What’s Up Wednesday #6
What’s Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk. The goal of this hop is to help connect writers on their writing journey. You can find out more about the blog hop here.
What I’m Reading
I read quite a few books while on holiday last week, “No One Gets Out Alive” by Adam Nevill, “Portraits of Celina” by Sue Whiting and “Creed” by Trisha Leaver and Lindsay Currie. This week, I finished reading “Cry for Help” by Steve Mosby. The first two are horror novels, the last two are thrillers. To be honest, not that impressed with any of them. I love Adam Nevill’s books, but “No One Gets Out Alive” is repetitive, there’s not enough tension, and the pacing is too slow. “Portraits of Celina” was all right, but not that memorable, and pretty predictable. “Creed” started out strong, but then lost me with the whole cult-angle that didn’t sound realistic at all. “Cry for Help” was decent right until the end, which had way too many coincedences to be plausible.
What I’m Writing
I finished the second round of edits for “The Soul Thief”, my YA paranormal releasing in November, and now I’m gearing up to go through the proofreading stages for the book. My proofreader sent the manuscript back to me yesterday, and if all goes well, I’ll have time to look through it later today.
I also worked on the edits for “Drowning in Fear”, the fourth book in the Weirdville series, a scary lower grade chapter book series, which releases on September 22.
On top of that, I’m also writing the first draft for new adult paranormal “Ghostslayer”, and self-editing “The Clumsy Magician”, the fifth book in the Weirdville series before I sent it to my publisher.
What Works For Me
Fast drafts. It seems that the only way I can actually finish a novel, is by writing a fast draft in less than one month time, and then editing, editing, and editing some more.
What Else I’ve Been Up To
I’ve been so busy I feel like my head is about to explode.
Last Friday was the cover reveal party for “The Soul Thief” (by the way, if you want to take a look at the cover, go here.) Over fifty blogs participated, so of course I had to thank all of them, and then we also had a Facebook party, and well, I had a blast, but it was all quite exhausting too, especially since I just arrived back home from a short trip. The trip did miracles though – I feel reborn now.
I’ve also set up a release day party and book tour for “Drowning in Fear” through Enchanted Book Promotions. The release day party is on September 22, and the tour runs from September 23 to October 23. If you’d like to participate, please comment here, or head over to the promo post for the tour to leave a comment.
Apart from that, I’ve been busy working on edits for two projects, and doing marketing for clients. I also enrolled in university again, this time for a Master at Criminology degree. Classes are starting next week, so I have a lot to prep for.
I’ve also updatedthe website, including new pages for “The Soul Thief” and “Drowning in Fear”, and updated the sidebar to show all my books.
What have you been upto?
Best of luck with all that editing. You sound very busy. And I hope your classes go well, too ^_^
I agree with you about fast drafts – the sooner it’s done, the more likely I am to dedicate the time to editing it. Not sure I can manage a month though ^^;
Have a great week!
Good luck with all the book promotion stuff. I also have a book coming out in November and know how hectic the build up to the release can be. It’s so worth it though. You’re book is coming out in less than two months! Have a wonderful week.
Sounds like you’re working on a lot of projects! Best of luck with the editing! 🙂
That’s crazy, I’m the same way. The only novels that ever get done are the ones that I write within a month. Then I edit for a long time, but if it takes me longer than a month to get done with the first draft I usually end up drifting away from the project.
You’ve been busy! I love the title of your adult paranormal- already has me intrigued!
good luck with the releases!
I’m 100% with you on the fast drafts, although mine are not quite THAT fast – I’m seriously impressed!
Have a great week! 🙂
Majanka, I LOVE the cover you revealed for your upcoming book, THE SOUL THIEF. Well done! You sound so much busier than I am with your editing process! I too must write my first drafts as quickly as possible, although I spend some quiet time preparing for this by doing research, collecting ideas and snippets and outlining first. I often use NaNoWriMo to bang out my first drafts quickly.
Wow, that IS a lot to have going on. Glad to meet more and more people who have schedules as cram-packed as mine is. I hate it when I go through a stack of books and none of them grabs me. It is bound to happen every once in a while, but when they come back-to-back-to-back it is a downer as a reader.
I am the opposite with my first drafts. I do my best to complete a first draft in 6 months – but any faster than that and I don’t have time to sleep with everything else going on! Congrats on all your news, that is all exciting stuff!