Adria Bailton, Author
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Musings from a Mountain

Reading Reflection January 2021

1/30/2021

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I read two books in January. My writing craft book was Save the Cat and my fun-read was The Demon's Pursuit of Mor.
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My Storygraph is a little odd, but the mix of the books I read follows the above Moods and Pace.
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Save the Cat by Blake Snyder was recommended to me when I had the opportunity to discuss my work with an author via the DragonCon Author track. She specifically emphasized the Screenwriting version rather than the one on novels. Why? Because I struggled to do any pitching of my book. 
I don't think a novel should be written the way Snyder outlines his screenplays. This is yet another throwback to when authors would never admit to pantsing or organic writing being a valid way to write a story. At no point does Snyder "allow" the potential writer to write their story until they've checked certain prep boxes. Sadly, this way of writing doesn't work for me. Thankfully, I didn't need any of that advice.
The advice I needed was within the first couple chapters of the book, which was basically the logline and pitch. I've since taken pitching workshops and read quite a bit on writing a query and pitch. I'm not as bad as I was when asked about my story. Prior to the practice writing my twitter pitches and query letters, I couldn't succinctly tell you about my book. 
I still need to write a logline for my books, but it's something I intend to do going forward. Like most things, it just takes practice.
My fun read for January was The Demon's Pursuit of Mor by Ahisha McGregory. Full disclosure: I interact with Ashisha on Twitter and when she said the book was on NetGalley, I checked it out.

The Demon's Pursuit of Mor is full of morally grey characters and action. It was a fun and fast read, although it ended on a cliff-hanger. The last time I checked, it was Amazon's Kindle Unlimited. You can read a preview here. If you are someone who enjoys urban fantasy, witches, demons, politics, intrigue, and action, this is a story for you! 
​As for the cliff-hanger, Ahisha says she's working on book 2 right now and I can't wait to read it!
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Question: I only have my monthly reading reflection planned for blogging right now. Eventually, I will be publishing some of my short fiction. What would you like to see in this space? What would you like to see from me?
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Reading Reflection on 2020

1/1/2021

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Blogging Goal: In 2021, I will try to do a monthly summary of books I read via Storygraph.
My reading goal for the year 2021 is 36 books. In 2018, I read 50, and in 2019, I read 100.

2020: In 2020, I read somewhere between 30 and 40 books. In general, the "adventure," "dark," "informative," and "emotional" labels are exactly what I read. I have fun reads that I pick up and read with a reading group. I have craft reads to improve my writing. I also read books to learn other things in life. In general, I will discuss some of my fun reads and the writing craft books.

My favorite book of 2020 was The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson (2020). Every time I try to describe the story, what I loved, all the words just do not encompass it. 

In terms of writing craft, I found Query Craft by Angie Hodapp (2020) to be helpful. If you are looking for information on querying agents for your novel, this is a good book to start your journey. Even if you have been querying, you might glean a new tip or two. This was one of the first books I read in decades on the topic of publishing novels, so I had a lot to learn.

What did you read in 2020? What was your favorite book? 

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    Author

    Writer of spec fic. 
    Flash published at Wyldblood Flash and Constelación Magazine.
    Currently querying a novel.

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