Writers Life

Laying Out Some Plans

/ W.A. Roberts / Leave a comment

Laying Out Some Plans

Yes, I know. I’m doing that dreaded thing where I lay out all of my plans for the next couple of months. I use to do this on a regular basis but soon discovered that I would write everything out, post it, and then nothing would happen. Or hardly anything would happen and I would have to admit how much of a lazy bum I really am.

I think I’ve admitted that plenty here on this blog. It’s no secret that I will procrastinate on a project until the project no longer matters.

I’ve gotten better about this. Meeting the deadline for anthologies that I wish to be published in have really pushed my drive to set a time frame and meet it. Part of the reason I’m doing this goal thing again because there are a couple of anthologies that I wish to attempt to get into this time around.

These deadlines are also the reason I tend to disappear from all other social media for weeks because I’m really bad at clustering my time to work on different projects.

My apologizes.

I’m trying to get better.

So, without further ado, here’s my goals for May and June.

  • Finish this underground novella. – This is a project that I’ve been working on for at least 6 months and you would think after that much time I would be finished but of course I’ve held off until the very last minute. The final call for this novella series is in June and I’m going to hustle to get this one in. Even if it doesn’t get accepted here, I am going to work to get it edited and eventually published on my own simply because I really do enjoy this story.
  • Coffin Blossoms Anthology – This is supposed to comedic horror. And while I’m still relatively new to the whole horror genre I do want to explore what I’m capable of so I’m going to attempt this. So, this is due at the end of May and I’m — once again — going to find out if I’m capable of coming up with something before that end.
  • It Calls From the Sea submission – haha, luckily this one doesn’t open until July and I’ve already gotten something written that I want to try and submit. I just need to go in and re-read, revise and yada yada yada
  • Tick Tock Short- Or another one anyways. I’ve submitted something for this anthology but I’ve been brewing up another idea to send it that might be better than the last. IDK. But luckily it’s only a 500 word submission and typically I can finish that all in one day.
  • Youtube- at least one video up in May and in June. I was doing really good at keeping up with the one video at the end of last year and I then I started buying a house and the moving process and it’s all kind of gone to shit. But that’s life. Best laid plans and all that. Now that I’ve got a schedule with my kids and if I can get my ass out of bed earlier, I might be able to actually do this.
  • Weekly blog posts – This is where planning ahead would actually do me some justice. If I can just spend a couple of hours in the day writing blog posts I would have this made. Admittedly, I’ve got the habit of getting stuck on an idea and not moving away from it until I realize it’s been five hours and only a paragraph is written. Go figure. I will do better.

 

  • Reading at least one book a month- I’ve fallen on the way side of my reading. It’s been a slowly coming to halt for the past year, but has completely stalled out as of now. I realization I had when I moved and came across The Shining that I picked up last February(?) and never actually finished. I’ve read some anthologies and a lot of fan-fiction but not a whole lot of actual books and I need to get back into reading them again. So, here’s my goal post to do that. Starting with finishing the damn Shining!

There is one other goal of actually getting my novel STOP THE RAVEN publish. I was looking into small indie presses and submitting to them but unfortunately most of them have stopped looking at submissions due to shortened staff because of Co-Vid, so the universe has stalled my plans on this one, but I am here to say I’m not giving up on this story. It’s just been temporarily pushed to the side.

There’s also another whole novel that I will eventually get to writing at some point. You see it under the big “Top Secret” in the picture. It’s going to be a fun project idea that my husband gave to me. Just the technical details of the whole thing is what’s putting me off. Maybe for the next –camp nano (?) —or nanowrimo I’ll actually take it on and see what I can do with it.

Those are my writing goals for the months of May and June. I will check in when June has finished to inform you what has happened and what hasn’t. Keep in my mind I’ve got personal goals and basic life mixed in there as well, so of course some of these things may just end up pushed to the side.

Crossing my fingers that I manage to find the time and energy to do all these things however.

Until next time

5 movies that I’ve seen but haven’t read the books to.

/ W.A. Roberts / Leave a comment

5 Movies that I’ve seen but haven’t read the books

So as a general rule that I’ve kind of adopted when I was in high school was if there was a book based on a movie I would try to read the book and then watch the film, or watch the film and then read the book.

I’ve mostly succeeded in this venture.

There are several books that I can honestly say are far better than the movie. (Honestly, we can say this about a lot of books to movie adaptions.) But there is, of course, a handful of films that I watched before I read the books, or even knew they were books. It’s only a recent discovery that I learned they will sometimes base a book off of a movie. Suicide Squad is the movie to book adaption that made me aware of this practice. Why bother is beyond me, but whatever.

There are some books that I haven’t bothered reading simply because I’ve already seen the movie or television show and don’t want the movie ruined for me.

(I’ve also refused to watch The Book Thief simply because I loved the book and don’t want it ruined. Go figure.)

But here’s a list of five books that I haven’t read simply because I’ve watched the movie. (I might be confessing some book lover sin here, but here we go.) I should have it noted that I do own all of these books and keep them for one reason or another.

  1. Day After Tomorrow – I have no complaints about this movie. As far as apocalyptic films with original end of world plotlines go, it’s great. I found the book several years ago in a freebie bin and grabbed it up. It’s since sat in boxes and later on a shelf for the past couple of years collecting dust. At one point I said I was going to get to it but let’s be honest here, do we ever get to those “eventually” TBR’s.
  2. Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy – This is another one of those books I meant to read and have attempted to on several occasions. Perhaps it’s the way Douglas Adams wrote his books that I’ve found it difficult to get into. Don’t get me wrong. I love the story and I’ve watched the movie several times but I just don’t see it happening unless the world actually does come to an end.
  3. Matilda – A childhood favorite and a book that I’ve had since… childhood. This is one of those books that my mom bought me when she realized how much I loved the movie and attempted to read but couldn’t get into it. Think eight years old me trying to picture a movie that I’ve already watched a dozen times and didn’t like it when things started changing. This was back when my love for reading was just starting and my attention span not that great. I’ve kept for sentimental reasons but don’t ever see myself reading it now.
  4. Death Note – Seeing as this one of my all-time favorite anime’s you would think I would have read the mangas. But no. Yet another series of books that I’ve started to read and for whatever reason just haven’t finished. Considering there are twelve books in this series and at the time of falling in love with the anime I was just plain broke. I could always go back one day and get the complete series and read them. Lord knows I love the movies (Japanese version not that one that Netflix put out.) as well as the anime itself.
  5. Pet Semetary – Honestly don’t know why I haven’t read this one yet. It’s a Stephen King novel and I do I love his books, but its either because the hype for it hasn’t been all that great or I’ve seen the movie (newest adaption anyway) and wasn’t all that impressed. The only thing that even remotely frightened me was the relationship between the mom and her older sister. (Or lack thereof.) Either way, it’s on my TBR just somewhere at the bottom when I run out of everything else.

So, yes those are five books that I have seen the movie adaptions and just haven’t bothered to read them. Some of them I might get some flake for but oh well. Whatever some books that you’ve seen the movie adaption to and just haven’t bothered to read the books, or vise versa? Maybe you have a favorite book that you refuse to ruin with a movie. Just let me know in the comment and until next time.

Cabin Fever

/ W.A. Roberts / Leave a comment

Week two of officially being settled into the house and now the cabin fever is setting in. I’ve unpacked all the boxes, even went through several boxes that I’ve had stored away for years, and got rid of a bunch of stuff. (Have I mentioned I maybe a borderline hoarder. Yeah. Anyways.)

But now I’ve run out of things to do.

To top it off, my husband’s vacation started over the weekend, so we’re on day 3 of no where to be together.

I could write but I don’t really have too much inspiration. When I do the kids are right behind me wanting something and I lose my train of thought. Needless to say I’ve started wandering around the house looking for other things to do.

The gist, the kids room is clean and tomorrow I may or may not tackle that pile of clean clothes I’ve been meaning to put up. (Yes, I’m one of those people.)

Yep, you read that right, I managed to kick the kids out of their room for a whole hour to get their room clean and now they’re back in there and lord knows how long that’s going to last.

We even sat on the porch this morning, snacked on some popsicles, and played I Spy after going for a short walk around the neighborhood. Not to bad for a Wednesday morning.

With all that being said. I’m still looking for some other things to do. I might wind up doing some videos for Youtube. Something fun and exciting to get out of this bored rut that I’m in at the moment.

The past week though I’ve been listening to quite a bit of music. Not surprising considering all the unpacking and cleaning I’ve been up to. I’ve got to keep my mind occupied some how and came across a few songs that I thought would be fun to share with you guys.

Most all of it is upbeat and keeps me moving as I focus on other tasks.

I also want it noted that I usually listen to alternative and rock but here lately I’ve been in a country mood and so most of this is country music…..

Joe Diffie’s – Third Rock From The Sun ( This is just for fun plus R.I.P to this great artist that we’ve recently lost.)

Patty Loveless – I Try To Think About Elvis ( I know this is some kind of love song, but still relevant to current conditions.)

Mary Chapin Carpenter – I Feel Lucky (How most must feel just running to the corner store now and days.) or how about we listen to  Down At The Twist and Shout for some inspiration for what to do when we’re allowed to go dancing again.

Matchbox Twenty – Unwell (Because I know we’re all going a little crazy trapped inside and it can be kind of depressing if we don’t keep busy.) There’s also their song How Far We’ve Come if you are looking for something a little more upbeat!

Queen & David Bowie – Under Pressure (Cause times are rough right now and we need to support each other.)

That’s it. That’s my list for the week! I hope you enjoyed it (maybe even gone off and found some old favorites through the list) and I hope everyone is taking care of themselves and their family and staying safe during these odd times.

One small announcement I’ve got my short story Janet Price’s coming out in the Blood and Beetles Anthology next week on April 18th. You can pre-order it here!

Until next time!!!