It’s a lovely feeling when it’s done! But my current marking is still firmly in the ‘present’ tense, so when it comes to writing this blogpost I’m rather time-poor, I’m afraid.
So here’s a photo Mum found the other week – me when I was 5, in Bristol, England – for you to smile at:
and I’ll see you next week, dear Reader!
Books I’ve read recently:
H. G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. I figured it was time; that I should read it at least once in my life. And it *was* good. I can see why it was such an influential novel in its time… but it was the introduction by Orson Scott Card (in the version I was reading) which impressed me more in its insight and readability. He’s an impressive writer, Orson Scott Card!
The Joy Luck Club: I picked this one up because again, it was one of those “I should really read this at least once in my life” moments. Halfway down the first page, I realised I’d already read it, probably a decade or two ago now! And I’d enjoyed it… but seeing as time is fleeting, reading takes it up, and I’d already read it before: I finished the first chapter then skipped to the final chapter for a quick re-read before putting it down. It’s the mark of a brilliant writer, I think, that Amy Tan can make me cry in just those first and last chapters! Although maybe, being half-Asian myself, the story resonates with me more…?
Hangman’s Curse by Frank Peretti. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would! The Christian overtones weren’t as ‘in your face’ as other Christian novels I’ve read, and as for the depiction of bullying in high schools: I don’t know if much (at all!) has changed in the intervening years since it was published in 2001.
And now: The Janson Directive by Robert Ludlum. Considering his Bourne series has been one of my favourites since my teens, this is proving to be quite an easy read. Again: what a writer, huh?
And that’s it from me this week. Now I need to go and get through those class sets of draft marking which are waiting patiently for me!
Have a great week, dear Reader 🙂
⁃ KRidwyn
Today’s the 18th of February. In less than a month, we’ll be heading to the poll booths to get ourselves the next four years’ worth of local politicians.
So the other week, I thought I’d look into who’s running. In my region, Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, both our Mayor and our Deputy Mayor (who was also my divisional councillor, just for interest) have decided to not run again… meaning I’ll have two newbies in these roles.
I headed off to Google to find out who’s been nominated. My first hit seemed to be the go: three mayoral candidates with a bit of a blurb on each. Impressive… until I realised that according to sunshinecoastnews.com, there’s six candidates for mayor, not three! Jason O’Pray; Wayne Parcell; Ashley Robinson, Michael Burgess, Rosanna Natoli, and Min Swan (apparently listed in the order they appear on the Electoral Commission of Queensland website). I guess the original article made sense when I re-looked at the title “meet the latest candidates”… I’m guessing they’d already had an initial article with the other three hopefuls.
And in my own division, there’s three choices: Kristy Taylor-Rose; Jenny Broderick; and Stan Nowrocki.
Trying to find informaion on each of these nine people though, proved problematic. Surely there’d be a news article where each candidate was linked to their own page, which detailed (or even just outlined!) who they were and what they stood for? But nope.
So I tried Facebook. Nothing. Even a request to the Sunshine Coast Council’s offical Facebook page only produced this:
Hmm. So off to the ECQ website. Several clicks later, I can see that no, the list order must have changed since the 13th of February, when sunshinecoastnews.com published its article. No matter. There’s still 6 mayoral candidates, and 3 candidates for divisional councillor. Links to their websites though? Nope.
So I’ve decided that I’ll do it. I have my own website, yes? And an interest in getting this information out so people can actually be informed about who it is they might vote for? Well, here it is. For my division, as least. And they’re in alphabetical order (I’m a librarian, remember!)
Sunshine Coast Division One Councillor candidates:
Stan Nowrocki (LinkedIn was the closest site I could find)
Kristy Taylor-Rose (again, no dedicated website; this one’s a news article and this is LinkedIn)
Sunshine Coast Mayoral Candidates:
Wayne Parcell (this site takes a while to load…)
Something I noticed about the mayoral candidates: numbers of them say they’re interested in transparency. So I’m guessing that when they inherit the Facebook page, the policy of ‘giving residents the information they’d like’ will change? Hmmm.
Enjoy, dear Reader! And feel free to share / comment etc as you see fit…
So my querying journey ran headlong into a wall the other week. I’d been sending out query letters and the first several pages of my story for a fortnight or so, happily exploring QueryTracker and garnering rejections but expecting these as par for the course… when I stumbled across an agency website page which stated word count expectations for a variety of genres.
Blow me down but they were wanting between 35K – 80K for Middle Grade. The piece I’d poured my blood, sweat and tears into, barely tipped the scales at 27K.
Heart attack! What if the rejections I’d been getting weren’t because the agents didn’t feel like they liked my story enough… but instead were rejections out of hand due to my paltry word count? Had any of them even read my pages? Was I counting myself out of the running; doing myself and my story a disservice because the word count wasn’t hefty enough?
So I withdrew all active queries, and thought. And thought, and thought some more.
You see, I’d originally intended the story I was querying to be but the first in a 7-part series. And yes, even though I *know* it’s not wise, I’d gone blithely ahead and drafted the majority of all seven stories. And all of them were in the 27K – 33K range.
It had occurred to me within seconds of reading that page, that I could be staring down the barrel of seven rejections, based simply on word count!
After a period of grieving at the thought of my story never reaching an audience, I realised a mental re-adjustment was in order. Then it hit me.
Why did it have to be a 7-part series? What if it were a trilogy instead?
As in, Books 1, 2 and 3 becomes ‘Book 1’.
Books 4 and 5 become the sequel.
Books 6 and 7 then finish the arc as the ultimate title in the series.
Huh! Word count target achieved! So now I’m editing what *was* Book 2, which I’m hoping will become Part 2 in my newly enlarged novel.
Let’s see what happens when it’s done, huh? And now I’d best go: I’ve QUITE a lot of editing and polishing to do!
See you next month, dear Reader!
I can’t remember if I’ve blogged about my chainsaw before, but I was looking at it just now (I’m out gardening aka clearing scrub) and realised it’s probably the tool I love best.
Apart from my phone, of course, which I’m blogging on as I sit here looking at my chainsaw.
Because it’s just so incredibly handy (the Stihl chainsaw, that is. Not the phone – although that is too!) And easy to use. And lightweight. And no matter how roughly I treat it (oil? What oil?) it still works.
I love it!
Here’s hoping you have a love-ful day as well, dear Reader!
Hubby started gym first, several years ago now. Initially, it was a ‘lose weight’ thing – but then the endorphins kicked in and he quickly transformed into a gym junkie.
It took a couple of years listening to his convincing and cajoling for me to try it before I joined too… but for me, it was the early-morning kid-free time that I got hooked on. I took time off when redundancy meant uncertainty, July 2019 – but then rejoined several weeks ago when I was blessed with permanent work again.
And now Master almost-12 has joined me. He’s done three sessions now, and is happy to continue. In spite of the 4.45am leaving home time! So that’s pretty impressive.
Not only that, but Miss15 is clamouring to go, and Miss almost-13 is making some noises along a similar vein too. Sigh for the loss of kid-free time… but as they’re quickly getting older, I’m going to enjoy these last few years while I still have them.
So I collected two more membership application forms this morning, and the gym owner mentioned setting aside an hour for just my family on a daily basis! I’m pretty sure he was joking…
Anyway, we’ll see how that all pans out. Have a energetic day yourself, dear Reader 🙂
– KRidwyn
It was back in early March when my older brother told me about Dr John Campbell, a retired British nurse educator who was analysing the COVID19 pandemic in daily YouTube updates. My brother waxed lyrical on how good Dr John was, so I checked it out when I found the time.
And I was an instant conversion. March 8 was the first video I watched, and WHOA it was good! Simple, clear, factual information that like of which we weren’t getting from politicians or news media alike. And haven’t since, I must admit.
If you have 20 minutes to spare, check it out. IMHO, it’s worth your while!
And have a safe day today, dear Reader 🙂
– KRidwyn
Welcome back, dear Reader!
Last year was a ‘photo’ post each week, which challenged me to improve my photography skills. Which worked… to some extent. In fact, I even considered challenging myself further and committing to a years’ worth of “selfie” posts (because those ones are like, a zillion times worse than actual photos. Well, for those of us who remember a time before the internet was even invented. Am I right?)
But no. Perhaps next year. But I’ll still attempt to include a photo with each post this year. Let’s see how we go with that, huh?
But today’s post is still about challenges. Specifically, the Goodreads challenge I set myself last year. 3 books per week. That’s 156 books in the year. Which seems a lot.
And I made it!!! So proud of me 🙂
Admittedly, numbers of those were the picture books which I ended up reading to my classes after being made redundant mid-year and being blessed enough to get Teacher Librarian work in July. But still 🙂
So. Goodreads challenge this year. 208 again – because I can! and it’s only 4 per week. right? – but the aim this year is to have only one picture book per month. Perhaps two. But no more than 24 of those 156 will be picture books. Because, well, why not? 🙂
How about you, dear Reader? Are you planning on reading books this year? How many? And if you’re also on Goodreads, want to connect?
Oh! And I almost forgot. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
– KRidwyn
Miss11 returned from a recent school excursion to Chinatown, proud of her ability to use chopsticks.
A few days later while eating Chinese takeaway, Mr10 was also determined to join in the fun with his own meal. It consisted (mostly) of prawn chips though… and he wasn’t about to be defeated by them!
Have an inventive week yourself, dear Reader 🙂
– KRidwyn
This traffic light is my friend. Since the local council decided the road needed… something (not too sure what they’re doing behind the barriers,) this timered traffic light and I spend time together almost every morning.
It adds a good fifteen minutes to my routine, which I don’t particularly like. Nor do I like that they’ve forecasted this one-lane-only setup to last until October. That’s another SIX MONTHS, people! It’s already been almost three!
Enough to make me think of quitting the gym- but I enjoy it too much, so I’ve decided I’ll just suck it up and deal with the hassle.
This morning though, as I passed the queued traffic, waiting on the other side, the first car waiting was the police, doing their rounds. Suddenly my once-a-day visit to my local roadworks didn’t seem so bad. It’s voluntary, at least!
How about you, dear Reader? Had any cases of ‘seeing another perspective’ recently?
And, as always, have a fantastic week!
– KRidwyn