What's Up Wednesday--In 250 Words or Less

What's Up Wednesday is a blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk as a way for writers to connect with other writers. You can join by using the link on their website.

What I'm Reading

I am rereading Mockingjay. Yesterday I read Catching Fire, and the day before that I read the Hunger Games. Such good stuff.

What I've Been Writing

Nothing. :(

What Works For Me

This isn't super healthy emotionally, but I use it when the things coming out of my brain aren't very pleasant: I fill in all the cracks with reading. After a while, I might start daydreaming and then writing again, but sometimes life is too intrusive for daydreams. It's never, ever too intrusive for a good book.

What Else Is New

People are reading my books! I didn't realize I knew this many people who hadn't already read Alchemy. I have strangers coming up at the grocery store and at work to tell me that we're connected by a friend of a friend, and that they just bought Alchemy and Prophecy of the Six. My almost 12 year old is reading it on her kindle, and she's at 82%!!! This is both freaky and scary. But awesome. I live in an incredibly supportive community. Now if I could convince them all to write reviews...

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What's Up Wednesday! June 11, 2014

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow  and Erin Funk, to help connect writers on this writing journey.  If you want to join the fun, you can sign up here.

WHAT I'M READING

I had such high hopes for Fangirl. I know most of you loved it, but I ended up skimming the last hundred and fifty pages because I cared enough to find out what happened, but not enough to read every word. I was disappointed, but it worked out because I didn't have a lot of time for reading this week. I'm just starting The Fifth Wave, and I'm hoping to take it slow.

WHAT I'M WRITING

Pyromancy Part 1 went to the first batch of beta readers late last night. !!!!! My goal for RSW was to edit a little every day, and so far so good. I went through the first third of Pyromancy Part 2 and reverse outlined. There are several threads that my cowriters and I let slide, and so I started a running list of things we need to add. I also found 2 chapters that were in the manuscript twice for some reason, which is awesome because painless deletion of words is always a good time. :)

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

Ready, Set, WRITE! I knew I had to get some writing done this summer, but the how and when was lost in a great, big ball of panic. I am typically quite unproductive in the summertime, but there are so many deadlines! So writing weekly goals and having a support group is exactly what I need. Besides, I'm slowly starting to recognize this group of people and their writing projects are starting to seem familiar. Doing things with friends is always more fun.

WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

Someone at school and someone at church got together and said "Let's experiment with how many things we can add to the Crouse's schedule before Melanie cracks." So there's that. Then add 3 weeks with 2 of my children in driver's ed into the mix, and you'll have some idea of my life. Sometimes, I turn on netflix just to turn off the sound of my brain constantly repeating my to-do list.

What's Up Wednesday, June 4, 2014

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime and Erin Funk, to help connect writers on this writing journey.  If you want to join the fun, you can sign up here.

For those of you who are new to WUW, here are the headings we are using:

WHAT I'M READING
WHAT I'M WRITING
WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW
WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO


WHAT I'M READING

The plan was to read Scarlet this week and then stop reading, but when the library informed me that my copy of Cress was available, I just couldn't help myself. I'm about half way through Cress. It is so much fun. Anyone who hasn't already figured out how good a series featuring a half cyborg/half alien princess can be--pick up Cinder right now! These are awesome books.

               

                    

WHAT I'M WRITING

This week has been a strange hodgepodge of writing...Pyromancy is written in journal form, but we don't bother dating the journal entries until we're ready for beta readers. So this week I've been figuring out the dates and adding chapter headings, and making sure the timeline is right. It's going remarkably well.

We've also been thinking about the final book in the series, because we need to get it outlined before we can publish Pyromancy. We need to be certain we add all the details necessary to make the ending book of the series run smoothly. All my best ideas got used up in Pyromancy, which is why I am so grateful to have coauthors who can get my creative juices moving again. They've got Ideas. So much fun.

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

My coauthors, Sheena Boekweg and Sabrina West. It's funny how we can be writing the same story and sometimes have three different versions of where we think it is going.  We've been writing the Prophecy Breakers series for more than 2 years now. We've all had highs and lows and life hasn't always been easy for any of us. But they are professional and dedicated and fun. When life gets difficult, we dust ourselves off and keep going. I wish every author could have this kind of a learning experience. I can't even begin to describe how many ways they've helped me be a better writer. 

WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

I have been crazy sick. It's hard for me to admit. I've been in denial for such a long time, pushing through pain because I thought the pain was there because I wasn't good enough. When I finally broke down and went to the doctor, they said my inflammation levels were sky high, and referred me to a rheumatologist. Then allergies hit suddenly and hard, plus a sinus infection, and I really thought I might be dying. Things have gotten much better, so no worries. But I'm learning that I have no idea how to nurture myself, and I think I've got to learn--fast!