What's Up Wednesday/Ready, Set, WRITE!

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme geared toward readers and writers, allowing us to touch base with blog friends and let them knowwhat's up. It is run by Jamie Morrow and Erin Funk. Jamie has a link at the bottom of her post with everyone who's joining in each week. 











So, I didn't get a post up last week. I knew I'd be traveling at the time, but I thought, surely, I'd have the time to write on the blog. Brought my computer, thought about blog posts...then I got to the beach, and all thoughts of my computer were gone from my head. I didn't open my computer once. I mean, can you blame me?

My nieces! 

Storms at the beach

Low tide

 Happy baby!

WHAT I'M READING:

Well, I thought I'd be putting Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor here. Then last night, I could. not. stop. And finished it at 3 am. (Good thing I'm taking a break from working right now, eh?) Oh man, it was so good. 

So, now I guess I'm reading the next book. I have it on my shelf, but haven't picked it up yet. I have some things I have to do before I open it, or I know I won't be able to do anything else. I love books like that!! Oh yeah, it's called: Days of Blood and Starlight. I am so excited to read it!

(Also, finishing Daughter of Smoke and Bone means I've read 12 boos so far in the month of June. And I plan to read at least one, hopefully two, more books before the end of the month. YES!

*source

WHAT I'M WRITING:

Again, I didn't have a post last week CAUSE I WAS AT THE BEACH! (Oh...the button is at the beach...)

Anyway, my goals for the first week didn't quite work. I think I wrote 3 out of 7 days. I was hoping for at least 4 out of 7. But I should have known that between packing for the beach, and actually being at the beach, there just was not enough time. So, I didn't reach my goal, but I feel okay about it. 

Knowing that it was hard for me to get in 7 days of writing, I'm going to pull the goal back a little, but still have the same idea in mind. I want to get in the habit of writing every. single. day. But, maybe I need to work up to it. And that's okay. I'm allowed to not be perfect. And really, if writing every day was easy, wouldn't everyone do it?

So my goal for this week of Ready, Set, Write: Write 5 days this week. Hopefully write at least 500 words per day. 

Any 5 days between now and next Wednesday. I still have some wiggle room for things that come up and keep me busy (or occupied watching Sherlock), without one day ruining my goal. And if I can get at least 500 words in each of those 5 days, I'll be happy. Obviously, I'd love to write more than 500, but  I can go for at least that. 


WHAT INSPIRES ME:

Two words: Benedict Cumberbatch. 

*source

I know tons of people have loved him for a long time, but the first time I saw him in anything was the weekend of my graduation when my family saw Star Trek Into Darkness. And I thought, "hmm... he's attractive. And his voice is delicious." But that was about it. 

Then the week before we went to the beach, I started watching Sherlock. And I was a goner. 

And then Saturday we saw Star Trek again and I about died. 

I exploded my friend's Pinterest feeds with almost 200 pictures of Mr. Cumberbatch. TWO HUNDRED. Ridiculous. 


WHAT ELSE I'M UP TO:

My break is starting to wind down, so I'm hopefully going to be job hunting soon. Which I'm not excited about. But it has to happen, I guess.

I'm pretty nervous about doing therapy full time. It's very emotionally exhausting and I don't know if I'm quite in the emotional state to do it 40 hours a week. Part time I can do, for sure. But full? I don't know.

So, I'm also going to be looking at other options for a part-time job. I would love to find something related to writing, books, reading, publishing...who knows. The problem is, there's not a whole lot of options like that in my city. The only publishing companies here are for technical manuals or textbooks. Which is NOT what I'm interested in. So mostly, I just have no idea what options there are, or if it's even possible to find something like this. Hopefully I can find something.

Any ideas?


What are you up to???

What's Up Wednesday, #1

I'm back!! It's been almost 2 weeks since my last post. But I am now done with school. Completely. WHAT?!?!

I graduate in 4 days. I'm so excited to wear that Master's Hood!!! I still have some work to finish up by the end of the week, but then I am done with everything I have to do for 7 weeks. I am so ready to get my post-Master's-break started.

I've been wanting to get on board with the new What's Up Wednesday meme started by Jamie Morrow and Erin Funk a few weeks ago.

What I'm Reading:

For the past month or so I've been re-reading some less-exciting books to keep myself from getting sucked into books when I had massive amounts of homework to do. But! With finally being done, I've been able to read some amazing books I've been waiting to read. 

First, Cinder by Marissa Meyer. SO GOOD. I can't wait to read the next one.

*Source

Then I read The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin in 18 hours, with sleep and work and visiting the Best Friend in between. I could not stop. It was amazing. I am dying to read the next book and planning on forking over more money than needed to buy it from a store and have it tonight rather than get it cheaper online and waiting a few days for it to come. 

*Source

I gave myself a graduation present in the form of 11 books bought with my Amazon Prime account. I ordered them late, late Sunday night and most of them will come today. I can't wait for them to get here! Here's the list:

~Prodigy: A Legend Novel by Marie Lu

~Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles, book 2) by Marissa Meyer

~An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

~The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

~The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E Smith

~Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

~Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi

~Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

~Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

~Blood Red Road by Moira Young

~Rebel Heart by Moira Young

What I'm Writing:

Well, I'm not technically writing yet. But I am starting writing my first novel on Monday. I have been planning it out in my head and on paper for the past 5 months and am finally allowing myself to begin writing Monday. I told myself I had to wait til after my graduation to make sure I still get done everything I need to. I graduate Sunday and will begin writing Monday. I just realized however, that if I am going to start writing, I better decide on names for my characters, rather than just calling them MC (main character), Boy, Bad Guy, MC's Mom, MC's Dad, etc. So I started looking last night with nothing jumping out at me yet. That's what I'll be doing the next few days. Any ideas? What are some names you love that you haven't seen in any recent books? How do you find names for your characters? 

What Inspires Me Right Now:

Mostly, I'm inspired by the excitement of finally starting my novel. But I'm also inspired by rearranging my room to better fit my reader/writer lifestyle. I can't have an office in my apartment, but I can change where things are so one side of it is like an independent office. I don't have work to do today, so after I post this I'm going to do as much as I can on my own, then finish it up when Sister gets home later. I think the changes will help open my mind to writing. I'm especially excited to re-organize my books on my bookshelf. It is completely over-filled and I need a second one, but I doubt I will get one soon. But, I'm going to organize my books according to color. I've never done that before and I don't know how long it will last, but I'm excited to try it. I like my series together, but they are rarely all the same color. Even if it doesn't stay long, at least it'll make a fun picture! 

What Else I'm Up To:

I have the best sister in the world. Have I mentioned that? After I got home from my 18-month mission for my church, she took me on a cruise to celebrate being home. Amazing. Well, to celebrate my graduation, she is taking me to New York City! She has a work training there starting Monday that goes through Wednesday. So her flight is covered by her company as well as the hotel through Wednesday. I am coming up Tuesday afternoon and we are staying until Saturday. I've never been to NYC and I am dying of excitement! We don't have a ton of money to do a lot, but we are very laid back vacationers. I mostly just want to people watch and relax. See the city, but without spending much money. So, with that in mind, have you been to NYC? Is there anything you would recommend doing? Delicious restaurants? Bookstores? 

In other news, remember this post where I explained that my computer died and I would lose everything? Well, I did lose everything, but I finally got it back. It is such a relief to have it again. Part of why I didn't post was because I missed my little MacBook and didn't like blogging from my old laptop. I still have almost nothing on it. No pictures, no music, no documents. But I'm sure it will fill up again very quickly. 

So, what's up with you?

Literary Rambles - Interview and ARC contest!

I recently started following a new blog, Literary Rambles. 

It spotlights Middle Grade and Young Adult books, authors, agents, and publishing companies. Seriously, a gold mine of great information. I want to digest it all and am a little overwhelmed by the amount of knowledge to help me in my (LONG) journey of becoming a published author. 

Obviously, I am not the only one who finds this site valuable, as there are over 3,000 followers!

Today, Natalie Aguirre posted an interview with debut author Kit Grindstaff, including a contest for an ARC of her novel The Flame in the Mist, which is releasing tomorrow.

Here is the synopsis of The Flame in the Mist, as included in the interview (originally found on Goodreads):

Set in an imagined past, this dark fantasy-adventure is for fans of Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass. Features Jemma, a fiery-headed heroine held captive in Agromond Castle, yet destined to save mist-shrouded Anglavia.

Fiery-headed Jemma Agromond is not who she thinks she is, and when the secrets and lies behind her life at mist-shrouded Agromond Castle begin to unravel, she finds herself in a chilling race for her life. Ghosts and misfits, a stone and crystals, a mysterious book, an ancient prophecy—all these reveal the truth about Jemma's past and a destiny far greater and more dangerous than she could have imagined in her wildest fantasies. With her telepathic golden rats, Noodle and Pie, and her trusted friend, Digby, Jemma navigates increasingly dark forces, as helpers both seen and unseen, gather. But in the end, it is her own powers that she must bring to light, for only she has the key to defeating the evil ones and fulfilling the prophecy that will bring back the sun and restore peace in Anglavia.

*Image source - buy it now on Amazon! (Or elsewhere, but this link is for Amazon) :)

The interview is amazing for anyone interested in publishing. Lots of great advice on marketing AND the author shares her story of publishing a book without an Agent! I didn't even know that was possible. I've never really considered writing a middle grade (MG) book, but I am thinking about it now after hearing how much more rare MG authors are. The sooner we get kids interested in reading, the better, right?!

If you are interested in the book, author, or interview, check it out here!

If you also want to be in the running for the ARC (advanced reader copy) contest, head over to the interview and make a comment. You get two entries if you mention the contest in some other form of social media (twitter, facebook, blog, etc)!