What's Up Wednesday 6/18/14

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme for readers and writers to give updates on what's happening in their lives. If you want to find out to find out more check out Jamie Morrow's blog and sign up.

What I'm Reading: I stated The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White. It's really good, very different from Kiersten's other books. There is a lot of Egyptian mythology mixed in there. I know some basics thanks to my theatre history class and the TV show House of Anubis (don't judge me.)

What I'm Writing: As I mentioned earlier this week, I finished my edits and set them off to a beta reader. While I'm waiting, I'm polishing my synopsis and outlining my Camp NaNo novel for July.

What Inspires Me Right Now: 
 I'm just really excited to be working on this new project. One of my characters is from 17th century Japan. So I'm doing a lot of research on kabuki and the male performers for my character's backstory. I don't know how much will get in the novel, but it's just nice to know where the character came from.

What Else and I've Been Up To: 

Boredom. Sheer boredom. 

What's up with you? How is your week going?

Happy Reading!

Ready, Set, Write: Moving Forward

Ready, Set, Write is a weekly writing intensive hosted Jamie Marrow,  Erin Funk, Alison Miller,and Katy Upperman.
Over the next few months I will be checking in with Jamie and the gang to answer a few questions about my writing week. It's a great way to stay motivated and it might just be the kick in the pants I need to get my life in order.


1.  How I did on last week’s goals: I rocked it. I finished my edits and sent it off to a beta reader. I spent a
few hours to work on a two paged synopsis. I also started my outline for my Camp NaNoWriMo novel.

2.  My goal(s) for this week: I'm keeping it simple this week. I'm going to continue on the outline and work on the synopsis.

3.  A favorite line from my story OR one word/phrase that sums up what I wrote/revised: This is the funniest mistake I found in my manuscript:: "I fell to the ground, the knife still impaling me abdomen."

4.  The biggest challenge I faced this week: The biggest challenge I faced was defiantly the synopsis. It forever to boil down the main plot point. Now I need to make sure it makes sense and add a little voice.

5.  Something I love about my WIP: Since I stated outlining my new WIP I really started to love my MC. I'm really interested in creating a main character who is malicious and doesn't change at the end of the novel. She's still going to be likable, but her actions and intentions throughout the novel aren't exactly pure.

What are you're goals this week?

What's Up Wednesday 6/11/14

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme for readers and writers to give updates on what's happening in their lives. If you want to find out to find out more check out Jamie Morrow's blog and sign up.

What I'm Reading: Does Tumblr count? haha. Um, yeah, I've been slacking on the reading portion. The edits are all I can think about. I bought several ebooks on sale and I'll start reading when I finish these edits. I promise.

What I'm Writing: I had a burst of motivation yesterday. While working on my edits I on a whim decided to restructure an entire chapter. I cut 1500 words, but the chapter flows much better now. Once that was out of the way, felt motivated to continue with the edits. I only have a couple chapters left!
Since Ready, Set, Write started the other day, I felt extra motivated. It's so great to have a community of writers cheer you on.

What Inspires Me Right Now: 
 I kind of hate myself for this, but I've been reading up on Query Shark these past couple days, just because. I am in no way shape or form ready to query. But reading these makes me feel better about myself. There were a lot of people who did't know what they're doing. I wish I read these when I was querying my first novel. I made so many rookie mistakes, I felt embarrassed. But the past is in the past. I'm inspired by the people who have used Query Shark to perfect their query letter and find representation.

What Else and I've Been Up To: 

For those of you who don't know. I'm a theatre kid. I majored in theatre in college and I love, love, love musicals. Sunday I watched the Tony Awards hosted by Hugh Jackman and I loved it. I just want to see all the shows. NPH killed it during his performance from Hedwig and the Angry Inch. I've been watching this on replay at least twice a day. 

What's up with you? How is your week going?

Happy Reading!

Ready, Set, Write: Goals

Ready, Set, Write is a weekly writing intensive hosted Jamie Marrow,  Erin Funk, Alison Miller,and Katy Upperman.
Over the next few months I will be checking in with Jamie and the gang to answer a few questions about my writing week. It's a great way to stay motivated and it might just be the kick in the pants I need to get my life in order.

The questions are:

1.  How I did on last week’s goals
2.  My goal(s) for this week
3.  A favorite line from my story OR one word/phrase that sums up what I wrote/revised
4.  The biggest challenge I faced this week
5.  Something I love about my WIP

This first week, we are just stating or goals.

Week 1: Goals
Finish SoD edits before sending it to beta reader.
Start synopsis
Outline Camp NaNoWriMo Novel

Overall Goals:
Have SoD query ready.

Check back next week to see what lame excuses I come up with when I don't finish these edits.

What's Up Wednesday 6/4/14

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme for readers and writers to give updates on what's happening in their lives. If you want to find out to find out more check out Jamie Morrow's blog and sign up.

What I'm Reading: Oops. I didn't read this week. I've been so busy with these edits and stuff, I just kind of forgot...

What I'm Writing: I'm so close with these edits. It's defiantly taking longer than I thought. I'm adding bits and smoothing out transitions. I knocked out a large chunk the other day and then the next day I barely dented it. It's really a mental thing. I honestly need one more day like that. But I am participating in Ready, Set, Write, that might be the kick in the pants I need.

What Inspires Me Right Now: 
 I've been chatting with some writers around my age  from Camp NaNoWriMo. We met through the forums and really clicked. It's great talking with writers and bouncing ideas off them. They're really going to help me with the

What Else and I've Been Up To: 
I'm not as bored now that I have my writing group. I still miss, you know, human contact, but it's nice to have people to talk to. We've been sharing book recommendations and It's great to talk with people who are in the same age group that have a serious love for writing. Especially ones who understand the stress of college and writing. I'm excited to see what's in store.
I'M GOING TO SEE THE FAULT IN OUR STARS TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!
I bought my ticket to The Night Before Our Stars and I'm super excited. I'm going to ugly cry during this movie. I'm glad I'm going by myself because I don't want to cry in front of my friends.I'm so grateful that the fans are lucky enough to have this experience. I've been following John Green's vlogs throughout this journey, and if he loves the movie, I'll love the movie. A lot of book-to-film adaptations suck because they loose the essence of the books when translated to the screen. I don't care if scenes happen in the wrong place or "that's not how that line goes." As long as the movie understands the story it's telling and the impact it has on so many lives, than it will be fantastic.

What's up with you? How is your week going?

Happy Reading!

What's Up Wednesday 5/28/14

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme for readers and writers to give updates on what's happening in their lives. If you want to find out to find out more check out Jamie Morrow's blog and sign up.

What I'm Reading: I've taken a break from reading due to my overwhelming amount of boredom and frustration. I just havn't felt like reading. We all have one of those weeks. Right?

What I'm Writing: Working on SoD edits and outlining a new story that's been rattling around in my brain. I registered for Camp NaNoWriMo to use July to write it. That will give me plenty of time to finish my edits and junk before I start writing. The edits are going painfully slow. I'm glad I got it done on paper first because going through the Word document and making changes is the worst.  But whatever, a writer's gotta do what a writer's gotta do.

What Inspires Me Right Now: 
 I love getting new ideas. It's like everything needs to stop until I write down all of the character traits and scene ideas. I haven't been this inspired about outlining a story since SoD for NaNoWriMo in 2012. It feels great.

What Else and I've Been Up To: 
I'm so bored. This waiting is killing me. I'm at the point where I just want an answer so I can move on. Being a Post-Grad is the worst. (A lot of things are the worst in my opinion, ex. socks with sandals.) Everything I do from this moment forward will affect my future. It's a scary thought.

What's up with you? How is your week going?

Happy Reading!

What's Up Wednesday 5/21/14

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme for readers and writers to give updates on what's happening in their lives. If you want to find out to find out more check out Jamie Morrow's blog and sign up.

What I'm Reading: I'm still working on Sweet Peril by Wendy Higgins. But I went to the bookstore last weekend and I picked up Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige and Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins. I devoured both books in three days. What I loved about Dorothy Must Die is the fact that it draws from the entire Wizard of Oz world from the other books. But this story adds a dark twist to the tale. I'm really excited to see the story and the world develop. I read Rebel Belle soon after. It's so funny. Unfortunately I didn't know it was part of a series, so I have to wait another year for the next book.

What I'm Writing: I got my laptop back! Whoot. I'm still working on SoD edits. I'm setting a goal to have the edits finished by Friday and type it up over the weekend. I'm going to send it to a friend or someone read it. I've been working on this for almost two years so it needs a second set of eyes before I do anything stupid like send it off. If anyone would just like to read it let me know. Once that's out of the way I'll start working on my next idea. Baby steps.

What Inspires Me Right Now: 
Getting things done. That's inspiration right?

What Else and I've Been Up To: 

I graduated college a week and a half ago.
Crazy right?
Sometimes I don't think it's real. Sometimes I think that the school is going to call me and say "Sorry Leslie, you didn't actually graduate. I'm going to have to take back the cap." It's weird. After high school graduation I knew what was next, college. Now that it's over I have my whole life ahead of me. I'm in the limbo stage with a couple of internship so I've been a little on edge these past couple weeks. Hopefully I'll hear news soon. Whether it's good or bad, I need to keep my chin up.

What's up with you? How is your week going?

Happy Reading!