What's Up Wednesday: The Happy Dance Version

What’s Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk for like-minded writers to meet and encourage one another. Everything you ever wanted to know about it (now, with 50 percent more!) is right here.

What I’m Reading: My sister has threatened me with a choice of 48 consecutive hours of Keeping Up With the Kardashians or a torturous death should I fail to read Code Name Verity next. And because I don’t want to die, I’ve agreed.

I’ve put it off for a long time now, not because I’m not interested (have you read the reviews?) but because I know this book is going to rock. (I mean, really, have you read the reviews?)

Fact About Tracey No. 457: Reading brilliant books while drafting or revising is a bad, bad idea. Bad like Miley Cyrus’s tongue theatrics. Bad like ketchup on anything but french fries and hamburgers.* Bad like … Hitler. (What? Code Name Verity takes place during the Holocaust, right?) Maybe that’s an overstatement, but it’s the kind of book, I imagine, that would make me doubt myself and my abilities as a writer and basically drive me to drink. Straight from the chocolate syrup bottle.

What I’m Writing: If I could tap dance (or, you know, do any other dance than the Awkward White Girl), I would post a video of me tap dancing for you on my blog. That would be to celebrate the fact that I finished my first round of revisions.

Woo hoo! Here, have a Carlton.**

I’m hoping to send the MS to a crit partner very soon. And I’m trying this new thing—one reader at a time. I usually send a draft to a couple people at a time, but since I’m writing a mystery and want to know if the reveal is surprising, I’m restraining myself. I don’t want to get to round six, ten, or eleventy billion of revisions and face a bunch of readers who know all of the twists and turns.

I’m also more than a touch nervous about this book. I pretty much love it. Even after revising the excrement out of it, I love it. I’m sure that will change as I edit it, but for now I’m hoping I’m not the only one. (Aside from The Sister, who in between death threats told me she loved it. Code Name: Biased.)

What’s Inspiring Me: If I ever get published I’m dedicating my book to Spotify. Seriously. Aside from playing some atrocious Pier One ads that make me want to bash my skull on something hard, it has been an amazing writing buddy. And by “it” I mean composer Jo Blankenburg. If you’re ever looking for some gorgeous instrumental music to write by, put his albums on repeat. Here are two of my favorites:

What Else I’ve Been Up To: I participated in Jessica Love and Kelsey Macke’s Sip Swap, during which YA writers put their names into a metaphorical hat then buy a mug for their secret sipper. The wonderful Delia Moran got me this one:

Isn’t it adorable?

I’ve also been gearing up for the 2013 YA Superlatives Blogfest. Katy Upperman, Alison Miller, Jessica Love and I have hosted this for three years now and it keeps getting better. You can read all the details here. To prepare, I’m trying to read the 2013 books I missed as fast as I can. (In the spirit of yearbook superlatives, I decided to cram like a coed.)

What’s up with you?

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* No, ketchup does not go on eggs. For the sake of my churning stomach do not mention that atrocity on my blog.

** Nothing will ever beat The Carlton. Nothing.