7.03.2013

What's Up Wednesday (5) / RSW (4)


What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme geared toward readers and writers, so we can check in with each other. To join, just check out Jaime Morrow or Erin Funk's blogs for the link widget and sign up!


WHAT I'M READING
I'm currently reading Siege & Storm, which I'm glad to report I am quite enjoying! It's actually kind of a relief because as some of you might remember I wasn't that enamored of the first book Shadow & Bone (here's Alz and my double-review of Shadow & Bone if you're interested). Nevertheless, I was interested in S&S because I did enjoy the world and thought the story had a lot of potential (even if I didn't love Alina), and no lie, I'm kind of in love with the Darkling. What can I say, at some point in recent years I've become a sucker for pretty villains (I blame Loki).

But yes, I'm enjoying it! I'm liking Alina a lot more this time around; there was Darkling early on in the book (but alas, I think he will be MIA for this next chunk); and I'm starting to come around to this Sturmhond fellow. (But I will never abandon the Darkling ship! Never!)


WHAT I'M WRITING


Still working on that backstory story! I'm going to try to make a Ready.Set.Write twitter session one of these days, but the downside of being on the West Coast is that I'm usually at work or eating dinner or at the gym during the times of the write sessions. BUT ONE DAY!

Goal: Finish this stupid backstory story! Until then, since Tracey suggested it, here's an excerpt:

She was taught to read and write, to sing and dance - footsteps I would follow in my own education. They adorned her with silver hoops, woven shawls, and brightly patterned skirts.

It was no wonder then that my father took notice of her when he and his party arrived at their remote village.

The story is unclear here with accounts varying as to the reason for my father’s presence in such a far flung nook of the empire. What is clear is that he was on his way home when he heard tale of a heartrending beast lurking in the dense forests of the Northern range. Whether he was goaded by his men to pursue it or wished to gain glory for himself is a mystery, but it was this local superstition that sparked the beginning of my father and mother’s own legend.

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW


I just picked up this book, and it is kind of awesome. Alz and I have already been fascinated, boggled, and amused by the many strange things found in this book. See that round thing with 4 wings and 6 feet on the cover? Apparently, that is a god.


WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

It was ridiculously hot this past weekend in Southern California. Like it was probably around 100F in my area, but I hear it was 134F in Death Valley. In any case, to stay cool, we went swimming and took Loki (and my cousin's dog Sadie) with us. Loki knows how to swim, but as Alz posted last Friday, Loki is too scared to leave the first step by himself.

But thanks to the heat, he figured out how to do it himself! He will now voluntarily launch himself from the top step and into the pool! He became so confident that he kept showing off to Sadie while we were trying to teach her not to be afraid of the water. (Sadie really hated swimming, haha.)



This weekend was also my cousin-once-removed (is this correct? The daughter of my first cousin?)'s birthday. We ate BBQ, played Just Dance (well, I watched - I am NOT coordinated enough for that game), and made balloon animals.

I made a tiger. Rawr!
Hope the rest of you had cooler weekends than I did!


Q4U: How is your RSW or Camp NaNoWriMo going? What's up with you?


P.S. Our blog/writer friend and awesome blog layout designer Caroline Richmond sold her book - and it sounds like a fantastic read! Definitely go congratulate her if you haven't! Here: It's a Book Deal

17 comments:

Lola Sharp said...

I love your balloon tiger! :)

Also, I LOVED your snippet and want to know more about the beast and legends!
Whoa, that flying pig with too many legs is a god?? Dude.

Swimming dogs, balloon tigers, flying pig gods...you've got it all here in one tidy post. What more could we ask for? :)

Happy Fourth of July!
Love,
Lola

Alison Miller said...

Heartrending beast in the dense forest? Love it! And love the snippet! Also, your dog is so precious! I love that picture!

Good luck on meeting your writing goals this week! I am plugging away, but I know I'm in for a heck of a revision when this ms is finished. WHEW!

Tracey Neithercott said...

Love that excerpt! You should definitely join in #ReadySetWrite because what you have so far is great. (Also, my body is on West Coast time, so I may still be writing when you're done with dinner, etc. Life of a night owl.)

That video is great. Such adorable pups.

Julie Dao said...

I NEED that Chinese beast book!!! What an awesome resource. Now that's the fun kind of research that I love, love, love. Does it include a mythological sea creature named Peng? That guy's definitely going to make an appearance in my story.

Connie Keller said...

Glad you all are staying cool!

Have fun with the writing and have a happy 4th. (Can't wait to hear about all your Camp Nano progress.)

Miss Cole said...

Oooh, such an intriguing snippet! Good luck finishing off the backstory.

Jaime Morrow said...

I'm glad you're enjoying SEIGE AND STORM. I really liked it, especially Sturmhond. :) He'll definitely grow on you.

I love the snippet you shared with us. Definitely makes me want to read more! :)

And Loki is just the cutest (both Lokis, actually). I like the pics and videos of him in the pool.

Colin Smith said...

I wasn't as blown away with SHADOW & BONE as I expected to be, so I read your comments on SIEGE AND STORM with great interest. Until now I hadn't considered reading the sequel, but if Alina's character improves, and the book is, overall, better... maybe I'll give it a try.

And here in Eastern NC, the temps haven't been much better. Sure, not in the triple-digits, but hovering around 90 with thunderstorms and heavy rain every day (i.e., HUMIDITY) gets a bit much too!

Katy Upperman said...

Ooh, totally in love the the excerpt you shared. Your writing is so elegant... I'd love to read more! Best of luck nailing down that backstory and meeting your goal for the coming week.

Happy Fourth of July!

Unknown said...

it's been miserably hot here as well! Glad you're enjoying Siege and Storm, I have yet to pick it up, but I'm excited. Really enjoyed your excerpt! Keep it up!

Tif / Halu-Halo said...

What a beautiful excerpt! I am intrigued!

I'm on central time and I miss out on all of the twitter sessions too. By the time I get on, everyone's asleep. ;)

Stay cool! I'm originally from the Bay Area and they are getting a ton of heat too!

Anonymous said...

I'm in the middle of SIEGE & STORM, too, and I'm enjoying being back in the world. Your Darkling love made me laugh...and yes, it's absolutely Loki's fault.
And thank you for sharing that excerpt! The legend sounds very intriguing!

linda said...

thanks for sharing the snippet, and best of luck on finishing it! i'd love to see more of your writing. :)

and the chinese bestiary book looks AWESOME!

amy said...

Love the excerpt! Congrats on meeting your writing goals! Good luck with your goals for the week! Have a great weekend!

Erin L. Funk said...

I'm glad you're enjoying SEIGE AND STORM. I haven't started my copy yet, but I'm looking forward to it. It's nice to hear that it's a good sequel. There are few things worse than crummy sequels.

That excerpt form your story was so good! Seriously, your prose is beautiful! I also enjoyed the video of the dogs swimming--too cute! And can I just say that 100F would be enough to darn near kill me? It does get that hot here occasionally, but thankfully not very often. Hope you manage to stay cool for the 4th of July!

Sara Biren said...

I don't usually get started until 8 or 9 pm Central time for Ready Set Write and keep going until 11 or midnight. Maybe you'll be able to join in! Stay cool and good luck with your writing goals!

Erin L. Schneider said...

I really enjoyed SIEGE AND STORM - and like you, am a total Darkling fan. However, will say after reading book #2 - also love Sturmhond, too!

And I haven't had a chance to join one of the RSW Twitter parties, either - I also live on the West Coast (Seattle), but I don't think that's it...just haven't seemed to get the times right! :)

Best of luck in your writing goals this week - and I hope you have a great weekend!