I’m back from the hot and pleasant island of Cyprus, and back with another What’s Up Wednesday post as hosted by blog friend Jaime and her sister Erin! Like Colin, this post is mostly to let you know that I’m back, alive and kickin’!
What I’m Reading
I finished Chuck Wendig’s THE BLUE BLAZES, which was a long and rewarding read. It was nice to hop over to adult urban fantasy again for a bit. I then started reading DARE YOU TO by Katie McGarry. Not really feeling it, it’s not clicking with me.
Once I’ve done DARE YOU TO I’m going to give TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD a spin, because I’ve been itching to read this classic for ages and I haven’t got round to it yet.
What I’m Writing
My holiday kicked me out of my good writing habits, so I’m slowly trying to get back into the swing of things.
Toying with a plot bunny for a middle grade/children’s story, but I think I’m just being flighty. I’ve hit some plotting issues with the middle section of Leviathan Rises and I think I’m just procrastinating from that.
Still, plot bunnies are fun! And I’ll be getting back to the seamonster story shortly, fingers crossed.
What Inspires Me Right Now
Writer and friend John Dixon recently shared the trailer for INTELLIGENCE, based on his upcoming YA novel PHOENIX ISLAND. Take a look! It stars Sawyer from LOST (Josh Holloway) and looks like it’ll include a few of my favourite things: badass ladies! Witty banter!
I loved this article: “‘We Have Always Fought’: Challenging the ‘Women, Cattle and Slaves’ Narrative” by Kameron Hurley.
I also just read Stephenie Perkin’s blog about the status of her upcoming “Isla and the Happily Ever After” and her struggles with depression. It wasn’t inspiring, but it was an important post to read as a far of her work.
Also, Elementary, which I just finished and loved every minute of. Strong female characters! Generally good representations of all minorities! A male-female bromance! This was a brilliant way to spend my time waiting for BBC’s Sherlock, and despite my reservations about the show I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it.
Check out the trailer, which has minor spoilers for the first episode but gives you a good idea of the show’s style.
What Else I’ve Been Up To
I managed to get severe food poisoning while in Cyprus, which messed me up for about a week afterwards. I’m doing better now, but I have a lot to catch up on: reading, writing, and blogging especially.
I didn’t do myself any favours by buying a PS3 console, but heeeeeey… it’s nice to spend some time gaming, even if I need to learn to manage my time better.
Miss Cole says
I love To Kill a Mockingbird. Didn’t like the film though. Didn’t live up to how I imagined it ;)
As someone who is just getting over a stomach bug, I completely sympathise with your need to catch up on everything. I feel like I need to tunnel my way out of the stuff piling up around me ^^; Hope you had a lovely holiday otherwise though!
And gaming too! My new laptop runs games and then my eldest brother made me (MADE ME) download Steam because he’d bought Portal for me… Time to get back to work!!!
EMaree says
Miss Cole It’s such a timesuck, but so much fun!
Sorry to hear about the stomach bug. :( My holiday was great apart from that, I can’t complain! :) The sickness was worth it for all the stories.
infinitelywriting says
I just read TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD for the first time this weekend. It just went straight to the top of the re-read list. Lovelovelove it. I haven’t seen the film, and I’m a little nervous. The book was so good…I don’t want to spoil it with a film yet.
And yep, I’m waiting for the BBC’s Sherlock, too. I haven’t caught the Elementary bug, mostly because of the time factor. I’m afraid that I’ll love the show, mostly, and that I’ll start obsessing like I usually do. There’s a reason I don’t watch a lot of TV… :P
EMaree says
infinitelywriting Oh man, I totally understand the obsession factor! I got *quite* obsessed with Elementary. I even started picking up Sherlockian mannerisms. I feel sorry for my housemates.
Now I’m dying to get started on TKAM!
Colin D Smith says
Thanks for the shout out, Emma, and welcome back! Aside from the food poisoning, I hope you enjoyed Cyprus. I’m glad you’re recovering.
I think I’ve said it a squillion times, but TKaM is the archetypal novel. It’s a veritable how-to of novel-writing. I think it’s that good. And I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. :)
EMaree says
Oooh, you certainly know how to sell it. :) I’ll be looking forward to reading it with a writer-ly eye.
Jaime Morrow says
That sucks that you ended up with food poisoning while on vacation. Happy to hear that you’re doing better, though. I read TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD for the first time during the past year and I really enjoyed it. I also liked the episodes of Elementary that I’ve watched. I got sidetracked, so I need to make sure I go back and watch the ones since. :-)
EMaree says
Definitely keep watching it! It gets so good. :)
Alison Miller says
I need to read To Kill a Mockingbird! On the TBR since forever. :) And thank you for sharing Stephanie’s post!
Erin Funk says
The season finale of ELEMENTARY was awesome! I’d have to say it’s one of my favourite shows now. The trailer for INTELLIGENCE looks really interesting and not only because Josh Holloway is in it (dang, he’s hard to look at!). The manuscript I’m about to start querying also involves computer implants in people’s brains, although the story itself is much different. Thanks for posting the link to Stephanie Perkins’ post. I haven’t visited her blog in a while, so I’ll have to go check that out.
EMaree says
Mmmm, Josh Holloway…
Computer implants in the brain are a great concept to work with, I love reading stories that deal with it. So many posibilities! Your book sounds excellent, good luck querying. :)
katharine owens says
I am going to have to check out Elementary– I keep hearing good things about it. :0) Aaaah, I LOVE TKAM. What a great book. And the movie with Gregory Peck is awesome.
EMaree says
A few people have mentioned the movie! I’m definitely going to have to check it out, I hadn’t heard about it until now.
Roan Weterings says
Hey Emma, it’s me again! Sorry I didn’t check in for so long! It’s been insanely busy with projects and homework and more weird stuff that kept me so occupied I was barely able to access internet…
I feel your pain on the food poisoning part, I’ve had that twice or thrice the past two years…
I don’t have a blog, but because I’ve been gone for so long I’ll do a small similar thing to your what’s up Wednesday so you’re up to date again.
For starters, my optician was shocked to hear I didn’t have a backup pair of glasses besides my contacts (my mom thought of it as useless…) so I had to get a new pair. It’s pretty funny to wear glasses again actually, everything gets distorted and when I walk it all looks weirder and kinda wibbly wobbly…
This year I’ll be going on a holiday to Scotland the 29th, 30th and 31st weeks of this year with my parents and my best friend. We’ll be staying near Fraserbugh for two weeks, and one week near Inverary, are there some things you could recommend we should go see?
Roan.