It’s that time of the week again! Linking up with Jaime and
Erin and all you other lovely folks for What’s Up Wednesday.
What I’m Reading
I finished rereading my favorite Sarah Dessen book, THE
TRUTH ABOUT FOREVER. Now I’m rereading another favorite of mine, LIKE MANDARIN
by the fantastic Kirsten Hubbard. Kirsten has been my writer crush for a LONG time, since before LIKE MANDARIN (her debut novel) was released in 2011. I essentially want to BE her: she's a travel writer AND young adult author. Does it get any better? Grace, the MC, is a little younger than most
of the protagonists I read about, which I figured would help me with my WIP (my
narrator is eleven at the moment and will be thirteen by the book’s end). If
you haven’t read LIKE MANDARIN, definitely pick it up. The writing is stunning,
and the friendship forged by Grace and seventeen-year-old town wild child
Mandarin Ramey is one you won’t soon forget.
What I’m Writing
As I said in Monday’s post, I had HUGE writing success this
week. I owe most of that success to Ready. Set. Write! and the motivation I’ve
surrounded myself with. My goal was 3000 words in a week. I managed to write an
extra 1,665 words for a total weekly word count of 4,655! Thanks to this super
productive week, my WIP, The New World (I posted a blurb and excerpt earlier this week if you're interested), is now past the 10K mark (I have about 11,000 words at
the moment), and I’m feeling more motivated than ever.
Didn’t do as well with my journaling goal, but there’s
always this week! Here are my new goals:
-I’d like to hit 15,000 total words, so that means I have to
write approximately 3,550 words. So that’s an increase from my last goal but
still attainable, I think.
-I actually need to journal this week since I failed at it
last week.
What Inspires Me Right Now
Ready. Set. Write! Surrounding myself with everybody’s
tweets/blog posts about their writing journey gives me even more motivation to
work on my own WIP. Writing is constantly in the back of my mind, even when I’m
just checking Twitter on my phone, so I’m more likely to do it when I spend
lots of time thinking about it.
What Else I’ve Been Up To
-Reading Feminist Taylor Swift’s tweets (@feministtswift). I
feel okay about following the feed because the girl who runs it is a TSwift fan
(I hate Twitter feeds that make fun of people), and a lot of the tweets are
really clever. -Working out with kettlebells and limping into work the following morning.
-Watching lots of LOST with my family and finally recognizing Nathan Fillion on an episode (I found it interesting that he played a cop married to Kate, when on Castle he follows around/is in love with a cop named Kate…nicely done, ABC!).
-Planning my friend's bachelorette party, which is a week from today. It's going to be pretty calm, an afternoon shopping and a night at a casino/hotel. I'm excited and praying everything goes smoothly and the girls have fun!
-Making a trip to Dunkin Donuts with my younger brother.
-Helping said younger brother with his freshman public speaking homework (he’s making his first speech today, one I helped him write, so I’m WAY invested. Send him some good vibes!).
-Reading my friend/fellow writer Shari’s novel draft and loving it!
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| The Bartlett kids at Dunkin! |
How about you?
Congrats on surpassing last week's writing goals, Kaitlin! That's fantastic! You can totally reach this week's goals too. :) I think it's immensely helpful to know that people are cheering you on, and that they're doing something similar. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Jaime! :) It's definitely a big help knowing that other writers are in the same place as me, especially since writing can be SO solitary.
DeleteWHOOHOO for such an awesome writing week! I am so excited for you and know that you'll have just as much success this time around. Can't wait to hear more about Bowie and Caroline's adventures!
ReplyDeleteOooh, and I have to ask -- what is up with that Taylor account? I've seen so many people posting about it recently. What is it, exactly?
Also: so, so happy that you're enjoying the draft! Knowing that makes my whole day! :)
Haha the Feminist Taylor Swift feed is where this girl takes Taylor's lyrics and changes them a little bit to have blatant feminist messages. One of my favorites is: I don't know about you/ but I'm feeling 22 / cents underpaid on the dollar. :p They don't rhyme or anything, but they're still funny. And you can tell the girl is a real TSwift fan because she uses lyrics from some of Taylor's more obscure songs, not just the popular ones that everyone knows.
DeleteAnd I'm LOVING SOT so far!!! I just met Eli...sa-WOON! ;) I adore him already.
Sending your brother good vibes! And yay to writing progress! I also am very inspired and motivated by the twitter love. I hope you have a wonderful writing week!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the good luck vibes for my brother. He said he thinks it went well!
DeleteAnd the Twitter love is just the BEST, isn't it? It's helping me so much! I hope your writing goes well this week, too. :)
I love LOST, was one of my favorites. I've never read Like Mandarin but have heard great things about it. Congrats on your Ready.Set.Write! Goals, that's awesome!
ReplyDeleteI'd forgotten how cool LOST was! And I'm picking up on more little things now that I'm older (when it first came on TV, I was in middle school). I always feel smart when I make connections or figure something out!
DeleteI am loving Feminist Taylor Swift's tweets too! Super clever and fun. :-)
ReplyDeleteI've yet to read LIKE MANDARIN, but WANDERLOVE was one of my favorite reads of 2012. I love Kirsten Hubbard's style and you're right -- travel author AND young adult author? Best jobs ever!
Way to go on all your Ready. Set. Write! progress. I'm with you... It's been so motivating and fun to know that I'm writing with a great bunch of friends this summer. Here's to even more progress in the coming weeks!
LM is fantastic. The relationship aspect is different than WANDERLOVE because there's no love interest. It focuses on Grace and Mandarin's super intense friendship. Plus I have a total crush on its book cover! ;)
DeleteHope you have a great writing week, too!
...Can I have a Dunkin Donut? ^_^ I'm not sure if we still have them in the UK. I tend to go to my local Krispe Kreme for my fix.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on smashing your target! Good luck with next week's too! :D
Oooh Krispe Kreme is EXCELLENT too! I haven't had one of their glazed donuts in forever (I live in a major Dunkin Donuts area) but they're heavenly!
DeleteDonuts...I'm daydreaming now. I can't recall the last donut I gave in and ate. I don't know why, I'm not usually very diet disciplined. I have no doubts, based on what you said here, that you will meet your writing goals this week. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI never used to eat donuts until I started going for coffee at Dunkin Donuts. I'll order my coffee...and the donuts are RIGHT THERE...and they always look so good... :p
DeleteAhhh, kettlebells. Granted, I'll take them over burpies ANY day of the week, but still. Are you in CrossFit?
ReplyDeleteI haven't read LIKE MANDARIN yet, but it's on my TBR list - and I'm looking forward to it. May need to bump that one up now!
And a big congrats on your writing accomplishments this past week! I had been debating on joining RSW, because I've been in this huge writing funk lately...but today, I decided it's the day that all changes - and I've jumped on board. We'll see what happens, but I'm hoping it's just what I need to get my WiP completed (I only have one - ONE - more chapter to go, but can't seem to get it done). Best of luck in surpassing your goals this week, too!
I've never done CrossFit, but I've read a lot about it. It intimidates me for sure, but I'm sure there are a ton of benefits from it! I got into kettlebells through a Jillian Michaels workout DVD but fell away from them for a while. I get them out whenever I need a quick, intense workout. :)
DeleteCongrats on deciding to join RSW! It's done wonders for my motivation in only one week. My twitter feed is overrun by people tweeting about writing, and just surrounding myself with that has helped. Good luck with getting out of your writing funk...we've all been there!
Awesome job on your writing goals this week! I'm so glad Ready. Set. WRITE! is helping motivate you! I'm finding the same thing. I hope week two goes just as well for you!
ReplyDeleteOkay, that's funny about Nathan Fillion and the whole "Kate" connection. I hadn't thought of that. Love the picture of you and your brother. You guys look so much alike!
When LOST first aired on TV, I didn't know Nathan Fillion because Castle hadn't started yet. I thought the connection was hilarious, and I was making Castle jokes throughout the entire episode. ;)
DeleteGood luck with your writing this week, too! RSW has been so great for me so far, and I can't wait to see the goals everyone has completed at the end of the summer.
Like Mandarin has been on my reading list forever. I think I'll pop over to the library website and reserve a copy today. Congratulations on exceeding your weekly writing goal. I hope you have a great (and productive) week.
ReplyDeleteI hope you love LM when you end up reading it! :) It's such a beautiful book. <3
DeleteJealous, we don't have a Dunkin Donuts here, it's sad! We do have a Krispy Kreme and Shipley Do-Nuts. I went and read your excerpt and your blurb of your WIP. It's really good. I would most definitely keep reading. I like how you mentioned 7th Heaven. I remember when we got the WB I was so into that show. Congrats on surpassing your writing goal and good luck in meeting your next!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kind words about the excerpt! And I was ADDICTED to 7th Heaven when I finally discovered it. I was a little late to the game, started watching when season 7 was on the air. But I caught all the reruns on ABC Family. :)
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