1.21.2015

What's Up Wednesday (55)


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
VICIOUS by V.E. Schwab (aka Victoria Schwab in YA circles), which I've had pretty much since it came out, but it's taken me this long to start reading it. Loving it so far. Totally my jam.

I've also finished Issue 2 of ODY-C, a series I am loving more and more. The myth interpretations are great and the art is just trippy-beautiful. Speaking of comics, I'm also reading Neil Gaiman's Sandman Volume 2.



WHAT I'M WRITING
Stuff! Tinkering with my Cinderella story, and I know I shouldn't be, but I started a few exploratory scenes for a Shiny New Idea. I love the characters and the tone. I hope a plot takes shape. :)

1 Writing Goal: Finish the exploratory SNI scene.


WHAT WORKS FOR ME
Visual inspiration. After the SNI struck me and I decided I had enough interest in it to maybe develop it, I started a pinterest board just to get a better feel of what I wanted the world to look and feel like. The visual inspiration has helped me shape the world and mood of this possible new story. I think a mood board would work too, but that's something I haven't tried myself yet.


WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

It's been a while since my last What's Up Wednesday post thanks to the holidays and the way January has been busy-busy. So here's what else I've been up to - other than stuffing my face and trying to get back into the swing of things.

For Christmas, my friends gave me a lot of cool things, but probably the coolest were the super geeky things Alz and the Sis got me. I am a huge U.S. History nerd, so I adored the history themed shirts the Sis got me - especially the Alexander Hamilton ones. Crazy talented Alz made me an Alexander Hamilton necklace!


Related to this Hamilton stuff, the biggest thing I've been up to is planning a trip to good ol' New York City at the end of February! It's been a few years since my last trip, and this year, I will have the pleasure of staying with Sarah, who has graciously offered housing. She was also the one who told me that there is an Alexander Hamilton musical!!! And basically, I have to see it or I will regret it forever. So, NYC!

I watched a ton of movies and finally convinced my friends to watch NBC's Hannibal, which remains my favorite show on TV. Glad more people seem to be discovering it / trying it out. Hopefully, this will mean higher ratings for it come season 3 this summer.

It's been a long time since I last vlogged and while it was fun, I'm not exactly super comfortable in front of a camera. Enter Megan Whitmer's #vlogagram, which is basically bite-sized vlogging. You pick a topic (or use Megan's suggested prompts below) and film a 15 second Instagram vid for it. You can find my vlogagrams on my instagram under #AliceVlogs.


Speaking of Instagram things, I've also recently gotten into the #candyminimal thing, which is a minimalist, candy-colored style of photography by Matt Crump. You can read his guide here.


And finally, here's a moment of geek chic and one from my overdue hair trim appointment.



What's up with you?


P.S. This 6 YA book giveaway is still going until the end of the month. If you're in the US or Canada, feel free to enter!

16 comments:

Miss Cole said...

Write whatever you want! Give in to the SNI :D

I think Vicious is my favourite of all the Schwab books I've read. I really liked the central premise.

Have an amazing week!

Unknown said...

I haven't read anything by Victoria Schwab yet, but I've been interested. I've mostly only heard good things about it. And yay for new scenes for the SNI! That's always fun :)

I'm a huge fan of Pinterest boards for WIPs too. When my brain is mush and I can't write or think coherently, I just go to Pinterest and start to pin things that remind me of my WIP and it helps to un-mush my brain little by little.

Fida Islaih said...

Love the pictures!

Katy Upperman said...

Yay for SNIs! Best of luck with yours -- sounds like you're inspired, which is awesome. I've loved your photos this week, Alice. Lovely as usual. Have a great week!

ELAdams said...

Glad to hear you're enjoying VICIOUS! I loved that book.

Pinterest boards can be great for inspiration. Have fun with the SNI!

Melanie Crouse said...

I love the idea of using Instagram for a blog--I haven't found my place in the Instagramming world yet, but that's a good one. I hope you have a great week!

Julie Dao said...

I have never read a Victoria Schwab book - can you believe it?! I hear about how fantastic her writing is all the time, so that's definitely on my to-read. Right now I'm rereading Raven Boys Book 2 to prepare for BLUE LILY which is burning a hole through my bookshelf! *flailing* Love your outfits/hair as always! And very cool that you've got a new story idea coming along.

Majanka Verstraete said...

I've read a few books by Victoria Schwab, but the one you mentioned is new to me. Good luck with writing this week! Your goal of finishing the scene sounds great.


My What's up Wednesday post.

amy said...

I really want to read Vicious. I think the paperback came out yesterday. I'm going to have to go to the bookstore. Have a great week!

Tonja Drecker said...

Yay to SNI! Have fun with it because that's kind of the point.
I'm going to have to look into Schwab. Sounds interesting. And loved the pics. Visuals do help!

Crystal said...

I just heard about #vlogagram last week through this linkup. It sounds really cool. I need to check it out!

Alison Miller said...

What's wrong with tinkering with the Cinderella story? You have to go where your heart leads you - sounds like that's the place. :) Also, I love seeing all your pics and vlogs on IG. So cool! Have a great week!

Melanie Stanford said...

I loved Vicious- such a great example of how to write awesome villains.
I'm a visual person too, and although I'm not on Pinterest, I often look up pictures of different things to help my descriptions.
Have a great week!

Jaime Morrow said...

I've been spending time on Pinterest lately myself. Pinning photos to inspiration boards is super...inspiring lol. Awesome about the SNI! I think anything that keeps you writing and excited about it is a good thing! I spent some time yesterday reading segments from my first WiP. Felt a bit like I was cheating on current WiP, but I came away happy with the revisit and more confident in my ability to write. That's a good thing! Writing is writing, right? (Whoa. That sounds funny. LOL) Hope you have a wonderful week, Alice! :D

smile4niki said...

I love to Pinterest my shiny new ideas! Good luck drafting!

J said...

Love your hair! And I heard Hannibal was good but I still haven't watched it. I have SO many shows to watch... it's insane. I really need to just use one year of my life to watch all these shows that I am behind on haha

Jessica
the.pyreflies.org