I like to take stock on where I am with my work and I feel it’s important to share that with you here. Every two weeks you can find out what I’m currently writing and what I’ve been reading.

Writing

I start writing a new novel on Tuesday, November 1st. I’m taking part in NaNoWriMo for the first time and am both excited and terrified at the undertaking. I think the challenge will be good for me in terms of productivity and craft. Or it could completely blow up in my face.

You can follow my journey in many places. Social media (with obligatory complaints about exhaustion and too much coffee). Here for the bi-weekly updates you crave. And starting in a couple weeks you can find me at The Write Life for my NaNoWriMo experience from start to finish. I want to thank the fine people over The Write Life for the opportunity.

For more on NaNoWriMo and on the project I will be working on for the month of November check out the blog on Monday. (Tease, tease, tease.)

Reading

Jim Butcher’s Death Masks (The Dresden Files Book Five) – Another fifth book in a series. I just realized that. Weird. Another great installment in the Dresden Files series. Every book gets bigger in scope. And every time I read one I wonder how Butcher is going to pull everything together. There are so many different threads being explored in this book, and all by Harry Dresden, Chicago’s # 1 curmudgeon wizard. How they interweave, connect and disconnect to the overall plot is where the true magic is and Butcher shows a true mastery of the craft with this novel.

I always feel that pull to write in the first person and then Butcher shows me how much better he is at it than I probably ever will be. Something to strive for in the future, for sure. Dresden is sarcastic yet 100% informative in his telling of the story. The perfect blend to keep the reader connected and entertained to the narrative.

I can’t wait to read the next one. Check it out.

Thanks for reading.