8.14.2013

What's Up Wednesday (10) / RSW (9)


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 finished The Dream Thieves and it was GLORIOUS. I need the next book asap! I think this is the biggest flaw to reading anything early; it makes the wait THAT much longer! On the bright side, I still have tons of amazing books to read and many more coming out in September!

I've picked up Charm & Strange again, which isn't to say it wasn't good. I was reading it on Kindle and then the Sister borrowed the Kindle to read something else. That's why I had to stop, but it's nice to be back in. The voice is great, really engaging.

I'm also reading Control, which is another ARC. It doesn't come out until December, but I've been dying to read it because I adore Miss Lydia Kang. Our fellow #twtpoem poet Miss April Tucholke had an ARC and was kind enough to lend it to me. So yaaaay for blog friends & books! (Also, am dying to read April's book, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea as well. It's out Thursday & I have ordered it as a birthday gift to myself since my birthday's this Friday.)


WHAT I'M WRITING


I started connecting my fragments together, so yay! More importantly, I think I figured out how to get my plot going on "Luck." Still haven't quite figured out where the beginning should be, but I was trying to add some more tangible stakes and I think I've found the thing for that. Now, back to the hard part. I'm just one of those people who need to get the beginning right for the rest of it to follow. *SIGH*


WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

The absolutely gorgeous writing in Maggie Stiefvater's DREAM THIEVES. Her turns of phrase are so evocative and brilliant, and again, she is a master of mood.

Also, inspired by the exhibit on the Japanese Internment in the U.S. during WWII inside the Japanese American National Museum in LA.




WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

I've been resting up! Unlike my past weekends, I pretty much stayed home this weekend. I saw Percy Jackson & the Sea of Monsters, which was much closer to the books and therefore MUCH BETTER. I thought the first one was awful in one sense but also very entertaining thanks to some of the humor AND a lot of the acting (I love Logan Lehrman's Percy). So yes, this one was better, though the pacing still needs work. They also really need to stop messing with the plot so much. :P

We also went to Little Tokyo to shop, but we stumbled upon the Nisei Week celebrations. It was festive, fun, and filled with delicious food. So I ate a lot too.


Watermelon lemonade, pulled pork chips, house-made chips, bacon-wrapped corndog,
chai popcorn, corn on the cob with cheese and spicy garlic aioli

(Photo/ the Sister)
AND here's some brief SDCC stuff - swag! All the things we picked up/ bought!

Cute stuff we bought - except the Mr. Toast postcard & the Pancreas pin.

The miscellaneous stuff we picked up: Peanuts postcard; World's End pre-screening card; True Blood bracelets; RED 2 sunglasses; Black Sails bandanas; Adventuretime pins; an ebook novella voucher postcard for Breaking Bad; and a set of cards for The Awesomes.

The Sister bought the SDCC exclusive Snoopy iPhone case.


The stuff we picked up at the BBC Booth: Little Doctor Who figures, including the SDCC exclusive tuxedo Ten, and a SHERLOCK T-Shirt.




The swag we got from the 20th Century FOX Hall H panel: viral marketing materials for Trask Industries and their Sentinels for the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past movie (hat, propaganda posers); T-Shirts for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and The Wolverine.




This is all my book-related swag! From the Summit T-Shirt Bar, I made this Dauntless shirt. You could choose to have any of the faction symbols on your shirt, and on the back, it says DIVERGENT and the movie's release date. Also from Summit is that Divergent pin. From the Penguin booth, I got those Legend temporary tattoos, and from the Hachette Books booth, I got an ARC of Curtsies & Conspiracies by giving them the right password.



Also book-related AND movie-related was the Ender's Game swag. There was a lot and it's pretty awesome. From the Summit booth, there was the T-Shirt Bar again - so you can get the symbol of any of the Ender's Game armies on a shirt that says Ender's Game & the movie release date on the back. (We got Dragon Army, the best.) Also from the Summit Booth was that giant bag and the army symbol pins and stickers.

We picked up more stuff later at the Ender's Game Experience. Other than our green screen photo in the Battle Room, we also got to make International Fleet recruit ID cards/badges (you can see them under the wildcat sticker and the T-shirt), and we got those dog tags.



At the HANNIBAL panel, we got our first piece of panel swag. We turned in our tickets at the Fulfillment Room for this print of a sketch done by Hannibal Lecter. It's a sketch that appears in both the show and in the movies. I've not shown the actual picture because it's kind of graphic (a man impaled by lots of sharp, pointy things).


And lastly, we got these free YODA dog and cat ears for our furry friends at home. Loki has yet to be subjected to the ears yet. (The cat ears I picked up for a friend.)




Thanks for sticking around week after week, guys. I love hearing from you all, and I can't believe the summer is slowly but surely coming to a close. Ah, why?!

Anyway, I have to go figure out what I'm going to do for my birthday this weekend. True to my introvert nature, I think it'll involve reading and sleeping, hah.


Q4U: What have you been up to?


For more SDCC goodness, here are my previous related posts:

1) What's Up Wednesday (7) / RSW (6)
2) SDCC Recap No. 1
3) What's Up Wednesday (8) / Our Comic Con Fashion
4) SDCC Recap No. 2
5) SDCC Recap No. 3

13 comments:

Valerie Cole said...

Oh! I'm reading The Raven Boys right now and have The Dream Thieves sitting on my Kindle! It's so good, I hope the second is just as awesome.

And I love your wings in that picture. :)

laboyden said...

The swag. I can't handle the swag. The tuxedo Ten is so adorable. I want one.

Unknown said...

Yay for tying plot fragments together! I think I may pick up Charm & Strange next. It's on my debut author challenge list, and I'm in need of a book right now. Good luck with your goals this week!

Kris F. Oliver said...

I can't wait to read THE DREAM THIEVES!! I loved THE RAVEN BOYS.

It looks like you had such a fun week. That is some killer swag!

And congrats on your writing progress. I agree with your take on the beginning needing to be in place. I'm that way with ends too. :)

prerna pickett said...

I love Gail Carriger! And all the books you mentioned, I"m dying to read! Maggie Stiefvater also inspires me, her writing style just sucks me in! Love all the swag you got!

Unknown said...

I LOVE Maggie Stevfater and can't wait until Dream Thieves comes out. I'm so jealous that you got the ARC, but I do agree that having to wait that much longer for the next one sucks. I understand all the logistical and promotional reasons to spread a series out, but the read in me still wishes all the books in the series were released the same day (for like every series ever) so I could just read the whole thing in one sitting with no waiting ever. I think that means I'm a very impatient person.

Katy Upperman said...

That angel wing photo is beautiful! As you may know, I'm all kinds of excited to read THE DREAM THIEVES (thank you again!), and I've also got CHARM AND STRANGE coming my way thanks to a contest win -- yay! Like you, I'm dying to read BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA. Perhaps I should just go ahead and order it, then consider it some sort of gift to myself. :-)

Best of luck with your writing goals for the week. Sounds like things are coming along!

Jaime Morrow said...

You've gotten your hands on some really good books lately! Can't wait to read all of the books you mentioned. I'm so happy you were able to sort out some of plot issues with your WIP. I know what you mean about needing to sort out the beginning first. I'm like that a lot too. My birthday is coming up on Monday! Happy early birthday to you! :-)

Erin L. Schneider said...

SO jealous you got to read THE DREAM THIEVES. I can't wait to get my hands on that one -- I read THE RAVEN BOYS while on vacation, when it first came out...and perfect timing, THE DREAM THIEVES will be out in time for my vacation again this year!

Great job on your writing and tying those plot fragments together -- sometimes that can make for some tricky writing!

And I hope you have a wonderful birthday on Friday, too!

Tonja Drecker said...

I've been planning on reading both The Dream Thieves and The Raven Boys. If there was only more time in life to read :)

Stephsco said...

Love all the loot! And of course your fun pictures.

Simply Sarah said...

I loved The Raven Boys and I can't wait to read the Dream Thieves. Maggie Stiefvater is amazing :) Love all the swag!

Erin L. Funk said...

Oh man! I'm so, so jealous that you've already read THE DREAM THIEVES, but relieved and excited to hear you describe it as glorious! Can't wait for that one! I'm also looking forward to CONTROL. The premise sounds really intriguing.

I totally get what you mean about needing to make sure the start of a story is right before moving on. It just seems to me if the opening chapters are sort of murky and unformed then the whole foundation of the story could be wobbly, you know?

Love that ENDER'S GAME swag! Another thing I'm eagerly awaiting. Have an awesome week!