Monday, June 30, 2014

Ready, Set, WRITE! Week 4



Ready. Set. Write! is a summer blog hop set up by  Jaime Morrow, Alison MillerKaty Upperman, and Erin Funk. If you want to participate, you can link up at one of their blogs.

1. How I did on last week’s goals: 

Well, it depends on how you look at it. One of my coauthors, Sheena, told me I HAD to watch the TV show Twisted on netflix. The actor who plays Danny Desai is who she would pick to play Sam Ryan if our books were movies.


In a funny twist, the actor who plays Jo Masterson could easily be Ana:

Anyway, watching the show has given me SO many ideas! (That's kind of odd, because the storylines aren't remotely similar. But seeing Sam's beautiful hair up on the screen like that.... Anyway, since Goal #1 was to flesh out my ideas for the next book, this can be construed as working, right???

No? Darn. I knew it would be a tough sell.

One of our amazing beta readers also finished critiquing our manuscript, so I've been reviewing that. Not a super productive week, all in all.


2. My goal(s) for this week

Continue rereading and retro-outlining Pyromancy: Burn. 


3. A favorite line from my story OR one word/phrase that sums up what I wrote/revised

I don't know that this is an all-time favorite line. but it is my favorite line on the page my manuscript happens to be opened to:


His eyes lost some of their laziness. "Most people avoid Valentine's Day dances right after a bad breakup," he said, leaning toward me so he didn't have to shout.

I laughed out loud at how far off base he was.  "I'm not most people."



4. The biggest challenge I faced this week (ex. finding time to write, the siren song of SNIs)

The projects I feel like I ought to be working on require other people (for one I need my coauthors, who are off doing summer things, and for the other I need the betas) and this week I realized that starting another project would be a very bad idea at this point in my life. I'm really glad I made that decision, but it still leaves me trying to convince everyone that watching TV is writing. Blurg.


5. Something I love about my WIP

It's pretty funny how Twisted has so many characters that are similar to characters in our story. Overprotected Jo could almost be Ana, sexy Danny could kind of be Sam, Rico could definitely be Seb. But Lacey IS NOT Juliette. Not even a little bit, and I'm so glad. When Sabrina created Juliette, I didn't think I would like her, since her defining characteristic is grumpiness. But I love her, and I love Sam, who is also a character I would never have created. It's awesome.

20 comments:

  1. I hope we can count TV watching as part of writing because I gain so much WiP wisdom from the shows I watch. I'm all for counting it. Lets our brains gather ideas and flesh things out. Gives us confirmation that there are stories and characters like ours and therefore marketable. And sometimes our brain needs downtime and rejuvenation.

    Did I convince you that you should count that TV watching as part of writing? ;) Hope you have a great week!

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    1. Thanks Alison! As long as we don't spend our entire summer watching TV. Right?

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  2. Hey, I say that if it's something that gives you inspiration and ideas for your WiP, the TV watching can totally count as working! ;) As long as you write those ideas down so you don't forget them (like I always do). Have a great week and good luck on your goals.

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    1. Ideas? What ideas? Dang. You're right. I should have written them down. Just kidding. I have to write stuff down because I have the shortest memory ever.

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  3. I like your MC already :) And I totally count the TV watching, as you're able to be inspired by it -- and it sounds like you're in a bit of a standstill otherwise

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    1. Why thank you. :) Ana has been really fun to write. It makes me happy when people like her.

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  4. If it inspires you, I don't see why it doesn't count as writing! ;) Hope you have a great week!

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  5. I agree - if watching a show inspires you and helps with your WIP, why not? Good luck with your goals this week!

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  6. I think movies and TV are excellent inspiration for our writing, so that definitely counts! I also like term "retro-outlining". I'm totally doing something similar and that's a good way of referring to it. I hope you're able to get back to your projects soon! :D

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    1. You can use it if you want. I've never retro outlined before, but I think it is going to be a very useful exercise.

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  7. I love it too when you see an actor on film or TV who suddenly reminds you of one of your characters in appearance. So inspiring!

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    1. I've been shocked at the lack of hispanic actors out there. I'm always happy when I find one. And such a nice looking one too. :)

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  8. Haha! I agree that watching TV can be inspiring. And if you're in a place where you can't be getting a lot of forward motion with your projects, there's nothing wrong with taking that break for "inspiration". =) Enjoy your "time off".

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  9. I count it as research! I really enjoyed Twisted when it first started but lost interest. But the characters are great!
    Love that short scene!
    Good luck this week!

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  10. I can't imagine coordinating a writing project with other people. I'm so finicky about my process I'm not sure I could handle it. Kudos to you for being a team player with that! Glad to hear you came up with lots of new ideas this week and I hope you have tons of fun incorporating them!

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  11. His eyes lost some of their laziness? Ooh! I love that! Good luck w/your goals this week!

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  12. sounds like youre doing great!
    and i enjoyed your review of Ruby Red!

    thanks for commenting on my broken branch falls blog tour!

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