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Showing posts from 2012

Books, Books, Everywhere!!

Hello dear readers! You may have noticed that a month ago I said I'd write every day for a month. You may then have noticed that I did not. In fact, I only wrote twice in the month. 'Why?' I hear you ask. Well, mostly because I had a lot of boring university work to do instead of dazzling you with my superb * cough cough * blog posts. Also I tend to favour sleeping as my hobby, these recent cold, dark days. But most excitingly, I have been working on a new (fiction) book! Hurrah! It probably will only come out in 2014 if I keep working on it, but next year I plan to self-publish my first ever children's book, which I will be working on the next few weeks/months. I can't tell you too much about it yet, but I will be posting one or two excerpts towards the end of December. It's all very exciting, you'll have to believe me on that one.. Now, very recently (yesterday), one of my friends casually mentioned the e-book she'd published. Once I'd gotten

Day Four

Yes, I missed out day three.. It's not that easy updating daily! I don't even have anything interesting to say... I'm a little behind on my NaNo word count, so I hope to catch up.. I've lost a little motivation, and next week I have to focus on my essay, so I don't have much room left for creativity. I'm at the point where I dislike everything I write, which really does not help! Hopefully my story will come together at some point. I am not sure if it is the approach of winter, and the short days, but all I want to do is sleep.. Or listen to music.. I have a few ideas for paintings, but I'm not sure when I'll be able to get those done. Perhaps during the holidays.. For now, I do have a few paintings on my Facebook page; the link to it can be found on the right hand side of this blog.

NaNoWriMo

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This month I am participating in National Novel Writing Month, like last year. (I managed to get the 50k last year, which was satisfying.) I have also just signed up to another program where the idea is to write a blog post a day. Technically I missed out day one, but I only learnt about it today.. Anyway, this year I have a lot going on, so I don't know how well my novel will go, but the good thing is, unlike last year, I actually have a pretty good plot! I think this year could be the year I write a fiction novel, and finish it. I'll keep you updated as I go along. So far, day two is nearly over and I have a little over 3000 words, so I'm slightly behind. I also need to finish an essay before next Friday! I hope it all works out. Anyway, back to my novel I go!

When It Rained in London, We Went To Portsmouth

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I had an urge to start a new blog today. I somehow thought that it would make it easier for me because I had set my standards too high and I could start lower. But I already have two blogs and neither are well know. Yet. And then I figured, it is my blog. I do what I want! So if I don't want to stick to a theme that I doubt I ever even really had, so be it!  Last Sunday I went to Portsmouth with my friend of 16 years. I find it hard to be spontaneous, so I wanted to change that, and impulsively decided we should go to the sea, right now, and then we happily planned it for an hour and booked tickets a week in advance. As we approached the date, I became more and more excited, because I absolutely love the sea, and we had been having an almost Indian Summer and things were going to be fantastic and glorious, of course. Then they predicted a half good, half bad weekend. Saturday was amazing. I was in Edgware for the day, and it was cold-ish, but in a good, healthy, give-cheeks

Procrastination and Popcorn

Let's face it, I am terrible at updating blogs. I am quite good at coming up with excuses, though, such as work. Ah, work! I think it secretly is a practical exam. To test endurance and patience. How many popcorn boxes can you pick up before you want to ram one down the next customer's throat? And the still full drinks that manage to slip from your grasp and spill all over the carpeted stairs and your shoes, and the bottom half of your only pair of work pants. The full ice cream tub that spills and gloops all over the place and makes your hands sticky, as you are radioed incessantly about the screen you are cleaning, because customers are waiting and getting very angry because the film is supposed to start in 20 minutes... Which is no better than the customers who come barging in and buy food, then tell you to hurry up for crying out loud* as they are late for their film. And then hurl abuse at you for twenty minutes, even as you give them the food and just want them to pay so

Poetry Parnassus: Underground Poetry by the Thames

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During Poetry Parnassus here in London, at Southbank, I went to a poetry workshop run by Poems On The Underground. I joined a small group of people led by an older woman, armed with clipboard, paper and pen. Thanks to London's wonderful transport system, (and admittedly, my own slight lateness), I'd missed about 5 minutes of the workshop, so arrived as the group was completing the first task: Write three lies about yourself. I listened as the group all lied in turn, and we moved to the next task, which was to write three fantasies. I slightly misunderstood and wrote three big lies - but what we had to write was three IMPOSSIBLE things. My statements were all possible, but they still did their job, which was to spark a poem idea. One girl wrote about her pet lion called Jeffrey, which was pretty cool. She'd written it from the perspective of a rejected lover, and the mixing of the two 'plots' was nicely done. Another wrote about a pink unicorn, which was slightly

In Which I Attempt To Give A Poor Excuse For Not Writing

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...I can't write. I have no time. I have nothing to write about. Already I can hear some of you telling me none of these are true. And yes, time has to be made, and there are many things to write about, and if I'm honest with myself, I don't write so badly as to give up writing completely. However I have been finding it rather difficult to write recently, especially with work. One big problem is that I have a deadline, the end of June, to write enough words to fill a small book. Any words. I was going to mix and match non-fiction as well as fiction, but I am very rusty on the fiction. My childish aspirations of becoming a writer fade away more and more with the passing of time. I also tend to have random moments of intense creativity, in the sense that I suddenly want to make 101 things all at once. (So none get finished.) I then have moments where I just want to sleep and do nothing at all, and I have long discussions with myself about why I am useless at art and writing

Of Owls, Poetry, and Plays

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Globe to Globe festival timeline I have not been updating this blog as often as I'd like to.. These last few weeks have been crazy busy - new job, exam preparation, writing and sending off coursework.. I sat my first exam today, one down, one to go. I am not sure about how well I did, only time will tell. However this does not mean I have more free time, as I now have to get prepared for the next one, which will be harder and for which I feel much more baffled. As well as college work, I now seem to be living at work, who delight in giving me long night shifts. I fear I shall turn into an owl soon - though this wouldn't be so bad if I had the eyesight to go with it, and I quite like owls - however I now have no more life, social or otherwise. I can't even socialise with myself any longer, something I greatly love doing.. I suppose it will take time before I get used to this change, and find a way of managing it all so I still get my much needed 'alone time'..

April's Poem a Day Challenge

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Spring Blossom I've not written for too long. It's not necessarily that I have nothing to write about, it's just forming it on the page that can be difficult.. I can sometimes get really excited about certain things, but then I am unsure of how to phrase them , phrase the experience, the feelings that passed through me then.. Writing is perhaps easy, but writing well - Well, I suppose the same can be said for many things! Poetry, for example. Can you write a poem? Sure you can! Can you write a good poem? If not now, you probably will at some point, if you keep trying. That is what I tell myself, when I look at my poetry and feel talentless. In November, I mentioned I was participating in NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month, where the challenge is to write 50,000 words or more during November. I did write those 50,000 words, and hopefully it helped me somehow. This month I learnt about NaPoWriMo - National Poetry Writing Month , where the aim is to write a po

Colourful Cats

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I saw a lovely oil painting of a cat the other day, it inspired me to try and paint some 'blocky cats'. I like them when they look simple. They are both watercolour paintings, but I am working on some acrylic ones, too. :) I plan to paint more often and will be adding paintings to my 'Block Cats' collection in the next weeks or so. :)

World Poetry Day

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A little friend enjoying the pre-Spring sunshine I've been meaning to write a post sooner, but it never seems to quite happen... It's either half-baked ideas or none at all, or I somehow discover it's rather late and I've been occupied with classical music, looking at funny photos and writing to people. (Ok, I'm making it sound serious and excusable.. I may also spend time looking at LOLcats too..) But I also spend a great deal of time talking about how I'm going to write a blog post soon. And paint a picture, write more poetry, write my essays.. Well, you know how it goes, you talk about doing things instead of doing them. Or you actively procrastinate. A deadline coming up and you need to finish writing that essay? Now is a great time to start cleaning the house! A presentation to finish for class tomorrow? Let's sort out the clothes in colour piles. (OK, I don't really do that second one. Alright, maybe not the first one either, not the whole ho

Coffee for a Concert

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Coffee for a Concert, Oil on canvas The above picture is of an oil painting of mine, inspired by a lunchtime concert I went to on Friday 2nd March at Charlton House. (It is also my second attempt at oil painting!) In France, it is habitual to have coffee after eating lunch, hence the title. I have already written a post involving classical music , where I tried as best I could to explain, to some extent, how classical music makes me feel. This concert was slightly different in a few ways, though no less enjoyable. In my first blog post, I mentioned wanting to be a writer from a young age. Since then, it's come to my mind that, in a way, I have achieved my dream: I am a writer. I may not be published, I may not be known, but I write. It may not be what I expected as a young child, but it is just as significant. I write because I want to, not to get paid. It isn't always easy, and my unfrequent blog updates are a reflection of this, but I write. This is, as expected, linked to my

On The Road Again

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“Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depth of your heart; confess to yourself you would have to die if you were forbidden to write.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke I feel as if I'm finally making headway towards certain goals. Yesterday evening I was informed of a new art showcasing website. I am already part of such a website, and quite like being there. It is a nice community, I've become familiar with a few people and receive feedback on my work. However it has grown enormously, so I thought it might help to be also part of a new, smaller website where I could get more views on my art. The new website is, at the moment, invite only. Luckily, I received an invite, and am now a member! I have not uploaded much as of yet, and need to sort a few things out, but soon enough I shall be sharing the link to my page. I'm quite happy about some responses I've been getting over here . I'm not always sure if my

This Post Is Not About Meeting Tom Hardy

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" Somewhere in a parallel universe, I have written a blog post about my amazing evening with Tom Hardy ." Today was fairly typical. I woke up early, spent the next thirty minutes grumbling about the noise downstairs and yelling at my cat to stop going in and out of my room and pushing the door wide open each time, only to get up 5 minutes after everyone had left and the house was silent. Not all of us have the luxury of deep sleep and staying in bed all day. Got dressed. Fed cat. Dragged myself to the station. And so the day crawled along. Sometime later, I had a little time to read the newspaper, and delightfully discovered that there was a film première tonight, Tom Hardy would be there, and if I cut out the ad and took it along, I could enter the VIP fan lounge! (Or something like that.) See, I'd already met Tom Hardy at the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy première, and soon after decided I quite liked him. This was confirmed when I watched TTSS, and again after watching Inc

Is There A Thinker's Block?

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There's the sky above, the ground underneath, and in between? A million thoughts swimming around. Yet, even with all of that, I can't think of what to write about. I tend to over-think, I analyse, philosophise.. When I say analyse, I don't mean mathematically, scientifically.. A lot of the time it's much more about emotions and reactions, meanings and relationships and everything that links them.. Consequently it can be rather tiring, and not necessarily conclusive. Questions with no real answers. Sometimes it's not even questions I ask myself, I just think, it's a little difficult to explain, I don't necessarily do it knowingly. With all these millions of fluttering thoughts and ideas generated constantly, combined with my love for writing, I often feel I want to get things down on paper. Or a computer screen. The funny thing is I sometimes have that insatiable desire to write, it's almost physical, but then I sit down to write and I just have no i