What’s Up Wednesday is a weekly meme geared toward readers and writers, allowing us to touch base with blog friends and let them know what’s up. Should you wish to join us, you will find the link widget at the bottom of Jaime’s blog. And in honor of What’s Up Wednesday for the fall, Jaime made some beautiful new buttons. I’ll feature them all over the next few weeks.
What I’m Reading
After I finished Crown of Midnight, I was hesitant to jump right into another book. For the next books sake. So, I waited a few days, in which time Crown of Midnight and The Bitter Kingdom both hit the New York Times Bestsellers list! This makes me happy as both a reader of YA fantasy, and a writer of it. I decided to pick up a book by trailblazer for females writing in Fantasy – both YA and Adult — Robin McKinley. I have already read a handful of her books, but had been putting off the book that started it her career. Beauty is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, and the writing is…well…beautiful. Robin McKinley tells stories with meandering, dreamy narration, the kind many of us wish we could execute with even half the grace she manages to. It was the perfect book to follow up Crown of Midnight and celebrate two wonderful YA fantasy novels hitting the bestsellers list!
What I’m Writing
A lot. I’ve worked on the sequel to my novel (still querying…with some nice developments) and my WiP, alternating, this week. I’ll have a few days with one story screaming for attention, and then it quiets, and the other takes over. It has gotten very noisy in my brain, but the company of my characters is always welcome. I spent a good deal of time writing a brief history of the world my WiP is set in, and figuring out some major world-building questions. This resulted in the realization that I am now working on a much larger project than I meant to when I set out to write this novel. Which leads to…
I really had hoped my second project would be a) not fantasy b) not a series c) not complicated. Why? REDHUNT, my novel in query phase, is all of the above. I have failed my own goals miserably in my WiP because it is solidly all three, and I am hopeless to ever write anything that isn’t.
What Inspires Me
My Hawaiian Mama. I have mentioned my brother married a dazzling Hawaiian beauty. This last weekend some of her family visited, and I got to spend time with her Mama. Christine talked stories with me about the Hawaiian islands, helping me gain some perspective on the research I had already done, giving me more research to do, and enchanting me with knowledge only a true Kumu could. Here is a video from my time in Hawaii which features my new sis, her mother, and her younger sister. To train their voices, Hawaiian women stand beside the ocean, aiming to be heard above the roar of the waves.
On September 11th, hold near the ones you love and remember that time waits for no one. We are here and then gone. Be thankful for now.
Pilot Point, TX. Yesterday the director of our film, Cassie’s Cause, and I met with some local talent in Pilot Point to discuss filming a scene from our movie on the square. I’ll be doing a post about this on the film blog, but the characters and setting have already inspired more ideas in my mind than I can number.
What Else I’m Up To
I spent most of my day cleaning and reorganizing Sam’s bedroom yesterday. I had been meaning to get to it before his birthday. Then I meant to get to it once birthday presents destroyed all semblance of organization. Then I crossed over into full on neglect once we got another piece of furniture for the room. I finally got the courage to tackle it (my OCD makes these kinds of projects really daunting), just in time for my aunt to bring him a fabulous new chair.
Have a wonder-filled Wednesday! And I’d love to hear…what’s up with you?