Kate Rivet

Hello readers!

Since I last wrote, I’m well into the 30,000’s — I’m actually at 33,360 words as of a couple of days ago!  That’s pretty good progress for someone who’s only devoting a few days a week to writing right now.  Three weeks ago, I started a 5-week course on photography since I inherited a fancy camera that I’m way out of my depth trying to use.  Believe it or not, I’ve already learned a lot so far and I’ve taken some decent pictures so far, but something has had to give to have time for that plus my full-time job.  Unfortunately, it’s been writing that’s taken a back seat while I’m spending Mondays with my camera, Tuesdays practicing for the most part, and Fridays working late and coming home to try to get something done.

On the bright side, I’m at 23 books read so far in 2015!  One of the books I’ve read most recently has been the most interesting — it’s called The Almost Nearly Perfect People, and it’s by Michael Booth.  It’s a look at all of the Scandinavian countries, plus two bonuses: Finland and Iceland (in case you didn’t know, those two aren’t really Scandinavian — they fall under the Nordic umbrella).  As the book I’m working on now is set in a fictional Scandinavian country called Ängsmark, I thought it would be a good read — especially since I’ve discovered I’m 17% Scandinavian through Ancestry.com and I’ve been considering a job opportunity that would possibly take me to Sweden.  I’ve actually been working on my Swedish lately (Jag talar lite svenska!  Svenska är ett rolig språk!), so this book appealed to me that much more.  It’s nonfiction, and those always slow down my reading speed as I take in the new information, but it was well worth the multiple days I spent reading it between working on writing, work, and my class!

Back to writing, though — as I’m now past 33,000 words, I think I am safely past the halfway point.  Unlike most of my books, where I’ve got the basic story outlined in my own special way, this one has been mostly flying by the seat of my pants.  I have to say, though it’s not always easy going on this particular project, I really am enjoying it!  Having some extra creative freedom is both extremely difficult, yet extremely rewarding!

I hope the winter’s cold is treating the rest of you well — I know I have plans to stay in this weekend, where our high temperature in Pittsburgh will be 10 F on Sunday and the low -1 F!  If this weather does not create the opportunity to stay in and curl up with my computer, I don’t know what will 🙂

Until next time,
Kate