Wrap Up: April 2019
Happy Wrap Up for April 2019 everybody! Let’s get stuck in.
**Preface** This month has had an accompaniment of builders, plumbers and professional rejection. So if you notice any existentialist frustration in this post, that’s why.
Work
Work has been a slog. I’ve been in full panic edit-mode and it’s been a very uncreative working experience. For most of April, I’ve felt disconnected from my book and my characters. And I haven’t found a way to rectify that yet. But, ever diligent (and seeing a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel), I’m keeping on. And I’ve only got two thirds or so left to edit… this is what I tell people… What I don’t tell people is that the third I’ve edited is the most developed part of the story and I’m going into the next part with hazy vision and a lot of belly ache.
Hey-ho though, let’s get to the end of this! I can’t wait to start putting it out into the world. I’m excited. And terrified. But mostly excited… And terrified.
I’m also teaching myself how to work in Unity. Last year I completed a game story course with John Yorke Story. By the end of that course, I had an original video game story. Which I shoved into my digital drawer along with all my screenplays, short stories and essays, never to be heard of again… Except that every now and then I think about ALL of these ideas. None more so than that game. So I’ve decided to make it. And Unity is the game developing platform, software, thing that I’m going to use.
This is my new project. It’ll take a while… probably about the same amount of time as this novel is taking me. I have to learn everything, and I’ve never done anything like this before. But I’m excited to use a variety of different skills to smush something cool together. I’ll try to keep an update on this project.
Books
I am so embarrassed about how far behind I am on my good reads challenge. I managed to finish one book in April. Persephone by Loic Locatelli-Kournwsky. (It was beautiful! here’s my GoodReads page for the other books I’ve read this year) I started loads of other books, I just couldn’t get into them.
I did something super fun recently! This was technically on 1st May but I’m making the decision to include it in this Wrap Up, so that it’s not so dingy and depressing to read.
In Bath, there’s this book shop called Mr B’s Emporium. They do a ‘Reading Spa’ service. Where you go in with your cute little voucher and they set you up with essentially your dream bookseller. You sit for two hours talking about books. Then you take home £55 worth of awesome new reads. This experience happened to me.
I was so impressed with every part of it. I thought that as an ex-bookseller I’d be a pretty hard person to please but my bibliotherapist (I love this btw) Rhian was amazing. They’d manifested my perfect bookseller, somehow. She gave me a colossal pile to work from.
It took me ages to decide. But it was worth it. When your biggest dilemma is whether you want a historical fiction or a modern fantasy set in New York, you’re doing okay. I ended up picking seven from this pile (and paying an extra £15). But when you can’t leave a book behind, the bookshop has worked its magic, and I left feeling touched by that magic.
This has totally revitalised my reading! It was exactly what I needed! And I’m super grateful to Mr B’s and my mum for giving me the gift of a huge pile of books.
If this sounds like something you’d enjoy here’s the info: Mr B’s Emporium Reading Spa
Favourites
- Lemon Drizzle birthday cake.
- Homemade Greek Salad. (To remind me of a better time)
- Ginger and Garlic’s Bibimbap
- Red Shoes! (Finally warm enough to wear my summer shoes.)
- Dr Organics Argan Oil (Which I’m slathering in my hair!)
- Jane the Virgin (New season on Netflix)
- She-Ra (Also on Netflix)
- AeroGarden (My birthday present!)
- My old faithful Bose headphones (There were builders and plumbers all over the place this month)
- Ikea Day Out (Super fun!)
Goals For May
As always, until it’s done, I’m going to work hard on my book! But I want to take a bit of time to be re-inspired by the project. So I’ll be working on that throughout May.
I want to spend more time doing things in the world. I tend to spend a lot of time on my own and because of that, I’ve become a bit of a recluse. I’m talking PJ’s at 3pm level recluse. So I’m going to make an effort to step outside and do… things.
The last goal for May is to learn new things that will help me become a more rounded (creative) person. So I’m working in Unity and trying to get back into illustrating. I feel too comfortable in my world that I’m almost stagnating. I need to shake things up.
Thanks for reading…
Sorry.
Here’s a link to my Peanut Butter post cuz peanut butter makes everything better: Peanut Butter
Here’s a fun update from last April, so you can see how much I’ve changed… Spoilers… I haven’t.