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“While it is February, one can taste the full joys of anticipation. Spring stands at the gate with her finger on the latch.”
-Patience Strong
January Wrap-Up & February Intentions
It’s been a beautiful rainy day here in California. I love it, feels very cleansing in a way. A great way to kick off the new month. I gotta say, I really love starting new months. I spent all day yesterday and most of today cleaning my space and putting out cute little February decorations. I like to think of it as setting myself up for success in the coming month.
Writing Progress
January turned out to be a pretty good writing month after all. I learned the importance of being realistic with my goals and am accepting that going slower is fine. Often I can be very eager to get started on my plans or projects but then hit a lot of road bumps at the beginning. This usually happens because my excitement prevents me from being realistic or seeing things clearly. I end up being overly optimistic and get very tired, frustrated, and discouraged soon after beginning.
Having to do gymnastics around all the unforeseen obstacles can be tiring and demoralizing. It takes a lot of energy to keep going in the face of failed start after failed start and usually ends in burn out and unfinished projects. This year I am seeking to learn from the past and do better. I gave myself permission to “start” my writing project mid-January and ended up being able to start a bit sooner than I had anticipated. I also managed to exceed my goal of writing 3 times a week and instead averaged 4 times a week.
I started to track my writing progress on this page here but need to find a better way of doing it. What I mean is that tracking my daily word count isn’t always “telling the truth.” Sometimes I have a writing session where I don’t have “countable words” mainly because the session was about thinking through the story, brainstorming, unpacking ideas. I think these days still count as writing days so I need to find a way to capture them on my progress/tracker page.
In this new month I hope to continue writing frequently. Last month I managed to get through the first draft of Act I. February is a shorter month, feels like I’ll have less writing time… but… still… I would be over the moon if I managed to get through Act II.
Act II is already giving me trouble. I think need more of these brainstorming writing sessions before I can start writing actual scenes. I’ll keep going with the flow but so far I am having a bit of anxiety over how Act II and February overall with turn out. Lol. Hope it all gets better as the days go on.
Book Life
•Finished Books•
A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
(Classic Literature)
It’s kind of funny that I read this story a month after actual Christmas but really, who cares, right? Actually I listened to the audiobook through the Libby App. That’s the public library app for anyone who may not be aware. It’s a great resource!
I “read” this book as sort of research for my own story. I thought that it might be able to offer me some perspective, ideas, I don’t know for my own Act II. It got the juices flowing, I might also look into Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune since 1) I have the book and 2) I think it also riffs on A Christmas Carol.
•Current Reads•
Two Twisted Crowns – Rachel Gillig
(Romantasy)
I’m about halfway through this book, it’s the second one in The Shepherd King series. I initially picked up this series because around October 2023 -ish I was craving a sort of dark fantasy story. I looked up what I might read and saw this series as a recommendation under that genre category.
While I definitely see the dark fantasy elements, I would say the romance is more of a strong feature for this series making it, in my opinion, more of a Romantasy. The first book, One Dark Window, focused on the primary characters Elspeth and Ravyn. This second book while still including those “main characters” features a new love story. If you enjoy, romantic stories set in a fantasy world full of dark magic then this series may very well be for you. Possibly a great read, actually, for February.
Martyr! – Kaveh Akbar
(Urban Fiction/LGBT Literature)
This book has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for me. The first two chapters really hooked me in. I was on board right away, really loved the set-up, the main character, and potentially where the story was going. Then, chapter 3 took a bit of a turn into backstory which, I will admit, took me out of the narrative a little possibly because it felt different from the “voice” of the first two chapters that had I loved.
Now, I am a little more than 2/3 of the way through and I am beginning to see the pieces fit, getting a sense of what the author is trying to do and how. I am back into the story and wanting to see where it goes and how it ends. Besides, the fact that the first two chapters really gripped me says something for sure. It means this writer did a good job.
This is the second book I read recently by authors with a Middle Eastern background. The other book was Evil Eye by Etaf Rum. She is Palestinian-American. Kaveh Akbar is Iranian-American. I have really enjoyed reading both stories and learning more from their diverse points of view. I have found that there is in fact a lot of cross over with my own experiences as a Mexican-American.
Never Say You Can’t Survive – Charlie Jane Anders
The Courage to be Disliked – Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga
Both of these books have been great so far. I am reading them more leisurely, picking them up in my spare moments and with the intention to learn something new.
Never Say You Can’t Survive is a book about writing. I have been loving it. I find the way Charlie Jane Anders explains things to be very relatable. She makes me feel comfortable with the ambiguous parts of writing which in turns gives me the courage I need to keep going despite blank pages and holes in my plots. Definitely a book I needed to read.
The Courage to be Disliked is more of a personal growth book. I picked it up because of its title. I am a recovering people pleaser and am always happy to find books that help me be stand up for myself and be a better human being.
Ta Ta For Now
Thanks for stoping by and taking a read. Hope your year is off to a marvelous start and that the new month is filling you with new energy to keep going or make the changes needed to do your best work and be your best self.
As always I am happy to hear from you and learn what you are up, reading or otherwise.
Until Next Time,
–Angelica Sophia
Angelica Sophia 