The new novel is going really well. I’m making my word-count goals each day easily. Tons of fun!

 

Classic 3-/5

Smith comes to Earth and must learn how we navigate our worlds, and in the process, transforms his role multiple times. Reading this book is a part of becoming aware of the science fiction canon; however, I read it when I was very young so maybe didn’t get as much out of it as I would today. At that time, I found it didn’t engage me.

Got an Alberta Foundation for the Arts grant to write my next novel (the one I was researching in Europe), so now I have a deadline. YAY!!! I need to have a draft to a sensitivity reader and beta readers by October. It is pretty much plotted, but I have to sit down and get a draft out.

Literary 5-/5

Jude, a gay student who prefers elements of drag, is the target of high school bullies but he gives as much as he gets in unexpected ways. Highly recommended. The writing and characters drew me in deep. Jude is in an impossible situation and his methods for survival while still trying to maintain the essence of who he is only make things worse. Heartbreaking and believable.

Three days of taking all my notes and research and ideas, and putting them into a plan for the novel was not enough–of course! I have the external plot mostly worked out, and quite a bit of the internal plot. More to come, though!