I got pretty much nothing done on the writing this week, mostly because my focus has been elsewhere. Fortunately, it’s because of something good–my husband and I, after living in this house for 23 years, decided it’s time to remodel the kitchen. This kitchen was the worst part of the house when we bought it way back when, and aside from some new appliances early on, it’s only gotten worse since. It’s very small, and it’s arranged haphazardly, with useless, inaccessible corner cabinets and wasted space. Not only that, the cabinets were not in great shape when we bought the house, much less after 23 more years of use. We can’t change how much space there is, as knocking out exterior walls and adding on is not in our budget, but we can fix the layout woes and make better use of what space we have. Therefore, much of my week has been taken up in planning, getting ideas, researching, and then creating a fun 3-D diagram in Lowe’s Virtual Designer (don’t know if we’ll buy cabinets there or not, but the software is cool). Even when not actively working on it, that’s what my mind has been on, rather than book cover design and description.
What I’ve been reading: I did find time to read, of course. I even finished the book I mentioned last week. Since I’ve been critical of it, I’m not going to mention the author, title or even genre. It never did get any “deeper” with good setting and description, but the storytelling got better as it went, and was enough to keep me reading. However, I don’t plan to continue with the author’s next book. Too many better stories to read. But it does go to show that depth in setting and character building is important, but good storytelling can make up for a lot.
ROW80 Update: Nothing to report here. I’d like to keep the same goal this week (book description and cover design), but that could be stretching it, since I see some shopping in my near future, and I also have my monthly writing group meeting next Saturday. Plus, I have a print book to layout to do for Mythical Press, and also a wraparound cover to design, as the book currently has only an ebook cover (i.e., front only). So with that, anything I get done on my book will be a bonus.
What about you–ever have one of those weeks where your focus was completely elsewhere than where you’d expected? Any suggestions for cool stuff for my small kitchen? And have you read any good books lately–or bad ones? (Please don’t share identifying details on the latter, but do tell us what you learned!) Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear from you!
Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.