WHAT'S UP WEDNESDAY is hosted by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk. Check out their pages to learn more about it and the other meme participants! 

What I'm Reading
I am SO exited about this one. I think, thanks to a conference I attended this past weekend, that I'm getting out of my reading slump. 

The Arrested Development gif is for you, my dear #teamdangerzone. 

Anyway. This. Feeling like I am finally getting back to reading and it's fabulous.
What is getting me out of this slump?

Mostly, this beauty up here. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. It's fresh, unique, and I'm really enjoying the banter and the relationships/friendships so far. I've been reading contemporary lately, and, honestly, I'm ready to get back to my fantasy roots. 
I've also started NightWalker by Jocelynn Drake, and am enjoying that too. I'm not big on vampire fiction right now, but I'm enjoying the writing, the plotting, and am reading it not only for enjoyment but also paying attention to how Ms. Drake does her wonderful world building with minimal info dumping. 

What I'm Writing
I'll explain more in the next section, but I started the week writing my NA contemporary, and finished it doing my YA fantasy revisions. 

What Works For Me.
Not outlining. 
Yeah, I know. You read that right. 
Last week, I was having a heck of a time with one of my contemporary projects. Partly because I'm on a tight time-frame with it,  and a little bit because what I was writing didn't feel right, so I attempted to outline.
And attempted more. And more. And pulled my hair out. 
And then, I did this thing where I said enough, stopped trying to outline, and left it alone for a day. When I went back to this project, I just started writing. And bam. 
I was reminded that I need to throw my OCD out the window for first drafts, accept that I'm a panster, and go with it.  Things came together, I figured out this character, solidified where the story was going, and some other story things--and it all came from ignoring my outline attempts and just writing. 
And then, after this magical hells yeah moment, the project felt-finally-really on its way.

Then came this SCWBI conference I attended, and, well, I'm ending the week with a totally different plan than I had started it with.
I'm going to focus on my fantasy rewrite for the next few weeks, even though the contemporary started to make progress. There's lots of reasons for this, but my gut (not my logic- my logic is telling me to get the other novel done stat) is telling me this is the right move, at least for now.
The conference did wonders. Talking writing, the publishing business, and books with one of my favorite literary agents and some wonderful, passionate editors was very rejuvenating.  It's also where my current reading list came from. 

What Else I've Been Up To
The conference, as indicated above.  Day job, possible sinus infection, getting punched in the face, trying to punch someone else in the face. Pretty much, the usual. Still trying to settle in at the new gym, and still waiting for Beth to be back on The Walking Dead. 

What about you???

Last week, I started this thing called #FierceFriday. Pretty much, I'll be sharing Fierce related things on Fridays (excerpts, snippets, pictures/images, whatever else I find interesting that relates to the book), and even some sneak peaks at the next Whatever It Takes Novel. 

Last week, I shared a boxing excerpt. 
One thing about Fierce (and I've heard this from readers as well) is that it is serious and dark and suspenseful at times, funny and sweet at others. 
I figured I'll share a hint of both the darker and the lighter sides of Fierce today. The funny stuff, well, you'll have to check out the book for that :) 
Just to give you a little context, the second snippet is when Tori, our leading lady, gets a surprise visit from her mother. 

Here's you #FierceFriday teaser...

***
"You want to be one of the boys? Think you're tough because you got a few hits in sparring?"


***

The voice boomed through the gym, slicing through the air sharper than Shane's punch had a moment before when it had landed against my head.

For the first time in my life, I hoped I had an instant concussion and the shrill, screaming voice was my brain swelling.

***


To Learn more About Fierce, check out the webpage. 
Read a sample on Amazon. 

What I'm Reading
I've been reading samples on my kindle of lots of books, trying to find one that really sucks me in. You guys gave me a few suggestions last week that I still need to look into. Nothing has really gotten my attention yet. I do have some books I'm going to be ordering soon since I can't get them in my local bookstores and I want the actual print copies (books by Lillith St. Crow, Nova Ren Suma, Anne Bishop).

What I'm Writing
I'm trying to work on Shane's book (the next Whatever It Takes novel). I'll be honest--this week was rough when it came to making any progress on it. I had planned on really working my butt off this weekend, and I tried. Really. I tried big time, but I couldn't seem to get anywhere. Something was off, and it totally screwed my word productivity. I spent time researching and came up blank with info I needed. Finally (at bedtime, before the week of my day job started, of course) I figured out the problem. 
My fantasy revision is calling to me like no other, but I need to get this contemporary done first. 

What Works For Me
I'm not sure, since nothing really worked until I had turned everything off and walked away from my office. I didn't keep up with my chapter to-do list/check-off as much as I had hoped, since most of my writing time is during the weekends.

What Else I've Been Up To
I've started a #FierceFriday blog post routine. On Fridays, I'll be sharing a snippet or excerpt from my novel Fierce (or something related to the book like pictures etc). You can check out the first one here, if you want. It's a gym scene snippet. 
I'm trying to settle into my new gym. I miss my old training partners/gym friends, but I am also happy with the new gym, although it's taking me longer to settle in than my last gym. Fight gyms have interesting dynamics, especially when you start one.
If anything, it's kind of reminded me of previous experiences, and helped motivate me for some of Shane's book things.   

Have a great week, everyone!

I look forward to reading your posts, but I am working all day so I won't get to leave comments until this evening.

Happy Friday! I'm going to start doing #FierceFriday--so, on Fridays (it may be every other), I'll be sharing Fierce related things, and sometimes updates on the next Whatever It Takes novel (Shane!). For those of you who don't know, Fierce is my contemporary sports romance novel that released in August. 

Here's the first #FierceFriday excerpt!

And, here is your #FighterFriday picture. :) 

All shares are appreciated!!!

To Learn more About Fierce, check out the webpage. 
Read a sample on Amazon. 

Hi guys! Sorry for the coding issues in this post- I won't be able to fix it until after work, sorry!

What I am reading.

I cannot believe I'm saying this...but nothing this week. It's been a busy week, and when I had free time, writing was my priority. I'm also kind of in a reading slump...so, suggestions are welcome! I haven't finished the past few contemporaries I've picked up, and I have not found any fantasy (my favorite) that's really knocked my socks off lately. That being said, I do have a few books in my TBR pile but I'm waiting to get them in paperback verse ebook. 

What I am writing. 
I have been working on my YA fantasy and my NA contemporary (the next novel for the Whatever It Takes Series). I also worked a little bit on my novella, but decided to set that aside for now. 
The YA is a "revision", but it's pretty much a rewrite. 

What works for me.
I am a by-the-seats-of-my-pants writer. A friend introduced me to the term discovery writer, and I love it. I'm OCD and a planner in every other aspect of my life (big time), but when it comes to writing, I just can't do it. 
While this isn't usually an issue, I'm kind of on some deadlines, so I've felt a little overwhelmed. Sometimes, since I'm a panster, that first draft takes some time, and then I know will require big edits, usually in regards to structure and pacing. Since I want two books done in a short time frame, it's a little daunting, especially when there are only a few days a week when I can write. 
To handle this, I've made an "outline". I say "outline" very broadly because I'm not outlining the book, I've just created a document (in a notebook, on paper) that looks like this:
-chapter one
-chapter two
-chapter three
and so on. I have a few areas marked just to help keep me on track with structure. No, I don't know what will happen at that specific turning point, but it helps me just by knowing 'something' should happen there. Pretty much, I made a plan as far as word count goes (overall goal, and broke it up per chapter), and am hoping that seeing it as a sort of to-do list may actually alleviate some of my apprehension by marking those chapters off as a complete them. I'm also attempting to go at this project with chapter goals versus word count goals, because telling myself "I need to write one chapter after work" is less frenzy-inducing than "I need to write 2000 words after spending nine plus hours on the computer at work." I'm trying to squeeze these in on my non-gym days, since I have a little of time after work, but I'm not sure how it will work yet. 
For the "revision" (I like quotations today, apparently), I've made myself a similar outline but it also has some more structural info in it, so that I know around chapter x I need to be hitting my first turning point etc. I'm hoping it will speed the process up a bit, and since it's a rewrite I won't have such huge edits, even though I am making drastic plot changes. 



What else I've been up to. 
I'm trying a new fight gym, which is seriously a process that makes me a nutcase. I feel like I don't know what to expect when I walk into a new gym. I've had good experiences and bad experiences, and you never know what you'll get.  I'm also really close to my gymmates, so not working with them is going to be rough. 
What else...It actually has felt like fall the past few days, but we've had some beautiful (and some not so beautiful) weather, and my horse and I have gotten to take advantage of a few of those beautiful days.

Look forward to catching up with everyone! Just FYI, I'll be trying to get around to all the posts, but due to my work schedule today, it may be kind of late.

Happy writing and reading!

I missed last week, but I'm back with a What's Up Wednesday post. 

WHAT'S UP WEDNESDAY is hosted by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk. Check out their pages to learn more about it and the other meme participants!


What I'm reading.

I started Outlander (book one), and read a few samples of other books. I've been holding off ordering a few books I want because I want the paperback edition. 


What works for me.
Family time. Nature. Unplugging. Exercise.
I know, that seems weird since it's writing related, but all of the above helped me get some words down. I spent the better part of last week on my computer for like 14 hours every day working for the day job and on formatting, and this past weekend I unplugged and did some mini vacationing. Hiking, bon fires, beautiful scenery...it all helped me make progress.

Making a decision. In my last WUW post, I talked about trying to balance...four? projects. I knew that wasn't working, and so I've figured out that for now I'm focusing on two. I was feeling guilty, because there are two projects that I *should* be putting my energy toward (they are part of the Whatever It Takes series), but my head has been in my fantasy revision (revision is putting it lightly; it's pretty much a total rewrite). So, the deal I made with myself is to work on one of the Whatever It Takes projects (this one is a  novella) while finishing up the rewrite. Since I've made that decision, I've gotten more work done on both versus sitting there deciding what to do. I just got so rejuvenated and inspired for the fantasy project this weekend that I had to get it on paper.

Also, pen and paper. I used these when I unplugged, and it definitely helped me get back into one of the projects. 


What else I've been up to. 
Pretty much everything above. The blog tour finished, and I had a lot of fun with it. You can check out the links if you'd like here. There are videos, teasers, playlists, interesting interviews, reviews etc. I also updated Fierce (hence all that formatting), so to celebrate, it's on sale for 0.99 cents for a few more days (amazon link).


Oh, and NA Alley relaunched. I co-founded NA Alley a few years ago, and I'm super excited to see what this relaunch will bring!

I've also found Outlander (the show, and I just started the book). I'm in love. My grandma would have loved the show (I have shelves full of her Scottish romance novels), and not only do I enjoy the story (and certain actors...), I also like how it reminds me of her, as though we can have another link even though she isn't here. 

Look forward to catching up with everyone! Just FYI, I'll be trying to get around to all the posts, but due to my work schedule today, it may be kind of late.

Happy writing and reading!