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23
May

What’s Up Wednesday #3

What’s Up Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk, and you can find the link here

what's up wednesday

WHAT I’M READING

I’m midway through THIS SIDE OF JEALOUSY by Lili Peloquin, one of my Breathless Reads sisters! It’s the sequel to THE INNOCENTS and it’s sort of GOSSIP GIRL meets REVENGE with a haunting Gothic feel. Sisters Alice and Charlie move into their super-rich stepdad’s house in an exclusive beach community and start to uncover a lot of skeletons in the family closet. Alice in particular is haunted by their stepsister Camilla’s death last summer and starts to suspect it may not have been a suicide. In Book 2, the mystery continues and both girls become embroiled in love quadrangles. It’s good soapy fun! 

WHAT I’M WRITING

Nothing, at the moment! But after turning Cahill Book 3 in to my editor and then taking 2 weeks off, I’m starting to get a little itchy-brained. Fortunately:

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

I’ve got a writing retreat coming up! On Friday, six of my favorite writer friends and I are heading down to the Shenandoah Valley in VA on our third annual Memorial Day weekend retreat. This is my amazing stable of critique partners, and they’ve been there for me since before BORN WICKED came out and so supportive through all the ups and downs since. They are all incredible writers and smart, awesome women, and we have so much fun together! I’m looking forward to reading a bunch and getting back to work on my potential next-book. I haven’t even opened the document in the six months I was drafting CB3, and I haven’t really written on it in earnest since last Memorial Day, when my CPs demanded more pages! I’m excited to get back into it. Also excited for lots of writing talk and wine and cheese!

WHAT ELSE I’VE BEEN UP TO

Both my sisters are home from grad school right now, so The Playwright and I went up to PA to visit my family the last two days. It coincided nicely with a crazy hot spell; the last few days have felt more like July than late May. Fortunately, my parents opened their pool last week, so while the water was still a little on the chilly side, it was an awesome place to spend the afternoons! 

summerpool

*happy sigh* I love living in the city, but there’s something quintessentially summery about spending lazy afternoons reading and paddling around the pool in the sunshine. Our June is going to be crazy between STAR CURSED’s release and several book events, and July will be equally busy between CapFringe and a trip to Canada. But I’m already looking forward to a long weekend back in PA in early August!

20 Responses

  1. cds1689

    That's so cool you have a team of critique partners who've been with you from the first. I hope you all have a great time on your retreat. 🙂

  2. That pool definitely looks inviting. What a great thing to be able to spend time with family. The same goes for spending time away with your critique partners. I hadn't heard of Lili Peloquin's books before reading this post, so thanks for the recommendation!

  3. Erin Funk

    Your writing retreat sounds awesome! Good luck with working on your potential next-book. It always feels good to get back to a project that's been sitting on the back burner for a while. I hope you find lots of time to kick back and read soon and also that you enjoy your trip to Canada! 🙂

    1. Thanks, Erin! I'm really looking forward to both retreats – the one this weekend and the one coming up in July in Canada. I was in Toronto for only a day this Feb during the Breathless Reads tour, so I'm looking forward to having a chance to explore more!

  4. Alison Miller

    I am SO jealous of your writing retreat!!! Have fun! And yay to getting back to exciting projects – good luck!

    Also, out of curiosity – where in PA?! I grew up outside of Reading and most of my family still lives around Philly. I'm going back there in a month. Can't wait!

  5. katharineowens

    Nice! Sounds like you're keeping busy and I'm totally envious of your pool time. Up in CT we had one day this week that was CRAZY hot. I can't believe it this early in May.

    1. I know, right? I am not ready for it to be this crazy hot yet. Anything over 85 is not fun unless I'm at the pool, ha! But I think it's supposed to cool down this weekend.

    1. Can't wait to see youuu!

      I wish I was still young enough to have house parties at my parents'! They used to let me have friends come up for the weekend in college. Like 20 of us. Bless them.

  6. Yay for a writers' retreat! Those always sound so amazingly fun.

    Totally agree with you about summer not being summer without lazing around by a pool. I love this season!

    1. I highly recommend planning a local retreat if you can. They're awesome!

      You know, I don't love 85+ weather UNLESS I'm by a pool or at the ocean. Otherwise I hide indoors with my AC!

  7. Ooh, a writing retreat. *sigh* still on the "Someday" wishlist. So have extra fun for those of us that will be stuck writing on the couch like every other weekend of the year! 🙂

  8. Stephanie Allen

    GOSSIP GIRL + REVENGE + Gothic feel sounds amazing. I'll be on the lookout for that one!

    The concept of an outdoor pool is completely foreign to me, as it rarely gets warm enough in the PNW to go swimming outside. Looking at your picture is making me jealous 🙂

    1. THE INNOCENTS is super fun – imo, though the second one is better than the first. More slyly observant.

      Aw, I grew up having a pool so I'm super-spoiled. Indoor pools or public pools are just not the same!

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