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Monday, 29 November 2021

THE SAD GHOST CLUB Volume 2 by Lize Meddings

 

Ever felt anxious or alone? Like you don't belong anywhere? Like you're almost... invisible? Find your kindred spirits at The Sad Ghost Club. (You are not alone. Shhh. Pass it on.)

When two strangers meet at a party and realise they both feel different from everyone else there, they start the The Sad Ghost Club - a secret society for the anxious and alone, a club for people who think they don't belong. 

But when a third ghost wants to join the club, things get a bit more complicated. Can the two ghosts overcome their insecurities and uncertainties in their new friendship, and find a way to welcome new members to the club?



At the beginning of this year I read a lovely book called, The Sad Ghost Club, about someone who was so lonely they were pretty much a ghost. And I just read the next installment in one sitting.

Sam and Socks met at a party neither would usually go to. They're so alike they decide to start a club for shy, lonely and anxious people just like them. So, they put up posters and hope someone will respond. But when someone does, new complications arise... 

Loved this! Like the first book, this is another lovely but very melancholy graphic novel. The story follows a new friendship between two lonely and very insecure people who find themselves falling into familiar cycles of anxiety and uncertainty almost instantly. The black and white illustrations enhance the essence of what's happening in every frame, on every page.

It was hard to watch Socks slide back into her insecurities and become exhausted by the effort getting to know anyone entails. It was nice to see Sam getting more confident and excited, but then lose himself in the prospect of more while almost forgetting what he just found. And it was nice meeting Rue, but sad to see her suffering too.

I really like how this series deals with these dark and consuming issues with so much care and attention. Magnifying the smallest of concerns to the point of exhaustion is how both Sam and Socks deal with life daily, hourly even. Learning to navigate these issues together makes them stronger and able to help others, even though it's a constant struggle. And I can definitely understand that.

The Sad Ghost Club, Volume 2 is a moving tale about what it feels like to be seen by someone after being invisible for so long. Sometimes, slipping back into unhealthy habits is a lot easier than daring to take the necessary steps to forge new friendships and this book captures all of those confused, erratic and fearful thoughts perfectly. 

Also, I still think that using ghosts to represent this state of mind is perfect. And the message was sweet too. 

Thank you so much, Hachette Australia for sending me a copy.



The Sad Ghost Club, Volume 2, January 2022, ISBN 9781444957549, Hodder Children's Books

Thursday, 25 November 2021

PAYBACK'S A WITCH by Lana Harper

 

Payback's a Witch (The Witches of Thistle Grove, #1)Payback's a Witch by Lana Harper
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book sounded like the perfect read to me because I love witchy tales. But pretty early on, I realised it really wasn't. I wanted to love this story so much, but I was bored so often that I couldn't get into the swing of things. 😩

Emmy is a witch who returns to her hometown for an upcoming spellcasting tournament and finds so much more...

See, this sounds like something I would totally enjoy because there was witchy and Halloween vibes everywhere. But the tournament stuff was so dull I ended up skimming most of it. The romance between Emmy and Talia started out promising before that also paled eventually. And the interactions between characters didn't seem sincere.

I don't know. I really struggled to get through this. Really didn't click with this story and would probably have enjoyed it a lot more if the focus was mainly on the Emmy and Talia connection, rather than the yawnfest that was the tournament and the founder family politics.

The Halloweeny atmosphere was probably my favourite bit. But even that seemed to get crowded by too much of everything.

Oh well.

Thursday, 18 November 2021

NaNoWriMo: Week Three

Well, here I am again. How are you?

This week's NaNoWriMo post is a bit earlier because I reached The End yesterday. 

That's right. The first draft of STUCK is now DONE. Yay! 😁🎉 This makes me really happy. Not just because it's another NaNo to add to my list, but also because it feels great to complete a new novel after working hard on multiple revisions this year and not much else.

Anyway, here's how the word count went: 

Monday: 57,668 (added 5631w)
Tuesday: 61,162 (added 3494w)
Wednesday: 63,580 (added 2418w)

I  kinda/sorta wrote my way to the end of the story on Tuesday, but during my afternoon walk decided there were several things I needed to fix/rewrite. The imagery was so vivid, I had a blast changing things up for the better. I even added a short Prologue and two Epilogues. I'll only keep one, but had to write both because the scenes demanded to be written. Phew.

I also grabbed my Winner Certificate and badges from the NaNoWriMo website:


And these are the stats:


Plus the daily word counts:


BTW, this is the 15th time I've won NaNoWriMo! Cool.

Writing this story turned out to be quite a dark experience. There were a lot of weird things going on and these characters really surprised me with their complications and problems. There was enough drama and creepy stuff to fill the pages with horror, dread and ghostly situations.

I call this haunted house ghost story a mix between America Horror Story: Murder House and The Haunting of Hill House. And I enjoyed writing every wicked moment. 😈

Well, I suppose that's it for now. 

I'm looking forward to taking a few weeks off because my brain feels like mush. And I miss reading. I've been SO caught up in this story that I couldn't fit any others in. 😖 It happens every time, which is a good thing. LOL.

Hope you're all having an awesome week. See ya!

 

Friday, 12 November 2021

NaNoWriMo: Week Two

Well, the second week of NaNoWriMo is now over. At least, it is for me because I'll be taking the weekend off. I need a bit of time to get all my story thoughts in a row. LOL.

Oh, and guess what? Today I reached the 50k word target. And that means that I've completed my 15th NaNoWriMo. Yay!! 😃🎉

I'm really excited because this also means one of my November goals is now done. 

During NaNoWriMo month I usually have two goals. This is the first one, and my next goal will be to actually finish the first draft. I'm not sure how many words I have left to write, but I'm at that stage where I know everything that's up ahead, I just have to get there. That could end up being another 10, 15 or even 20k. I'm not sure but if I had to guess, I would say this draft will probably end up being either just below or just above 60k.

Anyway, here's my word count for the week:

Monday: 31,154 (added 5877w)
Tuesday: 36,277 (added 5123w)
Wednesday: 41,347 (added 5070w)
Thursday: 47,125 (added 5778w)
Friday: 52,037 (added 4912w)

As you can see, there were quite a few over 5k-word days. The stuff that's happening in this story is unfolding fast. There were quite a few surprises, additional complications, and events I was looking forward to adding. And some days I just couldn't stop writing until I chased the scene/s to the end.

This haunted house ghost story is turning out to be quite the weird little screwed-up tale. 👻 This cast of characters aren't good or bad, most have a bit of both but some come across much worse than others. And the main character has surprised me from the beginning because I was sure I knew all about her. As it turns out, I only knew what was on the surface. Getting below this surface is turning out to be quite the dark adventure.

I love this subgenre, so I'm having a blast writing my own.

You know, asides from all this writing, the only other stuff I've been doing is going for walks with hubby, yoga and playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It's such a fun and adorable game. 😁

Well, that's about it. 

Have a great weekend!




Friday, 5 November 2021

NaNoWriMo: Week One

 

Well, the first week of NaNoWriMo is over (for me) and I'm really happy with my progress.

This year, the very first day of November was a Monday, so that was a great way to start things off. Because by the time Friday (today) rocked around, I'd already squeezed in five days worth of writing. Yay! 😄

Anyway, here's the word count:

  • Monday: 4,416
  • Tuesday: 10,105 (added 5689w)
  • Wednesday: 14,301 (added 4196w)
  • Thursday: 20,788 (added 6487w)
  • Friday: 25,277 (added 4489w)   
This is definitely an awesome place to end the week.

I'm really surprised at how loud and ready this story turned out to be. As soon as I started typing, the characters spoke to me and everything that lay ahead slowly started to reveal itself. Some scenes were more vivid than others, but it wasn't hard to find the right path and embark on this dark journey.

Once I got past the first chapter, there were actually a lot of surprises. Things I hadn't expected, or planned for. Some things deepened the direction or introduced a different direction. I knew there were going to be familial problems, but didn't expect the relationship complications. This narrator is a little messed up. Hell, sometimes she's not very nice, but it all adds spice to the overall tale.

It's also quite weird, somewhat disorienting. There's plenty of weird shit going in inside and outside this creepy house, and I'm loving every minute of it.

I love getting this lost in a WIP.

So, that's about it for my first NaNoWriMo 2021 update. Since hubby's working this year, I'm back to taking the weekends off.

It'll make a nice mental break because between Animal Crossing: New Horizons and this first draft I'm working on... my brain is turning to mush. 😵

Have a great weekend!



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