What's Up Wednesday & IWSG

It's time for What's Up Wednesday, a weekly meme run by Erin L Funk and Jaime Morrow. Here's what I've been up to this past week!


What I'm reading

I read Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan, which was an amazing series conclusion, even if it made me tear up. *sniffle*

I also reread Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, because you can never read that awesomeness enough times. ^^

Now I'm finally reading Heir of Fire. *flails*

What I'm writing

I'm officially writing Shiny New Series Book 2! And... it's going well. :) I'm also still working on the novella. I'm not going all-out-crazy this time because I don't want to run into a wall and get stuck, but progress is definitely happening! God, I love this series. ^^

What works for me

I was a bit scared to start writing the second book in my series because I was still in Edit Mode - in other words, hyper-analysing every sentence and fretting because the words I was writing weren't anywhere near as polished and snappy as final-draft standard. But then I remembered that I'd actually added in some of my favourite lines/scenes later on, and I write best when I relax into it and let the characters speak for themselves. (And in this series, this tends to happen a lot! :P)

I also gave myself permission to reread some of the lines/sections from the first book I like the most, to remind myself why I loved the story so much, and it gave me a push to get some serious words down on Book 2!

What else I've been up to

Not much! I've just been working, and setting up my new desktop computer (my laptop died a tragic death...possibly because of a certain book :P). Let's hope it's hardcore enough to handle my crazy 15-hour work days... ;)

And in less than a week, I'll be in Iceland! :D *flails* So I won't be updating next week - fingers crossed I get to see the Northern Lights!




It's also time for IWSG! The Insecure Writer's Support Group is the creation of Ninja Captain Alex, and is a great way for writers to share their worries, support and encouragement. 

I've sent in my post for the IWSG anthology, which is longer than 300 words... so I guess I'll just ramble. 

This month, I'm in the between-state of waiting for feedback on my manuscript from beta readers, while working on Book 2. This is always nerve-wracking, but not only is this a story I truly LOVE, but it's the first in a series I plan to invest most of the next year in, at least. So, no pressure! ;)

I might have just dropped a not-so-subtle hint about my Secret Plans there...

You know, I'm not insecure about querying anymore. In fact, I forget I'm even in the trenches at all (which says volumes about how it's going, really! :P). At this point, I'm genuinely happy with where I am in my writing. That's not to say I don't have bad days. But putting words onto the page has always been what mattered most to me, and I think with publishing being so stressful at the best of times, it can be easy to forget that. Yes, the universe has kicked me in the face a fair few times this year, but I refuse not to have fun when writing!

That's how I wrote a book in 24 days!  First drafts are usually a battle of wills between me and and my own lingering insecurities. This one was a dream from start to finish. And it helped that I was writing characters who are incredibly stubborn in the face of adversity. I've never had so much fun with a first draft!

So I've been trying to make changes to make writing more fun - upping my daily word goals, only letting myself check emails at certain times, putting positive review quotes on the wall, and keeping a list of reasons I love the story I'm writing. It worked last time... let's hope it works for the sequel! :)