Tag: books

February Write Day: Resetting Expectations

On By Steven D'AdamoIn Fantasy, On StorytellingLeave a comment

January has been a full month. I’m taking an online noncredit course for work, and I had underestimated the amount of mental energy it would require from me, on top of my day job.

Last Month’s Goal

  1. Read three books.
  2. Exercise at least every other day and get back to the gym.
  3. Finish current round of revisions for New Earth.
  4. Outline New Earth for chapter structure.
  5. Begin revisions based on character notes.

Let’s get to the reviewing.

Read three books?

No. I finished one book in January, although I made progress on two others.

I sort of don’t know what to do with the current book I’m listening on audiobook: Black Leopard, Red Wolf. The world is more detailed than anything I’ve ever read. The characters are intimate and unique. And yet, one-third of the way through the book, I’m just starting to grasp where this story is headed. This book is 24 hours of listening time in audio format, and it’s taken me nearly eight hours to understand the plot.

Maybe audiobook is the wrong format to read this book. I intend to finish it, but I have been stalled by snail’s pace of a plot on this one. What kills me is that this is an incredibly well-written book. I really want to like it. So, I’m hoping it will start to pick up in the second act.

Exercise every other day and get back to the gym?

Almost. I exercised 11 days in January, but I did not make it to the gym. My challenge at the moment is finding the right time of day to work out, and making that part of my routine.

When I was last going to the gym regularly, about four years ago now, I had access to a really nice gym in the office where I worked. This allowed me to work out during my lunch breaks. Once I left that job, I had to reset my routine to work out in the evenings at a local gym.

When I stopped going to my local gym — circa 2020, no idea why… — I never went back. So now, I’m in this space where on any given day, I know I should exercise, but I find it difficult to a) tear myself away from work, even though I mostly work from home, b) tear myself away from family obligations in the evenings, or c) motivate to go to the gym later at night once the kids are in bed.

So, I’m still trying to find that balance. I think it may end up being a mixed bag of short workouts on weekday afternoons, and one or two longer gym workouts at night or on the weekends.

Finish current round of revisions for New Earth?

Technically, yes!

Because I never wrote an ending to this story, and somehow forgot about that fact. I need to finish the ending, and then I can call this done.

Outline this story for chapter structure, and revise based on character sheets?

No, and no. See above.

Goals for February

I have some catching up to do in February. My online course will continue through this month, so now that I know what the course load really looks like, I should be able to work around it better.

I started a new thing last week. Weekly goals for my personal life. I track weekly goals for work as a running to-do list, so I thought I might as well try that in my home life as well. I’m starting with pretty basic things, but being able to check things off throughout the week is good.

Incidentally, most of my personal weekly goals are related to my monthly goals. I don’t intend to publish them here regularly, but perhaps I’ll talk about them now and then.

The point is, I’m hoping this will help me stay focused on the things that are important to me, sort of a self-care checklist.

  1. Read 3 books. I’m actually not sure how I’m going to achieve this in February. I will likely not finish Black Leopard, Red Wolf this month, unless it becomes extremely compelling soon. I can probably finish my current nonfiction paperback read, and I may need to find a couple of shorter reads to fill the gaps in between.
  2. Exercise every other day and get to the gym. Same as last month, just trying to establish that routine.
  3. Finish ending for New Earth. I know how I want to tie off this story. I just need to sit down and do it. I’m honestly out of practice for long writing sessions, what with my focus on revisions this past year.
  4. Outline New Earth for chapter structure. Same.

Steve D

Book Review: OATH AND HONOR presents frightening account of Jan. 6

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Life, ReviewsLeave a comment

When I saw Liz Cheney’s memoir, Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning, available for preorder, I knew I had to read it. While I did not closely follow Cheney’s political career, I had a vague sense of respect for her; she seemed like the type of politician who stood by her principles.

I got this sense in the aftermath of Jan. 6 and during the news cycle around the Select Committee in the House of Representatives to investigate the events that allowed the insurrection to occur.

I have even more respect for her now, having read this..

Oath and Honor is a frightening narrative of the January 6 insurrection. I have felt since that day that Trump and his supporters in Congress were somehow culpable, that they should be held accountable. I now have no lingering doubts. Trump and the members of his administration and Congress who supported his attempted insurrection must all be held accountable.

Cheney discusses in detail the amorphous uncertainty she had around Trump’s administration in the weeks between the 2020 election and the planned inauguration of President Biden. According to her narrative, she had a feeling and even had conversations with others in power that something was not right.

Her account of the insurrection itself is harrowing; to know that the organizers behind the mob had planned to lay siege to the Capitol and return armed after dark is a nightmare scenario I won’t soon forget.

Cheney then lays out what came to pass over the following eighteen months, her involvement in the Select Committee, and her bid for reelection in Wyoming, which she lost to a Trump-supporting election denier.

This moment in US history is still too near, too real and present, for me to take the critical view of Cheney’s narrative from a historical perspective. I think there may be a few minute moments in this account where she comes off as self-righteous, where she lingers just a little too long on her own admiration for figures like her father, and Reagan.

But, this is a memoir, after all. Perhaps in five or ten years, when all of this is (hopefully) in the history books, I will be able to reread this with a more critical ear for Cheney’s own version of these events compared to other accounts that will surely be published. For now, I have to take this accounting of January 6th at face value…

As a warning.

Anyone who cares about the US or who feels compelled to understand what actually happened that day, please read this book.

Steve D

My Goodreads Challenge 2023 Recap

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On StorytellingLeave a comment

Around this time of year, I usually do a bunch of recaps on my goals, my website stats, or my book publishing strategy for the upcoming year. I’m not doing any of that this year, because I like my monthly goal recaps, my website stats are underwhelming and not a key focus for me, and I’m still figuring out my next steps for publishing, as opposed to just writing.

One thing I am pretty stoked about from 2023, however, is my Goodreads reading challenge, in which I achieved my goal of 26 books read for 2023.

The Highlights

I’m not going to list each and every book; you can check out the detail above or on my Goodreads profile if you like. But it’s fund to look at my reading trend/mood for the last year.

I read…

22 fiction books, including…

  • 6 novels from The Last Kingdom series, which I finished in 2023
  • 4 collections of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories
  • 1 finale to The Wheel of Time
  • 5 other fantasy stories
  • 4 thrillers
  • 2 character dramas

4 nonfiction books, including…

  • 2 history books, usually a staple of my reading list
  • 1 parenting book
  • 1 book about writing

I didn’t really read any sci fi this year, but I did read a lot of historical fiction, as opposed to fantasy or just straight history. I’d like to continue reading historical fiction this year; the challenge is finding the books with the right balance of historical basis, fictionalization, and overall storytelling.

Anyway, I like that spread, but will probably try to read a bit more nonfiction and sci-fi this year, just to diversify a bit more. I’m also not sure whether or which type of super-epic fiction series I might get into this year. I haven’t yet identified a series that might dominate my reading list across the year, but we’ll see, of course.

Steve D

December Write Day: Finishing Slightly Stronger

On By Steven D'AdamoIn Fantasy, On PublishingLeave a comment

November was a long month, and only partially in a good way. Obviously, the start of the holidays and the chance to see some family was great. It was also very busy for me at work, which took a lot of the mental capacity I might have otherwise had to do things I’d like to do at home. Also, our entire family has been sick to some degree over the last three or four weeks.

So, as you may have been able to tell by the extra haiku I posted in November, rather than writing full posts, some of my goals went less than well.

Last Month’s Goals

  1. Read three books.
  2. Exercise every day and go to the gym twice per week.
  3. Write long-form at least 10 days.

Read three books?

Nope. I’ve finished one book and made progress on two others. I started listening to Black leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James on Audible, and it’s taking me longer to get into than I anticipated. I’m on chapter five, and I feel like I’m just beginning to understand what this story is actually like. I’m definitely going to continue reading it. It’s just taking me a bit longer to sink my teeth into.

I’ll probably end up picking away at other books during December in between chapters, just to stay on top of my reading goal. I need to finish one more book in December to meet my Goodreads goal of reading 26 books this year. I’m going to go out on a limb and say I will not finish Black leopard, Red Wolf this month, so I’ll finish something else to hit that mark.

Set my exercise/gym routine?

Also no. Again, busy month, and then getting sick did little to help my gym efforts. I feel like I’ve mostly been drained on energy the last few weeks, and I’m just now starting to feel normal again. I’m back on a more regular exercise routine now, but it’s been mostly yoga. I’m hoping to get back to the gym this week.

Write long-form at least 10 days?

No, and honestly, this goal was partially hurt by me not having the time/energy to write long-form blogs for a couple weeks. I definitely didn’t spend enough time revising New Earth, but I also just didn’t spend enough time writing or reading period in November.

I’m now nearly finished with this round of revisions for New Earth, and I’d like to have more specific goals for my revisions going forward. I’ll expand on that next.

Goals for December

  1. Read three books. Probably in the form of shorter novels.
  2. Exercise at least every other day and go to the gym more than once per week. I’m backing off last month’s goal a bit just to give myself some space during the holidays. Note that I’m saying go to the gym more than once per week. This basically means I want to average more than one gym trip per week. If it ends up only being six total, that’s still a win.
  3. Finish current round of revisions for New Earth. This should be doable, since I only have 15 pages or so to go.
  4. Create character sheets with physical descriptions/clothes for main characters. This applies to both Uprooted and New Earth, which effectively have the same primary characters. I’ve tried to incorporate this tuff organically in my revisions, but I don’t want it to feel forced, and I don’t want it to be inconsistent. So I’m going to create character sheets based on what I have so far, expand on them, and then use those to inform how I describe these characters throughout both stories.
  5. Outline New Earth for chapter structure. This is something I did with Uprooted that helped me understand the overall plot flow better, and restructure chapters in ways that made sense for the story. I’ll do the same with New Earth.

Note that I’m not focused on writing a certain number of days this month. I have specific tasks I want to achieve, and everything else is bonus. It may be that this is still too much for me to achieve in one month, but it’s just a different tack. We’ll see how it goes.

Steve D

On FOUR LOST CITIES and Building this Fantasy Town

On By Steven D'AdamoIn Fantasy, On Storytelling, ReviewsLeave a comment

This post is not a real book review, at least, not entirely. I just finished listening to Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age by Annalee Newitz, and it got me thinking and rethinking the way I design and evolve cities in my fantasy universe.

A running theme in my world-building — and one of my pervading interests in history and anthropology — touches on the rise and fall of cities and civilizations. For years, I had the reductionist viewpoint that great cities rose and fell in linear patterns, and with clear markers for their demise.

When I learned that the far more common pattern is for cities (or civilizations) decay for years or decades or centuries before fading from prominence, I wanted to explore that in my storytelling.

Four Lost Cities provides a really interesting investigation into the formation and decline of cities across human history. Newitz uses archeological evidence to make the case that the evolution and dissolution of cities is not a linear path, that the very definition of a “city” and its growth are defined more by socio-cultural forces of its time than by rigid and often arbitrary models based solely on commerce.

What would this look like in a setting of my making? Would I be able to capture the uncertain rise and long decay of a city or a people in character-centric stories?

My current work-in-progress, the duology I’ve been referring to as The Herb Witch Tales, spawned from this theme. Before I knew who my characters were, I wanted to explore a city’s evolution from small port town, to sprawling tent camp of migrant settlers, to developed population center.

The story developed from the idea of the city, and I found characters to fit that initial blueprint. The duology is now much more grounded than that much broader idea, but I’ve tried to pay particular attention to the ways in which the characters perceive and interact with place — the places they’ve lost, left, or found.

Although The Herb Witch Tales is currently a duology, I can easily imagine future stories where the growth of this family is inextricably tied with the growth of the place they come to call home.

So, I must recommend Four Lost Cities, because it is informative, thought-provoking, and inspiring in a world-building kind of way.

Steve D

November Write Day: Autumn Swing

On By Steven D'AdamoIn Fantasy, On LifeLeave a comment

After a warm spell in Maryland, autumn returned just in time for Halloween, and we were able to really celebrate for the first time with our kids. Our new street put on an impressive display of Halloween decorations, and we joined in the fun. I also got to take the boys trick-or-treating for real for the first time. Our previous neighborhood never had many trick-or-treaters, and both boys were likely too young to really get into it. At five and two, they were excited to get candy, and we saw plenty of other families out and about.

October was a very strange month, but we had some fun at the Renaissance Festival, saw some family, and bought some much-needed furniture for our house.

Last Month’s Goals

  1. Read three books.
  2. Exercise every day.
  3. Write long-form at least 10 days.

Read three books?

Nope, and right after I said this was automatic for me. I finished one book in October, and I’ve made good progress on another. I decided to read another nonfiction book, and these always go more slowly for me. So, I definitely need to make more progress on my two current nonfiction reads:

I’m enjoying both books, I just tend to read/listen to them in smaller snatches, and it takes a bit more of my focus to follow along.

I’ll likely pick up at least one fiction story in November, although I haven’t decided whether I’m going to start another ambitious series yet.

Exercise every day?

More or less. My yoga flow made it fairly easy to exercise most days. I also finally signed up for a membership with the gym five minutes up the road. In two-plus weeks, I’ve gone three times, which isn’t bad. I’m currently aiming to go to the gym twice per week until I figure out my routine a bit more. What I know is that I want yoga to remain a part of my routine week in and week out, especially as a way to spell weight-lifting or more intense workouts.

Write long-form at least 10 days?

Nine days! I was so close, but we’ve had some busy weekends. I feel like I’ve made some good progress on my current work-in-progress, and I feel less stressed about what comes next. After deciding not too worry too much about Publishing and Marketing (capitals intended) my fantasy duology, I’m able to just focus on the revisions.

The good news is that, halfway through revising the second of these two novellas, I really like both stories. They need some work, but I’m enjoying re-reading them.

Goals for November

  1. Read three books. I should be able to do this once I’ve figured out my next reads.
  2. Exercise every day and go to the gym twice per week. I’m forming a loose routine at the gym, knowing that I’ll eventually need to go three or four times per week to make it impactful. For now, I just want to get back in the habit of going after a four-year hiatus.
  3. Write long-form at least 10 days. Again, this includes long-form blogs and my revisions, or anything else I end up writing that is not a haiku. I feel good about making this goal this month, and I’m not concerned with trying to increase it, what with Thanksgiving around the corner.

Steve D

Creativity Sessions writing process. Evening Satellite Publishing.

A Changing of the Writing Goals: Or a Reassessment

On By Steven D'AdamoIn Fantasy, On PublishingLeave a comment

In my October Write Day post, I started to ponder what my medium-term writing goals really were. I’ve been diligent about setting monthly goals for myself, just to ensure I’m focusing some of my energy on my hobbies, like writing.

I also know what my super-long-term goal is: I’d like to have multiple published stories that I can take to conventions and book festivals. I want to actually meet people who may be interested in reading my stories, not just try to sell online.

My current work-in-progress, which I’ve generally referred to as “The Herb Witch Tales”, is a duology of novellas that I intend to publish as one volume in print, to keep printing costs down. My next intended project is the sequel to Warden of Everfeld: Memento, which will be a full-length novel. While I have a solid start on that novel I had started drafting in 2018, it will not be ready for publication quickly.

At the moment, I have one published book and a slew of online short stories that are not ready for print form. I definitely need more than one book in order to make paying for tables at conventions worth the cost.

But I’m also concerned about pushing to publish my current work-in-progress, doing a bunch of marketing, going to some conventions, and then not being able to publish anything for a few more years.

That doesn’t seem like an effective way to sell books. I also don’t want “final” drafts to languish on a hard drive somewhere without seeing the light of day.

So maybe that’s the answer. I’ll publish my current work-in-progress when it’s ready, not make a huge deal about it, and continue with my next project. Once I have three books to sell, then I can start to consider my proactive marketing and conventions.

It just may take a few more years to get there.

Do any other writers out there stuggle with this question? Do you feel pressure to publish every year?

Steve D

Book Review: SISTERSONG reignites old magic in Dark Age Britain

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Storytelling, ReviewsLeave a comment

I recently listened to Sistersong by Lucy Holland on audiobook. I’m in the midst of an era kick, where I’m almost exclusively interested in historical fiction or fiction stories set in Dark Age Britain. So, I found this book as part of my keyword search on Audible, and it sounded intriguing.

I enjoyed it, overall.

This was a very intricately and well written story. Holland deftly weaves part fairy tale, part ballad about the stories we tell ourselves and how they come to define us. This story follows three siblings who are each struggling to understand or reconcile some part of themselves, or, in my ways, some part of their relationships with their parents and with each other.

Thus, the story quickly becomes part family reckoning, part coming-of-age, and part classical drama, all wrapped in a tale of lost magic and impending war.

Having known nothing so this story or author beforehand, I found it both surprising and familiar, in the way that classical storytelling forms often are. I recognized the beats as they came, but the characters’ lives were so vivid that their inner emotional turmoil drove the tension.

Each of the three siblings at the center of Sistersong has a unique voice that reflects the others, making their interactions poignant in every scene. Holland peppers her story with enough twists and interesting character turns to make it feel unique.

The soft magic system felt a bit all-powerful for my liking, but it was not a ‘deus ex machina’ effect. Magic permeated the narrative, but did not drive it completely.

Steve D

WAR LORD rings true for THE LAST KINGDOM series and Uhtred’s legacy

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Storytelling, ReviewsLeave a comment

A couple weeks back (this post is delayed because life happened), I finished reading War Lord.

This final installment of The Last Kingdom series by Bernard Cornwell is a perfect ending for what has been a highly entertaining series.

In this story, Uhtred is old, and the only thing he wants is to die at Bebbanburg. He has lived a life of war, and politics, and striving desperately to reclaim the home he had lost as a child. Now he has, and he only wants peace. But war stirs to the north and south, and Uhtred must decide whether to fight for King Aethelstan or Constantine of Alba.

Uhtred’s age in this story make any significant fighting on his part a bit farfetched. That’s why the most ingenious part of this book is how Uhtred mostly becomes a battlefield spectator to be awed by a younger generation of warriors making their own reputations. He is the elder warlord whose experience and presence certainly help shape the battle, a general who commands the respect of those who follow him and tries to fight beside them as best as he can. But he no longer seeks out battle–the sword song–as he did in his younger days.

Uhtred’s relationship with King Aethelstan comes to fruition in this story as Aethelstan pays respect to the man who raised him, and Uhtred recognizes Aehtelstan for the noble and fearsome warrior king he has become.

I greatly appreciated Cornwell’s historical note to close the book, and I’ll be looking into his other historical fiction works.

Steve D

October Write Day: Steps

On By Steven D'AdamoIn Fantasy, On LifeLeave a comment

September was interesting. We spent a weekend at the beach, and both of our boys got their feet wet in the ocean for the first time. Work has been nuts for a variety of reasons, topped off by my best team member and good friend leaving for a new position. And we sold our old house!

It took me way too long to remember everything we did last month.

Last Month’s Goals

  1. Read three books.
  2. Exercise every day.
  3. Write long-form at least every other day.

Read three books?

Yes! I read three books in September by powering through the remaining three installments of The Last Kingdom series. I should have posted my review of the final book last week, but totally missed my regular post. I did not finish my current nonfiction read, but I’m picking away at it.

I’m on the lookout for my next big series, but I’m content to pick away at my current to-be-read list for the time being.

Exercise every day?

No, but I think I’ve still improved my routine. I haven’t yet gotten a new gym membership, so to ensure that I can do something each day, I’ve just started building my own yoga routine. It’s basically a full-body flow that takes me about 10 minutes, for now. I’m slowly building on it, adding moves as I see fit.

Because it’s my own routine, it’s really easy for me to just step away from desk for a few minutes and work through the flow a couple times. Once I get a gym membership, my plan is to use this yoga flow on my off days, just to stay loose.

Write long-form every other day?

No. I only worked on long-form writing on seven days. Missing my blog post last week didn’t help.

Overall, I feel motivated to continue picking away at my writing–the issue is finding and dedicating time to do so week in and week out.

What I’m really questioning is whether I have–or should have–any medium-term goals aside from just getting my current stories to final draft status. I had always assumed I would publish them when I had them ready, but then I look ahead to my next project, and I don’t see that being publishable for a few years at least. I’m at the point where I just have stories I want to write, and I know I can’t publish new stories every other year. Is it enough to publish once every six years? Or, should I put more energy into just writing.

I may be exploring this a bit more in a blog this month.

Goals for October

  1. Read three books. This is about as close to automatic as any goal can be for me.
  2. Exercise every day. I’m going to continue with my current yoga routine, since it’s been working out for me. I’m not sure when I’ll add something else to my routine at this point, but I’d like it to be soon.
  3. Write long-form at least 10 days. Yes, I’m scaling back my writing goal. I always try to be realistic about my goals, and I haven’t made a writing goal in I don’t know how long.

Steve D