What I'm Reading
I finished up a round of books--the audio book of Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume, I'm Not Her by Janet Gurtler, which is a Sarah Dessen-style book about a girl who lives in her sister's shadow, and now her sister has cancer, plus Truly, Madly, Deadly, a YA suspense by Hannah Jayne, which I enjoyed for the writing, but I wished had delved deeper in the character's past issues. I saw missed opportunites, but overall a quick read that reminded me of the Christopher Pike thrillers I read as a teenager
I put a book down after 20 pages last night; a book from the New Adult genre that I... I just was not going to make it through. I could forsee myself getting pretty offended by cheap melodrama. I skimmed some Goodreads reviews and they were either ZOMG LOVED THIS! or 1-2 stars What a trainwreck. So now I know where I fall. I love a fun, flirty romance, but the characters have to feel real and not like pawns. OK, I'm done now.
What I'm Writing
If I write more today I can probably close in on 40k words of my new project. Not bad for a month! I'm chugging along, doing my best not to go back and edit (SO HARD). Also, I'm learning from past projects not to keep adding new characters and side plots--I've had to delete stuff mid-thought because I'm veering toward that. Never a shortage of people and ideas to explore, I suppose. I would love to reach 60k by Sept. 1 but that's like a week away. Hm. Maybe early September.
For this week, I want to write for at least one sitting each day through Friday. Sat-Mon is a girls trip (yay!) and I'll resume writing next week Tuesday.
What Inspires Me
Write On Con: the support writers provide for each other, and seeing familiar usernames and excerpts from writers I met over the summer at conferneces or who I know from blogs.
My RWA chapter: a few of us are forming a YA-focused in-person critique group. We are a small number in the group so we've gotta stick together!
Writers on twitter: a few RWA buddies from the other Chicago chapter started a twitter hashtag for Summer of All The Words (#SoATW) where M-Thurs at 10pm CST you write for an hour and then check in on twitter. Drop in when you can. My problem--I start writing at 10 and can't stop until 12:30. What bedtime?
What Else I've Been Up To
I ate two amazing meals with friends last weekend, one at a new sushi place where the food passes by in an automated conveyor tube (I had a picture but the quality was bad), and a French place that mostly does appetizers like meat and cheese plates and crostini things. Keep in mind I am still counting calories and busting my butt at the gym so I picked the best of the best, tried not to stress about it, and moved on.
Watching last season's Dexter (we are always behind since we're reliant on the DVDs), this season's Breaking Bad, and finishing up all the leftover shows on our DVR from last year--either watching or deleting forever.
Posts
Oooo I want to know which NA it was now...Sometimes, I have to put some YA romances down for the same reason too.
ReplyDeleteI write super late at night too (#dayjobworldproblems). You can always check in with me if you need to! :)
Wow 40k in a month? Color me impressed. With those numbers, I'm pretty sure you could met your goal by Sept. 1! Good luck this week!
ReplyDeleteYay fir girl's trips! That will make it hard to hit 60,000 by September, but I'm betting you can do it. I don't put books down very often, but I found one last week (a YA fantasy romance) which I just could make myself read. It's so frustrating but bound to happen. Good luck on getting those goals!
ReplyDeleteOoh have a great time on your girl's trip! Good luck getting to 60k - you can do it! :)
ReplyDeleteCongrats on closing the gap on 40K! That's fantastic!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm now trying to picture the Sushi conveyor tube-thingy. Hopefully, it goes rather slowly otherwise people would get kind of stabby with their chopsticks. :)
I'm right with you on melodrama, whether it be NA/YA or adult. I'm so stick of two dimensional couples, in two dimensional relationships that just go back and forth for no good reason. Makes me want to toss the book across the room. (How's that for a rant?!)
Hope you have a fantastic week and good luck with your writing goal! :)
The sushi tube goes by slow enough. There was a little door like a breadbox where you open the tube and reach in. All the plates were color-coded by price, and you just stack your plates and the server adds it up.
DeleteOh, wow, that's an impressive number of words! I know too well how hard it is to resist the urge to go back and edit!
ReplyDelete40k in one month is incredible! I totally agree with what you said about how there's never a shortage of people or ideas to explore. So true. And it's tough not to delve into some of those minor characters more when there just isn't room for it.
ReplyDeleteSushi served in an automated conveyor tube sounds like something out of a sci-fi novel. I would love to try that! Good luck closing in on 60k by early September!
Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteI understand the plight of having to reluctantly but responsibly put a book down never to return. Sometimes it just DOES NOT CLICK! I really enjoyed WriteOnCon. The query panel featuring your agent was super informative, plus enjoyable. I want to go to that Sushi place. I embarrass myself with chopsticks while eating normal sushi, so it would probably be a disaster for me to try it in motion, but it sounds fun!
Have a wonderful week!
Congrats on the amazing word count! I loved WriteOnCon too. Hopefully next year I will have something ready to pitch.
ReplyDeleteAah! TIGER EYES! I've been wanting to read that book for ages. I adore Judy Blume, and it's one of very few of hers I've yet to read. Way to go on your awesome word count! 40K... You totally rocked RSW this summer!
ReplyDeleteI'm sort of grateful I have yet to give out 1 or 2 star reviews. Sort of, because it's good to find something redeemable in every book I read, but perhaps this indicates I'm not reading widely enough! I don't know that I could put a book down without finishing it, though. I hope the next set of books are 5-star reads for you, Stephanie. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd wasn't WriteOnCon awesome? Great presentations, and such good feedback on my query and pages. I enjoyed writing critiques too--not only is this a way for me to help others, it also hones my critical skills that I'll then apply to my own work. Glad you enjoyed it too.
Have a wonderful week!
I try out new genres and authors pretty often, and sometimes books are just not for me. Sometimes though, the books are written poorly; a difference between not my style and YUCK. haha
DeleteIf I could write 397K in three months, you can easily write 60K by September!
ReplyDeleteI'm also wondering which book was the DNF. I have a few ideas, though it could probably be any recently-published melodrama.
Adding new characters and side plots? What? I know NOTHING about that. ;)
ReplyDeleteAnd wow! I want to eat at this sushi place! Sounds like you've had a great week! Also, 40K in a month?!?!?! You rock!
I've been reading a lot of Contemporary YA lately - two books by Jennifer Brown, including her new one, THOUSAND WORDS, plus the new one by Matthew Quick, FORGIVE ME, LEONARD PEACOCK - all of them were excellent!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a great writing, reading, and eating week! YUM sushi. I went to a place like that in London. The sushi wasn't the best ever, but the conveyor belt made it super fun. You're making me wish there was a decent French place in my town. I could seriously get into that today. :0)
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you're doing an excellent job hitting your writing goals. 40K in a month definitely earns you a girls trip!
I also had sushi in London where the plates rolled by on a conveyer (sans tube). I amazed at how mild their wasabi was. Usually I can only handle a little dab but I ate almost the whole chunk of wasabi. Weird. England's Chinese food is really different too, it's just kind of there without much flavor, haha.
Delete40K in a month is pretty amazing! Good luck with your goals this week. :)
ReplyDeleteI was also inspired by WriteOnCon. Thanks again for your feedback on my query and pages.
I'm also reliant on DVDs for Dexter and I can't wait for the current season to be on DVD. I'm also a Breaking Bad fan and loving this season so far.
I love your story idea. It's so fun to see what everyone else is writing.
DeleteYou're making AWESOME progress on your new WIP! Good job! Is it the SNI from earlier this summer? If so, that's fantastic. You've been getting a lot of reading done, too. I know what you mean about cheap melodrama. So not a fan. Have a great week, Stephanie! :D
ReplyDeleteYes, it's my newer idea from earlier this summer! I wish I could work on it right now :)
Delete