Category: Uncategorized

While I have mixed feelings about Valentine’s Day (on the one hand, it’s always good to know people care about you; on the other , why does it have to involve pink and sparkles, and be on this day?), I still hope everyone has a lovely one. Even if you’re not in a relationship right now, why not let friends and family know that you care about them–Valentine’s Day can be about platonic love, too.

Me, I had Chinese food (to also celebrate Chinese New Year) and still have a small mountain of chocolate, and my sister and I wished each other a happy Valentine’s Day through text messages. All and all, it’s a pretty good one. 🙂

I’m taking part in Absolute’s Write‘s first blog chain of 2010. The theme for this blog chain is guilty pleasures. There have already been many posts, all of them amazing and tough to follow! I’m going to try my best, though.

My guilty pleasures are… well, there’s not much guilt in them, so much as I know they’re comforting. Like many other people, I find myself giving the chocolate and cake displays a speculative glance after a bad day (especially a bad day at work). Some days Peanut M&Ms just make everything better.

On the other hand, there are certain books and authors that I deem ‘comfort reading’. I usually save their new releases for a day off, if I can, or I reread them after having a bad day. I don’t consider them trashy or ‘easy’ books–one person’s favourite reread can be the book someone else couldn’t finish–but I know what to expect. I can lose myself in the pages for as long as I like, and there is no higher praise for a book than that.

One of my ‘comfort authors’ is Sarah Dessen. While her latest book, ALONG FOR THE RIDE, was released in the US last June, it’s finally been released over here now. Sarah is one of my favourite authors, though I came to her late. I don’t  consider her books too light or fluffy, since they do tackle serious topics but don’t get bogged down by them, but they are comfort reads nonetheless. I can’t wait to sit down with her latest UK release and get stuck in. And even though her books often work from a similar formula, each situation is treated a little differently; no book is exactly the same as its predecessor. And for a little while, at least, I can get lost in someone else’s story, whose problems may be similar to ones I faced or still face, or completely different to any I’ve experienced. It’s a bit like the appeal of reality TV or talk shows–your life could be much, much worse.

So that’s what I’m going to do once I’ve posted this blog–I’m settling down with a cup of tea and ALONG FOR THE RIDE. I’ve already read about 70 pages and I can’t wait to get back to it. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to finish it. Otherwise, I’m going to try and read as much as I can before I have to get some sleep for work (and this is why it’s better to save a favourite read for a day off, so you don’t need to get up early the next morning!)

Other authors I consider comfort reads include: Jacqueline Carey, Tamora Pierce, Sarah Waters, Ilona Andrews, and Robin Hobb. As you can see, I also consider authors of the huge fantasy tomes to be comfort reads; one of my favourite things is to settle down with Jacqueline Carey’s latest book and read, and read, and read.

So, yes, Peanut M&Ms can sometimes make everything better. But Peanut M&Ms and a good book can make everything awesome.

The Chain:

Claire Crossdale – http://theromanticqueryletter.blogpost.com
Fresh Hell – http://freshhell.wordpress.com
shethinkstoomuch – http://shethinkstoomuch.wordpress.com
lostwanderer5.blogspot.com – http://www.lostwanderer5.blogspot.com
Lindzy1954 – http://www.lindsayncurrie.webs.com
RavenCorrinnCarluk – http://www.ravencorinncarluk.blogspot.com
Forbidden Snowflake – http://alleslinks.com/
AuburnAssassin – http://clairegillian.wordpress.com/
DavidZahir – http://zahirblue.blogspot.com/
Charlotte49ers – www.amandaplavich.com
collectonian – http://collectonian.livejournal.com <– PREVIOUS
vfury – https://helencorcoran.wordpress.com/ (ME)
Bsolah – http://benjaminsolah.com/blog <– NEXT
JackieA – http://sherrygloagtheheartofromance.blogspot.com/
LadyCat – http://carolsrandomness.blogspot.com
AimeeLaine – www.aimeelaine.com/writing/blog

The lovely Emily Cross gave me a blog award! Which was wonderful and unexpected. She received the award from Corra McFeydon, and the details of it are:

Please accept the ‘Creative Writer Award’ with no strings attached. You can post it within an awards page, sidebar, or new post; you can link it to me and pass it on to writers you know who host writing blogs, or you can simply read this note with my thanks attached and do nothing further. This is just intended as a gesture to further the premise ‘writer’ within ‘blogger.’ I’d love to see more writers acknowledged for the craft! Because we all are writers.

The blogs (and the people who write them, I suppose!) I am passing the award on to are:

Michelle McLean’s Writer Ramblings

Victoria Schwab

Their posts and journeys have been both informative and inspiring to me for a long time now.

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas/time off and New Year. Mine was lovely, and I’m pretty excited about 2010. I have a good feeling about it. It’s already a vast improvement on 2009 for many different reasons.

I didn’t write down my New Year’s resolutions last year, but I’m going to this year. I like resolutions and the sense of purpose they bring, the feeling that there is something hopefully solid–if the resolutions are somewhat realistic–to work towards during the year.

My 2010 resolutions are:

• 1. Start querying the werewolves when the fourth–and hopefully final–draft is ready.
• 2. Rewrite the steampunk Alice book and hopefully get people to read that.
• 3. Start writing in a paper diary again.
• 4. Try to read 150 books. (I reached 76 last year. Not bad, but I can definitely do better.)
• 5. Walk more, especially now that my student travel card has expired and public transport is expensive again.

What resolutions did any of you decide for this year?

*waves from sea of sticky-notes*

I love how the urge to write hits me like an anvil over the head right during thesis crunch time.

Nice timing, life. Niiiiiice.

The end is in sight!

My thesis has to be written, edited, printed and bound by the 21st September. 17,000 words, hardly a medium-sized drop in the ocean in terms of a book. And yet, I’m freaking out a little. Unlike this time last year, however, I have tricks up my sleeve, the best of which is to spend all of my days off in the library. The one good thing about being a postgrad student is that no undergrads are using the reading room in the library at this time of year.

(For anyone interested, my thesis is about women, gender and sexuality in His Dark Materials and The Chronicles of Narnia. It’ll be awesome! When it’s done.)

Unfortunately, I’ve also just moved into a new house, so I’m trying to get to know my flatmates without spending all of my time in my room, frantically reading. And I’m trying to get my partner’s birthday present done in time. And I’m going on holiday to spend time with said partner on the 22nd September (hence my self-imposed deadline–the real deadline isn’t until 30th September). Ergo, I’m not having a lot of time to actually relax and such right now. In an effort to stop myself from going completely insane, I’ve allowed myself to do some non-thesis reading and write a couple of hundred words on TWFF every few evenings. As much as I hate it, the thesis has to take top priority (apart from work, obviously).

See you on the other side–there will be some serious celebrating on October 1st!

Nothing much to report.

– Still working on the second draft. of CR.
– Have started making tentative notes for Book 2.
– Am making a slow dent in one of my tottering to-read piles.

*waves hand* Carry on, don’t mind me.

Arthur C. Clarke has died.

RIP. 😦

I can’t really be getting excited about rewriting my book, can I?

It’s official: I’m a freak of nature! Well, a writing freak of nature, at least.

Winter has suddenly dropped without warning. It’s gone from reasonable autumn temperatures to feeling like December. I had to dig out my winter coat and scarf, and I have to buy a new hat and set of gloves as, in keeping with my yearly winter tradition, I somehow lost last year’s set. Heh.

I was walking to the tram on my way to work this morning and my breath was forming little cloud puffs on the air. The air felt cool and crisp, and it seemed like Christmas was just around the corner. Things have changed a lot since this time last year, some good and some bad. I think I like the person I am now a lot more. I hope.

The book has gone past 30,000 words.

At least the weather is suiting my writing mood; I am heading towards the uphill slope that leads to the climax and the plunge down. The weather is also cold and frozen in this part of the book, and I can honestly say that right now I’m writing exactly what I’m feeling. 🙂