Wednesday, November 5, 2014

What's Up Wednesday: NaNo Energy Edition!







What’s Up Wednesday is a meme started by the awesome Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk as a way to keep up with your writer/reader/blogger pals in a quick, fun way. Link up with other participants at Jaime's blog and make sure to leave some comments along the way!


WHAT I'M READING
I recently re-read The Raven Boys and The Dream Thieves to prepare for reading Blue Lily, Lily Blue. I'm in the middle of BL,LB and I'm loving it (duh).  I forgot how much I loved being immersed in that world. I also picked up Empress of the World by Sara Ryan yesterday (we had all-day parent/teacher conferences and I didn't feel like driving home on our two-hour break but also was too burned out to work; Empress was in my classroom library but I hadn't gotten to read it yet. I am super loving it and by the time this post goes up I'll definitely be done flying through it.)



WHAT I'M WRITING
I'm nearly 7K words into my NaNoWriMo project, and it feels amazing. I forgot how much fun it is to write every day. I have a pretty distinct feeling that this draft is truly awful so far--and I also really, really don't care. I'm loving every minute of it.

So far, my WiP has:
  • cast list day 
  • Shakespeare 
  • the boy next door 
  • lousy gym classes 
  • anxiety 
  • big brown eyes 
  • major flirting 
  • backstage sofas 
  • "would you rather" 


WHAT WORKS FOR ME

Writing with my students! I've got a dedicated crew of student writers working on their own novels; collectively, students at my school have already written 57,455 words! I had a lunchtime write-in in my room on Monday, and I'm going to keep those going as often as possible. I'm also hosting a twelve-hour write-in (8-8) at school on Sunday, so students can come in and out or spend the whole day writing. I imagine I'll get a lot written that day!



WHAT ELSE IS NEW

I've started reading comic books (thanks to Mr. S) and I'm totally obsessed with the Hawkeye run that's currently in progress (by Matt Fraction, with a few different artists). You may know about Hawkeye from The Avengers (if you saw the movie, he's Jeremy Renner, aka that one guy who shot an arrow one time) but it turns out there are TWO Hawkeyes (superhero identity tends to be fluid, I guess?) and the second one is a lady. So for Halloween, Mr. S and I both went as Hawkeye; he was Clint Barton and I was Kate Bishop. (Bonus: we both own purple Converse now!) I'm also loving the beginning of Ms. Marvel--the new Ms. Marvel is a Pakistani-American Muslim teenage girl living in Jersey City. (Marvel seems to be figuring out this "diverse books" thing! And these titles are selling, so hopefully no dumb arguments about money will get in the way.)

24 comments:

  1. The student write in sounds so cool!! Great job doing that! And great word count, too!

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    1. Thanks! It's great to be surrounded all day by kids who are excited about writing!

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  2. Awesome on the student write in. And I love your little list of what your WIP has so far. Good luck with it!!!

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  3. I have been meaning to read Ms. Marvel ever since going to a comic con last year where the writer Kelly Sue was on a panel about women in comics (where half the panel discussed why do we still need a panel like that, but obviously it is needed). My husband used to read a lot of comics but we aren't super up on what's out now.

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  4. Purple Converse! I have green and red, but now you're making me want purple. ;-) That's pretty fun that you were both Hawkeye for Halloween. I miss having some kind of event/reason to dress up. SO happy to hear that NaNo is going well! And that your students are totally into it, too. I had so hoped to be drafting by this point even if I wasn't really doing NaNo, but I'm having such a hard time with this outline. Grrrrr... If you want to send any words my way or keep me posted on how it's all going, I'd love to hear about it. The list of details you shared sound fantastic! Have a super wonderful week, Jess! :D

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    1. This is my first pair of Converse! I love them! I got the whole faculty to do superheroes this year (last year we were minions from Despicable Me) and it was a lot of fun.

      You'll get to drafting--hang in there! It will be worth it in the end!

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  5. I'm about to start BL,LB (got sidetracked waiting for the hardcover). I also <3 Hawkeye.

    Your WIP sounds right up my alley. Anxiety, school plays... sounds like me as a teen to be honest. Definitely the kind of book I'd love to read.

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    1. Yay, Hawkeye fans! Like four of my students recognized my costume (but they were really into it so it was worth it.)

      It's interesting writing this story as I approach 30...I finally feel like I have the distance to write a story that kind if is about high school me--but also isn't at all. I can finally create an interesting remix of me, my friends, my HS theatre experience, etc. without just telling my own story.

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  6. I love that you're writing with your students, and what you shared about your project sounds excellent (lots of flirting -- yes!). We'll have to compare notes when we're both done with BLLB. I am LOVING it so far, as expected. Oh, Gansey... *sigh*

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    1. Well, I just ignored all the other things I was supposed to be doing, and finished reading. I won't say anything spoilery; I'm sure you've guessed that it ends in such a way as to make the wait for the final book agonizing, because that's how these books work. Ack.

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  7. So fun that you were both Hawkeye. Where are the pics?!
    I thought about rereading the first two Rave Cycle but finally decided not to- I have so many other books to read! But I'll probably regret it when I finally get BLLB.

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    1. In true Hawkeye doofus fashion, we managed to take only awful photos all night. Sigh.

      The Raven Cycle is the only series I have the energy to keep up with because of my awful memory. I've learned to make myself wait for a whole series to come out before diving in. With this series, the re-reads are good enough that it doesn't feel like a waste.

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  8. That's so cool that you get to write with your students! I love the Raven Cycle series - might have to give BLLB a reread soon! Best of luck with your NaNo goals! :)

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    1. I'm hoping kids show up and I don't just sit in our (old, haunted) building alone for twelve hours! I think we'll get at least a few.

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  9. All you had to say was "Shakespeare" and "Boy Next Door" for my interest to be well and truly piqued :P

    Writing with your students sounds like a seriously productive feat! I'm sure it helps them to have a little circle of support and awesomeness as well. And congrats with your NaNo progress, you're smashing it! :D Have a wonderful week!

    - Caitie

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    1. It's great because now I have an excuse to hole up and write on my lunch break!

      I'm still discovering my boy next door...he's hiding something and I don't know yet if it's good or bad. Hmm...

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  10. I haven't read The Raven Boys yet - I need to get on that!

    Well done with NaNo, it sounds like you're really enjoying it and your student write-ins sounds like a lot of fun!

    Have a great week!

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    1. You may want to wait till the last book comes out--they're so good it's hard to wait for the next one!

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  11. Good luck with your nano. That is SO cool about your students' combined word count. Kudos to them.

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  12. I loved comic books as a kid and need to get back to them. Your Halloween costumes sound awesome! You're kicking some NaNo butt, keep up the awesomeness!

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  13. I just started reading comics as well! I am starting waaay back during WW2 for my WIP planning, but also cheating with some new stuff (Loki - Agent of Asgard!). I am loving all of them so far. Best of luck with NaNo and your student write in - what a fabulous thing to do for your students :)

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  14. Yay for all that cool stuff going on in your Nano novel, and it's great to hear from you again. I've been reading some graphic novels, but more Doctor Who and 'Chew' lately than Marvel superheroes. Having a blast at least!

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Thanks for coming by! Please chime in!