What's Up Wednesday

Welcome to another What's Up Wednesday, hosted by Jaime and Erin! 

What I’m Reading

I finished THE ASSASSIN’S BLADE by Sarah J. Maas…wow. If I wasn’t in complete and total love with the Throne of Glass series before, I definitely am now! I loved each of the prequel novellas individually, but they flow together to make up one larger story and show readers why Celaena is the way she is. I’ll post an in-depth (spoiler-free!) review soon! I also finished FUNNY ONCE by Antonya Nelson, a short story collection I’m reading for class, and thankfully I enjoyed it. I’ve kind of been dragging my feet about school books lately (last semester’s assigned readings weren’t great, and neither are most of the ones for my upcoming summer class), and FUNNY ONCE was a breath of fresh air. I read it on my Kindle, which was fun too!

Currently I’m reading the most breathtaking book called TELL THE WOLVES I’M HOME by Carol Rifka Brunt. OH MY. I’m only 130 pages in, and a permanent ache has set up shop in between my ribs. It’s the story of fourteen year old June who’s favorite uncle, Finn, has just died of AIDS (it’s set in the late 80s when there was a lot of fear and ignorance surrounding AIDS). She’s struggling to deal with his death when a mysterious man (who also knows Finn somehow) shows up and wants to talk to her. The writing is beautiful and moving, and so far I’m just in awe. I wish I had written this book! Full review to come once I finish reading.

What I’m Writing

This spontaneous mother/daughter WiP from the past few weeks has taken over my brain! The working title is TALLYHO, which makes me happy every time I read it. :) Like I said in Monday’s RSW update, almost all the scenes I’ve written so far have food in them. Maaaaybe I’m skipping around and picking the foodie scenes to write first…oh well!

What Inspires Me Right Now

My current read, TELL THE WOLVES I’M HOME. The narrator is fourteen/fifteen throughout the book, an age I love to write my own stories from (and am hoping to do for my grad school thesis). I’m marking favorite lines and pieces to refer back to for my own writing. Trying to enjoy the book and study it at the same time.

What Else Is New

I had a fun and relaxing Fourth of July weekend…I hope you all did too!

First of all, my car PASSED INSPECTION! I was convinced it would fail because the tire pressure light has been on and blinking for months, but either they didn’t see it (it takes 10-15 minutes to come on) or it wasn’t important. THANK GOODNESS!

My family went out to eat twice in one day, which never happens. Mom and I went to breakfast at the Ice House (French toast and home fries, yum!) and when we asked the waitress for more French vanilla coffee creamer (they have a tiny bucket on each table with several different flavors), she brought us a TON! So sweet of her! Then for dinner my parents took me to this other local place called The Pit Stop, where they have delicious fried green beans and steaks that sizzle when the server brings them to the table. (I think almost this entire post has been about food…oops!)

Speaking of food, I think I’ve become food for a mysterious bug in my neighborhood. I have two huge bug bites on my back from my Sunday evening run, and they itch like crazy! My mom thinks a blackfly or horsefly bit me. I also have a new friend named Mr. Raccoon who likes to come up onto our deck and look at me through our sliding glass door and doesn’t run away when I pound on the door to scare him. He also likes to eat our trash. Oh nature, why can’t we just get along?

AND FINALLY, the Harry Potter short story that J.K. Rowling released the other day on Pottermore has turned me back into an eight year old. I know she’s said a billion times that she doesn’t plan on writing more HP books, but there will always be a teeny part of me that hopes. Either way, the short story/Rita Skeeter gossip column was wonderful. I loved being back in the Wizarding World!

Hope everyone who celebrated had a lovely Fourth!