What's Up Wednesday (28)

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 WE WERE LIARS. It's true the less I tell you about the book, the better, but I hope you put it on your TBRs because it was quite a read. Beautiful prose and voice and both sweet and heartbreaking.

I'm currently reading Gillian Flynn's DARK PLACES. As with all Flynn novels, the plot is just gripping. I cannot wait to find out the truth.


WHAT I'M WRITING

Well, I can stop being quite so secretive about my New Shiny thing because I've had some news. Basically, my #twtpoem accomplices (Lydia Kang and April Tucholke) and I decided to submit an idea for the Twitter Fiction Festival, which is an online festival celebrating the new forms of fiction that Twitter has spawned. Back in February, you could submit an idea for Twitter Fiction to the panel to be part of the official showcase. Given our #twtpoem love, we naturally had to give it a go.

We made it past the first round, but alas, we did not make the final cut! The official showcase is being announced today, and the festival is happening March 12-16. But anyone can participate by using the hashtag #twitterfiction.

So that's what I've been sort of working on - discussing the idea, structure, and plot, writing a few sample tweet poems. Our story was going to be a murder mystery told from the POVs of the murderer, their lover, and the house in Twitter poems.

Unfortunately, Lydia and April are unable to work on the project just for fun (since you know, they both have book sequels to work on), but I looooved the plot Lydia spun. SO I will endeavor to work on this (with my cohorts' blessings) on my own. Though I don't know if I will stick to the Twitter format, but I do want the 3 POVs and the poetry.


WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

Source: myglitterandgoldthings tumblr

Lupita Nyong'o! She's talented, graceful, gracious, and beautiful. She has killed it with her fashion this Awards Season, and her Oscar acceptance speech was SO moving. She had another acceptance speech pre-Oscars where she addressed standards of beauty and the importance of diversity in media that I also found to be so, so inspiring.

You can read the transcript for her ESSENCE'S Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon speech here: Lupita Nyong'o Delivers Moving 'Black Women in Hollywood' Acceptance Speech


WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

Nothing much. It actually RAINED (like rain-rain!) this weekend, so I mostly just chillaxed. My two favorite TV shows from last year came back for their second seasons: NBC's HANNIBAL and A&E's BATES MOTEL.

Oh and the sister spotted THEO JAMES on Saturday in one of the shopping areas we frequent. Unfortunately, I wasn't there at the time, but I received frantic texts in ALL CAPS telling me of what happened. She walked right past him!

Random things: amusing videos!

First, after the Oscars, Jimmy Kimmel's post-Oscars show featured star-studded trailers for movies based on viral YouTube videos (think double rainbow guy and Keyboard Cat). The best by far was the VERY DRAMATIC one about brothers, starring actual brothers Chris and Liam Hemsworth.

Check out BITMAN BEGINS.

Second, many of us were anticipating Idina Menzel's live performance of the super inspirational Frozen song, LET IT GO. The performance itself was not as awesome as we wanted - what with the flub of Idina Menzel's name and then the strangely fast tempo of the song. Luckily for us, Idina performed the song later with Jimmy Fallon and the Roots and it was perfection. :)



And finally, here's a Loki for your week. (He has big teeth.)

Happy Wednesday! What's up with you?


P.S. Come back on Friday for a Cover Reveal of Kendare Blake's newest GODDESS WARS book!