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, put on by Jamie Morrow and Erin Funk. If you'd like to join click on the links above!

What I'm Reading: 

I got lots of reading done this past week, but I have to say my fave was Letters To Nowhere by Julie Cross. You guys, wow! I love gymnastics, it's my favorite Olympic event EVER, so this book was so interesting and kept my attention. I wanted to know all about elite gymnasts. And the romance. Yeah, swooning! It was real, it was sweet, and I loved every minute of it. Highly recommend. 

What I'm Writing:

It's the last week of Ready. Set. Write. Super sads. Being involved has helped motivate me through the whole summer and then some. I don't know how far I would have come if I hadn't participated. Having said that, I'm so close to being done with this round of revisions and I'm making a goal to be done by next week! Then I'll probably need some beta readers. Crazy how fast this summer has gone!

What Inspires Me Right Now:

Nothing in particular just life in general. Anything that helps me to get off my butt and do something. I do have to say I'm craving fall weather, which is very inspiring for me as a writer. Leaves changing colors, sweaters, and boots seem to get me in the mood to write I guess. That and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

What Else I've Been Up To:

School started yesterday. Both my boys are now officially in school so it's just me and my girls at home by ourselves. Also, my mom is in town and I'm enjoying some delicious home cooked Indian food. I gotta say, it's a good beginning to the school year. I look forward to what is in store for me and my family. Seems to me that times to speed by during the school year, and now that the kids are getting older (and so am I) it's getting even faster. 

What have you been up to?

Changes In Taste: Getting Old

I recently reread an old favorite from high school, a book that I thought was innovative, unique, fun, with a strong female protag, a romance that kept me on the edge of my seat, and a story that made me want to immerse myself in the world. Only, I didn't feel that way about it anymore. While I was reading I couldn't stop getting annoyed by the MC. I thought she was incredibly selfish and full of herself. Now there's nothing wrong with being confident in who you are, Rose Hathaway from The Vampire Academy is one of my favorite characters and she has more than enough confidence in herself, but the protag in this book was almost too confident, in such a way that I had to roll my eyes every now and then. And the romance, well, it was kind of twisted. I remember it making my heart swoon when I was younger, now I think it's a bit creepy and dysfunctional. The writing was still great, but the story had lost it's appeal. I felt old.

Back when I worked at Borders I remember my boss approaching me and asking whether or not I had read Catcher in the Rye. I had not, and I still haven't (hides from all the shoes). I don't really have a desire to ever read it. I have no issues with JD Salinger, in fact I loved, Franny and Zooey, another one of his books. Holden Caulfield's particular story just didn't sound interesting. Anyway, my manager told me she loved it in high school and decided to reread it and found that it did nothing for her anymore. She couldn't figure out whether it was the story itself or just her age, maybe she was beyond the angst and no longer related. Either way, she didn't care for it.

Is there something wrong with you as a person or a reader if you no longer love a book you used to? I don't think so. As we grow and mature (that's debatable) our tastes vary and change, we overcome hardships and trials and maybe, just maybe, we NEEDED those books we loved so much when we were younger (and even now) to help us to survive and understand the world. Yes, they shape us and our views, but that doesn't mean they'll always open our eyes to things we hadn't known before as we get older. The particular book I'm talking about (and, no, I won't tell you the title) helped to open MY reading world to all sorts of other books I might not have given a chance otherwise. So I still love it for opening that door, even if I don't relate to it anymore. And I know this isn't true for every story I've loved from when I was younger. There are plenty that I still enjoy in my old age, just this particular book had lost its luster. Has this ever happened to you as a reader?

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, put on by Jamie Morrow and Erin Funk. If you'd like to join click on the links above!

What I'm Reading:
Currently, The Beautiful and the Cursed by Page Morgan. I'm really enjoying it. And Gargoyles! I was obsessed with the cartoon  when I was younger and have been waiting for a book to come along that would reignite that obsession. I love the historical aspect of the story and the characters are engaging. So far so good.

What I'm Writing

Still revising! I'm actually really happy with where the revisions are taking me. Deleting scenes is hard, but I know my story is better for it. I did revise the first fifty pages. I want to do another twenty by next week. My inciting incident has moved up with the revisions, but I think I still need it to come a bit sooner.

What Inspires Me Right Now:
WriteOn Con! It's my first year participating and I've loved it so far. There's so much great information out there and the agent forums are a time sucking zone because I can't stop reading other queries and 250s and pages. I posted my query letter on there to be critiqued and got such great feedback on it and I'm really happy with where it's at right now. If you're interested, here it is: http://writeoncon.com/forum/showthread.php?11605-YA-Contemporary-Restoring-Casey&highlight=restoring+casey

What Else I've Been Up To:
Gearing up for school to start. I can't believe it. Less than two weeks until both my boys start! It's exciting yet a little bit sad. My 5 yo can't wait to go, he's more than ready, but it also means my babies are getting older and they're getting closer to the point at which they won't think I'm awesome anymore. I can practically hear the slamming doors already.

What have you been up to?

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, put on by Jamie Morrow and Erin Funk. If you'd like to join click on the links above!

What I'm Reading:

Sarah Fine did an excellent job with this urban fantasy. I haven't read a good paranormal/urban fantasy in a while and found this to be a pleasant surprise. I loved her idea of the afterlife. Lela's devotion to Nadia was inspiring and I was rooting for her throughout the entire book. Malachi was a perfect guardian/love interest, I felt their chemistry come off the pages. The glimpses into a person suffering with depression was enlightening. I myself have been lucky to have never experienced such a debilitating disease, but I have friends and loved ones who have and Sarah Fine approached it in a way that was sympathetic and real. There were definitely some creepy moments that made my skin crawl. I'm looking forward to the sequel.

What I'm Writing:

I got my pages done. In fact I got about 25 pages into it. I was really happy with that progress, but want to make sure I didn't miss anything by going through them fairly quickly so my goal for next week is to have 10 more pages done and to back through the other 30 pages I already finished.


What Inspires Me Right Now:
Dreaming. Almost every morning I can remember my dreams and I know I'm really lucky. There are so many inspiring ideas that somehow fall through my messed up mind. It's fun and I love waking up in the morning trying to remember them as I lay there in bed. The only thing that sucks is at times they seem so real that I wake up with my heart beating and sweat poring on my body, and that can be a bit scary.

What Else I've Been Up To:
The hubby and I celebrated our eight year anniversary yesterday! Woohoo! We have family in town with us so they watched the kids while we had a night out. Nothing too exciting, just a delicious meal and a great movie, Pacific Rim. Have you guys seen it? I thought it was a really fun action packed, fun-filled, alien killing adventure. We're going to have a whole day later on this month when his mom comes to stay with us.

What have you been up to?