Wednesday, March 19, 2014

What's Up Wednesday

Hello, What's Up Wednesday folks! Checking in here:

What I'm Reading

I finished Allegiant, the third book in the Divergent series (right in time for the first movie!). I did not hate the ending as many did. Though, I was not that invested in the series. I tend to like unconventional endings, and I liked this one. I really enjoyed this version on audio book which included one of my favorite narrators.

I most likely will not see Divergent opening weekend because I have plans to see Muppets Most Wanted with my mom. Muppets over dystopia, always.

What I'm Writing

I FINISHED THE REVISION. This would be the second revision from my agent on my WIP tentatively titled AMELIA. I wanted to finish it in February but it was a lot of work to restructure the pacing. I hope it's ready.

Moving forward, I'll continue with my Nano 2013 contemporary YA. My critique group has a chapter of it now. I am going to do some plot work since I got stuck during the draft. I hate plotting but it's obviously necessary. I want to make sure I have a final crisis moment that is worthy enough for the build up I created.
I'm doing Spring Bootcamp, a similar check-in as this one, to keep me motivated!

What Inspires Me Right Now

I just caught up on The Voice. Seeing people who are so driven and talented is super inspiring.

Also, I was looking for older plotting notes and scanned through my writing notebook from 2012. I found a short list of "top agency choices" with Curtis Brown and Bradford Lit included. The agent I signed with worked with Curtis Brown at the time, and a few months later, moved to Bradford. Wow. Funny to see those notes now with agents names I recognize (along with notes on why they rejected my manuscript!).


What Else I've Been Up To

Revisions all the time revisions. I did manage to get out and spend time with friends last weekend. And now my revisions are complete! I shall allow myself to party a bit this weekend when I visit the momz and some friends.

How are you all this Wednesday?

23 comments:

  1. CONGRATS on finishing THE revision :-) I also hate plotting so I hear you on that one. And I watched the French version of The Voice on Saturday with my parents, it was fun :-)

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  2. Congrats on finishing your revision! :) Plotting isn't much fun for me, but I can't work without an outline. It's tricky, but it saves time later on! :)

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  3. Congrats on finishing your revision!

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  4. Congratulations on completing your revisions! It's a real feeling of accomplishment when it's over.

    I love those cats at the end of the post. They remind me of the type of cats I might draw.

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  5. I really liked the ending of Allegiant, I think it summed up the series perfectly. Any other ending wouldn't have done justice to Tris's character.
    Congrats on getting your revisions done, that's great news.

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  6. I never did well with critique groups. Too many individual voices influencing one another. I guess they're different if they're online and without interaction (and thus bias). Here's rooting for you on your revisions!

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    1. Our group is 4 total and we agreed we don't want to go beyond that. We know each other from Romance Writers so we all write a form of romance though what we write is different. I was part of a library group with 25+ people who wrote everything from memoir to poetry and that was difficult.

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  7. Love reading about your dedication to the revisions. Sounds like you have been hard at work. That's inspiring! Congrats. You deserve to party! :)

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  8. Congrats on finishing your revision! This must be such an exciting time!

    I listened to Allegiance on audio book, too. I didn't hate the ending, but the whole book felt slow to me. (Maybe because I'm not used to audio books.) Which is your favorite narrator, the girl or the guy?

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    1. *Allegiant, silly auto correct.

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    2. The woman, Emma something. She narrated Nova Ren Suma's Imaginary Girls which was fantastic, and also a recent version of Judy Blume's Tiger Eyes.

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  9. Congratulations on finishing revisions! That's always a fantastic feeling.

    I've never been able to get into watching singing competitions, but the new season of Dancing With the Stars just started so I can relate on being inspired by driven people.

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  10. *continues wondering how Allegiant ends because I haven't read this series yet*

    Congratulations on FINISHING THE REVISION! That is awesome. And I just have to tell you I am so, so inspired by the fact that you found that list and are now represented by a top choice! So cool. :)

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  11. Yay for finishing that revision!

    I love your little agent blast from the past too, must be nice to look back and see how far you've come.

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  12. I wasn't upset about how Allegiant ended but I felt she was definitely going for drama. It wasn't like it had to end that way. The book as a whole was a bit disappointing to me. I am excited to see Divergent though. Probably next weekend.
    Congrats on finishing your revisions! So exciting!

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  13. Congrats on finishing the revision! That is fantastic. :-) Can't wait to buy this book some day. As for plotting, I like to think of myself as a plotter/planner, but I sometimes start to get impatient and jump right in with a half-baked plot. This is the problem I'm currently dealing with. Always a good idea to hammer that out ahead of time.

    I didn't love ALLEGIANT, and it wasn't just because of the ending. I really want to see DIVERGENT because I liked the book, but I think I would probably pick the Muppet movie over that one too. Have a great week, Stephanie!

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  14. I'm right there with you on the Muppets over dystopian thing. I watched Muppets Take Manhattan so many times when I was a kid, I think I can still recite half the lines :)

    YAY for finishing the revision!!! Now go party!

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  15. Congrats on finishing the revision! I bet that feels awesome! Good luck with plotting. I'm trying to be more of a plotter than a pantser. Have a great weekend!

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  16. Congrats and getting your revisions done! That is a great feeling. And you soooo deserve to party now (like it's 1999)

    And "Muppets before dystopia" Hah! Love it!

    Hope you have an amazing week! :)

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  17. I love that you're going to see the new Muppet movie over DIVERGENT. Way to go against the flow! While I liked DIVERGENT, I was only so-so on INSURGENT, and really didn't care for ALLEGIANT at all (but not because of the ending). All that is to say that I'd go see the Muppet movie too. Hard to beat characters like Animal and Beaker.

    Yay for finishing your revisions! Enjoy your party weekend! Sounds like you've earned it! :)

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  18. I didn't enjoy ALLEGIANT as much as the previous two, but I'm definitely one of those who thought it was a gutsy, but appropriate ending. And yes, Muppets over dystopian. Definitely. :)

    Congrats with finishing revisions. All the best this week with your plotting, Stephanie! :D

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  19. I think my summary of Allegiant is similar to everyone's here. I wasn't thrilled with it, I kind of liked the ending, but I didn't invest myself in the series because I heard so many negative reviews about how it ended.

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