Now what are you reading? Writing? Editing? Watching? and Listening to?

Some of you may remember this feature from this post. And from that one other post when I did this that I can't find because . . . laziness.

Speaking of laziness, I feel like this is sort of a cop-out post because I'm too busy to write something real. Sorry, guys. Maybe I'll write you a real blog post after I finish my book (see below). But also it's not a cop-out because I genuinely have great answers to all of these questions right now.

So. Here we go.

1. I am reading The Glass Sentence by S. E. Grove. I found this book at Dolly's in Park City on Saturday.  I wasn't planning to buy anything, but I got sucked in by the premise. It's so cool! A world where every geographic area is in a different time period? There's something so Miyazaki-crossed-with-Phillip-Pullman about that. I just couldn't resist. And so far it's living up to the premise quite nicely. I'm not quite as instantly in love with Sophie Tims as I was with Lyra Belacqua, but I definitely want to know what happens to her.

I don't normally buy books without reading them first, but this one was only $10 and I like supporting independent bookstores. When you think about it, that's about the same price as a movie ticket and it'll take me longer to read this than it would've taken me to see a movie, so even if I only read it once and then give it to someone else, it's probably still worth it.

2. In case you missed all of my posts on social media lately, I am writing Time to Share. Sorry if that's been annoying, by the way. But I'm really grateful for the little bursts of support you guys have been giving me. All in all, I feel like it's going quite well. I think I'll finish in a week or so. Maybe a little longer. But I'm on the downhill slope now and I feel like I'm gaining momentum, or at least getting into the groove of it.

(Click here if you want to preorder it.)

3. I'm going to fudge this one. Instead of talking about what I'm editing (test questions for a healthcare management test at work), I'm going to tell you about a book I'm reading that hasn't come out yet. It's called That Girl Darcy  and I'm reading it so I can endorse it. I freaking love it, guys. It's Pride and Prejudice, but it's a gender reversal, so Lizzie is Elliot, a semi-nerdy skater boy whose cousin Jake (not Jane) looks like an Abercrombie model and is super nice. He's falling for this bubbly blonde. Meanwhile Elliot is trying to write for the school paper, but Christian de Burgh the editor and school president, has it out for Elliot, even though Christian's assistant Colbie Collins has a major crush on Elliot. But he's crushing on this super cute girl Gabby Whitney. And then there's Darcy. She's an enigma. She thinks "skateboarders" are lame. And all she and Elliot do is argue over their shared desk in advanced English.

Guys, I really can't do this book justice. I just wanted you to know about it because it's been rocking my week. I'll keep you posted when I figure out its release date and all that jazz.

4. What am I watching? Well . . . if your name is Kevin and you're my editor, then nothing. I have been dutifully writing my book with no breaks.

But in reality, the fourth season of Once Upon a Time got added to Netflix last week, and I'm weak, okay? I know I should be writing. But I forgot how addictive that show is. It's excellent for binge watching because it always ends in a cliffhanger. In fact, I've taken to watching until the middle of an episode and stopping right before the twist. There's usually a mid-point where everything is going pretty well and my attention starts to lag. I've found out from anguished experience that that mid-point is a much better stopping point than the end of an episode.

It's kind of ridiculous because it's really not high-quality television. Honestly, it takes no mental effort whatsoever to watch this. The dialogue is often clunky. The plots are formulaic. (Obviously. They're based on fairy tales. It doesn't get more formulaic than that.) Plus you get the general sense that the writers have at best a tenuous hold on their world and its rules. At any given moment, they may decide to bend some established principle for mere convenience. I'm just saying, I've definitely seen better. But for whatever reason, I still enjoy it. So something must be working for them.

5. What am I listening to? This week's song is The Wolf by Mumford and Sons.

I have this thing where when I'm writing, I like to listen to stuff on repeat. Like those ten hour long videos on youtube? Those are my fave. Sadly, there is no 10-hour version of this song, so I just have to keep hitting repeat manually.

But it's worth it.

There is, however, an hour-long version of this song, which was my fave a couple of weeks ago.

And before that it was Girls Like You.

All of these are great for listening to over and over and over again when you're writing. You know, in case you are just as crazy as I am and you need songs like that for your writing sessions.

And speaking of writing, I should get back to it.

Stay tuned for some exciting announcements about upcoming author events like Comic Con. (Who's excited?) I've also got a couple other signings in the works, so I'll post about them once I know what the actual plans are.