Ready Player One by Ernest Cline 

This is an excellent read and as a child of the 1970’s and a teen in the 1980’s I appreciated the pop culture references and the fun of it all. The book is both new and nostalgic at the same time.

The story is simultaneously a classic quest and a virtual space opera. In a world of remakes and sequels the story is fresh and fun. The young gamers and the 1980’s teens both can enjoy the adventure.

 

This is now old news now but Ready Player One is making the jump to the big screen in 2018 directed by none other than Steven Spielberg. Talk about Meta!  Even the score is by John Williams! If the movie brings 1980’s culture back into fashion I will be extremely amused and dig out many old photos for a good laugh.

 

And speaking of adapting books to screen, did you catch the season finale of Outlander? I was a bit skeptical of the first part of this season but once the main characters decided to return to Scotland everything clicked into place and the magic returned.

I was impressed how they adapted the end of the second book and when Jamie takes Claire to the stones it felt like I was discovering the scene for the first time though I have read the books repeatedly.

Now I need to reread the next book Voyager and probably Dragonfly in Amber again as well.

Do you have a favorite adaptation or one that was an absolute mess?

Books by James S. A. Corey In addition to watching the entire first season of the Expanse, I have devoured most of the Expanse series mentioned in the previous post. Thank you Syfy network for helping me find these stories!

The first book is Leviathan Wakes, followed by : Caliban’s War, Abaddon’s Gate, Cibola Burn and Nemesis Games. I have requested Nemesis Games from the local public library and will pick it up soon. The characters are solid and interesting, the world (perhaps worlds in this context) building is excellent and grounded in science.

Check out this link for more information. http://www.jamessacorey.com/books/

It has been fun to read these books but it has also been research for me. I am curious to see what is new, popular and well done in the Science Fiction genre right now.

I am also doing research for my works in progress, looking into cutting edge technologies, and NASA explorations. I have been binge watching  Space’s Deepest Secrets on the Science Channel. It’s fun and I can call it research.

 

I have also been looking through  sites that document and categorize the moons of the solar system:  http://www.windows2universe.org/our_solar_system/moons_table.html

And studying the space programs of the world. There is a lot of really amazing stuff going on now that most of the rest of the world has no idea about. Or maybe I am just late to the party and this is old news, still it is exciting!

So I shared a short story that I am working on with a good friend today. She is an excellent writer and a great editor and she likes that same kind of stuff that I do, so I passed it along. This is not the first time I have let someone read something that I have written but it is the first time I asked for advice, editing help and the first time I am looking at publishing a work. I have always written, but I rarely share. Up to now that has been ok. I feel like this is a step into the wider world and demonstrating that I am making a commitment to the “writing thing”. I am still working on editing the major Work in Progress but I think it is starting to make sense, the feel of it, either the work is finding its groove or I am making it fit a groove, but overall it should be shareable next.

One thing I have learned in the past 18 months is that the writing business IS A Business. And while I knew that fact in some ways, there is a lot I am learning now that makes so much sense and I think will make a difference in the long run. There are numbers and data to read up on every week or day or month, and a lot of people out there doing what I want to do. I have always written – see above- but writing with the goal of publishing seems to be a factor of 10 exponentially larger than writing alone.

So, here I go!

Reading Leviathan Wakes now because I have become hooked on the television show The Expanse. When I first saw the previews for the Expanse I thought that my world of my current work in progress had come to life. Well, not exactly, but it is much closer than most of what I have seen before. It is gritty and realistic, with a diverse cast and interesting story lines. Have you ever watched a show you found fascinating and when the credits roll it mentions that the story was based on a book? I am usually hitting google, amazon and the local library as soon as I see those words.

Now I am recording episodes of the Expanse and trying to catch up on the series. That plus Outlander is keeping me busy and I don’t usually watch much Television. Have you ever found a fictional world that is familiar and comfortable but still interesting? Both the books and television shows create characters but also a world that I want to keep visiting.

 

Primary season has begun in Indiana now and it is hard to believe that April is over and May 3rd is right around the corner. May in Indiana also means  the Indianapolis 500 and this year is a big year for the Speedway. The 100th Running of the Indy 500 is a big deal, especially during Indiana’s Bicentennial. I just finished CampNanoWrimo and I am now thinking about using Scrivener to organize my current Works in Progress. The Winner Goodies from Camp seem to be helpful, I will find out more in the next few days.

I found an inspiring blog post about how Author Susan Kaye Quinn uses Scrivener to organize her planning and marketing and resources for her books. I have read many of her works as well as her blog. As I was debating on trying to learning Scrivener during  CampNanoWrimo I read this older blog post and found it helpful.

Here is the link to her post: http://susankayequinn.blogspot.com/2014/12/how-i-use-scrivener-to-organize.html

 

 

 

So… over Spring Break I had big plans and got very little done but did finally manage some down time. Now that it is April I have signed up for Camp NaNoWiMo for some encouragement and inspiration. If you haven’t heard of it, it is much like regular NaNoWiMo only with more flexible target goals. Also in both opportunities is the chance to try out multiple platforms of writing tools. I think I may try out Scrivener for real this time. I always mean to give it a go, but then I never have the time to go through all the tutorials – which I think would be really helpful and get frustrated and give up and return to either word, or a pen and paper.

Do you use any writing tools?

Helpful resources?

I will try out Scrivener and let you know how it goes, this should be interesting.

Good luck on your own adventures and  -if you get one -I hope you had a wonderful Spring Break!

If you want to do something significant, something noble, something that perhaps has never been done before, you must be willing to fail. And don’t be surprised or devastated when you do. It is not the end of the world, and untold numbers of people have experienced major failures and have come back from them,…

via Buzz Aldrin: ‘My First Experiment on the Moon Was a Failure’ — TIME

It has been a long while since I last posted and those who know me might think that I haven’t had enough Alone Time to keep me productive over the past month or so. It has been a rocky time, but we are all still here and as of right now, we are doing OK. I was inspired to create this title after reading the writeonsisters A- Z Challenge for 2016. I don’t know that I can make 26 posts fit into an A-Z theme, but it gives me a challenge to think about and that is always a good thing.

SO…Alone time?

I value alone time and can either be a total sloth or amazingly productive during such time depending on my week and the needs of my schedule. I find it can be very helpful in getting my brain going or getting things done, but in general alone time to me is a positive. I know some people see exercise as their alone time and make sure they have a time set aside each day for quiet reflection or a workout or both. Others don’t enjoy much alone time or get lonely and I suppose I do if I have a long duration of lots of days spent alone. I spend much of my days with other people so alone time can be precious to me as a way to decompress and settle. I also believe that it is helpful to my family, friends and coworkers; it keeps my fuse long and outlook bright.

This got me to thinking, what if you never, ever had any alone time? What would alone time look like if it suddenly appeared? What if after a lifetime of being surrounded by others, family, peers, instructors, you suddenly were left in a room for a time….alone?

Would that feel scary?

Exhilarating?

Peaceful?

A new step towards a new life or the beginning of an amazing adventure?

Could it be a catalyst for change or a traumatizing experience?

I am working on a scene where I am writing about the first time my main character is alone in a room of her own. This is a novel concept for her and she is apprehensive about it but welcomes what it represents. We’ll see how it turns out, still needs lots of work!
 

 

 

Thinking of authors who have done some amazing things in the past decade, I recently read up on Stephenie Meyer of Twilight fame and her use of music in her work; both to write by and the soundtracks she hears in her head that follow/create/enhance the story. Stephenie even posts playlists of her novels on her website and in some of her books. I found it a fun additional perk to get to know the author and what was going on in her head. It really seemed like a bonus.

I was thinking about the fact and notices that my current works in progress – well most of them at least – have no music. Some of the scenes are perfect for at least background music. Where is the music? Why don’t I have music? What is up with that? As I ponder this fact I think I need more music in my writing and regular life so I am going to make an effort to increase the minutes of music in my life.

Now the big question is what music? Which music?

Music to inspire

Old favorites

Music that might fit the culture that I am writing about

War/patriotic/nationalistic songs

Soundtracks to my favorite science fiction movies

 

Comments: Do you write with music? Do you have a soundtrack of your story, your life?

I’m working on one!  🙂

Do you ever think about who would play your characters if your story turned into a movie? With all of the Oscar buzz and the golden globes and such going on right now, it is something I think of occasionally. Do you envision the characters in your mind and think they look like so and so? I don’t usually, but lately I have been tempted.

I also think about the time and the place of the story and how that might change how people look and act in comparison to now. In the future – at some point – will so many people be of mixed race that it ceases to be a big deal? In my stories most of the characters are of mixed descent, with a few different phenotypes thrown in for good measure.

 

Phenotypes- “Observable traits”- what people actually see, height, eye color, hair color and such.