Wednesday, February 19, 2014

What's Up Wednesday? PROGRESS. That's what's up!

Last week's What's Up Wednesday was suuuuuuper boring because I was caught in a HUGE motivation slump. I'm still working my way back from that, but my school to-do list has gotten so overwhelming that it's whipped me back into shape. I apparently work well under pressure! Here goes!

What I'm Reading
I finished Jonathan Franzen's THE CORRECTIONS on Saturday. It's one of the 5 books I picked for my Chunkster Challenge, so I might post a little review of it later. Now I've moved onto a collection of travel essays by Annie Dillard called TEACHING A STONE TO TALK. Not loving it so far, but I have to read it for class. I'm about halfway through, so at least it's going fast. I also started a new book for fun, a book I always see in the stores and pick it up every time but never buy, so my mom bought me the entire series for my birthday...THE MAZE RUNNER!!!! I've heard mixed reviews about this book but I'm 60 pages in and liking it so far. 

What I'm Writing
I'm trying to keep up with a bunch of small assignments (100 word writing exercises, things like that), so I'm in between big writing projects. I have to write a critical essay on THE CORRECTIONS (ugh), so that's one of my top priorities, but I'll also be revising an essay about food poisoning (also ugh). Sooooo there's that. I've also been putting off revisions of a story AND writing two others. A few of my classes got cancelled for the last week of February, so I'm hoping to marathon it and get a bunch of writing done then!

What Inspires Me Right Now
Did you know there's an entire group of people on YouTube who vlog about BOOKS??? Apparently everyone knew this but me, but now I'm obsessed! Since I started watching people's BookTube channels, I've ordered 4 books off Amazon because SO MANY PEOPLE talked about them. All I watch are book channels. I've probably spent more time watching them than TV this past week. No shame!

What Else Have I Been Up To?
Not much besides puzzles and BookTube...and I'm okay with that!


How's your week going?

18 comments:

  1. I've heard lots about these YouTube book vloggers and as intrigued as I am, I've been trying to steer clear. I have a feeling those channels will end up being a black hole for me. :-) Have a great week, Kaitlin, and best of luck with all of your writing projects!

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    1. Oh, they're DEFINITELY a black hole. I've barely turned on my TV in a week...all I watch is BookTube vlogs! ;)

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  2. My FirstBorn has been prodding me to read THE MAZE RUNNER since the moment she finished it. Evidently, she rather liked it. :) I won't complain. I prodded her just as badly for feedback on my novel (she was one of my First Readers). ;) So, I gather it's a great book, and one I daresay I'll be reading in the near future too.

    I'm glad you're managing to drag yourself out of the motivation slump. I hope you have a really awesome week, Kaitlin, where you get a load of work done, and you feel the overwhelming buzz that comes with accomplishment and achievement. There are few things more motivating than realizing you can do more than you thought you could. And you can. :)

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    1. I hope you enjoy THE MAZE RUNNER when you get around to reading it. It's a pretty quick read and a cool concept. It had me flipping pages and pages and pages because I wanted to know all the answers!

      Have a great week!

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  3. A couple years ago I discovered YouTube had tutorials for just about everything--hair dye, make-up, fixing random stuff in your house. Amazing!

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    1. I've always been so overwhelmed by how HUGE YouTube is, but now I'm ADDICTED. I check my favorite BookTubers' channels daily...it's becoming a problem!

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  4. I've seen some of the book videos on YouTube, and I've liked some of them. I've also gotten into broadcasters focused on languages, pet mice, and some other stuff.

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  5. I really enjoyed the first two books in the MAZE RUNNER series, though I still have yet to read the third (despite the fact that it has been sitting on my shelf for ages now). Hope you like it! Sounds like you're crazy busy what with all of the assigned reading and writing. Hope you're able to squeeze in some of the fun stuff. :-)

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    1. I really enjoyed THE MAZE RUNNER! I have the rest of the trilogy (my mom got me a boxed set for my birthday), so hopefully I'll get around to reading the other two soon. It's such a cool book concept!

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  6. I think I need to check out book vloggers! I never even thought about it.

    I *loved* the first two Maze Runner books but the third was a real disappointment after two such amazing stories.

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    1. Definitely check them out! There's a ton of different types of videos: book reviews, bookshelf tours, reading habits, reviews of book-to-movie adaptations...I've been sucked down the BookTube rabbit hole for sure!

      I've heard similar things about the third Maze Runner book, but I'm glad you enjoyed the first two!

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  7. Yay for puzzles. I pulled a gigsaw puzzle out of the cloest last weekend too. It felt like a wintery thing to do. I haven't watched many Book Vloggers, but could see myself getting super adicted.

    I hope you have a wonderful week!

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    1. Puzzles and hot chocolate are my FAVORITE combination this winter! :) Hope you've had a great week, too!

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  8. i hated critical essays! I feel for you. Hope you enjoy The Maze Runner, I haven't read it myself but am curious how it is especially with the movie releasing this year. Plus I love that Dylan O'Brian is starring in it, I adore him on Teen Wolf :)

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    1. Oooh, yes, I'd heard a little bit about a movie adaptation...I'll definitely need to look into it now that I've read the book!

      And I would MUCH rather write a creative essay/story than a critical one. SUCH a drag!

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    1. IT IS!!! It's a whole sub-community on YouTube where people talk about their TBR lists, book reviews, and even show their own bookshelves. SO COOL!

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