Author: kiperoo

kiperoo

September #Wipmadness Week 4!

It’s hard to believe we began last week with the midpoint of the month and we’ll close this week with the month’s end. This whole month flew by for me, but I ended up hitting my15K new words goal this past weekend! Since I’m on a roll, I’m going for 6K more this week so I can finish up the month with a nice, even 50K total. How are you all doing on your goals?

No mater how you did, I hope you’re still trying. It’s so motivating for me to see your shining faces here each week. We’ve been discussing what inspires us to work on our WIPs this month, and this week, I’ve been thinking a lot about one more great source of inspiration: you all, my #wipmadness writing buddies.

I can’t tell you how much it means to me to share the joys and challenges of the writing life with you all. I’ve read many of your wonderful manuscripts, cheered for you when you got agents (OK, sometimes screamed for you when you got agents!), and gave or gotten virtual hugs at the bumps on the road. Writing may be very solitary, but I definitely need this support network to motivate me as much as I need my WIP to inspire me on its own. So a huge thank-you to all of you!

And on that note, this week’s prize goes to:

Angelina!

Congratulations! Just let me know which book you want: Circle 9 or The Breakup Bible.

Hope you continue to find all kinds of wonderful inspiration–and writing friends–all around you. And best of luck racing to the finish line this last week of September!

Week 3 of #Wipmadness–Halfway There!

Welcome to week 3 of September’s #wipmadness! First off, the #wipmadness prize from the lucky Sox cap last week goes to:

Alissa!

Just let me know which of the remaining books you want (The Forest for the Trees, Circle 9, or The Breakup Bible), and I’ll get it off to you this week.

Who else is surprised that we’re starting week 3 already? I personally can’t believe how fast the days go by when I’m drafting. I managed to hit 10K new words on the WIP this month so far, and should be hitting 40K total on the WIP any day now. Even so, my head’s spinning a little at the thought that we’ve just hit the halfway point of the month. Craziness!

Like a manuscript, the middle point of a writing month can potentially get a little droopy–when you’re well past the inspiration of the beginning and far from the other end of the tunnel. At this auspicious point in the month, I thought I’d share something else that keeps me motivated while drafting: WIP-music.

I’m probably one of the only people I know without an iPod! Am I right? Do you all have one? I haven’t felt the need because we have a cool system set up at home. I buy CDs and then my husband rips and compress them into an OGG-Vorbis fomat, which compresses audio files much smaller than the typical .mp3 or .aiff formats, and then he loads them up on our “Squeeze Box” music server that holds our whole collection.

I treated myself earlier this month to the latest CD by Sigur Rós (Valtari), one of my favorite Icelandic bands.

Part of the reason I’ve loved the Icelandic setting of my WIP so much is because of the music that goes along with it. Sigur Rós and múm are two of my favorite bands, and I’ve been playing their albums pretty much every day for a little extra inspiration. I know some people need silence to write, but I often have to work with other people around me (my teeny desk is in our living room), so I’ve found the extra creativity surge from related music to be just the thing I need to help pull me into the WIP.

Anyone other wipsters find inspiration in WIP-related music? What’s on your playlist for your current WIP?

In the meantime, hope you all made some progress last week and that the coming week treats you well, too!

Twofer Tuesday: Novels With Beautiful, Beautiful Writing

I read a lot, and what makes me love a book more than anything else is beautiful writing. I’d be the type of agent (if I were ever an agent, which I wouldn’t be) who’s ask for literary, lyrical novels. The kind of novel that knocks me over with that type of prose is rare, and when I find one, I just want to hold it and savor each delicious word.

Unbelievably, I came across not one but two such novels (both debuts) in the past few weeks and I feel compelled to recommend them: RULES OF CIVILITY by Amor Towles and THE GIRL WITH BORROWED WINGS by Rinsai Rossetti.

RULES OF CIVILITY is a novel for adults, which means that just picking it up was a surprise for me, as I normally don’t even bother with books for adults since there are so many great YA novels on my TBR list. This is only the second book for adults I’ve read this entire year. Yet the first pages pulled me in with its atmospheric details and the writing made me weep with its beauty. There were so many zingers in this book I couldn’t possibly note them all, but I have to share one that sums up the tone of this gorgeous book:

For what was civilization but the intellect’s ascendancy out of the doldrums of necessity (shelter, sustenance and survival) into the ether or the finely superfluous (poetry, handbags and haute cuisine)?

The entire book is this beautiful. The. Entire. Book.

THE GIRL WITH BORROWED WINGS is a likewise gorgeously-written flight that had me sobbing by the end, and again, not so much by the engaging plot and complex characters, but by the beautiful prose. This might be the best-written romantic tension I have ever read, and it goes on and on in the most wonderful and perfectly believable tease. With that in mind, a teaser for you:

But having him beside me, with my father’s itch clawing into my back, my fingers shaky because of what I had just put them through, and things beating to and fro, in one direction then another, inside of me, was already more than I could stand.

Can you even stand waiting for more? I devoured this book in one sitting.

I’m already looking forward to more books from both of these authors and in the meantime, these books have edged their way into my short list of favorite books of all time. It’s been a pretty good month to be a reader. 🙂 Hope you enjoy them, too!

 

Yippee for Week 2 of September #Wipmadness!

Big cheers for everyone who made it to Week 2 of September #wipmadness and hello to anyone joining us! I hope you’re all feeling proud of the progress you made in Week 1–large or small. To celebrate, I tossed your names in my trusty Sox cap and picked a winner for last week’s book:

Deb Marshall step right up!

Just let me know your address and which book you’d like (Circle Nine, League of Strays, The Breakup Bible, or The Forest for the Trees) and I’ll send it off to you. Everyone else, be sure to comment for your chance to win this week!

Continuing with this month’s theme of WIP love, I thought I’d dive into the world of visual inspiration and tempt you all with some photos from my trip to Iceland that have been inspiring me while drafting my current WIP.

Viking ship replica

Blue Lagoon

Reykjavík

Heading to Laugardalslaug

Geothermal greenhouses

Although I didn’t get to spend as much time in Iceland as I’d like (which means a return trip must be in my future), I love going there in my imagination every day, and images like this help remind me what a haunting place it is.

What kind of visuals motivate you in your current WIP? I’d love to take a look at any links to pinterest boards, artwork, photos, colors, or textures that have been an inspiration! While you’re at it, feel free to share how you’re doing on your #wipmadness goal for the month!

The Next Big Thing

The Next Big Thing

Thanks to Jaye Robin Brown for tagging me in this fun post! It gives me the chance to talk about the manuscript I’m working on and share that love with some friends. I’m tagging #wipmadness buddies Patrice, JennaWren, and GirlParker!

1. What is the working title of your book? 

Brightest Midnight

2. Where did the idea come from the book?

Ever since visiting Iceland, I’ve wanted to set a book there, so the setting came first. The landscape there is so haunting and natural phenomena so beautiful that I knew what I saw would affect my characters the same way. Plus, I wanted to get them up into the huge sky, complete with its Northern Lights and Midnight Sun.

3. What genre is your book? 

YA futuristic thriller

4. Which actors would you choose to play the characters in a movie? 

Native Icelanders would make the most sense, so probably no one famous. 😉

5. What is a one sentence synopsis of your book? 

Seventeen-year-old Lilja joins the Icelandic Sky Patrol Corporation’s internship program to fly the big skyships, but when she discovers their plans to harness Iceland’s geothermal energy as a powerful weapon, she’s not sure whose help to enlist in stopping them—her old boyfriend on land or her new best friend on the ship.

6. Will your book be self-published or repped by an agency? 

I’m currently seeking rep for my completed ms, and I’m looking for someone to rep all my work.

7. How long did it take you to finish your first draft? 

Still going!

8. What other books would you compare yours to in this genre? 

STARTERS by Lissa Price and the ACROSS THE UNIVERSE series by Beth Revis (though mine takes place in the stratosphere rather than outer space).

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book? 

See my answer to Question 2 above.

10. What else about your book my pique a reader’s interest?

See my manuscript Love List here!

Welcome to Week 1 of September #Wipmadness!

First off, a quick introduction to any of you in the interwebs not familiar with the glory of #wipmadness. In March of 2011, Denise Jaden kicked off a “March Madness” writing challenge filled with blog hops every day of the month to motivate fellow writers to work on their goals: writing, revising, and even reading. Over on twitter, there was this strange basketball thing going on at the same time, so we had to hunt for a unique hashtag and thus #wipmadness was born.

#Wipmadness was so majorly awesome that other writers started volunteering to host a month-long weekly check-in on their blogs so that the madness could continue. The best part is that it’s never too late to join in. If you’re working on a WIP and could use a little motivation, you have come to the right group!

Like many of the hosts before me, I’m also going to be offering up PRIZES for lucky commenters on the blog this month. I’ve got four awesome books to share (three YA novels and one on craft) and will send one out each week.

If that’s not enough, we’ll be chatting here this month about the things that make us love our projects! *hugs project* Last week, YA Highway asked about our project’s Love List, and I thoroughly enjoyed coming up with my own list and reading the cool lists that other contributors posted. I’m going to be continuing my draft on that project this month with a goal of 15K new words, and I couldn’t be happier. Who wouldn’t want to spend a month in virtual Iceland?

What about you, Wipsters? Care to share an item or two from your own WIP Love List? Anyone else have specific goals for the month? I’d love to hear them!