What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by my ever-so-lovely YA writer friends, Jaime Morrow and Erin L. Funk. The idea? Well, it's a great opportunity to touch base once a week with all of our blog friends and let them know what's up. Should you wish to join, head on over to Jaime's blog and sign up with the link widget at the bottom of her post!
WHAT I'M READING:
Over the weekend, I finished off SEIGE AND STORM (The Grisha, #2) by Leigh Bardugo - and will say this is one of those rare occasions where I actually loved the sequel perhaps even more than the first book...and the first book was a-mazing! I am completely in love with everything about this book - particularly Sturmhond. Love. Him.
From there, I jumped right in and just finished THIS IS WHAT HAPPY LOOKS LIKE by Jennifer E. Smith (author of STATISTICAL PROBABILITY OF LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT which I adored!) last night and I really enjoyed this great summer read!
Late last night I started in on LOVE AND OTHER PERISHABLE ITEMS by Laura Buzo, which I'm really looking forward to reading from all the great reviews I've seen!
While running, I finished FOREVER TOO FAR by Abbi Glines yesterday - book #3 in the TOO FAR series; it was a great end to a fun series. So I picked right up on DOUBLE CROSSED: A SPIES AND THIEVES STORY by Ally Carter. I'm a huge Ally Carter fan and love all of her books - and I haven't found another author that has had the ability to creatively mold THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR with OCEAN'S ELEVEN - but for teens - quite like Carter can!
WHAT I'M WRITING:
So I'm not fully back in the swing of things, but I finally opened Scrivener Monday evening and started in on some revisions for WHERE THE WATER FALLS. I still have that last chapter to go, but right now, I'm not going to push it - and a few updates to the opening chapter is what I'm working on. So I'll take that.
WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW:
Reading: My yearly reading challenge goal on Goodreads is 50 books for 2013 - the same goal I've had the past two years and have never beat. Last year was close, but I missed it by just a couple. This year? Well, considering it's only June and I'm on my 40th book, I think it's safe to say I'll finally beat my goal - not to mention, I've read some pretty amazing reads this year!
Writerly Friends: I know I've said this one before, but it's so true. So many of you have been oh-so encouraging over these past few weeks that I haven't felt inspired to write. It's definitely been a challenging time and I'm grateful for all of my great writerly friends who tell me to step it up and get going. So thank you.
Also, a BIG hug and congrats to a great writer friend of mine that has some majorly exciting things happening in her life right now. I am so, so, SO happy for her and just want to say what an inspiration she has been. And she deserves all the greatness that's coming her way. All of it. xoxo
Running: Last Thursday was the first time I ran 6 miles in under 60 minutes. Normally I hit the 6 mile marker around 63 minutes - but this time I finished just around 57 minutes. I know that's not Earth-shattering fast - but considering I started out at a 16 minute fast-walk pace and now I'm averaging a 9:45 minute mile, I'll take it. Back in college I ran a 5:50 mile and while I think that's a very ambitious dream, my goal is to at some point get back around 7:45 minutes. Granted, I may need to be drug behind a car, but I hope to get there one day.
WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO:
My husband and I went to see MAN OF STEEL last weekend - and you know what? I have to say I thought it was really well done. Yes, it's a story that's been retold several times over, and I'll always love the original, Christopher Reeves - but man, Henry Cavill did an impressive job. Not to mention, he's just impressive to look at (tell me you don't agree?). And he's British to boot. Um, yum and with an accent??? If you haven't seen this one yet, I highly recommend you catch it in the theaters. It's definitely worth it.
Now all they need to do is remake WONDER WOMAN and I'm so there. Because I rocked those red boots, gold headband / wristbands, and lasso like nothing else when I was little - and I'd almost admit, I'd gladly do it again now.
This coming weekend, we're having dinner with some friends and then we're going to see WORLD WAR Z. After all, I've said it a million times how much a fan of zombies I am - so I'm really looking forward to this one. And well, Brad Pitt, you know...won't be too hard to stare at for a couple of hours.