Cephalopod Coffeehouse & Do Ya Got Goals? [Jan.]

It's the end of the month, and so time to post for the Do You Have Goals? hop (hosted by Misha Gericke & Beth Fred) as well as the Cephalopod Coffeehouse Book Club (hosted by the Armchair Squid).

Fave book of Jan.

This month it's an easier decision than I've faced in some past months. I read four books in January and my favourite was by my blogger buddy and all-round-groovy chicka, Mina Lobo. Her book is called THAT FATAL KISS.

Here's a modified version of my GoodReads review:

First off, I love Greek mythology (I even studied it at uni), so THAT FATAL KISS, a re-telling of the Hades & Persephone myth, was a blast from the past. I thought it was interesting how Lobo treated Artemis, who has always been my favourite goddess. Artemis was basically a petulant, whiny little sister at times, which was cute, even if I do love the mighty huntress Artemis of myth.

Lobo portrays Hades as a delectable kind of sexy, brooding dude, but of course the brooding guys are always much better in fiction than in reality. ;) Still, I tend to leap right on that type in the fictional worlds I immerse myself in - and I'm perfectly happy doing so.

THAT FATAL KISS was humorous as well as sweet and romantic and, now and then, just a little bit steamy. I also just loved Lobo's writing, and having read a lot of 'meh' books, including some really frustrating self-pubbed titles, I was seriously glad to read a highly polished self-pubbed work. In short, I found pretty much every word pleasing.

Now for my DYHG? goals!

It's been a pretty lazy start to 2014, even though I did strike one goal off my list already - finishing the rewrite of my novella. But in terms of the goal I set myself for DYHG?

publish at least 2 novels in the next 4 years

... I guess I can't say I made any progress at all this month. Except to clear my work desk, so to speak, by getting that pesky novella out of the way!

During March I will be participating in NaNoEdMo, and I will complete at least 50 hours of editing on one of my two chosen novels. Because that's not till March, I really don't know what I'm going to do in Feb! I do know that I can't just sit around doing nothing, 'cause that's a habit I am trying to break out of. Still, at least I have March to look forward to. I'm not sure which novel I'll be revising then, but it'll be either SMALL TOWN or DAPHNE II.

Wish me luck with both making a decision and sticking with it! And on having a productive February! ;)

Cephalopod Coffeehouse & Do You Have Goals? [Dec.]

It's the last Coffeehouse book club meeting for the year! I want to thank the Squid himself for hosting this great little event each month - I sure hope it continues into 2014 and beyond. Anyway, onto December's read!

I read 3 books this month and rated them all 4 out of 5 stars. Since I can't choose a fave, I decided to just randomly stab a dart at one and make that December's book choice. :)


The story:
Nick wakes up in his room hungover and confused. He sees a pair of women's underwear on his floor and knows something must've happened but he has no recollection what. He struggles to learn the truth of what happened, following the few clues he has along a twisty trail.

From the GoodReads blurb:

"Nick Thorneycroft is a British headhunter working in Luxembourg. His company asks him to recruit a high-flying executive for the company's Russian business. The best candidate turns out to be smart, beautiful... and mysterious. Soon the effects of Russia’s political upheaval, and the arrival of an ex-girlfriend who won’t leave him alone, make Nick’s Luxembourg life increasingly perilous; worlds collide in this gripping, atmospheric tale."

My thoughts:
First off, I was intrigued by the description of Luxembourg. I have actually visited that country, but only briefly to step across the border so I could say I'd been there. I haven't seen nearly enough of the country, so it was interesting reading about it in this novella. Secondly, I really liked the pacing of this story - it was fast-paced but also tense and the plot turns kept me guessing until the end. I wasn't expecting it to end how it did, but it sure added to the "interest" factor.

All in all I'm happy I got to read this story thanks to NetGalley and Daniel Pembrey!

Since joining Misha Gericke and Beth Fred's Do You Have Goals? monthly blog hop (and thank you ladies for hosting such a great hop!), my chosen goal has changed quite frequently. And I have not yet achieved any of the variations of it as yet.

"publish something by the end of 2013"

(that was my goal)

So how have I gone this year? Well, I haven't published yet (except for a little poem featured in Vine Leaves, which I am quite proud of, but still wasn't what I had in mind in terms of publishing "something"). This is largely due to my own slackness. Actually, it's entirely due to that. I just haven't put in the required hours for rewriting/revision.

In 2014, I'm determined not only to focus on rewriting and revision, but I am also determined to actually get into line with what this blog hop's all about - setting big, ridiculous goals for yourself and striving toward them.

So stay tuned, folks!

Cephalopod Coffeehouse & Do You Have Goals?

Cephalopod Coffeehouse time! This monthly blog hop is hosted by The Armchair Squid, and is a fair bit of fun. :) The idea is to post about your favourite book read in the last month.

So far this month I've only finished reading two books (yep, I'm having flashbacks to approx. a month ago). But of those I read, the one I preferred was The Trial of Dr. Kate, which I received from Netgalley. Here is a little review (less little than last month's):

Story: This book is set in the early 1950s. Shenandoah Coleman, an ex-fighter pilot who has become a successful reporter in Memphis, returns to the town where she grew up in poverty. She's there to do research for a book she's writing, but also to speak with an old friend, Dr. Kate, who has been arrested and imprisoned on suspicion of murder. After talking to Kate, Shenandoah becomes convinced the doctor isn't guilty. Determined to help clear Kate's name, she starts investigating. At the same time, she's being stalked by the driver of a Dodge Pickup who is apparently set on running her off the road - and killing her. And she's fending off the advances of sweet-talker Bobby who gives her plenty of butterflies.

My thoughts: I quite enjoyed this book for the setting, because I don't really know anything about American history or Tennessee (I'm Australian and when I was at school we really didn't learn any American history except as it related to the World Wars, etc.). Sometimes I found that problems were resolved a little too quickly, like when we finally learned the identity of the Dodge driver. This character harboured hatred toward Shenandoah that had built up over many years (like, fifteen years), but in a matter of minutes Shenandoah managed to diffuse the situation and make everything "okay" again. There was also the fact that at one point, a fair few people died on the same day for unrelated reasons, and some of the deaths were really ... unexpected. :) Not that that doesn't happen in reality. It just seemed a bit strange in this case.

The truth that came out in the end about the murder victim was quite a surprise to me, as was the trial verdict. All in all, I found this a slightly strange read, but I did enjoy "visiting" that part of America (I have in fact visited Tennessee, but only to drive through it). And I was glad when the book ended so I could go back to the cooler weather we were enjoying here in Western Australia at that time. (Sadly, it's starting to heat up now)

I've been participating in this monthly blog hop hosted by Misha Gericke and, as I've neglected to mention before purely because I didn't even realise it, Beth Fred. :) It's a hop where participants reporton how their "big dream" goals are coming along. My goal isn't really the biggest I could have gone for, nor the biggest that I have in my head, but it's the one I really, desperately want to achieve for right now, so that's why I chose it. Anyway, my goal is to:

publish something by the end of 2013

And how have I gone with it since last month?

Back then, I'd received great feedback from my awesome CP Damyanti, but hadn't done anything about it yet. Since then I've managed a rewrite of chapter 1, and now I've received feedback from Damyanti on the rewrite. It was encouraging feedback, as it gave me the impression I'm headed in the right direction. For now I'm going to let the feedback settle, and move onto rewriting the next few chapters.

I don't know that I'll have all this done before year's end, given that November will be NaNo month. I honestly can't see publishing my novella by year's end. But I'm not giving up hope yet. The above will be my goal until the year is over and done.

Cephalopod Coffeehouse, Follow Fest & Goal Update

Woah, dudes and dudettes, I have three things on today, and they are:

Cephalopod Coffeehouse bookclub (a monthly blog hoppin' book club where participants talk about the best book they read in the last month, and hosted by the wondrous Armchair Squid)

Follow Fest (a 5-day blogfest designed to let participants meet other writers and build their own platforms. It's hosted by Melissa Maygrove)

Do You Have A Goal? (a monthly blog hop in which participants update each other on where they're at on the journey to achieving some seriously crazy-big goals. This one's hosted by Misha Gericke)

So, with so many things to do in just one post, I guess I better get on with it! And I'll try to keep it all fairly brief. :)

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I've only finished two books in September so far, if you don't count my friend's book that took me quite a bit of the month to finish (she's Icelandic, living in Sweden, and while the bizarre story was intriguing enough, I was fascinated more by descriptions of Iceland where I now want to visit even more than I already did). Anyway, for this month's Cephalopod post I thought I'd mention Hart Johnson's A FLOCK OF ILL OMENS, and slightly expand on the tiny (mildly spoilerific) GoodReads review I put up:

Hart Johnson's A FLOCK OF ILL OMENS was a quick, easy read that I basically devoured, and immediately wanted to move onto part 2. The story contains multiple POVs, but the characters though spread throughout the US are all connected somehow. Things get off to a pretty dramatic (and deadly) start, and I'm very curious to see how things unfold in future instalments. 

Am I the only one who feels sorry for the seagulls? :P 

Bring on part ii! :)

So, that's my Cephalopod entry for September.

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I think this is a great idea, and I look forward to visiting all the other participants. For now, here's my "stuff":

Name: Trisha F.
Fiction or nonfiction?: Fiction, but I have considered writing travel memoir
What genres do you write?: Romance, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Paranormal, Dystopian, Women's Fiction, Chick Lit
Are you published?: I have a poem published with Vine Leaves, and that's it so far. :)
Do you do anything in addition to writing?: I'm a fine artist and singer-songwriter.

Where can people connect with you?:

• Blog 
• Twitter
• Facebook (at the moment I only have a FB page for my band)
• Goodreads (personal)
• Google+
• LinkedIn

Is there anything else you’d like us to know?: 

I love cats, Bailey's, reading, travelling to far-away (or even really near) places, and finding writer friends I can really connect with for our mutual benefit. :)

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Last month I reported that I had basically sucked at working towards my goal at the time, which was getting a novella ready for query-writing by August's end. I failed at that, and have since chosen a new goal:

publish something by the end of 2013

So far I must say that I am sucking at achieving this goal, too. But I can say I at least have notes from my lovely CP that I can move forward with. And I do have some ideas for how to rewrite. But rewriting isn't really where I wanted to be by now. I wanted to be polishing and verging on self-publishing. Still, at least I have something to work with, and some plan for how to move forward. :)

Cephalopod Coffeehouse bookclub & Goal update (LMG revisions)

Today it's the monthly Cephalopod Coffeehouse book club meeting, hosted by the very groovy Armchair Squid. I'm sharing some medium-sized book reviews.

 Bitter Like Orange Peel - Jessica Bell :: Jessica Bell's latest offering is the story of a messed-up family riddled with secrets and lies. Over the course of the book, the great blanket of lies begins to unravel, with that saying "the truth will out" being constantly proven. Honestly, I sometimes wondered if this family would ever get its poo together. And I'm not really sure they did, even by the book's end. At least I can say they made progress. Jessica Bell is a beautiful writer with a knack for writing "difficult", complicated characters. Most of the characters in this book I wanted to slap really hard a lot of the time. The end of the book didn't feel like much of an end - more like there was a clean slate and the family finally had a chance to start fresh. Without lies, this time. I feel like I need to wish them good luck!

True Grit - Charles Portis :: Quite a few years ago, one of my aunties told me I should read this book. Now that I finally have, I can see what she meant when she told me, "It's fantastic!" I loved it to bits. The character of Mattie Ross is truly loveable and admirable, and as one review in a famous magazine said, she sure knows what it means to have "true grit". There were other characters to get a kick out of, too, a colourful cast of people with really cool names like "Rooster" Cogburn, La Boeuf, and Lucky Ned Pepper. Tom Chaney was a good name for an "outlaw" too, I suppose. But Rooster was a great character who really did have the "true grit" Mattie was seeking in others all through the book. I can definitely see myself re-reading this book in future. And I'll have to check out the movie, even if I'm not convinced it can do the book justice.

My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult :: I finally read this, many years after it was first "hot", and can say that it's a great book. I wasn't expecting the  ending, and I hear they changed it in the movie - I can imagine how they might've done so, but I'd have to watch it to find out. Which I will do, someday. In this book, characters do things I totally did not agree with, but I could still see their reasons, and understand their predicaments. Jodi Picoult writes family pain and characters in crisis so well, and makes you hurt along with them. Sometimes I did feel that I was being manipulated (like with at least one scene narrated by Anna that just verged on a bit too dramatic), but I guess these characters had the right to some dramatic flair!

Sister - Rosamund Lupton :: I remember reading about this book on somebody's blog and thinking I would have to read it. I've done so now, and I really enjoyed the read, even if I found it quite a strange experience. The story was gripping, and for the most part well written, but I found Lupton's use of commas really odd. And yet her book was generally written in a beautiful, poetic style. The story itself? Very gripping, and with a gasp-worthy, haunting twist at the end. In the back of the copy I read, there's an interview with the author where she is asked a question about the twist - did that really happen? She answers that she feels it did, but that it's up to the individual reader to make up their own mind. I'm the sort of person who can't really believe something's real unless there is 100% blatant "yes, it is real and here is all the proof" confirmation. So I'm not really sure what I believe. But I'm sure as heck still wondering. So, if you like crime/thriller from an amateur sleuth perspective, I definitely recommend this read.

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Also today is the Do You Have A Goal? (DYHAG for short, or so I'm referring to it) monthly bloghop, which is hosted by Misha Gericke.

The goal I chose was to:

get LMG ready for QueryCon by end of August

So, how have I done with this goal since I signed up for Misha's hop?

Tomorrow is the last day of August. I have so far sent chapters 1-4 of LMG to a CP and got feedback. I have since sent chapters 5-6 off, and doubt I'll get feedback before August ends. There are twenty chapters in this novella. So, I guess you could say I didn't achieve my goal. And you want to know why? I'm a slacker. That is the sole reason for it. I should have read through the whole thing by now and polished it up, fleshed it out where it needs fleshing, etc.. But instead I have watched the entire series of Gilmore Girls.

And it's been awesome.

So, yeah, I totally blame myself for not meeting my goal. But luckily I'm not that miserable about it. I'm content to just keep on plugging away at this thing. Because it's true that I really should just work on one writing project at a time. When I try to do bits of everything, I do nothing.

Teensy tiny little writing slump?

I have actually set myself a little goal, and it is to get my novella ("Lost, Missing, Gone") polished up in time for QueryCon 2013 in September. I set this goal the other day, and even publicly recorded my goal (which I just wrote as "gole" ... wow, I'm going good ay?) over at Misha Gericke's Five Year Project blog. I haven't actually started polishing it yet, well not since I settled on it for realz as a goal - a single goal I will concentrate on to the detriment of all other goals. It's been polished previously, but more in a proof-reading sort of way than anything else. But at least I've chosen my single project, right?

Oh, wait, I have other stuff to get done - namely stuff for my musical collaboration reciprocation (I owe Billy some GarageBand files and two in particular) - and I also wanted to get a short story of mine polished enough to submit to a magazine by the end of this month of August. But I've been watching a lot of Gilmore Girls (yes, I do love that show) and that's just kind of taken up all my time. ;)

I've probably lost my writerly mojo a little bit ever since June (and BuNoWriMo) ended. At least I managed to get those 50k written, and then I moved house. Not long later, I also managed to add to those 50k until I was done with the story (in very rough draft form). But I'm sure the writing bug is going to come back and bite me in the butt at any moment. After all, I can feel the creativity bubbling away inside me. It's just not spewing out just yet. I guess you could say I've had a little break, and that little break may continue for a few more days. But I do hope that Gilmore Girls breaks its hold on me sometime soon.

Will I have to wait until I've finished all 7 seasons? (I'm on season 4 right now)

What's keeping you from your goals, if anything?