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#7DWC – Done!…

i did it! i finished the 7-Day-Writing-Challenge i started last week.

7dwc_DONE20180131Ok. Now i did not write every day and i did not meet the word goal most days BUT… i wrote 6 days out of 7, wrote about 3500 words (give or take a few) of the required 7000 and edited more than half my novel! i would say that is not bad at all and would even call it a triumph 😉

i didn’t think much about it when i started this challenge, i did it on a whim. However, it has been great to see so many people doing it and encouraging each other daily to keep writing in spite of lack of time and sleep, and even in difficult circumstances (some of which were quite hard and sad), people were writing.

Doing this challenge has enabled me to edit half my novel, which has given me the boost i needed to push ahead and get it done and then onto crit groups we will go 😀

So if you are thinking about writing, don’t think – just do it! Join a challenge like this or better still join a writing group. If a group is not your thing, find a writing bubby. i know that my writing bubby has been the one who keeps me writing and i hope i have helped her too. And it is lovely to have someone to bounce ideas off, someone to pull you out of the dumps if you fall.

Keep Calm and Write On!

syc

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7 Day Writing Challenge…

So in keeping with bringing the theme of writing back to this blog and to get my story, which i have been working on, off and on, for the last couple of years, finished, i joined the 7 Day Writing Challenge by The Write Practice.

7-day-creative-writing-challengei have been lurking at The Write Practice for a few years now and like reading the articles but i have not taken part in anything. i am hoping that taking part in this challenge will give me the push i need to finally finish this story i have been writing, or at least get it to a stage where i am happy to have others read it.

The challenge is to write something, everyday, for 7 days, and therefore forming a writing habit. And of course, as with any writing challenge, there is a word count goal, 1000 words a day. Doesn’t sound like a lot. It is totally doable. i know because when i do Nanowrimo, the daily goal is something like 1600.

Now it is Day 3 of the challenge. i met the writing goal on Day 1 and fell off the wagon on Day 2 (meeting just half the goal). i haven’t written anything for Day 3 yet (unless you count this blog post). But i am still feeling good about the challenge.

The Write Practice sends daily pep-talk emails and here is my favourite quote so far:

“Being a good writer is 3% talent,
97% not being distracted by the Internet.”
—Anonymous

How true that is! Hahha… So the idea is to write, write, write…

Wish me luck! Or better yet, ask me over the next few days, “How’s the writing going?”.

Thanks very much.

syc

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Book Review: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne…

I am always slightly precarious when reviewing a very well-known author or book series. But still, i must say this is one i am quite happy to review.

Of course, almost everyone knows the Harry Potter series and a huge number of people have read it and love the characters involved. i like the series and think that J.K. Rowling is a great storyteller. She is just brilliant at weaving in little details which turn out to be a key plot point later in the story. Now she had help with this one – John Tiffany and Jack Thorne. While i am not familiar with these authors/playwrights, i know that together the three of them have written an amazing sequel to the Harry Potter series.

harrypotterCursedChild20180110We start off where we left off at the end of Deathly Hallows, on Platform 9 3/4 at King’s Cross station, with Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermonie seeing their children off to Hogwarts.

i won’t give away too much (in case there are people who have not read this but still want to). i will tell you what i like about this story.

i like the variety in the characters of the children. i do wish there was more time to explore each of their little personalities but it is a play and there isn’t.

i love the idea of Harry’s son, Albus, becoming firm friends with Malfory’s son, Scorpius. This leads to Harry and Malfory having to work together to get their sons out of trouble. It is nice to see that Malfory has a number of redeeming qualities, which wasn’t clearly seen in the previous books.

There is lots of time travel involved in this one. I can never wrap my mind fully around the going backwards and forwards and how historical events are affected but if you just suspend your disbelieve and confusion for a while, simply go with it, it is an amazing ride through time.

Of course, “you-know-who” is mentioned and this time evil takes an altogether unexpected form. i still am not sure how i feel about this character (not giving too much away) who is so closely linked to Voldemort, because her motivations are still a little unclear, even at the end.

This was a quick read for me, mainly because it is a script and not a novel, which means little scene setting and descriptions, mostly dialogues. But they were good, well-written dialogues which really carried the story.

Now i just wish i could have watched this play actually performed. i’m sure the set designs were fantastic, and i would have loved to see how they manage the time-travel sequences.

One question hangs in my mind – who exactly is the Cursed Child? Was it Albus Potter? i had thought so at the beginning and Albus himself seemed to think so. But when i finished reading, i changed my mind. If you have read this already, what do you think?

syc