A is for Audiobooks: My New Love Affair

I recently saw two friends, Rob Zimmerman and Deena Schoenfeldt, talking about audiobooks. I was puzzled. When did they listen to them? How did they find the time? Audiobooks seemed to be more time-consuming than actually reading, since I can read a book in half the time it takes to listen to it, and I was already unsatisfied with the amount of time I had for books.

Rob said he listened while shovelling snow. Deena said in the car.

I live in Australia. No snow. I catch the train to work, and while I could certainly listen to audiobooks that’s my writing time. I do drive a bit, but mostly I have small, noisy kids in the car. No cigar.

Then, I suddenly found some snow I could shovel!

I walk from my car to the station, and from the station to my office, nearly half an hour each way, or an hour a day five days a week. I was listening to music, but since I prefer to sing while listening to music, and I couldn’t really do this walking in public, this wasn’t really ideal music listening time. Why not listen to an audiobook?

Once I found some time to use, I decided to give audiobooks a try. That was January 12. Since then I’ve listened to 7 audiobooks, in addition to another 3-4 books I’ve read in ebook format. It’s the most books I’ve read in a 10 week period in years, and I’m loving it. 

I started with listening while walking. Then it was while doing the chores, if the kids were in bed, and my husband was otherwise preoccupied. As books grabbed and held my attention, I scrounged for more time for the stories. While exercising at 5am in my house. Doing my exercises to repair my abdominal separation (a staggering 1500 of them a day). 

Then it was in the car, to and from the station or, even better, en route to pick up the kids from my mother in law’s, or home from my parents on a weekend evening, as both kids slept in the back seat – both trips of a good forty minutes. Finally, it was the gym. 

The gym was a good move. After nearly a year at the gym, and some 18kgs of weight loss (with ten still to go) my motivation was flagging. Audiobooks suddenly gave me a new incentive to go - if I go to the gym, I can listen to the book, I told myself. Now I celebrate the nights I go to the gym – I can find out what happens next! 

I am not addicted. Honest. Just a little in love. 

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On the Cusp of Exhaustion

Yesterday I sent my manuscript ‘Deathhawk’s Betrayal’ to Writing Australia’s Unpublished Manuscript Award. I had done four sets of revisions after receiving feedback from my beta readers, and a couple before that. The latest four sets of revisions required me to edit and revise solidly from April until, well, yesterday. In case you’re wondering, yes that means I read my own 90,000 word novel (approximately 320 A4 double-spaced pages) four times in the last six months. 

Can I say I am exhausted? The last three weeks especially have been gruelling. As I mistook the closing date for October 31 instead of October 13, the last three weeks required me to edit 3000 words a day to finish in time. If I wasn’t working, I was more or less writing. On the train to work, on the train from work, and after dinner until around 11pm. Did I mention I get up at 5:45am? Oh and Sunday night I got three hours sleep due to a restless toddler. 

 As much as I love it, I do not want to look at that manuscript for at least several months. Fortunately, results are not released until the end of November. If I don’t win, I can let it sit until next year. If I do win, they are going to give me money to pay someone to mentor me. Yay! Call me pessimistic, but I don’t have any real expectations of winning. As you know, I write fantasy. Unless the competition is dedicated exclusively to speculative fiction, trying to win a competition with a piece of fantasy fiction is akin to trying to win an Oscar with something like ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl’. And we all know how well that went - don't we?

So now I am at a loose end. What am I going to do with all my time? 

As it turns out I actually have a list as long as my arm. I’ve promised about three people guest blogs. I have to catch up on my own blogs, which I had let slide for the last week. I did a new post for Somebody Has To Say It last night and of course this one today. I’m participating in Six Sentence Sunday again this week and there will probably be another post here on Flight of the Dragon early next week. 

On top of that I had committed to read and review two books. If you are one of these people, I am terribly sorry for the delay. I am on to this now. Less formally, there are two people who have asked me to provide some pointers on their own work and I also participate in two critique groups, one of which is very active.

What I’m looking forward to the most, though, is reading. I haven’t read very much at all in the last six months and I miss it! Here is my reading list as it stands at the moment:

1. ‘The Ways of Kings: Part 2’ by Brandon Sanderson;
2. ‘Spirit Gate’ and ‘Shadow Gate’ by Kate Elliott;
3. ‘Medalon’ by Jennifer Fallon;
4. 'The Iron Tree’ by Cecelia Dart-Thornton;
5. ‘Master of Dragons’ by Margaret Weis;
6. ‘The Bourne Identity’ by Eric Van Lustbader;
7. ‘The Magician’s Guild’ by Trudi Canavan;
8. 'The Blade Itself’ by Joe Abercrombie;
9. ‘A Dance With Dragons’ by George R. R. Martin;
10. ‘The Omen Machine’ by Terry Goodkind;
11. ‘Royal Exile’, ‘Tyrant’ and ‘Goddess’ by Fiona McIntosh;
12. 'Path of Revenge’ by Russell Kirkpatrick;
13. ‘Nascence’ by Tobias S Buckell;
14. ‘The Assassins: Forged in Blood’ by Goran Zidar;
15. ‘Grand Duchy’ by Kevin Edwards;
16. ‘Witches’ by Phil Stern.
17. ‘The Commander and the Den Asaan Rautu’ by Michelle Franklin
18. ‘The Serpent Bride', The Twisted Citadel’ and ‘The Infinity Gate’ by Sara Douglass;
19. ‘Stormed Fortress’ and ‘Initiate’s Trial’ by Janny Wurts.

I am looking forward to it with child-like delight!

You can learn more about 'Deathhawk’s Betrayal' here and the protagonist, Astarl, here. Look out for another excerpt this Sunday in Six Sentence Sunday.