What's Up Wednesday

Linking up with Jaime and Erin and all you other lovely folks for another edition of What’s Up Wednesday.

 

What I’m Reading

I finally got around to buying and starting READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN. I read an excerpt of it from my school’s “required reading” booklet that they give all the incoming students (as an orientation leader, I had to read it as well so I could discuss it with new students), and it’s been on my list ever since. It’s a memoir about a professor in Tehran who starts a secret “class” out of her living room where she and a few young women read and discuss books that have been banned in Iran. I’m super interested in books about censorship and fighting it (FAHRENHEIT 451, anyone?), and I’m having a good time reading it so far. I’m even underlining my favorite lines, which I started doing with my school books. It makes me feel extra engaged as a reader (translation: recent college graduate who’s having a hard time letting go of academia).
 

What I’m Writing

My WIP has officially hit 15,000 words! I accomplished my RSW goal for the week! It was another great writing weekend that helped me iron out a lot of details and solidify some subplots. My goal for the upcoming week is to hit 19,000 words. This might be a little steep because the second half of my week is full of wedding things (one of my best friends is getting married on Saturday, more below), so maybe I’m setting the bar too high. But why not try?
 

What Inspires Me Right Now

Over the past year or two I’ve developed a habit of shamelessly basing characters off people I know. Like, without even changing their names. I rarely do this with main characters, but supporting characters directly stolen from my life are becoming more frequent. My WIP has several (MANY.) of those, since it is based on my own experiences. The scenes I wrote over the weekend involved the character version of my fifth grade teacher. So I had the urge to look at pictures from fifth grade, and I found one of the two of us from the very end of the school year.

So that picture has been inspiring me lately, along with my memories from elementary and middle school. Middle school is the period of my life I rarely think about, not because I had a traumatic middle school experience, but because nothing super eventful happened. I moved around a lot during elementary school, and high school is when I really found my niche. Middle school was the lull in between. But since my MC is in middle school, I’m forced to think about it (with the help of my brother who, at 19, is 3 years closer to middle school than me). Remembering things like that has been fun and inspiring for me.

 

What Else I’ve Been Up To

-Downloading the deluxe edition of Hunter Hayes’s album.
-Admitting my addiction to Mistresses, the ABC show that’s on right after The Bachelorette. I watched the first episode when it aired because the actress who plays Sun from LOST is on it and I love her, but I didn’t actually think I’d keep watching. Now I’m addicted. Oops. It’s like a beach read, except it’s a TV show, so I don’t have to waste reading time on trashy romance novels. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.
-Exercising during the commercials of Mistresses. Another reason I keep watching. I’m in a habit of doing push-ups during the commercials (because EVERYONE on that show has nice arms), and now I’ve expanded to squats and burpees to keep things interesting. If I stop watching Mistresses, the exercising stops too…so clearly I NEED to keep watching this show. ;)
-Like I mentioned earlier, I’m a bridesmaid in my friend’s wedding this Saturday. I’m also in charge of the bachelorette party, which is TODAY! It’s going to be pretty tame, an afternoon shopping at King of Prussia mall and then a night at the nearby resort/casino. I hope it goes over well, I’ve been planning this in the back of my mind since November. Cross your fingers that the girls have a good time!
-While reminiscing/researching my elementary/middle school days, I found my kindergarten class t-shirt. And it still fits. That says A LOT about how big it was when I got it.

 

How was your Wednesday?