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 The Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud, the second Lockwood & Co novel, which was a lot of fun! I also read The Lost Son by Tessa Gratton, which was a really unique take on Norse mythology. And I read Clariel by Garth Nix, which I enjoyed, though not as much as the Old Kingdom trilogy. It's a great addition to the series, though (and there are going to be more books! Yay! *dances*).
What I'm writing
Shiny Book 2! It's slowed a bit, because I've been away, and I've also been editing Book 1, but I still wrote 10,000 words this week despite being occupied with ICELAND AWESOMENESS! I hit 50K yesterday, so I'm still on track to finish the draft before the end of the month. ^^
With Book 1, I've just battled through a really intense edit where I rewrote about 6000 words and cut 5000 (I have a whole document of deleted scenes/sections!). And now I'm working on Edit #6 and waiting to hear back from another couple of readers (I'll have a post on my editing process on the blog on Friday! :))
It's also time for first-round edits on Darkworld Book 3 (hoping for a Spring 2015 publication date! Woo!). Which means the manic power-drafting will have to stop... for now. ;)
What works for me
I'm going to go ahead and recommend a book I've probably mentioned before, Rachel Aaron's 2K-10K: Writing Faster, Better, and Writing More of What You Love . The tips in this book are one of the reasons I'm a much faster drafter than I used to be, and one tip in particular has been important lately - the longer you write, the faster you write. It's true - I always struggle to get words down for the first hour or so (or until the caffeine kicks in. :P), but the longer I write for, the faster the word count climbs!
What else I've been up to
I got to announce my new release dates - Fear's Touch: A Darkworld Novella is being published on the 17th November, and Walking Shadow (Darkworld #2) is now confirmed for the 1st December 2014! And I've officially been a published author a year now, which is kind of awesome! ^_^
And the part you all want to hear about... ICELAND.
Wow. O_O It was (*resists the urge to say "really cool" :P) PHENOMENAL. In the past week, I've seen the Northern Lights. I've been on a whale-watching tour in which an entire school of dolphins swam right up to the front of the boat and then raced us across the water (bear in mind I adore dolphins but I've never seen one up close before! *dies of awesome*), and saw minke whales, too. I've explored Reykjavik, been on the Golden Circle tour and seen geysers and glaciers and volcanoes and the continental division... Okay, I'm going to stop jabbering now and just post my photos.
Me on the whale-watching trip! (My boyfriend got me the hat, by the way. :P)
We got THIS close to a dolphin.
Dolphins-ahoy! :D
This was when they were following the boat!
*dies of awesome again*
They were really friendly! ^^
I filmed this as they followed the boat!
Close encounter with dolphins! :D
Geysir! I snapped this picture just as this happened. :D
Fresh air, anyone? ;) (Honestly... this was something like £6 a can. For air. o.O)
Aurora Borealis! :D :D :D
I messed around with the panoramic views on my camera! :D
Gullfoss waterfall + rainbow! ^^
Pretty view from near the continental divide! ^_^
And this wins the prize for unfortunate language crossover.*snicker* (Immature? Us? Never. ;))
Yes, this is an actual place. o.O We didn't actually go in, but as you can imagine...
Oh my gosh, what incredible photos! It looks like your adventure has been phenomenal - I'm so jealous you got to see the Northern Lights; were they as magical as I'm hoping?
ReplyDeleteAlso, the Rachel Aaron book sounds like just the thing I need right now! Thanks for the recommendation! Have a wonderful week :-)
-- Caitie
I laughed entirely too much at the Penis Museum :P
ReplyDeleteYour trip looks amazing, and as always the amount of writing you manage is amazing!
I'm with you on Rachel Aaron's book - love it!
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for sharing those pics! It looks beautiful but too cold for me. :)
These photos are amazing. So jealous!
ReplyDeleteThe pictures are breathtaking!! I love dolphins so much! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI'm so jealous of your trip to Iceland! Sounds like you had a wonderful time! And yay for release dates! Very exciting! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteSo many gorgeous photos! I am so envious of your travels! I clearly need to read some Garth Nix -- I've seen his books mentioned in a few posts today and people are saying great things. Have a great week, Emma!
ReplyDelete*dies*
ReplyDeleteI don't even know where to start! The hat! The dolphins! The Krap! Lol! *hugs dolphin video* I could cry right now. So awesome.
Congratulations on the shiny book news! Happy Being Published Anniversary! Glad the crazy-making writing and editing are all going so well!
*bows* Going to check out that writing book. It's one of my major goals in life to be a writing machine. ^_^
Wow. You got writing done while doing Iceland? *amazed* Those pics are so awesome...and you look cold. Gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteZOMG DOLPHINS!
ReplyDeleteI've never heard "the longer you write, the faster you write," before, but IT'S SO TRUE! The first hour, I'm always writing in fits and starts and procrastinating and I have to use Freedom to keep myself from checking Twitter every three minutes... but then the second hour, I just zoom through.
YAY Shiny Book 2!
What incredible photos!!!!!!!! Sounds like it was a great trip. And yay for shiny book 2 and getting writing done. Have a great week, Emma!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, a penis museum?! That's hilarious. And the Krap thing would totally send me into a fit of immature giggles, so you're not alone. ;-) Glad you had such a great time!
ReplyDeleteI actually bought an e-version of 2K-10K... after you mentioned it before. I really need to get around to reading it. I'm much the same way as you: the longer I sit there working on writing, the faster I get. Now to just finish research and planning so I can actually get to the drafting part again... Hope you have an awesome week, Emma!
Wow those pictures are gorgeous! Dolphins are incredible and having them around the boat sounds perfect. The Northern Lights were supposed to be visible here, but we didn't go out to see them because it was so cloudy yesterday. I'm glad that you got to see them.
ReplyDeleteIceland... So awesome! I want to go there one day. And Dec. 1? That's coming right up. Whew! Insane.
ReplyDeleteI love all the Iceland pictures! I've always wanted to go there, and now I want to go even more. But more importantly, you have two books coming out in the next two months. Holy Wow! Good thing you got a vacation in, because your life is about to get crazy. And already has been crazy, since you found the time to write both books.
ReplyDeleteCongrats again, and have a great week!
It looks like you had an amazing time! Fun pictures. And how exciting that you've got two releases coming in the next two months! Woot!
ReplyDeleteOh, and score one for referrals. Rachel Aaron just earned a sale. I'm going to go get that drafting book because you recommended. it.
Your trip looks hella cool and I am adding "2K-10K" to my MUST READ list.
ReplyDeleteOh geez, I can't stop laughing over the pics of the slushies and the museum. That's seriously funny! The rest of your pictures are gorgeous! I'm glad you had a great time and that you got to see the Northern Lights and dolphins!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe how much you're getting done even though you just got back from a trip! Good luck working on those edits and with drafting book #2! You should've brought back a can of that air because you're going to need some extra oxygen after this writing marathon! :D
Wow! Just wow! Now I *really* want to go to Iceland. (And not for the museum) *grin*
ReplyDeleteI see dolphins while kayaking a few times a week and I still die of awesome every. single. time. I think I get even more excited than my customers. Which is a tad embarrassing.
Love, love, LOVE all your photos!! And I can't believe you managed to wrangle all those words while traveling. Go you!
Caitie - Thank you! It's such a helpful book. :)
ReplyDeleteCole - Tee hee. So much entertainment. :P Thank you! ^^
Madeline - Thanks!
Yael - Thank you! It really was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. :)
Fifi - I love dolphins, too, so seeing them up close was incredible. :)
Alison - Thanks! It was incredible. :)
Katy- Thanks! I definitely recommend SABRIEL - such an amazing series. :)
Krystal - Thanks!
Tonja - Thank you! :)
Tori - Same here - I'm so easily distracted. The tips really work! :)
Rachel - Thanks! :)
Jamie - Yep... endless entertainment. :P Thank you! I hope you get back into drafting soon! :)
Rachael - Thank you! We were really lucky. :)
Crystal - It's scarily close! I definitely recommend Iceland! :)
Kate - Yep, it sure is! Thanks! :)
Loni - Awesome! I found it really helpful. :)
Niki - Do! It's a great book! :)
Erin - Hehe, gotta love unfortunate translations. :P Thanks! Lol, I probably will! (Though I still think £6 a can is a bit much. :P)
Kris - Aww, I love dolphins, so much. Thank you!
Amazing photos!
ReplyDeleteTwo books that close together - wow. You'll be a marketing maniac the next two months.
Ohhh Iceland. I loved your pictures. Congrats on being published for over a year. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so jealous of your pictures because they look awesome! I want to go to Iceland even more after seeing them. I'm glad you had a great time!
ReplyDeleteAnd good luck with your upcoming book releases :D
Beautiful, beautiful photos. The dolphins are so close!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on getting your release date. :D
haha great trip, you can drink krap, get fresh air in a can all while visiting the penis museum. I think the whale watching was the better selection I'm a bit jelly. Thanks for sharing though Matt @ JC's Book Haven.
ReplyDelete