Ready Set Write - Week 8

Ready Set Write is a summer writing intensive that provides an opportunity for us to cheer each other on wherever we’re at in our writing—planning, drafting, or revising. This year, your RSW hosts are Alison Miller, Katy Upperman, Erin Funk, Elodie Nowodazkij, and Jaime Morrow. Join us by posting your updated goals on your blog, and linking up with the widget on any of the hosts' blogs posted every Monday morning.

1. How I did on last week’s goals: 

• Write 5K words. I'm super excited to start my new summer project! √ I wrote >7K.
• Hit the gym 4x. HAHAHA--turns away embarrassed.
• Attend 2 yoga classes. Only one, but it was my favorite class on Sunday night.
• Read Sarah Dessen's Saint Anything (I started over the weekend and it's sooo good). √ Plus I crushed two other books!

2. My goal(s) for this week:

• I want to keep the words a-flowing, so I'll aim for another 5-7K.
• Hit the gym 3x (that seems to be my sweet spot).
• Read 1 book--The Poisonwood Bible is on deck.

3. A favorite line from my story OR one word/phrase that sums up what I wrote/revised: Right now I'm just outlining and drafting, but I can tell you that so far, this story is...

4. The biggest challenge I faced this week: Balancing other things--like friends and family and my gym schedule. I'm going to focus on evening it back out this week and setting more designated chunks of time aside to write.

5. Something I love about my WiP: that it's super weird and crazy and fun.

Top 5 Beach Reads - July 2015

The beach has always been my number-one, favorite place to read. I've never gone on vacation without an armload of books. While I was packing for a quick day trip to the Shore last week, I thought about what made a great beach read. It doesn't have to be a book that takes place at the beach, necessarily.

Here's a Top 5 List for great beach reads for Summer 2015. Let me know what you're reading--especially while you're on vacation!

How to Be a Grown-Up 

by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

These are the authors who wrote one of my favorite contemporaries, The Nanny Diaries, so I was thrilled to see they had a new book out this summer. Rory, a set designer and single mom, takes a job with a start up digital media site led by two twenty-somethings right out of B-school. This book is hilarious in how it points out the absurd job market and how it values experience over technology and functionality. 

If The Nanny Diaries was an eye-opening take on high-power Manhattan moms, How to Be a Grown-Up looks at the women who are still struggling to make the leap into grown-upness well after their thirties. 

Maybe In Another Life 

by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Hannah is also another character struggling to settle and put down roots. Approaching thirty, Hannah moves home to Los Angeles to escape the aftermath of an affair with a married man in New York. On her first night home, she goes out with her best friend Gabby and runs into her old high school boyfriend Ethan. Who does she go home with? The novel splits into two concurrent stories based on Hannah's decision.

This is a great book for anyone who likes to play the What If game. The back-and-forth storyline isn't hard to follow and there are a lot of hints dropped between the two stories to put together a full picture of Hannah's missed opportunities. Plus, Hannah is HILARIOUS. Imagine a less aggressive Amy Shumer.

On the Island 

by Tracey Garvis-Graves

If you're looking for a half-survival story/half-taboo romance, grab On the Island. When their plane goes down in the Indian Ocean, teenager TJ and his summer tutor Anna are stranded on a deserted island. On the Island has plenty of suspense with Anna and TJ falling to illness, injuries, and sharks, but the romantic element is what most people talk about. With TJ maturing and aging into his early 20s, romance blooms between the two characters. It's definitely a guilty pleasure book that will have you turning the pages.

Saint Anything 

by Sarah Dessen

Sarah Dessen will always equal beach read for me, even when the story isn't set in her fictional beach town of Colby. Saint Anything is a darker book for Dessen, but will have the same engrossing cross-over appeal with teens and adults as her other books. When Sydney's brother is sent to jail for drunk driving, her parents put all the focus on him as he serves out his sentence. Sydney continues to feel like the invisible child until she befriends the Chathams, a family who owns a nearby pizza shop. Embraced by a new best friend who is obsessed with french fries and her cute, protective brother, Sydney finally feels seen. 

Second Star 
by Alyssa B. Sheinmel
Interview
In the search for her missing surfer brothers, Wendy Darling is caught up between the somewhat-childish, straight-laced Pete and drug dealer Jas and their turf war for the beach. This is a contemporary Peter Pan retelling with a touch of dark magic set on the California coast. Alyssa B. Sheinmel did a fantastic job capturing the magic and adventure of surf culture, and drew some pretty awesome comparisons between those who don't follow a traditional academic path to college, opting for adventure. In SECOND STAR's case, boys who want to follow the waves so they can catch the biggest ones.

SECOND STAR spins the story of Peter Pan on its ear, with appearances by Belle, Nanna, but leaves the crocodiles at home. Overall, a strong contemporary retelling full of romance, adventure and mystique, and perfect for the beach.

Ready Set Write - Week 7

Ready Set Write is a summer writing intensive that provides an opportunity for us to cheer each other on wherever we’re at in our writing—planning, drafting, or revising. This year, your RSW hosts are Alison Miller, Katy Upperman, Erin Funk, Elodie Nowodazkij, and Jaime Morrow. 

Join us by posting your updated goals on your blog, and linking up with the widget on any of the hosts' blogs posted every Monday morning.

1. How I did on last week’s goals: 

• Finish this revision. I'm ready to turn this puppy in. √ Done! *cheers*
• Hit the gym 4x this week. X - 3X
• Attend 2 yoga classes. √ - 3 classes!
• Read one book. I have The Boleyn Wife and The Poisonwood Bible on my stack--so either one of those. √ I finished the Boleyn Wife

2. My goal(s) for this week:

• Write 5K words. I'm super excited to start my new summer project!
• Hit the gym 4x.
• Attend 2 yoga classes.
• Read Sarah Dessen's Saint Anything (I started over the weekend and it's sooo good).

3. A favorite line from my story OR one word/phrase that sums up what I wrote/revised: Finished! :D

4. The biggest challenge I faced this week: Continuing. There's something about finishing a huge revision or crossing a finish line that makes me want to collapse. For me, that's only going to make it harder to start back up again. I'm a fan of giving myself some breathing space before I dive back in, but not taking an actual "break."

5. Something I love about my WiP: That it's a fresh start. With the manuscript I just finished revising, I'd been working on it for a year and three months. As much as I love the story, I'm ready to go hang out with some new characters.

To the Pancake Story

To all of you out there writing, may we raise a glass and toast to the Pancake Story.

The Pancake Story is an idea that doesn't cook
perfectly, causing writers much frustration.

This story is inside all of us. It's the story that came out half-baked or over-baked, but screwed up. Maybe it's the first one you tried making. Maybe it's the one you burned after the pan got too hot. Maybe it started out okay, but then crumbled half-way through. Maybe it's the one you didn't pay enough attention to because some distraction got in the way. Maybe you're still learning the art of a great flip so both sides cook evenly. 

These are the stories that frustrate us, especially when we have to chuck them in the garbage and start all over. Maybe we feed them to the dog or maybe we pick through it like scavengers, looking for the good pieces. We wonder if we'll ever taste the sweet success of writing a good story ever again. We question everything. We get mad. We give up. We come crawling back.

Pancake stories are inevitable, though. Sometimes we have to get them out of our system. Either way, keep making your pancakes even if they all aren't perfect each and every go-around.

Read Set Write - Week 6

Ready Set Write is a summer writing intensive that provides an opportunity for us to cheer each other on wherever we’re at in our writing—planning, drafting, or revising. This year, your RSW hosts are Alison Miller, Katy Upperman, Erin Funk, Elodie Nowodazkij, and Jaime Morrow. 

Join us by posting your updated goals on your blog, and linking up with the widget on any of the hosts' blogs posted every Monday morning.

1. How I did on last week’s goals: 

• Spend every morning (M-F) working on my revision 9-12. √
• Set aside time every afternoon/evening for more writing time (TBD). √
• Hit the gym 5x this week.  √- 4x, but I'm okay with that.
• Attend 1 yoga class (my first!). √
• Finish reading Bone Gap. √

2. My goal(s) for this week:

• Finish this revision. I'm ready to turn this puppy in.
• Hit the gym 4x this week.
• Attend 2 yoga classes.
• Read one book. I have The Boleyn Wife and The Poisonwood Bible on my stack--so either one of those.

3. A favorite line from my story OR one word/phrase that sums up what I wrote/revised: "Finish line"--this revision is almost there...almost there...almost there. 

4. The biggest challenge I faced this week: No big challenges. I've definitely found a groove and am working pretty steadily. I'm predicting that I'm going to basically stay in yoga clothes all week and eat cereal straight from the box so I can get this revision done.

5. Something I love about my WiP: That each revision makes the story deeper and richer. This is the hardest book I've ever written, but I my plotting skills have gotten tighter and my storytelling has definitely leveled up. 

Ready Set Write - Week 5

Ready Set Write is a summer writing intensive that provides an opportunity for us to cheer each other on wherever we’re at in our writing—planning, drafting, or revising. This year, your RSW hosts are Alison Miller, Katy Upperman, Erin Funk, Elodie Nowodazkij, and Jaime Morrow. 

Join us by posting your updated goals on your blog, and linking up with the widget on any of the hosts' blogs posted every Monday morning.

1. How I did on last week’s goals: One thing this writing intensive is teaching me is how to set attainable goals. I realize I've been setting my goals too broad and not really making as much progress as I want. Soooo....

2. My goal(s) for this week:

• Spend every morning (M-F) working on my revision 9-12.
• Set aside time every afternoon/evening for more writing time (TBD).
• Hit the gym 5x this week.
• Attend 1 yoga class (my first!).
• Finish reading Bone Gap.

3. A favorite line from my story OR one word/phrase that sums up what I wrote/revised: Overall, I've been feeling like my progress is not enough. There's never enough time or I'm feeling spread too thin. I think these new goals are going to help, and I'm excited to see where I am next week.

For Your TBR Pile - Paperweight

Paperweight
By Meg Haston

Published: July 7, HarperTeen

From GoodReads: Seventeen-year-old Stevie is trapped. In her life. In her body. And now in an eating-disorder treatment center on the dusty outskirts of the New Mexico desert.

Her dad has signed her up for sixty days of treatment. But what no one knows is that Stevie doesn't plan to stay that long. There are only twenty-seven days until the anniversary of her brother Josh’s death—the death she caused. And if Stevie gets her way, there are only twenty-seven days until she too will end her life.

Thank you Epic Reads for choosing me to be a part of the Early Readers Group!

My Thoughts:

There have been a lot of great issue books in the market recently, and Paperweight definitely makes the list. What I liked most about this book is how it handles such a serious topic like eating disorders and doesn't shy away from the parts that may be dark and scary.

While a lot of the eating disorder books I've read have focused on the character spiraling in their disease and struggling to seek help, Paperweight shows the recovery process. It was sad and a little fascinating to see the therapy these girls went through and the different struggles they faced both physically and mentally in their recoveries. I also loved that while the challenges they faced were dark (abuse, trauma, pain, death), there were plenty of good moments too, such as the scene where they break into the pool for a midnight dip.

The pacing was tight. The characters were really engaging and felt well-rounded and nuanced. I especially liked Stevie's roommate Ashley and the flashbacks of her brother. However, the only thing that didn't sit quite right with me was the cover design--which is no fault of the author. At first glance, I thought this would be a lighter contemporary along the lines of Sarah Dessen's early books. Once I started reading and was pulled into the story, it went to a much darker place than I had first been expecting.

Recommended for those who enjoy darker issue books such as Wintergirls, Stolen, and Live Through This, and fans of the show Red Band Society.

Currently Reading - July 2015

Happy July! I spent the day with my family in Baltimore. We even saw the fireworks from the boat and I got this awesome shot.

 I hope your summer is full of writing and reading. Here's what I'm up to...

What I'm reading: Right now, I'm reading Bone Gap and listening to An Ember in the Ashes. Both are so good. Especially Ember--the writing is so solid and the plotting is so tight. I'm so excited there was a sequel announced.

What I'm watching: I'm not a huge TV watcher, but summer programming is the absolute best because my two favorite shows come on--American Ninja Warrior and Big Brother!!

This year I'm totally rooting for Meg and drooling over Clay. This show is a huge commitment, but I'm obsessed. My Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights are spent texting BFF Kelly about game strategy.

What I'm stitching: This super cute Mockingjay pin for my cousin. It's really hard keeping all the colors straight, but I think it's coming along really well.

What else I'm up to: revising my manuscript. I'm putting myself on a pretty intense writing schedule for the rest of this summer and I'm excited to dive in.