Every month a question will be posed that may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Remember, the question is optional. You can write about anything that relates to your writing journey.
Let's give a warm welcome to our co-hosts: Ronel Janse van Vuuren , J Lenni Dorner, Gwen Gardner Sandra Cox, and Louise - Fundy Blue!
This month's question is: Being a writer, when you're reading someone else's work, what stops you from finishing a book/throws you out of the story/frustrates you the most about other people's books?
What prevents me from finishing a book is bad writing, poor editing, over-used tropes/archetypes, and maybe predictability and pretentiousness. If the simplest or most complicated story is well written and can take me away (like a Calgon bath) then I'm all in.
HAPPY 2021!
and
Happy Three Kings Day!
(AKA The Twelfth Day of Christmas)
 |
| The Adoration of the Magi by El Greco |
May we be the instruments of peace.
It is the 17th day of the Age of Aquarius.
It never occurred to me when I saw Hair in San Francisco in 1970 and the cast sang, "It is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius" that I was actually going to be around to witness it.
What a long strange trip it's been.
***
I didn't post last month because I got locked out of my Google account and couldn't sign-in to my blog. FOUR times I tried and kept getting redirected to the Account Recovery page. Four times I had to wait five days to get recovery verifications. Four times I was redirected to the same page and had to start all over again. It was like being on a mobius strip trip, an endless loop that never went to a new place where I could change my password. But FINALLY, on December 30th, on the fifth try, I ran across one suggestion I hadn't seen before which said to try signing in on a different device. Well, I only recently got my first smart phone. I took a deep breath and by God it worked!
I got pretty stagnate this past year. Didn't do a lick of writing except for my blog. Did a little yard work, but it's been so very dry here (barely 4 inches of rain since June) that there hasn't been much of point. We had a horrible hail storm in May that took out two trees one of which landed on our roof. It's the worst storm I've seen in my 40 years of living here and we're still waiting for repairs to happen. I could go on, but I won't, because I'm absolutely sure of two thing, EVERYone has tales of woe and going on about it won't do a thing to help or change it, but instead will more than likely only make it worse. SO, instead, here's a list of books I read during the confusing, anxious, trying times that were 2020.
A Singular Hostage - Thalassa Ali
News of the Spirit - Lee Smith
The Last Kind Words Saloon - Larry McMurtry
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark HaddonCompanions of Paradise - Thalassa Ali
American Dirt - Jeanie Cumming
The Time Keeper - Mitch Albom
Dance Hall of the Dead - Tony Hillerman
Borderlands - James Carlos Blake
Finding Emilie - Laurel Corona
Dragon Song - Anne McCaffrey
Dragon Singer - Anne McCaffrey
Bitter Trail - Elmer Kelton
Sacred Clowns - Tony Hillerman
Voyagers: The Third Ghost - IWSG
The Book of the Dun Cow - Walter Wangerin (a reread)
Black Elk Speaks - Black Elk
The Book of Merlin - T. H. White (a reread)
The Moon Stone - Wilke Collins
Start Where You Are - Pema Chodron
All the Way to Memphis - Suzanne Hudson
The Eye of Zeitoon - Talbot Mundy
The Life of Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson - Nellie Van de Grift Sanchez (Wow!)
Crome Yellow - Aldous Huxley
Olaf the Glorious - Robert Heighton
The Way to Timbuktu - Pat Ryan
The First Eagle - Tony Hillerman
Luck Star and the Pirates of the Asteroids - Isaac Asimov
Kenny and the Dragon - Tony DiTerlizzi
A Thousand Questions - Saadia Feruqui
The Girl Who Sailed the Stars - Matilda Woods
Wishtree - Katherine Applegate
Forever Free - Joe Halderman
City of Islands - Kali Wallace
A Step Away from Paradise - Thomas Shor
The Emperor's Tomb - Steve Berry
The Jumbies - Tracey Baptiste
Driving Blind - Ray Bradbury
Being Thankful
Today I'm thankful that 2020 is now hindsight.
I know 2021 won't be easy, but at least I'm hopeful.
What are you thankful for? Did you do much reading in 2020? Did you start a book and not finish it? What are your hopes for 2021?
You read Voyagers - cool!
ReplyDeleteThat really sucks to get locked out of your blog. Almost terrifying. Glad you thought to sign in with a different device.
Oh, that would have driven me insane to not be able to get into my blog. I agree with Alex that it would be terrifying. I remember a few awful days two years ago when Casey didn't renew our domain name. Thankfully, we now have a password that I can use too.
ReplyDeleteI'm thankful for IWSG. I've met so many wonderful writers. And my publisher. Best to you in 2021, Bish. I'm a bit surprised I made it to the Age of Aquarius too. Who'd have figured? Thank you for all the beautiful e-cards. I love them.
ReplyDeleteHow maddening to be in that account circle! Writing didn't find its way into my fingers last year either.
ReplyDeleteI saw your post about being locked out but I had no suggestions. I'm glad you just kept after it.
ReplyDeleteYou read a lot more books than me! I only read 18. I'm hoping to get to 50 this year, but I also set that as my goal last year...
ReplyDeleteI couldn’t read for quite a while...grief did that to me. I am reading now, but would never be able to recall what, unless I write them down I never remember titles. Happy New Year, Bish. So glad you got back on blogger.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great list of books! 2020 was a nightmare. I hope your New Year is going well. I only read and reviewed 23 books last year, but my goal for this year is 30. My other goals are to publish another fiction book in 2021, do the Blogging from A to Z Challenge in April, and increase the number of authors helped by Operation Awesome.
ReplyDeleteHi Bish - good to see you and so glad you've got your account back and you're up and running again - always a worry. Glad you've achieved so much in such a ghastly year ... take care and all the best for 2021 - Hilary
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