Zelena Hope

 Another week has gone by, so it's time for our second reading catch up! Let's go! Audiobooks:    You Are A Writer (So Start Acting Like One) by Jeff Goins  I love this book. So many craft books are about writing faster and quicker and how to be better. This one is refreshing in the way that it doesn't do any of that. Instead, Jeff wants you to believe that hey, you're a writer. That's it. You are a writer, believe in yourself and other's will belive in you too.  Hamilton: The Revolution by Jeremy McCarter and Lin-Manuel Miranda  Another week, another Lin-Manuel Miranda book. I know, and yes, it's going to be a thing. As a fan of the musical Hamilton, this behind the scenes look at how the show came together is fascinating. If you're a fan of the show, you're going to love this book. Lin explains his notes for nearly every song!  Books: A Really Basic Introductionn to English Law and the English Legal System by Michael Lambarth While I'm not a la...

 But actual progress? Yeah, that hasn’t been happening. This week has been a slog. I feel like I’ve been wading through chest high quicksand, trying to find my footing, trying to reach a safety. So, now that it’s friday, what have I actually done? Well, I’ve written half a short story for what might become a short story collection, I started (and now scrapped) a new idea that was really cute for a while, but I just can’t get behind it. I’ve made it to a thousand words, I and I’m not enjoying writing it. And if I can’t find enjoyment in it, what hope does any future reader have? I wrote a couple hundred words for old fanfic. It’s so close to being finished, I’ve just been putting it off because I hate endings. I’m really going to miss the original character I created for that story. He has to die, no question, and I always planned for him to die. I just, don’t want to write the death scene. At the start of the week I worked some more on Trial (and upcoming project that I am excited ...

For most of last month, I focused on a single story. Hoping I suppose, to avoid the dreaded falling out of love with the story. Which has happened before. I’ve started stories, and then stopped. They’re good, I like them. I don’t love them. Sometimes I stop because I’m worried about how the story will be perceived once it’s out in the world. Sure, I like it. My beta readers might like it, hell an editor might like it - but will the public? What about Twitter, what about cancel culture? What if I’ve got something wrong and someone, somewhere finds it offensive? When so much of the conversation is dominated by the American narrative, it can be scary to raise your head above the parapet and say, “that’s not my perspective, nor my experience.”  More often that not, when people do write their own experience, Americans shout them down. “Own Voices,” has become a double edged sword. Social media would like you to write in your own voice, from your own experiences, but only if it stays in ...