The Month I Rode on a Pirate Ship...and Wrote 25k in 2 Weeks
(It's been hot, humid and productive 🐬)
Happy February 👋
The temperature is scorching down here, so our days are filled with ice creams and swimming. Also, our toddler had a meltdown last week because she wanted to put up the Christmas tree… so guess what happened in the middle of February?
🗞️ In this Newsletter
What I’ve been up to
What I’m working on now
Recommendations
Epiphany
Puzzle
What I’ve been up to
Besides writing and catching up with writer friends (shoutout to Briony Stewart, Kitty Black, and Shirley Marr), I had a family holiday in a little beachside town south of Perth. The place we stayed was basically an old barn that had been converted into a cabin.
The highlight was definitely riding on the pirate ship, where we spotted dolphins playing in the bay!
What I’m Working On Now
Marissa and I are flying through the first draft of our second collaboration. It’s the sequel to The Escape Game and has SO many cool twists and puzzles. I can’t wait to talk more about it.
This time, we’re using Dabble, an online writing software that’s supposed to be good for collaborations. It’s sort of a mixture between Word and Scrivener, and so far it’s been easy to navigate.
We’ve also received copyedits for The Escape Game. Going through copyedits separately can be inefficient, so we’ve scheduled a Zoom session where we share one screen and go through the edits together.
Recommendations
My Brother’s Ashes are in a Sandwich Bag – Michelle Brasier
I’m the last person in the world to pick up a memoir, but I chose to read this as part of my research and I’m so glad I did. It’s brilliantly written, with an incredible voice, and it made ugly sob in places. It reminds you how precious life is while being a romp. What convinced me to give it a go (besides the absolute love it’s been given on bestseller and award lists) was Michelle reading this hilariously ridiculous extract.
📹Catch her performance on Instagram!
This is THE podcast that, when a new episode drops, I stop everything and listen immediately. It’s two agents giving publishing industry updates while also being delightful human beings. They’re the type of people who do query critiques on their Patreon, but also tell listeners who can’t afford the Patreon to write to them for a free subscription and they’ll grant one, no questions asked. With Twitter gone and too many new social media platforms for me to figure out, this is now the main place I get my industry news. And speaking of which…
Substack!
Maybe most people who read this newsletter already have one, but for those who don’t, hear me out. I was very reluctant to get on Substack. My line of thinking was I don’t have time to read thousands of words every time a newsletter pops up. Instead, I’ve found it’s more like LiveJournal (for those who remember that). I get to see what my friends are up to! Where my favourite authors are at with their WiP! What the weather’s like in other parts of the world! It’s actually become one of the rare joys of being online. BUT. I think it only works (socially) if people keep their newsletters free. Once you have to start paying for every newsletter, the dollars rack up quickly and it ends up costing more than a monthly streaming bill. For now, though, I’m loving it!
Epiphany
A snippet of wisdom that’s helped me become a better writer.
As I mentioned above, Marissa and I are doing a fast draft—like, super fast. Forget descriptions, minor characters, even minor plot points. We make a note to add it in later, then plough on with the story. This draft is more of a thorough outline. It’s sort of like skimming a stone to get to the other side of a river, rather than stopping to explore the surface and depth. That’ll come later, in revisions. I haven’t written like this before—I usually at least stop to give minor characters a placeholder name and look up inspiration pics for setting details. I find it difficult to move through a story when I don’t have a sense of place. But in two weeks we’d written 25k, even though both of us had to take a few days off writing in that time. So it’s certainly a productive way to work! Recommended if you want to get that first draft done in a flash.
Puzzle
Karl’s confused about these birds. (5 letters)
Cryptic clues are mind boggling at first. But the more you do them, the easier they become. First, see if you can find a trigger word—that is, a word in the sentence that will hint at what to do. In last month’s cryptic clue, the word “confused” is where you start. It tells you that you need to unjumble either the next word or the previous word. Names can often be used for anagrams – in this case, it’s “Karl’s”. The synonym you’re looking for is “birds”. So, how can you unscramble “Karl’s” to make a type of bird?
LARKS.
Did you get it? Are you ready for another one?
This month’s puzzle is a tough one! Figure out who my toddler loves from the clues below:
Angry without the thing you wind in a ball
Next comes the sound of a guard dog’s call
Then the word you use when one will do
Last is when you’re feeling blue.
Answer next month. (Or in the comments section, if someone figures it out and shares it before then.)