It's haunted me

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This Week's Topic:

What was the best book you read in August?

The best book I read this month isn’t a YA but it’s rather brilliant.

It’s ‘End of the Night Girl’ by Amy T. Matthews.

Amy belongs to a writers group I attend. Here’s what the publisher Wakefield press says on its site:

Molly, a sassy Australian waitress, is haunted by the ghost of a murdered Polish Jew. The two young women's stories, each a compelling page-turner, combine teasingly in one as End of the Night Girl explores shadows cast by the Holocaust across decades, continents and cultures.

Wow, huh?

It sounds intense and I found it so, and amazing and emotional and thought provoking. It’s so wonderfully and skillfully told and it’s haunted me since.

I was lucky enough to attend the book launch (pic below) and am thrilled Amy has a real success story here in her first book.

What have you read that’s made you think this month?

Can I get a cream for that?

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This Week's Topic:

How do you beat writer's block?

This is something I struggle with at times. It shows up as mega-procrastination... like way more than usual. I have to check other blogs, facebook, twitter, then all again. Get a drink. And then decide I probably don't have time to make enough progress to make starting to write worthwhile...

But it means I'm stuck.

The only cure is time. And making myself show up at the computer.

I give myself a little break. Do some of that houseworky kind of stuff i usually avoid. This lets me think about why I'm stuck. But without staring at the screen thinking about why I'm stuck. Usually this does the trick. if not i re-read, waiting for the bit that makes me feel a bit queasy... like i'm off track. Often I need to go back. Sometimes the problem is that I'm trying to push the characters in the wrong direction.

Sometimes my brain is fried and some exercise or kid time is all i need.

What about you??

Not thinking, thinking.

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This Week's Topic:

What is the most inspiring setting you've ever visited in real life? 

I love to travel but the three munchkins has dampened our range a little the last few years. There's a great mix in being on holidays. My brain relaxes and when i'm not 'trying' to think i can sometimes think best.

Cue a family holiday to an island about an hour off our coast, the lovely Kangaroo Island. The restaurants were nice, the accomodation luxurious and we all had a wonderful time. Hubby decided we should drive to as many points on the island as we could fit in. We got to see stuff and the kids got some nap time (otherwise they were go, go go).

Driving through the at times isolated bush i got to thinking.... about a group of people cut off on the island. How, why, when. And so my last story came to be.

What about you, any inspiring settings?

I'm sensing that reeks

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This Week's Topic:

The Five Senses. How you use them in your writing, how you are inspired by them, pictorial essays, that character with smelly socks, books that have used them well, the ones that are currently missing from your work, etc.

There are more than just sight and sound? Sometimes I wonder if I do remember when I read over a first draft whether touch, smell and taste exist. Using all the senses is something that i try to keep in mind when I'm writing but it doesn't always happen (it's not the only one).

THAT, I guess, it what edits are for. I tend to put a sticky note next to my computer screen as a gentle reminder. I agree this can help add depth to a scene.

For example, the rubbish bin in the alleyway where my hero is confronted needed the smell of rotting food among other yuck odors to bring it alive.

Texture/Feel is something i think i could use better too.

So much to think about. Is there any sense you don't use enough in your writing?