What I'm Reading Wednesday - Dreams of Gods and Monsters and These Broken Stars

Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor

Back to this one after my ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES binge. 

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (audio)

Mmmmm love.  

What I'm Reading Wednesday - Dreams of Gods and Monsters, All The Bright Places, and These Broken Stars

Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor

I was craving some more Karou so I started the third one earlier this week :). 

All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

This one has been on my to-read list and when my partner teacher's daughter offered to let me borrow it I couldn't resist. I am IN LOVE with Finch's voice and will have to study how the author makes two first person povs work so well (since my WIP also has two first person povs). 

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (audio)

This is my new audio book; I just started listening on the way home from work today. I'm also loving this male character's voice, so much great introspection. I'm excited to see more of the futuristic world and who this girl in the blue dress is (I'm hoping we'll get some of her pov too!). 

What I'm Reading Wednesday - Empire of Night, Rich Food Poor Food, Everyone Can Draw, and Palace of Stone

Empire of Night by Kelley Armstrong

I'll never turn down a new Kelley Armstrong book. 

Rich Food Poor Food by Jayson and Mira Calton

This book helped me avoid the Teacher Appreciation Week goodie temptations. 

Everyone Can Draw by Barrington Barber

I won't update after this but I bought this book on a whim this weekend and started working through it. I've been learning to draw recently but don't have time to take a class, which is what I really want to do. This and youtube videos are the second best thing!

Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale (audio)

Man, is this book getting less middle grade and more YA by the chapter.

2015 Resolutions - Update 2

It's been 4 months (18 weeks) since the New Year! Time to check in on my resolutions and see where I am.

Resolution #1: Finish the first draft of TGITP

I'm currently drafting the third quarter (7 out of 20 scenes done) and plan to finish by May 23rd. Then I'll just have one quarter left! I should be done with this resolution by the next check in, if everything goes as planned.

Resolution #2: Read 70 books

I've read 25 books so far, which is 2 books ahead of schedule! Still not doing so great at focusing on only a few books at once though.

Resolution #3: Write at least 1,000 words a week

Out of 18 weeks I've missed only 3 weeks! I also had another 5,000 word week.

Resolution #4: Play an instrument once a week

I've missed this goal 4 times in 18 weeks. I really want to practice more than once a week, but I keep reminding myself that right now I'm building up the once a week habit to start, so it's okay if I don't do more than that.

Resolution #5: Do 5 pull-ups a week  

I've also missed this 4 times in 18 weeks. I was all set two weeks ago to bump it up to 5 pull-ups a day, and then the great week 17 plague hit and killed those dreams. I'm going to go for it this week though now that I'm feeling better.

And here's my spreadsheet where I'm keeping track of my goals.

That's it! I'll check in on these again at the end of June.

Paperclip Visual

The other day I stumbled upon a cool way to track progress, and decided to try it out on my writing.

My current (low) goal is to write at least 1,000 words a week. I put 10 paperclips on a sticky note titled "not yet written" and made another sticky note titled, "written!" Each paperclip is worth 100 words, so 10 paperclips=1,000 words. 

Every time I write 100 words I get to move a paperclip from one sticky note to the other. This gives me a visual representation of my progress while I watch the unwritten pile shrink and the written pile grow. This is the first week I've tried it, so I'll be sure to come back and let you know how it worked for me. 

If it works especially well, I'm thinking of doing a bigger version. Maybe two small jars and 80 marbles, representing the 80,000 total words I'm shooting for in my manuscript?

Update: I've used the method once now and it worked pretty well! I didn't usually notice when I passed 100, and when I did notice I often got to move several clips at once, which was a nice boost. 

What I'm Reading Wednesday - Cinder, Losing It, and Palace of Stone

Sorry I missed last week! I'll forever refer to it as 2015's week 17 plague. I was really sick, but fortunately it's finally clearing up, and I'm excited to get back to writing.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Loved this one! I have no idea what I was expecting, since I didn't read the blurb first, but it sure wasn't cyborgs. And yes, while I did call the final plot twist at the beginning, this book still had enough interesting twists and turns that I want to read the second. 

Losing It by Cora Carmack

Just finished this one last night! It was a good, quick read. 

Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale (audio)

Still listening my way through this one :). 

"Was Clusters" and How To Get Rid Of Them

Earlier this week Kristen Lamb introduced me to "was clusters", and I was ecstatic when she went into detail on what "was clusters" are and how to get rid of them in her most recent post, Ten Ways to Tighten Your Writing & Hook the Reader. She says:

"The biggest red flag to me as an editor is an infestation of the word “was.” This is a major indicator of weak writing and passive voice. If a writer does this on page one? Fairly safe to assume the trend will continue.

Do a Was Hunt. See too many of those buggers together? Time to kill.

It was barely dawn and Lulu was sitting on the couch. She was waiting for her father who was already hours late. This was unusual for him. He was always punctual. A crack that was deafening made her scream and moments later the door was kicked in by the police who barked orders for her to get down on the floor.

Instead….

Predawn light spilled into the room where Lulu sat, waiting for her father to be home. He was never late. Ever. A deafening crack made her scream. Police kicked in the door and ordered her to the floor."

My novel is in present tense, so I went on an "is cluster" hunt instead. Here are five examples I found in my writing, and how I fixed them (partly with the help of this article by Thomas King as well).

He is also carrying a large, black bag.
He also carries a large, black bag. 

Something about him makes me pause. He is young, and wearing loose gray pants and a gray sweatshirt.
Something about the young man and his loose, gray pants and gray sweatshirt makes me pause. 

The recovery unit is one of the less desirable jobs, since it takes people away from the hustle of city life and their families.
The recovery unit, one of the less desirable jobs, takes people away from the hustle of city life and their families.

I can see him clearly through the slats. My hiding place is too open.

I can see him clearly through the slats. Exposed, I crouch down further. 

I think the hardest part for me is when what follows the to be verb is an adjective. 

Timothy King recommends to

"look at what’s in the sentence’s predicate. If it’s an adjective, see if you can change it into a verb. So for example, the infamous, “She was sad.” Change this into: “[Something] saddened her.” You may need to make up the “something,” or combine this clause with another sentence in order to make it work."

But how do I do that with a sentence like, "I dig and my hand brushes something metal. Am I that lucky? No, it's too big to be my phone." ? Too big can't be changed into a verb. The last thing in King's article says,

"In general, focus on the action. Start by asking yourself what action the sentence is conveying. That determines what verb dominates the sentence. Then you can arrange the other concepts of the sentence around that verb, usually in a “Something action [something else]” form."

What is the action in this sentence? How does she know the object is too big? Well, she must be feeling it somehow. There's my verb. 

I dig and my hand brushes something metal. Am I that lucky? No. I wrap my fingers around the object, too big to be my phone.

Voila. Job done.