What's Up Wednesday (7)

Woah, I can't believe another week has passed already. We're racing through March, I can't believe it. Welcome to another edition of What's Up Wednesday, the weekly meme hosted by Jaime and Erin.

WHAT I'M READING

Read Lobsters this week, which was fantastic. About to start Neil Gaiman's Trigger Warning, although I have a desire to start rereading all the summery books I can, as spring is in the air and it makes me feel like rereading all those light and wonderful summer stories!
  
WHAT I'M WRITING (+ A WRITING GOAL)

STILL EDITING. Although, I actually managed to sort the ending out for my YA story this week, so am pleased with that. Plus, am making good progress with my new story, so am pleased about that.

Goal: continue editing, address comments, sort out character development. Plus, keep writing new story.


WHAT WORKS FOR ME

Getting my head down and focusing! As well as just focusing on one thing at a time. It's nice to have a couple of different things to work on, but also have the focus to really concentrate on one.

WHAT ELSE IS NEW  

There were lots of announcements this week - from YALC (soooooooooo excited, who else is going?) to the sad news of Terry Pratchett's death, so in many respects its been a strange week. I am still so very sad about Terry's death. He was such a wonderful writer and man and the world will miss him greatly. I'm going to have to go back and reread some of his books - as well as crack on with some of the ones I haven't read yet.

It feels like spring is here to stay though - was a gorgeous day yesterday, and I'm looking forward to more days sat outside and walking around barefoot - as well as the bluebells!

What's Up Wednesday(6)

Here we go again! Welcome to another edition of What's Up Wednesday, the weekly meme hosted by Jaime and Erin.

WHAT I'M READING

I'm reading Black Dove, White Raven at the moment by Elizabeth Wein and I LOVE it. So good. While at Foyles this week, I also picked up The Boy Next Door by Katie Van Ark and Stung by Joss Stirling.
  
WHAT I'M WRITING (+ A WRITING GOAL)

Ashamed to admit that I really haven't done much writing this week because I've been so busy and had my head full of other things. That's not to say that I haven't done anything, just that it's been rather thin on the ground. But, I am still editing (I promise), and still playing with something new!

A goal: to actually do some useful editing this week!

WHAT WORKS FOR ME

I saw Gayle Forman speak this week, and that was really inspiring. I also saw my lovely friend Laura and it's always really great to chat to another writing friend about what we're working on etc.

WHAT ELSE IS NEW  

My extra busy week has come to an end (thankfully) and I collapsed in tiredness! It has been a great week though, seeing lots of friends, and doing other various exciting things - as well as seeing Gayle Forman! It's been lovely and sunny too, and I am so, so incredibly happy that spring is finally here. I love seeing all the primroses, daffodils, crocuses, and more!

Have a great week everyone.

Gayle Forman at Foyles

My busy week came to an end with a wonderful Gayle Forman event at Foyles. As Gayle rarely comes to the UK, this was incredibly exciting, and I couldn't wait for the event. I met up with the lovely Laura, and after buying a few books (not many, really), we headed up to the auditorium to wait.

Gayle is the author of best selling novels such as If I Stay, Where she Went, Just One Day, and Just One Year. If I Stay was made into a film last year, with others due to come soon. Yay! (Although I am hoping for a Where She Went film).

The event itself was great fun. Gayle answered questions, told great stories, and spoke about her writing routine, previous books, I Was Here, the If I Stay movie, and so much more. It was all very inspiring and I couldn't wait to get home and write again! While Gayle said many great things I wish I'd written down, I do remember her talking about I Was Here and discussing how the break up of female friendships partly inspired this book, because they can be so devastating. She also spoke about why she writes about characters who are out of school, and her own writing routines - which was all very inspiring.

Gayle then staged a reading, getting volunteers from the audience to help her. Then she answered questions from the audience - and that was it!

 I got a few pictures, but they came out a little blurry:

Afterwards, we queued up for the signing and were able to meet Gayle! She was lovely and commented on my Hogwarts t-shirt (she's a Slytherin by the way). We had a picture and she signed my books: 

It was a really excellent afternoon, and I am so happy that I've met Gayle. She's one of the inspirations for my own contemporary YA writing and so it was an honour to actually be able to meet her and hear her talk about her writing.

Next month, we're going to see Victoria Schwab - I can't wait!

What's Up Wednesday! (5)

I can't believe it's Wednesday again - I nearly forgot about this.

Welcome to another edition of What's Up Wednesday, the weekly meme hosted by Jaime and Erin.

 WHAT I'M READING

I finished A Darker Shade of Magic, which was fantastic. As it was my birthday this week, I treated myself to some new books that I'm looking forward to reading: Black Dove, White Raven, The Last Leaves Falling, and Lobsters.
  
WHAT I'M WRITING (+ A WRITING GOAL)

Still plodding along with those edits!

Plus I started something new. Oops.

Goal: keep editing, playing with new story.

WHAT WORKS FOR ME

I always forget how much I love being able to switch off and write by hand. So writing by hand. It's wonderful.

WHAT ELSE IS NEW  

This week has already been jam packed and exciting. It was my birthday on Monday, I attended a Studio Tour Hogwarts Express Preview yesterday, and have more exciting things lined up this week - including a Gayle Forman talk and signing. Can't wait!

Hope everyone else is having a good first week of March - spring is finally here and I'm so excited.