In which there is an unexpected vacation, books, and kudzu

Last night, I got an unexpected vacation from writing — because I left my laptop at the office, which is an hour away from my home. So, I setting into the couch and let myself relax for the evening. I watched an episode of Scream Queens and then the premier episode of Supergirl, which presented a bright, enthusiastic hero and a wonderful cast of sidekicks. I’m looking forward to seeing more.

What I’m Reading

I finished All the Rage by Courtney Summers last week, in part due to a can’t-put-it-down-even-though-I-need-to-work-in-the-morning late night reading session. Let me just say, Oof, my heart. It’s a brutal, emotionally honest book with an intense exploration of rape and its aftermath. I’m still toying with the idea of doing a more thorough review.

Not sure what’s up next. I have Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie and a couple of audio books available to me. Although, I’ve joined a reading group and so should get started on Uprooted by Naomi Novik.

Decisions, decisions.

What I’m Writing

Just like an alien parasite, the Science Fiction Fairy Tales Brainery Workshop is filling me with euphoria and eating my brain — and I love it. Although very little of my other writing projects are getting done. I’m fine with that. Writing is writing is writing.

Goals for the Week:

  • Finish workshop draft before class.
  • Continue editing the Sleeping Beauty and/or the Iron Henry and/or Jack and the Beanstalk inspired stories (see how these stories stack up, I can tell) — if there’s time.

Brainery Workshop – Science Fiction Fairy Tales – Week Three

Last week’s topic discussion for Brainery Science Fiction Fairy Tales workshop group looked at the “Jack and the Beanstalk” fairy tale with a connection to invasive species. I focused in on kudzu, which an invasive vine infiltrating toward the north from southern states. It grows rapidly and in giant towers, knocking over power poles and causing a multitude of other problems. I find it incredibly creepy and I’m not the only one as the video below shows.

With kudzu as my basis, I threw in some extraterrestrial invasive species and came up with a snarky cyborg and her alien partner, who are invasive species hunters faced off with a problem bigger than they can handle. While reading the draft out loud to my workshop mates, I was surprised and pleased to hear laughter. I don’t think of myself as a funny writer, so it was awesome to find I could pull of a more humorous piece. 

The story needs more development in terms of working out the plot details (why are the locals keeping secrets) and figuring out the emotional arc (I have some ideas, but they need to be refined). I have hopes for this one, more so than when I submitted it, which is awesome.

This Thursday’s class will focus on Bluebeard with a connection to cryptography. Being the very adult horror story it is, there are all kinds of interesting roads to take the Bluebeard tale this week. Maybe too many and I’ve come up with an idea that’s a bit daunting. My unexpected day off yesterday means more work for me today and tomorrow to get it in on time.

Linky Goodness

  • Seven Things I Did To Reboot My Life by Will Wheaton — “In fact, if I’m being honest with myself (and I have to be, because being honest with myself is the only way this is going to work; I’m making major life changes here, remember), all of these things are hard to a certain degree, and that’s okay, because everything worth doing is hard.”