What's Up Wednesday: The Where I've Been Edition (With Cat Photos)

Well, hellooooooo there, strangers! If it looks like I'm blinking a lot in the bright sunlight, it's because I've just crawled out of the deadline cave. And I survived! Because I cannot word anymore, I'm easing back into blogging with a What's Up Wednesday (the weekly meme started by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funke, go sign up on either of their blogs!):

What I'm reading:

Not much since early August, but I'm commencing a major reading binge, starting with these lovelies:

What I'm writing:

The sequel to THE LOST PLANET! I turned in my completed draft to my editor Sunday night, and I'm feeling about a million pounds lighter. I had fun writing it, but it's no joke what people say about the first book under contract being a completely different animal than a book you write in your own free time. I learned a lot about what it takes, particularly energy- and focus-wise, to produce a book in a year, and I plan to use what I learned to make writing the next book go a little more smoothly. Because I'm not going to lie, there were some panic moments and maybe even an epic meltdown in there somewhere. Whew! I can laugh now because I'm on the other side.

What inspires me right now:

Having free time for the first time in six weeks where I don't feel the constant pressure of a deadline. I haven't entirely lost that feeling of productive churn, and I'm trying to harness it to pick away at some new projects. More sequel ideas, and one Shiny New Idea that hit me like a hurricane while I was revising and has been vying for my attention ever since.

What else I've been up to:

Um, besides my day job, that's about it. I've been a serious house rat for the past month, swearing off the gym, turning down social invitations, and ordering delivery when my refrigerator ran out of food. Luckily for my productivity, my husband has been out of town for most of the past month.

One thing I did keep up on was my Instagram account (which is all cats and food, because what else?), so I'm going to paste in some shots of from this time period. As you can see, I was not entirely alone. I had my two house goblins, Jack and Simon:

Nothing to see here. 

I don't function without breakfast. Every day.

My desk weasel.

I ate a lot of kale. What can I say? I live in California. And kale is delicious. I pretended I was a vegan for part of the month.

Until my husband came home for Labor Day, and cooked up this 9-lb rib roast.

We took our cat out on the patio on a leash. He loves his leash. Or at least the outdoor time that it brings. The leash is more like a hobble.

My cats are there for me when I'm writing.

There when I'm revising.

There with me burning the candle on those long, late nights.

And finally, a shot from the final stretch. Husband sent flowers and a sweet note of encouragement. Awwwww.

And that's where I've been! What have you been up to?

On Wordiness

Sorry for the lack of posts last week--I know you were afraid I'd died of the common cold. Nope, I caved and went for some antibiotics, and I'm feeling almost like myself again. Did anyone watch the Golden Globes last night? Maybe I need to watch this movie again, but I did not love The Descendants when I saw it in the theater last month. I think my perception was skewed by my expectation that it would be funny like Sideways, when it was actually horribly depressing.

So I was going over my WIP recently, for the millionth time, and I have to say it never fails to amaze me how many superfluous words I end up cutting every time I do a pass. So many words! I think I tried to use every possible word on my first draft. I feel like a gardener doing hedge trimming. Are my words sprouting words?

I once thought I might write literary fiction (why? were you like this too?), and so my affection for pretty pretty language still comes through in occasional fits of wordiness. Why use one adjective to describe something when you can use two? Why not include that beautiful turn of phrase, even if it makes the reader scratch his/her head? One nice thing about wordiness though: when you've gained enough objectivity to be able to see it, trimming it out is extremely satisfying. Are you like me, or do you write lean and flesh it out later?

Happy Martin Luther King Day! We're all in this together, so let's be good to one another.

Random Bits of Friday

Early Friday morning. An overpriced hotel room in northern California. Bleary eyes, no coffee. Yet.

• I get to fly home this afternoon. This week has kicked my butt, both literally and actually--getting up super early every morning has meant that there is coffee flowing in my veins, but I also ran into the bedframe on my first night in my hotel room, giving myself what may be my most impressive bruise ever on my leg. It's still hot to the touch, four days later. Bella Swan ain't got nothing on me.
• I don't know if it's the exhaustion or if it's the hotel room, but the mad revisions I was planning to do in the evenings here did not get done. No whining--it is what it is.
• Tomorrow, my dear husband is flying to Turkey for a conference. I was almost going to go with him, since, as you may know, this is also where he is from and so we would get to visit his family. Alas, there were too many complications with a trip this last-minute, so I will be staying home with the cat.
• WRITING CAVE AT MY HOUSE THIS WEEKEND! WOO!
• I have at least three little notebooks that I have bought or been given with the purpose of always having them nearby to scribble down notes. And where are they? Stashed somewhere in my house. Which means that my revision notes show up on the backs of envelopes and receipts, and on a wide assortment of hotel stationary.

What I wanted to post was a shot of my crazy bruise, but that might be weird.

Happy Friday everyone! Have a good weekend!