What We're Reading Now by WWK Authors

 

Four Mums in a Boat

 

 

Four Mums in a Boat was written by the four mums, Jennette Benaddi, Helen Butters, Niki Doeg and Frances Davies who rowed a boat for 3,000 miles as part of the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge. The women ranged in age from 46 to 52 and collectively had eight children.

 

It was an amazing undertaking by middle-aged women who were not Olympic athletes and who had quite limited experience of rowing at the beginning. They turned a crazy idea into reality within three years. The preparation was as intense as the journey since they had to convince their incredulous husbands, children and other family members, get sponsorship, get into shape for the months-long events and so forth.

 

They wrote about persisting through serious injuries, chronic seasickness, a hurricane, and a few woman-overboard experiences. I say will all respect these are four tough mothers. A very interesting and inspiring book.                                                                                                                                                                                         -Warren Bull

 

 

 

Paige Shelton’s Scottish Bookshop Mystery Series

 

During the past year when travel has been so restricted, I gravitated to books that took me out of my own world and let me enjoy other places. Paige Shelton delivered on that by not only whisking me away to Edinburgh, Scotland, but also setting her series in one of my favorite places, a bookshop—one with a treasure storehouse attached. Fortunately, when I discovered her books, Paige Shelton had already written several in the series, so I was able to go right through them without having to wait for more to be released. The joy of following her main character, American Delaney Nichols, in her adventures is that we get to see Edinburgh through the eyes of someone who has gone to live there and not through the eyes of a tourist. The book is filled with interesting and realistic characters, with each book delving into some aspect of Scottish history in a modern-day setting. One book even focuses on the Loch Ness monster. I listened to the audiobook version of the series and found the narrator did a remarkable job on the various accents. The Scottish Bookshop Mystery Series is a delight, and I highly recommend it.                                                                                                                                                   -Grace Topping

 

Embrace the Process by Kait Carson

At the start of the year my inbox was filled with newsletters. You know the kind, self-help, how-to, suggestions for resolutions (not), suggestions for goals—and how to accomplish them. I skimmed most of the copy. After all, someone took the time to craft the newsletters. They deserved at least a skim. There was only one that resonated. Gwen Hernandez’s e-mail, New Year, Old Process, not only spoke to me, it screamed at me.

 

This is my first year as a full-time writer. In years past, I’ve squeezed writing in during odd moments, late nights, and early mornings. My process was one of fits and starts. Long flowing hours where I thought I could actually do this thing called write followed by arid times where I was pretty sure I’d never taken an English class and had a less than passing acquaintance with grammar.

 

Now that I’m not working a day job, I’ve got the time to write. All I needed to do was figure out how and when. I hear about fellow writers who hit 10,000-word goals on a weekly basis. In their spare time they churn out short stories. These are disciplined people. I feel inadequate. My process is different. I write fast, edit as I go, but may be working on three projects at one time. My writing day consists of one from column A and two from column B, always driven by desire. Then add in a soupçon of marketing.

 

It’s the kiss of death to tell myself that today I will write two chapters on the WIP. That guarantees that when I sit down, all I’m going to want to write is a short story and a blog post. If I force myself to write those two chapters, they inevitably need a serious re-write. Yes, there are times when I crank out 5,000 words in a sitting on my WIP, but those days are rare. More often than not, I’ll write a scene or two and then move on to something else. My process is messy. It’s geared toward my short attention span. I’m on track to write three books this year. In my very own way.

 

My engineer father used to say if it works, don’t fix it. My process works for me. It wasn’t until I read Gwen’s newsletter that I understood it didn’t need to be fixed. It’s my process and I need to embrace it and quit trying to take pages from the books of others. If I don’t do that, all I am accomplishing is fighting myself. That’s a losing battle.

 

What about you? Do you do the thing you think you should because it works for someone else, or do you follow your own drummer?