My quest to regularly round up some of the things in my life continues apace with March Reads, brought to you more than a week into April.

happy time GIF-downsized_large

As I did last month, here are some highlights of the things I have been doing when I should have been writing, and an extensive account of what I did get written.

Reading Life

In the giddy month of March I read 6 books, bringing the yearly total up to 20.

2 of them were by white dudes, so I let the side down there – sorry everyone. The other 4 were by women though – 2 African American writers, 1 white American, 1 white Scottish. 4 were fiction – 3 novels and a book of short stories. 2 were non-fiction. So a bit more varied than last month overall.

If you want to see what they were, scroll to the bottom for a list. If you want reviews, see my Goodreads. If you want to compare notes, drop me a comment.

IMG_0816

Writing Life

I wrote a paltry 0 blog posts last month, which is pretty poor. I am going to try and rectify that this month by doing a few extra posts. Check back in the ‘April Reads’ post to find out just how catastrophically I failed!

Keeping up this theme, I submitted precisely no story or manuscript submissions in March. Having said that, I did start two new short stories. Between them they reached the dizzying total of 2057 words, doncha know. That’s a very slight increase on the February word count! All I need to do now is finish them.

write-all-the-things
This image is by Allie Brosh, Hyperbole and a Half

Writer Life

So what else did I spend March doing, since clearly I was not writing feverishly in my garret? Well, a few things.

At the start of the month I attended a birthday pub crawl, which I mention mainly because it introduced me to my new best friend halloumi fries. That was quite a day.

I also joined my fellow countrypersons in being outraged about the neverending spring snows, and the cancellation of a Flight of the Conchords gig at the Hydro due to Bret McKenzie selfishly breaking his hand.

I caught up with some people I hadn’t seen in ages. This included taking a week off work to go to Devon to visit friends, their baby and numerous very happy doggos.

Travel-wise I also visited my folks in Perthshire no less than three times, my brother in Glasgow, and travelled to the banks of the silvery Tay in Dundee to see a play about famous terrible poet William Topaz McGonagall.

As if that wasn’t enough, I failed to narrow down my top ten albums for a Facebook meme, and was unduly smug when I visited the dentist for the first time in ages and was told I have excellent oral hygiene.

In short, reader, it was a rollercoaster.

Books I Listened to on Audible

  • The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck – Sarah Knight
  • Lincoln In The Bardo – George Saunders 

Books I Read With My Eyes

  • Akata Witch – Nnedi Okorafor
  • A Portable Shelter – Kirsty Logan
  • The Color Purple – Alice Walker
  • Propaganda – Edward L. Bernays