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???

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.

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!