What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme run by Erin L Funk and Jaime Morrow and is a great way for readers and writers to catch up!
What I'm reading
I've finally been reading my shiny new Sandman comics, which are amazing, like all of Neil Gaiman's work. Then I've been reading The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson, which is awesome. Such an amazingly realised fantasy with a strong heroine. Methinks I've found a new fantasy author to add to the ever-growing favourites list!
What I'm writing
If you've been following me on Twitter or watching the sidebar, you'll see that I finished the first draft of my YA fantasy book, Beneath the Waves! At 72,000 words, it's the longest book I've ever written (my first drafts are notoriously skeletal and often missing entire sub-plots, but this time my epic Outline of Doom paid off!). I'm now staring at a printed copy, red pen in hand, whilst waiting for notes from my critique partners.
I was supposed to take a few days off to recuperate (I wrote 5000 words in a day when I finished it, beating my personal record!), but apparently I'm a compulsive writer who is incapable of leaving her keyboard for longer than a few hours. I've been doing outlining work for a MG fantasy book I was intending to save for NaNo, but I sort of accidentally opened a word document the other night and wrote the first five hundred words. Well, I couldn't leave it like that, could I? So I added a thousand the next day. And another thousand the next. Such is the fickle nature of creativity. What can I say - it's what I love doing. I write because I can't NOT write.
What else I've been up to
Stressing about the Darkness Watching release. I really, really want this to work. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much, because it's so hard to get a new book noticed, and the number of bumps - more like mountains - I've encountered along the way have left me with a fair number of bruises. I feel exhausted already, and the book isn't even out yet! I wish I had some kind of book launch event, but my friends are kind of scattered across the country, so I don't want to run the risk of repeating one of my scarring childhood birthday parties where no one shows up (*pushes the lid on traumatic flashback*)...
What inspires me right now
Epic music. I wrote the final scenes of Beneath the Waves to Two Steps from Hell, Future World Music, Audiomachine and Nightwish.
Also, a certain book release happening tomorrow...
Music by Two Steps From Hell is soooooo good to write with. Congratulations on finishing the draft! Have fun with the red pen :D
ReplyDeleteYay for Two Steps From Hell! Thank you :)
DeleteCongratulations finishing your first draft, and starting your next MS! I love taking a red pen to a finished first draft :)
ReplyDeleteThank you :) Yeah, there's something satisfying about covering a draft in scribbles.
DeleteThe Sandman is AMAZING. I need to finish the series though, I think I've only read six volumes.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on finishing your first draft of Beneath the Waves and good luck with your revisions!
It is! :D I'm on Volume 5 now, and loving it! Thank you :)
Delete"I'm a compulsive writer who is incapable of leaving her keyboard for longer than a few hours" >> me too! I always say I'll take a couple of days off, to read other books and relax, but I NEVER do it lol I jump right back into revisions or another wip ...
ReplyDeleteI hear ya about the release of a new book. Soul Oath comes out next month and I'm super stressed already ...
LOOOOOOOOOOOVE Two Steps From Hell! :)
Yep - I think we just love writing too much! :P Good luck planning your release! :)
DeleteI really enjoyed GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS too, and really need to get around to reading the second one that's sitting on my shelf as we speak. I love good fantasy! Congrats on finishing the first draft of your WIP! What a relief that must be. I have the opposite problem: I write overly wordy first drafts and then have to pare down like crazy. I hope your book release goes well, Emma! :-)
ReplyDeleteI have the second one waiting on my Kindle! Thanks :) Writing too much seems to be more common - I'm just an oddity. :P
DeleteCongrats on finishing your draft! That is such an exciting feeling. I love that you jumped right back in. I'll admit, sometimes I am not great about taking breaks myself.
ReplyDeleteI love The Fire and Thorns Trilogy. Really, some of my favorite books, and you will want to read Crown of Embers as soon as possible, because SWOON. Rae Carson is the most awesome.
Thank you! :) I have Crown of Embers on my Kindle now! :D
DeleteCongrats on finishing your first draft and best of luck with the revision :)
ReplyDeleteThank you :)
DeleteLove this: "Such is the fickle nature of creativity." Fickle is exactly the right word to describe it. And hey, if you can't wait to start your NaNo project, that's awesome! Probably means it's too good of an idea to wait on, right? Good luck with the writing this week and with your book release!
ReplyDeleteYep, definitely! Thank you :)
DeleteWow, you're on a writing roll! Yay you! :D
ReplyDeleteThank you :)
DeleteSo, WOW. First, congrats on finishing your WIP!! That is so, so wonderful. :) And the fact that you just had to dive into a new WIP? I tend to believe that going with the writing muse (when it deems to be there for you), is a good idea.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck with your book launch! I've started following you on Twitter and added DARKNESS WATCHING on Goodreads. I'll be cheering you on! :)
Thank you! :D
DeleteStay with that writing roll - it's great when that happens! Congrats on finishing the WIP. That is a lot of words.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your book launch! Let me know if there's anything I can do for you.- If you do, just leave a comment on my blog otherwise I might not see it. I'm sort of fizzled lately :)
Thank you! :D
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