It is a week of anniversaries. Today is my 9th anniversary at my current company, which officially makes this the longest stint of my career. [Sidenote: in October, I’ll be celebrating 20 years at the Bar, aka being a licensed lawyer, which sounds SO strange because how is it possible I’ve been doing anything for 20 years??] On Sunday, my son turns 15. FIFTEEN!!! How is that possible?! It’s true that I have to crane my neck to look him in the eyes now, but still … he’s my baby boy. How exactly does he have a budding mustache now???
Don’t mind me, just tripping a bit over here …
I am getting ready for my bestie to fly to Edmonton for a visit (next week, eek!!), soon to be followed by our annual trip to BC, so I’ve been working extra hard to wrap up a few writing projects beforehand. That meant second edits on Inspector Hawthorne book #4, and first edits on my most recent WIP, an urban fantasy mystery with a bit of a gothic twist. The latter is also, tentatively, intended to be part of a series. I say ‘tentatively’ because I’m currently in the most difficult stage with this book, trying to turn a messy first draft into something resembling a story and trying to figure out if there’s an actual story there. The complicating factor? I’ve just had a kickass idea for a book #2 in the series. D’oh!
My ambitious goal for this coming week is to knock out another editing round on my second fantasy mystery book. I’ve been getting beta reader feedback on it, and I need to make some decisions about the direction I’ll be taking with this one. Needless to say, come the last week of July, I will be ready for a long break!!
Somehow, I managed to read two excellent books last week — mostly because both were extremely bingeable, and I finished each in, like, 24 hours. (Reading on the walking pad, for the win! I love multi-tasking, lol!) Anyway, highly recommend The Clock House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji, and The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Soji Shimada. The latter is a honkaku classic that has been on my TBR for a while now, and did not disappoint — it has one of the most ingenious methods of murder I’ve ever read. And if you’re not familiar with Japanese honkaku mysteries, this is your sign to get on that 😉
I went to the Re-Use store again — surprise! lol! — and got another motherlode of magazines. I’ve not had as much time lately to work on my collages, but I’ve been gathering materials (aka ripping up old magazines) and, honestly, that’s quite soothing and meditative in its own right. It’s especially satisfying to work on a magazine where I can use up the majority of pages for scraps.
Have a great weekend!