Tag: books

Ivy’s 2020 Recommendations

I don’t review books, tv shows, or films anymore because I hate saying bad things about them, but I still want to share some great finds. So, after a year which has allowed me to consume more art than usual, I have come up with a list of my favourites.

Continue reading “Ivy’s 2020 Recommendations”

Trying to Keep Going

When everything changes, you have to keep going anyway. That’s what we’re learning from these last few months, I think. It’s what I’m trying to apply to my novel, too.

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The Decadal Book

This blog started off has a way to document my daily adventures abroad in university, but it was also very much a place where I wrote about writing. It was such a part of this blog in fact that I didn’t even have a category for all the posts about my book and instead I eventually created a whole other blog for all that stuff: precariousreader.wordpress.com. But I still post about it here, and now is as important as ever because I’ve reached a special…horrible…milestone. Continue reading “The Decadal Book”

An Edmonton Overnighter

I recently got my first booking through my agent since signing with her a year and a half ago. I’ve gotten a few callbacks before, and I’ve been booking roles that haven’t been through my agent, but this was the first proper booking, so that was exciting. On top of that, it was in Edmonton. Continue reading “An Edmonton Overnighter”

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue

That’s a really long title. This is a really long post. It was going to be a book review but it turned into more of a book report. You’ve been warned.

I recently finished The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee. It’s a YA historical adventure fiction story, but written with modern-style prose which makes it more digestible for today’s average teenager. Continue reading “The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue”

The Marrow Thieves

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline has been marketed as dystopian—which it is, taking place in a future Canada ravaged by global warming where people have lost the ability to dream—but I found it to be just as much, if not more, of a coming-of-age story. Our protagonist is sixteen-year-old Frenchie, aka French or Francis, a Métis* boy. It was discovered that the marrow of Natives could give back the ability to dream to the dreamless, and as a result Natives have been hunted and killed for their marrow. This is the fate of both of Frenchie’s parents and his older brother. Frenchie has joined a group of survivors on the run, consisting of leader Miig, elder Minerva, love interest Rose, Riri the youngest, plus Chi-Boy, Wab, Tree, Zheegwon, and Slopper. Over the course of the story, we watch Frenchie grow and make difficult decisions in order to survive and protect his loved ones.

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Writer Burnout

I didn’t really consider it my resolution, but around January 1st, I got fed up with how long SC, my big bad book, was taking to finish. My—well, my resolution, to this issue was to write 500 words before bed every day so I’d finish it faster. And for the first week, with the help of late nights and coffee shops, I did it. Continue reading “Writer Burnout”

A Writing Update

After I plotted two books beginning to end, I thought I’d write them a lot faster. Instead, I seem to be writing at the same pace as I’ve always written, and due to my limited time, my word count has grown at an even slower pace than it did when I wrote the first draft with no plan at all. Continue reading “A Writing Update”