Okay, I know I’ve been sparse here this week. I’m a little sorry.
This November, I attempted National Novel Writing Month, for the first non-major election year. If you’re a reporter, just about every year is an election year. And this year’s election was surprisingly awesome, on many levels. For reference, I live in Virginia, and honest to God, those election results had me in tears of joy.
I technically cheated on it – I included my work writing in it because, lets be real – If I hadn’t, there’s no way in hell I would have won. WHICH I DID.
I split my words between work words and fiction words, and it was basically a 60-40 split with how the words ended up. I had significantly more work words in November than fiction words, which I kind of expected, since I counted work, blog & freelance words.
That’s right – freelance! I have taken a job writing for Culturess! I’m mostly writing about books, so you’ll see me sharing more of their links than I did before. I hope you enjoy reading me talk about some great things even more. Also I’m paid by the view, so please! Read & share!
Here’s my stuff for the month of November! Check it out & tell me about your month!
Books I Read:
The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (DNF) | One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake | Caroline’s Heart by Austin Chant | The Woman in the Camphor Trunk by Jennifer Kincheloe | Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers | The November Girl by Lydia Kang | Transcendent 2 Anthology | No More Heroes by Michelle Kan* | Weave A Circle Round by Kari Maaren | Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor* |
Posts I Wrote:
Review:: Shadowhouse Fall by Daniel José Older | Coffee Shop Talk: Video Games | #DIVERSE BOOK BLOGGERS DISCUSS: HOW ADHD AFFECTS MY READING | Review:: Caroline’s Heart by Austin Chant | Monday Mini-Reviews 11/13/17 | Review:: The November Girl by Lydia Kang | Review:: Transcendent 2 Anthology | Character Interview:: Leo from Love Sugar Magic | Review:: Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers [SPOILERS EVERYWHERE] |
Culturess Posts I Wrote:
Should Castle fans try and embrace the creators’ new series, Take Two? | 20 nonbinary creators you need to keep an eye out for | What to expect from Nnedi Okorafor’s Who Fears Death HBO show | Review: Weave A Circle Round, Kari Maaren | Star Trek: William Shatner blocks Jason Isaacs on Twitter | Forget Scooby and Shaggy — Daphne and Velma are the real stars! | Goodreads giveaways just got a whole lot pricier |
Journalism I Did in November:
Bookmobile to roll again in Pittsylvania County | Danville school board brainstorms path to better schools | Danville deadly shooting scene sold at auction; proceeds go to victim’s widow, 6-year-old son | In race for supervisors in Pittsylvania County, only one seat contested | Community Foundation honors veterans memorial on 10-year anniversary | Pittsylvania County IDA seeks loan up to $5 million | Mother, son lose belongings in early Saturday morning Danville fire | Fatal outbuilding fire under investigation in Pittsylvania County | On Veterans Day, Marine handed keys to new home | With purple sweet potato, a new cash crop sprouts in Southern Virginia | Write-in votes include Andy Griffith, Mickey Mouse and Jesus for Dan River Region seats | 17-year-old pleads not guilty in mother’s 2016 death; trial set Dec. 4 | More expected to hit the road over Thanksgiving holiday | Best advice for avoiding holiday drama? Change the subject … fast | Jail costs rise in Dan River Region | Public safety coordinator settling in new Pittsylvania County position | Stopping crime, one phone call at a time | Libraries waiving fines for donations | New mobile sign shows love for Danville, Pittsylvania County | With aging equipment, landfill in need of upgrades, supervisors told | Danville library renaming waits for answers as councilman wants to take over fundraising |
Links I Liked:
Writing While Autistic, #1: Advice and Rules and Guilt | Poem by Sinead Anja Herring | Yaa Gyasi: ‘I write a sentence. I delete it. I wonder if it’s too early for lunch’ | It’s Possible: An Oral History of 1997’s “Cinderella” | Nnedi Okorafor at TEDGlobal 2017: Sci-fi stories that imagine a future Africa | The First Woman to Translate the ‘Odyssey’ Into English | NaNoWriMo: Time Management Tips | Exclusive Art from the new A Darker Shade of Magic Collector’s Edition | The Shape of the Darkness As It Overtakes Us | Why Every Book Made For Our Black Girls Ain’t A Good Book | In an Age of Fake News, a Historian of the Hoax | The fabulist who changed journalism | IS “SHOW DON’T TELL” A UNIVERSAL TRUTH OR A COLONIAL RELIC? | When Women Speak: Zetta Elliott | Standing on the Floodbanks | #69: Getting Unstuck from “Should” | The Board Soul: Fuck Colonialism | 89-Year-Old Japanese Grandma Discovers Photography, Can’t Stop Taking Hilarious Self-Portraits Now | Writing and Fear | Writing While Autistic #4: Reclaiming Hyperfocus | Writing While Autistic 5: Transitions are difficult – Comings and Goings |
Woohooooo, congratulations on your win! I also am so happy to hear that I wasn’t the only person just trying to get to 50K words, rather than making them all be words from a single piece of work. I did 50K words combined from a bunch of different projects and it felt lovely. 🙂
Yes! If I’d tried 50k of just fiction, I literally wouldn’t have ever been able to leave my house. But I loved being able to win doing all the things!