[NOV UPDATE] Cephalopod Book Club & Goals

~ The Cephalopod Coffeehouse Book Club : Nov 2017 ~

It's been another month of quite a few reads, but this month I did not have any 5-star reads to choose from. I had quite a few 4-star reads, and the top two were the one I chose, and the final book in the Jessica Darling series. It was a tough choice, because I am so in love with that series, but I decided that I would choose Cassie Mae's Switched as my book of the month this month. Here's my modified GoodReads review:

Recently I went on a little Cassie Mae book buying binge, and this was one of the books I picked up for my Kindle. I wasn't sure what I would think because I didn't love the premise of a girl trying to break up her bestie's relationship - part of me thought I might detest Kayla all the way through. Thankfully I wasn't disappointed, because there was character growth and, after all, human beings aren't perfect, and I don't want to read about perfect Mary Sues anyway!

Having read many of Cassie Mae's books by now, this is probably amongst my faves. It helped that there were times when I literally burst out laughing and couldn't stop, and there was even gigglesnorting involved. So, humour? Big tick! (and they say laughter is the best medicine, sooooo...this book is healthy to read!) I loved the hero, Wesley, and as mentioned above (and as I saw mentioned in some other reviews too), I wasn't sure if I was going to think much of Kayla, but thankfully across the span of the book she learned and grew as a person. I will say that I think she was a very lucky girl to have such an understanding bestie!

All in all, this was a nice and swoonworthy story with imperfect characters who grew as people. Oh, and there were a couple of total hottie guys to drool over. What more could a (romance-loving) girl want?

This is the GoodReads blurb:

"Ever since high school, Kayla has been crazy for gorgeous football player Talon. But before she could muster the courage to tell him, he became a hot item with her beautiful BFF, Reagan. The only person who knows Kayla’s secret is Wesley, Talon’s best bud—and he’s got it bad for Reagan. Now they’re all in college together, hanging out 24/7. For Kayla, seeing the two lovebirds together is absolutely unbearable. So Kayla and Wesley hatch a plot to drive them apart before Talon has a chance to give Reagan the Christmas gift she’s been waiting for.

Soon enough, the once happy couple is fighting. Reagan suddenly can’t get enough of Wesley’s goofy sense of humor, and Talon seems to be paying more attention to Kayla than a guy who’s “only a friend” ever should. But just when everything seems to be falling into place, Kayla and Wesley accidentally spend a night together and discover a hitch in their plan they never considered: that switching partners may not lead to a perfect ending after all."

Currently Reading: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

~ Do You Have Goals? : November 2017 ~

Each month, a group of bloggers report on what goals they have been working to achieve in the last month. A while ago now we set longish-term goals (and they were meant to be big goals, so we could feel bold and daring!) and each month we're tracking our progress towards achieving those goals. Check out the Do You Have Goals? blog for a list of participants, and feel free to join our hop if you want to have some extra motivation for achieving your goals. :)

This month's updates on my own creative goals:

• EDITS IN GENERAL - No editing is being done this month, due to NaNo. Of course, they are always lurking there in the back of my mind, and I have not forgotten what awaits me after November is done! I got my last critiques back from my CP for Sundown but I am too scared to look at those yet. I'm saving it for later. ;)
• NaNoWriMo '17- I was very relieved to get my last assignment done for my studies early in November, but I was doing surprisingly well with NaNo even before that. This is one of those years where the words are flowing easily. For the most part I've been writing THE FULL CIRCLE, but at one point I started jumping around to different scenes I wanted to write, so I am now working on filling various gaps. It's still flowing well and I'm at just over 70k for that novel. I've also written about 2,600 on my other project, HOTEL LOBBY, but that one isn't my main focus.
• Music - This one is really hanging over my head and putting me under pressure all the time. I want to get it done but never seem to have the motivation on weekends, etc. I need to be in the right frame of mind to do music. That said, I hope to get recordings for two final songs done this weekend...

That's a wrap for November. How are you doing with your goals/projects/etc?

NaNoWriMo 2017

So, I had my plan all figured out for NaNoWriMo this year, with my 'beat sheet' written up and discussed with my critique group (though not in any great depth at this point). Then, boom, bam, lightning strikes and I get another idea ... which has sort of taken over my first idea.

I'll probably still start off writing my first idea during November, just because that was my original plan. BUT the second idea is really consuming me and I'm dying to start writing it. Currently I'm writing up scene summaries for what I'll be writing, and filling in any gaps that show themselves. And no matter how many notes I wrote, my excitement doesn't diminish. Ohhh, I love this inspired feeling!

Of course, before I can really get stuck into NaNo, I have my last two assignments to complete for my studies - and they're big ones hanging over my head. I also technically have to complete my research project which is a rather mammoth undertaking. So while I'm excited about NaNo, I'm super stressed about my studies.

It's a weird sort of situation to be in.

Editing, music, and study

Latest revision update - I think I might be at the point where I can leave SUNDOWN III alone and let it stew for a while. I've continuously been tweaking bits and pieces, but now even though I recognise bits that I want to improve, I'm committed to leaving the poor thing alone and letting it settle after being thoroughly worked over.

I have started to look at fixing some of my novel ON THE OUTSIDE now. That's another book I've read and re-read over and over on my Kindle, and have wanted to edit for ages. I may not do a proper systematic edit for now but I'll fix bits as I stumble across them.

Something else that is emerging from this SUNDOWN III edit is what I'm referring to as SUNDOWN 1.5, which is the Jared POV parts that were in the original SUNDOWN novel being put into a new novel or novella or whatever it's going to turn into. I don't know what will happen with that in the long run, but I still want to get it done.

Some of the artwork for our
forthcoming album.

Despite all the stuff I wish I could focus on right now in terms of editing, I have to focus instead on my upcoming studies and also trying to get my vocal tracks down for the new album (OBLIVION) coming out this year. I'll just have to save up all my editing energy for the end of the year once my studies are done.

On another note, I'm now behind in my annual Goodreads reading challenge, due to all the time I've spent reading my own novels instead of other people's. But I hope to catch up, if not now then at least during my week off work which is happening in late July.

Missed post, and NaNoWriMo 2016

Oops! I fully intended to participate in the "Do You Have Goals?" and Cephalopod Coffeehouse traditions on Friday. But I have been so busy and distracted that the blog post was one thing that slipped. However, in keeping with my current "tradition" of posting at least once a month, I'm lucky to still have the last day of October (today!) to at least give some sort of update.

This isn't a proper post like I would have done on Friday if I had my wits about me, but I do have updates to share, so here they are:

Halloween-ready - including cutlass
created last-minute

1. Music - only three songs left to work on for the next album! I submitted two within the last month. Slowly but surely, we're getting there.
2. Study - second-last assignment for the year is submitted, so now just one to go  and I'll be home free.
3. Halloween - went to a Halloween party, and spent way more time than usual putting my outfit together - including home-made cutlass. ;)
4. Cats - we've had a few events lately for the cat rescue, and we're all looking forward to a break. This coming Saturday we have a huge event on that goes all day. I also have two other events that day. Gahhhh. When will it end?
5. Reading - reading Poldark book #7 now - the last book in the "main series", before we start reading more about their children's stories in the next books.
6. Writing - in a moment of sheer madness I decided to do NaNoWriMo 2016. Let me explain...

I don't know why I'm doing NaNo, but apparently I am. I thought I could try to work on finishing off some of my unfinished novels, but I also looked through my "novel ideas" and picked one to work on, just in case working on the unfinished novels doesn't get me enough words. I'll probably start the new idea first, because I'm like that. Then if I run out of steam I'll work on some of the other novels.

So my novel for this year is titled "Die Beachside", and was inspired by a dream (a very scary dream!) I once had. This is very much a pantsing scenario in which I have no idea how things are going to go, and had to quickly work out some details of plot in the few days leading up to November. Here is a link to my novel.

Are you doing NaNo?

If not, what else are you up to?

IWSG #17 - I need a day / week / month / year plan

I feel like it's been a while since I posted for ISWG - and it has! The last time was in early November. So I'm back to kick off a new year, and I hope I will remember to post each month for IWSG this year. However, I'm not really feeling all that positive about my chances of meeting every goal I want to meet in 2016.

I have been accepted into a course of study at the university I work at, which should be good professionally, but which has me nervous because I haven't studied (in a proper university course) since 2006, and if I'm honest, I don't miss having homework. ;) So I'm not sure how I'll go, but I am determined to get as much out of the opportunity as I can.

My tentative plan is to do up a chart that I have to tick tasks off of each day. I thought I could use stickers, like shiny stars or something, as motivation - because dumbly enough that would actually motivate me! This chart would cover everything from eating the right foods (2 fruit & 5 veg, right? or something), doing my daily stretches to prevent my spine from fusing into one long column, fitting in study time, and fitting in creative work.

This plan isn't in place yet, so currently I am feeling insecure in my capacity to manage everything - my diet and general wellbeing, my up and coming studies, my kitty rescue work, and ... what's that other thing I like to do? Oh yeah, creative stuff! This includes creating music, creating stories, and creating art. Most of which I am not working on at all.

Wish me luck in getting a good routine going!

I hope you are all feeling very secure today. :)

I was away, now I'm back

My "R" theme was Reflections, but
another possible theme I was
considering was "Roads".

After the A to Z finished, I managed to put up my reflection post, and then I had to prepare for a work trip. I'm back from that trip as of tonight, and the weekend to come is going to be filled with collecting all my kitties back (my two, and some foster kitties).

I have yet to continue with my blog visiting catch-up, but I still plan on doing that. Meanwhile I have actual homework to do, because I'm doing a course in PHP & APIs during this month of May.

I also have a presentation at work to prepare for, this Tuesday, and I won't have a car all week because I got rear-ended a few weeks ago and the car needs to be at the shop for a whole week.

Another "Road" photo I would have included.

Hopefully some time soon I will actually have more writing stuff to talk about. I will say that I went to one Sunday session a few weeks back, and it was great. I did get stuck into revising one of my projects that's been stewing a while. But I haven't been able to get back since. That's yet another thing I fully intend on doing more of in the relatively future.

So there is all that. But I'm here basically to say hi, and to let you all know that I truly do want to be here more! ;)