Thursday Things: Music And Caffeine

Happy Thursday! Hope y'all had a lovely Forth of July!

It's been a while since I've done Thursday Things. You know, a random compilation of...randomness. In list form, natch. So here we are.

1. First, I present to you CARLY RAE JEPSEN'S NEW SONG WITH OWL CITY!! Whoa, sorry for the caps. I got excited. You know Carly Rae Jepsen? The girl who sings Call Me Maybe? This new song does not disappoint. Prepare to have a dance party! Good Time by Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen:

2. Okay, I have to give you another song because I really like this one. Don't worry...it's not another crazy one. It's just awesome. Ho Hey by The Lumineers:

3. Lately I am obsessed--OBSESSED!!--with iced caramel macchaitos from Starbucks. It's an iced vanilla latte with CARAMEL DRIZZLED IN IT OMG. Behold, and then get one for yourself. You can thank me later.

Music and caffeine have pretty much been sustaining me this week. Oh, who am I kidding? Music and caffeine pretty much sustain me every day of every week. Let me know if you have any good song recommendations! I'm always looking for new music. And if you try the iced caramel macchiato and adore it, tell me so I can be pleased with myself :)

Thursday Things

Happy Thursday! Seriously...one day closer to the weekend. I don't know about you, but this week is DRAGGING for me. Working in an office is hard, you guys! How do you do it?!

Anyway, some things for this fine Thursday.

1. The rewrite. Oh, the rewrite. About two weeks ago I made the decision to scrap my WiP and start over. I'm hoping to have 15k done by the end of the month, but I can already tell that it was the right decision. It's the same but slightly different, and better. The beginning will have to be rewritten again during revisions, but I won't even think about that right now. I'm excited to start writing the really new parts that made me want to rewrite in the first place :)

2. I've finally, FINALLY started working out again. Wooooo! Okay, don't be too impressed, it's only a 20 minute kickboxing video 5 days a week. BUT STILL. I'm getting all kinds of crazy now, what with working in the office again AND doing some sort of physical activity! It's a seriously good workout and I can already see a smidge of a difference! Crunches also help. Abs, I WILL have you again!

3. I'm rereading The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. I just couldn't help myself. I started reading another book, got through two chapters, and had to stop so I could visit Thisby again. Her writing style is just my favorite. If you haven't read The Scorpio Races yet, I highly recommend it!

4. I don't know if I've mentioned this, but our new apartment doesn't have a dishwasher. As in, I must HAND WASH all of our dishes. I will never, ever, ever take a dishwasher for granted again. But on the bright side, all that time with my hands pruning in hot water and suds is good novel brainstorming time! Right? Right??

5. I am obsessed with candles lately. Especially Yankee Candles. Though they are a ripoff, I will gladly shell out my money for the scent of Kitchen Spice wafting around the house!

6. This is my favorite song of the week, possibly the month. Makes me want to write a book about boys :)

Thursday Things

Some random things for this fine Thursday:

1. If winning $20 in Fandango Bucks to see The Hunger Games sounds like something you'd like (OF COURSE that's something you'd like!),  click here to go to Jessie Humphries's blog, because she's doing a giveaway :)

2. We are moving...again. HAHAHA...HAHA...ha... *collapses*
Seriously, we just moved in December. I'm taking this MaRcH MaDnEsS thing to a whole new level, apparently. Anyway, The Husband and I are going to be saying goodbye to Connecticut and hello to Long Island where we grew up! It will be a fun adventure, I'm sure. I just have no idea how I'm going to keep up with my writing goals while packing and then moving. I think the answer is lots of caffeine and little to no sleep, which sounds so appealing, doesn't it?

3. Speaking of MaRcH MaDnEsS, I totally made my week 1 goal of 7,500 words! Woo! This week...um...not yet. Not YET, I say, because even though things are crayzay at the moment and I'm totally behind on word count and it's basically the end of the week, I'm going to seriously try to catch up! For realz. I promise. :) (I'm suddenly reminded of some of you who can write thousands of words in one day. TEACH ME YOUR SECRETS!)

4. OMG YOU GUYS, DAMON The Vampire Diaries is back on tonight after a short hiatus that felt like an enternity!! I'm...slightly excited about it.

*I could rip your heart out with my Vamp brutality*
*Or maybe I'll confess my undying love for you*
*But probably, I'll just smolder*

5. I've been listening to this song constantly, non-stop, all the time since January. Why? Because it's the song that encompasses the mood of New Novel. And I'm still not sick of it! I love Florence so much! I have other songs in a playlist that I made for New Novel, and especially for when I'm writing in a different character's POV, but this song is still totally the theme song. :)


How are you guys doing with your monthly goal if you have one? Do you watch The Vampire Diaries? (TELL me you do! Seriously. If you don't, then you need to start, STAT.) Is there one song that seems like it's made for your novel?

Thursday Things

Ahoy! Three things for Thursday:

1. I am 17,000 words into New Novel. It's going smashingly for the most part, except that I had to delete a scene the other day. I hate deleting, because it feels like wasted work. I'm glad I caught it early though. 

2. Two words: Treasure Trolls. Ever since Jessica Naccari mentioned them I've been obsessing over getting some for my desk! Do you remember them? I got a whole play-set for my birthday once. Ugh, I wish I didn't throw it out! Wouldn't they be cute for a desk or office? Just a few. Not a whole army because that would be creepy.

3. Another obsession: Ghost Towns by Radical Face. Actually, I'm obsessed with the entire album. I've been listening to it non-stop all week. Listen to it, and then if you know what's good for you, listen to the whole album and buy it :)

Thursday Things

Happy Thursday! Although today feels like Friday to me. Don't you hate when that happens? But it's all good, because I'm making cookies later. *Grin*

Alright, here are some THINGS:

1. I have 5,000 words written in New Novel so far. It's a scary, exciting place to be. Scary, because now I remember how hard it is to start a book, and because I want so much to get it right. Exciting, because I love this story! I'm also reminded of how I  have no method of writing a book. Really, it's just kind of a jumble of words and scenes which may or may not be in order, sometimes involving index cards but sometimes not, sometimes involving scribbled notes in the margins of notebooks but sometimes not. Sometimes it's accompanied by tea or coffee or wine. Sometimes it's morning, sometimes it's past midnight. And it's glorious! And hard. But mostly glorious!

2. I am eating a banana right now. It is ripe, and good, but I've come to realize that I prefer bananas when they are still slightly green. Weird?

3. Last night I finished reading Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Basically, it was disturbingly good. If you haven't read it yet I highly recommend it, because man, can Laini tell a story!

4. The Husband and I are thinking of buying an elliptical. If this happens, it will be a good thing, because my physical exercise is quite limited, except for crunches and such. But I'm talking cardio, here. I sit down a lot. I sit in front of a computer for work all day, and then I sit in front of a computer after work to write. If I'm not in front of a computer, I'm probably sitting down to read or watch TV. That's...a lot of freakin' sitting. Something must stop this madness!


5. THIS!: 

Thursday Things

It's Thursday again, so, that means you get some THINGS! That also means I get to make a list, which makes Amanda a happy girl.

1. I know you're all losing sleep over my mouse sitch, so here's an update: THEY ARE STILL HERE. The exterminator came and did not exterminate. For some reason, in my mind, I pictured a Ghost Busters-like machine that would just suck the mice away, like that machine thingy did with the ghosts. Am I remembering this correctly? Anyway, that did not happen. He put a bait box (with poison bait, natch) in the basement and in that cabinet where they were coming in. And then he left. So I took it upon myself to seal the holes by the pipes with steel wool, and that has seriously helped. Now instead of a MICE INFESTATION there's maybe like one or two that are getting in. So now I just wait for them to eat the poisoned bait and DIE! DIE! DIE MICE DIE!

Ahem.

2. I've noticed that ever since I started blogging, I've been drinking a lot of tea. I've always been a coffee person but now, for whatever whackadoo reason, I'm a tea person. Between the hours of 9am and 5pm, you will always find me with a mug of tea. If you do not see me with a mug of tea, you can be sure that it's just because I'm up making MOAR TEA. It's very strange. I have no explanation for this sudden switch of caffeinated beverage choice. It just happened.

3. I'm insanely excited about my New Novel! Oh, wait, now I can't remember if I've even mentioned this on the blog. Okay, I remember posting about this shiny new idea that I had while trying to revise my WIP. WELL, since then, I've decided to set WIP aside for a while. Why? Well, I shall tell you. I've been working on WIP for two years. I finally finished it and jumped directly into revision mode. I marked it up. I made up a new outline of changes. I started changing things. And then...I realized I was doing it all wrong. I wanted to add another POV and that changed the entire thing (for the better, I think). But for some reason I couldn't figure out exactly how I wanted to execute this, and I was having trouble figuring out character motivations and blah blah blah. And then I realized that I never just let the story sit. It's just been a constant WIP for two years. So, now it is sitting. Simmering, if you will. And in the meantime, I have this New Novel that I'm plotting out and I am basically in love with it. Honestly, I think it's *The One* We'll see. I...haven't actually started writing it yet. Ha. But I just have this feeling, you know?

4. I wrote down all of my 2012 Goals in big, fat sharpie the other day. And boy, it's making me excited. I still need to break these down into monthly and weekly goals, but just seeing them makes me think 2012 will be a fun and productive year. I'll let you in on one: Finish writing New Novel. That might seem obvious, but considering it took me two years to write my first novel and I didn't even revise it yet, finishing a novel in one year will probably be a challenge for me. But I really, truly know that I can do it. I'm so excited!

5. I'm having a hard time finishing books lately. I don't know why this is. I want to blame the books...I mean, maybe it is the books. I don't know. I won't share which ones they are, but there are two books I'm thinking of specifically that I started reading and didn't finish. And it's weird, because they are both in series that I really enjoy. Maybe I just lost interest? But I have a whole pile of books I want to read, and now I'm wondering if I should first finish the books I started, or just move on to the other books. And ALSO, I'm getting the itch to re-read books. But then I look at my to-read pile and think it would be silly to re-read when there's so much I haven't read yet.

Books in my To-Read pile: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, Hourglass by Myra McEntire, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, and Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare. These are all sitting on my desk, waiting patiently.

Meanwhile, I'm dying to re-read The Scorpio Races by Maggie Steifvater and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.

The dilemma!!

5 Things seems like a nice number, so I'll leave it at that. Ciao!

Thursday Things

Some things on this fine Thursday:

1. The Husband and I are moving into a new place this weekend. Yippeeee!! We loathe our current apartment, and so this move is quite exciting for us. QUITE exciting.

2. Because of said move, almost all of my THINGS are packed away in boxes. I don't like to be without my things, but I've learned that I really only need a few things to survive, namely: my laptop, my teapot (also, a mug and tea are implied (but I'm telling you just in case you didn't realize the implication--you're welcome)), my iPhone, my planner, and a book. I am content with these things. Shall I say things one more time? Things.

3. It is December today. Just thought you should know. It's also my brother's birthday. Happy birthday, Matt! (I don't think he reads this but if one day he does, this birthday wish will be here, waiting. I am a good sister.)

4. Today is Christmas card writing day. It is a day in which I write out Christmas cards. Preferably with a glass of red wine and Christmas music playing merrily in the background. Unfortunately, The Husband packed away our bottle opener, so no red wine for Amanda :( I now have an excuse to get a peppermint mocha from Starbucks, though. I NEED a merry drink whilst writing out holiday cheer!

5. I hath written out my writing goals for next year. It makes me feel motivated. And excited! Unless I fail. Then, I'll just feel like a failure. BUT I WON'T!

6. I will share these goals with you at the end of the month. Like an end of year wrap-up. Or maybe like a pre-beginning-of-year syllabus. Either way, it will be a list, so I will enjoy writing it. I like lists. Oh, hey, I'm writing a list right now! Maybe that's why I'm enjoying writing this post so much. LISTS!

7. My tea is now cold, and I have no microwave to heat it up with because The Husband already packed it away. Why must he pack away all the beverage opening/heating tools?!

8. I am learning to play Carol of the Bells on the piano. It is fun. I like it. (No, I don't really play the piano. I PRETEND by learning songs and then I sound like I know what I'm doing but really, I only know VARIOUS SONGS.)

9. That's it. Oh, wait, let me do one more so that it's Ten Thursday Things. That seems much better than Nine Thursday Things.

10. I'm currently reading Crossed by Ally Condie, and I love it so far! I'm almost half way through, and I'm SO rooting for Cassia and Ky! I also love how Ally incorporates poetry into her books. I don't usually read poetry, but the way it's used in Ally's books makes me want to.

BAM! TEN Thursday Things.