Sharp Words

April’s totals were 19 poems out of 30 and 3,412 words out of 8,000.

So… good and bad. I started the month really well, and kept producing a poem a day for NaPoWriMo right up until the 17th. Then I ran out of steam. I had ideas for things I wanted to write poems about; I just couldn’t get the words to shape themselves around the images. It got pretty frustrating by the end of the month, although I’m still pretty pleased with myself for doing as well as I did.
As for the word count; well, a lot of it came from the poems. I also managed three Sunday Scribblings (although I only posted one) plus some random bits of nonsense here and there.
I totally failed to edit and submit a story for the competition I wanted to though.

I’ve got more concrete goals for May than just aiming for X number of words, though. There are two competitions I want to enter (Over the Edge and SFX Pulp Idol), and I’m determined to completely outline the novel I want to work on. I was supposed to be going to the US next week, and I was going to use my airport-sitting and flying time to do some writing. That’s been called off though, which I’m pretty miffed about since a) I’ve never been to the US and b) it’s a work meeting at which decision will be made that impact my job; and it also means I’ll have to just set aside some of my ‘ordinary’ time to write.

We’ll have to see. I’m starting to feel ever more annoyed with myself for not getting anywhere much, and ever more determined that I want to finish at least one of my damn novels, so… Wish me luck.

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The Road, Cormac McCarthy - finished Tuesday 1st. Library book, first read.
I hated the first couple of pages of this, mostly because I didn’t like the sentence fragments it was written in; by the end, I was hating the story instead of the way it was written. I got over the writing style, and I was hooked into the story; wanting to know how it ended, if and how the man and his son survived… but dear me, it was bleak and depressing.

Thud!, Terry Pratchett - finished Thursday 3rd. Own copy.
After reading The Road, I was desperate for something that would make me smile!

Lincoln’s Dreams, Connie Willis - finished Saturday 5th. Own copy, first read.
An interesting and rather sad story. I didn’t enjoy it as much as the other novels I’ve read by her which have more humour in them.

Still Life, Sheri S Tepper - finished Sunday 6th. Own copy.
One of her horror novels. A good quick read in the bath.

Crewel Lye: A Caustic Yarn, Piers Anthony - finished Thursday 10th. Borrowed from Marion.
I read this in bits over a number of nights when I stayed at Marion’s - it was the first Xanth novel I ever read, 20 years ago, and when I spotted it on her shelves, I fancied a re-read. It hasn’t precisely stood the test of time - or at least of memory - but it was an easy way to go to sleep.

The Correct Use of Compliments, Alexander McCall Smith - finished Monday 14th. Library book, first read.
I noticed that this series is no longer called The Sunday Philosophy Club, possibly because said club hasn’t been mentioned since the first book, and this one’s the fourth! It’s a decent addition to the series though, and as always, I liked the mix of humdrum mystery and applied philosophy.

That Which Was, Glenn Patterson - finished Tuesday 15th. Library book, first read.
An interesting look at post-Peace Process Belfast. This is the one Glenn Patterson wrote without using speech marks (as mentioned in the NaNoWriMo session he did last year in Queens).

Atonement, Ian McEwan - finished Thursday 17th. Library book, first read.
I enjoyed it but was annoyed by the last part - which I won’t go into, for fear of spoilers. I suppose it did pose interesting questions about the relationship between writer and story.

Garden Spells, Sarah Addison Allen - finished Saturday 19th. Own copy, re-read.
My review

Heroes Adrift, Moira J Moore - finished Sunday 20th. Borrowed from Marion, first read.
The third part in a fun little fantasy sequence and the weakest so far, in my opinion, although I still enjoyed it.

Banewreaker, Jacqueline Carey - finished Wednesday 23rd. Borrowed from Marion, first read.
This is The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Thomas Convenant rewritten in shades of grey. Very very interesting. The LotR parallels were a bit distracting at first, but eventually they were subsumed into the story-telling. Can’t wait to read the next one!

Beyond Black, Hilary Mantel - finished Wednesday 30th. Library book, first read.
A very dark tale of a modern-day psychic dealing with her own ghosts. Intriguing and well-written, but I can’t decide if I liked it or not

Total for April 2008: 11 + 1 re-read
Ongoing total for 2008: 55 + 4 re-reads

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