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?
