What's Up Wednesday - Moving On To New Adventures

Time to catch up using Jaime Morrow's awesome meme as the excuse to tell you what I'm reading, what I'm writing, what inspires me and what else I might be up to.

What I'm Reading

Well, late Tuesday night, I turned to my husband, staring over page 167 of The Fantastic Family Whipple and said, "I have to move on." He didn't know what I was talking about, and I could hardly believe what I was saying, but I explained my thoughts. I have a ton of books from BEA that I need to read and review and this particular book is holding me up for reasons I cannot explain. It is not a bad book, but it just hasn't hooked me. The only thing I can think of is that I don't really like the protagonist's family because they are always so hard on him and, considering the book is mostly about them (see title), I am not driven forward. I will come back to this book, that I know, but in the meantime, I have to move one.


So, in other news, I am in audiobook heaven! I have been flying through my review copy of The Cuckoo's Calling, which has been a lot of fun.

Then, this afternoon, I received the digital download of Fire with Fire, the sequel to Burn for Burn - a book I gobbled up on the bus ride home from last year's BEA (my Burn for Burn review)! I am really looking forward to starting that.

Back on the print side of things,after closing the cover on The Fantastic Family Whipple, I went upstairs (I was in Barnes & Noble) and grabbed a copy of City of Bones. Even though I have a ton of ARCs to read and review, I kind of have this problem where I have to read the book before I see the movie. So, one of two things is going to happen here: 1. I will finish the book, or 2. I will not see the movie until it comes on Netflix.

What I'm Writing

Last night I solidly committed to a brand new writing project that scares the hell out of me. I am writing a book for my brother for his Christmas book. Since he is absolutely clueless about my blog (in the sense that I think he knows I blog, but probably has no idea what the name of my blog is), I feel safe writing this here. Here's the idea: I am going to write a book about our father who passed away when I was 12 and my brother was 8. I found out awhile ago that my brother has almost no memories of our father and I always wished there was something I could do about it. The thing is, I was only 12, so my memories are also limited and our mother passed away in 2006. That's where the big scary commitment came in last night. I sent out a huge message to as many family and friends that I had contact info last night explaining my idea and asking them for their memories.   

There's pretty much no turning back now. Too many people know about it and will be asking about it. 

So... what am I writing? A book. That I will have printed by December 25, 2013. All prayers, advice and good vibes are welcomed!

What Inspires Me Right Now

Breaking Bad the TV show. No, I am not kidding. I finally got to watch Sunday's episode Tuesday morning and it blew me away. Sitting back and thinking about what all these characters have been through and how the writer's have gotten me to ROOT FOR A BAD GUY is nothing less than inspiring. 

Also Hawkeye #11 normally I don't really read superhero comic books, but my husband was reading the trade paperback in Barnes and Noble last night and he said, "Wow," out loud. He showed me the last issue in the book (#11) and it was amazing. The entire story was told from the perspective of a dog. Brilliant. 

And, without a doubt, the brief in and outs I have had at WRITEONCON have been inspiring as well. There is just so much to learn and gain from such a giving community. I hope I have some more time today to explore the rest of the stuff I missed on Tuesday!

What Else I'm Up To

Well, I almost exploded from social overload this weekend. We had a white party to go to on Saturday. There are tons of pictures on my Instagram, but here's one to give you the idea (I'm down in front):

Then on Sunday, we had dinner in Brooklyn for my brother's birthday at a delicious restaurant called Prime Meats. (In this shot, I'd be the only female at the table.)

 Besides all that and dog sitting my cousin's pug, I've been cramming in a ton of blogging both here and over at StoryDam. On StoryDam, I've been continuing the Build a Better Blog Challenge for Writers with Writing a List Post for Your Blog, and today I did a review of one of my favorite writing tools of all time, The Writer's Toolbox. Here on Rivera Runs Through It, I shared my tips for getting started reading graphic novels and yesterday I listed my top 10 books that take place in New York.

That's it in a nutshell for me. Hopefully I will have a healthier end of week this week than last (I don't know if you noticed, but I went radio silent again on Thursday and Friday. My barometer brain didn't like the rain, so it gave me pain.)

Now it's your turn...

What's up with you this Wednesday?

Have you ever had to walk away from a book just because you were reading it too slowly?

Any advice on what I am calling my "Memory Project" for my brother's Christmas gift?

Have you ever been to a white party?