January 2021
Hello everyone! I am very excited to finally be in 2021. Although I don’t have high hopes in terms of things going back to “normal”, I do believe that this year will be much better than the last. Over the past month, I’ve not really done a whole lot. Seasonal depression and working more resulted in a very blah January. Of course, I did accomplish some things that are worth talking about!
Aristos Achaion and his Philtatos
I used to LOVE reading, to the point of getting in trouble in classes all throughout grade school for doing so. After I graduated high school, however, I didn’t read much (if at all). The last book I read was when I was in my early 20s!
Well, this January that all changed. After playing Hades over and over, I became enamored with Achilles and Patroclus’s story. Reddit directed me to The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, and it made me fall in love with reading all over again.
If you’re unfamiliar with these names, you may be familiar with Helen of Troy and the Trojan War, which has been covered in SO many movies and books alike. The Song of Achilles takes this famous story and reimagines it through the eyes of the great warrior Achilles’s constant companion, Patroclus.
Throughout history, their relationship had been watered down to an “everlasting friendship”. The two Greek men were obviously in love with each other if you take the time to learn about their history. Miller writes a beautiful love story while staying true to the story of the Trojan War, all the while painting a beautiful picture with her writing. I dream of writing a book this moving, this perfect…I honestly can’t think of a book that’s made my cry as much as I did while reading (maybe the last Harry Potter book made me feel similar, but ya girl was SOBBING by the end of SoA).
Despite all the tears, however, the ending wasn’t sad. I felt very satisfied at how Miller ended the story. Because the novel ended so well, and because Miller wrapped everything up so nicely, I’d recommend the Song of Achilles to anyone who loves Greek Mythology but is tired of boring, lengthy novels (I’m looking at you, Iliad), or someone who is looking for a deep love story unlike any other. Both needs are met with the Song of Achilles!
Let’s Talk About That Innsurrection, Huh?
I considered not writing about the failed coup on Congress at the beginning of the month, but I figured when I’m older and I come back to read these posts, Future Mary would love to read about all the dumb terrorists (yes, they’re terrorists) that decided to try and take D.C. in Trump’s name.
When the whole insurrection went down, I was at work, serving coneys as normal. As soon as we all heard what was going on, we turned on the televisions and watched in disbelief as Trump supporters stormed the Capitol. I was lucky to have a dining room full of people that all agreed that the whole thing was stupid, so I could freely agree with them and not feel like I had to pretend to get their tip at the end of the meal, which is a necessary evil sometimes when you’re a server…luckily normal, like-minded people are my usual clientele!
As an American, I feel so disappointed at the state of our country today. Sure, President Biden is officially in office at the time of writing this, and history was made when Vice President Harris was sworn in (something I shed a tear at work over only a few weeks after the insurrection), but the Trump supporters are still out and about in my city and others like it. I don’t feel 100% safe pretty much all of the time, and over the last four years the fear has only gotten worse.
I really hope that these next four years are kinder to us, and bring some sort of camaraderie and togetherness between people who disagree. For the people tainted by racism and Trumpisim, I can only hope that they relearn what it is to be an American, and revise their way of thinking so that they can be inclusive and tolerant at least, or loving and forgiving at most. I love my country, but damn is it hard to live here sometimes!
Slow Writing is Still Writing
I’ve been working nonstop on my novel (unofficially called “Years Apart”) ever since the end of National Novel Writing Month. I hit 50,000 words in the first draft in November, and now I’m at roughly 66,700 words. After NaNoWriMo, I took a long break from writing the story. Writing 50,000 words in 30 days is hard, so a break was much needed.
Now that we’re approaching February, I feel myself getting anxious about the progress I’ve made. I’ve written about 17,000 more words but I’m nowhere close to the end of the story. I’m barely close to the middle of the story!
I gave access to the first 50,000 words of the story to my husband and my best friend, hoping that they will see the flaws that I don’t in my story. I originally refused to look at the shared Google Doc so that I could edit with a clear head, but of course curiosity took over and I looked at the first few comments they had left. Luckily they both posted anonomusly so I don’t know who wrote what comments, but I found myself getting defensive over what I had written in some parts.
Overreacting is something normal for me, admittedly. I don’t like being judged, and I really don’t like sharing my writing very often. I say it from time to time, but this blog was started to not only get me out of my writer’s block, but to help me get used to people reading my writing. I want to be able to sell books so I’ve got to get used to people reading what I’ve written! The insecurity that hides within when it comes to what I write, however, takes hold whenever I think of that Google Doc. The two people I have reading the rough draft mean so much to me that sometimes I forget to put my emotions aside while reading their comments and suggestions.
However! I really hope that I can share more of my novel with them, and with everyone. Once I’m done with the rough draft, or once I’m at a point in the rough draft where I feel comfortable doing so, I want to open up the Google Doc to people that want to help me edit and revise. There’s still room for marking chapters, making new scenes, chopping up old ones and taking out the fatty bits…I’ve still got a lot of work to do, and I’m hoping I’ll have some help at making the story great!
I know that this story is going to be split into at least two parts, if not three, just because of the nature of Luke Grange’s development as a character. I really hope that this first part of the story is engaging enough to get to the exciting parts of Luke’s story that I can’t wait to write. Only time will tell!
Either way, I’m hoping I can have the rough draft completely done by the end of the year. Who knows how many words I’ll have by then? It’ll be a lot of work to get the rough draft to the finish line, but I’m confident in this novel and I believe I can make something that people will actually want to read.
Wandavision!
Who else is watching Wandavision? I usually don’t watch shows, or TV in general. The only show I keep up with now is Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist and that’s because it’s like adult Glee. But! I couldn’t say no to Wandavision.
I’m not going to write a lot about it because I don’t want to spoil anything for the people who haven’t watched it yet and plan to…but like, what the hell is going on, right? I can’t wait until we figure out what’s going on outside of Wanda’s head (I’m very much Team This-Is-All-Wanda’s-Doing).
I’m sure I’ll write about the series again next month when more has happened! I’ll just say that I’m very excited to watch every episode on Fridays.
Music Obsessions
Again, I barely finished the playlist on time this month. I like to listen to classical music when I read, and since I read a whole book this month, that’s all I’ve been listening to. I threw a song on the playlist that fit perfectly with a certain sad section of Song of Achilles that I read, after agonizing over which song to include…the Mellow Cello playlist on Spotify has a LOT of great cello-led tracks, and almost every scene in Song of Achilles was read and imagined to this playlist. If you’ve never listened to classical music while reading, try it! It really adds a lot of depth to whatever you’re reading, trust me.
I also threw a song from Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist on there because the character Leif haunts me every time he sings. He’s not my favorite character at all, but his singing voice hits different. I threw ‘Buss It’ on the playlist as well because the TikTok challenge has been a highlight ever since I discovered it. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Google “Buss It TikTok Challenge” and thank me later. Lots of beautiful ladies and gentlemen on my TikTok feed this month.
You’ll see some tracks from my Discover Weeklys from this month, some Dave Matthews Band (after I fell down a 90s alternative rock hole earlier in the month), and because of how I am as a person, some oldies but goodies to fill up the rest of the playlist for the month! Third time is the charm for me; I fully plan on paying attention to music in February so that I can finish the monthly playlist before the last second. We’ll see how I fared next month!
That’s it for January! I’m hoping the rest of the year is a relaxing one, although I don’t think that will be the case at all! I really love documenting my months on here, and hopefully you like to read what I’ve been up to.
I plan on writing more short stories this February, so if you have any suggestions for a writing prompt, feel free to tell me over on Twitter! I like the challenge of writing something for someone, so I’m always excited to hear from you guys! Give me a follow if you really like dumb memes and art retweets too. Also, feel free to leave me a tip on Ko-fi if you’d like to help me raise funds for my novel!
I’ll see you here next week for something new! Have a good last week of January, readers!
