I had cause recently to go through a box of old photos. I feel we miss something when all our photos are digital. For one, we delete too readily … in my opinion.
I have a photo of the back half of a donkey, taken on holiday in Greece. I intended to take a photo of the whole animal, but they move fast. So ass end it is. Many people would have deleted it but it’s one of my favourite photos.
Also I don’t look back at old digital photos as much as much as I look at the physical ones (which still isn’t a lot). Why didn’t I appreciate what a scrumptious crumpet I was when I was younger?! But that’s not the important part….
The photos got me thinking about all those points where my life could have turned left instead of right, where I could have chosen the road more travelled … or less. Or where a moment’s hesitation might made me late for the train, putting me on a different path. How different would my life be? But, of course, there’s no way to really know because after that choice, after that fork, there would have been a thousand other moments, each branching the path of your life.
It got me thinking of stories of alternate lives. I don’t know of any books — if you have any suggestions, let me know. I quite liked the movie Sliding Doors when it came out because of that idea of how a seemingly small choice can change a life. I should re-watch The Butterfly Effect, and I found Mr. Nobody when searching, which I might need to track down. Have you seen it? Any good?
And of course, all of this spawned a story idea … which I made note of but then am leaving alone ….
Writing update
I finished drafting this long short story I’ve been working on for the past few months. The draft is about 8500 words, so still a short story but longer than expected — and it’ll probably creep up to 10K in edits. Why did it take so long? Probably the life events I alluded to last time that had me looking through old photos. But it’s drafted and the giant space lizard will survive editing, I can promise you that.
That means it's soon back to edits on book 3 in The Lyra Cycle. I have all the comments from the beta reader, and I think I know the big rocks I have to tackle.
What’s on my TBR shelf
I was reading An Immense World by Ed Yong. It’s all about animal senses and how they differ from humans, and how that changes the world they live it. It definitely filled the creative well — I have a least one story idea from it … which I should write down before I forget.
I’m not quite finished because my ebook checkout from the library ended before I was done … so I put in another request but who knows where I am on the list. Maybe I should just buy a copy. It’s fantastic so far.
So while I wait for that, I’m on to Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente. Loving it so far.
Books for your TBR list
If you’ve already read Space Opera and aren’t into animal senses (trust me, fascinating), check out the Scifi and Fantasy Book Bonanza — it has a handful of 99 cent and free books every month.
Or my Armchair Alien co-conspirator has a new YA space adventure, Hope is the Thing With Feathers.
I’ll also update my 2023 reading list soon. I let it slide along with everything else lately.
Happy reading!
— CR
Where to find my books
If you’d like to read any of my scifi or urban fantasy books, you can find them at your favourite online retailers. Or you can buy them direct from me on the Armchair Alien store.
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