Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Bookspotting: Week 82

This is your brain when revising fiction.
This week's bookspotting was limited. I've spent more than my usual amount of time in cafes over the last several days, but I've been existing in a revision fog. There is a local writing competition whose deadline is September 30th. I'm using it as motivation to finish my first long work of fiction (currently weighing in at 42,000 words). I finished the first draft before the summer holidays, and now I'm trying to fight it in to shape in time to submit it to the judges. As my first novel (I'm more of a creative non-fiction gal), I'm not expecting to make it very far in the competition, but I really do want to complete the piece. Unfortunately, the middle has been a big, soggy mess and I've had to rewrite the first chapter about 20 twenty times in the last week. (Mom, this is why you haven't heard from me lately. Sorry!) With any luck, I'll learn enough to try another novel when NaNoWriMo season rolls around again...

I did spot one Kindle in the Pure restaurant. A Chinese girl on the MTR was reading Tess of the D'Urbervilles, and yesterday I spotted a young man reading a comic book on the train. Beyond that, my eyes have been on my computer screen and my Kindle this week. Speaking of which, what do you all think of the new Paperwhite Kindles? If they had a Paperwhite with the keyboard option, I'd upgrade. Alas, I'll be sticking with my trusty 2nd generation white Kindle for the time being.

Are you working on a project that is frustrating right now? What have you been reading lately? Have you spotted any books?

9 comments:

  1. It's so great you're competing in the contest. Finishing it is half the battle. I agree that revisions are frustrating sometimes, but in the end they'll improve your work in ways you could never imagine at first.

    I have a 2nd generation Kindle, too, and love it, despite the two little cracks on the front. The Paperwhite looks very cool, but I'm with you on the keyboard. I annotate a lot and love the keyboard.

    Good luck on your revisions!!!

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    1. Thank you Susan!

      Even though I don't annotate that often, it feels essential to have a keyboard. I have a touchscreen phone, but beyond that I vastly prefer punching buttons for everything.

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  2. +JMJ+

    The man right across from me in the jeepney was reading a book, but he kept it flat on the backpack he had placed on his lap, and I couldn't see the title. But I could see that it was a trade paperback someone had protected with a clear plastic cover: in my experience, that would make it a library book that had been added to the stacks in the 80s or 90s. The pages weren't yellowed with age, but they were a kind of smooth, white paper I haven't seen in any newer books. I wish I knew the name of that type of paper, so I could be more specific!

    I have no idea what the contents were, but the man reading it stayed riveted the entire ride, turning the pages quickly; and several different emotions danced across his face as he did. So it was either a novel or a really well-written account of a real-life event.

    Good luck with the revisions! =)

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    1. Wow, based on that description I am very intrigued by that man's book too! Thanks for commenting!

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  3. Yay for you! Go, Shannon, go! I love the photo, btw. I've spent some time in the doctor's office lately (thanks to a boy with a broken arm) and haven't seen anyone reading anything. It has me a little worried. Except the aforementioned boy was reading Mockingjay on a kindle and yours truly was reading a library book about Vitamin C.

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    1. Thanks Mom! This message was exactly what I needed this morning!

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  4. Good for you, Shannon! I bet you'll make it much further than you think. You are a terrific writer. Either way, it's an accomplishment, a stepping stone - a big move forward! You best give a review of The Casual Vacancy, but please - wait for your Hong Kong friend to be finished before you do! (I'm sure it won't take me long). Haha!

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    1. Thank you for the encouragement Hollie!

      I'm going to try not to read any reviews of The Casual Vacancy until I finish it either (which I assume will be during the long weekend). There's so much potential for hype that I don't want my reading of it to be skewed. I'll warn you before I post my review. Enjoy!

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  5. Missing you at Poetry Club, but I know how determned you are to get the book finished.I haven't spotted much this week; a man reading a Ludlum in Starbucks, a woman readng a novel with a red fire on the cover in the MTR waiting at LOHAS Park, not much else. I'm reading "The hundred year old man who climbed out of a window and disappeared" (Think Forrest Gump set in Scandinavia)and I have been dipping into the Lonely Planet Singapore guide book as we fly there on Sunday for a week.

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