What's Up Wednesday #19

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 read World After, the sequel to Angelfall! At last! And I loved it. Maybe even more than the first book. It's a dark, twisty thrill-ride, and I'm trying to put a review together to do it justice!

Speaking of reviews, on Monday I posted my first mini-reviews, for The Maze Runner by James Dashner and Sorcerers of the Nightwing by Geoffrey Huntington. I really enjoyed both of them!




I also read Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter. It wasn't quite what I expected, but I enjoyed it! I picked up this book during a 99p sale on Amazon UK- with a title like that, how could I not? The only quibble I had was that it wasn't as close to the original as I'd hoped (like A.G. Howard's wonderful Splintered), and there was an insta-love element which I'm not a fan of. Despite that, I did enjoy watching Ali fight zombies. :P 

Finally, I read Ashes to Ashes, the latest in Karina Halle's addictive Experiment in Terror series. I was lucky enough to get a spot on the blog tour, so I jumped right into this. And it's good. Very good. Creepy child ghosts? Awesome. (look out for my review on the 17th!)



What I'm writing

I FINISHED THE FIRST DRAFT OF MY MG FANTASY BOOK!!!!!

*breathes*

This book has been quite the struggle to write. Not because of the story itself - I love the story. I love the characters. I love the world(s). But because I was writing it in the midst of publishing Darkness Watching and doing a major revision of Walking Shadow, all the angst and self-doubt were seeping into my writing. Writing a first draft is HARD, especially when you're under pressure from outside forces. It's strange, because this is actually the shortest first draft I've written since my second novel (which I shelved); and the last book I finished (Beneath the Waves) was my longest. It's weird (to me) that my shortest book took the longest (though I did take about 3-4 weeks off in the middle, because of edits/trips/more edits). But it's a complex and twisty little beast, and although I enjoyed typing THE END (not really. I never actually type THE END :P), I'll be glad to take a break from it for a bit.

I've also been working on the new, not-so-secret WIP I posted an excerpt from in my #WIPMarathon update! But I'm working on that casually, lest I drown in a puddle of STRESS.

What else I've been up to

Waiting on emails! Seriously, if there were medals for patience, I'd win them all. Especially as the things I've been waiting on are messing with my sanity in a big way (Pitch Wars. Editorial Emails of Doom). I didn't make Pitch Wars, but it's been a good experience! :)

But I did get some good news: I'm going to be working for Curiosity Quills, my publishers, as part of their editing/proofreading team!


Also, I ordered some paperback copies of Darkness Watching (for future giveaways!), so I finally got to hold a copy of my book! 

What inspires me right now

Finished drafts and new words and possibilities. I'm absolutely loving this new WIP because it's so very different from anything I've written before, both in terms of the writing style (first person present tense, with a very different voice to Ash's in the Darkworld series) and the genre (post-apocalyptic with a fantasy/sci-fi-ish twist... if that sounds like genre confusion, it's because I'm still figuring out all the details!). But I love the characters already. I enjoy the voice. I'm haunted by the creepy post-apocalyptic world. 

And I need something new to distract me from all the chaos and confusion and angst and fear. When I'm writing and I'm inspired, nothing exists except me and the words.

Also, Pitch Wars. Even though I didn't make it in, I'm glad I had the experience and incredibly thankful to Brenda and the rest of the team for organising it. Massive congratulations to the mentres and mentors! :)