So I joined Goodreads yesterday. I’d heard about it quite a bit recently, but hadn’t had the chance to check it out until now. It’s not quite as user-friendly as I’d hoped, but maybe that’s because there’s s much functionality to it…?
Anyway, I guess I’ll figure it out more as time goes by 🙂
Have a great day, dear reader!
— KRidwyn
I’m sitting at the dining table. Mr6 is next to me, reading to me. I love that!
He’s chosen his favourite books.
Bears on Wheels by Stan and Jan Berenstain
Go, Dog. Go! by P.D. Eastman
and
Inside, Outside, Upside down by Stan and Jan Berenstain
He’s just finished the last page. We had a discussion about the text on the final page. Mr6 refuses to read the first line: “Mama! Mama!” His coping strategy (typical autism here) – he runs away if he’s made to read it. He always has. Today we talked about why. I thought that it was because the word is different to what we use at home: he calls me ‘Mummy’ not ‘Mama’. But no, that’s not it. He said that it was because if he said it, the mother bear should be answering, “Yes, yes?”
Interesting, hey! Well, I think so, at least 🙂
Have a great day, dear reader!
— KRidwyn
So I wrote a book, edited it, and gave it to some people to read. This was both exciting and scary! It was just over 25,000 words; an adventure story aimed at children aged 7 – 10. I’ve since had feedback from some of my beta-readers. One member of my writing group gave the manuscript to her two nieces. The seven-year-old wandered off after a few chapters, but the ten-year-old loved it, took some of it to school and showed her teacher – who also really liked it. I like that sort of feedback! Another member of the group gave me really detailed feedback on multiple aspects. This was more than I had expected, and incredibly helpful. He also made me laugh with this comment: “You write short sentences. My average sentence has 25 words. Yours has eight.” Another group member asked if he’d counted them; apparently he’d run the manuscript through a computer program. I didn’t even know that these existed!
Then again this morning, I spent a few hours with another of my beta-readers. A retired lecturer in Creative Writing, who gave me some intensive feedback. As in, two hours on just a couple of chapters. Which was brilliant! Mentally exhausting, but fantastic nonetheless. And this afternoon, a lady who I aspire to be just like, is planning to spend the next three hours curled up on her couch with my manuscript. She was looking forward to it, and had set aside the time – this time, this afternoon – weeks ago, because she knew she could have some interrupted time to herself, and that’s what she wanted to spend it doing.
I’m really very blessed to have people in my life who are so supportive! I just hope that my little story is worthy of their time! 🙂
And to you, dear reader, I wish for you a lovely, lovely day.
Thanks for stopping by!
— KRidwyn
The laryngitis, that is. Well, so far. But I’m teaching for the rest of the week, so let’s just see how that goes, huh? I find that the constant swapping from speaking to singing voice (that’s an integral part of classroom music teaching in a Primary school) is such a strain on it; far more than it ever was in a High school. But maybe that’s just me.
But anyway, on to yesterday. So I edited the first 12 chapters of my book – now the first 11 chapters. And I was pretty happy with that. 30 chapters to go.
I also found some research that I was doing over 10 years ago. For my first ever historical novel. And there’s HEAPS of it – five folders full, in fact! So I’ve been thinking that I might start that piece again. See how it goes, you know? So I read it all through, and that inspired me to continue the research last night. Head back to original sources, back to the Latin versions, etc etc etc. Supremely interesting stuff!
So the plan for today is: not lose my voice. Edit 10 more chapters. And maybe dig some more into the history of Autun. Because I can 🙂
Have a great day, reader!
— KRidwyn
Do you believe that what a person reads, reflects who they are – or, maybe, who they want to be? I think that I kind of do. But I do definitely believe that what we have read, becomes a part of who we are. Shapes us, so to speak, just as experiences in real life – both in the physical and the online worlds – show our past; so the texts we read and the shows we watch and the music we listen to, shape our thoughts. And therefore, in a way, our futures. Wow – that got deeper than I had expected it to! Especially for the first paragraph!!!
So anyway, I was thinking yesterday that I want to share with… well, whoever’s out there… what books I love. What books I have read, that I have let shape me, my thoughts, my attitudes.
And it all starts with Magician, by Raymond E. Feist. That was the first novel that I remember absolutely falling in love with. I was in Year 9 or thereabouts, around 13 years old, and a good friend loaned me her copy. I remember being a little hesitant to read it, initially – being a Christian, the title concerned me, with its promise of spells, cauldrons, and all things magic. But my friend was also a Christian, and so I read the first page.
That was enough. I was hooked, and have been ever since. Writing, good writing, captivates and inspires. We rejoice and cry over characters triumphs and tragedies. From Pug and Tomas to Mara of the Acoma and Kevin the slave, from Squire James to “… you take all the fun out of life!” the Riftworld novels were exactly what I needed them to be, at the time that I needed them to be it. They have remained that way ever since.
A couple of months ago, I was fortunate enough to find Feist’s ‘new, revised edition’ of Magician in a second hand shop. Released in 1991, Feist wrote of this edition: “The book I would have written had I the skills I possess today”. The extra scenes added depth – as you would expect! – but also an insight into Feist’s thinking at the time. What *he* would have wanted included. What *he* believed important. You get more of a sense of the man behind the characters with this edition. The craftsmanship that went into the making of the novel. The sheer, incredible, talent. I love that.
It made me fall in love with the writing profession all over again. And be inspired. Watch out, world! 🙂
Well, yeh, okay. It’s Saturday. Late. Just like this post.
Today, I want to tell you about one of my favourite emails.
You see, I don’t very often click ‘subscribe’ on websites. My email inboxes fill up too quickly to want to add yet more – dare I say?! ‘Junk’ – to them. But on the rare occasion, I do subscribe, just out of curiosity – and I must admit, with this one, I’m glad I have!
I aspire to a clutter-free home, a clutter-free life. And with regular emails from Unclutterer.com, I can read their blog posts – their whole blog posts, none of this ‘to read more click here’ linking – from the convenience of my inbox. And they’re good posts too. Funny as well, every Wednesday.
They’re not obtrusive. They’re not in-your-face. I can choose to delete them – but I rarely do, because they’re generally well-written and an enjoyable minute-long break from the onerous going-through-email task I was currently completing.
So that’s my review for the week. Unclutterer. Give it a whirl – and let me know what you think!
I was reading with Miss 8 tonight before my weekly violin teaching. She’d read her school reader earlier this afternoon, so we’d pulled out a book that I’d read when *I* was learning to read, a few decades ago. “The Hermit’s Purple Shirts”. I liked it, and so does Miss 8.
It was strange, to be listening to her read I book I’d read, so many years ago. The memories of then, combining with the memories that were created tonight… So precious.
Here’s hoping that you also had a great day, dear readers!
— Ceridwyn
The other week, I was visiting Beerwah Library to change picture books & readers for my cherubs. I had an extra minute, so I thought I’d have a quick look through their boxes of ‘for sale’ culls.
I must admit some surprise to see ‘Breaking Dawn’ there. Having wanted to read this again, recently, I thought it a fortunate find. Still more so when I went to pay for it and found it would only cost me ONE DOLLAR!!!
How incredible is that!
Here’s hoping that your day is an amazing one too, dear readers!
