What's Up Wednesday: What a Difference a Week Makes Edition

Hi everyone! It's another What's Up Wednesday and you know you wanna join in :D Stop by the blogs of the lovely Jaime and Erin to take part.

What I'm Reading

Finished No Safety in Numbers. I liked it enough and I'll probably pick up the sequels once the final book is published.  Then I read Control Point, the first in a military fantasy series.  That was okay.  Now I'm reading Asylum by Madeleine Roux.  Not going to be powering through it though becaaaaause...

What I'm Writing

Oh what a different place I am in compared to last week! I changed the narrative from first to third and BOOM! My wordcount is currently 26k, way over my 20k goal for the month.  This past weekend was amazing. I found my stride and I just went for it :D Feels so good to be writing like this again with a new book.Thanks for all of your support last week. Much appreciated!

(And that SNI has agreed to wait in line, yay!)

What Else I'm Up To

I have finally seen Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  Steve is just so adorable. It's so refreshing to have such a nice character in a world full of snark and wit.  AND HIS LITTLE NOTEBOOK DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW. But... but... Oh, my feels. My poor, poor, woefully unprepared feels! Then I went back and watched the first film and... and... ;__________________________;

What Inspires Me

AHEM!

Exploring lots of new music at the moment to keep ye olde imagination ticking over and I gotta say, I looooooooove Frontier Psychiatrist by The Avalanches.  It really fits with the madness my MC faces:

Have a great week everyone! :D

The Pantsing Crossroads

As a pantser, you'll be writing, not too much clue of where you're gonna go, when suddenly you reach a crossroads and the plot can go one of several ways, all of which will have fairly dramatic consequences for the rest of the book.  With Colony, I reached numerous crossroads and only once (I think) made the wrong call and had to backtrack.  Maybe when Colony is published I'll share that wrong turn.  But not just yet...

Dream!Story sits at one of these crossroads right now.  In fact, my character's next decision will change the course of the story... except he's as indecisive as I am (which makes sense, given the mess he's found himself in).

This is why I love not knowing where I'm going when I write - it's so much easier to get into a confused character's mindset this way.  Plus, I get to go on the adventure, too :D Sure, I might have to turn back, but going the wrong way just means I can explore other avenues before picking the right one.

How do you deal with moments when the story can go in a bunch of different directions?

Another Point of View

Glad to report my NaNo project is on the move again.  After staring at it for a week, wondering why I'd suddenly lost the urge to write even though I still loved the idea, the main problem finally occurred to me.  First person narrative was not working.

It worked so well for Colony I thought it might suit this new project as well.  It started out fairly well, although the new MC wasn't as chatty as Ed.  But instead of getting easier, it just refused to work and 10,000 words later, I knew there was a real problem.  Motivation slipped... although a Shiny New Idea also had something to do with that, too.  But quit I could not, and yesterday I decided to give third person perspective a go.

Boom! The words are a-flowing and that shiny new idea has agreed to take a seat in the waiting room while having a few cups of tea.

If you ever find yourself getting stuck, maybe try switching the perspective.  Might work.  I'm not going to edit the first 10k until I finish this draft because I'm a member of the Always Move Forward Club with first drafts.  Get the story out, fix it later.

So, I'm up to 15k with this SNI now... I reckon I've earned a trip to the cinema with my friends to see Captain America, don't you? ;)

What's Up Wednesday - 2 for 1 on Rants and Apathy!

Wednesday again.  Happy days :D Are you going to join in this fun blog hop? Stop by Jaime and Erin's blogs!

What I'm Reading

Finished The Archived.  I liked it, but I don't feel like I'm in a rush to pick up the sequel...

...Probably because I just read the amazing Gone Girl.  If you haven't read this book, you need to *right now* because wooooooooooow.  I can't really say anything without really ruining a spectacular twist, but it really made me sit and think.  It's so damn clever! I think I'm still a little hungover from it...

I'm now powering through Dayna Lorentz's No Safety In Numbers and really liking it... aside from a comment about the character Ginger who is "a ginger".  Like, the book has an awesomely diverse cast, and yet what does the author even mean by a "ginger" (yes, it's in quotes in the book)? Personally, I can't help being sensitive about "ginger" comments when even now, as a fully grown woman, I have people shout stuff like "ginger whore" at me across the street. It's probably a throw-away comment for any non-redhead reading it, but it was just really disappointing, you know?

...Wow, quite a rant.  Honestly though, I really am enjoying the book.  It's a neat thriller with some engaging characters, a tight setting and a great build up of tension.

What I'm Writing

...Eeeeeeeeeh... Well, Camp NaNo was going really well until work picked up at the end of last week (chicken pox outbreak uh oh!) and I got totally distracted.  I'm really hoping I can focus on my NaNo idea at least long enough to hit my 20k goal before I switch onto the new idea...

It's so strange. I went from being totally absorbed my my NaNo idea to "meh, whatever".  I'm hoping I'll find the love if I force myself to work on it over the long weekend.

What Else I'm Up to

I have a friend's wedding coming up and, oh yes, I'm going to be a bridesmaid for the third time.  I know, I know.  Never the bride.  This has been pointed out to me.  FOREVER ALOOOOOONE! Well, at least I'm getting an awesome 1950s style dress out of this deal.  Photos will come in May :D

What Inspires Me

It's Resident Evil month over here.  The smell of Spring triggers a sudden burning urge for Resident Evil in my brain.  It goes back to Spring 1998 when my cousin and I played through Resident Evil 2 together despite being waaaaaaaaaay younger than the 15 certificate on the box. I have such epic nostalgia about that game, so I always have a replay.  If you've been following my blog for a while, this won't be news to you ;)

Have a great week, everyone.

Like a Magpie...

Ever feel like you're writing, writing, writing and then something shiny catches your eye and oooh! New idea! Let's work on that! So you start and you get further and further... wait, what's that shiny thing? ANOTHER NEW IDEA! Go, go, go!

GET THE SHINY!!!!!

This would be me right now.  I started my ice story during the Olympics... then I started my Camp NaNo story (which I really love)... but now there's this other idea nibbling at my brain.  I've decided to keep working on the NaNo idea to see if my brain will kindly return to it, but if not, looks like I'll be moving on again ^^; But... but... aaargh, brain, I really like the NaNo idea!

Flitting between ideas doesn't mean you can't settle or that you'll never finish another story again.  It's a great sign you've got a busy imagination and you'll have something you can return to.  You've just got to find the idea that's going to work for you right now.

What's Up Wednesday - Miss Cole Returns :D

Okay, I'm home and I'm no longer jetlagged, so it's time to rejoin the lovely people at What's Up Wednesday :D You can join in at Jaime and Erin's blogs!

What I'm Reading

I've read quite a few things since I last posted, so I'll do a neat summary:

Sabriel by Garth Nix - Great, as always
Echo Burning by Lee Child - Okay, but not my favourite of the Jack Reacher series.
The Diviners by Libba Bray- WOW
A Conspiracy of Alchemists by Liesel Schwarz- Meh
Angelfall by Susan Ee - *headdesk*
Genesis by Bernard Beckett- Ooooooh!

And now I'm reading The Archived by Victoria Schwab. So far, so intriguing...

What I'm Writing

Trucking along nicely with my new WiP and Camp NaNo :D I even wiped my big white board clean and started new notes for this book. I got a bit emotional as I obliterated the notes I'd left up there from Colony's early drafts.  Feels like a big step to be taking...

What Else I'm Up To

As always, the two weeks I spent in the US with my amazing friend and her family just wasn't enough.  But we had a great time hanging out and eating all the food.

Pictured: Food

I also went on quite the Barnes and Noble binge.  In fact, when I returned home to England, my suitcase was just 2lbs under the 50lb limit XD

Preeeeeeeetty!

What Inspires Me

I am loving the Petshop Boys right now.  Ladies and gentlemen, travel back in time with me to the land of 1980s music videos...

It's nice to be back. Hope you all have a great week! :D

Stand Up And Write!

When I was in NC, my friends introduced me to the concept of a standing desk.  For someone with back and pelvic issues (I am still in my twenties, I swear!), this is a really great idea.  So, while I totally have no room for a standing desk, I can adapt the chest of drawers in my office for this purpose. Voila!

Sandwiched by Colony's previous drafts

So far, so good! It's set at my height (yes, I'm fairly small) and it's comfortable for my wrists.  I just feels kind of nice to stand and work for periods of time rather than sitting cramped at my desk all the time and banging my knees every time I want to switch positions :P Plus I can dance along to my music (well, sway), and type at the same time. Win!