What's Up Wednesday: To the Cave! Edition
WHAT'S UP WEDNESDAY
I'm catching the What's Up Wednesday hot air balloon from the blogs of Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk. Go to Jaime's blog to add your link and make the rounds to get to know other bloggers!
WHAT I’M READING
I wrapped up my Miranda Keannelly book-a-thon and also read
THE ELITE by Kiera Cass. This week I’m diving into a manuscript by one of my
CPs and I’m super excited to read on!
WHAT I’M WRITING
Last Wednesday night the YA Buccaneers hosted their first
Word Sprint (there’s another tonight! Join in!), and I figured that since it’s not
always easy to rack up words while revising and I might end up with a negative
number, I’d start on a new idea that’s been brewing for a couple of
months. In one way, yay me! I kicked out 3,700 words that night, but in another
way, bad idea. I was so taken by my characters and the setting that I kept at
it for two more nights. I had to pry myself away from that story and get back
to WFTS.
I’m happy to say that I once again met my Ready. Set. Write!
goal of writing every single day.
My current path has been leading me back to TheWriting Cave and I can no longer prolong the inevitable. I’ve had trouble
keeping up with your blogs and I’m sorry to have missed all your updates, but
with a deadline and a family vacation nearing, it’s time to step away from
the internet. It’s time to go full-on Writing Cave. I don’t plan to post here
again until late-August and I’ll be limiting my twitter time to #ReadySetWrite dates,
which have been SO ENORMOUSLY HELPFUL, especially when I need a drill sergeant
to whip me back in shape (and get me off facebook).
See you around August 19 and at #ReadySetWrite.
WHAT ELSE I’VE BEEN UP TO
I’m up to my eyeballs in events at work. Swimming lessons
are over and both kids passed their levels! Hurray! We spent Saturday and
Sunday afternoon at my sister’s pool.
This Friday HG and I are going with our friend Shawn to the
Skyline Music Festival featuring the LP Tour at Target Field. Okay, I have to
say that I’m completely geeking out about this. Some of my favorite bands from
the 90s are playing their biggest albums.
The details - from the Twins website:
Soul Asylum performing Grave Dancers UnionCited as one of the most influential bands of the 90s, Minnesota-native Soul Asylum's "Grave Dancers Union" sold more than three million albums. After spending 76 weeks on the Billboard charts, the album was certified triple platinum. The album features hits like "Somebody to Shove," "Black Gold," and "Runaway Train," which was awarded a Grammy in 1993 for Best Rock Song. Fans of the band will relish the chance to hear the album in its entirety live at Target Field.
Big Head Todd and the Monsters performing Sister SweetlyFrom a band with a quirky name and a fabulously original sound, this breakthrough album went platinum, spending more than a year on the Billboard Top 200. The album launched with three hit singles "Bittersweet," "Broken Hearted Savior" and "Circle," all of which reached Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart.
Matthew Sweet performing GirlfriendMatthew Sweet's third album, "Girlfriend," has been called the "best power pop album of the 1990's" (A.V. Club). The album hit #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and went gold in the U.S. on the strength of its two singles "Divine Intervention" and "Girlfriend."
Gear Daddies performing various songsOriginally from Austin, Minn., Gear Daddies released three popular albums, becoming an important part of the Twin Cities music scene. "Boys Will be Boys" and "Zamboni" are classic tunes that helped put Minnesota on the 1990s music map.
I’m most excited for Matthew Sweet and Girlfriend – one of
those definitive albums that, you know, changed my life and all that.
WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW
I’m inspired by all you wonderful #ReadySetWrite writers.
Thank you for keeping me in line! I’m inspired by me mates, those scallywag YA
Buccaneers, who continue to work hard to make this project AWESOME!
Before I disappear into the Cave, tell me - What's up with you? What are some of YOUR definitive, life changing albums?
Here's some deliciously Sweet candy for your viewing and listening pleasure:
Have fun in your writing cave!
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to Friday as well.
ReplyDeleteGreat topic!
If I have to think about an album that was transformative, I'd have to go with MetallicA's self-titled release from summer 1991. Heading to school. It started a bunch of new chapters for me: dorm life; new friends; getting into harder, darker tone, deep lyrics (in part because I started paying more attention to the earlier MetallicA albums as well). A few weeks after that album was released and we were working through the nuances of dorm life, you had Nirvana's Nevermind, then Pearl Jam's Ten, then Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger. Those all came out in a few weeks time.
So, maybe it's not just one album? MetallicA's release being first among them and at that time would have to be the catalyst. I made some of my best friends listening to those albums. Those all hold a lot of memories and emotion for me.
Pearl Jam's Ten is still amazing to me. My bro Y sis-in-law's just saw them at Wrigley Field in Chicago; even with the rain they said it was amazing and such a cool experience to see them there.
DeleteI would have loved to have seen that show!
DeleteGood luck with your vacation and with the Writing Cave. If you survive both, we hope to see you on the other side. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I do the very same thing, get so interested in shiny new project that I totally neglect my revisions. Though truthfully, sometimes even after a small break, my brain has managed to work through a few issues on its own and I'm more productive that way.
Hope you have a fantastic week and good luck with everything. We're all pulling for you. ;)
That's really cool that the bands are playing complete albums. I really like that concept and I think it works tremendously for nostalgia acts. While I wouldn't really care to see Soul Asylum that much, I have to admit I would see them play that iconic album. And I also love Matthew Sweet! That takes me back in a good way. Jimmy Eat World did a tour where they played Clarity 10 years after it was released, and that felt really special because of how much of an impact that album had on a lot of their fans.
ReplyDeleteI am with you on having some trouble starting a new project while revising something else. Which is why I haven't officially started my new project though I'm dying to! I might just have to do it and set the other thing aside for a bit. Good luck balancing both projects. I think it's possible, it just takes some coordination.
Awe, the allor of the shiny new idea, it's a dangerous intisement. I hope you can make all the progress you need to in your revisions while you're hiding in your writing cave. That way when you come back out you can dive into your SNI without feeling guilty about it.
ReplyDeleteHappy Writing!
Great job meeting your writing goals, I think it might be time for me to go into the Cave as well.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that I never really was an album person. I've always liked several songs rather than buying the entire album. Some of my firsts were Britney Spears and Black Eyed Peas but I have to same that Lady GaGa's Fame Monster was the first album I bought for myself, on my eighteenth birthday. Even though I don't listen to it as much, playing it while driving in my car is like a wonderful memory lane trip.
Good luck in the Writing cave!
ReplyDelete3700 words? Wow!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your writing cave retreat. May it prove productive and full of motivating sweet treats. Have an awesome camping trip too :)
yay for meeting your goals! I should set a write everyday instead of a high number. Sounds more doable. Have fun in the cave! Bring snacks!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the Writing Cave! I'm happy for you that you have a deadline, deadline means good things are happening.
ReplyDeleteMy defining albums are Jimmy Eat World's Clarity, Madonna Like a Virgin, Carole King's Tapesty, and Linda Rondstadt Greatest Hits. I am nothing if not diverse.
Have fun in your Writing Cave! It's always good to have a big block of uninterrupted writing time.
ReplyDeleteMy definitive life albums include Quadrophenia, All Things Must Pass, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme, Empty Glass, and anything by The Monkees.
I'll see you on the flip side of the Writing Cave. Good luck (but you don't need it because You've. Got. This.)
ReplyDeleteIs it wrong that one of the most life-changing albums I've heard came out recently? Most people seem to claim these albums by their early 20s. I'm sure there was one back in the 80s I listened to relentlessly (A-ha, for example) but I'm sure that had more to do with my affinity for the lead singer than anything that included rational thought.
I claim Some Nights by Fun, because I love every song on the album (for the lyrics this time).
Good luck in the writing cave! I think I'm nearly ready to do the same thing. I have so much revising to do and while I love blogging, it's so distracting right now.
ReplyDeleteI'm jealous of that concert! Life changing albums for me include Soundgarden's "Superunknown", Run-D.M.C.'s eponymous first album, The Who's "Live at Leeds", and Lauryn Hill's "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill." That's just the short list. :)
:) Don't feel too guilty for writing on another project! At least you're writing something. Personally I can never focus on the wip when it's being revised. I have to get away from it for a while.
ReplyDeleteGood luck in the cave!
*throws chocolate and coffee for the cave!* Ah, it's so good to know limits...this is such a great post and reminder that it's alright to step away for a little while.
ReplyDelete(hugs!)
You ROCKED the Word Sprint! Woot! Have a fabulous time in the writing cave. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm SO impressed that you wrote so much in that sprint! That's amazing. I'm excited to join in next month. :)
ReplyDeleteGood luck with all of your writing in the cave! See you on Twitter. :)
I am geeking out over that music fest, too! Hope you have an amazing time and good luck with things in The Writing Cave!
ReplyDeleteWow! Great job on your WIPs -- both new and old! Enjoy your vacation/blogging break!
ReplyDelete