to success. The card could also support the resolution of my financial difficulties.

We shall see where these oracles lead.

This week also saw the full wolf moon. I did a little ritual to help rid myself of a bad habit. As the moon wanes to new, I hope to do a little better around my sleep hygiene/routine. Again, we’ll see how things go. I’ll let you know how it’s going in a couple of weeks.

The week in writing

I’m starting off 2023 slow and steady. I took New Years Day off except for posting my next chapter update and year in review. My two goals for the week were to continue mapping out Alice in Thunderland and work on the first three chapters of Reality Bomb.

I’m pleased to report that I’ve added 7 chapters to the Alice map (not recorded in the spreadsheet). This brings me to chapter 16 of 28. This work is in anticipation of a) finishing the last four chapters of the draft and then, after a brief break, b) revising the novella. I’m trying to incorporate some of the lessons I’m learning while working on RB with Suzy.

With regard to RB, the work is going slow. I’m definitely lacking confidence, but I’m finding my way. Made a belated discovery: I can input negative words in the spreadsheet. D’oh! It does give a better idea of my progress, or lack thereof. This week was a lot of back and forth, up and down. I’m trying to cut a bunch of pages out of chapter two (which is three of the previous draft’s chapters smooshed together). It’s challenging but rewarding. I’m definitely feeling that the draft is improving.

Here’s how the week broke down.

Revisions on the first two chapters of RB have resulted in a net gain of 3 words (!) Also, note that I only entered the net gain or loss for the day. There was often a lot more words written, then deleted, or vice versa, on any given day. It’s been weird.

On the blog, I wrote 420 more words on the last monthly next chapter update before posting it, 236 words on tipsday, 218 words on thought Thursday, and 1,150 words on this next chapter weekly for a total of 2,024 words. The total shown on the spreadsheet includes my tipsday and thought Thursday posts for the coming wee, which I prepare and post on Sundays.

Filling the well

I signed up for “Write that Book Already” from The Narrative Project and Sidekick Press from January 2 to 6. Interesting sessions, but three a day, so it was a challenge to keep up.

I also took my mom to another hair appointment and did some minor shopping.

What I’m watching and reading

In the viewing department, I finished watching Dickenson (Apple+). Just a delight.

In another surprise, two more episodes of The Shining Girls appeared on Apple+, completing the series. Very different than the book. Beukes’ novel didn’t include any of the time shifting and changes that the series does. To explain, every time Harper murders one of the other shining girls, Kirby’s world changes. She may not live in the same place, have the same job, or the same relationships with other people in her life. Visually, her hair and clothing style changes as well.

There are other shining girls that are characters in the series that are merely victims in the book. In the series, some of these women take back their power when Kirby kills Harper in the story’s present. She then uses the house to travel back in time and prevent Harper from ever moving in. Ultimately, she saves Dan (who was killed in the series and whose fate was uncertain in the novel), and all the other women harper had killed. Interesting.

While I was in Apple+, I checked out what else there was to watch and got a lovely surprise. They’ve done an adaptation of Charlie Mackesy’s The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and the Horse. So much the sweet self-care I needed in these still dark days of winter.

I watched Strange World (Disney +), a charming eco-fable wrapped in generational drama about fathers, sons, and legacies. Some things were a bit “on the nose,” but I enjoyed it for what it was, and I really appreciated how Ethan’s having a boyfriend is no big thing, even to his ultra-macho explorer grandfather. Refreshing and light.

Moving on to the week in reading, I started off 2023 by reading Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Yes, another classic I’d never read. I loved it. Dickens really does comment on the ills of his world in multiple respects.

Then, I finished Rachel True’s True Heart Intuitive Tarot. I quite like her take on the tarot and may pick up the physical book and deck she designed.

And that was the first week of 2023 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:  December 2022 update and year-end wrap-up

/ 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 5th. 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 11th, 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 11th. Between the 5th and the 9th, 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 31st 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 8th. 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 4th, 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 7th. 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 21st. Again, progress was made. I think I just have to learn to trust myself more. Our next meeting is January 19th.

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

We lowkey celebrated Mom’s 79th birthday on the 20th. 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!