What's Up Wednesday :: Juniper Blue Edition
WHAT I'M READING
Just wrapped up the RUBY RED Reread and started SAPPHIRE BLUE. Uhhh, I love that book so much. I'm reading Gayle Forman's I WAS HERE and next up is Nick Hornby's FUNNY GIRL, both of which are overdue at the library so were bumped up in priority on the TBR list. Birdy and I finally finished our SORCERER'S STONE read-aloud and last night started CHAMBER OF SECRETS. Hopefully this one doesn't take us a year and a half.
WHAT I'M WRITING
I'm plugging away at the first draft of IF YOU WERE HERE and am really happy with the progress. This has been a lot of fun to write - it's more serious than the last novel I worked on, and it has a very significant musical element. So significant, in fact, that I wrote lyrics to a song and my husband started writing the music for it. He put a band together and they're going to record it for me. Here's a preview:
It's pretty awesome.
My writing goal for the week is to get to 25k on IF YOU WERE HERE - which had been my final Writer Recharge goal. I fell short and hope to get caught up. So just under 9k to get there.
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
We had our annual Dr. Seuss Birthday Celebration on Sunday. This year our theme was a Sneetches Frankfurter Party. Birdy made the cupcakes and both kids decorated them and Toad made Sylvester McMonkey McBean's McMacaroni-n-Cheese.
Winter dumped on us yet again - snow and slippery roads and bitter-cold wind chills. I'm tired of it. So I had to switch out my What's Up Wednesday image with something less frosty.
WHAT WORKS FOR ME
I love being able to collaborate with my husband. He's an engineer and runs a local public power company, and he's also very creative - he's a musician and an artist. Because he has his own creative pursuits, he understands what I need as a writer - time and space and encouragement. We brainstorm together. He's given me suggestions when I'm stuck (or not stuck) like, "Hey, I think a tornado should come through and wipe out the entire campground!" which led to a pivotal moment in CLOUD 9. He helped me figure out an important 8-track analogy for BEAUTIFUL BIRD.
He listens to me and tosses ideas around and plays devil's advocate. He mocks me ("Is there a boy?") and tells me he's proud of me and gives me the time I need to finish a project. He writes music for my novels and loosely inspired by them ("Waiting for the Gun" and "Skeleton Keys") and is the most inspiring person in my life.
But he's never read anything I've written, not even my Master's thesis, and that's okay. That works for me - for now, anyway. I know that we're getting close to the day when I'll feel that something I've written is good enough to show him. Because I want it to be as close to perfect as possible, thanks to his inspiration and support and love.
Hope you're all having a good week! xoxo