What’s Up Wednesday

WUW3

“What’s Up Wednesday” is a fun weekly meme started by my friends Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk. From Jaime: It’s similar in some respects to the Currently… post, but it’s been whittled down to only four headings to make it quicker and more manageable on a weekly basis. You’re invited to join us if you’re looking for something to blog about, a way to let your blog friends know what’s been going on with you. If you’re participating, make sure to link your What’s Up Wednesday posts to the list on Jaime’s blog each week. That way, others can visit your post and check out what you’ve been up to.And now, here’s what’s up with me this week…And now, here’s what’s up with me this week…

What I’m Reading: I finished Invisibility by Andrea Cremer and David Levithan. While I  enjoyed the first half, the second was a little much for my taste. The story took a hard left into urban fantasy territory, which just isn’t my genre of choice. That said, I suspect that if you like stories about magic and evil and curses set in a big city, you’ll enjoy it. Next, I flew through Gayle Forman’s Just One Year, which was one of my most anticipated books of the year. Can I just say… I LOVED THIS STORY SO MUCH. It’s beautiful and moving, the perfect companion for Just One Day. I’ll rave about it more in a future Bookanista post, but for now… *happy sigh* Now, I’m reading Fault Line, written by my brave and brilliant and generous friend Christa Desir. It’s a tough story, but a very important story. I encourage you to check it out if you haven’t already.

What I’m Writing: I made some decent progress on my WiP over the last week, even though my daughter was on a break from school. I made time for writing in the early mornings, at the park, and after bedtime, and managed to rack up nearly six thousand words. I’m currently sitting pretty at about 74,600 words. I’m working on my last big scene, and then I have somewhere between eight and twelve smaller scenes to write. So… someday I will finish. 

Surprisingly, the park is a pretty decent workspace.

A tiny excerpt from The Chapter That Nearly Killed Me :: Part of him wanted that now—the racy, no-holds-barred rush of being with Dylan—but the night’s mood was too melancholy for hollow hook-ups. More than anything, Tyler simply wanted her near. He wanted to drape an arm over her shoulders, hold her close, breathe her vanilla-and-nicotine scent, and hear her whispered assurances that life would, somehow, get its shit together.

What Else I’ve Been Up To: Oh, yanno. Other than writing and reading and working out and doing endless loads of laundry… Not much.

  
When my husband and I were in college, we spent Saturday nights drinking cheap beer and watching Cougar football games at Martin Stadium. Now, we watch them on the couch with the two bundles of excitement pictured above. I’ve gotta say… I’d rather be on the couch. ♥


In other news, I baked my very first, totally-from-scratch Apple Pie, and I even used locally grown apples. It turned out so yummy, and it was actually a lot easier than I’d anticipated. I used this recipe for the crust (I employed the food processor method), and this recipe for the apple filling. Recommend!

What’s Inspiring Me Now: Everyone knows I love to read (and write!) a good kiss, so of course I loved Jodi Meadow’s post About Kissing Scenes over at Pub(lishing) Crawl, all about why kissing scenes must amp up a story’s tension. Also, a cool post entitled 209 Ways to Describe Touch, which I came across on Pinterest. It’s an awesome source for descriptive sensory words. And finally…

Because I *really* need to remember this as I wind down my first draft.

Tell me… What’s up with you today? 

Advertisement

43 thoughts on “What’s Up Wednesday”

  1. Rachelwrites007 says:

    Love that excerpt Katy! And that pie. I’m coming over. Let me just hop a flight.
    I just finished a bunch of books (gosh I really need to get back into What’s Up Wednesday lol), and now slowly delicately reading THE LOST GIRL by Sangu Mandanna – it’s about clones but it is beautifully written, and inspired by one of my favorite books, FRANKENSTEIN. 🙂
    I’m stuck at 11k in my WIP mostly because I want to be at the words THE END. Friends keep reminding me that you can’t revise a blank page (I know I know) but meh. LOL. I hate drafting!

    • katyupperman says:

      I hate drafting too! I’m much happier revising and making everything pretty. 🙂 THE LOST GIRL sounds intriguing… I’ll definitely check it out. Have a great week, Rachel!

  3. Jennifer Pickrell says:

    “More than anything, Tyler simply wanted her near.”

    This line…*swoons*

    I’ll have to check out Jodi’s post about kissing – I love my kissing scenes, too 🙂

    Yay on the apple pie, looks perfect!

    • katyupperman says:

      Thanks, Jen. And yes, I bet you’ll appreciate Jodi’s post. I read it and though: I already know all of this, but I’ve never seriously considered it as it applies to my writing. Very helpful!

  5. Kris F. Oliver says:

    Congrats on your writing progress! Go you! And I have to agree, that the Park is a wonderful place to write. I love to drag my laptop out into the woods. I get far better words on the page that way. 🙂

    And now I want apple pie. Badly. What a gorgeous pie!!

    • katyupperman says:

      Thanks, Kris! I wish I could share pie. 🙂

      Isn’t it funny how just getting out of the house can improve our writing? I love being outside in the fresh air. I think better!

  6. Carrie-Anne says:

    I don’t think I’ve ever made a pie crust from scratch. I’ve always preferred cherry pie, but a good apple pie would be fun to make too.

    I wrote around 8,000 words this last week, though I’ll need to be cutting back on writing time to focus on schoolwork. At least I got so far (hopefully less than 100K left to go) and don’t need to worry about losing momentum if I spend less time on writing for awhile.

    • katyupperman says:

      I love cherry pie too, Carrie-Anne! Now that I’ve made pie crust, I can say with certainty that it’s not nearly as intimidating as it seems. That recipe I linked to is great if you ever want to give it a try. Happy writing!

  7. Rebekah Faubion says:

    Thoroughly enjoyed your excerpt. You are making wonderful progress on this WiP, and even though it feels endless, you know its not.

    I like what you say about the couch versus the cheap beer and stadium. It nice to briefly asses where you are and realize its better than where you were once.

    • katyupperman says:

      Totally. I don’t think I could hang late-night with the college kids anymore. This old lady needs her sleep!

      Thanks for your kind words about my excerpt. Someday soon this draft WILL be done! Have a great week, Rebekah!

  8. Juliana Haygert says:

    I remember going out a lot during my first 2 years with my husband, and I agree, I prefer the couch – cuddling, watching a movie, maybe even reading a book – and now that the weather is chilling, cuddling is a good excuse hehe

    Is there any pie left? I can come over, you know 😉

    Oh, thanks for the “209 Ways to Describe Touch” links – so great!

    • katyupperman says:

      I wish I had pie left to share. We kind of devoured it. 🙂 And yes, the older I get, the more I appreciate peaceful nights at home with my family. Funny how priorities change!

  11. Alexa says:

    Oh I love your excerpt – it’s swoony. Congratulations in all those words.

    Thanks for the link to the kissing scenes post. I must check that out.

    Your apple pie looks yummy and your Saturday nights lovely 🙂

    A while back you gave me a link to choc chip cookies, they were amazing, thanks!

  12. Jaime Morrow says:

    Love the snippet! Makes me really want to read this story. 🙂 And your first attempt at from scratch apple pie is pretty darn awesome. I’ve been baking a bit more this week, and now you’re making me want to bake even more lol. I have a confession: I didn’t love JUST ONE DAY as much as everyone else did. That said, I feel like I need to read JUST ONE YEAR so I can get the other side of the story. I’m very curious! The way you’re slipping writing in here and there in your day is making me feel like I should be doing the same. I think I get caught up in this idea that I need to sit down for big blocks of time and hammer out a ton of words. Not so. And I need to remember that! Have a wonderful week, Katy! 😀

    • katyupperman says:

      I remember you saying that you didn’t connect so much with JUST ONE DAY’s Allyson, Jaime. I loved that book, but I loved JUST ONE YEAR even more. I *really* enjoyed Willem’s narration, and you might too. He’s one of those broken boys you just want to hug, and the traveling… So amazing. Let me know what you think if you decide to read it (I hope you do!).

      I have the same problem with thinking that I need a big chunk of time to get any writing done, but I’ve really had to let that go since this last summer. Anytime my girl is home from school, my writing time is limited and I have to take what I can get. Usually that means little pockets of time here and there, which are surprisingly productive.

      Hope you have a wonderful week, lady!

  13. Jennie says:

    I want to read more of your story…now! 🙂 Brett made an apple pie from scratch this weekend, too. So amazing.

    Keep up that pace and your draft will be done soon!

  14. Miss Cole says:

    That apple pie looks amaaaaaaazing!

    Congrats on getting so much writing done despite being so busy. Writing in a sunny park looks delightful ^_^

    Have a great week 😀

    • katyupperman says:

      Yes, the park was a lovely place to sit and write. I’ll have to make use of it again. My girlie loves the play time, so it works for both of us. Hope you have a fantastic week! 🙂

  15. Melanie says:

    It sounds like you’re pretty close with your WIP. I loved the excerpt! I just reserved both of those Gayle Forman books and Just One Day should be here soon! 🙂

    • katyupperman says:

      Ooh, I’m so excited for you to read JUST ONE DAY/YEAR, Melanie. I loved them both so much! And thank you for your kind words about my little excerpt… Can’t wait to finish this draft!

  16. Melissa Hurst says:

    I need to buy JUST ONE YEAR! I adored JUST ONE DAY and I’ve heard nothing but good things about the sequel. And I want some of that pie! It looks so good! 🙂

  17. Sara Biren (@sbiren) says:

    That apple pie is super impressive! Nice!

    I meant to go buy JUST ONE YEAR the day it came out and ended up not being able to take a lunch. I stood in front of it at BN this weekend and went back and forth. I read the JUST ONE DAY from the library and I’m number 5 on the list for this… so I decided to wait. But it’s going to be at least three more weeks! Oh no! I’m number 4 for Fault Line but should get it as soon as it’s in.

    And I’m the same – these days I’d rather stay home and cuddle with my family on the couch than go out on a Saturday night. 🙂

    Enjoy the rest of your week – and yes, I think I’m ready to start twitter-writing again.

    • katyupperman says:

      So glad you’re ready to start writing again, Sara! Tweet me when you want company. 🙂 I hope you get to read all both JUST ONE YEAR and FAULT LINE soon. Have a great week, lady!

    • katyupperman says:

      I hope get to read FAULT LINE soon, Lori. It’s such a powerful story. And best of luck if you decide to bake yourself a pie — those recipes I linked to seem to be pretty much no-fail. Have a great week!

  19. Krispy says:

    Ah, I am itching to read JUST ONE YEAR, more now that you’ve given it such a glowing recommendation. I loved JUST ONE DAY, so expectations for this follow-up are high! I bought way too many books last month, so I’m going to library JOY (wow, look at that acronym!) for now – hence the waiting…

    That apple pie is not helping my pie craving. I think I’ll shoot that recipe over to my cousin, who is a mad good baker. She made an apple pie for Thanksgiving one year and it was delicious, though she expressed dissatisfaction with it.

    Also, totally needed to hear that quote. Getting stuck is like my specialty, so I must remember to keep moving forward!

    • katyupperman says:

      As I mentioned, I enjoyed JUST ONE YEAR even more than JUST ONE DAY, and I really loved JUST ONE DAY, so that says a lot. 🙂 I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Let me know if your cousin uses those pie recipes… I thought they made for a very tasty treat. Have a great week, lady!

  20. prerna pickett says:

    urban fantasy is totally my thing so I’ll have to check out Invisibility. I can’t believe I haven’t read Just One Day! Gotta get on that. Congrats on all the awesome writing, 6,000 words is awesome! Have fun watching the games with your hubby on the couch!

  21. Rebecca Barrow says:

    FAULT LINE and JUST ONE YEAR don’t come out till next month here, so I’m stuck impatiently waiting…

    And I feel the same way as you about my WIP–one day it will end! Well, hopefully. (Not even thinking about revisions yet, oh no.)

Comments are closed.