I'm trying to figure out a cool way to integrate Friday the 13th lore into my new ms, but so far, I'm coming up with nada. Le sigh.
2. Just FYI, that's what I've been up to recently. I jumped right back into the second ms the day after I turned in the edits to Courtney, and I'm clicking right along. I would prefer to click along FASTER, but I think I'll need to go someplace to write without distractions or interruptions. But in general, it's going more smoothly and more fruitfully than it has gone in a long while. Yaaaay!
3. In fact, the only time when I didn't write a bit each day was this past weekend when I drive up to Virginia to visit some old friends. Old as in, they're around my age, but we have been close since eighth grade, which means that we've been friends for over half our lives. There's something epicly awesome about having friends who have known you that long. It's both grounding and inspiring, because they know exactly where you've been and how far you've come since age 13. I've been basking in how lucky I am since I came back.
4. Also, I just want to brag on myself: this was the first long road trip I took by myself. It ended up being 16 hours roundtrip, and I only got lost ONCE. For those of you who know me, you'll be significantly impressed with how I've overcome my terrible sense of direction.
What's that you're asking? Did I have GPS?
Yes, I must confess that I did - as well as Google Maps and Mapquest. But THAT'S NOT CHEATING!! I only got lost the time I trusted the GPS's directions over my own instincts. So, I still say, this is a triumph for all Shelbykind.
5. I've been on a rather strict reading regimen recently. Which basically means I'm gobbling up research in book form and letting it collect and fester as a sort of creative compost. (That image ended up being a lot more disturbing than I expected. Sorry!) But the book I can't stop thinking about is THE EMERALD ATLAS, the first installment of John Stephens' BOOKS OF BEGINNING trilogy.
It's got a dark Narnia/Tolkien feel to it, but with a sort of Series of Unfortunate events set up. There are orphans and dwarves and time travel and zombies and big bad wolves and huntsmen and wizards from ancient Egypt and lost cities and Russian Countesses and other cool elements that you might have seen in other middle grades. But this one jumbles them all together in fresh ways that also feel inevitable - or believable.
I confess: it took me a while to get into it - it felt a bit old-fashioned - but as soon as the eldest sister found the book mentioned in the title, I was sucked it like whoa. Even though I got it from the library, I'm probably going to purchase my own copy in hardcover. I missed having the book on my shelves after I returned it. - FSG did a great job packaging it, and the bright green endpapers were so pretty!!
---
Okay, I'm going to try to post this via email. I'll check to see if it's up after Blogger rises from the cyberdead...
