Welcome to June's IWSG blog post. Thanks to our founder, Alex J. Cavanaugh, and the other admins of IWSG, we meet each month to share the writing wins, losses, questions, and advice with all the other writers on this list.
First apologies for missing last month's bloghop. I was very busy with the Pennwriters Conference and didn't even think of my post until a week too late.
This month's optional question is a good one. I can wait to read the responses:
What were some books that impacted you as a child or young adult?
I was always a voracious reader, but I grew up way out in the back of beyond and I didn't have easy access to books. My little country school didn't even have a library until I was in sixth grade. My fourth grade teacher had a few shelves of paperback books we could borrow. I loved her for that.
A Wrinkle in Time was one of my first favorites and introduced me to speculative fiction. Bambi taught me that Disney really takes liberty with source material to make their movies family friendly. Where the Red Fern Grows taught me to really cry over a book. My oldest son reminded me that I traumatized him by giving him that book to read when he was in elementary school. I read every animal book I could get my hands on.
But in 9th grade, my english teacher did a unit where we had to read The Hobbit. From that moment on, reading fantasy was what I loved best. It wasn't until almost ten years later that I even considered writing a story of my own. Another ten years before I seriously considered it, and ten more before I started. Unlike a lot of writers, I had no desire to write a novel growing up.
The Pennwriters Conference was amazing. We're already well into planning next year's conference. More about that later this year. If you have a chance to attend a writer's conference, I highly recommend it. It's inspiring in a special way and there is so much to take in.
I'm working on the second draft of the first book in my next fantasy series. I finally came up with a series title and a few days into the second draft I figured out the title of the first book. The first draft is really rough so the second one is going to need a lot of work.
- "If everything was perfect, you would never learn and you would never grow." – Beyoncé
I'm enjoying Murder Bot though I wish the espisodes were longer. I binged Department Q on Netflix in one day. Enjoyable. I haven't watched the second season of The Last of Us yet, but it's on my list as is Captain America, Brave New World. I also will watch The Accountant 2 when it starts streaming.
Hope your weather has warmed up. Ours if finally doing so. Way too much rain lately. The older I get the more difficult it is to force myself to go outside when there is a chill, too much wind, or wet stuff falling.
Any good entertainment on your to-see list? Did you read any of the books I loved growing up? What was the first book to make you cry?
15 comments:
The Hobbit! I haven't read this one but watched every movie.
I saw some of the pictures from the conference - looks another another great one.
I LOVED Bambi and Bambi's Children. (I have first editions of both books, too.) Once I read them, I hated the Disney version. So fluffy and watered down.
It must have been hard not having a library. We had one but it was small so I didn't get access to some popular books out when I was growing up. I read LOTR as a teen and loved it too.
Brave New World was good, but it didn't feel like Captain America. Second half of the film is better than the first.
Glad the conference went well!
The Hobbit will certainly be a massive inspiration to many. It also took me many years to start writing my own books, fearing they could never be good enough. One of the most important lessons to learn is they never will be, but keep trying anyway!
A Wrinkle in Time... I actually loved A Swiftly Tilting Planet more. (Read the series out of sequence. *shrugs*) It all works, eh?
Where The Red Fern Grows traumatized me, too, but in the best way. Really demonstrated the power of story.
We haven't started watching Murderbot yet (my significant other likes to wait until the entire season is available), but it's on our list.
Glad that the conference went well!
Anonymously Esther O'Neill, East of the Sun, with no signal,, can't pass Google security texts. Where the red Fern griows now intrigues me, in a strange and barely connected way -of a nearby animal human bond. Orphaned red deer calf whose mother had been killed was adopted by a local farmer - loved him so much, and all the local kids.
Glad the conference was a success!
I remember really enjoying those L'Engle books when I was younger.
I keep forgetting to put that Department Q on my To Watch list....
Like you, I hesitate to go out when it is cold and wet. I have all these good intentions to walk daily, but when it's lousy, I pick up a book.
Two excellent choices!
https://substack.com/home/post/p-164762814
I checked out the Pennwriters group. I love going to conferences, never heard of this on. Maybe next year. And I was wondering about Department Q. I'm going to check it out now.
I was blessed to have a voracious appetite for books and a substantial library from which to borrow them, as well as plenty of my own.
Writing would be a joy, but a job as well and one I'm not able to tackle, so I'm very thankful for writers.
Oh I LOVED the books you mentioned! I read Where the Red Fern Grows in 6th grade for school, I was SOBBING for two hours and I loved it. The fact that the words someone wrote could MOVE me so PROFOUNDLY just brought me so much happiness even though I was so sad about the book! A Wrinkle In Time is also one of my favorites! Thank you for sharing!
Wow. I wish I had a teacher in high school who assigned *The Hobbit*.
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