What's up Wednesday

What's up Wednesday is run by the lovely Jaime Morrow and her sister Erin L.Funk. You can check out their blogs by clicking their names. It's a really simple blog fest. Each week we answer the questions below and you get to learn a little about what we are up to. So, lets get started. 

1. WHAT I'M READING
2. WHAT I'M WRITING
3. WHAT INSPIRES ME, RIGHT NOW
4. WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

 

1) What I'm reading 

Well, I just finished reading Dangerous Depths by Karen Amanda Hooper. I was so privileged to get to read the ARC for this book and being the massive fan that I am of Tangled tides, the first in the sea monster memoirs, I was absolutely thrilled to be one of the first to read the second in the series. If you haven't read Tangled Tides, you should. It has love, determination, compassion and adventure, and is an amazing book with such incredibly vivid characters that it is really hard not to adore them. 

If you get it now and get reading, you can be ready to go straight-away with Dangerous Depths, when it is released on the 20th of November. Both of them are brilliant reads. 

I also just started reading The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater. I can't tell you too much about it at the moment, as I am only a few pages in, but I really enjoyed Raven Boys, the first book in this series; so, I have high hopes for this one, too. 

2) What I am writing

To be honest, I haven't got a whole lot of writing or editing done this week, other than blog posts. My poor rottie, Hooch has been very poorly; so poorly, we actually came close to losing him. Thankfully, because of our amazing vets and a lot of close care and attention, he is slowly coming back to health. As large parts of my days have been spent trying to coax him to eat and drink, I've not had all that much time to write. I hope to get back on track next week. 

3) What's inspiring me right now 

The strength and bravery of others. I watched a lot of documentaries yesterday about people facing difficult situations. It was actually to do with some course work I had, but it has really helped to inspire me. It also put my own struggles into perspective. 

One of the programs I watched was called The World's Fattest Man. Paul Mason was incredibly brave to go on camera, while dealing with an incredibly difficult time in his life. People can be so judgemental when they see people struggling with weight. It seems all too easy to forget that food can be just as addictive to some people as drugs. Paul battled his food addiction to lose an incredible 48 stone, allowing others to watch his struggle to beat his addiction, and has since gone on to find love. He is also in the process of writing an amazing book about his life. 

Another really inspiring man is Kenny Easterday. A rare disease meant that he did not develop normally in the womb. After birth, he sadly lost part of his legs and later, all of his legs. He learned to walk on his hands and to cope with people's stares and has not allowed anything to stop him in life. He can do anything any of us can do and probably more than most of us; a truly inspiring man, who still has a lot of trials and painful operations ahead of him. 

4) What else I've been up to

Mainly, I have been taking care of my poorly pooch and reinstalling all my programs and games into my laptop, after my hard drive decided to stop working and had to be replaced; that and reading, so there really isn't too much to report, I'm afraid. I hope your week has been a little more exciting. 

Love and hugs, Joss xx