What's Up Wednesday and A-Z Blogging Challenge: H is for History

I'm combining my WUW and A-Z posts again today. Hopefully I can do a better job at making every WUW category relate better to my letter than I did last week!

H IS FOR HISTORY!!!

What I'm Reading
I'm reading The Lost Sisterhood by Anne Fortier and this book is soooo good. And totally fits with my H is for History thing because the book goes back and forth between present time and the Bronze Age with two interweaving stories about two different women. The present-day story involves a philologist (I wish someone would say that word to me out loud so I know how it's supposed to sound) searching around the world for clues about the Amazons, and the past story is a hunter's journey from Algeria to Crete, to Troy, and I'm not sure where else because I haven't gotten any further yet. Anne Fortier did this same past/present thing with her book Juliet (also SO GOOD) and she just does it so well. I really didn't describe the book very well, so go to Goodreads and check it out.

What I'm Writing
Nothing! I finished my revision for EPONINE and now it's in the hands of some very awesome readers (thank you thank you thank you!!!). I'm in the middle of two beta reads of my own with a third on the way so I think I'll stay away from my own writing for a bit and focus on these stories. History wise, one of these manuscripts takes place in Jamaica during the late 1700s (I think- the author never actually says).

What Inspires Me Right Now
History has always been an inspiration to me. I love historical novels, historical movies, historical anything. I love the clothes and the wars, the struggles, the loves, monarchy and anarchy and everything in between. Historical novels can sometimes be bland, but when they're not, they're my favorite! Although I'm not writing historical myself at the moment, I hope to be able to go back to my time-travel novel one day because I miss it!

What Else I've Been Up To
History wise? Nothing. Other wise? Also nothing. Nothing exciting, anyway.

And my H songs for the day...

History Is Made At Night from Smash

 

And nothing to do with History but always makes me want to take a road trip when I hear it:

Home by Phillip Phillips

What have you been up to? And what's your H for today?

A-Z Challenge: G is for Graphic T-Shirts

I have this problem. And I just can't stop myself. It's getting a little out of hand but I don't know what to do. Maybe I need a support group or something. Someone who understands and can help me STOP.

I LOVE GRAPHIC T-SHIRTS!!!

It started out a long time ago when I got it into my head to collect Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts. I had three before my collection went defunct. I don't even know what happened to those t-shirts but I've never lost that insane desire to want ALL THE T-SHIRTS. So now...

               

This doesn't even include some of the random shirts I have like: Lucky Charms, Air Force, Nautilus, I Heart Paris, Firebird, USS Arizona, BYU, I Heart Canada... you get the idea. And not only those, but I just ordered 2 more all thanks to a blog I found during this A-Z challenge. I'm looking at you Tea and Kneesocks. ;) Just kidding, I'm so excited for my new shirts!!! Nexy up, I MUST have a Captain America t-shirt.

 

 Another problem-slash-obsession I have? Boy Bands. (I actually used to have a couple *NSYNC t-shirts but I don't know what happened to them.) I know I know, it doesn't start with G. But this song does...

God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You by *NSYNC

(I used to looooove this song ;)



A-Z Challenge: F is for FRIENDS

Let me just start off by saying that I've been sort of breaking the rules a bit, because, yanno, I'm a huge rule breaker. That's right, I like to live on the edge. And if you knew me at all you'd be ROFLing right now.

ANYWAY, my rule breaking comes in the form of randomly checking out other A-Z posts instead of going down the list from my number on like I'm supposed to. But I swear, I have been checking out lots of other blog posts.

Okay, now that I got that out of the way. F is for FRIENDS. My all-time favourite TV show. The world just wouldn't be the same place without Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe, and Joey. This show is THE BEST and I still laugh out loud when I watch it. Which actually isn't as annoying as when I quote the episodes almost line for line. You don't want to watch with me, trust me.

Instead of me going on and on and onnnn about how awesome it is, how about a clip? (It's SO HARD to pick just one.)

The one where Joey speaks French

And my F song for the day which really has nothing to do with Friends but it's still a great song by one of my fave bands:

Five Minutes To Midnight by Boys Like Girls

A-Z Challenge: E is for EPONINE

It seems obvious to pick EPONINE as my E post because it's also the name of my current manuscript.

Eponine has been my favourite Les Mis character ever since I learned to play On My Own on the piano as a teenager. There's something about pining after someone who doesn't really see you that most teenage girls can relate to. There's also something so heartbreaking in her story that I've never been able to shake and so I wanted to write my own version, told from her point of view. I decided to make it contemporary and then I went the Urban Fantasy route because, well, I've always been kind of a geek girl and into magic. This MS has been both difficult and fun. Most of the characters are different than ones I've written before. I've done Internet searches on some crazy things like the smell of crack and abandoned warehouses and RCMP uniforms and M16 machine guns. (I'm surprised the cops haven't dropped by to see what I've been up to.) I think I've found a good balance between making the story my own and yet keeping in references and characters from Les Mis. But I'm still working on making the story work. Once I'm done this read through, it will go off to a second round of CPs/beta readers. Hopefully, I've improved it some from my last draft! Fingers crossed!

I really wanted to choose an E song from my Eponine playlist but none of the songs or the artists start with E. BOO. So I'm kind of going to cheat a bit and pick two songs that have an E word somewhere in the title.

My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'Em Up) by Fall Out Boy

 

I Don't Wanna Love Somebody Else by A Great Big World

 

A-Z Challenge: D is for Daydreamin'

D is for DAYDREAMING. Obviously. Because it's what I do best! What I've always done. What I just can't stop doing.

I used to watch the movie Rudy all the time as a teenager, you know the one about Notre Dame football starring Sean Astin? Anyway, there's a quote from that movie that's always haunted stayed with me: "The problem with daydreamers? They're not doers."

And it's kinda true. I daydream all this crazy stuff, things that I'd like to do, places I'd like to go, jobs I'd like to have, people I'd like to meet. Daydreaming, not doing. It's taken me a long time to become sort of a doer. Even though I can't live it, I can write it. Maybe I'll never be on Broadway, or float down the streets of Venice in a gondola, or get my letter to Hogwarts, but I can write what I daydream. I can transfer those crazy stories from my head to paper and hopefully one day to a real live book. And even though I don't get to be the star of the show living it all, I get to be God creating it all. And that's not so bad.

Of course, my D song for the day is none other than...

Daydreamin' by Ariana Grande

(If the video doesn't work, click on the song title)

A-Z Challenge: C is for COVER REVEAL!!!

It's C day which is perfect because it's also the day of the big COVER REVEAL for a book I'm super excited about! It's by Michelle Merrill, one of my CP's made of extraordinary. Here's her bio:

Michelle Merrill loves kissing her hubby, snuggling her kids, eating candy, reading books, and writing first drafts. She names her computers after favorite fictional characters and fictional characters after favorite names. To learn more about her, visit www.authormichellemerrill.com

I've read this book twice and it is super good people, super good. Are you ready for the cover? Because it is beautiful:

 Gorgeous, amirite?

Now you want to know what the book is about, dontcha? Here's the blurb:

All Kate wants is to live. Battling cystic fibrosis is hard enough, dying from it is even harder. When her mom moves them closer to the hospital in the middle of her senior year, Kate’s determined to isolate herself—saving everyone the trouble of befriending a dying girl. It’s a difficult task when cheerful optimist Giana insists on being Kate’s friend. 

Kate’s resolve falters even more when curly-haired Kyler captivates her with his sweet melodies. As her emotional walls collapse, Kate realizes the people she’s been pushing away may be the ones giving her a reason to live. But it might be too late.

NOTE: Half of all proceeds will be donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

CHANGING FATE comes out on May 8, 2014. You can find Michelle on Twitter here on Facebook here or at her blog here. Can't wait to see this book as a real book! Congrats Michelle!

And for my C song of the day... one of my favorite Michael Buble songs, and one I could imagine Kyler singing. 

 

Close Your Eyes by Michael Buble

A-Z Challenge and What's Up Wednesday: B is for Boo-Yah!

I'm combining my A-Z and What's Up Wednesday posts today.

What I'm Reading

I read Reclaimed by Sarah Guillory which was like BAM, and WHOA, and HOLY CRAP. Now I'm reading When Audrey Met Alice by Rebecca Behrens which has been cute so far.

What I'm Writing Revising

BOO-YAH! I finished my very extensive revision of EPONINE (it took me like 3 months). Now I'm doing a read-thru to make sure it all makes sense before I send it to a new wave of readers. BTW, I'm looking for another beta reader. Anyone want to swap? (EPONINE is a YA Urban Fantasy)

What Inspires Me Right Now

My B song and what inspires me right now are one and the same:

 Bleeding Out by Imagine Dragons is perfect for EPONINE.

What Else I've Been Up To

I saw Divergent on the weekend and I really liked it! Divergent was by far my favorite book out of the three, and the movie made me hopeful that I might like the next movies (if there are some) a bit better than the books.