What's Up Wednesday--the back to school edition

What's Up Wednesday is a blog hop created by Jaime and, Erin Funk, to help writers connect. ***Please remember to link to their blogs and/or use one of the WUW buttons provided.***

WHAT I'M READING

Wait a minute. I didn't read anything this week! Well, that's not quite true. I am reading Understood Betsy with my youngest daughter. It's a novel written in 1917 by the woman who brought the Montessori method to the U.S.  It's the story of Betsy, who is extremely overprotected until she is sent to live with her aunts and uncle who have a farm in New England. It's the story of how she blooms as she learns to think for herself. It's in the vein of Little Women, which I'm crossing my fingers she'll let me read to her next. 

WHAT I'M WRITING

I could just say "ditto" to last week. Editing Pyromancy, making progress, blah, blah, blah. It's alternately depressing and then exhilarating how little changes can make such big ripples. Depressing because I don't want to change things I like, but exhilarating because when I do, it makes the book so much better! 

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

Some quotes:

• If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea. (Antoine St. Exupery)
• I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim, or murmur or think at some point, "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is." (Kurt Vonnegut)
• To live a creative life, we must give up our fear of being wrong. (Joseph Chilton Pearce)
• The earth has music for those who listen (Shakespeare)

WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

My youngest two kids went back to school today, and my oldest two are still asleep. It's lovely to have the house back to myself, if only for an hour or two. Still, it is bittersweet. My oldest is a senior in high school this year. I told her not to do it, but she didn't listen, and grew up anyway. :(

On the plus side...possibly my "what I'm writing" section will get more exciting now.

What's Up Wednesday - Wait, Wait! Summer, Where Are You Going?

What's Up Wednesday is a blog hop created by Jaime and, Erin Funk, to help writers connect. ***Please remember to link to their blogs and/or use one of the WUW buttons provided.***

WHAT I'M READING

I finished Also Known As by Robin Benway. YA spy books are some of my favorite things, so I was very happy to find Robin. It was a fun read. I also finally read House of Hades by Rick Riordan. I was kind of over Rick Riordan for a while, but I guess I took a long enough break because this was fun.

WHAT I'M WRITING

Editing Pyromancy. Hopefully by next week I'll be able to say that the first third is done. And once school starts, it is bound to go a lot faster. I just revamped the deadlines to give us an extra month. I'm afraid by the time it actually comes out we're going to have to remarket the first book in the series all over again. We're taking TOO LONG!

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

I woke up at 3:30 this morning because I've been having really vivid dreams for the past few nights. I heard a slithering sound on my floor, and was pretty sure it was zombies, but it turned out to be my youngest daughter, (not a zombie) asleep on the hard-wood floor of my room, which she hasn't done for years. I was pretty wide awake after that, so I came downstairs to do some writing. 

My point is that although I'm pretty sure I've been inspired in the past week, I'm too tired to think of anything inspiring. The only thing I can think of is a pretty uninspiring article I read in Psychology Today. It was for life coaches, and it talked about how encouraging people to follow their dreams (as a career) is probably not always a great idea, because so many people's dreams lie in the same field, and the supply for those fields is glutted, which means that very talented people are willing to do those jobs for hardly any money. The writer of the article has gained quite a bit of fame for her various creative endeavors (including writing), but has never made any money at them. Instead she has a separate career to pay the bills.

In a weirdly roundabout way, I was comforted by this article, possibly because I'm contemplating going back to work soon. I've read so many articles about how indie authors are flourishing in this new environment, and I even know a few who are. But mostly, I know a lot of incredible authors, indie and traditional, who work a day job or whose spouse works while they stay at home to write and take care of children. 

I guess I'm inspired by my reaction to this epiphany of mine. It is this: Writers gotta write. I'd love to make money at it, but I don't suppose it matters in the vast scheme of things. It's not like lack of money is going to keep me from writing. I'm usually a better writer when I'm busy anyway.

WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

Back to school stuff. One week from today, my kids will be back in school. My high school aged son is already back in soccer with a vengeance. (Two practices a day, 8-10 and then 3-5.) which means I'm back to fitting my life around my chauffeuring job. My oldest daughter is a senior this year, and I wish time would just slow down. So many heart-wrenching choices to make this year. I'm afraid she's not going to end up going to college within driving distance of home, and I can't even picture what that will be like. Ack. I'm not starting out my day thinking about that! Have a great week everyone!

What's Up Wednesday July 13, 2014

What's Up Wednesday is a blog hop created by Jaime and, Erin Funk, to help writers connect. ***Please remember to link to their blogs and/or use one of the WUW buttons provided.***

WHAT I'M READING

Two weeks in a row with nothing to say! This is a sad, sorry state of affairs. However, I've got Also Known As by Robin Benway waiting for me at the library, so maybe next week I'll have better news on the reading front.

WHAT I'M WRITING

After so many weeks of not making much progress, I feel like we're really cruising on editing Pyromancy. But the first quarter of the book was where most of the changes needed to happen, so we've still got a long way to go.

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

I write for another blog called The Prosers, and right now we're all writing posts called My First Story. Well, a funny thing--last year I published a book called Hidden Magic. It was the first book I ever wrote, and I've been promising its little group of fans that I would write a sequel, but I just haven't been feeling it. As I've been thinking about this blog post, I remembered something...

Hidden Magic may have been my first book, but it wasn't my first story. Hidden Magic is actually the prequel to the first story I ever wrote. The story was not young adult fantasy, it was a weird sort of crossover new adult/adult/fantasy conglomeration, so I tucked it away and tried to take Hidden Magic in a completely different direction. But some of those original ideas are rising back to the surface. We'll have to wait and see what comes of it.

WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

My sister and her family left last night, after spending the entire week with me. It was the first time in eight-ish years that she's come to Maine, and the first time her amazing husband was able to join her. We had SUCH a good time. We hiked the Freedom Trail in Boston and the Jordan Stream Carriage Trail in Acadia National Park, and spent a day at the beach before we even gave ourselves time to breathe. 

Saturday was supposed to be our relaxing day, but instead they painted my dining room for me! (It was in DESPERATE need of a coat of paint, but I couldn't ever find the time. But they aren't  a "find the time" kind of family. They just do it. It is GORGEOUS.) After church on Sunday we went up to my in-laws cabin and stayed until Tuesday morning, swimming, kayaking, and playing games. How can it already be over???  

(I'll edit this to add pictures eventually...)

What's Up Wednesday--the one with cannoli!

What's Up Wednesday is a blog hop created by Jaime and, Erin Funk, to help writers connect. ***Please remember to link to their blogs and/or use one of the WUW buttons provided.***

WHAT I'M READING

I've hardly read a word this week. We've been listening to The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell in the car. I don't get its popularity, except that it was written by a famous person. My kids like it fine but I've read so many amazing books lately, I'm gotten spoiled. Poor, poor me. 

WHAT I'M WRITING

We're really cruising on editing Pyromancy, so of course I'm going on vacation starting--now. Hopefully my coauthors don't lose our momentum.

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

Momastery. I feel like she speaks right to my soul. Every single day. How does she do it? 

The past few days she's been sharing her story of overcoming addiction, which is so full of wonderful I can't decide on a part to share, but she also talks about parenting and writing and just about everything I care about. Here's a quote about success:

Q: Glennon, your book, blog, live events and non-profit are all doing very well. What's the secret to becoming an overnight success? 

A: Hm. Well, that I suppose that depends on how you define "overnight" and how you define "success." I started writing Momastery six years ago, and I probably spend nine hours a day working on my writing and non-profit. So I guess in my case, the secret to overnight success was working for 19,710 hours before going to sleep.

WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

My sister is coming! My sister is coming! And she's bringing her wonderful family. By the time you read this, we'll be exploring the streets of Boston together. And by the time I get around to visiting your blogs, I'll be eating cannoli from Mike's Pastry! I'm a very lucky girl.