Currently: An Embarrassing Teen Tracey Confession

As part of my 2016 goal to be the kind of blogger who actually blogs, I’m joining the biweekly Currently post. I will do my best to make my supremely uneventful life sound thrilling.

READING

I’m doing this thing where I wait for an entire series to be published before picking up book one. Better to binge read, my dears. I’ve only been moderately successful. (Patience isn’t really my thing.)

I read Cinder. Then I told myself I’d wait until book four to read on. Except I gave up and read Scarlet. And that was great, aside from the yearlong wait for Cress, which I didn’t read because I knew I’d be forced to wait a year for Winter.

I waited. And waited.

It was a really long time.

Then, this weekend, I finally started Cress. Followed it up with a serving of Winter, which has kept me glued to my Kindle whenever I’m not doing the day job thing to keep books in my bookcase.

I’m nearing the end and still loving it. All of the characters are great, but I’m not sure anyone can beat Scarlet and Wolf—especially their reunion. Those two melt my icy heart.

WATCHING

So. I saw The Martian.

Wait, first a disclaimer. When I was younger I was in love with Matt Damon. I clipped a photo of him from a magazine, framed it, and kept it in my room. It was going to be something we laughed about when we were married.* “Hahaha, darling. Remember when I had a photo of you on my bureau before we even met? Oh, how droll.”

Not that I thought about it much. Anyhow, you should know that before I tell you what I thought of The Martian. I might be biased.

I was worried, going in, that it was going to be one long snoozefest, what with him being trapped alone in space. Alone. But I figured, why not? (See also, Matt Damon.)

And it was good. Funny and interesting—science fiction, yes, but with a hefty dose of realism. It felt plausible that this man could live on Mars, in those conditions, for as long as he did. (Please keep in mind that I’m no botanist or physicist or person who enjoys long division, so realistic to me might not be realistic to someone with a sciencey brain.)

LISTENING TO

This actually has nothing to do with Jared Leto’s face. (Though you’re welcome for that.) I’ve been listening to this on repeat as I plan my next WIP, which has some boy vs. girl elements. This is war, indeed.

THINKING ABOUT

Female friendship. When I was in college, I studied abroad in New Zealand and became quick, close friends with a group of girls, most of whom I hadn’t met before. We studied together. Traveled together. Jumped out of planes together.

Typical girl bonding.

I wanted to write a story with a group of girls who were family, who had lives outside one another but whose lives centered on one another. I wanted to write a story about what we’ll do for our friends, what it means to be best friends—and all the messy, complicated stuff that comes with it.

Now let’s see if I can pull it off…

WISHING

Freezer repair didn’t cost $600. That new fridge/freezers didn’t cost even more than that. That I was Elsa and could create my own freezer system with a flick of my wrist.

MAKING ME HAPPY

Pumpkin the Raccoon, who has her own Instagram profile and 570,000 followers. And who is, undeniably, the cutest raccoon ever.

What’s new with you?

*This was my backup plan in case my thing with Leonardo DiCaprio fell through.