What's Up Wednesday

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme geared toward readers and writers, allowing us to touch base with blog friends and let them know what's up. Should you wish to join us, you will find the link widget at the bottom of this post. We really hope you will take part!

What I'm Reading
While I was reading Seraphina last week, Katy Upperman was reading (and raving about) Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta. I recently read Jellicoe Road and really enjoyed it, so Marchetta + fantasy + a Katy fave felt like exactly the kind of book I wanted to read next. So far I have not been disappointed.

...And I'm still slogging through Wuthering Heights. The good news: I only have ten more chapters to go. Done in ten days!


What I'm Writing

I'm about 2/3 of the way through this round of revisions. It's kind of nuts how making one big (or even kind of small) change unravels a bunch of other things in the story. I find myself having to flip back through and make all sorts of tweaks I hadn't anticipated just because of one alteration that I thought would be simple enough. It's really kind of crazy-making sometimes.

What Inspires Me Right Now
I'm inspired by the progress that I've made thus far on my rewrite. Does that sound weird? Self-centred? Hope not. When you look back and see where you came from and where you are now, that's great incentive to keep going, to push even harder toward the goal of finishing. I feel like the end is not so far off anymore, and that's a wonderful thing.

What Else I've Been Up To

Beta reading

This week I had the privilege of beta reading a YA contemporary for a friend, and aside from being completely and utterly enjoyable, it was a lesson in how to write well. The characters, the prose, the dialogue, the romance...it was all fantastic! ♥

Remembrance
This past weekend my husband and I drove to a nearby lake town for the Veterans Voices of Canada exhibit. The pipe and drum band I joined was asked to play (I'm not playing publicly with them yet), so I wanted to check it out. Plus, we're both big supporters of the troops and vets. We got to speak with World War II, Korea, and Afghanistan vets and hear some of their stories which were fascinating, inspiring, and sometimes horrifying. One vet in particular, Master Corporal Paul Franklin, is a double amputee who lost his legs in a roadside bombing incident in Afghanistan. I'm fairly certain I have never met someone as upbeat and positive as this man. Truly an inspiration. We also got to meet a WWII vet who recently received all new medals when a group of Alberta junior high kids petitioned to have them replaced. (They'd been thrown out accidentally some time back.) Some of the kids and Mr. Pennington were in attendance, and hearing their story was so heartwarming.

{For Band of Brothers fans: Hubby and I managed to acquire photos of some of the Easy Company fellas, one of which had the actual Bill Guarnere's autograph on it. (Through the silent auction at the exhibit.) Very, very cool!}

It was a good week all around, made even better by the gorgeous weather we've been having. ☼

So, what have you been up to lately?

What's Up Wednesday

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme geared toward readers and writers, allowing us to touch base with blog friends and let them know what's up. Should you wish to join us, you will find the link widget at the bottom of this post. We really hope you will take part!


What I'm Reading
I'm still reading the same two books I was reading last week at this time: Wuthering Heights and Seraphina. The former is starting to get a little crazy (and by crazy, I mean What the heck is wrong with these people?) and the latter took some time to get into. Now that I'm invested in the story, I'm enjoying the world, the characters, and everything that makes this book so different from other books I've read. 

What I'm Writing
No big surprises here → I'm still in the middle of a rewrite. One of the flaws in my story before the rewrite was the central romance. It (unfortunately) turned into an InstaLove kind of situation, which was never my intention. It always bothered me, but I failed to address the problem and it got out of hand, dominating everything. The central romance was too central to the story. Gah! Anyway, I'm fixing the problem and the slow burn romance that is emerging is SO much better than that InstaLove crap that weaselled its way in. There are sparks a-plenty now, good and bad.

What Inspires Me Right Now
This quote might be familiar to some of you. It comes from one of the greatest movies of all-time, Dead Poets Society:

Kinda makes you want to carpe diem, "gather ye rosebuds while ye may", and do something big with your writing, doesn't it?

What Else I've Been Up To
I'm enjoying the gorgeous weather we've been having. Yesterday it was 28C (82F), which is just bonkers for the month of May where I live. While I was sitting outside reading Wuthering Heights in the blazing hot sun, it occurred to me that in the last year we've only had two seasons: winter and summer. Fall was non-existent—summer bled into winter with the arrival of snow in October (and lingered for 6+ months). The trees are still sporting dead crunchy leaves that never ended up falling. And Spring up and decided to play hooky while Summer arrived with bells on. I do miss those transitional seasons, though.

I've also been taking part in the May Photo A Day Challenge, which is tons of fun. Last month I totally tanked, so I'm hoping May is better. Yesterday's topic was "something beginning with F". This was the photo I used with its caption:

Fun Fact: My married name is Fink, which is kind of

funny when you consider my sister married a Funk.

#somethingbeginningwithF #FMSPhotoADay

What's Up Wednesday

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme geared toward readers and writers, allowing us to touch base with blog friends and let them know what's up. Should you wish to join us, you will find the link widget at the bottom of this post. We really hope you will take part!

What I'm Reading
I'm partway into Wuthering Heights, my Chapter A Day classic, and I'm surprised that I don't hate it just yet. Colour me shocked. That could change, but so far, so good.

I'm also just about to start reading Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, which I'm kind of excited about. I've heard only good things, so that's always a major plus when starting a book.



What I'm Writing
I've made some really good strides with my rewrite, so that's certainly a plus. I'm discovering how fun it can be to rework what I've got. Really, it's kind of like a giant patchwork quilt made up of stuff I already had, new material I'm sewing in, and parts that have been snipped apart, switched around, and stitched back together again. It's exciting to watch this thing evolve.

What Inspires Me Right Now
This "practice makes perfect" notion that has been pounded into our brains since infancy actually might have merit. I've given up on a good many things in my life because I wasn't seeing progress quickly enough. There are two things in recent months that I haven't ditched—learning to drum and writing—and, lo and behold, I've gotten much, much better. The progression to this point is noticeable. I remember thinking I was never going to get the hang of drumming, but I've somehow managed it. The same goes with writing. Who knew I'd be able to write a whole book? But I did. Two, actually. I thought my writing would be complete crap. It (mostly) isn't. It still needs work, sure, but knowing that I'm improving is all the inspiration I need to keep at it. Practice makes progress and eventually proficiency. (Because perfection is one of those unattainable goals.)

What Else I've Been Up To
• I've been watching Battlestar Galactica with my husband, trying to get all the way through to the end this time around. We've always enjoyed it, but for whatever reason we got sidetracked and never finished the series.

• I'm no longer just practising the side drum on a drum pad, I've moved on to playing on the real deal. Holy cannoli, is that thing loud. Seriously, my ears ring forever after playing it, especially when you throw the bagpipes into the mix at practice. Oh, and it weighs 20 lbs. It's kind of a workout wearing that thing strapped to your chest and concentrating on playing it right.

• Speaking of workouts...After a long winter of sitting on my butt (reading and writing, of course), I thought it was high time I got some exercise. I've started using the treadmill for 42 minutes a day → the exact amount of time it takes to watch a Veronica Mars episode. That's right, I'm getting my marshmallow on while becoming a little less marshmallow-y.

So what have you been up to lately?

And the Winner Is...

From the 1977 movie adaptation of The Island of Dr. Moreau

The winner of THE MADMAN'S DAUGHTER GIVEAWAY is:

Valerie Cole!

Please send me a quick email with your mailing address and I'll get the book, the nail polish, and the journal shipped off to you promptly.

Thank you to everyone who entered. And thank you for following!

What's Up Wednesday

{Feel free to grab the button if you want.}

I don't know about you, but I'm finding it harder and harder to come up with blogging topics. And all too often, it takes me far more time than I actually have available to write a thoughtful post or even a very interesting one. I'm blaming this on the brainpower that's going into the R+R I've been working on. Anyway, my sister and I were talking, and we thought it might be nice to have a blog hop that would allow us to touch base on a weekly basis with our blog friends. We pooled our ideas and came up with this:

WHAT'S UP WEDNESDAY

It's similar in some respects to the Currently... post, but it's been whittled down to only four headings to make it quicker and more manageable on a weekly basis. You're invited to join us if you're looking for something to blog about, a way to let your blog friends know what's been going on with you. Next Wednesday I'll probably include some kind of link widget for you to use if you're interested.

*

What I'm Reading

Rebel Heart by Moira Young

No, this isn't some Civil War era bodice ripper, despite how it sounds. It's the sequel to Blood Red Road. (Though, if bodice rippers are your thing, I know for a fact that there are a handful by the same title on Goodreads.) So far I'm struggling to really get into this one, but I fully anticipate reaching a point where it's tough to put down. That's what I'm hoping, anyway.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

I'm already well aware of what this story is about since I've seen at least two versions of the movie based on this book. I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm really not going to like it, but who know? Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. (Hahahaha...right.) Stranger things have happened, I suppose.

What I'm Writing

I'm currently ripping Watch of Night, my YA light sci fi to shreds. Based on the feedback I received from an agent who requested a full, I've been reworking aspects of the plot, deepening my characters, and working to ensure that the romance doesn't take centre stage. It's been challenging, but I can honestly say that I like where this story is heading now so much more than the version I queried this agent with. She was totally right about everything and it made me see my story and its potential in an entirely different way. For the time being, I've put my YA contemporary on the back burner, but I think it's worth it.

What Else I've Been Up To

For some time now, I've been fascinated with the mandolin. I listen to bands like Mumford & Sons, The Lumineers, and Imagine Dragons, all of which feature the mandolin in some of their songs. So I was pleasantly surprised when my husband came home with a mandolin for me! It has the same string lineup as my violin (GDAE), but that's pretty much where the similarities end. I've never played this kind of stringed instrument, so it should be interesting. Hubby did some research on my mandolin, and it's mostly made of mahogany. I couldn't resist giggling at that little tidbit for HG reasons.

"That is mahogany!"

What Inspires Me Right Now
• (*whispers*) The fact that spring might finally be here after seven months of snow
•  the feedback Awesome Agent gave me—both the encouragement and the criticism
•  it's weird, but at the end of the day, seeing all of the tasks I'm crossing off in my day timer
•  watching many of my blog friends find success in their writing and in their lives in general

So what have you been up to lately?

P. S. Don't forget to enter my Madman's Daughter Giveaway. {It comes with nail polish and a journal too!}