Reading & Writing With Rebecca: Issue 75
We're four days into this year's National Novel Writing Month, and I want to know: On a scale of 1-10, where 1 is "being a total badass" and 10 is "dominating this novel so hard, it's a little frightened of me every time I open my computer," how are you doing? 😂
In all seriousness, whether you've met your word count goals every day or you're lagging behind for *reasons,* I want you to put yourself somewhere on that scale. Self-confidence and self-belief are mental attitudes that, for many of us, require practice. Regardless of how many words you write this month, I need you to keep telling yourself you're capable of hitting that 50k goal. I've been telling myself for literal years that I can execute strong, graceful handstands in the yoga studio, and until last month, I came up short every time. Every time. For years.
A lot of RAWWR readers are embracing the 2022 NaNoWriMo challenge, and your work sounds absolutely amazing:
Michael is "dumping the third volume of my three-part epic detective mystery from my head into my computer for editing next year."
Helena is cooking up a YA/NA fantasy: "Nore is a Shaper, born with the power to safeguard Nature, but after suffering a tragical loss, she must decide whether she will remake the world, or break it."
Anje is getting the first draft of her thriller down on paper.
Matt is working on his second book, "a steamy rom com about a queer first grade teacher and the school custodian."
Meg is writing "a YA novel about a comet, a demon who’s been stuck inside a goose, and a girl who sets out on a cross country road trip to find her brother before the end arrives."
Alana is working toward completing the second half of her current WIP.
This is just a sampling of the snippets you've shared with me, the ideas you're working hard to bring to life. And it's not just the RAWWR community, either! I saw Kate Clayborn and Molly Greeley -- two of my favorite authors-- posting about their NaNoWriMo projects, too. We're in excellent company, probably more so than we even realize.
My yoga teacher reminded our class this morning that emotions are like a rushing river: constantly in motion, impossible to capture. Whether you're flying high on the wings of word count victory this week or despairing over the inevitability of your failure, let those feelings float away. You'll either write 50k words this month or your won't, but strengthening your belief in yourself doesn't have to be a question mark.
Good luck, keep writing, and don't forget to drop me a note to let me know how it's going!
xRF
First Line Frenzy
This week's FLF Reels roundup:
No.219 (adult literary): This solitary moment in the sun after eight months in confinement with fear and abuse, made prisoner 5-3-9-2-7 feel born again.
No.220 (adult thriller/suspense): The arrival of Mae in the village creates a black hole that crumbles and tosses stability like scaffolding in a tornado.Â
No.221 (adult general/commercial): The bowling alley greeted her that afternoon with the lights and sounds of casino in Vegas; it is where she would spend the next few hours nursing a broken hand with Vicodin and shots of Patron.
No.222 (YA fantasy): Being strapped into a tin can that smells like a locker room after an abysmal defeat is fanning Tamara’s smoldering claustrophobia.
Book of the Week
If you're looking for a compulsively readable, darkly funny way to pass the time this weekend, look no further than Vera Kurian's Never Saw Me Coming. This thriller has it all: unreliable narrators (they're psychopaths, duh), a college campus setting, and enough wry humor to balance all that murder. What more could you ask for?
From the publisher:
It would be easy to underestimate Chloe Sevre... She's a freshman honor student, a legging-wearing hot girl next door, who also happens to be a psychopath. She spends her time on yogalates, frat parties and plotting to kill Will Bachman, a childhood friend who grievously wronged her.
Chloe is one of seven students at her DC-based college who are part of an unusual clinical study of psychopaths--students like herself who lack empathy and can't comprehend emotions like fear or guilt. The study, led by a renowned psychologist, requires them to wear smart watches that track their moods and movements.
When one of the students in the study is found murdered in the psychology building, a dangerous game of cat and mouse begins, and Chloe goes from hunter to prey. As she races to identify the killer and put her own plan for revenge into action, she'll be forced to decide if she can trust any of her fellow psychopaths--and everybody knows you should never trust a psychopath.
Brittany Pressley delivers one of her best-ever performances on this recording! Buy the audiobook on Libro.fm here.
I'm kind-of obsessed with the gorgeous cover (the light! the color! the typeface!). Order the hardcover on Bookshop here.