Adara VS April 24: Writing Area & Sensitivity Reading
Hello, and welcome to this podcast style episode of The Canopy! Today I'm looking back at my writing and author related activities in April 24.
Visual Description:
Shows Adara sitting on a chaise longue with posters displayed behind her showcasing the cover art of Drawing Red. A paperback is stood up on the desk next to her. There is also footage of Adara showing her writing set-up, footage of her travelling in a wheelchair accessible taxi, footage of two black cats in a garden with blue harnesses and leashes, and there are a couple of photographs of the book Drawing Red being held up in front of the bookstore Waterstones. The cover of Drawing Red shows a a teenage girl drawing in a notebook, with a large red wolf standing protectively behind her. It's set in a moonlit forest.
Transcript
Hello and welcome to The Canopy! I'm Adara, author of the YA paranormal romance and sci-fi fusion novel Drawing Red, and today I'm looking back at my writing and life events of April 2024.
I wrote and edited two scenes of my novel's sequel this month. It's less than usual because I've been deep diving into a sensitivity read for someone. I'm a one project at a time sort of person, but I'm very very pleased to be putting my writing on hold for the sensitivity reading; so I can give it my full concentration, and then give my own work the full concentration that that also deserves.
My specialty in sensitivity reading are the chronic illnesses that I live with, including pain conditions, fatigue conditions, every now and again autism if it props up... It's not something I tend to advertise, but I am very pleased to be helping out another author, and I'm looking forward to continuing that work into May.
It actually bypassed me that it was Camp NaNoWriMo this month. Completely bypassed me, so I look forward to hopping on the next one to really dive right back in with my second novel.
I made my second non-health related trip out of of the house this year, and that was my first trip to a book shop since becoming a published author. I will have a separate video about that coming soon, hopefully next week. We'll see how it goes, so watch out for that.
I've also given my writing area a bit of a makeover.
OK. I have a new work setup. So this is me. I can't really sit with my feet down for very long, so I am on a chaise longue with my feet out. I have a laptop tray, with wrist support, Bluetooth keyboard, Bluetooth mouse, and a laptop stand. And I thought that was quite important for me for maintaining eye level when I'm working like this and also so I'm not so hunched, which is going to become increasingly important over the years of sitting and working like this. We also have here the large print edition of Drawing Red. It's also set up, I think, a tad bit better for recording; so you are now on a... it's like a phone holder that I've been able to plug into a tripod... and that's really helpful, and I think it will be very helpful going forward.
So I now have my setup of stuff for Drawing Red in the back. A little 'Yay! My Book!' sign up on the whiteboard, a couple of copies on the desk, alongside some motivational mugs. So, I made these posters using my cover art. It's a bit of a visual reminder that if I've done it once, I can do it again, because I think the second book is out there to show that the first one wasn't a fluke, and it's given me a lot of confidence. I'm really enjoying this backdrop.
Also this month I managed to get my two cats Thelonius and Kuriboh out into the garden again, in their very cute harnesses and leashes. The seasons are turning, it's getting a bit warmer and drier out here in the northern hemisphere, which I'm appreciating a lot.
In terms of health, it's taken 6 years but I finally found a form of cardio that my POTS can tolerate. POTS is a condition which makes it a struggle to stand up. You have an inability to keep blood going to your head, you get light headed, you feel dizzy, your heart rate increases, and you eventually faint, just by being upright or by sitting prolonged with your feet down for a long period of time. Anyway, it makes me very exercise and tolerant and my blood pressure is rock bottom, but I have found that I can tolerate using a small pedal machine for about 30 seconds as long as I'm lying down, because if I'm lying down I won't faint. I couldn't tolerate it seated on a chair. I tried a recumbent bike a few years ago. I ended up just lying on the floor with blue lips and about to faint... so I am really really pleased to have finally found some form of exercise! That, and I have some small weights which I've been lifting as well, all the time sitting with my feet up to help circulation. And it's nice to get the body moving again. I've also had a small alteration made to my powerchair, so hopefully I can be using that to get out and about again a bit more, and hopefully with the weights I'll be able to use my manual chair for just a little bit longer to push just a little bit further.
I have also started working again on an old pastime of mine which is sketching out symmetrical patterns. I used to do this a lot on paper at school just with squared paper, draw out a grid, some lines of symmetry, and just start doodling. I took it to the math teacher, they said that's a nice bit of art. I took it to the arts department, they said that's a nice bit of maths. Little did I know that I would be still be doing it so many years down the line! I found it very very therapeutic. I bought myself a light box so I can now stencil over the stuff that I'm doing on the grid. Now that I have publishing experience and I've slightly increased what I can do with photo manipulation (and I use GIMP instead of Photoshop), maybe I can clean them up a bit and maybe one day if I have enough I can make a coloring book? One of the many many many thousands out there, but at least I can say that all of my images would be hand-drawn.
Lastly, now this is a big one (at least for me it is), and this is where I show my inner geek.
This month, April, I have said goodbye to the anime that is Yuri on ice. The ice skating anime dominated Crunchyroll's Anime of the Year Awards seven years ago. Now... 5 years ago Studio MAPPA promised a sequel in the form of a movie. In the last 2 weeks it's been announced that the movie mov is being cancelled. Now why is this important, I'm a writer? Number one: the opening theme of that anime has been the opening song of my writing playlist for Drawing Red for the past 5 years. it meant that much to me. Even now I still use that very same music playlist for writing novel 2 if I need to get in the zone. it's like it's automatic. It's like association. It's where people say 'right, if you put on this hat, you're going to be doing this.' 'if you work in this area, you're going to be doing this task.' Well for me, if I listen to that song, I know I'm going to write. it gets me in the zone. Apparently it's been cancelled for 'various reasons.' It's widely believed in the fandom that MAPPA lost money, even though the anime was massive and it spread like a wildfire across the internet. Ultimately the entertainment industry is a business. I get it. however it is a harsh reminder for storytellers in whatever medium to take stock of how sustainable their work is. Is it financially viable? Are you able to work within your means to produce something? What is going to the be the return on that investment? Are you OK to make a loss? Are you in this for profit? Everyone is going to have a different answer to that.
Goodbye Yuri on Ice. You will be missed.
So in May my plans are to continue with the sensitivity reading project, to continue with my physiotherapy, and hopefully to finish writing this chapter which I've been writing. I'm two scenes into it. I have one more to write to finish it, and I think if I'm ambitious I can do it. I have all the notes I need to write the thing. I'm going to find time. I'm going to allocate a time, block it out, to get this scene written, because then after the sensitivity read I will come back and I am ready to start the next chapter from another character's point of view. I'm at the midpoint turn, so I would like to get this done so we can get really- the middle part of the book, or I should say the second act... Is it the second act? I think it's the second act- underway. Fun and games are done. We're now heading out.
So what are you proud of achieving this April? Let me know down in the comments. That's all for me today. I have to go now as I have sensitivity reading to do, and a sequel to write still, no matter how slowly, as I continue to write my story... one day at a time.
Credits:
Thumbnail and ending image created free using canva.com
Music credit 1: ending theme – Adara Spence
Music credit 2: Beloved - Sakura Girl https://soundcloud.com/sakuragirl_off... Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/3ji1zZc Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/omTgn4GQcKA
Music Credit 3: Round-up music by Adara Spence and Mr Spence
Credit 4: Soon We'll Fly by Ghostrifter Official https://bit.ly/ghostrifter-sc Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/35reep7 Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/q2vomZqSJuE
