Wednesday, February 11, 2015

What's Up Wednesday

What's Up Wednesday, started by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funkis a weekly blog hop for readers and writers, allowing us to touch base with blog friends and let them know what's up.

WHAT I'M READING

Goodreads
I've been on a reading craze lately! I most recently finished Lisa Brown Roberts' debut contemporary How Not to Fall in Love. Recommended for fans of Morgan Matson, Jessi Kirby, and Sarah Dessen. I'll post a review soon!

My library came through with a bunch of holds all at once: Rick Yancey's The Infinite Sea, book two of The 5th Wave. It was a little disorienting at first, and sort of oddly structured, but so much action! It reminds me of The Walking Dead only with an alien threat instead of zombies.

I also read Neil Patrick Harris' Choose Your Own Autobiography, a fun read with the Go to Page X theme for a customized adventure :), and I'm Glad I Did by Cynthia Weil, a debut YA book by a former songwriter writing about a fictionalized 1960s record company and a teen girl trying to make it as a songwriter.

Now I have Sarah Addison Allen's First Frost. I'm so glad I got myself on the hold list at the library early since the book just came out.

WHAT I'M WRITING (+ WRITING GOAL)

I finished a rather quick revision in record time, which made me feel all kinds of awesome. Now I'm back to the other WIP I'm pulling apart where my progress is far more slow. I've never gutted an entire story and changed the plot before. I'm essentially rewriting the whole thing. My goal is to get 5k more written in the next week. 

WHAT WORKS FOR ME

Group bloggers The Ruby Slippered Sisterhood have their winter writing accountability fest going on now, which has helped with motivation. 

WHAT ELSE IS NEW

New hair! It's hard to get a good angle, but the panel of color is VERY purple.

I signed up for the RWA National conference in NYC. One thousand people registered the first day! I'm glad I booked early since the initial block of rooms are all booked and they're already working with waiting lists and an overflow hotel. I've had a few people contact me about potentially going 3-4 in the room, so this could get interesting! :)

I binged through all of Scandal and I'm mostly caught up. Just in time to be geeked for the next Scandal-inspired clothing collection at The Limited. Too bad I work from home now or I'd buy mysel an Olivia Pope wardrobe. 

18 comments:

  1. The Infinite Sea was one of my favourite books of 2014. It's something special.

    Good luck with your 5k goal :D

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  2. I saw Neil Patrick Harris' Choose Your Own Autobiography the other day. Really want to read it. Good luck with your goal this week. Thanks for sharing. :D

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    1. It was really fun to read on an e-reader. It felt like the book of the future! :)

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  3. Congrats on finishing those revisions! Hope the rewrite of the other story goes just as well. I haven't even heard of most the books you've mentioned here, so I'll most likely be adding more to my TBR list. *sigh* Though, I have been wondering about the NPH autobiography. Talk about a unique approach to the autobiography. Love that guy!

    You've just reminded me that I have a bunch of SCANDAL episodes on my PVR to get caught up on. Whoops! I'm binge-watching so many shows right now I'm losing track of half of them lol. I suppose lots of good TV is better than no good TV, right? I suspect we'd get more done, though.

    Hope you have a great week! :D

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    1. We lost a bunch of stuff in The Great DVR Meltdown about a month ago, which is sort of freeing. You just can't watch everything!

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  4. I love getting on the hold/request list early at the library! I've got a handful of books that will probably be ready all at once. Bring 'em on! :)

    Recently read and loved THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah and THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins - very different books but both very good. :)

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  5. I'm so envious that you're going to RWA -- sounds amazing! How Not to Fall in Love sounds really good. It wasn't on my radar before now, so thanks for mentioning it. Oh, and your hair looks fantastic!

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    1. Thanks! This will be my second RWA national conference. I didn't go last year so I could save my $$ for NYC :)

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  6. Great job flying through that revision! Good luck with gutting the other book. I did that for the book you helped me so much with, it was an extreme makeover for sure. I'm jealous of your RWA trip, one of these days I'll make it to that.

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    1. I'm SO glad to hear. I've learned so much from every book an every revision. I hope to see your MS in some of the upcoming contests! Or if you are going the regular query route, good luck and keep me in the loop!

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  7. WOW. Conference in NY? I am super jelly. Have fun!

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  8. Gutting an entire story is scary. I did it once with negative results (unfortunately). Good luck!
    Super jealous of you going to RWA. One of these days i'll get myself to a writers conference.
    I've recently gotten a buttload of holds from my library too. So much reading to do!

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  9. I still need to read THE INFINITE SEA. I really enjoyed the first book. Hope the rewrite goes well! :)

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  10. Congrats on finishing your revisions! And good luck with your rewrite! My library seems to do that too. Just yesterday I had four new releases ready to be picked up at the library. I really want to read I'm Glad I Did. It has a really cute cover. I want to read Neil Patrick Harris' book too. I'm on hold at the library for that one. Have a great week!

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  11. So many books! They all sound awesome, and your hair is beautiful. Have an awesome week!

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  12. Your haircut is SO cute (both in the new photo with the purple and in your profile picture). Thanks for a great list of book suggestions, and yes, I recently revamped a manuscript - so much work! But it was definitely worth the effort. :)

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  13. I've been on a reading craze lately, too! Wonder if it's the weather? Cold, overcast weather is perfect for staying in and reading all day, after all. (Or maybe I'm just making excuses for my need to read. :-D)

    The Writing Accountability Fest sounds like a great idea! I have a groups I check in with, and it really inspires me to keep going -- especially since I never want to write in to say I didn't get anything done that day.

    Happy writing AND reading!

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