Favorite Summer Reads ~ @AuthorKristina Knight

So far 2020 has been the fastest longest year I've ever experienced. Even in my angsty teen years. It seems like it's been years since we went to the grocery store without a mask or took an actual vacation. And yet, somehow it doesn't seem like we should already be halfway through the year. Shouldn't it only be February?

My theory is that it feels so long because so many things have happened and yet it's going so fast because all of the days are kind of bleeding into one another because we aren't doing anything... Kind of the way that they did when we were kids and summer vacation seemed to flash by in a single week instead of three months. For me, it's all adding up to needing a break from the news cycle, from the arguing on social media. Like that commercial we all remember, I need Calgon to take me away!

How have I been passing the time? Not going to lie, I've been in the pool probably more than I should be (there are words to be written, after all). I finished bingeing a show that I started when it first came out but then got bored with and stopped. And I'm kind of upset at how they didn't wrap the show up AT ALL (Scorpion, I'm looking at YOU) when it was cancelled. I've also been reading. A lot.

In June I started and finished a three-book, new-to-me series that is kind of a cross between women's fiction and romance and I don't mean 'with elements'. The books are single POV (heroine), first person and present tense and the focus is on the heroine's journey to self-acceptance. But the focus is just as dependent on her allowing herself to be loved and loving in return. I will tell you that first person/present is the bane of my existence; I usually hate it with the fire of a thousand suns. FP/P worked for me with these books, which is a credit to the author's ability to connect the words on the page with just the right amount of empathy from the reader. Anywho. The romance is just as important to the character's journey as is the self-acceptance. Without either aspect, the books wouldn't work. The series is a fun, escapist read and were just want I needed for the month of June. I wish there were more books set in that world and I'm hoping that the author is working on something new for Poppy and JoJo and their band of misfit friends! The series starts with Poppy's Place in the Sun, if you're interested.

I have also been playing in my planner. I started using a Passion Planner this year, which gives you a place before January and then after June for goal setting. I wasn't sure I'd use the June goal-setting section, because I tend to set goals according to quarter. But this year I needed it. So I took a little time last week to look at what I've gotten done this year (published three books - WIN!) and what I haven't and did a re-set for the last half of the year. I'm so excited for the second half of 2020 and I hope that between now and December one of my big goals (new publishing contract!) will be checked off.

And I've been writing. My go-to project right now is one that I'm hoping my editor will love and that will get me back under contract with a New York house. Because while I love being a hybrid, self-published author, I like having publisher deadlines, too. It's something I want. So I've been diving deep into an escapist writing of my own set on an island in the Caribbean with a grumpy heroine and a very optimistic hero and a good bit of laughter. It's a way to take myself on a vacation right here at my desk and I can't tell y'all how much I've needed it.

How do I turn work into a take-me-away moment? There are a couple of things I do.

First, I light a candle or start up a wax melter. Scent is a big deal for me. It always has been. Christmas doesn't feel like Christmas if I'm not burning a particular candle or melt, neither does Halloween. I don't always have a candle that is book-related, but when I started planning this particular book, I was burning a sea-breeze scented melter and somehow that scent stuck with me. It doesn't work automatically, but if I'm burning the wax and if I settle in, the book kind of writes itself.

Second, the music. If you've read many of my blogs you know that music plays a big part in my books. I create writing and editing playlists for each and this book (hopefully series!) is no different. I have a playlist for this drafting stage is is Caribbean-heavy. There are some fun marimba tunes, a bit of reggae, and other Caribbean-flavored music (no words, just music). I've also started my editing playlist, which includes a few Mamma Mia! songs, a bit more reggae (this time with words) and a few Beach Boys tunes along with a bit of Dierks Bentley, Maren Morris and Queen.

Third, I let the book take me. This is going to sound a little woo-woo, and I have to preface by saying that I plot more than I pants. But mostly, once I'm into the groove, I let the book take me where it needs to go. My subconscious knows the plot points I need to hit because I'm plotted it out, and I'm not throwing that plot out the window, but I am letting the characters mix things up a bit. I thought my heroine was going to stress-eat an entire package of Hershey's Kisses in Chapter Two. Turns out, that happened in Chapter Five. And I thought my hero was going to take her diving about Chapter Ten. Turns out, that happens in Chapter Four. But the book is working and so I'm letting it take me out of my office and on to the white-sand beaches of my little island where Grumpy and Sunshine are currently bantering about...well, you'll read about that in the book.

That quote at the beginning of this post is one of my favorites, but I think I'm going to paraphrase it and print it my version because it isn't only reading that takes us away...it's writing, too. Writing gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are - and isn't that a magical way to spend this summer?     ~Kristina