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Wednesday 26 November 2014

What's Up Wednesday



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've been reading City of Stairs, a high fantasy novel with some truly amazing worldbuilding.

And I also read Sanctum by Sarah Fine. Wow. I can't remember the last time a book emotionally grabbed me this quickly! I don't write reviews any more because I don't have the time (the ones I post on the blog are pre-written), but this is a definite five-star read. I loved all the characters, loved the creepy atmosphere... and I bought the rest of the series immediately. It's that good!

What I'm writing

Shiny Book 3... and the rest of the series, seeing as my brain still seems to want to work on all the books at once. :P

And I officially won NaNoWriMo! Yay! ^_^ (The funny thing is, this is the first time I've won, despite pulling some crazy wordcounts in other months!) I'm now over 2/3 of the way through the draft. Once I finally pieced the fragmented chapters together, the words started flowing again!


What works for me

Reminding myself (again) that I spend the middle section of every single draft flailing about like I'm knee-deep in glue. As a "plotser", I wish I could outline every single scene, but sometimes I just have to write and see where it ends up (though I do work from an overarching outline for each book). And that means dead ends, redundant minor characters and dialogue, repetition, and in the most extreme cases, having to stop the draft and go back to fix something that's bugging me. *sigh* I've had to do this three times already!

The infuriating thing is that I know the answers are there, but it's like my subconscious won't let me see them until I actually start typing/writing (I often make lists in a notebook until it sorts itself out). If I'm inspired, it isn't a problem, because my brain will keep throwing the answers at me until I can't type fast enough (I've destroyed two keyboards this year with my mad typing! :P). This is what happened with the first book in this series - in fact, I wrote the last half of the book in only nine days, and a lot of it didn't go with my original plan at all! But I did have enough written down to keep it from going completely off the rails. Whereas with this book... I have some, but not enough yet. *shakes brain to see if answers fall out*


What else I've been up to



I had some new author photos taken by a professional photographer! 
And, surprisingly, they weren't all terrible. Haha. (I'm known for being the person whose eyes are closed in every single photo. :P)


 *Mysterious author face* (Actually thinking: "I could be writing right now" :P)

...I don't generally do photos. *hides*


And I've been setting everything up for the release of Walking Shadow (Darkworld #2) next Monday! The (gorgeous) cover was finally revealed on Friday. Guys, you've no idea of the level of self-control I had to exercise to keep it secret until now - and I've been sitting on the cover for Book 3 since JUNE! o.O Then again, publishing is 90% keeping secrets. :P

Yep. I have another announcement coming next month. Yes, it's publishing-related. No, it's not an agent or a book deal - and I'm totally okay with that. Yes, it's to do with Shiny New Series (and its actual title) and the Secret Plans I've been hinting at over the past few months. (I do shamelessly drop hints. I'm sorry. I'm a writer, I can't help it. ;) *evil laugh*)

28 comments:

  1. Oooh, you with your secrets! :P

    Congratulations on winning NaNo! Man, I can't believe it's nearly the end already. Where has this month gone? O_O

    Love the photos, too ^_^

    Have a great week!

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  2. First of all, a big congrats for winning NaNo! You rock! I seriously can't believe how fast you're flying through this series! And thank you for mentioning that you always feel knee-deep in glue when you hit the middle of a draft. I've been feeling that way for the past month, and I need to remind myself that's normal.

    Love the author pics, especially the one of you peeking out from behind the tree. And that latest cover is pretty spectacular too! Hope the words keep flowing this week! :)

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    1. Thank you! :D It's definitely normal - hope the words start flowing again soon!

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  3. Aah! You already won NaNo?! Congratulations, Emma! That's amazing! I'm hoping to join you today or tomorrow. Best of luck finishing up your story, and have an awesome week!

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    1. Thank you! Best of luck with the rest of NaNo! ^_^

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  4. Yeh for you on winning NaNo!!! I still have to validate my ms but I passed the 50,000 word mark. Now, what to do with all of those words...hmm....

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  5. Congrats on winning NaNo!

    Your cover for Walking Shadow really is lovely - I love the colours. :)

    Have a great week!

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  6. First, congrats on winning Nanowrimo! Early! Yayyyy!

    That infuriating feeling you have when not being able to plot and having to write through to get the story, is how I feel when plotting, even though I know it's amazingly helpful. I essentially get a rough plot outline with more of a focus on character development and arc, and then go.

    Which is why I'm massively stuck at trying to wrap up the points in my current Nano. I can churn out 3-5k a day easily if I know where I'm going. I'm really struggling now!

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    1. Thank you! I'm the same - if I have the plot sorted in my head, then I can write 3K+ per day, but I've not been able to do that with this project yet. Good luck with your NaNo draft! :)

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  7. Oooh, Shiny New Series! *waits impaitiently for exciting new info* :D

    Those pictures are gorgeous, Emma! You look lovely.

    Regarding the keyboards you keep wrecking -- maybe invest in a mechanical keyboard with cherry key switches? They're TONS better at handling intensive typing, they have a much longer life, and they feel nice. It's like typing on a typewriter.

    Any mechanical keyboard with cherry keys is good, but there are different 'colours' of keys so it's worth testing them out in computer shops to see what you like. Blues and browns are the best for typing (I use browns because they're a wee bitty quieter than blues!): http://www.keyboardco.com/blog/index.php/2012/12/an-introduction-to-cherry-mx-mechanical-switches/

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    1. Thank you! :) And thanks for the info! I'll definitely look into that!

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  8. I forgot to say: oh my gosh, SANCTUM is one of my all time favorite books! So great, so diverse, and the worldbuilding is SO GOOD! It really doesn't get enough love. *fangirls*

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    1. I loved it! I saw so many awesome reviews, and I was so pleased when it turned out to be fantastic!

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  9. Huge congrats for completing NaNo... now complete the novel! ;)

    Seriously, though, I know you're happy so enjoy the moment.

    Have a wonderful week, Emma! :D

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  10. Love the new cover! And your author photos are great, too. Especially the one where you're peeking around the tree. :-) And holy canoli, you kicked NaNo's butt! That's awesome, Emma! Hope you find the solutions you need to keep your WiP from derailing". Have a great week! :D

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    1. Thank you! ^_^ I do like that photo. I hope I can get a handle on this plot soon!

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  11. Even without knowing what your secret is, I suspect that you are keeping yourself way too busy. Good luck!

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  12. Congratulations on winning NaNo! You've piqued my curiosity. Can't wait to find out what the big announcement is.

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  13. Love the cover and the photos! Gorgeous!
    And congrats on winning NaNo! I can't believe you've destroyed two keyboards this year! Lol

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