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Notes From an Amateur Writer #40
READ, WRITE, AND FACE THE FUTURE

This Blog series is an exercise in creative writing. Sometimes expressed in short story form, sometimes as a journal, or just my thoughts written down. This is my attempt to help coalesce my writing ideas and knowledge into usable form. It is a nursery of sorts for the stories that are on their way, or yet to be written.

This is post 3 in @dragosroua's January 30 day writing challenge.

A New 30 Day Challenge

I had already decided to write a blog post every day for a minimum of 30 days starting in the new year. Having just seen that @dragosroua's 30 day challenge has returned it turned out to be perfect timing and so I have committed to doing that. Like last time my overall theme is writing, but this is somewhat broad. Specifically there will be posts such as yesterday's book review. I have in fact decided that I would like to post a review each week as part of my endeavours to delve more deeply into the written word. Also, the Notes From an Amateur Writer will return in a more regular format (such as today's post) including many journal type entries, stream of consciousness style writing, and anecdotes related to (or twisted just right to look like they relate to) writing.

I have also started to write a new series to post weekly based around the 'travel blog' of someone who has never travelled, nor written a blog. A fictional way to explore writing, humour, and my own unexplored travel wishes.

And naturally, given my stated interests in this field, I will be posting my short stories.

2018 Reading List

As you can see from the list below I have a tendency to read more than one book at a time. Some of these I did start and put aside and then got distracted by another book and simply forgot to get back to. But I am started on all of the books listed below, and intend to complete them shortly.

I have also included a section on books on my current to read list. This is far from exhaustive. It's just ones that I have ready to go, which I have usually flipped through the first few pages to get a feel for how it begins, and decide I will like to give it a go.

My to read wish list is far far longer than that. Many of the classics of SciFi from Philip K Dick (most of which I have already read but would like to go through once more), and Robert A Heinlein, to Stephen King's classics, as well as his Dark Tower series, and modern thrillers and mysteries will find their way onto that list this year.

Science Fiction has always been a favourite genre of mine, but I have often had difficulty finding the sub genres within it that appeal to me. Space Opera was never huge on my list. I have included some of this style on my wish list to get a better feel for the genre, so hopefully I can grow to appreciate it a bit more. Cyberpunk is often more appealing but can often be too cliched. I like them to be a thriller or mystery type of story.

Whilst I have never really gotten into classic Fantasy type novels, I have come to enjoy a more Urban Fantasy style. I will be looking for more of these types. Author's such as Neil Gaiman. Magic, mystery, and imagination, as opposed to High Fantasy.

And also Thrillers have started to get my attention, thanks to some very good reads of late. The Millennium Trilogy (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), I Am Pilgrim, as well Orphan X were the ones to captivate me there, so I will be hunting for more of that quality and style.

Novels That I Am Currently Reading

The Girl Who Played With Fire - Steig Larrson
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out a Window and Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson
The Switch - Elmore Leonard
The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
The Sellout - Paul Beatty

Anthologies That I Am Currently Reading

Ecstatic Inferno - Autumn Christian
The Collected Stories of Philip K Dick, Volume 1 - Philip K Dick

Writing Tutorial Books That I Am Currently Reading

Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft: A step-by-step guide - Janice Hardy
Creating Character Arcs - K M Weiland
Structuring Your Novel Workbook - K M Weiland

Non-Fiction Books That I Am Currently Reading

The Great Shark Hunt - Hunter S Thompson
The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything Fast – Josh Kaufman

Novels On My (Current) To Read List

The Fifth Season - N K Jemisin
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
The Man in the High Castle - Philip K Dick

There is certainly a lot of reading to tackle on that list, but I am up for the challenge (and this particular challenge will be more of a 365 day challenge). My hope is for many of these to lead to inspiration and ideas for my own blog and story ideas. Which is part of my ongoing journey to one day have a blog titled Notes From a Professional Writer.

This is post 3 in @dragosroua's January 30 day writing challenge.

Images from unsplash.com and used with permission.

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