Nayu's Realm

Hot chocolate & books = wonderful!

2012-01-28T18:49:00.001Z

In light of yesterday's room tidying, in which I possibly overdid things somewhat, today I have been good and rested. I caught up with my family's holiday photos & video (it was actually really interesting, as they saw and loved the third largest mosque in the world. As the only Muslim in the family, I was quite delighted that they enjoyed it so much). And then I went back to reading. Today I read the following

Dance Together Dinosaurs by Jane Clarke & Lee Wildis, Children's, Picture Book

Socks Are Not Enough by Mark Lowery, Children's, 11 years +

A Hen in the Wardrobe by Wendy Meddour, Children's, 7 years +

While I read the previous book, I drank a yummy hot chocolate from Abu Dhabi, yet made in Italy (go figure that one out). It was scrummy! It didn't look like this, but it might have tasted like this.

And I'm currently reading this one.

Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale (half way through, rather good), Young Adult

Doing a bit of crochet when I watch Casualty on BBC1, and other than that I am reading. Time to go get a yummy avocado, cucumber and crisp sandwich. *nommy nom*

News from afar

2012-01-26T16:30:00.000Z

(This cute photo of letters comes from here. Someone made these cookies!)

Last summer a close friend moved to Germany. With sporadic contact on Twitter, I knew she was settling in ok, just really busy with her baby girl. Today I received a letter from her (& some chocolate, always most welcome. It's German chocolate, which is a new tasting experience for me). It was super to hear from her. Because I find it fun, I'm writing to her in my pigeon French. A lot of the time I forget words, remembering the Japanese so I use the English. She replied too, in purple ink with stunning cursive handwriting. I ought to mention that she herself is French. It was awesome to hear from her, and I'll be writing back soon. I know that email is the norm now, but there is something about receiving a letter through the post, especially from distant friends. So go write someone a letter today.

As you may have noticed, my blog background is currently white. Unfortunately it turned out there was a limit on the number of times the template was used. As I'm not the artist, I couldn't change the settings on the template, and thus had to remove it. For now white will do :) I think it looks okay. I still have a funky header.

1 week to go!

2012-01-25T18:42:00.001Z

(no idea which anime this is from - but it sums up how I feel)

Yay! In a week's time I will hopefully have had my infusion. The level of excitement is pret-ty high. It might not work - I have a week off from work to recover. But if it does work - wow! So many little things will be easier. I'll be able to read more (always a plus), do more craft, actually go out and see friends occasionally - including attending book blogger events.

I managed to write a little today - it was going through what I've written so far on my wip, because I hadn't touched it for a while. I made a few notes, starting researching for it (I'm now fascinated with searching boarding schools for girls). It was good progress. No writing tomorrow per se, but I'll watch anime, which is research for the type of power used in the wip.

Have a good evening!

Got my head in a book.

2012-01-23T18:29:00.000Z

Almost literally. Had a fun but busy weekend, followed with a busy day at work. Hence the super short blog post. I've even pulled a review forward for tomorrow so I don't have to type one up tonight from my notes. 5 hours until I can head to sleep. Lots of time to do reading.

Nap Warrior, New Rest Protocols & Sleep Experiment Update

2012-01-20T18:39:00.003Z

(See, I can use non-anime pictures. I just prefer not to)

Nap Warrior

Today I woke up 6 hours after I went to sleep (a good thing). I lay in bed, and dozed off. That proved fatal to my level of alertness today. Whenever I doze back off to sleep, I spend the day feeling sleepy.

I wasn't alone in this - the colleague who I share an office with (we get on supremely well) was also a bit tired. So we came up with a brilliant plan. One of us would nap on our desk....

... while the other stand guard at the door.

(This is from the anime Aria the Animation/Natural/Origination (I can't remember which season) - Akari is peeking around the door with President Aria (the podgy cat). Pretend they are guarding a door - I couldn't find an appropriate picture all that fast).

Needless to say that didn't actually get further than sharing our Grand Plan with one of our managers, who thought it was a fab idea, and wishes that we really could all do that.

New Rest Protocols

I am currently being good when I get home and not writing. It's finally dawned on me that trying to do work on top of 'work' work is a Bad Idea. Logically, after a day of work I'm tired. So why would I do more work?

No idea. Ask my Muse.

Basically I was thinking 'what if the infusion works?' Following on from that was have I implemented actions into my life since having the pain that makes life more comfortable for me. I'm still not all that good at resting & relaxation. I have a tendency to keep going when I should stop, pushing on with finishing the task instead of splitting it up into smaller chunks. I tried it yesterday, just reading when I got home and instead of feeling more tired I felt relaxed.

So it's official. A friend who has been telling me that for months has asked I write this down - which I was already doing here - so that I follow it. If anyone catches me online chatting about writing on Mon/Tue/Thur/Fri (& I haven't said that I'm having a day off) then you are most welcome to a book from my extensive collection. On work days I am allowed to read, write the odd review (not too many), play video games, watch anime, do some knitting/crochet/sewing, or some puzzles. I may chat with my Muse in my head, but I Must Not let my Muse loose on my laptop.

Sleep experiment update

(Yes I'm an anime fan ^o^ This is Akari from the anime Aria, sleeping in her bedroom. She wears a cat ears night hat))

I'm still getting a solid 6 hours or so sleep at night, so long as I only attempt to sleep after 11pm when I'm actually really sleepy. So I will continue to do so. It's fun having re-reads before bed. Apart from when I want to skip several chapters ahead as I do now...sigh. I'm being good and not skipping chapters.

Hope you have a good start to the weekend!

YAY!

2012-01-18T19:31:00.000Z

(It's fitting that I use a picture of Musa, Bloom & Stella from Winx (copyright to original artists) to share my good news)

Smiling is what I've done since 1.30pm today, when I came home from errands and opened my post. Some of you know I'm waiting on another infusion, with a stronger drug. I thought it would be months, what with the refurbishment of the clinic.

It turns out I'll be having it in 2 weeks! I checked at least 3 times that it said 1st February. I'm over the moon. As a much stronger drug, I think there's more probability of it actually helping me. The side effects aren't all that pleasant - if I get them -, but if it means having a bit of horridness to have lots of yayness, then sign me up!

I might post up which drug it is after I've had it. I'm just a bit wary because I know people can have strong opinions/concerns about high-end drugs. I'm more of a 'if it helps me, side/long term effects don't matter'. With long term illness, you get to a point where you are happy to try anything. I passed that point many moons ago.

Equally I know it might not work - I've had that happen once already, so it's nothing new. I just hate all the months of waiting that's been going on. Waiting a few weeks is so very squeesome.

I promise to post how it goes, once I'm back in the land of lucidity. It'll probably be a tweet once I get home, and a post at the weekend.

Roll on February!!!

Sleep experiment update: so far, so good. Went to sleep after 11pm (after 11, I was finishing off a chapter), woke around 5.45am. Here's to another night of sleep.

My Sleep Experiment

2012-01-16T17:46:00.001Z

(Winx with their Pop Pixies camping out (& Kiko the rabbit))

Tonight I'm trying an experiment. Most nights I'm fortunate if I sleep 5-6 hours. I either wake up really early (3am onwards), or struggle to get to sleep for a few hours then catch some zzs.

Recently I've noticed I settle better if I wait until 10.30pm at least before trying to sleep. Last night was a huge whoohoo moment. I know I looked at my phone about 11.10pm. I then wake up to my alarm either just before or after 7pm. Which by my reckoning gave me 7 hours sleep. 7! 7 is allegedly a magical number to some people (not me, I'm not superstitious), but to get that amount of sleep has been rare for the past year.

Told family the good news, who suggested maybe staying up later would be an idea. This sounds counterproductive, especially as I am mostly sleepy in the evening. But I'm going to give it a go. So tonight I will not go to bed until 11pm (interpret as I will go to bed and read, then sleep at 11pm). I'll do this for a week. If there's no improvement, I'll give up.

I can be a slow learner, and it has just dawned on me that instead of having several hours writing/editing/gaming/reading, that I break it up into smaller segments (possibly 1 hour segments, although not quite sure). That seems so bitty to me, but it might make a small difference. Will give that a go on a trial basis, but no official experiment - one thing at a time!

Today's writing: I gave myself just under an hour after work. I collated a few more notes on Doodle Girl, Did a little brain storming with Muse too.

Reading: I'm getting on with Devon Monk's Magic in the Blood. Methinks it might get finished tonight.

No TV tonight, so it'll be dvds or reading. Or maybe and reading (which would make my previous reading statement true). We'll see.

Hope you all get a good night's sleep. It makes all the difference.

Magical Girl inspiration

2012-01-15T19:01:00.000Z

Characters (Nanoha & Fate) from Lyical Nanoha, which was the first anime I consciously thought of as magical girl, even though I'd watched a few already. Oddly I looked it up and it's now hard to buy anywhere. I'm so glad I got it when I did!

I adore anime, and one of the genres I seem to like the most is the magical girls genre. It's usually about a girl/girls who have magical powers, have to save the world using the powers. I think there might be another part to that definition, but I can't quite remember.

Anyway, watching the genre has inspired the Doodle Girl series (temporary title as it isn't just about Doodle Girl) by my Muse. Learning about the different plot techniques (I think I'm making these terms up), costumes, powers, accessories etc, it is my duty to watch lots of magical girl anime. I managed to collate the notes I had in my emails/messages into one document this morning, I figured out a few other bits too, but then I didn't feel so great, so this morning I watched more of the magical girls anime Cardcaptor Sakura.

It's so awesome!Sakura's friend Tomoya creates new outfits for each adventure. I'm seeing the pattern of having a wand/batton which can collect the item in question which needs finding. It's also great fun. I then moved on to Robin Hood. Tonight will be Winx and a new TV drama. I've done some crochet too, which has been fun.

No reading today :( but that's ok. Anime isjust a moving book, after all. ^o^

I've got a full week of work this week, but will fit writing in as often as I can. Writing comes first now :) I don'tget a choice, not with my Muse.

Anyway, I hope you've had something that made you smile today.

I did it! This round of edits is over!

2012-01-13T19:05:00.000Z

(From the anime Bamboo Blade, this is Kirino (on the left) and Saya (with starry eyes) They are best friends, and so funny when they adore something, which they do in this picture)

About lunch time today, I was delighted to reach the last page for my wip Diplomatic Disaster's edits. Slowly they are making it to my beta readers. I had to add some new content in this round of edits, and I'm eager to find out what others think of the story.

Just as I finished formatting the wip, I had an attack of I-Suck-Itis. Thankfully a fellow friend and author stopped me from spiralling down to 'my book sucks' and 'I can't write'. Clearly I can write as I have strung nearly 53k of words together in an order which I think makes sense. Alongside the fear is the excitement of Other People not related to my Muse reading my wip. They aren't biased, and because they are also friends, they tend to crit harder :) (At least that's my theory). I want to make DD the best it can be, so here's to the next editing stage!

Now, depending how I feel tomorrow I might have a weekend of reading. However, Muse is as per usual rather active. So I'm probably going to work on my Doodle Girl book. I hadn't quite written the ideas in a document (not the first time round), but I'd had a few convos with friends on gtalk. So this evening I dutifully typed in 'Doodle Girl' into my gmail search bar, and voila, up pop the windows where I talked about it. I'll collate the data another day. The books are pure fun. There is mild peril, but nothing terrifying.

Being a writer, is the best career ever!

Some days are just days

2012-01-12T18:30:00.001Z

(See end of the post as to why Kirino from Bamboo Blade (manga & anime) matches how I feel about today) I love her bunny toy :) )

The title isn't all that cryptic. You know how some days are awesome, others aren't so great because you have lots of hiccups (not the actual hiccups which I get rid of by holding my breath, but life going a bit haywire)? Today was a day. Work went well (still busy, that's not looking to calm down with term starting next week) I've been quite tired, so I read when I got home. Finished off two books, one was ok, the other was amazing.

An okay book, it got better towards the end.

This is an awesome book - going to hold a competition for it on my review blog very soon.

Tonight I'm going to do some knitting while I watch the British Bake off - last night's episode was hilarious and I'm hoping tonight's is funny too. I was thinking of doing more reading, but my brain is fastly going zzzz so I think I'll watch some happy anime. Probably some Negima which is hilarious, and maybe Aria because it has such a high feel good factor.

Tomorrow is the start of a 3 day weekend. I have to be out of bed before 7.30am though - the parcel could come any time after that. It usually comes mid-morning to lunch time, but I'd better be up just in case. I'm hoping to finish editing Diplomatic Disaster this weekend. I haven't got many more chapters to go. It's quite exciting! I'm also hoping some dvds arrive so I can have an anime fest. We'll see. Nothing else planned so far.

Hope you're day has had something fun in it.

A well rounded day

2012-01-11T18:53:00.000Z

(from random search on internet)

Wednesdays = my day off, but not necessarily a full day off. At the moment my Wednesday mornings are filled with errands. Today I completed all the errands with few incidents. There was the Minor Fizzy Water Leak in my rucksack. Damp crochet, anyone? Damp cheque book? Damp diary? Then there was the I Put the Return Address On, But Not the Actual Address on a parcel. Thanks to my android phone I didn't have to go home, and the parcel got sent. Then just as I settled to an afternoon of anime, I had 15-20 minutes of I Can't Find My Phone (one of them). I don't panic that much as I do this almost every day - with various items.

This afternoon was spent watching several episodes of Angelic Layer

(Hatoko and her Angel Suzuka on the left, Misaki and her angel Hikaru on the right. Hatoko is a child genius at Angelic Layer. Misaki is a newbie, with a big heart and great talent. They become close friends (fanart))

I did press fastforward on the opening & closing song, and the episode preview. I do watch them sometimes, but if I watch a lot of episodes in a row, I skip them. I then got a bit fidgety, so I turned to reading and blogging. Watching the Bake Off tonight, and will spend the rest reading. That's my end to a good day. Only one more day at work this week! Hopefully I might get through editing those last 50 odd pages of Diplomatic Disaster

Edited to add: I forgot to mention when I got up (6am ish) I managed a good 2 hours of editing. It's becoming a fun habit editing before my day starts, leaving me free with lots of relaxation in the afternoon)

Mystery parcel

2012-01-09T17:17:00.003Z

(a mystery parcel)

(This is Alice from the anime/manga Aria the animation, I think she looks a bit puzzled here, which mirrors my feelings towards the parcel)

Today started out a fairly normal day. I woke up early, so I got up and compiled a blog tour post. I then realised that it wasn't due until tomorrow, so I dived straight into editing. It was a fun read before work - especially as work was rather chaotic today. I come home, only to realise that the thing I'd forgotten this morning was a different blog post that needed doing. It's all done now, so I'm safe :)

Mystery parcel could be either DVDs I've ordered, or books. I'm not sure which at the moment. The reason I'm even mentioning the parcel which I haven't got is that the courier options are severely limited. I had a card saying they will try a free 2nd delivery attempt tomorrow. That's all fine, I understand that.

However, if that fails, then the parcel is returned straight to the depot. Which is a very long way from me. There's no option after 2nd attempt to schedule in a 3rd attempt at a specific day. There is no option, even to pay extra so I can have it delivered at a certain time on a certain day. So after contacting work, I'm now having Friday off to wait for this parcel.

Edited to add: turns out this company is the 'other' company - they'd changed their calling cards, and their services. I'll miss the choice of delivery times/days.

Of course I'm happy to have an extra long weekend which to get some editing done in
The more you accommodate your customers, the more likely they are to spread the word at your services.

Round 1 of editing is complete!

2012-01-07T18:42:00.001Z

(A cheery scene from the anime Aria)

I'm tired but very happy tonight. This morning I finished the first round of editing on DD! The last chapter first wanted to split into two chapters, then merge into one, then finally went into two. Some of the grammar errors were hilarious. There's one sentence which I'm hoping will make the final version, because it makes me laugh. I sent it to a friend and they laughed, so it's looking promising.

Tomorrow I'm planning to read Diplomatic Disaster all the way through, making final tweaks, then sending it on to betas. I will work on the first book in Doodle Girl series, because it's very light hearted, has mild peril and is very fun. Tonight I'm doing a little bit of reading & watching Casualty (BBC1). It's back to work on Monday & I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone, and getting knee deep in ordering paper, coffee and stationary replies.

Have a great evening!

Back into holiday mode (yay!)

2012-01-04T08:35:00.003Z

I am now off until Monday! Although having a pain clinic appointment takes the edge off having more free time. Today I plan on heading to the post office to post a few parcels (which are unwrapped at my feet now), some editing (getting closer to completing Diplomatic Disaster!) and some anime. Possibly some reading :) I'm keeping it simple. Chocolate is involved in simplicity. Chocolate chocolate, chocolate hot chocolate, chocolate biscuit....I love chocolate!

(a scene from the anime Negima, I think it's a school festival)

Early 2012 catch up

2012-01-02T18:44:00.000Z

Right, here's a fast catch up over the last few days.

Writing

I have been beavering away at editing Diplomatic Disaster. Last night was nearly a Wip Disaster - I was skim reading the last few chapters to refresh my memory, and I noticed one was missing. Eeep! I searched in the original version - not there. I then searched through the individual chapter document files - and lo and behold I found the missing chapter. Not sure why it wasn't there in the first place, but hey, it happens. I'm happy I didn't have to rewrite such a crucial part of the story. I've only a few chapters left, slightly more than 20 pages (now all my % is wonky due to missing chapter) to edit. I'm getting there! After this edit, I will read it through once, make last minute changes then give to my betas. I'm loving all aspects of it - and looking forward to continuing a few new projects too!

Craft

Soon (I know I promise this heaps of times but this really will be soon) I will post up pictures of my craft creations. I'm making good progress on the crochet blanket, and I've started new squares for another blanket (this time not made up of oddments). I'm hunting down a frame for one sewing project (person receiving it has seen it & understands getting a frame will take time), I'm nearly down to the backstitch on another sewing project. Knitting - well I really need to get on with fingerless gloves, so might dive into those soon. I officially seem to have issues with every ball of yarn I come across - they all unwind themselves and get into knots. It must be a yarn gremlin.

Languages

I will be getting back into the habit of reading Japanese as well as watching it.

I'm getting further in season 3 of Winx,

(one of many Winx pictures I have)

I've now watching Stargate SG1 as my 'English' drama (I've got until season 6, currently on season 1), and

(season 1 box set)

I'm watching Angelic Layer in Japanese.

(This is 4 year old Hatoko and her angel, Suzuka. Hatoko is an Angelic Layer genius - few can beat her)

Oh, I'm watching Loulou de Montmartre on and off (it's not the cheeriest of shows)

(Here's when Loulou is absorbed in dancing)

That's pretty much how I'm starting my year. I haven't done a top 10 of 2011 book list. I might eventually get around to figuring out how many books I read last year. But right now, all I care about is reading :) *zooms off to start a new book*

The 3 R's - Repetition, Revving, Relaxation

2011-12-28T18:41:00.000Z

(81% edited...must keep writing)

The 1st R: repetition

Today I woke up nice and early at 3.30am. I did wait until 4pm before heading down to my laptop, and editing my wip. It was a long session.

I really loved the content, but how the writing was executed left a lot to be imagined. I mean, hello Muse - why repeat the same sentence in 3 different ways? By the end of that paragraph, I was bored. So words were axed. It was so much fun finishing chapter 22 and marching on to 23. Or is that 24? I can't remember. I'm now 81% through the editing process! Slowly but surely each writing session the number rises (and now I'll probably come up against a super tough page which demands hours of work for 0.1% of an edit complete percentage. I like my wip. I'm really hoping others will like it too :)

After editing, and watching my cat chase her tail 5 times (with a break in between each chase), I scooted off out for some pampering. I didn't get further than my car.

(This isn't my car, but I think it's cute!)

The 2nd R: Revving

I got in my car, put the key in the ignition, foot on the break (I have an automatic with durashift), gear in neutral and....nothing. Well, it sounded as though it wanted to click in (my term for a car starting), but it just wouldn't do it. I stopped, and looked at the car. Tried it again. And again (ok so repeat works for this R too). Nothing. I checked the manual, and the symbol on the dashboard was for the engine. It was in trouble.

Armed with my details, I went and made the call (lower case used as it isn't The Call in the literary agent type of call). First I called my garage for advice. They said they had a free slot today if I needed it, and it shouldn't take too long to get parts if I needed them. They were having the showroom painted, and the person I spoke to had paint on their keyboard - it sounded like fun chaos. Anyway, I phone up the RAC. It was 10.05. They took my details, heard the problem, and promised someone would come by 11.20, phoning me 10 minutes before arrival.

10.30 I get a call saying they would be 30 mins. 10.45 they arrive. A whole 35 minutes early! I don't know if this is usual or not - I think that because I'm a motability customer, that they try extra hard to get my car seen quickly because I rely on it to get anywhere - public transport isn't that much of an option for me.

Anyway, I'm thinking 'no car for a week'. I demonstrate what my car wasn't doing. It's under 3 years old, I don't do excessive mileage and it's always been healthy. The mechanic knew what it was at once. Apparently, in considerably older cars there was this thing called a choker. Or choke. At that point I lost the mechanic, so upon asking if I'd used the car for a short time (yes, to reverse out then back in outside my house so family could park). The engine had flooded - apparently modern cars need a longer run to avoid engine flooding. He revved the car for a bit, then it started up fine. I was left with the recommendation of taking the car for a drive . Car drama was solved in an hour. I dutifully went out. I now know what to do if it happens again (hopefully not).

(this will be me tonight)

The 3rd R: relaxation

I'm not very good at this one. I tend to feel I have to be 'doing' something. This afternoon I watched a lot of Bones episodes and was attemptig to detangle a ball of yarn. Now, the cat hadn't played with it, I'd used a bit, then it had unwound itself and got knotted. I'd battled for a least 3-4 hours previously. Several hours in and my patience runs out, so I just snip out the extremely knotted part, and keep the newly re-wound part. I love the yarn, but I hate the way the brand is wound. It always seems to get tangled.

So in essence I was relaxing with dvds. They were really funny episodes. I'm watching more episodes tonight for relaxation - this time with a knot free yarn. Sometimes I can really feel waking up at 3.30am - and I never figure out why I'm so tired until I hit the 12 hour mark (usually 4pm) and remember how early I was up. Brain can't focus on reading, so I'm going to focus on my knitting and being entertained.

Family have helped make that entertainment even more fun! At the beginning of the month, an awesome nommy-nom toffee sauce was created courtesy of some baker's recipe (can't remember who). It's dead easy to make, and family made 2 jars. I had some of one, then held off eating it. I now get told there is still 1 whole jar in the fridge, which needs eating by the end of the month (give or take a few days).

So tonight's pre-bed snack will be xmas pudding with toffee sauce! It'l keep me awake enough to stay up until bed time. I can't ever go to bed early because I have medication to take throughout the day, and they need several hours between doses. If I went to bed say 9pm, I'd wake up around 2-3am. So it's not worth it.

Phew! It was a more dramatic day than anticipated. I'm hoping that tomorrow I'll actually get some more reading in, and editing. I don't plan to go anywhere, so my car can rest itself. I will take it out at the weekend, out of fear it won't work come Tuesday morning.

Disclaimer: I'm no mechanic, I might have misunderstood the problem with my car - do get in touch with a garage if your car does anything weird. Use the manual to decipher any symbols on the dashboard. I'm not responsible for anything which happens to your car if you choose to follow the steps I took.

My holiday schedule (including hot chocolate)

2011-12-27T17:55:00.001Z

(I'm feeling cheery like Akari from the anime Aria)

Before I started my holiday, I'd planned to do the following.

Edit Diplomatic Disaster
Read a lot of books
Have fun.
Drink lots of hot chocolate

I've done all of those! I'm mostly sticking with editing in the morning until lunch. Today I reached 77% of my wip edited - yay! Or maybe 79%. There was a 9 in there somewhere, but there was also a lot of numbers after the point so I'm not really sure and I can't quite be bothered to go back and check.

Editing is full of stops and starts. There have been some sentences which didn't need any tweaking. Some have been cut completely from the wip. Others have had almost every other word replaced. That's the norm though for writers. You never know what's going to happen until you sit down and write/edit. Muse did come up with a nice plot twist today, which will work in the sequel to Diplomatic Disaster (currently untitled and unwritten).

I managed to do one hour of chores - tidying my room. There's a lot to do, and as it zaps both time and energy from me, I'm not doing more than an hour. I can't get enthusiasm for longer than that!

What else have I got up to...I've made both ovaltine (well, seeing as family did drop me off on Saturday so I could pick up some 'necessary' ovaltine, I figured I'd better drink it while it's still a national holiday here in England) & hot chocolate with cream - it makes them super tasty. I've finished Maria V Snyder's awesome book A Touch of Poison (review to follow in January)

and I've started Curtis Jobling's Wereworld: Shadow of the Hawk. (review and blog tour to follow in January)

Having a reading fest is really enjoyable at the moment, just to sit and get lost in books (well not literally lost, I mostly follow the plot (unless I'm hungry, and then all I can think of is 'what snack shall I grab?') Tonight I think I'm going to keep reading. If I get too sleepy, I'll switch to reliable anime.

Enjoy the rest of today (however long you've got left), and pop back soon for my next post.

Holiday time!

2011-12-22T17:48:00.002Z

(random picture from Winx Club (season 4, love and pet))

Whoohoo! No more work for almost three weeks. Thanks to a hospital appoitment, I'm only working Tuesday 3rd January, then I'm not back until Monday 9th.

You can be sure I'm taking advantage of all this time. My days will hopefully go something like this (so long as I am well. If not, well operation dvd gets put into motion. And only reading if I'm up for it).

Mornings: (variable starting times) = editing and writing. Goal of the holiday is to complete edits on Diplomatic Disaster.

After lunch: watch one episode of Winx. Depending how I'm feeling, either read, or watch more dvds.

Evenings: depending how I feel, either read or watch dvds.

Also include eating a lot of chocolate, (It has to be done by someone), having fun, and enjoying lazy days. How are you spending your holiday?

Writing, being myself and relaxation

2011-12-20T18:40:00.000Z

(Just like Bloom in Winx, writers are not to be messed with. They can write anyone and anything into their wips)

Up until now I've been reluctant to talk about my wips. I'm not sure if it's normal to be a bit paranoid about people stealing story ideas or not. I certainly haven't put hardcopies of early drafts in the recycling bin (telling myself one day I will shred them all). I know that copying someone's stories is uncommon, so for the most part paranoia is unfounded.

But, with one of you asking about my ideas in a previous post, I'll spend the next few posts talking about my current wips (and possibly others). Note to all copycats - just don't do it. These are my ideas, which will be told by my Muse, in my own words.

I had wanted to say them all in one post, but I have a tendency to go into detail (will learn to summarise for querying - that is one area I will not talk about. I may say once a book is finished editing, but I will speak no news, not even a tally of rejections, until I get signed up) plus I'm tired and feeling a bit cranky due to a possible virus, so I need to keep this one short.

No wip in this post - more that because of the complete unpredictability of my medical condition, I won't necessarily be writing every single day of my life. I'm finding that by resting a lot more, I'm more productive when I do write edit. By avoiding writing/editing when I feel a bit ill, I recover quicker (which is awesome), and I don't hate whatever I'm working on at the time. I used to feel guilty not writing as often as I believed I 'should'. Turns out there's no normality for any writer. Life has a way of bringing all sorts of scenarios for us to do battle with. I do write when I can, especially if I'm up early in the mornings. It's all about taking advantage of what you do have, and forgetting what you don't. Or comparing yourself to others. There's only one person like you (unless you have a clone...)

Be proud of who your are. I probably won't say this at a later date, but I honestly didn't think that my first book being queried would have Muslims in. It sounds a bit odd, but I felt it wasn't really 'mainstream'. Now I'm really happy with the story, and yes I have lots of books without Muslims in. However, it's fun having a character who I can relate to more than a lot of characters I've read who aren't Muslim, as they have some values which are quite the opposite to mine. I get so happy when I pick out all the shared values I have with non-Muslim characters. And when I do find a Muslim character in a book, I get pretty excited about that too, as I like to see how they are portrayed. On the whole they are portrayed rather accurately. It was fun helping Keren David work out the character of Shaz in her latest novel, Lia's Guide to Winning the Lottery. Keren had got the feel of what happened in the mosque spot on. I won't say specifics so I don't spoil the story, but the way the story ends for Shaz is beautiful, and I'm hoping there might be a sequel. It presents options for people of what does happen quite often.

Right, I'm going to be true to myself and watch anime tonight (French & Japanese - separate dvds, not the same one!), in my aim to rest up and stop this virus in its tracks.

I'll be watching...

(a picture of Loulou dancing in a dance class - she wasn't a student, and the evil directrice (headmistress) banned her from lessons)

Loulou de Montmatre. It's an original French cartoon, has lots of drama and I'm hooked on it.

(this one needs no intro!)

Winx - I like to watch at least ane pisode a day. I did watch 3 episodes of the spin-off series Pop Pixie

Here's PIff receiving her pop magic (which I saw this morning and was so happy about)

And her actual costume change when in pop magic mode

Bones - watching this means I get to do craft!

If anyone has questions, I'd be happy to answer them, and would love to hear your views on the topic discussed.

(Somehow this didn't end up all that short...)

Enthused Muse, anyone?

2011-12-18T18:22:00.000Z

Most people don't woke at 3 am. I'm pretty sure a lot of writers could wake up at 3am, scribble down ideas, then go back to sleep. Sadly once I'm awake, I'm really awake. After a little TV catch up, I braved the cold (which sparked interesting conversations on Twitter), and headed downstairs for some writing.

Muse was playing ball, and I started a fun children's series, which has been influenced by the manga I read and the anime I watch. Muse is taking it to a pretty cool direction, which is truly a pleasure to write. It's quite different from my usual style too - I'm eagerly awaiting feedback from a friend to see whether I have finally lost the plot, or whether it actually makes sense and could be cool.

After that, I caught up with a very good friend over luxury hot chocolate (no marshmallows as I don't eat them). It was pretty cool to catch up with her, we're going to meet every month now she lives so close to me (instead of hours and hours away).

Oh no - I was about to write 'after that' but I realised that's what my previous paragraph started with. That's why I don't write after 6pm. *stifles a yawn*

Anyway - once I got home and unpacked the groceries I picked up (yum yum!) I settled down for an afternoon of Bones and cross stitch. I feel like I've seen season 4 before, only I can't have been paying much attention because I don't recall most of it. It's very funny though, and I'm so looking forward to seeing Hodgins and Angela's baby in whatever season it is. Babies are cute!

After emails and blogging, I'm reading tonight. Not sure how long I'll last before I need to watch anime, but I'm trying to hold out because the book I'm reading is great, and it's a series so I still have at least 3 more left to read.

I hope you've all managed to relax this weekend at some point, have fun and laugh with those you love. And drunk hot chocolate, which is the best drink ever!

Nom nom!

2011-12-17T17:25:00.005Z

I attempted to write this morning, but 2 paragraphs of a draft in 2 hours isn't exactly my Muse being on the ball. My Muse is super sleepy today, and it's rubbed off on me. I resorted to sewing and watching Bones, which is thoroughly enjoyable. I'm on season 4, I still don't get why the end of season 3 happened, am completely mystified with what's going on with Hodgins & Angela - it's all good though.

*yawn* Hey - I yawn when my Muse yawns. Is there are connection between the two of us that I haven't discovered???

Thursday I had an appointment at the specialist clinic I attend. It was just a check up - they are happy with the pain clinic dealing with everything for now. It was a long, tiring day. But I got some super tasty treat:

Some of these as I discovered they are in fact vegetarian! I got a lot of flavours :) Not all of them, but qute a few. I'm intrigued with the ice cream flavour ones. I haven't tried them all yet.

These because they are so yummy. I got a few of each flavour.

Never seen these, but love the original. Haven't tried them yet - only got two so will save for a special occasion.

Ditto this

And I've had this before and enjoyed.

If only US chocolate wasn't so expensive. Somehow I don't think it's something I'll sent to review. Either way, it's my special chocolate. I will nom on it sparingly.

Zonk!

2011-12-13T17:42:00.002Z

That's the sound of myself in my head when I walked into the house this afternoon. Brain was zonked. This picture of Miu from Strawberry Marshmallow anime was perfect - Miu is often falling flat like that on purpose when things don't go her way.

For a variety of reasons I've had a busy two days at work. So much so I haven't been able to edit/write. I miss writing, but as my brain is mostly thinking 'zzzz...onk zzzzz...onk' Muse isn't getting anything out of me today. Perhaps tomorrow, depending on how well I sleep tonight.

I'm doing some sewing, while watching dvds, and just yawning the night away. Got a few things on tomorrow and Thursday, but after that I'm relaxing! Will be editing too :)

Hot chocolate date, whoopie pies & relaxation

2011-12-12T18:34:00.001Z

(Alice and Akira having tea together in the anime show Aria)

What was a bit of a hectic day at work had a few whoohoo moments. So long as a friend's schedule doesn't change, we'll be meeting up for hot chocolate on Sunday morning. I haven't seen her for over a year. She lived up Derby way, but now has moved to my area thanks to a new job, so I'm actually getting to see her! It's pretty awesome - we went to uni together. I've got these cute cow slippers which I've had for ages to give to her (she adores cows), so I can take them with me. I'll post the new home card tomorrow.

One lovely colleague had baked whoopie pies! They were sandwiched with butter cream and were pretty scrummy. I didn't take a picture, but whoopie pies look like this.

Tonight I am watching The Junior Apprentice final (and nope I not disclosing who I want to win), before that Masterchef (although it's the 30 minute one), and before that I think I'm going to do a little reading of my friend Cat's book

Me, myself & mince pies (& chestnuts!)

2011-12-10T18:26:00.001Z

(I realise there isn't a single mince pie or chestnut in the picture, but it's from one of my favourite anime, Aria the Origination (well, possibly. Each series is called something different, and I can't remember where this scene appeared) I think they do have hot chestnuts at some point - I love it when the girls share hot drinks by the fire with their mentors)

I'm not even sure where the phrase 'Me, Myself and I' comes from, a phrase which I based my title on. I think it could be a film or a book (if anyone knows, I'd like to find out about it). Either way, it fitted today's post.

At this time of year, there are chestnuts and mince pies in abundance. In the case of mince pies, there are countless variations. Here's the odd thing: I used to like them both, and now I don't.

I haven't liked mince pies for a few years now. I don't know if I ever actually liked them, or whether I just ate them because they were sweet and it's what everyone else did. I suspect the latter could be true, especially because when I was younger I always wanted to fit in. Now I don't mind when people are surprised that I turn them down.

I adored chestnuts. I never had them that much, just in vegetarian nut loaves and similar food. I love water chestnuts in Chinese food. I was really excited today because my family cooked them. I popped a piece in my mouth...and instead of 'yummy!' I thought 'eugh'. After explaining to family that I don't think I like them any more, I tried a second piece, just in case the first was a dud (which it shouldn't have been, as the bad ones had been weeded out earlier). Again I thought 'eugh'. Conclusion: I like chestnuts in food, not necessarily on their own without any seasoning.

I hasten to add I do like brussel sprouts, I adore Christmas pudding but I don't like Christmas cake all that much. My family have to make bread sauce every year - although I don't like too much nutmeg in it. (Me, fussy? A little!)

I like this time of year because people tend to make more of an effort. It's a feeling I get during Ramadan when meeting other Muslims. I usually stay clear of religion because it is a topic of debate (no debating here please), but there are similarities between all the Abrahamic religions which are a real delight to witness. I notice it more because my family is Christian. The house gets filled with mince pies, but I reach for the yummier chocolate!

Whatever your faith, I really hope you are able to find the spirit surrounding your own festivities, be they this winter, next spring, summer or autumn. Festive times can be a source of extra stress, but they are also a good time for reflection. Even if you take just 20 seconds to say to yourself 'I'm here right now, and although life goes haywire at times, overall it's pretty good'. Ok that's probably less than 20 seconds, but my point is the time you allot to reflection doesn't matter, it's the actual reflection which counts.

Have a great evening!

So far, so good.

2011-12-09T07:59:00.001Z

It's still relatively early in the day - 8am - but I've made great progress on my wip. I'm now nearly at the 70% point! Whoohoo!

My family found it a bit odd that I was 'up' so early. It'll soon become the norm. I got a good 2 hours editing, that was with chatting to a lovely friend in Australia online. I'm all ready to start chapter 20 tomorrow morning.

Making that kind of progress has set me in a good mood for the day ahead. I'm hoping work will be quiet enough that I can get through some proofreading (for work) which I'd like to finish before the weekend. I know I've got cake at work later, as a colleague is leaving us. She'll be missed by everyone.

Right, time to actually get ready and head to my day job! This afternoon will be filled with reading and blogging. Yay!

There's a reason why the early bird captures the worm

2011-12-08T16:45:00.001Z

(Akari and President Aria (the cat) waking up on NeoVenicia in one of my favourite anime, Aria)

I'm sure if I rooted around on Google I would find the origin of that saying the early bird catches the worm. Or perhaps it's a proverb. Either way, it is true.

This morning I decided to do an experiment. Instead of watching DVDs until it was time to get up (Pop Pixie!), I got up and edited my wip. I hate anything that wiggles, but I really did catch the worm this time. I expected to be sleepy and slow. I was a little sleepy, but I wasn't slow. I was possibly the opposite, because I was attacking my wip before work used up my daily energy (It so did - today was rather busy).

I'm now 62% through my wip - whoohoo! Slowly but surely I'm making progress. I might get up tomorrow and edit before work too. It's nice to come home and slob around without the guilt of not writing/editing

I do recommend starting a task early in the morning, if you wake up early. Somehow being up and awake before anyone else is magical. By the time you go to work/school, you feel really productive, starting your usual day's activities with the knowledge you've already achieved something.

So, who else is up for the early morning challenge?

Friends

2011-12-07T18:37:00.001Z

(One of my favourite Winx shots which shows the girls are great friends)

Friends make the world go round. True friends are there no matter what happens. Today I spent some time with friends. It was fun to share our passion for knitting, sewing and crochet. More than that, being able to laugh so much in a short time works wonders on the soul. I think that sometimes people talk of human relations breaking down a little in our technology filled world, people send emails instead of handwriting a letter, or send a text instead of picking up the phone and calling someone. The way I see it, so long as you show your friends that you care, it doesn't matter how much you contact them when you can't meet them in person. All that matters is they know you care.

I think I'm at 'that' chapter.

2011-12-05T18:08:00.001Z

(this is from Aria the Origination: it's when Akari (pink hair), Aika (blue hair) and Alice (green hair) are having a study session. They work so hard, providing both inspiration and humour).

Editing a book is hard work. You're required to axe prose which when originally written was good enough to win literary prizes, but with an editing hat on makes zero sense and sucks sense out of the story. A few of my writing friends have certain chapter numbers where they usually come stuck on. Others are more generique and get stuck in the middle, or near the end of the novel.

I've reached my nemesis. It is called Chapter 17.

It feels like I've been stuck on it forever. The original chapter was wordy, because I hadn't got clear in my head a certain part of the plot. I thought compensating with a vast quantity of words would conceal my errors. It didn't.

Now that I have figured that part of the plot (thank you Lei!) I'm on the slow process of separating the sentences which are actually good and help the story to make sense, from the seemingly large about of sentences which make zero sense. I've been on chapter 17 for several editing sessions. (I won't say days, as life doesn't let me write every day). I know that when I finally get to see the words Chapter 18 I will have conquered the traps my Muse lay in Chapter 17's draft.

Muses, who'd have one?

Me!!!!!

Making a Perfect Cup of Chocolate Milk

2011-12-04T17:36:00.001Z

When people think winter, they think hot chocolate. Most of the time I can't be bothered to spend a few minutes carefully heating milk in a pan or blasting it not quite to smithereens in the microwave, so I end up with chocolate milk. It's easy to prepare. (Those under 18 years may need adult supervision)

1) Boil a tiny amount of water in a kettle (or boil it on a stove.)

2) Put 3 or 4 (I have a big cup) spoons of chocolate powder into a cup.

3) Pour just enough water into the cup to cover the chocolate powder.

4) Mix the water and the powder together, making sure to scrape well around the base, so you don't get pockets of unmixed powder (It's pretty tasty as powder, but the more chocolatey the drink the better!)

5) Once mixed in, fill the cup with cold milk.

6) Stir well.

7) Enjoy!

Now, I use various makes of hot chocolate, which I'm not going to advertise here. I tend to grab whatever's available. Sometimes I'll try out different types. I'm a sucker for advertising, and did buy one particular brand's 'frothy' hot chocolate. It was rather funky having it foam up (I did use hot water for that). There exist milkshake mixes, but I don't use them any more. Mostly because the most common is for a manufacturer who I boycott wherever possible. Which doesn't leave me with a lot of options (the same can be said when I'm buying coffee too).

So, do you like chocolate milk? How do you make yours?

My new addiction...Pretzels!

2011-12-01T18:12:00.001Z

Those who follow me on Twitter may know that I adore Hershey's Kisses & Reeses Cups. I have found a new food from America (although originally from Germany...) - the pretzel!

I picked up some yogurt the other day, and while I was at the check out waiting my turn, I saw a small packet of pretzels. They were hard ones, small, and lightly salted. I eyed them up and thought 'Yummy?' When I got home I opened the packet....and went 'yummy!'

They are gorgeous! They are quite nice dipped in yogurt (my food combinations can be a little strange). The next day I got some large plain pretzels, and some smaller, (but not as small as the snack pack) salt and pepper pretzels. I've only tried the later, which is very yummy. Family not mad on them, although they prefer the salt and pepper combination. Which is quite nice in lemon curd yogurt.

I'm sure most people do not eat pretzels with yogurt, but will agree they are delicious! If you haven't already, go try out the American-but-really-German snack.

How I accidentally bought chocolate

2011-11-30T17:48:00.001Z

You are probably thinking 'hmm, she did it on purpose'. I didn't. I ordered some chocolate to give as gifts. I'd planned out what I'd give each person. Unfortunately I'd ordered it before knowing that one of the recipients is now away for two months in Spain. It turns out the expiry date would have been ok, but I later found a perfect present for them. Hence one packet of chocolate was spare. So too was another chocolate when I realised I didn't need it.

See, it's easy to miscalculate how much chocolate to give people, and to end up with some for yourself!

I've done a lot of crochet today, I've watched some Winx (first season: I adore the one where the girls avoid opening an envelope contianing test answers, but they all sneak around trying to find a place to hide it), and tonight is more crochet with Masterchef & Frozen Planet (BBC 1). A good day off!

Dvd fest!

2011-11-29T17:59:00.001Z

(pretend she's doing crochet, ok?)

Been feeling a little under par today, so I came home and watched some Bones (the TV series), while continuing with my crochet blanket. Hopefully over the next day or so I can finish off the red yarn, and add some snazzy multi-tone orange to the mix. Tonight there's Masterchef (BBC 2), and a program on London. Plenty of time to work on the blanket.

Muse is happy enough that she will probably edit tomorrow (usually a non-editing day) because I didn't let her loose today.

A proper winter's day

2011-11-27T18:53:00.001Z

(I haven't watched this episode yet (might watch an episode tonight), but this is the Strawberry Marshmallow anime girls in their winter gear)

Bypassing the fact that I'm cold all year round, today felt like a cozy winter's day. I was up rather early today, 3.30am to be precise. I was wide awake, so I spent the early hours reading, which was fun. I got up and did a little editing, then I stopped. I haven't been well the past few days. In the past I used to try and carry on without resting some more, but when I don't feel great I take a metaphorical dive into my comfy chair, put DVDs on and possibly do some knitting/crochet depending how I feel. I didn't even complain about it in my head this weekend. I decided to make the most of it, and just enjoy it.

Now, having not edited yesterday, you'd think I might be tempted to edit all day today. I was a little. But Muse understood that I needed to be careful how much I did. I managed to do a little tidying in my bedroom (it's a work in progress, ok? We can leave it at that). I managed to tackle two small areas, which I'm pleased with. It took quite a bit of time (nearly an hour) to do what a 'normal' person would get done in 10-15 mins, but it's ok because I managed to do something, by sacrificing a bit of editing time.

After that I knew I wasn't going to edit because even with little rests I was tired from my tidying up. So this afternoon I read. All. Afternoon! It was awesome. I finished up a paranormal book, followed up with two fun children's books which tackled life's issues with a fair smattering of humour. I drank peppermint tea, milk, ate hershey's kisses and some yummy green soup. I posted up a review (yay!), sorted emails, and wrote blog posts (this is the last one). Tonight I'm planning on a mini Winx fest - unsurprisingly I'm feeling a bit tired and need something light hearted to end the day on. I will crochet some more of my blanket - I'll try to take a photo of it this week (& my other craft projects). Hope you all were able to do something you enjoyed this weekend! Here's to a great week :)

Reading day a success

2011-11-23T18:32:00.001Z

Today has been the first Wednesday a long time when I've had little to do. My day was lovely. Craft was as hilarious as ever, helped along by tasty cake. My birds are probably happier I've cleaned their cage, not that they acted it. I then read two books, both of which were good. I'm either going to read a bit more, or watch Winx this evening. I might try both.

I came, I saw, I entered normal life

2011-11-22T17:55:00.001Z

Not that there's anything about normality, but tonight feels a bit normal. Not only have I read within the past 24 hours (after a week's dry spell, it was wonderful), I've edited. I've even put a review up! I realise most people will have seen the reviews last week, but they were all pre-scheduled. Perhaps my body knew it was getting sick when I read all those books the other week....

I've had my last Japanese lesson of 2011. I can't have any more until 2012 because I barely make it home before dusk. I can't drive in the dark, so there's usually a month and a bit of no lessons. That doesn't mean no Japanese, because I have my books and anime to keep me going. I've just completed reading page 13 of Harry Potter 1. My teacher is moving house hopefully in January. It isn't too far from her current place, but it's far enough I would need to leave longer to get home, so I might have to postpone the lesson even longer. We're both going to email after the New Year to see how things are going.

It'll be weird not doing anything on a Tuesday. I think so I don't get out of habit, I will continue to work through my translation, that way I can try and avoid last minute panic of not having translation. (I'm currently a page ahead).

What else? Tomorrow is the first quiet Tuesday for the first time in a while. No doctor's appointment, no post office trip, no massage (which is next week). Just craft club at 10. It means I can really lounge about in the morning. Do you want to know the really cool thing? I'm reading! I'm going to read a bit tonight, and most of tomorrow afternoon. I know I used to watch dvds all afternoon, but lately I can't read all the time, especially in the evenings, because I'm too tired. If I feel snoozy tomorrow, I will relax with dvds. But, while I can, I'll read :)

Oh, today I remembered to pick up Winx season 1 from my desk at work, so I can start watching it again! I've lent out season 2, so I'll go 1,3,4 on repeat until at least next year. I don't mind, because I get to know the seasons well. I'd seen season 2 the most for some reason, as well as season 1 while I was waiting for the other seasons to arrive. Viva Winx! Season one focuses more on the girls' life at university, midnight wanderings, getting into trouble with the headmistress. There's no Layla, no pixies, no magical pets - but there's heaps of love, friendship and laughter. Which, when you think about it, are all the world needs to keep working.

ZZzzzz anime!

2011-11-17T17:35:00.001Z

Tonight I'm feeling rather tired - I guess I'm still recovering from being ill Monday & Tuesday. So it's DVD night. The good news is that the following arrived!!!

I think it's self-explanatory what I'll be watching tonight. I haven't read much this week, but I don't have the concentration now. *yawn*

Hope you all get to watch something you like tonight/this week!

I've reached half way!

2011-11-16T18:25:00.001Z

Truly the most exciting thing today has been getting past 50% on editing Diplomatic Disaster. I'm at 53%, if we're being accurate. The reason my % had been overestimated was the fact that 1/3 of the document had random extra lines between paragraphs which wouldn't fix themselves when I adjusted the paragraph settings. But I'm over half way! Once I've completed it, I'll read it through then chuck it at my beta readers. *squeals* It's something fun and positive to think about.

I had a false happiness when I saw an Amazon package (I thought it would be Strawberry Marshmallow anime & Charlotte aux Fraises).

Instead it was misc fish products for the fish tank. Maybe it'll arrive tomorrow.

On the agenda tonight is detangling the final part of a yarn skein so it joins the rest of the skein in the fairly neat ball. I might set to work on the other skein that needs transforming into a ball, but we'll see. There will be some sewing tonight, as there's Waterloo Road on BBC 1.

Enjoy your evening!

An awesome anime find!

2011-11-13T17:54:00.001Z

Before I get to the main subject of today's post, it's probably best if I say how my day went. I woke up early, so I read a bit. Then I got up before 8am and cracked on with editing. I edited nearly 10% of my wip today, which feels very nice. I ended up not cutting a scene, as I thought I would, but tweaking it.

Once lunch came around, I shut everything down, and watched the first episode of Charlotte aux fraises.

This time round I understood it a lot better. It's very cute. There are quite a lot of dvds in the set, but hopefully I'll collect them all over time.

Anyway, after the mini anime fest (does one episode count at a fest?), I stuck Bones on (the TV series...I'm not some strange psycho bone puzzle addict), and set some Japanese translation. On the plus side of reading Harry Potter, I will now not forget the world owl. I'm starting to gain speed in looking up words and kanji in my electronic dictionary, which is a very nifty gadget. It uses up a lot of battery though, especially when I need the light on (which is essential to write the kanji on the touch screen at the base). Hence I got a battery charger. I so should have looked around my room, because when it arrived, I discovered two battery chargers in a drawer. Although to be fair there weren't enough AAA batteries, and I have no idea how old they are.

A few hours later, and I've done enough translation for my lesson (I hope). I'll look it over tomorrow. I settled down to some review scheduling. I realise quite a lot of my reviews are for next year now. I must read more books which are already out.

Right, on to the amazing anime find! I've got a few of the manga for Strawberry Marshmallow.

It's a cute and very funny manga about friends who are neighbours. I love the outfits the girls wear, there's one for each season throughout the book. Ages ago I was googling it and discovered there was an anime of the manga. Yay!

Or not. It was super expensive on a certain online store (£60-80). Trust me, that is ridiculous money for anime. I looked on the US version of the certain online store. It was marginally cheaper, but not enough to warrent buying it. I kept checking every few months, and had given up all hope of getting it.

How wrong I was.

I was looking on the French version of the certain online store. Aside from Winx (which is cheaper on the French site), I haven't exactly got many dvds in French. I've got Charlotte aux Fraises, and another one, but that's it. I didn't think to look for anime. Somehow I was looking at the bargain anime boxsets, and Strawberrry Marshmallow came up. UNDER 10 EUROS!

How could I say no? I also picked up the 2nd volume to Charlotte aux Fraises (no I couldn't justify buying all 6 volumes)

So I'm very happy, and looking forward to watching it. I might need to hunt down the rest of the manga series, as I don't think i've got it all and manga is always slightly different to the anime version.

Tonight - well, I'm not sure. Sadly I can't edit - it's after 6pm, which is my working curfew. (*glares at friends who make sure I rest*) I can read, or watch dvds. Might do both, we'll see. I sort of need to do some sewing and tapestry work for presents which are due soon.

Have a good evening! Do let me know what you're favourite TV show is at the moment.

Better :)

2011-11-12T18:33:00.001Z

Thanks for the well wishes yesterday. After a 2 hour nap I was fine. I then couldn't sleep until 1am. Oh well! I made use of the time and read.

Today has been a bit of a sleepy day, but I've edited 5% of my wip, translated some Japanese (Mr Dursley is finding it hard to understand why the cat is sitting on his fence still), put up a review & scheduled a few (it's nice to be ahead a little).

There's TV later, as well as some more reading. Tomorrow will be pretty much the same (minus cleaning the birds out which I did at lunch).

Currently ill

2011-11-11T18:45:00.001Z

Just the usual, so hopefully a quiet night in bed will solve it.

The magical number 30

2011-11-08T19:18:00.002Z

I did it! I've edited 30% of Diplomatic Disaster! It's so wonderful to reach a fat, round zero in the editing stage. This morning I didn't edit a lot page wise, but editing wise I climbed a mountain. There were several problem paragraphs, which took a lot of twiddling words,. switching sentences around and wondering what in the universe Muse was thinking when she dictated her story to me.

I'm unsure if any editing will be done tomorrow, as it is technically my day off work. Today was a day's leave :) I fully expect I will be reading tomorrow - might read most of the day (got craft club in the morning and a few minor errands). I've certainly read a lot more this week, and Muse is enjoying herself having more material to look over.

Time to hunt out a book!

Books? Where??!!!

2011-11-07T19:00:00.002Z

(Can't remember which season/episode this is in, but it's Akari from Aria the Animation, an Undine apprentice (gondola in a space age Venice (called Aqua)), wearing a cat ear night cap (because human intelligence level, non talking cats are presidents of the gondola companies)

Books are the reason why I'm getting out of bed before 8am on an extra day's leave tomorrow. They could arrive anywhere between 7 or 7.30am (I will be checking tonight!) onwards. But, as it's books, I'll be up with a smile.

Today I have managed one and a bit reviews, which are now scheduled up. I've read a lot, and depending on TV content (naturally will be watching Junior Apprentice), will have more reading.

Tomorrow's agenda, besides parcel waiting, will be editing! I'll edit in the morning, and relax with dvds and craft for the afternoon. I'm hoping I can get to the 25% edited milestone.

Writing withdrawal symptoms

2011-11-06T18:02:00.000Z

I haven't written/edited for two days now. I've missed it quite a bit. I haven't been ill - a family member is ill after an operation, and was getting worse so I wanted to see them when family went to visit yesterday. They are slowly improving, which is good news.

Unfortunately, travelling over an hour, and traipsing round an extremely large hospital wore me out. I knew it would - I had to cancel lunch with a friend today. Yesterday I watched dvds and did crochet (putting crocheted looks wrong). Today I did the same in the morning. I've nearly finished adding a fourth row to all my crochet squares, and got half way through season 3 of The Unit.

This afternoon I've been reading! I've got through 3 books, soon to be 4. The plus side of having insomnia is that I can sometimes read more at night/early morning. But to read during the day - that hasn't happened for a while. It feels so good!

I'm taking leave on Tuesday so I can have 2 days of rest, rather than one day mid week. The squashed elephant feeling is starting to fade. I want to write, but it'll be counterproductive. So I'm being good and resting. And ignoring all the temper tantrums from Muse.

I might get a little editing done tomorrow, but I'm not writing that in permanent marker on my schedule. If I need more dvd watching time, that's what I'll do (nooooooooooooooooo!)

Hope you've managed to have some fun this weekend, and have picked up a book at some point this week.

0.2% and reading

2011-11-04T19:37:00.004Z

(Akari from the anime Aria. I chose this picture because it made me smile)

With just 0.2% until I hit 25% on editing Diplomatic Disaster, I'm making good progress on the wip. Even though I didn't get much further today, any progress is progress.

I'm taking advantage of the times I can't sleep and reading. Slowly I'm starting to read more each day, which is nice. My aim to is reach the point where I read a book a day. I miss doing that! At least children's books are short so that is more likely now.

Right, so tonight I'm reading. Must go and get a book or two.

Speedy post, no pics

2011-11-02T18:44:00.000Z

Very speedy as I've promised a friend I'll go relax now I've spent the afternoon editing. I've reached 21%!!! 25% isn't far off. I love reaching substantial editing goals. On this chapter, the content was fine, I just put it in the wrong order. There was a lot of humming, hahing, and clicks of the mouse.

Hopefully I'll have more news soon! Have a great night.

Warm and snuggly

2011-10-31T17:56:00.000Z

(I so feel like this! Plus I have the source of the picture)

I currently don't want to move from my comfy chair, with my warm blanket. But I need food shortly. I just wanted to say I've been reading (always good), watching a lot of dvds (also good). Tonight I'm hoping to watch the Winx film which goes between season 3 and 4. Yesterday I discovered season 5 (French version) won't be around until the end of 2012. Nooooo! I guess I'll just have to watch all of them heaps of times until them!

No editing/writing today - it didn't work out and I'm sleepy. Poor body thinks its an hour later. Stupid clock change. Somehow I don't think I'm going to do anything brain strenuous now. I'll do some knitting and crochet tonight. Well, I might get to crochet. Need to sew all in the ends in on the squares first. I'm 2/3 through doing that, then I need to add a 4th row to the squares. It's good fun! I'm looking forward to when this lap blanket is finished, so I can use it and take a photo and show you all.

Have a good evening! (Yes I'm watching the Junior Apprentice later)

17% & poetry copying complete

2011-10-29T19:30:00.004+01:00

(No idea what this anime is, but it's a girl knitting, so that'll do for me!)

This morning I beavered away at Diplomatic Disaster, managing to bring the total editing quantity up to 17%. Naturally I attribute listening to Winx songs as being good for my muse.

After a few episodes of winx, in which I finished a pair of fingerless gloves (sunshine yellow) and started another pair (different colour. Restarted 3 times for various reasons. I'm not sure if I'll have enough yarn for two in the same colourway, so will just have to knit and see what happens). I then settled down to 4-5 hours of poetry typing as a favour. Yes I have this crazy switch where I tend to plough on until the work is complete. I'm now relaxing with knitting (followed by Merlin & Casualty), and squeezing more Winx in.

Those in the UK, remember, clocks go back and hour early tomorrow morning (around 2pm). One friend pointed out it was an extra hour to get hungry for our Chinese lunch tomorrow. That is a valid point, although my latest thoughts have been 'if I wake up normally from 3.30-5am, I'll be waking up from 2.30-4 am.

I'm seriously hoping my body adjusts to the times fast. 2.30 is not a good time to wake up, and stay awake for the entire day.

Whatever you're up to tonight, I hope you get to smile at least one!

A quiet night

2011-10-27T18:04:00.003+01:00

(I was looking for a single person sleeping, but this caught my eye. I love how all the Winx look with their Mini Fee on a camping trip - aren't the teeny sleeping bags cute? Even Kiko, Bloom's pet rabbit has one)

I've discovered that straight after a quietish patch at work, it's now extremely busy - all because I was away for an extra day this week. Subsequently today has sped by, but with the other bits I've needed to do (I do not want to be translating Japanese the night before my lesson, the stress levels are too high!), I'm probably not going to edit much if at all.

I've done some translation, I've copied up some handwritten poems into MS Word for a friend (got a stack of them to type by 1st November. Unfortunately I've lost nearly a week due to having a cold). I've gone through my emails, now moving onto bloggy bits. At 6pm I do try to wind down the day (unless I'm full of mental energy, and then will happily bounce around for a bit on the screen until Muse calms down). However today Muse is flat out, snoozing and ordering me to read and watch dvds. Can't say no to that really, can I?

The plus side is that reading & watching dvds are great research for my wips!

Diplomatic Disaster: 13% edited!

2011-10-25T16:34:00.004+01:00

(Hatoko (elementary school student in uniform) and her 'angel' Shizuka from the anime (& manga) Angelic Layer. Hatoko takes great pride in winning, although being a child prodigy can get a bit much at times.)

Admittedly the editing for the past hour and a bit was somewhat slowed by The Sleepies, but I've completed another chapter in the grand edit. Google makes a good calculator for tired minds. I've got 87% left of the wip to comb through! It's almost double the improve from 7%. I'm very happy with that.

*yawn* Had another early morning rise today. 3.30am is rather early. It was fun to get stuck into reading, which I won't dive in to shortly after I go get some laundry on the go. Sleepy brain requires dvd watching. Winx and Rozen Maiden here I come! I might skip craft today - depends whether I pick up after my afternoon snack of carrot & corriander soup.

Diplomatic Disaster 7% edited!

2011-10-24T18:12:00.002+01:00

( This is Shinku from the anime (& manga) Rozen Maiden, which I'm currently watching at the moment. This expression of hers fits perfectly with my Muse's current attitude).

All thanks to Google for doing that calculation for me. After work I was in an editing mood, so I headed straight towards my manuscript. I'm using the skills I've learnt on the editing course, but I'm not actually using the editing course for this wip. It is a fairly straight forward, clean wip. There are no major plot changes (and there'd better not be later on!), and often it's just tweaking how I phrase sentences. I've edited two chapters, which is now 7% of the novel. I love how fun this novel is, and how it gets my adrenalin going. Go Muse!

It's time to go grab some food then relax for the evening. I think some reading is in order, followed with anime and The Junior Apprentice at 9pm. It's nice because my entire family watches it, so we chat about our views on what happens (which include pointing out when they make good and bad decisions).

I've got a routine appointment tomorrow, so I hope to get some editing done afterwards. Muse is eager to continue now, but I'm officially tired so had better rein her in for the night. She'll be glaring at me until I get my fingers back on this keyboard tomorrow.

Attacked by Germ Gremlins

2011-10-18T17:51:00.001+01:00

Still got my stupid cold. Feeling bit worse today, so resting up tonight with dvds. There's so much going around at the moment. I'm well enough to feel sorry for myself, so I know it's not too bad!

News: I wrote nearly 7k on Sunday. One was a scene for Inescapable Ties, the rest was for Diplomatic Disaster, which is now finished! There doesn't look to be too heavy an edit, so I can prep it for querying in a few weeks. Kinda excited about that. Naturally if I get any exciting news I'll post it here.

Right, I'd better go. The sooner I rest, the sooner I'll get rid of the germ gremlins.

The plague strikes!!!

2011-10-14T18:43:00.001+01:00

Before everyone panics, don't. You know how as you grew up you were taught to share? Somehow I think my family wish I hadn't shared my germs with them. All are ill. Nothing major, just sore throat, sniffles etc. Apart from the animals, who get away scot free.

I'd thought something was up this week when I dozed a lot after I woke up (note: I usually wake up between 3.30 to 6.30 am. Getting over 5 hours sleep is quite rare. Which is why dozing was so interesting). Then there was the sore throat yesterday which stretched into today. And today is when family reveal they are also being attached by germ gremlins. Oops!

The plus side is that I'm starting to read more. (When I wasn't really reading a book a week, a book a day is a big deal). I could well be laid up with a pile of books tomorrow, depending whether sore throat stays or mutates into something tomorrow. I'm convinced that my Inner Self lets the germs in when I want to get in some quality reading time. Or dvds. Because post dishes, (and pre dinner as I eat lots of small meals a day) I'm feeling more bleh, so will lay down the book (noooooo!) and settle down with dvds. Yes Winx is on the menu, as it is guaranteed to make me smile.

So wrap up warm, don't share germs, do share happiness, love of books and life!

It's mid week

2011-10-12T18:52:00.000+01:00

(Winx - from the left: Stella, Techna top middle, Bloom the other middle, Flora and Musa. Layla's not in this one, but she is in season 3 which I'm currently watching).

Yes, I was entirely uninspired in the title department for today's blog post. Here's a summary of today ....

Woke up early, then kept dozing
Got up, checked emails, headed to doctor's appointment (routine).
Post doctor's appointment popped home to pick family member up and take them to train station.
Leave train station praying I will get home soon.

I don't like that particular town, even though I learnt to drive in it. My homing beacon is usually pretty weak, but I can proudly say within 5 minutes I was able to find the main road that takes me home. Go me!

Get to craft club only 30 mins into the 2 hour session. Had a lot of laughs.
Ran a few short errands.
Returned home, cleaned birds, set laundry.
Settled down to 2 episodes of the Unit while sewing.
Read a bit, then realised the book wasn't for me.
Which brings me to now!

I'm shortly about to head off to find food, and then watch Winx!!!

Writing!

2011-10-10T18:27:00.001+01:00

As in I am writing! Managed nearly 400 words today, which is progress. I hasten to add that I spent nearly an hour re-reading the draft so I got the voices right for the final chapters. Hopefully I'll finish it over the next week or so. I'm enjoying getting stuck into this wip again, especially as Muse has already figured out the sequel and spin offs.

Blogging has been a bit sporadic, ass I'm only doing it when I'm feeling up to it. That's a medium step for me to take, and I finally didn't stress over not having a review up at the weekend. Slowly I'm learning how to relax. It really is an art form.

*yawn* I'm sleepy now, but tonight I hope to get some reading in! Since I haven't read a full book for a week or so, so that's progress too. This is as good a place to stop as any.

Enjoy your evening!

Unexpected invitation

2011-10-05T16:45:00.002+01:00

I'm going through my emails, getting the usual sort (junk mail, more junk mail, book review request, more junk mail....) and I spy an invitation.

I read it, was a bit sceptical (I'm paranoid everyone could be out to scam me), so I googled the company. I now don't know how I got the invite! It's for a lunch in a week, and I'm not able to go, but it was just strange to get such an invitation, for a high profile company which is at the higher end market in the business world.

More normal was my editing this morning, followed by 2 hours of chatting and sewing. Been relaxing this afternoon, and settling down to try and finish off editing this chapter. Then I'd like to translate a few sentences of HP. I'm on the 3rd page! (This is a huge achievement as it is much harder to decipher Japanese grammar than I anticipated. My teacher's awesome though, so I know I'll get the hang of it eventually).

And the chaos begins.

2011-10-04T18:47:00.000+01:00

It's term time at work shortly, and the chaos begins for the next ten weeks, so work is now hectic.

Today had a nice afternoon, watched the last episode in season 1 of The Unit, did some sewing, sorted a few blog posts, emails etc.

Tonight? More sewing and reading. Yay!

Family back! Time to chill

2011-10-03T16:36:00.001+01:00

At least I don't have to remember to water the garden any more! Feels like family have been away agggesss. It's nice to have them back.

After a day at work, I came home a little early as I had extra time and had totally forgotten to take my medication with me. Whoops!

Having a reading day today as I'm pretty tired, so that's fun as I'm starting a new book tonight. I have watched one episode of Rozen Maiden. I've opted to switch off the subs, and so far I understand the main gist of it. The graphics are gorgeous! I think I'm going to love this anime series. I'll leave you a picture of the first Rozen Maiden I've met. And yes I've forgotten her name. This is when the hermit boy (who doesn't leave the house) finds her in the box. She's so dainty and polite - she has her own little tea cup and saucer she uses to get her tea. You don't want to mess with her though - she has quite a lot of power.

Watering the garden

2011-10-01T18:24:00.000+01:00

I must do it soon, before it gets dark. Plants are looking a bit sorry for themselves.

Today's been a fun day. I've managed to get some editing done (half a chapter), sew some more of a project, watch a few episodes of Winx (including one of my favourites where Musa has her concert at the Red Fountain), and reading. I've nearly finished for the night, and will settle down for Merlin & Casualty (reading in between those two programmes.) Merlin is back, which is brilliant. It's a fun show, go watch it!

In which I make a big mistake

2011-09-30T10:26:00.001+01:00

Last night, as I was packing snacks and books for today's trip, I checked the time of my appointment.

It was yesterday, not today.

At 8pm, that was a bit of a shock. I called friends, who managed to calm me down, explain it happens, and that they will understand.

After a few rings and a left message, they called back. My next appointment is 5th January.

I'm pretty sure I won't make such a mistake again. Heading out to get a refund on my ticket, and going to watch dvds & eat ice cream.

Away until after the weekend

2011-09-29T18:05:00.000+01:00

(Akari from Aqua anime drinking coffee.)

I'd love to say I'm going somewhere exotic, but I'm not. I've got an appoitment at the pain clinic tomorrow up in London, so it's a small trip for me. I've no idea what they are going to suggest. I know I'll be shattered when I get home, so I haven't pencilled much for this weekend.

I figured I'll be awol for a few days as it can sometimes take a bit of time to recover from a London visit. Family are actually on holiday at the moment, so I'm setting lots of alarms to get me up around 5.30am (yes I panic that much that I really do have to be at the station super early).

Hopefully will be back with lots of editing next week!

Mooching

2011-09-26T18:14:00.000+01:00

The last few days I've been doing a bit of this, a bit of that. I've read, I've edited two whole scenes of Inescapable Ties which was exciting. One of them was brand new so I worked on added writing new material, which is firming up the overall plot. It's surprisingly fun to add new scenes part way through, keeping old scenes on either side of it.

I wasn't feeling entirely amazing over the last few days, which is why tonight I'm sitting with the first few pages of Harry Potter photocopied and blown up so I can decipher the Kanji. Some I just don't get, even with my dictionary, but I need to get as far as I can for tomorrow's Japanese lesson (30 mins is perfect lesson time for me now). I've managed to understand the big owl flapping, which was fun. It's just like doing a big word search, but somehow my family looked at me oddly when I said that.

Numbers of the day: 15, 15, 224.

2011-09-22T18:30:00.001+01:00

I couldn't think up of a different title for today's post. Sometimes thinking titles takes more brain power than I have by this time of day.

Today's been a normal day at work. I came home and had my hour of anime watching, which was fun. In Winx I saw the 2nd episode in season 2, where Layla wakes up and explains who she is and what she was doing. I was melting at the cuteness of Piff, Layla's mini-fairy, especially when Stella was too loud and woke her up when she gave Layla a sandwich. I also watched the 6th episode of Negima, where we learn about the vampire on campus (it's an all girls school anime where a 10 year old boy is a wizard teacher. It's rather funny) is actually one of Negi's students. This causes him lot of emotional trauma as he cares for his students a lot.

After that I did some stuff online, then set my online alarm for 15 minutes. The first 15 minutes I spent editing. I did have a fairly long pause as I responded to an email, caught up with a friend and read her first chapter. The second 15 also refers to 15 minutes, this time in working on a first draft of a wip. I'm working on my sci-fi children's series, which is heaps of fun and very light, the opposite of Inescapable Ties.

Although 15 minutes really don't seem much to me, it'll have to do on the days I work. Sometimes I'll be able to do more, but at least I've set my goals at a realistic distance. The 224 was the amount of words I wrote on my wip. I had to think a bit in places as to how I wanted to phrase sentences, which ate up minutes.

I'm about to go get some bread, have egg with salad cream, then read! Finishing off a book tonight, and starting another. Hope a book is on the horizon for you soon.

Days rarely turn out as you plan them

2011-09-18T19:09:00.002+01:00

I had it all worked out. This holiday I was going to have an epic editing fest on my wip.

That didn't happen.

A close relative is sick, so I opted to visit them with family yesterday. Normally I avoid long car journeys, as I get tired and easily and uncomfortable for me. But I was quite worried about the sick relative. It was a fun day - I got to buy some supremely scrummy chocolate from Beaulieu Chocolate Studio, who I wholeheartedly recommend visiting should you be in the New Forest, for they make the chocolate on site! I bought a few gifts in the teddy bear shop (a few shops up from chocolate shop), ditto a few gifts plus chocolate in the garden centre. My family and I debated whether the garden centre made more money from it's gardening produce or from the refurbished cafe, whose food is delicious and good value for money. Mozzerella and tomato panini with a latte, anyone?

My sick relative is doing better than I thought they were, so I think they'll be home at some point this week. The hospital was really nice, clean and spacious. And apparently the food was good, so that's always a bonus.

I pencilled in today as a rest day because I guessed I'd pay for yesterday's trip. And I did. However, I've managed to read two a bit books today, write a few emails, do a tiny bit of editing (yes a very small amount). I have to get a few groceries as well as food and cage lining for my birds tomorrow, but otherwise I'll see how I feel. If I still feel a bit off, I won't be doing heaps of editing. I'm shortly about to watch some anime! All night!

Hope your weekend has been enjoyable. Here's to a fun week ahead!

Chocolate solves all problems.

2011-09-15T19:50:00.000+01:00

(found on google, sadly mine was without cream and in a take-out cup. That didn't diminish from the taste though!)

Okay, so technically I didn't eat chocolate today (not even I can pretend fudge is chocolate - it is very scrummy though). I had the most amazingly tasty coconut hot chocolate at a cafe near work today. I'll definitely have to have that again this autumn.

Today was a pretty normal day. I met a friend after work, hence the hot chocolate. No editing today, but I have scheduled up a couple of reviews, which I haven't been able to do for a little bit, so that felt good. Just one more day then I'm on a 5 day break! Whoohoo!

Off to settle down with a book, before an hour of anime. I love evenings!

Normality returns!

2011-09-13T18:14:00.000+01:00

Normality doesn't exist. Not really. We like to think it exists, but it doesn't. Life isn't methodical. Things happen unexpectedly.

But in my world, which usually involves reading/reviewing/editing/writing, I'm back doing all four, and they each feel wonderful.

Watch out world!

Advice for the week: check emails before heading to a meeting.

2011-09-12T17:49:00.000+01:00

(pic found on google, sadly I didn't have the yummy biscuit. Nor was it in a glass)

Today was one of the 4.30am wake up days. I naturally wake at this time sometimes, due to my short sleep span. I usually have coffee around 11am at work, sometimes sooner. Today I held off all day as I was meeting a friend at 2.30pm for a catch up. I was really feeling it by 1pm. I'm not addicted to coffee, and don't even have one every day. But when I'm up that early, I need one to help get home.

I had a lovely iced vanilla latte, read a little of a pdf. Waited. Had to laugh because I'd managed to follow two work colleagues there who were having a business meeting. No sign of my friend so I texted. 20 mins later still no sign, so tried phoning but had the wrong number (which might explain why I haven't had replies to her texts...). Thanks to my little android phone I was able to check my emails, to see if something had come up.

Now, since I've been ill I've only checked my emails once a day. I checked yesterday morning, and was checking tonight. I should have checked last night as my friend emailed to say she had an interview so needed to reschedule.

I laughed. I've learnt the lesson to check emails before waiting for people. I'm looking forward to trying out the coconut hot chocolate on our next meet up.

Tonight I'm a little wired as I had my coffee later, so probably going to make a few notes on what I need to do next in my editing stage. Feeling bit too tired to write anything that makes sense on a wip. I do need to try and complete a page of Harry Potter (Japanese) for my lesson tomorrow. Not sure how far I can get in 30mins, I'm hoping not too far as I haven't been able to get through as much because I was ill.

Hope you all have a good evening, and remember to check your emails before any meetings!

Sick

2011-09-10T17:40:00.000+01:00

2 colleagues with a cold plus me = germ gremlin attack!

Stuff's going around, so I'm not surprised I came down with something yesterday. I'm on full relaxation mode (even reading is work, *grrr*), so lots of dvds & sewing. I am on the mend, and hopefully in a few days will be almost back to normal.

Muse solved an editing problem!

2011-09-07T18:08:00.000+01:00

Despite today being my day of relaxation...I've spent the last few hours editing. Well, I wanted to. And as soon as I'm finished with this post I'm putting the laptop away and heading back to dvd watching and embroidery.

It was wonderful! I'm still on lesson 12...but I've only got two more smallish things to do then I can move on to lesson 13. I've been sorting out my characters, changing some of the notes I'd already made, and creating new notes for the revised wip. It's helping get everything straight in my head. And...in re-reading what I'd put before, I discovered that with the new plot Muse has actually solved a dilemma I had with one part of the plot! How cool is that?! ^o^ Got to love my Muse. She is very awesome.

I've finished Winx season 3! I finished it this afternoon. It was as amazing as ever. I didn't watch the film or start season 4 because I actually wanted to watch some more of Sasami, Magical Girl's Club. It's a nice light anime (exactly what I need). Going to get some reading in tonight, just in case tomorrow is mental at work and I need to watch more dvds than just 2 episodes when I get home tomorrow. Finish off a friend's wip and starting an ebook :)

Splish, splosh, yawn

2011-09-06T18:08:00.000+01:00

Hands up who is sleepy! Not that I can see you. Work was busy again, but there were some laughs to be had which makes all the difference. I came home, watched two episodes of Winx to relax, then did a little editing. Didn't manage as much as I'd hoped, but something is much better than nothing.

I'm finishing up quickly on online stuff, then it's time to relax! I've got the Bake Off or whatever it's called 8pm on BBC 1, which is good fun to watch. I've ordered some cereal with my milk delivery as there are special offers on one cereal which I like. Tomorrow I do have another contact lens appointment (I don't think my eye is irritated any more) mid morning, so I can only have 45 mins of craft club, but I'm going to do some embroidery, so that's cool. In the afternoon I am free. Which means I so need to relax! Winx & sewing. *happy sigh* Got to love my day off.

What is important is that I'm getting back into reading. The last few weeks have been so weird that reading hasn't figured much on my agenda. Well, I'm in the reading mood, and I want to nom on books. So I will be!

Tomorrow's review will be posted at the end of the day (just so I can be oblivious to my laptop for most of the day), and hopefully at the weekend I can get back to scheduling reviews in. It's time to go hunt out some food.

What a day!

2011-09-05T16:17:00.000+01:00

(picture from google search)

Muse is not a happy bunny/camper than this is the 2nd day I'm not editing. Or writing. Yesterday, I felt a bit mweh so I took the sensible option and rested all day. That was a hard but necessary decision. I'm still finding relaxation a huge learning curve. I watched dvds & sewed all day. It was great fun - I finished season two of Winx, and now I'm on the 2nd (of 3) disc of season 3. I did nearly finish another bookmark, so I'll get the delights of starting a new project today.

I'm glad I rested yesterday, as I suspected today would be a bit mental at work, just with the stuff that was already planned. It was more mental than I anticipated. And the insanity started while I was about 10 minutes away from work (of a 40 minute commute).

There was the usual traffic at the mini-roundabout leading up to the main road. I knew schools were back this week, so expected that. In a 3 lane road (I don't know the technical term for the lanes. There is left, middle, and right. Or rather 'go slow/sensible drivers' (left), 'middle for overtaking and those who like more oomph (middle) 'nutcase lane' (right).

I head straight to the right. There wasn't really anyone in the left, but I didn't think anything of it. People in the middle were trying to get to the right. I saw a bit of smoke and thought there was a bonfire (it is possible, although unusual for where we were). That was until I saw a car on fire, in the left lane.

I found greater respect for those who deal with emergencies like that. The fire engines were nearly there, there wasn't any police there yet.

I was really freaked out, even though I knew logically that no one would be in there. Once at work, a cup of tea, a chocolate bar and a few tissues later I was ready to face the busy day.

I reckon it probably was arson, as there was no other car stopped nearby, no one out by the side of the road. I've seen it on TV, but up close it's quite different.

So the busyness & incident combined mean for my own sanity I need lots of happy things (aka Winx). So Muse will kick her heels for another day.

Hope you all have a good evening! And your life gets a little less manic.

On lesson 12!

2011-09-03T13:11:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was great fun, because as I was reading lesson 11 I thought that there wasn't much for me to do. I was write. I'm now on lesson 12. I had a peek at it yesterday, and thankfully for 12-14 I've actually done quite a lot of the work in my head, earlier on in the revision course. So I'm just writing down what's in my head. It does mean that I actually have to give names to a few characters (rather than calling them Bodyguard, which really works in the novel but I needed a real name). I knew the real name for Bodyguard was in another wip (where she first features as a bounty hunter, but because of that book becomes a respectable member of a security force), so I hunted that wip down. The name was beautiful, but I needed a less girly name for her in Inescapable Ties. So I brainstormed with a friend, and we came up with the same name, slightly different spelling at the same time. So that name is sorted.

It's a nice surprise that the next few lessons shouldn't be too tricky to work through. As much as I want to carry on editing all day, that really isn't a good idea for me. So I'm being good, closing everything down and going to read this afternoon, then have a bit of a Winx fest this evening. Getting back into reading is supremely awesome, and I'm loving it! There's no better place to be on a rainy day than inside, warm, snuggled under a blanket with hot chocolate and a stack of books.

I lost a few hours earlier today while my car was serviced, but I did take books there. I had a pleasant surprise as I waited, was offered some tea so didn't refuse, but instead of machine tea it was in a proper mug! That was very pleasing, as machine tea doesn't always taste great.

What ever you're up to today, enjoy it!

Finished lesson 10 - whoohoo!

2011-09-01T18:30:00.000+01:00

Party time! I've just finished lesson 10 (which I've been wrestling over a few days as I couldn't do it all in one go).

I now have the new plot on index cards in a document. Looking at it on many view pages it looks really pretty. I have no idea what's ahead in the next lesson, but I'm pleased to say I can hopefully start lesson 11 tomorrow.

Now, I've got this book to read tonight, then a question to think of for the author (yes I'm rather excited about getting it answered! Philip Pullman is quite a legend over here.) So yes, busy night as it has to be read by tomorrow.

Enjoy your evening!

Winx fest! Minor error in my diary.

2011-08-31T18:51:00.000+01:00

True to my word, I have been watching Winx. It feels even more awesome as I haven't watched it for a bit! I'm part way through season 2, and loving every moment. At the weekend I'm going to start doing once a week observation on Winx, examining the girls character, the show's technology/magic etc.

Winx was far from my mind this morning. After craft club I came home, getting ready to settle to my Winx fest. I thought my massage & facial was at 2pm. I double checked the card, because one time was 12pm....and I had to move pretty fast at 12.20pm when I saw that I'd made a mistake and today's appointment was at 12! I quickly phoned the spa, then headed out there. Thankfully it's only a few minutes from my house so I got there pretty quickly. And I had the full length of the treatment - so for once being late didn't matter. Everyone was so nice about it but I still felt a bit bad.

After that I came back and watched Winx and did a bit more sewing. I've nearly finished a Winnie-the-Pooh bookmark, and shortly going to start a cat bookmark. As it is still technically my holiday, I'm going to watch more Winx tonight and do some sewing. Reading books will recommence tomorrow. Brain always goes for a snooze after a massage (I think I nearly did doze during the facial - I was just so relaxed), so reading words isn't really in my capability tonight.

Whoohoo for edits & Winx!

2011-08-30T12:30:00.001+01:00

(this is from a Google search of anime birds - it's actually from the first anime I ever saw, Castle in the Sky which I still adore today).

This morning, seeing as I felt relatively chirpy I figured I'd get some editing done, as I've had a small break from it over the past week.

(copyright to original owner (not me))

I managed to complete the new outline using a sentence for each scene! I'd stopped about half way through, have ended up with around 84 scenes (it had been 46....but some scenes have been deleted/merged). I was up for a bit more, so I kept going with lesson 10, and started compiling a new master copy of index cards detailing my plot. I managed 10 scenes, then started yawning.

(copyright to original owner (not me))

That means it's time to stop editing for the day, and enter the second exciting part - Winx fest! I can't nap in the day as it mucks up with my sleep, but dvd watching & sewing = very relaxing and something I planned to do today.

Enjoy the rest of your day! I will be doing this later...

.(copyright to original owner (not me))

Nearly back to normal

2011-08-29T17:51:00.000+01:00

(copyright to original owner)

Evening all! Hope you all had a great long weekend (or just a great normal weekend). I'm back in the land of the internet. I had lots of fun seeing my friends and watching the animals on the farm. I saw super cute, fluffy 3 week old hen chicks. We didn't set fire to anything this year (last time, 2 years ago, there was almost a small incident with the bonfire which was getting rather close to a tree....), but we managed to cause minor chaos in town (yes, perhaps we shouldn't be let out when we're together!).

It was a one way system. There wasn't parking nearby for where we ate lunch. So my friend waited while another friend checked to see if there was space for us. There was, so I started to get out, but there were cars coming past. I then waited for them, but there was then a truck (too wide to pass) so I had to hop out fast. Apparently my friends in the other car had got out, but had pulled out to let the truck pass, but then had to to stop because they hadn't quite seen me get out). So we caused a minor traffic jam :)

Anyway, I'm back and off work until Thursday (whoohoo! Looking forward to going back, but need the time to recuperate.) Tomorrow I was planning a reading fest...which is fun but I probably need total relaxation. So it'll be a dvd fest. Not just any dvd fest.

Winx DVD fest!!!!!

Yup, the girls will be back on my dvd player. They've been on hiatus as it's been Ramadan and I've been watching anime which are more suitable for all and examine various characteristics of people (both happen in Winx but the girls do have boyfriends which isn't quite appropriate material when having a month of reflection). I think I'll love it more than ever. I'll be starting from season 2 just because season 1 is still with a friend. *happy sigh* I've been thinking of other things so haven't missed it too much, but enough that I'm super excited to be watching it again! Hence the picture!

Have a great evening - I've been catching up on emails. I'm now catching up with reviews :)

Away for the weekend!

2011-08-27T08:18:00.000+01:00

I'm away today for a 2 night break on a farm with friends who I went to uni with. It's the only time we meet, and I'm really excited. I'll be back on Monday some time, but don't expect I'll be online until Tuesday.

For those of you in the UK, hope you have a great bank holiday weekend!

For those of you outside the UK, have a good weekend too!

My fudge didn't quite set, so I've shoved it in the freezer for an hour. I hope it works! I just need it solid enough so I can cut it into chunks.

Bye!

(Note I wanted to use a suitcase picture, but I don't understand how Macs work, and I couldn't figure how to save the suitcase picture, let alone put it in this post. Give me Windows any day!)

Busy (self-induced)

2011-08-26T19:43:00.000+01:00

Hi-bye! I'm here, normalish health for me. This week has been busy with recovering from being ill, doing a few bits and pieces. I'm away this weekend down in Somerset, staying on a friend's parents farm and meeting up with old uni hall mates! It's the only time we ever meet, so it's really exciting. The friend I was picking up isn't very well, so she's not coming. She might come Sunday if she's up for it.

So whatever you're doing this bank holiday weekend - have a good one! I hope to resume semi-normal life next week :)

Solid sleep = good even if I do get sleepy in the afternoon

2011-08-24T18:12:00.001+01:00

(picture copyright to whoever produced it)

Sleep. The final frontier. Truly. Stuff space (I get motion sick in other modes of transport, so unless the machines which disintegrate and reintegrate particles get invented, I will not be going to space ever). Sleep is so essential. There are many reasons why people can't sleep or have disrupted sleep. Children. Stress. Muse (that can occasionally be a downside to being a writer when Muse is active just as you're trying to get to sleep). Pain. Watching scary movies. Playing video games before bed.

I've been having restless sleep for months now. I've been able to increase a night medication, which means I sleep through for 5-6 hours straight. It feels so awesome! Although by 4pm my 4am start is really getting to me. That's why if I'm out and about or need my brain working I have a cup of coffee in the morning, and occasionally a cup of tea in the afternoon. Caffeine is wonderful! Edited to add I don't nap in the afternoon otherwise I don't sleep at night. The only exception is when I'm ill - sometimes sleeping is all I can do!

(taken from Google Images Search, but I know this is Akari from the anime Aria!)

Tonight I'm planning on watching some Airbender and definitely at least 2 episodes of Aria. I'm in the third season, and I'll need tissues because the next episode is the one where Alice is the first undine ever to go straight from pair to prima! (pair = novice, who then graduate to single, who then become prima). She doesn't have a clue where she's going, and it's just so amazing. I cry a lot in this series because it's very moving as the girls achieve their dreams.

Keep striving - one day we'll all get to our dreams!

Productivity = good!

2011-08-23T18:30:00.001+01:00

(copywrite to whoever this belongs to)

You know those days where you feel like you've done something? Today is one of those days. I had a lot of fun at work as a few of us had lunch together. It was a welcome break after doing some proofreading (which I really enjoy but it's quite a brain work out with all the technical jargon).

Then I got home, unwound with an hour of sewing and delved into editing. I'm on chapter 10, and the lesson is good fun because I have to rewrite the story scene by scene (sentences only!), not stopping to change them. I confess to changing one scene because I'd written it wrong (bad me. Not that I care!).

It's been very insightful. Muse has found a way to work in the changed storylines in such a way that the incidents which I'd previously put in, which had to be there but didn't quite make sense all now have a purpose and the storyline is behaving itself so far. I'm currently on scene 30, which I will tackle another day (probably Thursday as tomorrow is supposed to be a rest day from all work). I'm definitely making good headway in this editing! It's nice having it come together and start making sense out of the muddled plot ends (some are muddled. Others are merely finely interwoven with others in such a way that you need glasses to look to see where each one starts and ends).

Tonight I'm sewing while watching the British Bake off and some expedition thingy on BBC1. Family is baking butterfly biscuits so I'll have a warm one later (yay!)

Have a great evening!

Yay! 2 editing lessons complete!

2011-08-21T13:33:00.000+01:00

Party time! (in Aria anime style!)

When I sat down this morning, I hoped to get to the end of lesson 8. I exceeded that and finished lesson 9 too!

I've been learning about what I want in my story, what I need in my story for it to work, what must remain other the story isn't the story. It's been fun!

Now, ordinarily I would be tempted to carry on with lesson 10 this afternoon. It involves coloured index cards (I'll prepare mine in different word documents on my laptop, which is surprisingly simple to do).

But I must clean out my birds, so I'm heading off for a baked potato with tuna, then cleaning my pets.

After that I'll be bashing up monsters with these people!

Then I'll do some sewing :)

Enjoy your Sunday, whatever you're up to!

Sort of back :)

2011-08-20T10:41:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone! Sorry for going silent for a few days. After a wonderful relaxing day on Wednesday, where I didn't open my laptop, I really enjoyed myself....I was up early Thursday morning with a tummy bug. Even when feeling better the day after a tummy bug, I caution against eating what you fancy, as your tummy will be very delicate and won't want the same food as your head does. 'Nuff said!

After a near 10-11 hour sleep last night (OoO just wow), I'm awake today. I'm on toast, crackers, (same as yesterday), with tuna (also same as yesterday) but today adding a smidgeon of flora. I think today I'll hunt down some containers to freeze milk in, because I don't really want to think about dairy for a few days (plus I have yogurt to eat, so migh tneed to give it away at work). I don't think I'll be having chocolate for a while either! Just when I'd bought some yummy chocolate bars to melt into milk (proper hot chocolate!). Oh well, little by little I'll get back to normal. I think I might end up being over cautious, but I really don't want to be ill again quite so soon.

Anyways, today I'm starting off slowly, I'm check emails, going to edit a little, look after my blog - generally buildling up my stamina. Well, my theory is if I rest all weekend, it'll be quite a shock when I go to work on Monday. So if I do a few hours today, and a few hours tomorrow, hopefully my body won't rebel too much.

Yesterday was really good fun, even though I didn't feel great, I read lots of books! Quite a few by Jacqueline Wilson, her Tracy Beaker books which I've never read. They're really good! Tracy has attitude, (and 'hayfever' to cover up crying), but she's such a scared girl.

See you later - today is a short post!

Edited to add: I did a small bit of editing, but needed something with less thinking so I scheduled up a few review posts for NRC. I'm off to make noodle & tuna soup (very plain!), followed with reading for most of the day. Resting now would probably be a very good idea.

(copyright to the artists of the pictures which I got from Google search)

Thank you & a good day

2011-08-16T16:47:00.000+01:00

Today's been a relatively quiet day at work, I had a friend pop in who I hadn't seen for ages, and we're having lunch next week with a few other friends, which will be nice. I've volunteered to bake cake, but as I thought about it on the way home I realised that a) I currently don't have enough eggs & b) chocolate fridge cake will go down just as well as 'normal' cake, plus it's easier to bake.

Bit tired, so not doing much this evening. So that I don't feel too lazy I am scheduling up a few blog posts which are mounting in my inbox.

Last night was night two of actually getting some videoing game in. I love video games. I used to play on them all the time (yes I did still read a lot). For a variety of reasons I had to stop playing them (ok, some of it was health reasons, which really sucked). However, little by little this year I've started playing them again, without making my symptoms worse. There are several games I love, and I've decided it doesn't matter that they aren't 'new', I'll replay them anyway. The best thing is they are retro enough that I got downloaded them for the psp, handy when my playstation's upstairs and I want to be playing downstairs while family are watching tv.

So for quite a while I'm back to Mr Spiky Head, aka Cloud in Final Fantasy 7!

My favourite characters are Tifa

& Aeris

At the moment I'm still in Sector 7 (disc 1), but I'm shortly going to be separated from Aeris (nooooo!). I so hope I can remember how and where I find Yuffie. I do have a walkthrough, but I'm just seeing how far I get on my own. I am going to make sure I spend lots of time levelling up and getting the materia up to master level. I love how the characters change for the movie (Advent Children) and Crisis Core (set before FF 7 happens yet produced afterwards.) As I watch/play those I will put up further pictures).

Ok so typing up reviews hasn't happened yet as I'm having issues with an app which worked fine yesterday, so I'm reinstalling it and hoping it works. Otherwise I won't be a happy bunny. Tonight will be relaxing! Yay!

I wanted to say thank you for the comments on Sunday's post - it was fun reading all day. Books can get you through anything!

A day of reading.

2011-08-14T11:01:00.001+01:00

Yup, today I'm about to do the above. I had planned to edit, but woken up feeling a little odd. Nothing major, I suspect I still need to rest up from being away. I could ignore how I feel, but that's never a good idea.

I'm going to be glued to my Kindle today, as I'm determined to nom through the ebooks which need reviewing. Looking forward to getting a fairy sticker book tomorrow because there are heaps of cute stickers and I want to squeeze some onto my Kindle, which already has Winx & other cute stickers (I really ought to take a photo....)

Hope you're all having a good weekend, and reading a fun book!

Edited to add: Forgot to say that I've nearly worked my way through the handful of Young Adult books I have left to review. I'll still review them occasionally (especially if it's an author I know!), but children's is slowly and surely taking over my blog. Yay!

Dvd & book fest

2011-08-09T19:38:00.000+01:00

It felt a bit weird having my day off on a Tuesday, but I soon settled down with some sewing and dvds. Today I watched quite a bit of the first season of Avatar. It's really good fun, with strong characters (good & bad), nice twists and a good balance of drama & humour.

I then watched Aria the Natural, season 2 of the pleasant, funny, & sometimes scary planet of Aqua, where girls train to become Gondoliers. It's uplifting, there's a lot of important messages hidden in each tale. I refuse to watch one episode because its really creepy. The more I watch it, the more scared I get. So I skip it. I've seen it twice, and that was more than enough.

I then read most of Momentum, by Saci Lloyd (review coming up in a week or so on NRC).

I've finished that and next up is a fun children's about a brat (well, she's a snob who needs pulling down at least half a ladder) Eva's Holiday by Judi Curtin.

It's been a nice break before two days at work, and a short weekend getaway in the country for a friend's event. Still not feeling amazing, but that's normal so I'm putting my feet up (not quite literally) & relaxing in the best way I know how. Reading!

Rainy, windy, sunny!

2011-08-08T18:19:00.000+01:00

No, I haven't quite lost it. It is a bit rainy and windy outside, but it feels sunny inside. I slept better again last night, which is really nice! Still feel rubbish, but sorting out sleep will help me a little bit.

Returned to work today, mini pile of emails, no issues with the photocopier (although not many people are around so that's not a surprise). Had fun at work, came home relaxed to an anime episode, then settled down to tackle lesson 8 of my editing course.

That's when I saw some great news. In searching for lesson 8, I saw all the other lesson folders. Rather than 24 or 26, there are only 22! So I'm nearly half way there! I was very happy after that discovery.

Lesson 8 is about theme, creating a rough synopsis, writing a review of the book as it is (yes as a book reviewer that is easy enough and as it's for my eyes only I can be as blunt as I like). I'm nearly 1/3 through the lesson. I stopped to wrestle with blogger to put up two reviews (I have discovered the reasons why it is a pain), wrote a few emails, and now going to snuggle up with books! Tomorrow is my day off work (rather than Wednesday) so I shall be busy sewing while watching dvds. No reading or writing *whimper*. I do have a few more reviews to schedule as I'm away for a few days at the end of the week, but apart from that I'm ignoring my blog & my wip. It's my day off!

Will try to remember to take photos tomorrow of how far I've got with my current craft projects. I might start tackling a turtle. I hope it looks like a turtle by the end of it!

Nothing beats a good night's sleep.

2011-08-07T19:44:00.000+01:00

Really. Sleep is essential to life. I've slept badly for months. I've been able to adjust one of my medication, and it means I get sleep!

I'm guessing most of you were asleep at 4am this morning, but that's when I woke up, refreshed, thinking 'Yay! Sleeep!' 5 hours solid sleep felt incredible. By 4pm I was yawning away, but it was nice to feel a bit more human., and thinking less of 'I need to sleep'.

I'm hoping on the final increase tomorrow night I might get 30 more mins sleep. If I can get to 6 hours solid sleep - I'll be very happy.

So this morning I did some reading, some tapestry work, then some more reading. I was a few chapters in a 400 pages + book (ninja vampires)

when I realised that I wanted to edit, not read. I knew I couldn't over do it it as I had to clean my birds before lunch (a time limit I set on myself). So I spent best part of 4 hours picking out items I'd used in my wip, which scenes they were in, writing them down on the scene cards & on the worksheets. I finished chapter 7! Huge whoohoo moment. (Finishing a lesson is a big achievement at the moment).

I then carried on reading the vampire ninja book (Hero is a bit of a nincompoop in places, but heroine is very cool). Scheduled a review, remembered another review & comp was due up this weekend, had dinner, and now I'm relaxing. Feeling like a cosy cat so I'm going to read tonight rather than watch anime.

Hope everyone gets some sleep tonight! Having a sleep routine helps in some ways, depending what your sleeping issues actually are.

I'm resting!

2011-08-06T11:33:00.000+01:00

Ok so I was a little grumbly about not doing much today. But after having zero energy yesterday, I must rest! I had quite a lie-in, relaxed with a bit of sewing, just scheduled up a special post on Nayu's Reading Corner for Tuesday. Now I have to one run errand (very easy and quick), then it's reading time! By 4pm, if I feel ok, I'm allowed to edit for 30 mins. Maybe a little more, depending how I feel. Hopefully can get round to doing that!

Today I am most definitely doing this!

A very lazy day indeed!

2011-08-03T19:55:00.000+01:00

Today has been...weird. I've relaxed. A lot. Which is weird. But good!

Now I'll aim for a sentence with more than a few words in! Basically after last night's epiphany that sewing & knitting are energy filled activities for me, I've been having a quiet day. I feel marginally better for not having done craft last night (although I'm shattered due to poor sleep which hopefully might start changing this weekend when I start increasing my medication).

I did a lot of surfing the net today. I was being productive - I was trying to figure out what I could make for my uni friends when we have our annual (in this case 2 year since last year didn't happen) meet up on a farm in Somerset for a long weekend of fun. First I wanted bags. Then keyrings. But I had to keep cost in mind. So I'm going for making cute little toys.

The turtle looks the happiest animal, so I've ordered 7 of those. I promise to try to take pictures of the before, during & after. I think by the 7th I'll be well practiced at it! (As far as I know my friends mostly don't look at my blogs....)

I've been figuring out more changes to my schedule (more relaxation), and will continue to follow it. It's worth it, it really is. Even if it has taken over a year to find the right balance.

Night!

Bit of editing, milk from a milkman, & tonight's activity

2011-08-02T18:01:00.000+01:00

Evening all!

Second night of extra bad sleep = very tired. I did make notes & set up templates for my editing course that I'm taking. I'm on lesson seven which deals with world building. It's fun!

I've also set up a new order to receive milk in bottles from a milkman! This is really fun - I had it when I was little (although they went from bottles to cartons at one point). It is a little bit more expensive, a) I now get organic (body is rubbish enough that I want to give it the best I can), b) it is more expensive than supermarket milk. However, there is supposed to be a difference in taste as it isn't homogenised (which shop milk needs), I don't have to try and remember when I need milk (since my memory is lousy at the moment this is a good thing). I might get some tomorrow (hopefully!), if not, probably Friday. It's a new experience! Might need to get milk insulators to keep it cool in this hot weather. Will let you know how that experience goes.

For the rest of the evening I'm doing this!

In which I'm half good and do some editing.

2011-07-31T16:51:00.000+01:00

I knew last night that I wouldn't survive today without editing. I just knew it!

I was good and read all morning. Then after lunch started editing. Lesson 6 was about characters, so I've figured out what I want mine to be, who they actually are (yes the earlier what should be who but can't quite be bothered to do a few mouse clicks and change the spelling|). It's fun! Might read up a little on lesson 7 today to see if I can start it tomorrow (it's something about my world....but haven't got further than that).

I'm now switching everything off and returning to reading for the evening. A valuable past time!

Today I'm being good

2011-07-31T09:12:00.000+01:00

This is what you'll find me doing today. I've promised a friend to read all day. Yesterday I edited most of the morning, dropped off some books to post at the post office. I then made soup.

Therein lay the problem.

I totally underestimated how long it would take to prepare the veg, make the soup, clean up the lovely mess which I'd created, plus portion up meals I'd bought on Friday which had to go in the freezer.

I did that all while I was feeling a bit rubbish. Not a good idea.

Totally wiped out today. I want to be making a yummy chocolate biscuit fridge cake thing. But logic and reason tell me to push my body further would be A Bad Idea.

So I'm heading off to read all day now :) Eating books is a favourite past time!

Quite a day

2011-07-29T16:11:00.000+01:00

It was one thing after another at work today. I did manage to smile by the end, and have a laugh. Glad I'm hoome and it's the weekend. Going to watch at least 1 Winx, might do some editing tonight, or might just relax as I need to unwind.

I suspect I'll be doing this.....

...if not today then definitely tomorrow.

I did get a few nice things to eat so I've got yummy meals this week. Hope you all manage to get a little R&R at some point this weekend! It's essential to sanity.

I'm off vacation!

2011-07-28T18:14:00.000+01:00

Not that you would have known it, as I got to read a few chapters of a book at work (probably not going to continue, it is YA and an unrequested and I'm not finding it overly thrilling). I go in, spend over half the day waiting for my computer monitor to be fixed. It's new, but it wasn't working. So I used my colleague's PC as she doesn't work on a Thursday. For some bizarre reason, I couldn't access the net on her computer - more accurately I could access a few sites, but the ones I need to access email and do work on refused to work. Thankfully the photocopier had a little blip to keep me occupied. I did a few other bits, but a lot of my work is email/internet based.

I've come home, watched the final episode in the third Season of Maria Watches Over Us (Anime), knitted, then sat down and finished off lesson 4 on the editing course. I'm nearly 1/5 through editing! Which is pretty cool.

What with being away I've just caught up on tweeting/emailing review posts, and updating my review pictures. I'm shortly going to search for food, then tonight is a reading night! Yay! Really looking forward to finishting Violet Wings, which I so totally chose to read now because of the cover and I needed something light and fun. And it invaded my dream a little, although not in any shape or form which is as cool as the book.

Hope you enjoy this evening whatever you do!

On Vacation!

2011-07-23T13:15:00.000+01:00

Winx pic from online, left to right Stella, Bloom, Flora It suited my mood!

Whoohoo! Vacation time! I'm back to work on Thursday. Wednesday will be a normal day (post office, craft club), Tuesday I'll be back from being away. Monday I'm away. I leave tomorrow at 10am (just in case there's traffic, aiming to arrive at 12pm near the sea. Yay! Actually don't intend on doing very much, just relaxing.

In the light of that (and having cleaned the birds, done the laundry, & neatened my room listening to Winx clips on You Tube), I will not be posting here for a few days. As I'm doing the driving on my vacation, I'm going to take a fews days off from writing as I won't have the energy to spare. I will be engaging Muse because I fully intend to take knitting and sewing projects. So I'll be frantically figuring out plot threads, and Muse can suggest all she like for current and shortly upcoming wips. See you all on evening! I am contactable by twitter (although if you DM me, I can read it, but I can't reply (my phone is weird). I may or may not check email on my phone (love Androids!), but I'm sure it'll be fine for 50 or so hours.

Review fest!

2011-07-22T20:04:00.000+01:00

No writing for me today. Before heading off to the south of the county (not country, county!) Sunday to Tuesday, I'd like to make sure all my reviews are prescheduled, so I don't have to think 'did I post something'. I don't want to consider thinking how I'd put blog posts up using my phone. It would be tricky.

It's great fun recalling what I've read recently, some Young Adult, picture books, magical pony series, a mermaid book, dracula - quite a wide variety!

Tomorrow's plans include: cleaning my birds' cage, packing for my short trip away. At the moment I'm umming and ahhing over whether to take my tiny laptop (linux system, no internet). Part of me feels I ought to have a break. But equally I can't always write every day, so I'll take it to take advantage of when my Muse gets ideas. It'll do me good to be offline for 2 days. I will glance at emails on my phone, but unless there's an emergency I won't be answering mail until Tuesday day (or Wednesday - depends on how tired I am from the drive back).

Right, got 7 books to review (4 in reality as I'm reviewing the series as a whole) Time to go!

Another chapter written!

2011-07-21T17:53:00.000+01:00

I'm slightly tired, and slightly cranky (quite normal when several not so restful nights' sleep happen), but I'm happy because I've written!

I put writing first when I came home. I checked emails, then settled down to write. Before I'd settled down to a review or two. Wrote chapter 3 of Secret Project. It'll need some words cutting, but I think it works. Looking forward to writing the next one (maybe tomorrow!).

I will do a review or two tonight, and I hope to read a little too. I'm actually away Sunday to Tuesday, so no internet for me. I can tweet and check mail on my phone, but not blog posting, so I'd like to queue a few up. I plan to get up to date on reviews before I go.

*stretch*

Time to go think about food! I need fuel as much as Muse needs books. Have a good evening!

Books make me happy!

2011-07-19T17:06:00.000+01:00

As does chocolate :) And anime. & Winx! & video games. And many other things.

*nose wrinkle* Been feeling a bit off colour for a few days now. I don't know if it's me getting a virus, or just my body being on strike a little more than normal. Either way it means no writing for me tonight. At least I can read and fuel my Muse.

Work was marginally less busy today, which was nice. I got through with caffeine & sugar (a good combo). It's making such a difference reading cheerier (some of the time) books. I'm glad I'm making the move to children's books.Still got a few Young Adult to read, but I'm getting through them.

Writing's going really well. Secret Project chapter 1 is done and definitely much better than the first attempt. The 2nd chapter feels so-so, but it'll do for the first draft. I'm exctied about starting the parallel series in August...oh no! I shouldn't have said that! Well that's all I'll say for now then They shall be secret project 1 & secret project 2. I'm not revealing all quite yet because it's a new direction and I want to see what happens with it. It is quite possible that I'll get too excited and will have to reveal it all very soon - I'll have to see how long I can keep quiet about it.

Right, I'm heading off for reading. Watched some anime already, and in the mood to snuggle down in my blanket (it is so cold! (Yes, I am cold all year round and positively freeze in Winter)) with a pile of books. Ahhh I love the evenings prior to my day off.

Hope you all had a good day, and that you were able to smile at least once.

Books, books, books!

2011-07-16T10:12:00.000+01:00

Ok, so this morning I'm in a tiny grump because I can't write today. I'm not feeling great, so need to rest. I'm well enough to be grumpy about not writing and editing, which is a good sign. But previous experience shows if I relax as soon as I start to feel unwell, I actually get better much quicker than if I ignore myself.

So this morning will be filled with reading! Might read this afternoon, but equally might need to watch some dvds too :)

I had planned to write, edit and review, but clearly that's not happening. I'll just go devour books instead!

Have a good Saturday whatever you're doing !

Secret Writing Project Update #1

2011-07-15T20:40:00.000+01:00

Secret Writing Project will be going ahead! I have since brainstormed with a friend so in a few ways it is quite different to what Muse had originally thought of. But it's really exciting, and I'm going to set to work on it (in between editing Inescapable Ties & Finishing off Diplomatic Disaster) this weekend! Yay! Writing rules!

Now I'm off to finish reading a book before I can at last catch much wanted Zzzs.

Sleep is good!

2011-07-15T16:29:00.000+01:00

Sleep is really good...when it's restful sleep and you don't keep waking up after midnight. I'm hoping that I'll get so tired taht I will be able to sleep straight the night at some point.

I'm fortunate that I have the flexibility to get up a little bit later for work, and hopefully might be able to change medication at the beginning of August (only my night medication for sleeping, not pain medication which is being looked at the end of September).

I've come home, wanting to edit/write. But I've reached my laptop and my body is displaying signs it doesn't want to be on a computer at the moment. So I'm going to sign off, enjoy my chocolate milk with a good book!