9.24.2014

What's Up Wednesday (46)


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 took a break from THORN JACK and EVERYTHING LEADS TO YOU since neither was completely grabbing me. I think I'm just not in the right mood.

I switched to the captivating OF METAL AND WISHES by Sarah Fine, whose first book SANCTUM I quite liked. But oh, I am really enjoying OMaW. It's inspired by The Phantom of the Opera and set in a meat factory, and I've fangirled over its gorgeous cover before.


WHAT I'M WRITING

I've been bad about my verse novel, but I have been tinkering with my older novels. This past week, I got reacquainted with some old characters and it's been wonderful.


WHAT WORKS FOR ME

Sneaking in bits of time here and there is what's been working best for me recently in terms of writing. I've been so busy and stressed from work and other Life things that it's been hard to find big chunks of time to write. So I try to get a few words down on my work-breaks or right before bed.


WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

First, thank you for your YA Book recs for Sarah! She found it very helpful. :D

Since my last WuW update, a few things of note have happened. Firstly, it's been super super hot here. Yesterday was the first day of Fall, and it only barely felt like it. We were in the mid-80s, but that's cool compared to the heat wave that hit us the week or two before. We were consistently hitting over 100F.

Hot weather means working on my selfie game and eating lots of shaved ice and ice cream.

During this heatwave, I went to Sarah J. Maas' signing for HEIR OF FIRE. It was on a Saturday, so I could actually make it out and it was kind of exciting because the last time I'd seen her in person was for her debut THRONE OF GLASS, and that was before I'd started chatting on Twitter with her. So it was super cool that Sarah recognized me, and she is as sweet and funny as she is online (and when I first met her). (Also, how does her hair always look so completely fabulous? It is a mystery and I am envious.)

Another cool thing from the signing was seeing Sarah's ToG "guestbook/yearbook" again. Basically, she has a copy of Throne of Glass that she has for readers to sign/leave messages for her in. I signed it at that first ToG signing, and I was surprised to find that it was the same book! Like I thought Sarah used a copy of whatever her latest book was for the yearbook. But no, it was that same copy of Throne of Glass, now filled with doodles and text in all its margins! I found my original message on the back cover and put a new note next to it. :)

 Aaaand of course, I got my book signed!

I've always wanted to be someone's Twitter guru. Mission accomplished!
In other news, some belated birthday updates. I didn't post a pic of this, but I got a Cat on a cake for the Sister (her name is Catherine) for her birthday. We also caught up with Alz, who gave me my belated birthday gift - a handmade Loki Kitty aka a LOKITTY.


The Sister and I also finally received our Comic Con swag shirts from Legendary! The Legendary booth was awesome because they gave us redemption codes for shirts, so we could choose from a set of designs and pick sizes. Finally, a free shirt that doesn't look like it's swallowing me whole! Obviously, the Sister and I picked Pacific Rim Jaeger Pilot shirts to go with our piloting badges. ;)

We didn't even match on purpose this day. Proof that we're drift compatible, I guess.
Lastly, the Sister entered an Instagram contest held by Legendary and fusion.net for the horror movie As Above So Below, set in the Paris Catacombs. You had to post a pic of one of your city's most beautiful sights and one of its most scary/creepy sights, and you could win a 3-day trip to Paris.

The Sister's entry: View of Downtown LA from Griffith Park Observatory & a torn down house in our neighborhood.

And...the Sister won a trip to Paris! She was one of 3 winners. So last week, she flew to Paris and just came back this weekend! Here are some of her pics.

The Catacombs - the main stop! Better lit than when the Sis & I went in February!





Meanwhile, I stayed home, had one really sick day (not fun, but am fine now!), and babysat this fur-baby.


What's Up with you?

10 comments:

Miss Cole said...

No wonder those photos won! I LOVE that shot of LA. I wish my friends and I had gone up there when we went. Next time! Congrats to your sister :D

Don't you love getting back to old characters? I always realise how much I've missed them, which makes me eager to write. Good luck!

ELAdams said...

I love rediscovering old characters. :)

Wow, awesome photos!

Connie Keller said...

So much WOW!

Congrats to your sister--the photos were amazing. No wonder she won.

Glad you hear you're enjoying the old characters.

I hear you about the summer--ours has dragged on too long as well.

And I love the cover art of OMAW.

Finally, Happy Belated Birthday!

Crystal said...

OMG! So jealous of your sister's trip to Paris! :)

And I found EVERYTHING LEADS TO YOU a bit hard to get into at first, too... It did improve and I really enjoyed it, but it was somewhat of a slow story all-around.

Katy Upperman said...

That OF METAL AND WISHES cover is gorgeous -- I'm intrigued! Yay for your sister and her trip. Lucky, lucky girl! At least you had a cute pup to hang out with when you were left behind in hot L.A. Hope you have a great week, Alice!

smile4niki said...

I am adding OF METAL AND WISHES to my list... looks awesome!

Tonja Drecker said...

Wow! Congratulations to Sister - but with those photos, she couldn't lose. Beautiful!
Rediscovering old characters is a lot of fun. And love those T-shirts :)

Anonymous said...

Lots of chewy stuff in your post! That really is a great cover, on OMaW. Congrats to the Sister on the trip to Paris. And enjoy reconnecting with your old characters--I agree, that's a lot of fun.

Melanie Stanford said...

I'm just reading Throne of Glass right now. It's nice to hear how great Sarah Maas is!
Congrats to your sister on her trip to Paris!
Inspired by Phantom of the Opera?! It's on my TBR now.

linda said...

Love your photos! And omg OF METALS AND WISHES has an absolutely gorgeous cover. Glad you're enjoying it so far, I'd definitely be interested in hearing more!