What's Up Wednesday #8

(how freaking cute are the new autumn WUW buttons?!?!)

1. WHAT I'M READING
   Yesterday at the library, I picked up THE CATASTROPHIC HISTORY OF YOU AND ME by Jess Rothenberg and I am so excited to get into it. I started the first chapter (artfully titled Don't Your (forget about me) which makes my Breakfast Club-lovely heart purr) and the voice has me already. When I read the cover blurb, I immediately thought of Giselle (and my WIP by extension and I knew I had to read it. I know some people avoid things similar to what they're writing but I actually find it super helpful.
   
2. WHAT I'M WRITING
   I'm still slowly working on the GiselleBook but did I mention it was slow? So I'm writing some new words for G4 too. I got GREAT feedback from by CPs Jenny and Alex so I am all about making this MS the best it can be.
   
3. WHAT WORKS FOR ME*
   Lately, daydreaming has been so productive for me that I don't know if I can actually call it daydreaming. I've been getting an idea - sometimes related to my writing, sometimes not - and just going with it. Those idea journeys have taken me to some interesting places and given me some cool new ideas. I have a new little idea notebook that is just for these musings. It's a bizarre thing to look through but it's kind of cool too.
   
4. WHAT ELSE IS NEW
   I really like grad school, I am drowning in musical drama, I am bizarrely happy with life. Who am I? 

What's Up Wednesday #3

1. WHAT I'M READING
Nothing! I just finished E. Lockhart's The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. I am so in love with Frankie that I can't read anything new just yet. She reminds me so much of the passionate and opinionated girl I was in high school that I actually got into a debate about respect on my work website. I love when a book affects my daily life. <3

2. WHAT I'M WRITING
I'm writing kissy scenes! It started late last week as I drafted my first kiss scene for G4. Now I've revised that one several times and moved on to a few more! I feel terribly inept at them but it's fun nonetheless. Muah!

3. WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW
The weather has me itching to write adventures. I love the transitional seasons of fall and spring. Watching the world change is so breathtaking when you stop to watch. I watched the crocuses (my favorite flower) sprout through the mud and decaying leaves last weekend and I was reminded that we can do anything. I feel both very small and very powerful as I watch the world come back to life after our brutal winter.

4. WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO
I'm continuing my nomadic life with a week long visit to Ohio. That means the boyfriend, job #3, sunshine (and snow), and fun. I might even cut the grass tomorrow! How fantastically mundane :)

Crossroads and Detours

Check the road named after one of the oldest families in Radnor, OH. Look familiar?

On Saturday, I posted over at TGNA about my first year on this writing adventure with my WIP Goodbye Good-Goody Girl. Check it out here: http://www.thegreatnovelingadventure.com/2014/02/lavender-checks-in-2/  And it really has gotten me thinking about writing. My writing, writing as a career, the way writers I know on Twitter talk about writing. 

It is so easy to feel like there is a right and wrong way to do the author thing and at the end of the day that is just not true. Sure, it would be awesome if I was pitched an idea, got a huge advance, and could write full-time before achieving critical acclaim and winning at life. But in today's publishing world that is less and less common and that is ok! It doesn't make me any less of a writer and it makes me writer pals who successfully work full-time/have kids/etc total superheroes. 

So about a year ago I got the idea for G4 and I thought I'd have it finished by the end of Summer 2013 but that didn't happen because I got a job teaching summer enrichment and it ate all my energy. Then I thought I'd have it done my the end of 2013 and somehow the November and December yielded embarrassingly low word counts and lots of frustration so that didn't happen. Now I am in the middle of musical season and choreographing for 3 shows so I'm creatively tapped out. Sure, those sound like excuses and maybe they are, but they are also facts of life. I have been busy in a weird way so I haven't written a lot. But guess what? I love what I have written and I am enjoying the journey, detours and all. 

I am taking the scenic route but I haven't yet felt the need to stop at a crossroads and make a deal with  a demon (sorry I've been binge watching Supernatural with my boyfriend all weekend). I am writing my book, my way, in my time. Everyone should do the same. 

Notes from the Polar Vortex

January has really gotten away from me. I feel like I was sitting on my sister's boyfriend's floor ringing in the New Year just last week when it was really a month ago. I blame it on the winter weather.

Now don't get me wrong, I am a northerner. Not only that, I spent many winters (including this one) in Buffalo, NY. That's right, smack in the middle of the Lake Effect Snow Belt. But let me tell you that this winter has given  me a run for my money.

Since January 2, the first day of school after the Christmas holidays, my district has had SIX snow days and three further days of cancelled after school activities. Being a substitute teacher and school musical choreographer, I pace my life by the school schedule so for much of January I haven't even known what day it is or where I have to be. (As an aside, I am mad stressed about finishing my dance numbers for my March musicals when we NEVER HAVE REHEARSAL!)

Also, it's been COLD. Like negative temperatures with REALLY negative wind chills. Two days this past week, the school was closed despite state testing because it was too cold to have the kids waiting outside for the buses. I might have been referred to as an Ice Queen once or twice in my day but no one likes temperatures that low. Hence, I've spent a lot of time bundled up in blankets, vegging on the couch watching bad day time TV and cuddling with my cats. Solid life choice, if you ask me.

Basically, I've been a slug for a month and I don't know how I feel about it. In some ways, I know I needed a break. Mentally and physically I've been a little off lately. However, I wonder if pushing through it might not have been a better option. Anyway, I have high hopes for February. Which include - much as it pains my Ice Queen heart to say - romantic plans for Valentine's Day and LOTS of musical things both in real life and on the page.

How have you started off 2014?

xoxox,
L.S. Mooney