#WriteTuesday – Back After a Break

Like I said I was going to, I took the last week off from writing.  I’m not going to lie: it was kind of hard.  At the back of my mind I kept thinking that I really need to figure out what I’m doing for June on Sustainably North.  I was also tempted to start writing another short story for fun.  So I don’t know that it was a particularly relaxing week, but I stayed away from writing.

One of the best things to come out of this was that I finally read Naomi Novik’s Spinning Silver.  I was a huge fan of Uprooted, and was really looking forward to reading her next fairy tale.  But I wanted Spinning Silver in trade paperback so it’s the same as my copy of Uprooted.  So for my birthday last year, my brother gave me a gift card for Chapters, and I waited almost a year, saving that card until Spinning Silver was finally available in trade.  It arrived late last week to the store and I picked it up on Friday.  I then spent most of the weekend reading it.

I’m not going to lie: it felt so good to be reading fiction.  I’ve read so much nonfiction over the last few years, many of which have been climate-related books.  They’re heavy, and honestly rather depressing.  So even though Spinning Silver is not exactly a happy read (the kingdom in question is besieged by the lord of winter, who is extending winter further and further into the other seasons so crops are dying) and is in its own way topical (dealing with crazy weather patterns), it was still fantastical and honestly just an all around good read.  (Although I freely admit that I thought there were a few too many point of view characters popping up – I think Uprooted was better because the narrative is much tighter).  Even though the nonfiction books I’ve been reading have been good in their own ways, it was wonderful to go back to fiction.

Once I was finished reading Spinning Silver, I then spent some time going through some old magazines.  I got through about five or so that have been sitting around, waiting for me to read them (I was especially happy to get through a few Maclean’s magazines – I was almost a year behind on them!!!)  Other than that, I found myself mostly hanging out with friends and family (happy belated Mother’s Day to all of the mothers out there!)

This next week looks like it’s going to be rather busy.  Between work and other plans, I’m going to have to be really careful with my time.  I’m hoping to have June planned out for Sustainably North by next Tuesday, and have started the edits on the Make Your Way story (in a perfect world, I’m hoping to have the first full editing sweep done; we’ll see how that goes as the week progresses!)  So wish me luck, and lots of luck to you, whatever your plans are over the next week! 🙂

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April 2019 What Are You Reading?

So not much reading happened for me this month.

Nonfiction books:

• The Great Transition: Shifting from Fossil Fuels to Solar and Wind Energy by Lester R. Brown

Fiction books:

• none

I was reading The Great Transition for Sustainably North (in April I was celebrating the one year anniversary of the blog, and it came up when I went looking for a positive book on global warming).  Unfortunately it was a bit hard to get through, so I wouldn’t really say it was my favourite, even though it was the only thing I finished reading (I flipped through a couple of other nonfiction books this month, but didn’t actually read through them). Oh, I also read a couple of magazines (I took a few Canadian MoneySaver magazines out from the library and finished those, too – I’d probably say their February 2019 issue on Women in Finance was the best thing I read this month).

So what have you read over the last month?  Did you have a favourite book (or magazine)?

March 2019 What Are You Reading?

The way the month started out, I wasn’t sure if I’d actually make it through any books!  I started reading Feel the Fear…And Do It Anyway, and sort of had a hard time finishing it.  But I did and was able to get through a few other books, too (I was actually quite proud of myself for reading Larry Bates’ Beat the Bank – I bought it on my Kindle a few months ago with the intention of reading it sooner, but just didn’t get to it until now!)

Nonfiction books:

• Feel the Fear…And Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers, PhD
• Beat the Bank by Larry Bates
• White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by  Robin Diangelo

Fiction books:

• None!

Wow, this ended up a heavy month, reading-wise.  After making it through the first two books, I decided to tackle White Fragility.  It’s come up a lot at work lately, so I wanted to know what exactly it entailed.

I don’t feel that it’s fair to say which book was my favourite this month.  The three books I read were all good reads in their own ways.  Feel the Fear…And Do It Anyway got me thinking about how fear might be holding me back on doing things in life.  Beat the Bank was another book on financial planning (I’ve read a few now), which gave me some new insights to consider.  I liked that it was Canadian too.  And White Fragility was, I think, a very important read.  It’s the type of book that pretty much every white person living in a Western country (especially in North America) should read and consider (although it is by no means perfect, as I think this review on Goodreads by Pococurante does a good job pointing out).

So that was my month, reading-wise.  What about you?

February 2019 What Are You Reading?

I didn’t do much reading this month.  I’ve got a few books that I started but I only finished two.

Nonfiction books:

• Editing Made Easy: Simple Rules for Effective Writing by Bruce Kaplan

Fiction books:

• Hags, Sirens, and Other Bad Girls of Fantasy edited by Denise Little

My favourite of the two was Editing Made Easy.  I just didn’t really connect with Hags, Sirens, and Other Bad Girls of Fantasy. 😦  But that’s okay – I find anthologies pretty hit and miss because they contain such a wide range of stories in them.

So what have you read over the last month?  What was your favourite book?

January 2019 What Are You Reading?

I’ve really started 2019 with a major fiction kick!  I was sick at the beginning of the month so I read several books while staying home and trying to get better.

Nonfiction books:

• None!

Fiction books:

• Dredd: Collecting Dredd vs. Death, Kingdom of the Blind, and The Final Cut
• Divergent by Veronica Roth
• Prison of Ice and Snow by Ruth Lauren
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
• Fair Game by Patricia Briggs
• Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri

I’m not really sure which book was my favourite this month because I really enjoyed both Fair Game and Empire of Sand.  Fair Game is by one of my favourite authors, and I really liked how this chapter of her Alpha and Omega series played out.  Empire of Sand was really unique (in my experience anyway) because it was a fantasy written using Mughal India as a basis.  It had some really fun worldbuilding and magic, plus I really enjoyed the story.  So I’m not going to choose between the two this month – they were both fantastic reads! 🙂

So what have you read over the last month?  What was your favourite book?

Dec 2018 What Are You Reading?

In the lead up to the holidays, I managed to read a few books (mostly nonfiction once again).  But once I got a bit closer to the holidays I wasn’t reading as much.  So here’s what I read:

Nonfiction books:

• Make Your Own Rules Diet by Tara Stiles
• Will Write for Food: The Complete Guide to Writing Cookbooks, Restaurant Reviews, Articles, Memoir, Fiction and More… by Dianne Jacob
• The Girl’s Guide to Starting Your Own Business by Caitlin Friedman and Kimberly Yorio

The Make Your Own Rules Diet was something I picked up at work that sounded interesting.  The other two books are nonfiction books I’ve had for YEARS.  I read Will Write for Food to learn about writing a recipe for Sustainably North; I’m glad I finally read it because it was super interesting to learn about the passion that goes into food writing.

Fiction books:

• Tyke & Dusty by Bill MacDonald

I don’t know if Tyke & Dusty is 100% fiction, or if you’d classify it as creative nonfiction because MacDonald writes the factual life stories of his two cats, but puts in what he thinks they were thinking and saying.

This month, I’m finding it a bit hard to pick my favourite book.  Even though I didn’t rate it very well, I did enjoy reading the Make Your Own Rules Diet.  The other two books, while good, were a bit harder to just sit down and read (they read a bit more like text books I guess).  Tyke & Dusty was really well written too though, so I guess it’s a toss up between the two.

So what have you read over the last month?  What was your favourite book?

Nov 2018 What Are You Reading?

I really slowed down on my reading this month because I wanted to really focus on the story I’m working on for the Make Your Way anthology (with the hopes of getting it written and submitted as soon as I can because it’s been two months since I decided to work on it).  So here’s what I did read:

Nonfiction books:

• None this month!

Fiction books:

• Rhubarb by H. Allen Smith
• I, Death by Mark Leslie

I wasn’t a huge fan of either book, but of the two I’d say my favourite was Rhubarb.  It was kind of ridiculous and silly but I still found it to be a lot more fun than I, Death.  I read Rhubarb right before I, Death and between the two of them I kind of lost interest in reading for a bit.  Oh well, hopefully the next book I read is more my thing!

So what have you read over the last month?  What was your favourite book?