Mauve (A Very British Witch Book 3)
Page 20
Anyway, I do read non-fiction, and being able to accumulate books since I’ve been in one place for the last couple of years, has been refreshing. Carrying books as a nomad was a no-no as you might imagine. Anyway, I’ve taken to listening to interesting books when I’m at the gym and doing laundry, and recently finished Algorithms to Live By. It’s a super interesting book about applying computer science to every day decisions like when to get married, through to sorting your book collection, and even the meta concepts about how to make good decisions. Totally the kind of thing I spend my idle moments considering.
Anyway, having finished that, I turned to my wishlist, looking for my next project. As you may have seen on fb or in Patreon I’ve taken to studying certain maths topics in order to better understand some physics I’d like to revise. As a result I have a series of books geared around that, maths and computer science. There are so many great books I want to listen to, but I found myself noticing how long some of them are. 40 hours! I mean, that’s an entire work week. Figuring out I listen about half and hour a day, five days a week, that’s 80 listening sessions. It’s going to take me 16weeks – four months! – to get through something of that length.
That’s a massive opportunity cost.
In that time, what about all the other books I could have absorbed?
Anyway, I have certain criteria I realized as I was assessing what to listen to next. (I’m sure you have some of your own when you’re assessing which book to pick up next). I looked through the whole list and decided which were going to be the most impactful on my ability to study effectively. Then I’d look at the number of reviews and the star rating. That narrowed it down pretty quickly.
And after I started listening to my first choice, I was pretty pleased with the selection.
The book is called Deep Work, and it’s all about the benefits and how to harness the state of deep focus for producing truly impactful, creative work. Now, as a writer, you can see how this ability is super important. But it’s also going to allow me to use the maths and physics to train my brain into this state, and every gain I make in one area, is going to in turn help with the other process. Maths will help my writing, and writing will help my maths!
Win win :)
I’ve already started reorganizing my day to make sure that I protect much longer chunks of sacred time. Some of the concepts aren’t necessarily new yet, but I’m learning a ton about why they’re so important, and there are examples of things people have changes and what they’ve achieved as a result. I started this month with an idea of what I wanted to achieve next, but seriously doubted if I could take it on. But between learning about Deep Work and the recovery from adrenal failure going well, I’m starting to believe that anything is possible.
I’m super excited about this coming year.
Speaking of Next Year
As we come to the end of one years, it’s natural to reflect on the past year, and notice what’s different and what’s the same. In fact, along these lines of reflect, and prompted by a charity gig I was at the other week, I started to question what things should I be shooting for: in other words, what goals can I set that will be meaningful for me. (For the longest time now I’ve set goals because they were the smart or necessary goal to choose – things that would enable me to make an income, for instance.). But as I discussed in more detail in a recent Patreon post, I feel like goals should also be more meaningful and I’ve been grappling with how to figure out what is meaningful – and also how to define whether something is meaningful. (Just because it helps a lot of people, may make it nobel in the eyes of others, but it doesn’t necessarily make it meaningful for the individual automatically). I’ve more thoughts developing on this, but I think in a few days I’m going to be in a position to add more thoughts to this consideration. I’ll likely post those over on Patreon too. (That’s where my more intellectual and personal musings are published!)
https://www.patreon.com/ellleighclarke
Hexe is coming!
Ok, enough with the philosophical musings…
Putting my publisher’s hat back on for a moment I need to tell you that a new collaborator, and longtime friend of mine, is coming on board. I’ve mentioned him before, Rex Baron, and we’re getting really close to releasing.
He’s in the middle of expanding his eight-book series and adding additional juicy plot lines into the series. I’m so excited for how this turns out. I’ve read the original version in its entirety (unusual for me!) and I love his writing – which is also why I’m keen to help him publish, and get these books in your hands.
As soon as he’s done tinkering with the first three, we’ll set a publishing schedule and let you know what to expect. It’s going to be called something along the lines of Hexe. I’ll get him to explain why in his author notes when we release book 1.
I can’t wait.
Ok, that’s it from me for now.
Again, thank you for being here, for reading, for your 5* reviews and your constant support. I appreciate you so much.
Have a wonderful holiday season, and I’ll see you in the next set of author notes. (Or before if you’re on fb or Patreon!)
Love,
Ellie x
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Here are other series written by Ell:
The Ascension Myth
– known amongst the fans as “the Molly series”.
How Molly has survived military life this long, we'll never know.
When her implanted computer interface is hacked by a nascent AI, Molly has to escape.
And her biggest problem?
The swiftest and most efficient way to get out is also the most embarrassing.
Mortifyingly embarrassing.
If you your space opera with snark, action and characters that support each other, you will love The Ascension Myth where we find out if a dysfunctional genius can change the universe.
We double-dog dare you NOT to fall in love with Molly.
The Giles Kurns Chronicles
– known amongst the fans as “the Giles series”.
Giles is a roguish space archaeologist.
And a good one too.
The problem?
He's addicted to adventure.
When the continued existence of his whole world is thrown into jeopardy, Professor Giles Kurns may well have to face his biggest challenge yet...
Growing up.
Together with an old war ship, an old frienemy, and a rather spunky AI, he embarks on a high stakes journey of intrigue to uncover the truth about the Ascension Myth.
Will they solve the riddle of the strange but powerful talismans before it’s too late?
If you like fun, Indiana Jones-like adventures you'll love this series because it is a smart, hilarious, swashbuckling romp in space with characters you'll just want to take home with you.
The Second Dark Ages
Books 3 and 4. aka the “Michael series”
– Ell helped Michael (aka Yoda) out on the last two books to help him finish out the series.
And because, well, he wanted to kill his villain using… physics!
Ranger Deuces
This series lays out the (mis)adventures of Tabitha (an enhanced vampire who is off saving the universe – yes, vampires in space!) and spunky Nickie (the messed-up niece who was left behind).
Ell calls this the Nickie series, because that was her storyline. Her collaborator c
alls it the Tabitha series, because that’s who he wrote. And sometimes they find a middle ground and agree to disagree on stuff…
The Sword-Mage Chronicles
Three gods kicked out of the unseen world.
One chick with a sword.
In space.
What could possibly go wrong?