WUW: So close!

March 18, 2015March 18, 20155 Comments

What’s Up Wednesday is an easy and fun weekly blog hop that’s hosted by Jaime Morrow and Erin L. Funk. All you do is answer the four main questions, then visit the other participants’ blogs to see what they’re up to this week. Join us! Jooooiiiin uussss!

WHAT I’M READING

For book club this month, we’re reading Living Among Cannibals and Other Women’s Adventures by Michelle Slung. It’s a quick NF read about women doing awesome, adventurous stuff like skiing to the magnetic north pole with a sled dog as their only companion, or living in the rainforests of Africa to study mountain gorillas. It’s a fun book that makes you say, “Yeah women!” Also, I’m still listening to Enchantment by Orson Scott Card. Audiobooks aren’t my thing, I’ve learned. I wish they were! But, alas, no.

WHAT I’M WRITING

I’m into the 3rd act of THROUGH CLOUDED EYES, though I really need to go back to the second half of the 2nd act and make some big changes. I find myself getting burned out, mostly on editing but also only fully fleshing out my scenes and not just getting the dialogue and scene-blocking on there. This happened with ILLUMINATE THE NIGHT as well, so I think it’s safe to say it’s a weakness/tendency of mine. But I’m getting so close! Actually, after I get those edits in, I’ll be able to start the climax! It feels so good to be this close to finishing another manuscript.

My goal for this week is just to keep on keeping on. I’m trying to add 1300ish words a day, but today I’m feeling super burned out and decided to take the day off and focus on blogging instead. Then tomorrow I can tackle those edits and then continue my forward progress.

WHAT WORKS FOR ME

Writing every day. I used to think I wasn’t one of those writers, but I’ve been pretty good about writing every day since January 2014, and honestly I can’t imagine going back. Yes, I miss a day (sometimes two) every now and then, but the momentum I keep by writing every day is amazing. My brain really is used to being creative around 1 pm every day. Brains–aren’t they amazing? ^_^

WHAT ELSE I’M UP TO

I joined Camp NaNo for next month! If you’re doing it too, come find me! My goal is 30k on ItN, but that’s kind of an arbitrary number I pulled out of a hat, because I’ll be using a lot of the existing draft.

I also finally joined Instragram with an author account. I’m @krisatkinswrites (of course)–come find me if you’re on the ‘gram! I’m really enjoying it as an easy way to connect to the world wide web 3 times a week.

How was your week?

WUW: Snowy Writing Days

March 4, 2015March 4, 20156 Comments

WHAT I’M READING

We read Enchantment by Orson Scott Card for book club in February, and I’m terribly behind because I decided to try audio books. Aha! I thought, I can listen to books while I fold laundry and clean the kitchen! Except I hate folding laundry, so I kept avoiding it. Anyhow, I’m really enjoying the book. I read it back in high school and liked it a lot. I love re-reading books from my teen years because you respond differently as an adult, and it’s interesting to compare. I definitely recommend it.

WHAT I’M WRITING + A GOAL

Drafting is coming along swimmingly for THROUGH CLOUDED EYES. I’m at 46k words (out of a projected 80k), with a clear path to the end and good word counts every day. To finish the book by the end of the month, I need to write 1,161 words every day (except I missed Monday, so I’ll have to make that up sometime this week).

I also finally figured out how to fix ILLUMINATE THE NIGHT, and did a fairly-tight (for me) outline. I’m pitching it in May (ack!) and will start on my next draft in April. BECAUSE I WILL FINISH THE FIRST DRAFT OF TCE BY THE END OF THIS MONTH!!

For my weekly goal I’m going to continue on my 1,161 words a day, which will put me at least at 54k words next Wednesday. We’ll see if I check in though. I’ll try! :)

WHAT WORKS FOR ME

Okay, so, personal deadlines rarely work for me, to be honest. There’s no consequence if I don’t meet them. But with my pitch session in a couple months, I’ve found my fire. Something else I’ve done to keep me trucking along on TCE has been to have a friend (who is a reader but has no inclinations to write) read a few chapters every week. It’s good motivation because I have to get her something new every week(ish). I’ve been pleasantly surprised how well this has worked out for me. I’m not sure if she agrees, reading the very first draft and the accompanying terrible writing, but I’m certainly benefiting. ^_^

WHAT ELSE I’M UP TO

January and February were rough months, the kind where you keep your head down and plow through. The Mister worked every single day from December 28th to February 18th (with the one exception of Sunday February 1st), and worked past Turbo’s bed time most nights. Single parents and military spouses: I’ve always saluted you, but now it’s even more fervently. That was exhausting and I wasn’t the best mom all the time. But we made it through with a lot of play dates and LOTS of Chick-fil-A visits. We’ve had a ton of snow recently, which I don’t mind, but I’ve got an eye toward spring, my very favorite time of the year!

WUW: New Year, Not New Me + a Giveaway!

January 7, 2015March 9, 201510 Comments

WHAT I’M READING

Last year, I finally jumped on the Garth Nix train. I … have absolutely no idea why I didn’t read Sabriel in high school. I remember seeing it on the shelves in the book store where I worked, and I devoured fantasy but … for some reason I never read it. And I’m partly kicking myself, but partly not because I’m so enjoying reading them now! I’m on the tome that is Lirael, and though it is long, it is lovely. I really loved Sabriel as a character, but I love Lirael even more, and can’t wait to see where this book is going. (I’m in the 200s out of 700ish pages.)

WHAT I’M WRITING

In my goals post, I set a goal to finish THROUGH CLOUDED EYES by the end of March. And I’m getting closer every day! In fact, I’ve written at least 100 words every day. Truth be told, it’s never been more than 300+ because I’m slogging through the middle, and also because I’ve been writing at night (for various reasons), but starting today I’m officially taking back nap time as my writing time. So hopefully I’ll pick up pace! My goal for the week is to get back to writing during nap time (on weekdays … I’m more flexible on weekends) and to continue writing at least 100 words every day.

WHAT WORKS FOR ME

Those 100 words a day man … I love it. Anyone can write 100 words in a day. That’s a paragraph. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. And usually, when I look up my word count to see if I’ve hit 100, I’m already past 200.

WHAT ELSE I’M UP TO

It’s been snowy, snowy, snowy here, though Monday it warmed up to the 50s and the snow has finally started to melt. Such is life here in Denver. Get real cold + dump a bunch of snow then warm up + melt it all away. Rinse and repeat. I actually really like it because it cuts down on piles of dirty, yucky snow and it gives some variety and breaks up the monotony of winter. Plus, we continue to get 300+ days of sunshine here in the Mile High City. Have I mentioned before how much I love Denver? No? You’re lying. ;)

And last but not least, I’m hosting a giveaway! Last year I participated in the cover reveal for my CP Kate Scott’s book, THE EVOLUTION OF EMILY. Now, I’m going to give a copy away to one lucky reader! Kate is a fantastic writer who creates characters you will miss long after you finish the book. I’m so excited to spread the word about EoE!

Available now!

To enter, simply comment on this post! Easy! I’ll run the contest for two weeks and close it at 11:59 PM on Tuesday 1/20/14. Good luck!

WUW: Yeehaw!

October 22, 2014October 21, 20143 Comments

WHAT I’M READING

I followed up The Graveyard Book with another creepy children’s book–Holly Black’s Doll Bones. I finished that yesterday and it’s very well-written and very creepy. A great October read. Today I’m going to start Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor. I am so excited to read it!

WHAT I’M WRITING

Still working through my revisions on the first act of TCE. I realized I have a lot of scenes of people just standing/sitting around and talking. So I need to remedy that, which is rather hard for a quieter story with no explosions. I’ve got some ideas though. And I’m getting through all of this much slower than I thought (isn’t that always the case?) so it looks like I’m going to be NaNoing it this year, basically. Hopefully all I’ll have left is 50k, if I’m a good girl the rest of the month.

WHAT WORKS FOR ME

Having a variety of readers for your work. I have a writing group who gets bits as I write the story, alpha readers who read my crappy first drafts, and beta readers who read the later drafts. All of the feedback I have found to be so crucial to my process and helping me see my mistakes at every stage. So, if you’re lacking one of those types of readers, I highly recommend finding some of your own!

WHAT ELSE I’M UP TO

Turbo turned 2 on Sunday. I’m kinda in disbelief it’s been two years–it feels like we just celebrated his first birthday. And on Saturday I did my second cyclocross race. It was really, really hard but I had an absolute blast. I can’t wait for my next race this coming Saturday!

WUW: I’m back … again!

October 8, 2014September 18, 20187 Comments

WHAT I’M READING

I am in the middle of the delightful and delightfully creepy The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I think Neil Gaiman for kids is my favorite Neil Gaiman. This is my book club’s October pick and it’s just perfect for Halloween! It’s also a fast read, and my edition has pictures, so triple fun.

WHAT I’M WRITING

Wow, it’s been almost 3 months since my last WUW post. Things got a little rough starting in July, to the tune of depression. Seemingly endless depression that was getting worse and worse. (If I’m ever quiet for a long time without announcing radio silence beforehand, you can assume depression is the reason.) It’s not that I’m afraid of opening up when I’m depressed, it’s just that everything suddenly seems much bigger than it is, including blogging. I’d log on and stare at my blog and decide it was too much effort. So … yeah. Yay depression!

Anyhow, part of my depression was a dark night of my writerly soul. So, last you heard, I was getting into my revisions on ILLUMINATE THE NIGHT. Then I had the realization that my book was nowhere where I thought it was. I mean, I already knew I wasn’t writing to the level I aspire, but I thought I was closer than I was and the epiphany was a painful one. Very painful. Especially given the fact that I was already depressed. So I had some big chat sessions with two friends and some family members, and decided that it was time to put ItN aside.

Have you ever decided to drawer a manuscript? It’s painful. So very, very painful. And this isn’t even for good. I still whole-heartedly believe in this story and its potential, but I need space. So, I’m putting it aside for several months and have started working on THROUGH CLOUDED EYES again.

And what a fantastic idea that was!! I’ve rediscovered my joy, and avoided the mistakes I was making with ItN, and the difference is noticeable. My writing group has commented multiple times that this first draft of TCE is stronger than any draft of ItN. It seems I’ve learned something after all–which was so good to hear. It’s good to know that I actually was progressing, not backtracking like I originally thought. So, I’m 25% of the way through TCE and I’ve realized some changes that need to be made to the story and one of the relationships (that impact the whole book in a big way). I’m fixing all of that in the First Act, and then I’ll continue onward. I joined the YA Buccaneers Fall Writing Bootcamp with the overall goal of finishing this first draft by the end of November. My goal for October is 30k new words. Yikes! But I also realized, during the dark night of my soul, that writing is the only thing I have control over in my life right now. Well, one of the only things. So I need to act like it.

WHAT WORKS FOR ME

In my last post, I shared how I changed my phone’s lock screen to an image I thought could be the cover for ItN. As soon as I set ItN aside and switched to TCE, I changed the image to one for my new WIP. And then I poked around my phone settings, putting in the title of the book so it almost looks like a book cover. Egads, I love it! I love seeing it whenever I unlock my phone. It’s motivating and inspiring.

WHAT ELSE I’M UP TO

Other than slowly coming out of my depression, just being a mama to a busy nearly two-year-old. I’ve also gotten fairly active on Twitter. Come chat with me! I’m back to writing every day, which is great. I did my first cyclocross race a couple of weeks ago and hope to race again next weekend. Cyclocross is basically a hybrid between road and mountain biking and it’s a freaking blast. I got to ride through mud!

How about you, lovelies? How’s your life?

WUW: July is hot

July 16, 2014September 18, 201812 Comments

WHAT I’M READING

Actually, nothing. *gasp!* I finished Shadow and Bone on July 4th, and I haven’t started anything since then. And it just now hit me. WEIRD. We’re reading Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies for book club and this is one I really want to own so I plan on buying it. And, naturally, didn’t find the time to get to the book store last week because my sister came to play! And we were very, very lazy. So lazy, in fact, that I did no writing, but she and I had lots of brainstorming sessions which was very helpful. We have more house guests coming tomorrow for the night, then more on Friday for a few days. So, I probably won’t get a ton of reading done in that time either. Goodness! But after that, my life will calm down and the reading and writing time will be mine! YESSSS.

WHAT I’M WRITING

I’m (finally) officially into this round of revisions. With my last draft, I moved my scenes around and then went through chapter-by-chapter, but this time I think it will work better to move them as I go. I edited Chapter Two yesterday (over 1500 new words! woot!) and today will be spent moving scenes around … which I’m not looking forward to because that might be the hardest part of revisions for me. It’s worth it, but sooooo much work. So, wish me luck!

WHAT INSPIRES ME

So, I was feeling really discouraged. Wanting to work on THROUGH CLOUDED EYES (aka the book of my heart) and wondering if all this work will be worth it in the end. And then I had this random idea.

See this image?

[Pic redacted.]

I shared it once in a blog post, and a friend who is familiar with the story said it would make a great cover for my book.

She’s right, of course. So, in a random moment, I made that image the wallpaper for my phone’s lock screen.

And that was an awesome decision. Because every time I turn on my phone screen (which is dozens of times a day, sadly) I see it and get excited and inspired and very motivated.

I highly recommend it.

WHAT ELSE I’M UP TO

Well, we went to Breckenridge, CO, for the 4th and It. Was. Awesome. I didn’t want to come back, but I kinda did because the next day my sister came to visit! She stayed with us for a full week and there was much eating and hanging out and swimming and napping. I also got a cold, which was a bummer. And, as I said above, we have a series of house guests in the next week and I’m tired just thinking about it. But I’m determined to revise five chapters this week (despite spending two days on one chapter). I will prevail!

How about you, dear friends? How is your writing going? Reading anything fabulous? Do tell.

WUW: My Character Bloghop!

July 2, 2014September 18, 20186 Comments

WHAT I’M READING

So, the day after I said I was enjoying The Devil’s Highway I stopped reading it. On page 55. Why? Well, it was technically written very well and the topic was interesting and I know next to nothing about it (illegal immigration through the Sonoran Desert) but it was So. Stinking. Dry. I was reading while making rice pudding and had to put it down to finish the pudding, and when it came time to pick it back up, I just couldn’t. I literally cringed thinking about reading on. And then I had an epiphany about why I love YA so much–it’s all about the feels, and I am allll about the feels, man. So if something has no emotion in it, I’m done.

So now I’m reading Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone. I’m really excited about this one–it’s been on my TBR since it came out. High fantasy? Yes please. YA high fantasy? Mos def! YA high fantasy that’s not Medieval Western European based? Hells yes! I’m halfway through and loving the Russian-ness.

WHAT I’M WRITING

Jaime did the My Character Bloghop and tagged whoever wants to do it, so I considered myself tagged! Iwill now share 5 things about my main character.

1. She has had three names through the life of this story. Violet/Vi then Melia/Lia and now Elitsa/Elle. I’m so in love with Elitsa. It fits her beautifully. I needed something that sounded ancient but not too exotic. Bonus points for it lending well to a nickname because Elle is a nickname type of girl.

2. Elle has an eye on a career in public service and is active in model United Nations. In fact, during the book she’s in a prestigious model UN workshop at NYU.

3. She thinks she’s losing her mind at the beginning of the book when she starts having memories of the past, but not her past if you know what I mean. Think WWII, the French Revolution, and even ancient Egypt.

4. She’s modeled partly after Leslie Knope–I was very inspired by Leslie’s optimism and steam rolling. ^_^

5. She recently dated her brother’s best friend, unbeknownst to said brother. She also just might date him in the future … tsk tsk!

I love this girl, and good thing since I’ve been living with her for 5 years now.

WHAT INSPIRES ME

Reading YA! It’s become such a fuel to my fire for publication. Especially since I’ve had several moments of Maybe I should give up on this book since this draft will be another big one. But I know it has a good shot and reading other YA novels keeps me hungry.

WHAT ELSE I’M UP TO

On Thursday Turbo tripped at the park and chipped and cracked his tooth. So badly, in fact, they had to pull it. The top front left one, so it’s really noticeable. It was a sad day and his smile won’t be the same for several years, but I think I’m getting used to it. He got over it pretty fast–he’s such a trooper!

We’ve made more progress on the backyard! The Mister put in French doors onto our new patio while I was gone, and he finished up the last of the trim work last night. It looks awesome and I love all the light the doors let in (there was a window there before). I love being married to such a handy man.

Tomorrow we head up to the mountains–Breckenridge, CO–for the Fourth! I’m so excited for this little vacay with my little family and some of our closest friends. We’re going to swim, and hike, and play lots of games, and just enjoy ourselves. The Mister and his friend are doing a mountain bike race on the Fourth so we’ll cheer them on. And it will be much cooler up there–almost 20 degrees cooler. Yessssss.

For the Character Bloghop, I tag Kitty, Bridgid, and Angelica, but anyone feel free to participate.

Have a Happy Independence Day!! And if you’re Canadian or English, have a happy normal fourth of July anyway! :)

Kris Atkins

Author

Category: what’s up wednesday

WUW: So close!

WUW: Snowy Writing Days

WUW: New Year, Not New Me + a Giveaway!

WUW: Yeehaw!

WUW: I’m back … again!

WUW: July is hot

WUW: My Character Bloghop!