What's Up Wednesday?

All aboard for Jaime and Erin's What's Up Wednesday!

What I'm Reading

Still working my way through the 6th book of the Tomorrow series.  It's been a bit of a chore to be honest.  It doesn't have the same thrill as the previous books in the series and it's the one I remember the least about.

I'm also reading a friend's project.  He has great potential!

What I'm Writing

Editing Space!Story is going really well! I've tweaked the middle and I'm well on my way to making the timeline clearer.  Exciiiiting! I'm really hoping this will be headed out to the betas soon.

Hahahahahahahaaaaa ^^;;;

Rainymood.com has helped me tackle RainyCity!Story too.  That poor MC. She thinks she's unstoppable...

I have to admit though, switching tenses keeps messing me up.  One minute present tense feels completely natural and the next I have no idea how to write it and then just when I think I'm safely in third, I'll start a new paragraph and out pops present tense.  Editing RainyCity!Story sure will be fun :P

What Else I'm Up To

Work. As well as my day job as a nanny, lots and lots of other children require sitting on too.

:P Actually, I tend to be the one to be sat on... or jumped on... or kicked...

Oh, and my violin teacher just text me to say she's found me some Star Trek sheet music to play from on Friday. OMG YAY!

What Inspires Me

Oddly, the awful state of Brighton right now.  Our refuse collectors (aka binmen) have been on strike because the idiotic council want to cut their wages.  It's madness.  As you can imagine, nearly a week of no rubbish collection is making the city whiff a bit.  There are parts of the city where you can quite literally wade through rubbish.  Pushing Baby Squidge around in her buggy is a real challenge.

Believe it or not, this is quite tidy

There are more pictures in our local media here

Or watch this:

So, what's a good post-apocalyptic piece of music to go with our rotting city? Hmm...

Have a great week everyone!

Rainy Mood AWESOMENESS

Loving Rainymood.com right now.  I mean, it works soooo well with angsty music:

Rainy Mood + Main Theme from Broadchurch

But it's every bit as fantastic with upbeat music!

Get Lucky... IN THE RAIN! hahahaha :P

And, yeah, it definitely works with fight scene music:

Rainy Mood + Fate of the Unknown (Kingdom Hearts)

I'm feeling pretty inspired right now! Wait... what... it's gone midnight?!

Aaaaah, who needs sleep, right?

WRITE WRITE WRITE WRITE WRITE!!!!!!!!

OHMIGOSH ONE MORE WON'T HURT RIGHT?!?!?!?!?!

Rainy Mood + Welcome to Lunar Industries (Moon OST)

Sunday Inspiration - Obsessive Fangirl Edition

Yes, I finally reached 8 viewings for Star Trek Into Darkness.  That *technically* beats my views for Star Trek because I only saw it 7 times in 2009 and added my 8th last month at the double bill.

Pictured: Fangirl Heaven

I know I'm obsessive. It's an endearing (or frustrating) quality of mine.  I can't help it. When I love something, I love it with all my heart.

And I love Star Trek.

Do you know what the coolest thing would be? If I created something other people loved the way I love Star Trek.  Wouldn't that be amazing?

A girl can dream ;)

For now though, I'll have to keep using the soundtrack to inspire epic fight scenes ;)

Have a great week everyone!

What's Up Wednesday!

Welcome to What's Up Wednesday, Jaime and Erin's weekly review!

What I'm Reading

On the penultimate book of the Tomorrow series now.  I've really loved re-reading it.  Noooot to sure what I'll pick up when I'm done. Maybe Peter James' latest offering.  Hmmm... well, we'll see!

What I'm Writing

RainyCity!Story hit an action scene and came along veeeery nicely XD I have to admit the going is quite slow on that story, but when I sit down to work on it, the words flow. It's nice to have a change of pace every now and then.

Space!Story's newest edit is going well too.  The beginning section feels quite solid but I know the middle needs some serious work.  Hopefully I'll get some work done on that today.

What Else I'm Up To

Ginger. Molasses. Cookies.  I received a recipe and made them and now I have a new favourite cookie in my life. Oh. My. GOSH. THEY ARE SOOOOOO TASTY! Although Molasses proved quite hard to hunt down and I eventually found them in a health food shop... er... okaaaaay? I might have to start jogging instead of walking my daily 2 miles though...

What Inspires Me

I love it when my iPod's shuffle mode pours liquid perfection down my ears in the form of a playlist put together so well I'm still half-convinced the damn thing has mind-reading technology built into it.

It put this slow, haunting piece of music:

Next to this bombastic, all hell's breaking loose track:

Aaaaaaaah lovely! Very inspiring!

Have a fantastic week everyone!

Why Scheduling Doesn't Work So Well For Me But Might Be Totally Awesome For You

I kind of admire those writers who have something like this in their lives:

Although I admit proper schedules are neater and involve post-its and colour schemes

I have a huge amount of respect for people with this kind of willpower and self control.  I see it as treating writing like a job and being really disciplined.  How can you not admire that? Plus it can be so helpful to have a slot in your day for writing or editing and knowing that once you've hit the end of that period, it's okay to move onto something else.

Alas, while I do my writing at specific times of the day due to the day job, I cannot, no matter how hard I try, be super specific about which project I'll work on when.  Like last night I wanted to edit another chapter of Space!Story, but then OHMIGOSH LISTEN TO THIS MUSIC GET RAINYCITY!STORY OUT RIGHT NOW AND WRITE THAT EPIC FIGHT! DO IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!

Here's the music in case you're interested: 

Today, during my commute to work, I daydreamed a bit about RainyCity!Story, but then I wound up thinking about Space!Story because I reaaaaaaaaally love that MC.  And as much as I want to push on with RainyCity!Story and hit 10k, Space!Story isn't letting go.

Sometimes I worry I'm being too precious about my approach and I should be less frivolous about it all and just damn well write/edit one thing and then make a very definite switch an hour later.  After all, one of these days writing will be my full time job (IT WILL! I WON'T ACCEPT ALTERNATIVES!) and then I'll have real deadlines and responsibilities to fulfill, so it'd be good to get into good habits now.

...But then I also know that there's no "right" way to go about writing so maybe I should just stop admiring pretty schedules and be proud of my slightly more haphazard manner.  It's not like I've never finished something after all!

How do you feel about scheduling? Do you like to be rigid about the way you write or are you more flexible?

Sunday Inspiration - Hello Summer!!!!!

Summer well and truly arrived in the UK this week after the longest, coldest, wettest winter and spring in decades.  All the flowers are coming out all at once and I'm so happy to finally have Sweet Williams back in my life.

Beautiful!

Summer means different things as you get older.  As a child, it's all about freedom from school and playing all day long. As a teenager, it's still about freedom from school and hanging out with friends, although there's a good chance of a part-time job being thrown into the mix too.  Once you leave schooling behind, summer's all about the weekend... or the lovely long evenings... unless you work in a school and then for you it's all about summer holidays all over again.

...I miss working in a school...

It's a great time of year, and I'm betting all of you have songs that take you back to great moments from previous summers.  I dug into my memory and pulled out this classic:

Aaah, 90s summers in Brighton.  Ice cream and walks along the beach.  Good times!

What's your favourite summer song? Does it take you back to your childhood, your teens or yesterday? ;)

Cores

One of the best parts of my job is the two mile walk I get to take.  It's great thinking time. As I walked yesterday, I had a thought about RainyCity!Story.  I realised why I was struggling to really engage with it beyond the initial rush of enthusiasm.

I wasn't sure what the core, the central theme, of the story was.

Even a pantser needs a core.

Thankfully I've got it now.  PHEW! Hooray for daily two mile walks!

And that got me thinking about the book I tried to write last summer only for it to die a horrible death.  What was its core issue? Uuuuuuum...

...Still don't know!

You can and should have multiple themes in a book, but there's got to be something at the heart of it to unite all the threads. 

I think you can overcome writer's block if you know what the central issue of your book is and you can sum it up succinctly.  Essentially, what's the one thing it can all be boiled down to?

Although a lot happens in Space!Story, it's essentially about a girl trying to find her place in the universe.

Resistance, my querying book, is about a girl desperately trying to hold her life together during massive upheaval.

RainyCity!Story is about a girl trying to work out who and what she is.

Holding a story's core in my mind keeps me focused... weeeeeell, as focused as I ever am. But when I know what it is, I don't get lost in the kinds of twisty turns my imagination loves to cook up and I can stop things from getting everything overly complicated.

How about you? Do you know the issue at the core of your story? Does not knowing lead you to struggle like me?