Thursday, July 24, 2014

Belated Update

Hello.

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. I had an awful migraine all day and didn't even feel well enough to get any writing done. I also haven't been keeping up with my 2000 word a day goal. It seems getting in that extra hour in the mornings works better for me than writing in the evenings. So, next week it's back to getting to the office an hour early for a writing session.

As a result of the failed evening experiment, I've only written 7,125 words since last Wednesday. On the other hand, I had to do some backtracking again because a scene I've been working on for the last two days was going to a place I couldn't allow it to go. I also forgot about a character that should have been in this scene but wasn't there. Once again, backing up a bit and restarting worked out better than the original writing.

I'm back on course with my outline and about two or three scenes away from the finish line. I believe I'm still on track for completing this novella by next Thursday. I also have an idea for what I'll be writing in November. Once I've finished the second draft of my current work, I will do the preliminaries for it so that all I have to do in November is sit and write.

As well as writing, I've spent some time reading. I find that reading as I'm working on my own project really helps my writing. I also like to pick up debut books from new authors and I am excited to share the one I just finished, The Undays of Aralias Lyons by K. L. Horvath.

This book was kind of a departure from what I normally read but I'm glad I took a chance on it. I found it to be an engaging story, so much so that I had trouble putting it down. Her imaginative prose and fast paced, witty dialogue kept me reading, even late into the night.

Aralia Lyons is a proper English gentleman who can also travel backward through time thanks to his unusual physical characteristics. His son, Jack, can also travel through time but he also has the ability to, as Ms. Horvath puts it, "unravel time from the future."  Little does Aralias know that an old enemy is intent upon stealing young Jack away in order to use this special ability and not for good. When Aralias and Jack discover an ancient pocket watch bequeathed to a woman named Clara Heartwell, they decide to deliver the watch to her. What happens next leads up to a climax that made me lose sleep because I could not stop reading until I got to the end.

The setting resembles regency England with time travel fantasy elements combined with a dash of steam punk. There are also magical creatures, iron dragons, and lots of good action with a delightful romance between Aralias and Clara. Clara brings a certain amount of stability into the chaotic world that is Aralias' life.

I loved this book and will most likely read it again, just to see what I might have missed from the first read through. If you like quirky heroes and magical creatures in fantastical worlds, this is the book for you. I highly recommend it.



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