Wednesday, June 4, 2014

What's Up Wednesday!

Wow, it's been a while since I did one of these!

What's Up Wednesday is a blog hop created by Jaime and Erin to help writers keep in touch with each other.

SO, without further ado....

What I'm Reading
I've just finished reading the Kindrily series which I really enjoyed and am now starting on Sapphire Blue, the second book in the Ruby Red series. Although I don't seem to have a lot of time to read at the moment, I'm spending more time working on my writing instead :)

What I'm Writing
A week ago I completely gutted my WIP that I've been working on for a year and a half and pretty much started again. I kept the bones of the original wip but it needed a total make over so hopefully this will make it much better!

What Inspires Me Right Now
My photos from my travels. I had so many great ideas for new stories while I was travelling and so many of them are held within the thousands of photos I took. I honestly get lost in them every time I start looking through them. The life that many Africans live is somewhat similar to the life of my central character in my WIP (yet also very different), so I was able to really gain a lot of insight and inspiration from that. That and the gloomy London weather! (Summer, what summer?) A rainy day is always conductive for inspiration!

What Else Have I Been Up To?
Well I've just made my return to the blogging world after 9 months away. I wrote a post here about why i've been away and what I've been up to. More recently though, I've been working on cutting out grains and sugar from my diet, have been going to the gym, learning guitar and applying for job after job (with not a lot of success. Le sigh). I did go to a writing seminar on Monday night which was hugely interesting and i'll write a post about it soon :)

How is everyone in the blogosphere going? :)


15 comments:

  1. I just read your "I'm back" post and those photos look awesome. You've had quite an adventure over the past 9 months, and you really should write about it on the blog. :) I'm glad your writing has benefited from travel and the time away.

    All the best with the WIP, and welcome back, Samantha! :)

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    1. Thanks Colin! Perhaps I will write a post about it at some point :) It's really nice to be back!

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  2. Welcome back! It's nice to meet you. Good luck getting back into the swing of things! It sounds like it was time well spent.

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  3. Good luck learning guitar ^_^ I love playing music.

    Sometimes stripping a WiP down and rewriting it from the ground up is the best thing you can do. Hope it works out well for you.

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    1. Thank you! Me too, music is the best! I agree, I think it's the right thing to do. It's just a little frustrating at times!

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  4. Just read your "I'm Back" post too, and wow! So many awesome photos and so much travelling! Very, very cool. :-) I think it's nice to come back and take a look with fresh eyes at something you've been writing. I know it always helps me a lot. I'm currently doing a rewrite on one of my own stories, so I'm right there with you!

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    1. Hah yeah, it was just the fact that I knew my book was kind of crap and it needed a lot of work. Now I know I have a really solid story (i'm changing a really key part which is making it work much better) so I think this time around it'll be much happier I guess you could say!

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  5. Good luck remaking over your WIP. I have an old MS that I want to do that to someday... just letting it sit for awhile though while I work on other stuff first. I'm hoping by the time I go back to it, I'll be *able* to write it better.

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    1. I'm sure you will. I had a good four months away from my WIP and it really helped :) Good luck!!

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  6. Just read your 'I'm Back' post, all that travelling looks like it was so much fun! :o I'm especially jealous of that trek through Africa, that must have been amazing.

    Good luck with your WIP! As sad as it might be to start over I'm sure you'll be even more pleased with your end result. :)

    Have a great week!

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    1. Oh it was, Africa was an incredible experience! I'd go back in a heartbeat!
      I agree, it's sad letting go of the first draft and starting over but I'm sure it'll be worth it in the end!

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  7. Hey, Samantha! So glad you're back! Your travels sound amazing, and those pictures are just WOW! I especially love the one of you guys jumping with the pyramids in the background. That's so exciting that you finished your WIP, and I think it's great that you have a clearer idea now how to shape it into what you want. I can see how all your travelling experiences would influence your writing a lot. Good luck working on that! :)

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    1. Hey Erin, Thanks! It's so good to be back! Yeah, we got some amazing travels on our trip and that one with the pyramids is one of my favourites! Absolutely, it feels like such a relief to have proper direction for my WIP, it feels a lot less aimless writing it now! :)

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  8. I just checked Ruby Red out of the library, half on accident. I'm not sure it's exactly the kind of book I'm in the mood for right now, so I'm glad to here that you enjoy them. Maybe I'll give it a try.

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