Hello, Wednesday! (What's Up Wednesday)

This week's post was going to be a long, really involved list of indigenous fantasy books out there, but as happens with a lot of research, I came up with an entirely different conclusion than I expected and thus have to completely rethink how I'm going to do that post. (Also if you have recommendations for fantasy/speculative fiction/sci-fi written by Indigenous authors, please let me know!) So today I'm just going to fall back on the ol' What's Up Wednesday formatting and we'll just have a nice chat. Grab yourself a cup of coffee or your preferred hot drink and get comfy.

Reading

All the fantasy! One of the reasons I want to make a book list is for my own TBR. I'm now to the third book in NK Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy, The Stone Sky. I'm very excited to see how the end of this series ends up because so far each book in the series has ended with a solid bang. She's such a good writer, please go read her books.

Writing

After spending a few years working on two different contemporary books (which were necessary for my state of mind), I've delved deep into fantasy! I have about 25k of a new fantasy thing and it's so much fun! I love the crazy imagination that can go into fantasy. If you want to see a few lines of that, you can check out my #1linewed tweets on Twitter. This is also the first time I've ever spent a significant amount of time world-building and outlining before ever sitting down to write. My mind is always set on the concrete productivity of word count, so sitting down to spend hours not actually physically writing was torturous sometimes, but SO worth it. Now when I am writing, I don't get stuck (as often) after a few pages because I know the characters, the world, and where I want the story to go. I'm just like whyyy did I not do this before now?? I mean I'm still a pantser at heart (my outline is one page and a lot of "a bunch of stuff happens to get them from this point to this point"), but I'm definitely becoming a plotter convert.

Life

In my last update post about six months ago I said that I'd graduated university! Well I have since finished all traveling and settled into the ups and downs of funemployment as I look for work after university. It has been fun having more time to do personal projects, writing (hello, finishing two drafts in the space of three months), cooking and spending time with people, but I'm starting to get a bit antsy. I also feel like I may have been a bit ambitious with my goals for the blog this year, but it's still early yet! If you have any ideas or comments about what you might like me to write about on the blog this year, please comment and share! Or even tell me what your favourite kind of posts have been over the years.

Happy Wednesday!

Onward

Hey! So I'm actually working on writing lately (and a million other projects, if you're interested in one, go ahead and request to follow me on Instagram @asherlockwrites), so haven't had a lot of brain power to devote to blogging. I always have such high hopes to make this thing BIG! Alas, I just do whatever I want like I usually do, share a little slice of my love of reading and writing with a handful of you.

So let's do this!

Writing

As I've said I've been writing! Well kind of. I've been working a poem project thing (see my Instagram), thinking of editing a short story, aand working on some not-writing writing work like character worksheets and other world-building stuff. I'm curious if you're into writing, how do you block out time for that kind of writing extras - research and world-building and all that stuff? That stuff that feels a whole lot like procrastination to me a lot of the time, so I avoid it because I'm not getting word count. Which is really dumb because that kind of stuff is really important. Thinking through stuff is actually a huge part of writing, it's just that if that's all you do then you're in trouble. It's a balance, I guess. Why does this writing stuff have to be so haaard??

But I'm actually waiting on feedback from a couple of people anyway so don't want to dig in to another rewrite quite yet, so this is the perfect time to spend on all that extra - excuse me, essential - stuff. And it's fun! I even have Pinterest inspiration boards for my made-up town and a bunch of my characters. 

If you are writing, researching and world-building all at the same time though, how do you divide it up? Or do you do one before the other? Go back and edit later? Tell me your secrets!!

Reading

I finished A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers like two weeks ago and I'm STILL NOT OVER IT. It was so much fun. My review of it made both of my parents immediately buy the ebook so check it out! I did manage to finish Banana Heart Summer by Merlinda Bobis after which is a beautiful, delectable story that made me crave aalll the Filipino food, but now I'm in a reading slump. I think I might DNF the book I'm trying to get into now and skip on to the next one.

Life

 

What else has happened recently? Well, in April I graduated university, in May a friend and I started to talk about booking a trip for the summer, and in June I quit the part-time job I've had for the last year to travel for the summer, and my last shift is in two weeks! Crazy. It's been fun not doing school and working part time and having more time to spend with friends and to write (or avoid writing with other things, let's be honest). I have no idea what the future will hold past the end of August but I'm feeling okay about it for now!

What have you been up to? What have you been reading? What are your best writing tips?

What's Up Wednesday feat. Christmas Cat

Happy December!

Christmas cat!

Well, I think I can say I have failed my goal of doing a post a week this year, BUT I haven't published this many posts since 2012, so I'm going to call that a success.

I don't have any grand ideas for today, so I thought I'd just talk about what I've been up to, in the style of What's Up Wednesday of course!

What I've Been Reading

As always happens when I start school, I go into a reading slump and don't really get out of it until I start reading fun, easy, fluffy books. So recently I've reread some of The Raven Cycle, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, and the kind of companion novel Carry On, also by Rainbow Rowell. I also read somewhere in there Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, which I may do a review of still, since it was an unusual book that just seemed to find me at exactly the right moment. I also read Frankenstein and a fun YA contemp about time travel called Waking in Time by Angie Stanton. Now I'm reading Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs because a friend recommended it to me, and it is definitely not something I normally read, but it's fun so far!

What I've Been Writing

So, last year around this time I finished a 50,000 word very messy draft of a thing. Then in July this year I finished a second draft rewrite of that thing. Then in August I think? I started writing another story with the same characters, about the next step in their journey. It's another thing that's a lot different from everything I've written, but I love it and these characters so much. A few weeks ago I thought I might finish this draft before the end of year, which would be crazy. Two drafts in a year!?!? Now I don't think it's going to happen, since the holiday season is a lot busier than I thought (with all good things!) Anyway, it's been cool in the past couple of years to have gotten back into writing, although I'm writing about completely different things than I was when I fizzled out four or so years ago. I definitely want to keep working with these characters' stories for awhile yet. One day I will have the courage to share it with people. Maybe. (I'm working on it).

-finished a second draft (the 1st in years)
-wrote 25k of a (heart-breaking) sequel w some of my fav characters ever
-also got a couple lovely short fiction pieces & poems in there

...wow. This has been one of my best writing yrs in a LONG time 😄❤️ https://t.co/ZCqQkGgFGr

— Alyssa Sherlock (@asherlockwrites) November 28, 2017

What Inspires Me Right Now

I think the Literary Inspired Web Series online community is something that inspires me right now. If you don't know, there are a bunch of young women who make literary inspired web series (often following in the footsteps of the famous Lizzie Bennet Diaries, although the series have changed a lot since then). It's cool seeing so many young women be brave and put their writing and work out there, and working together and... it's just so cool. It makes me believe more in myself and my own abilities when I see other women my age being so creative and productive and putting their work out there.

What Else I've Been Up To

Finished my second last semester of my undergrad degree!! One more semester to go. It feels good to be off school for the moment, and the blog ideas are slowly trickling back in... I have a few reviews I want to do, maybe before the end of the year, my traditional end of year posts of course, and I have a special surprise for January that I'm quite excited about! Other than that, right now my life is consumed with holiday stuff like working, baking, and watching Star Wars.

Also, I've been slacking off on my Local Book Nook project (because, school. If you're one of those students who is ALSO a consistent book blogger, you get all the prizes). But if you're interested in participating, please either leave a comment, DM me on Twitter or email me!

What are you reading or writing these days? How do manage to balance blogging, writing, and life?? Please tell me your secrets.

What's Up Wednesday

I have no idea if the official What's Up Wednesday is still a thing, but I figure it's time for an update and I like the formatting. (The original What's Up Wednesday was created by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk to help writers stay in touch!)

What I'm Reading

If you didn't already know, The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner is one of my favourite series of all time, and the fifth book in the series came out this week after seven years! So I'm currently halfway through rereading the series before reading the new book, Thick as Thieves. That is probably going to consume me for the next few weeks, and then I really need to get started on reading stuff for Women in Translation month in August!

What I'm Writing

I have been working on rewriting the book I finished in December, and I am currently at about 34,000 words. I have been making good progress on this thing. I even made a semi decent outline before rewriting, which is not something I usually do. Because of that, I think if I just sat down and powered through, I could probably finish it in maybe a month. Except I keep giving myself a million other things to occupy my time when I'm not at work... heheh. I was thinking of doing Camp NaNo, although now it looks like there's only sessions in April and July. Another year I did it June and that would've worked better for me... we'll see. Maybe I'll do my own Camp NaNo in June. Anyone want to join me? ;)

What Inspires Me Right Now

Weirdly enough, the beautiful storytelling of the TV shows The Get Down and Skam have really inspired me lately. They are the kinds of art that are so good that they make you want to sit down and create art. And also Megan Whalen Turner's genius, of course.

What Else Is New

Well in April I finished my second to last year of university! Next year I will be graduating with a 4-year Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences with a concentration in Intercultural Studies. I also started my full time summer job a day after I was done everything for school. This summer I'm working at a volunteer department, helping coordinate volunteers. I really enjoy it - it's always busy and there's always something different to do. In just my first month, I've had to fold clothes, organize a uniform swap, call someone to tell them a visitor dropped their phone in with the snakes, go to and help set up volunteer trainings, send a million email reminders, and have lots of lengthy conversations with talkative volunteers who ask a million questions. And that's not all!

So work has been keeping me pretty busy since it's full time, and then I get home and I'm too tired to do much of anything. But I'm still trying to work on my own projects, like my book, this blog, and my garden! I am going to attempt to grow things this summer, although I'm such a newbie gardener, we'll see how it goes. Anyway, I think this summer is going to be hectic, but fun!



What are your plans for summer, writing or vacation related?

The Deal

First, a quick update:
Life: Still in school. Only in two courses this semester. It's great. Still hasn't snowed (!!)

Reading: Just started Kay's Lucky Coin Variety by Ann Y.K. Choi. I'm pretty sure I'm behind on my goal of reading more books set outside of the US, so I'm trying to catch up by reading a bunch of CanLit. Recently finished The Miracles of Ordinary Men by Amanda Leduc, a strange but suspenseful and beautifully written book.

And, writing! Which is what I wanted to talk about today. I feel like I'm doing a lot better with my writing lately. I've slowly discovered a few things that help my writing:

1. 500 words a day. For the last half a year or so, whenever I don't feel like writing (which is all the time basically), I tell myself, okay, just write 500 words. That's it. Just 500. It's a super manageable number of words, and if I don't have a lot of time, it doesn't take a lot of time either. And it works! I get words out, and on good days I end up writing a lot more than 500 words. Like today! I sat down to write 500, and wrote 1300. 

2. Part time studies. I'm only taking two courses this semester for a few reasons, and while I'm doing quite a bit of volunteering these days, I don't have a part time job (perks of living at home), so that leaves a lot of time for writing and other creative things. It's not just the time that's freed up, but the mental energy. After spending all my time either in class, studying, or writing essays, I usually wouldn't want to spend time writing. Since I have that room to breathe now, I feel like I can actually spend time on writing.

3. Social media hiatus. Since certain events this month, I've been very motivated to stay off of Twitter and Tumblr, my go-to social medias and procrastination tools. Twitter is great for connecting with writers, but it's a huge time waster for me a lot of the time. Now I'm telling myself that I'm not going to go back on until I can tweet that I finished writing 50k.

4. Competition (aka The Deal). Back in August my brother and I went camping together. There was one night when we spent almost an hour sitting on a bench by the lake, just talking as the sun went down. (I don't think I've talked to my brother that much, cumulatively, since then.) Anyway, somehow what came out of that weekend is that we made a deal that I would write a book by the end of the year, and he would finish write a game (my brother studies computer science) by the end of the year. The deal has motivated me a lot, because for one thing, my brother won't let me back out of my commitment to write a 50k book by the end of December. For another, I am definitely not losing a deal to my brother. (Also, we still need ideas for rewards/punishments for success/failure so if you have any suggestions they'd be most welcome).

It feels good though. It's been a long time since I've been this consistent with my writing, and I'm excited that I've figured out a few things that are working for me. What helps you to stay motivated and committed to writing?

What's Up Wednesday

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk to help writers stay in touch.
 
WHAT I'M READING

I just finished Listen, Slowly by Thanha Lai. I love MG, they're always so fun and silly, but can also be really heartbreaking at the same time, and this is exactly what Listen, Slowly was. I loved Mai, she was so funny and confident and got herself into things. It's always fun when MCs just get into all sorts of crazy and embarrassing situations. I also loved how the friend Mai made while she was in Vietnam was super into frogs, of all things.

WHAT I'M WRITING

I was working on a story about a young traveler that tries to leave her hurts behind at home, but school happened, as it always does. I was trying to do 500 words a day, but I kind of just... stopped. Anyone want to volunteer to keep me accountable?

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

I'm finding my classes really inspiring right now, although now they're all over - my last day of classes was Tuesday! (Now exams woohoo). I love learning. 

IN OTHER NEWS

Well, school just ended and now I'm into exam period. The other thing that just happened is I got accepted into a 5-week French immersion program called Explore, which is a program that the Canadian government actually gives bursaries for in order to encourage Canadians to learn French. So the government pays for everything except your transportation to the university you take classes at (and live at), and spending money. There's programs at universities all across Canada, but I'm going to Université Laval in Quebec City! I'm super excited but also a little bit nervous because you're required to speak French all the time and I'm like... I don't know enough French!? Although I'm sure I know more than I think I do. 

Anyway, that's what's up with me. Sorry all I've been doing lately is update posts and book reviews, but I feel like I need to post something, and those are two easier kinds of posts to write. I do want to write some more in-depth posts on things I've been thinking about, though. So stay tuned!

What's up with you?

What's Up Wednesday

Hello! Thought I'd do a What's Up Wednesday to update you guys.

WHAT I'M READING

I am currently reading an ARC of The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski that I got from my local bookstore, on the condition that you send in a review to them. It's a pretty sweet deal. Also, I loved The Winner's Curse (the first one in the series), so I'm excited to read it's sequel, even if it's so painful, already, and I'm only about twelve chapters in.

WHAT I'M WRITING

Heheh... nothing, at the moment. I had started rereading the draft I finished in August, although I've stopped since school started. I suppose half a year is enough time for a draft to sit before digging into it, ha. There's still a lot that needs to be fixed, but I think I like the direction I've gone in better now. So I guess one of my goals is to finish reading it, and then start digging in and revising again. I'd also love to find a few more critique partners, so if you're interested...

I also want to write some more short stories, although I currently have no ideas. I'd also love to start something entirely new, but I only have an inkling of an idea, and no conflict or anything yet, so. I'm kind of in a slump with writing at the moment.

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

Pascal Campion's art is gorgeous. I could look at it all day. I think my favourite thing about his art is that it tells a story.

Ahh so pretty.

WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

School! What else is new? Going into the fourth week back, and I've finally become a little bit motivated. Oh, I also spent the evening with my best friend on Saturday, and we went to two different bookstores, and then we went back to her place to watch the CBC adaptation of the Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill. Both the book and the mini-series are very, very good and if you have not read the book, you should, and if you have, watch the CBC mini series!

What's Up Wednesday

Since I haven't really been around much on the blog, I thought I'd give you an update. What better way to do that than in a What's Up Wednesday post?

What I'm Reading

It's better than the girl-in-dress on the cover leads you to believe, don't worry. The Winner's Curse is a fantasy about a people who where conquered by another people. I'm almost halfway through, and it's really interesting. I love the characterizations of the two main characters, Kestrel and Arin. It was actually recommended to me by a bunch of Megan Whalen Turner fans, and I think they were right to recommend it! Since I was at the lake this past week, I had time to finish a bunch more books, but I think I'll make a separate blog post about those.

What I'm Writing

Nothing at the moment, because a week ago I FINISHED MY DRAFT! It's actually the fourth draft of a book I've been working on since I was in grade 11, which is almost four years ago now. Obviously, I haven't given up on it yet. Now I'm trying decide what I want to work on next. I have one book that I could outline, or another that I could rewrite. Not sure. Oh, and if you're looking for a critique partner at the moment, maybe we could swap MSs. You can contact me at kazuntai101[at]gmail[dot]com or contact me on Twitter @asherlockwrites.

What Inspires Me Right Now

This video directed by Yulin Kuang, inspired by Neil Gaiman's Dark Sonnet, is beautiful.

Also, I was at the lake last week with my family, and on our second last night there, my dad and I went canoeing just before sunset. It was the perfect time for canoeing. The lake was calm, there was barely any wind to struggle against, and there was a breathtaking sunset to behold.

 

 

What Else I've Been Up To

I finished my summer job a week ago, spent my last week of summer at the lake, and now tomorrow is my first day of classes. I actually transferred universities this year, so I'm starting a new school again. It's not that bad, and it's actually nice because now I only have a 20 minute bike ride to school instead of an hour bus ride. I'm also excited because my classes seem interesting enough, and different than the general stuff I took last year, which was mostly stuff I'd already taken in high school like English and history. Other than that, I am doing nothing unrelated to reading and writing. :)

If you want to get more regular updates from me, you can follow me on Twitter @asherlockwrites.

What about you? What have you been up to?

What's Up Wednesday

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk, to help connect writers on this writing journey.

WHAT I'M READING

My brother just read all of the Game of Thrones books, and I like reading books my brother has read because it's fun to discuss them with him because it's a way to get him to talk to me. SO right now I'm reading Game of Thrones. I'm only on like page 100 of the first book, and I'm fairly confused but it's interesting enough so far. I'll hold out any real thoughts until I finish, though.

WHAT I'M WRITING

I am actually writing right now! I haven't really done a lot of writing this year. I was just really frustrated that I wasn't getting anywhere, and how terrible all of my ideas for fixing my draft were. But I pushed all that aside and just told myself the only thing to do to get better was to write, so that is what I'm doing. I only have about 4,000 words of my newest draft but I think that's okay, and I've been working on it every day for the past few days, so that's a start.

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

I just finished rereading The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner, and it was amaaazing. I can't wait to read them again and find even more hidden treasures. MWT is a genius, and her amazing writing is definitely inspiring to me. Stories in general are inspiring.

WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

Working. What else is new? But tomorrow is my last day at my retail job, so I'm looking forward to that!

What about you? What's up?

What's Up Wednesday (Actually On A Wednesday)

I'm going to actually officially participate in a What's Up Wednesday today! (Even if it's kind of late. Whatever.) I'll even do the official thing: What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk to help writers stay in touch.

What I'm Reading:

I'm currently reading stuff for my A to Z Book Review Challenge, mostly completely out of order because half of them weren't available from the library yet. I just finished Corked by Kathryn Borel, which was awesome (full review to come). Now I'm starting on Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi although I might end up reading a different one first depending on which books I have to return to the library first.

What I'm Writing:

I am failing at working on my book about a world of invisible people. I'm at least thinking about it again, which is more than I can say I was doing a few months ago. I've gotten to the middle of my outline, but after that I just... can't think of where I want the story to end up. It's a lot easier for me to write when I have an ending in mind, and right now I just can't think of one that doesn't make me sigh with frustration at how incompetent my storytelling abilities are.

I also started something new (which of course is what happens when you're struggling with an MS). It is a contemp road trip/travel story, drawing largely on my experiences from when I lived in the Philippines last year. I know it will be terrible because I'm terrible at writing contemp (despite it being one of my favourite genres to read), but it sure is fun.

What Inspires Me Right Now:

Music! Through the internet I've discovered a whole bunch of random indie music that I really like. I love the band Typhoon, especially the song The Sickness Unto Death, which not only sounds beautiful but has awesome lyrics. I am also weirdly into Andrew Huang's rap music (I am not really a rap person). My favourites are For Love and Ash. Such good lyrics. (Also, the music videos are beautiful. Watch them.)

For something lighter, I love this song called "Waterproof" which is a song by one of the high school students who went to the school I worked at last year. It is about the "waterproof" Filipino spirit during Typhoon Haiyan a few months ago. If you buy it (which you can do here), all the proceeds go to typhoon relief! It is such a cute, uplifting song. You should at least listen to it, even if you don't buy it.

What Else I've Been Up To:

Freaking out that school is going to be over in like, two months, and freaking out over what I'm going to do this summer.

I'm also planning further reading "challenges" for myself after I finish A to Z. I think I am going to dub May "Marchetta Month", and reread all Melina Marchetta's books while basking in their awesomeness. I also want to reread some books I read as a kid and see if they're still as good as I thought then, and I also want to do some sort of diverse reading challenge. I want to either read a truckload of books with non-white narrators, or read a truckload of books by non-Western authors. Or both. We shall see!

What about you?

What's Up Wednesday (On the Wrong Day... Again)

I thought I'd take some time today to do a What's Up Wednesday post.... on Tuesday. (I know, I already did that once). But I like the format of the What's Up Wednesday posts, so yeah, I take it and use and twist it for my needs! And my needs at this point are updating you on things like...

What I'm reading

The Lord of the Rings! I tried reading the epic trilogy way back in middle school, but I couldn't get through the Two Towers. Just recently over the course of a few weeks my brother and I finished watching all of the LOTR movies, after my brother had read the book this summer. He had some interesting thoughts after the last one that were based on the books, so I asked him if he would recommend them and he said yes. This is probably one of the only times he's recommended me a book, so that's what I'm doing. So far I'm enjoying it, even if some parts seem unnecessary to me (like all the stuff with the weird Tom Bombadil cult at the beginning?)

What I'm writing

Heheh. Nothing... right now. I kind of want to pick up an old draft I wrote last year in November and rework it. I like the concept, which is about two lonely kids, one who is so lonely that she lives inside an imaginary world in her head.

What else I'm up to

Other than school and work, I've been slowly compiling a mental list in my head for November goals. I'm not doing NaNo because, to be quite honest, it terrifies me. (One of the years I will conquer my fear, I promise). But this video inspired me to get back on top of goal-making, which is one of my favourite activities.

So far, I'm thinking:

• Blog every day in November
• Stop wasting time on Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, etc
• Eating healthier
• Revising

Obviously I haven't fleshed them out completely yet, but I'm definitely thinking seriously of trying to blog every day.

What inspires me right now

Literary Disco! It's a really cool and actually quite hilarious podcast that I listen to on the bus ride home some days. It's just three friends, chatting and discussing books. It's so funny sometimes that I have to stifle my laughter on the bus by pretending to cough or yawn or something. But yeah, you can check that out at www.literarydisco.com.

Also on the last episode they recommended this band, Typhoon, and I am really enjoying their music.

What's Up WORLD

I have been absent from the blog since... well, it's been a few months (oops). But a lot has happened since April so I thought I would update you. Actually I just saw a few "What's Up Wednesday" posts so I thought I'd do it in that sort of style, although it isn't Wednesday anymore.

WHAT'S UP WITH MY LIFE

100 Islands, Philippines. Yup, I went there. And...got sunburnt.

I'm home! If you didn't know, I spent this past year in the Philippines, doing a lot of cool stuff. But mostly doing stuff like working at an international school in the elementary library and being the main playground supervisor which means sweating BUCKETS everyday because the temperature rarely goes below 30 degrees Celsius. (Seriously, the one week of the year when it gets down to 26 C people start wearing toques!!) If you're interested I could talk a bit more about my experience there, but for now I'll stick with reading and writing unless you really really want to know. :) So, yeah I'm back in Canada and gearing up for starting university in the fall!

WHAT I'M READING

I just finished FINNIKIN OF THE ROCK by Melina Marchetta and WHYYY did I not read it earlier?? I actually tried to read it a while ago because I absolutely ADORE Melina Marchetta, but I didn't feel like reading fantasy. Finally I sat down and buckled up to read it and I'm soo glad I did because Melina Marchetta did NOT disappoint. FINNIKIN is fantasy, but it has so much truth and beautiful story in it and AWESOME characters, which is my favourite thing about MM and the main reason I love her work. Give me a good character and I'm in love. PLEASE go read it because I want everyone to know how awesome Melina Marchetta is!!

WHAT I'M WRITING

Since I didn't have school work to worry about this year (a very weird thing for me...), I spent quite a bit of my free time writing. So only a couple of days ago I managed to finish my third draft of a book I've been working on for quite a while! Actually, pretty much exactly a year ago I said briefly that I'd finished my second draft. So... it takes me a year to write a draft. But anyway, I'm super pleased with this draft and I feel like I'm more on the right track now than I was with my disgusting first draft and messy second draft. I've now sent it out to a few readers but actually if you're interested I'm on the lookout for more critique partners. :) Here's a terrible one-sentence synopsis... 17-year-old Percy Collins used to be invisible, part of the world of invisible people called Unseens, until he was injected with the legendary antidote to invisibility and for the first time in history, it worked on him, thus making him a very valuable person in the Unseen world. (Trouble ensues). Yeah, I've got to work on that. But anyway, if  you want to read it email me at kazuntai101[at]gmail[dot]com. You can also contact me through twitter, @AlyssaSherlock!

MY GOALS

I feel slightly lost now that I've finished my draft, because my goal for so long has been to finish it! I think I'll take a break from any writing projects for a while, and then maybe try to work on writing a good summary. Which is kind of daunting, to say the least, but also necessary because right now when people ask me what my book is about I say "uh... people... who are... invisible..." (And I'm only trying to annoy them a little bit).

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

Melina Marchetta! Reading Finnikin of the Rock inspired me to work on my book and finish it. It reminded me a lot of my book, just because my favourite part of the book I wrote is the relationships and the growth of my characters throughout. :)

I am also looking for some new music to listen to, so if you have any suggestions please let me know! I'm also wondering what your favourite YouTube artists/musicians are (because then I can just listen to all their songs on YouTube... haha).

Anyway, I've been away for a while. How are you? What are you up to? Have you posted lately on your blog? (I need to catch up on my blog reading...) Let me know!