What's Up Wednesday No. 3: The Self-Destruction Edition

For the past eleventy billion weeks I’ve been telling myself that I’d do another What’s Up Wednesday post, but then Tuesday would come around and make me an offer I couldn’t refuse.

Here’s a transcript of the actual event, kindly recorded by my house elf:

Tracey: Time to participate in What’s Up Wednesday, which I publicly told my blog readers I’d be doing every week. La la la… 

Tuesday: You could do that, yes you could. But I could also provide you with unparalleled inspiration. 

Tracey: Oh. 

Tuesday: Yes, oh. Wouldn’t you like to be touched by the muse for hours tonight? 

Tracey: Okay, yes please, sign me up and do you require my first-born child?

So that happened. And here’s what else:

What I’m Reading: In the spirit of my current WIP, a sci-fi mystery, I jumped at the chance to read another YA mystery. Prep School Confidential is so very different than what I’m working on, but I was anxious to see how Kara Taylor wove her mystery together. Also, I sounded really fun. And, in case you’re wondering, it is really fun. The story is fast paced, the mystery engaging, and the romance really cute. I’ll definitely pick up the sequel, which I hope will land the main character with the right boy instead of the one she ended up with. And that’s all I’ll say about that.

What I’m Writing: For a while there, I was sweating out a couple hundred words here and there. And it felt as if each and every one of those words squeezed from my pores in the most disgusting and painful way possible. It was as if I couldn’t get into the story because what was on the page wasn’t the same story as what was in my mind. The words weren’t lovely enough and the mystery wasn’t mysterious enough and the characters weren’t solid characters and I was a hack and the book was terrible.

I think you can grasp where my mind was. I had just hit the 25K mark and was sucker punched with doubt and insecurity. I take no credit for digging myself out of that slump. If it weren’t for nighty #ReadySetWrite writing sessions I may still be there. (Which is why you should join in. Peer pressure = awesome.*)

What Else I’ve Been Up To: Because my parents are moving, I’ve been going through a ton of my old schoolwork, tossing ridiculous things and reading stories I wrote in third grade that make me laugh. Once I’ve been through them all, I think I’ll have to post one here because they are hilariously bad.

Oh look, it’s me in third grade, when I killed myself in a story. (Bulletproof Tracey showed early proficiency with surprise endings. Spoiler: Tracey learns she’s not so bulletproof when a robber shoots her. The end.)

What’s Inspiring Me: This post by Chuck Palahniuk about thought verbs gave me a lot to, uh, think about. (Sorry, had to do it.)

And a certain quote helped push me out of my funk:

“The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes to everyone else’s highlight reel.” —Steve Furtick

Well said, Steve. Well said.

What have you been reading, writing, and so forth?

 ________

*In select rare occasions such as this.