What's up Wednesday

I'm trying a new thing here!

What’s up Wednesday is a weekly blog-hop created by sisters Jaime Morrow and Erin L. Funk, intended to help writers keep connected. Click on either link for more information and to sign up, if you want to join in!

What I’m Reading

I'm about two-thirds of the way through The Big Knockover: Selected Stories and Short Novels by Dashiell Hammett. It's a collection of Continental Op stories. From the book blurb: "Short, thick-bodied, mulishly stubborn, and indifferent to physical pain, Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op was the prototype for generations of tough-guy detectives." I'm enjoying it immensely because the writing is just so good. A reviewer said "sparse and brutal" and that pretty much nails it. *hearts*

What I’m Writing

I just finished editing the second draft of a short story, "The Collapsing Hills" (a post-apocalyptic survival tale), and have sent it off to one of my beta reading buddies.

I've started working on a outline for a novel, The Free City. It's actually a story I've written before, only previously it was a trilogy (because my newbie writer self thought that was a good idea. Eeegads!) This version will be a standalone novel. It's a dystopian tale of revolution, told from two POVs--a teenage girl raised in an ultra-repressive religious dictatorship, and a man from a white-supremacist society. Yeah, they have issues. Ultimately I hope to convince some publisher to touch it with a ten foot pole ;)

What Else I’m Up To

For the past month I've been distracted by the World Cup; out of the 64 games, I must have watched at least 50. But now that it's over, I'm turning myself back into a non-sports fan... oh wait, gotta pay attention to MLS now =D

What is inspiring me right now

A friend who recently earned a life coaching certification is now starting up her life coaching practice, and invited me to do a few sessions with her, pro bono. Life coaching has various definitions. The way she explained it, it's not therapy and it's not career counseling; it's more about moving forward in your life. The emphasis is on creating the life (personal and/or professional) that you want, rather than on "fixing things that are broken". I've had two sessions with her so far and it's been really helpful. I have learned some interesting (and hopefully, useful) things about myself, that's for sure.