Hello gentle reader,
It is time for another weekly check-in! I hope you had a great and productive week…
Quote of the Week
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
As a writer obsessed with her books, I find this quote reassuring.
Picture of the Week
Nature, by my friend M.LIN
Is it springtime yet?
Word Count of the Week
This week I added 4000 words to my Work In Progress, but because I also deleted 2000 words of backstory, it is now at 20,000 words. Considering I had a crazy week at work, I see this good progress.
TV Show of the Week
The Vampire Diaries (CW)
This week on The Vampire Diaries, a major character died and the episode was about grief. It wasn’t as good as the Buffy episode on the same topic (The Body, S5E16) but it did make me cry.
Film of the Week
Lincoln
I was disappointed with this movie. Not with the quality of it (it’s undeniably a great movie) but because of how boring it was. I just felt it was a very, very long lecture. Maybe it’s because I know the topic so well. But still.
Good News of the Week
This week, I won something! I won a first-page critique via the YAvengers blog and the lovely Stephanie Diaz commented on the first page of my Secret WIP. And it was positive feedback! *Cue happy dance*
ROW80 Check-In
My goal for this round is to write every day. This week again I managed to write
4 days out of 7. Again.
Links of the Week
On my blog I posted about what inspired me to write a novel set in London.
On There And Draft Again this week, Mara shared some Editing Tips and Rachel gave advice on How to design a book cover.
If you haven’t watched Kelsey Macke’s vlog series on writing you’re missing out. Her weekly videos are both funny and informative, and always inspiring.
Have you heard about a YA Sword and Sorcery debut called Poison by Bridget Zinn (coming out on March 12th 2013 from Disney Hyperion)? Bridget died in 2011 and her friends, agent and publisher are trying to spread the word about her novel. If you’re interested in joining the effort, check out this blog post by YA author Inara Scott.
Finally, Game of Thrones Season 3 has a trailer and OH MY IS IT MARCH 31 YET?
Next week
Next week on my blog there will be a book giveaway! Stop by on Thursday to enter!
How was your week? Make sure to share your writing progress and what inspired you this week in the comment section below!
EM Castellan 
I absolutely love your weekly round-up! So many interesting things!!!
Thanks! So happy to hear you enjoy it 🙂
Great news about winning the critique and even better news that it was positive about the secret WIP! Great word count again and 4 out of 7 days isn’t bad. I am the same and need to try and get in a daily habit rather than doing huge chunks but I guess maybe that is just how I work 🙂
Have a wonderful week!
I’m starting to wonder if I should adjust my goal… We’re on week 8 and I still haven’t managed a 7/7 lol. Oh well. Have a wonderful week too!
Winning a critique has got to be one of the best prizes, congratulations, and positive comments too. Sweet! Great job on the word count plus you nixed 2k in backstory, nice work. I enjoyed your post this week, thanks 🙂
Glad to hear it! Thanks for your continued support 🙂
Good work writing this week! 4 out of 7 is still better than half, so yay 😀 We’re just not going to talk about TVD..I am in more denial than Elena. Congrats on the critique and the good comments!! I’m really looking forward to your continued WIP reveal. Have a great week!
Well, good to know at least one person out there is excited about this reveal 🙂 Have a great week too!
Four days out of seven is great! It can be hard to fit in writing EVERY day. I wish I did a better job there, too. Thanks for all of the links! Interesting stuff. 🙂
Congrats on the critique! That’s awesome! Yay positive comments! 😀
I don’t think it’s just you – everything I hear about Lincoln seems to be saying that it’s long and boring. I haven’t actually seen it, but I don’t think I’ll be worrying. Maaaaybe I’ll give it a look on DVD when it’s out.
Critics for Lincoln were so positive, I felt bad while watching the movie, thinking “Something’s wrong with me, why can’t I like this movie?” So I’m glad to hear other people share my opinion!
Who doesn’t appreciate a positive critique? *Yeah!* I haven’t seen TVD this week yet – rushing over the stream it this minute! I haven’t seen Lincoln yet, but want to . And oh my – Game of Thrones! Can’t wait. Great round up as per! X
Thanks Shah! Hope you had a great week too! And don’t forget your tissues before watching TVD…
I had a smashing week. In large part, because I picked up my notebook for the first time this year. I’d abandoned my story (work writing zapped my time) but found I was miserable for want of working on it.
Another highlight: I rediscovered the ROW80 crew. Love the sense of community there. Thanks for participating, and helping to build a welcoming, productive place for writers. I appreciate it.
I’ll honestly say there are days when the ROW80 team is only thing that keeps me writing… I’m glad you had a great week, I hope to see you around the blog again soon!
Yay for winning that page critique. Valuable stuff!
4000 words is FANTASTIC for a week and no downplaying it by saying you edited out 2000 words. It still counts! Because editing is work, too. So actually, you did 4000 words worth of writing and 2000 words worth of editing. Great job!