It’s Autumn, but you would not know it from the weather we are having Vancouver, BC. It is still quite warm in the afternoons, and there has not been a drop of rain for about two months. Rain is what we are known for, like Seattle. We’ve been called Rain-couver, and I miss those days. I don’t want day on end with rain, but some moisture in the air would be good for my allergies and the earth. Things are dry and dusty. On the days my eyes feel like they burn right out of head, audiobooks have come to the rescue.
It has been about a year since I wrote my last post. I was giving up on writing it as I keep setting myself up for failure. And not posting here, also cut down on my reviews. I keep wanting to be someone other than me, than working with what I have. I am probably never going to write a professional book review, because I am writing for readers. I’m not trying to give advice to writers or give them accolades for writing a brilliant book. I’m also not writing to help publishers get higher ratings or even just give positive reviews. I am not going to be mean or put an author and/or writing down, but I will give my honest opinion on my experience with a book. I am well aware I am usually in the minority with hyped books, and come with my own luggage set of biases. I also change as time goes on and I hopefully learn as well. My reviews are not going to be objective as reading is personal to me. I have ups and downs, and sometimes that comes across in books I read. I always recommend reading other reviews along with mine to see what book will work for you. On Goodreads (GR), I sometimes read 1 star, 3 stars and 5 stars review just to see what the scope is and somewhere is the review I am looking for.
I am DNF (Did Not Finish) reader now. If it’s not working for me, I will abandon a book. There are SO many great books out there and I don’t want to waste what little time I have on a book that I know I am not enjoying. Often it is at this time, I will look at GR reviews to see what others are saying and if maybe I should try a few more pages. For the die hard “will-finish-this-book-if-I have-to-take-it-to-the-afterlife” reader, I just wanted to give a content warning now on that.
I am also a RIO (Read in Order) reader. If it’s a series, spin-off, cameo of a character I want to read the books in chronological order. I don’t want to miss out on anything! Or have spoilers. I don’t mind spoilers too bad, but I don’t want book 2 to tell me everything about book 1 so I can’t go back and read it. Or when trilogies have spin-off with a characters, and there is information about something I should know but I don’t. I have trust issues from authors and publishers as they are not transparent, so I do try to read authors works chronologically. My one big pet peeve is when publishers write “standalone novel in blank series” I get it. They are trying to market the book so anyone would buy it without having to read the entire series. I just find it false advertising, as most will say “standalone novel”. This could be caused by my OCD, but it’s something I will not work on as it’s a hill I am dying on.
To keep the point brief, I do not tolerate any hate from books, and support #ownvoices books. As a woman of colour, I am trying to unlearn white supremacy I have been taught, and believe in decolonization in all genre of books. I read and review with that lens.
One more housekeeping thing, I am going to be easy on myself and not stick to a schedule for posting. This is one trigger that really overwhelms me and I stop posting altogether. I will post on my social media handles when there is a new post, and you can also follow me for notifications to your email. At this point I can guarantee 1 post a week, but I have reviews I will be posting in the next few days. I will also post one later tonight.
That’s it on reading, books and reviews…the following is about my WRITING LIFE
I have stuck with writing for over one year now! I have been writing almost every other day if not every day. Sometimes full on poems, and other times free writes and lines here and there. But I am writing, revising, submitting and being PUBLISHED. As of today, my stats:
- 18 submissions
- 5 still out
- 13 responses
- 5 acceptances
- 5 rejections
- 2 contest lost
- 1 mentorship won
- 1 feedback from author to keep trying
- 3 of the 5 rejections asked me to submit again
I have been gentle with myself in submitting. I had not been revising my poems as much as I was loving on to the next poem. I didn’t have many “finished” poems to send out. 18 submissions in 10 months is not a lot, but it’s a start! In the remaining two months, I want to continue revising and sending out submissions at a slower pace. In December/January I will revise my goals after I see how I am feeling.
Please see my Writing page for what I have already published and what is forthcoming.
I was recently accepted to The Writers’ Union of Canada‘s BIPOC Writers Connect – where the mentors and mentees are BIPOC writers. I initially did not apply because I did not think I had even a sliver of a chance getting accepted. It was Canada wide, and did I have what it takes. I asked myself: Can I afford this financially to try? Yes, it’s free to apply and attend if I did win. Was it something I could attend? Yes it’s online, and I have vacation days at work. What do I lose if I fail? Feeling bad and maybe some tears. What do I gain if I lose? I kept a promise and tried. And I can learn how to do it better. What do I gain if I win? Meeting BIPOC writers in Canada – published and emerging writers; having my work looked at to see where I stand and can do better. Afua Cooper was one of the mentors, and she is a poet (among writing nonfiction, history, scholarly works) I admire. There were several more mentors I would be lucky enough to be paired with. It seemed safe and worth it to try, and on September 19, 2022 when I got the acceptance I still could not believe it. AND AFUA was my MENTOR. I cried. That wasn’t on my pros and cons list if I won, but there you go you can’t script life. Last week, I received Afua’s feedback and it was, a moment I can’t really describe. There was no mistake. My work was chosen. The “writer” label I had been saying with a question mark, was writer, period.
I never want to lose the reason I started to write again. I wanted it to reach someone who read it and felt less alone, or it resonated in some way. Even if it’s read in another intention than I had, I wanted my words to have meaning just like so many writers have done/do for me. I will leave this here as I have written more than I had intended to do today.
My Novelesque Life 