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Wednesday, 25 June 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 on a high fantasy kick this week! I read The Shadow's Curse, which is the sequel to The Oathbreaker's Shadow by Amy McCulloch. This duology has such a unique magic system and superb worldbuilding!

I also read Relic by Renee Collins, which also has an original take on magic. It's set in a fantastical version of the wild west, where extinct magical creatures are mined for the powers left in their bones. Such a cool idea!

And I finally got my hands on Ruin and Rising, the last in the Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. I've been SO excited for this! And wow. I loved it! This is one definitely of my all-time favourite series!

I also bought the rest of the Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy by Rae Carson, which is another fabulous YA high fantasy series.  I wish there was more YA fantasy like this!

Next up: Asunder by Jodi Meadows, the sequel to Incarnate!

What I'm writing

Still plugging away at my YA urban/contemporary fantasy draft.

I also got out the draft I finished in April again, briefly. It needs a serious revision and at least half of it will need to be rewritten from scratch, but I had a couple of ideas about how to revise it, so I made some notes. I definitely don't have the time to start revising it yet, though...

...because it's Editorial Email of Doom time for Darkworld Book 4! This is for the pre-edits, before I'm offered a contract. It's pretty tough, but worth it! Walking Shadow (Darkworld #2) went through intensive two pre-edit rounds because I had to rewrite half of it from scratch, whereas Book 3 only went through one round. I'm crossing my fingers that it's the same for Book 4! I should be getting that email any day now...

And I got distracted by a new plotbunny on Saturday and couldn't resist doing a bit of worldbuilding. Which turned into a lot of worldbuilding. Because it's a complex multi-world fantasy which has the potential to be a long series...oh dear. This really isn't a good time to be distracted, which is probably why I got the idea in the first place...

What inspires me

The fantastical worlds of other writers! I had a few days where I didn't feel too inspired with my own WIP, but I've read so many great books this past week, I started to get my inspiration back! Even if it wasn't for my actual WIP. :P

What else I've been up to

Work, work, work...and I mentioned shiny book-cover-shaped things last week. Well, my newsletter subscribers will be the first to get a look at one of these when I send out my second author newsletter this Friday! You can sign up here if interested. ^_^ (And I will be announcing some Darkworld news next week! :D)

24 comments:

  1. It never fails to impress me how much writing you do. Wow! Good luck with those pre-edits. Hope that goes smoothly :)

    Have a great week!

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  2. I've heard great things about GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS and RELIC. Good to know that you liked them too! I'm reading DREAMS OF GODS & MONSTERS, and I know what you mean about being inspired by the fantastical words of other writers -- Laini Taylor's prose is lovely. Have a great week, Emma!

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  3. Isn't it crazy how many good ideas we seem to get when we don't really have time to explore them? I guess that's as good a reason as any for staying as busy as you seem to be! Good luck getting it all done, and have a great week.

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  4. I get sucked in by those plotbunnies so often. I can be in the middle of one WIP and my mind starts wandering to different ideas. It's great and frustrating all at the same time.

    Good luck with the Editorial Email of Doom :)

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  5. I liked RUIN AND RISING too. Good luck with the editorial e-mail of doom. I hear ya. I am doing agented revisions for what seems like forever. :p

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  6. I'm such a huge fan of Rae Carson's trilogy. So good! I have my copy of RUIN AND RISING sitting here just waiting to be read. I should probably get to it ASAP if I don't want to stumble across spoilers. Oh, plotbunnies. So wonderful and so distracting lol. Sounds like you've taken it past the point of plotbunny into an actual project, so that's awesome! Have a wonderful week, Emma! :D

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  7. Good luck with that editorial email. You're going to rock it. Thanks for sharing.

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  8. Plotbunnies make the best pets!
    I always get my best ideas when I'm working on something else.

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  9. Okay, Relic sounds like a pretty awesome read - I'll have to keep my eyes open for that!

    I hope that email brings you the news you want. :) Have a great week!

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  10. You sound really busy! Fingers crossed that the editorial email brings good news!

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  11. I know what you mean about being inspired by other people's worlds, I've read some great books lately and there's nothing better for motivating me to get on with my writing.

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  12. Hah! "Plotbunnies" love them, though they reproduce like mad, don't they?

    Sometimes you read a book that is so good, it reminds you why you wanted to right in the first place. Glad you are getting so much good inspiration from your reading list.

    Hope you have an amazing week!

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  13. Sounds like you've had a great week of reading. I haven't read Carson or Bardugo, but I hear rave reviews of both.
    I bet you will rock out the editorial email! Good luck!

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  14. Haha it seems like everyone is either reading or has just finished Ruin and Rising. I can't wait until I can join the club. I'm so excited for that book but I'm kinda sad to see the series end. I also love the Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy. I only read the first book but I can't wait until I can get around to reading the other two.

    I too am inspired by the worlds that writers come up with. I'm hoping some of that inspiration will result in me getting some writing and more worldbuilding done, so we'll see.

    Good luck with all of your projects this week!

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  15. I can't wait to read Ruin & Rising! I love that series! I also really enjoyed Jodi Meadows' trilogy, although it's quite a bit of a "softer" voice. I've got Rae Carsons books on my TBR... one of these days I'll have to get around to them! So much to read!

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  16. Miss Cole - Thank you! :)

    Katy - I'm so envious of Laini's skill with words! Stunning writing.

    Melanie - Yup, that's always the way!

    Jennifer - They do pick the most inconvenient moments to strike, don't they?

    Rachel - Thanks! :)

    Jaime - Thank you! Yep - a lot of my ideas don't stick, but this one was particularly persistent. :P

    Leslie - Thank you! :)

    Meredith - Me, too! It's a writer thing, I guess. :P

    Jess - It's a great book. :) You, too!

    Wendy - Thanks! :)

    Laura - Yup, other books can be so inspiring! :)

    Kris - I love it when that happens. :) There's nothing better than getting utterly lost in a book!

    Kat - Thank you! :)

    Raven - I'm sad the series is over, but super-excited that Leigh Bardugo is writing more books set in that world! Hope you feel inspired soon! :)

    Melanie - Both series are great, even though they're so different! I know the feeling - my TBR list is never-ending!

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  17. Hey, when you're ready, you'll have all that world building set and ready to go! So don't think of it as a distraction.

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  18. Ooh, I gotta get my hands on Relic! I finally set down to read Hexed on Monday and finished it last night! I'm reviewing it on Monday. Reading always makes me feel like writing. ^_^

    Aw, yes, plot bunny syndrome. It's like they attract each other. ^_^
    Good luck with the edits! I can't wait to see this book-shaped thing!!

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  19. Looks like you've found a lot of good books for reading. Your world-building problem sounds pretty interesting to me. :)

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  20. I absolutely loved, loved, loved The Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy! I really hope to go back and read it again some day. Those darn plotbunnies! :) Have a great week!

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  21. Hey, best of luck with your editorial notes! Congrats on finishing the April draft and good luck with the new world-building plotbunny. The trick is to keep them building away in the back of your brain without letting them take over all your time; difficult sometimes I know.

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  22. I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head when you said about reading other peoples' work is the key to getting inspired to write. I started reading a lot more in the last year, and through that I've gotten back into writing every day again :) Where else can you see something awesome and think to yourself, hey, I can do that too? I just need a word processor and liberal amounts of my blood to pour into it.
    That Relic book sounds rad, will add it to my to-read list. :)
    Have a great week!

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  23. Alex - Very true! This is why I like to plan ahead of time.

    Krystal - Hexed is a really fun read! Thanks for signing up to my newsletter! ^^

    Loni - Thank you! :)

    Kitty - It's such a great series! Thanks! :)

    Chris - Thank you! Very true - I usually work casually on an idea until I have time to focus on it.

    DR - Great to hear! :) Thank you!

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  24. I totally hear you about being inspired by other people's worlds. On the one hand, the really good ones make me never want to write fantasy again. But there's always the bigger part of me that gets really excited to go back and work on my own worlds some more.

    Good luck with those pre-edits!

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