Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Hello again, Wednesday!

First of all, today is the birthday of two of my favorite people (one real, one fictional): J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter! I'm writing a separate post about that, but of course I had to mention it here too.

Linking up with Jaime and Erin for another edition of What’s Up Wednesday!

 

What I’m Reading
I finished THIS LULLABY by Sarah Dessen (SO GOOD! I’m glad I waited until now to read it. I don’t think I would’ve fully understood Remy when I was younger), and now I’m working on THE PARTICULAR SADNESS OF LEMON CAKE by Aimee Bender. My WIP is written in a similar way (first person past tense with a child/preteen narrator), so I’m hoping I can learn a few things from it. I’m also still plugging away at ANNA KARENINA. I’m almost exactly halfway through now, which is exciting. Even though it’s taken me so long, I really do love the book and it's worth the time spent!

What I’m Writing
Thanks to the YA Buccaneers and their word sprint, I hit 28K pretty quickly. I’ve been on a roll lately (hitting all the fun and dramatic scenes in my WIP definitely helps!), and I wound up surpassing my goal and reaching 31K! I’m hoping to get a lot of writing done today and tomorrow because this next week is busy. People are visiting and I’m driving to Pittsburgh on Tuesday for my job training, so I’ll be there Tues-Thurs. I’ll have a whole hotel room to myself, though, so maybe I can knock out a bunch of words Tuesday night? I’m setting my goal for the upcoming week at 34K, but hopefully I can surpass it.

What Inspires Me Right Now
As I’ve said about twenty times on this blog…wordsprintswordsprintswordsprints! I had such a productive writing session during the last one, and I’m hoping to keep it up.

What Else Is New
-I spent the weekend with my best friend from college! We’re both super laid back people, and we
hung out and watched TV and chatted most of the time (She got me addicted to Whodunnit, the murder mystery show on ABC. It’s so bad…and yet, so fun). And she gave me a pair of earrings she and our other friend picked out for me during their summer study abroad trip to Prague! They're garnets, which Prague is famous for (it also happens to be my birthstone!)

-My dad and I have been fending for ourselves lately. My mom and brother have been visiting my grandma in NY since Wednesday, so we’ve had some…interesting…dinner scenarios. We’ve learned it’s best if we stick to making waffles.
-I’m getting my hair cut tomorrow! I’m constantly changing my hair (even though it’s too short now to really make drastic changes unless I wanted to totally shave it. Which I don’t.) and getting it trimmed up. One of the problems with short hair is it always needs a trim, and if it’s just a tiny bit too long it looks silly and starts sticking out in weird places. So I always get really excited about cutting my hair, to the point where I have a mental countdown and inform anyone who will listen how many days are left on said countdown. (One, in case you were wondering!)
-I finished watching all six seasons of LOST (So. Many. Tears. Way more than the first time I watched), and since evenings have been pretty chill with just me and my dad at home, I've started rewatching Gilmore Girls. My mom and I bond like crazy over this show, and I've decided that I want to be Lorelai when I'm in my thirties (minus the teenage daughter part). I'm already caffeinated enough! I'm currently a Rory (type A, obsessed with books and school, trying to give off some semblance of normalcy even though I'm weird), so it seems like the evolution to Lorelai is only a matter of time.

 

How’s your Wednesday? I hope it’s wonderful!
 
 
 
 
 
Bonus picture: My dad makes fun of Gilmore Girls, but I totally caught him watching!
 

32 comments:

  1. 31K is AWESOME! Yay! Sounds like Bowie's been going on a lot of adventures lately! :)

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    1. Oh, she's keeping me busy, that's for sure! ;) I'm just hoping I can keep up with her when I get out to grad school. Going to try and create a real writing schedule once I know my daily routine!

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  2. Hey, at least you have a kitchen to work with, in spite of having those unusual dinners! I'm still without a stove or even a sink because my Orthodox roommate didn't get her business in order before we moved in. I just don't get how someone could think you only look into koshering a kitchen AFTER you move, instead of arranging and researching it in advance. This is so frustrating.

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    1. Awww, I hope things get resolved soon! Living without a kitchen is hard. You don't realize how much you take things like a stove for granted until you live in a college dorm and don't have access to one!

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  3. Good for you on your writing progress! And one of these weeks I'm going to do a word sprint - my Wednesday schedule does not always allow for this - but soon!

    Also, must get my eyes on LOST. I plan on indulging in the fall. I watched bits of the first season and just really want to see the whole thing.

    Hope you have a wonderful week!

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    1. Thanks Alison! Word sprints are my new favorite thing! I need pre-scheduled writing time in order to be disciplined and productive with writing. I hope you can do one soon!

      Hooray for LOST! I realized it's easier to understand and remember all the details when you watch the seasons back to back. I originally watched it when it aired on TV, and it was hard to keep the twists and turns straight because of the time between episodes and seasons.

      Good luck with your writing goals this week!

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  4. Hahahahahha at your Dad watching Gilmore Girls! YES! The best! :)

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    1. He always teases me and my mom about "that show where those girls talk too much," and now I have proof he watched it! Never deleting this picture!

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  5. I just watched Gilmore Girls for the first time a year ago--I actually started because Sam from Supernatural is in it, and I'd always meant to watch the show but yeah, too many TV/Books/music to be into. My husband also made fun of it ("they all talk the same!") but would occassionally watch it with me. I do have to say, the "they all talk the same" was cool with me until the spin-off episode with Jess in California where they tried to give him his own show, and THEY all spoke exactly like everyone in Stars Hollow. I was like, NOPE. Sorry. Maybe that's why the other show never took off.

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    1. I'm a Supernatural fan, too! Kind of the reverse of your situation, though, I watched Gilmore Girls first and was like, "Look, it's Dean fighting monsters! Wait...his brother's name is Dean now?" :p

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  6. Congrats on surpassing your writng goals. It's great when you find a method that works well for you, and it sounds like word sprints are your key. Good luck keeping the momentum going.

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    1. Thank Kate! I've been trying to figure out for AGES what works best for me, routine-wise, and while I'm not sure I can rely solely on word sprints, they definitely give my word count a boost!

      Good luck with your writing goals for the week!

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  7. Ha! Love the bonus picture. :P All this Gilmore Girls talk is making me want to bust out my DVDs again. I'm long overdue for a re-watch, and since my current WIP has a small town that I'm hoping to give a Stars Hollow feel, I can consider it research. :-)

    THIS LULLABY is on my shelf unread. I think I need to remedy that. Or would that be Remy-dy that. (*snort*) I'm so happy you're getting a lot out of the YAB word sprints. I don't do so well mixing social media and writing, but I know so many people find it most helpful to their writing. Keep it up! You're doing awesome. :)

    Have a great week, Kaitlin!

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    1. Sarah Dessen character name puns! You just made me giggle. :)

      Gilmore Girls can absolutely be research...I vote you do it! And I totally get what you mean about not mixing writing with social media. Sometimes (more like 75% of the time) I get WAY distracted by Facebook and Twitter. The word sprint was nice for me because I had a "go go go...I've only got one hour! OMG!" mindset, so I stayed away from Twitter for that little chunk of time.

      Have a great week too, Jaime! :)

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  8. Great job with your writing, that's wonderful! I love the bonus picture that's exactly how my parents are, I'll talk to them about a show and they'll make fun of it then I'll catch them watching it. I've never watched gilmore girls though, just episodes, not regularly but it's on my list of great shows I need to actually watch.

    Best of luck on your writing for this week!

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    1. I highly recommend Gilmore Girls! And my parents do that with a ton of my shows, especially my dad. But my dad really isn't picky with what he watches, so sometimes he'll just sit down while I'm watching a show and he'll watch for two or three hours with me.

      Good luck with your writing goals this week, too!

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  9. Congratulations on hitting 31k! That's amazing. Your friends sounds like a lovely person too. Hooray for hanging out! Enjoy your haircut too. I can't wait to get mine hacked off at the end of the year. I can nearly sit on it now. As soon as my brother's wedding is over, it's going!

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    1. WOW your hair is long! The longest my hair has ever been is a few inches past my shoulders...I can't imagine being able to sit on it. You must have a ton of patience to deal with it! :)

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  10. OMG. Another fellow Gilmore Girls fan!!! HELLO! I rewatch them on a regular basis. :)

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    1. Hello there! :) I'm constantly catching random episodes on ABC Family, but I always see them out of order, so I decided to rewatch from beginning to end, which I haven't done in years! But it makes me even more depressed that I don't live in Stars Hollow!

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  11. Congrats on hitting 31k and good luck with your goals. I desperately want to watch every season of Gilmore Girls, but it's not on Netflix and I don't have the time. Thanks for sharing. :D

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    1. Thanks so much! I'm sure once I'm back at school my DVD watching time will be severely cut down, so I'm enjoying being lazy as much as possible for the next few weeks!

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  12. Congrats on the word count progress, Kaitlin!

    Has your dad yet accused you of photoshopping a picture of him watching football? ;)

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    1. Haha not yet! Though I'm waiting for the moment he gets a hold of my phone and goes on a deleting spree. :p

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  13. Congratulations in hitting 31k - amazing!

    I absolutely love Gilmore Girls! Especially Lorali

    Happy Birthday to Harry :)

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    1. I love Lorelai, too! :) I only wish I knew as many pop culture references as she does.

      Good luck with your writing this week, Alexa!

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  14. Congrats on hitting 31K!! That is fantastic! The YA Buccaneers Word Sprints really helped me kick my butt into gear with my WIP too. Helps to know you have to confess you productivity (or lack thereof) to somebody at the end. :)

    And the garnet earrings are lovely!

    Hope you have a great week and have fun getting your haircut tomorrow. :)

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    1. Absolutely! I know I need to get a decent word count because I'll have to post it on Twitter at the end...it's perfect motivation.

      Hope you have a great week, too! :)

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  15. This Lullaby is my favorite Sarah Dessen book. I read it in HS and it reminded me of me and my group of friends. Awesome job on hitting 31k! That's really incredible.

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    1. I really enjoyed This Lullaby, too! Remy is a bit of a different narrator than the ones Sarah had written up to that point (and most of the narrators since), and I think that's why I like her so much. Gotta love her attitude! :)

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  16. First of all, congratulations on hitting the 31k mark! That's amazing! Also, your new earrings are so pretty. I totally hear you on the short hair issues. I love the convenience of short hairdos, but like you say, they take a lot of trimming. I've been in the process of growing mine out again for a while now, and almost guaranteed once I get it to the length I want it, I'll turn around and hack it off again lol.

    I feel so nostalgic for Gilmore Girls and Stars Hollow now! Have fun with writing this week!

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    1. Haha, I totally understand about switching hairstyles as soon as you get it the way you want it. Every time I go to get my haircut, I think I need to do something drastically different. Which is kind of hard when you have short hair...it limits your options!

      Have a great writing week, Erin! :)

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