Skip to main content

First Wednesday "What's Up?" in a While

Hey, I remember when I used to do these regularly. WUW is hosted by Jaime Morrow.

What I'm reading

Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones is everything I hoped it would be. :) I am also reading various academic sources I need for my senior project. Next up on my TBR is, well...this post should explain it. I'm doing the #AtoZChallenge in April, but with book reviews. Which means I have 26 books to read between now and then. I still need some recommendations, so please feel free to drop off a book on that post!

Also, CP's, I swear I have not forgotten you. I am working on your stuff. Very slowly. But it is happening. 

What I'm writing

Contracted got another 1k added to it last week. I have had almost no time to work on my non-college, non-work writing. Part of the problem is that now that there's no immediate threat to my MCs, it's harder to write. Faster-paced sections are always easier. 

The Book is coming along well in re-writes. I am lazily not writing a transition section. I just want this transition and introduction of these characters to be perfect. Because once the MC meets these people, it's like a point of no return. And then I'll have to be really, really mean to him from then onwards. I have a soft spot for this guy, for some reason. I have never had any problem being absolutely tyrannical towards my other characters, protagonists or not.

Meanwhile, I've done all manner of useful worldbuilding and even outlined a Shiny New Idea for future reference.

What else I'm doing

Not sleeping. I didn't pull an all-nighter. I literally could not sleep on Sunday or Monday night. When I heard the church bells chime 7am and my roommate started getting up and getting ready for class, I was like "f*** it" and got up to go to breakfast. Just in case you're wondering, that's the worst f/ing feeling in the world. It is the WORST. Whenever anyone jokes that they wish they had insomnia because sleep is useless/they could get so much work done, I really just want to send them to sleep. Right then. With an extremely powerful slap.


Anyway, I went to bed around 4:45 this morning and fell asleep around 5 or 5:30. I've had insomnia and delayed sleep phase for years, but usually I have small bouts on occasion, not three f/ing days' worth of mostly-sleepless nights.


What inspires me right now

The play I'm concentrating on for my senior project, 12 Ophelias. It's a really good play. It's just...really good. It's weird and unrealistic, but it's awesome. The language is really beautiful, and the plotting is simple yet genius.

Comments

  1. Hope your insomnia goes away soon. You're right - people who wish they had it clearly never have.

    Contracted sounds exciting. I like to write the faster paced stuff, too. In fact, I have trouble slowing plots down ^^;

    Have a great week!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks :)

      I am generally not the best at writing transitions (usually the slower-paced portions). Right now my problem is that the character I am currently following is stuck in prison. There's literally nowhere for her to go, haha.

      Have a good week!

      Delete
  2. I slept like garbage on Saturday night and it was so infuriating. I can't even begin to imagine how terrible that would be on a regular basis. I'm so sorry you have to deal with that. :(

    As for the A to Z Challenge, a review a day is a great idea! I'm doing the TBR Pile Challenge this year, so I could probably fill an A to Z list of books I still need to read. A review a day would be a bit much for me though lol. Such a cool idea, though!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bleh, insomnia is a pain. I would get medication for it, but it does wacky stuff to my dreams and I always wake up like, "...wha'?"

      The TBR Pile Challenge sounds daunting! But fun. :) This for me is about forcing myself to write more reviews. Also getting myself to read more. Good luck on your own challege!

      Delete
  3. I am ashamed to admit that I am one of the people who had dreamed (uggh, sorry, the puns...I'm reading a lot of Shakespeare right now, okay?) of having insomnia because of my bad relationship with sleep and time-management. Thank you for crushing my stupidity gently. I sincerely hope that gets better for you. Also, I haven't read Fire and Hemlock. *adds to TBR list*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha, that was a good pun. :) I don't realllllly mind it all that badly. It's one thing to wish you could stay up longer, vs. the people who act like they are sincerely jealous of a health problem and that I should be "grateful" for it or something...

      Fire and Hemlock is great! I love it. :) I'm going to finish it this weekend.

      Delete
  4. I'm on the other end of insomnia, too - this winter weather makes me want to sleep all day. But I won't complain!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Understandable! Being tired all the time sucks no matter how it happens. :) Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Comments make me happy, so leave lots! :) I will usually reply to each one, so click Notify Me to read my replies.

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Hemlock Grove, ep. 1 and 2

Hello! I'm back from my blogging hiatus. I've been on a horror kick lately, and most recently, I watched the first two episodes of Netflix's Hemlock Grove. I'm a bit late to this series, but for what it's worth, here's my review. I have some...issues.  Pacing It's based on a novel, and you can tell. Once the show introduces something that might be interesting or lead to tension and conflict, it snatches it away like a precious plot-gem that it doesn't want you to see. There is way too much exposition and filler. The plot hangs together pretty well, but not much really happens. Case in point, it should not have taken two whole episodes to find out Main Character is a werewolf. Especially since everyone seems clued into this fact and accepts it as truth -- except the viewers. Then suddenly Rich Boy is asking if he can watch the transformation like it's understood that Poor Kid Main Character is a werewolf. No warning, no lead-up, nothing.

Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow by Faïza Guène, a YA Book By A Young Author

Review time! Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow is a young adult novel by a young adult, so I was very interested to read it. There's also a #MuslimShelfSpace tag going around, and this review is a nod to that. The idea is that there's been a lot of stereotypes and anti-Muslim sentiment spread around, so buying and boosting books about and by Muslims can help educate people and break down harmful stereotypes.  The author is French with an Algerian background, and  Guène  wrote Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow when she was in her late teens. Although the novel is not autobiographical, she shares many things with its main character. Doria, like her creator, is the child of immigrants and lives in poor suburban housing projects.   Guène   wrote that she realized girls like herself weren't really represented in books, and felt that Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow was a way to tell the stories of people in the suburbs who are ignored by the elites of French literature. Plot: Life Sucks, Until It Doesn

King Arthur Sucks.

I wrote a review of The Greenstone Grail by Amanda Hemingway , in which I applauded the book for being the first Arthurian adaptation I had read that I didn't despise. I mean, how could I? Despite the book's other problems, it had aliens riding motherfucking dragons!!! Aliens! Dragons! Parallel universes!  After reading my review, one of my friends asked me why I hate Arthurian legend so much.  Well.  Perhaps one of the reasons I liked The Greenstone Grail 's take on the Holy Grail myth was because it was so different.  Most Arthurian adaptations fall along the same lines. It's the same damn story told almost the same damn way all the time. But  The Greenstone Grail took place in modern times, borrowing from the Holy Grail and Arthurian myths without making it so central to the plot that there was no room for other stuff like imagination.  Say whatever else you want about this book ( and believe me, I did ), it had imagination. Its main character can dimension-