Morning all...

I don't think I've mentioned on here that I've got myself a job. Don't get too excited - it's cleaning a supermarket 4 days a week, from 6-8am. Not too impressed with the hours tbh, but any money is better than no money!

Anyway, the reason I mention it is because on those four days I now have to get up at 5am. Which means on the other three days, I really REALLY don't want to get up. I normally get up at 6.45am to have breakfast with the Other Half before he wanders off to work, but this week, I've been sleeping in til about 9am  -I know it's not too good to mess up your sleeping pattern so much, but I'm just so damn tired from waking up early the other days of the week!

Anyway, point of this pointless story is, I have another piece of coursework due in tomorrow. Nothing major, just 1000 word report, but I still haven't started it....I don't normally leave my coursework so late, but tbh, my major project took a lot of me - all I wanted to do this week is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Which is exactly what I did do. I thought I'd get up at 7am today and crack on with it....but no. Instead I slept in til 9am and now I'm finding it hard to be motivated over anything....however, one thing my major project did teach me, is that I think I work better at night. I used to wake up early with the intention of doing work all day, but I just couldn't force myself to do it. So it would get to about 4pm and suddenly I'd have a flash of inspiration and I could work until about 10pm or 11pm. I'm going to try and not do that today, but I probably will...

And I keep thinking that it's only 1000 words...after my major project, that literally seems like nothing. My major project itself was 10,000 words. The reflective report (without the appendices or bibliography) was 11,000. So you can see why I'm not too fussed about 1000 words anymore. I'm aiming on having half of it done by lunchtime....but we'll see :). I'll keep you updated!

Have a great day, everyone!

xx

P.S. This post is 377 words (excluding this post-script), and I wrote it in 10 minutes. If I do this for my report, based on my calculations, the report will take me about 25 minutes to complete....though of course, that's a load of bull because I can't just ramble about anything I want in my report....

Finally!!!

Hi everyone!!

I'm so sorry I've been neglecting this blog/twitter/authonomy over the past few weeks - I had to complete my major project for my degree and it literally took up every waking hour I had...

Luckily, that's all over with now! Handed it in last week (a day early too :p!) so for the past few days I've literally done bugger all....I did contemplate writing for a bit, but tbh, I just wanted to relax and unwind for a while! However, I'm starting to feel slightly more alive now, so I think I might try and get back into it today/this week. I do have another piece of coursework due in on Friday, so I might do that before anything else, but as it's only a thousand words, it shouldn't take me too long :).

I hope everything's been well with all of you lovely people....and I apologize in advance for the amount of spamming I'm about to do again on your twitter feeds :P!

Have a great day!

xxx

Author Interview #1!!

Here it is! The one you've all been waiting for (I hope)!! I am very pleased to welcome the lovely Lucy Middlemass onto my blog today, and a very big thank you to her for agreeing to let me interview her, and for being so patient while I got round to uploading it!! Read on, and enjoy....

So, what’s the story with Jinger Barley and the Murkle Moon? 

It's about the famous mountain town of Murkle and its incredible wandering Moon. Up at the school, ancient astronomer Arthur Oldham and his terribly indecisive teacher friend Ms Flapp are trying to discover why it wandered on Millennium Eve when it knew full well it wasn't supposed to. 

Jinger Barley has started at the Murkle school and just wants to makes friends but the other children and the Moon are hiding something that will change her life forever. There's magic in Murkle and danger too, and Jinger, her school friends and the astronomers are linked by the Moon in a way they never could have imagined.

What gave you the inspiration for the novel?

I like eccentric, flawed characters and the idea of a world slightly different from our own.The image of an old man who death seems to have passed by has been with me for a long time, and I've often wondered what life might be like for twins born either side of midnight on Millennium Eve. Some parts of the story are real; Felix's choking so horribly on a piece of meat is based on something that happened to my father when he was a little boy and Mr Baldwin's work with the arctic foxes is a well-known genuine experiment.

Jinger Barley is quite an unusual name - how did you come up with it?

 Jinger Barley is a twin. Her pretty sister Jessica seems to have everything, including a sensibly spelt name. I wanted their names to match as a reminder that although Jinger manages to escape her bullying twin when she leaves for the school in Murkle, it is difficult for her to ever be really free of her.

How long did Jinger Barley take you to write?

 About a year. I wrote full time for three months and then edited it. It's been harder than I expected but I hope that anyone reading the book feels more than anything the fun I've had writing it and how much I've come to love Arthur, Ms Flapp, Jinger and her friends.

How long have you been writing for?

 I wrote lots of stories when I was little, stapling bits of paper together into booklets and pestering people to read them. As an adult, I worked with children and young people so it seemed natural that I would write for them. Jinger Barley and The Murkle Moon is my first full length novel.

What’s your favourite book?

 The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova is wonderful. It's an incredibly well researched, imaginative and fresh story about finding and killing Dracula. 

...And your favourite author?

 I like Sarah Waters very much. Her novels are clever, surprising and original. The Night Watch is backwards!

If you could live in another world out of any novel, which would it be and why?

 I'd like a daemon, like Lyra has in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. While I've been writing Jinger Barley and The Murkle Moon I've had my cat Tabitha on my knee so much it's feels like I've already got one, although I'm not sure a daemon would drop quite so much fur.

If you could be any mythical creature, what would you be and why?

The shifters in Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels have a lot of fun. 

If you could invite three authors (living or dead) to a dinner party, who would you invite an why?

 I'd like Margaret Atwood for her longevity and enduring feminism, Zadie Smith for her astonishing, sprawling stories and the fantastic Mr Roald Dahl who taught so many of us to love books.

What are your writing plans for the future?

 I've got my second novel, Goliath Swat and The Murkle Moon, to the editing stage. It's about astronomer Arthur's childhood and his buck-toothed smirking companion Goliath Swat. The Murkle Moon hasn't finished with the children yet and Felix discovers that although he won't have the future he is so desperate for, he has rather a wonderful magical destiny all of his own.

And finally/most importantly....you do prefer tea or coffee?

This is a decision poor Ms Flapp finds impossible to make but fortunately I have no such trouble. Tea please and possibly a biscuit.

Thank you Rachel for inviting me to be part of your blog. The complete Jinger Barley and The Murkle Moon is available to read on www.authonomy.com

Author Blog Interview Revealed!!

So finally FINALLY, I've got my act together and I am very pleased to announce that the first lovely author who agreed to let me interview her is....

Lucy Middlemass!

Lucy is the author of 'Jinger Barley and the Murkle Moon', a truly amazing Young Adult novel that will keep you gripped all the way through! She's a lovely woman, and I'm so sorry I made her wait so long for me to upload her interview! Hopefully she can forgive me :)!

Before I upload the interview, you can check out Lucy's Authonomy page here, as well as reading her book 'Jinger Barley and the Murkle Moon' here! Check it out!

So, Lucy's interview should, I repeat SHOULD, be uploaded this afternoon...providing my laptop doesn't break/I get another migraine/I don't go for an afternoon nap....

Can't wait to share it with everyone!!

xx

(P.S. I hope these links work...but you may have to have an Authonomy account/be logged into Authonomy...I'm not too sure...if anyone could let me know, that'd be great!)

Morning Coffee and an Apology...

First things first...

I can't believe I missed posting my first post in the Insecure Writer's Support Group!! I'm so annoyed at myself - I even wrote it in my diary so I didn't forget...but what did I go and do? I didn't take my diary out with me yesterday so I forgot :|....I'd just like to apologise to everyone for not posting - I have now made a note on every first Wednesday of the month in my diary (until August, that is, when my diary runs out lol) AND I've added an alert to my phone, so it'll remind me every first Wednesday of the month...so there really isn't any excuse for me to miss it again!!

I would also like to apologise for not visiting anyone else's blog and commenting - this is due to two reasons: a) I forgot to post/go on the internet and b) I am currently very wary of visiting other blogs, given what happened to my laptop last week. However, after I hand in my big piece of coursework in two weeks time, my laptop can do whatever the hell it wants, so I should be able to visit more blogs in April :). But thank you to those of you who took the time to visit my blog and comment, even though I hadn't posted anything or visited your blog :)!

Finally - I am so sorry I haven't yet uploaded my author interview. It has been really unprofessional of me, especially since it was supposed to come out more than a week ago. However, as you're aware, my laptop did break the very day I was supposed to upload it/reveal my author,  and then I was very ill over the weekend....this week has been pretty busy with uni stuff, but if I'm completely honest, it hasn't been busy enough for me NOT to post it. Therefore, as soon as I post this, I'm making a new post to reveal the lovely author I interviewed and I shall be uploading it later today!! Sorry for the wait, guys!!

Oh, and I think my dose of morning coffee is getting earlier and earlier....I used to be able to last until around 9 before I got a caffeine fix...now I can't make it fast enough! Oh well!

Have a good day, everyone!

x

Just a few updates...

So after being unable to get to my blog for the past few days (yes, I know I was online, but after getting that virus, I REALLY didn't feel comfortable going on the internet for long periods of time!), I'm just going to give you all a quick update on what's been going on...

Author Interview: 


This is still on, folks! So long as I don't get another virus between now and 7pm (how's that for tempting fate...), I shall be revealing all!! Can't wait to share who the lovely author is, and then I'll post up the interview tomorrow afternoon!

Book Updates:


Not much to report here - haven't had any time to write for a few days due to coursework deadlines! But I have managed to finish the first chapter (of the first draft) of 'Snowglobe' :) - hooray!

And a little something to finish with...


For part of my coursework, I've had to produce/mock up my own book of short stories (studying publishing rocks), and today, I finally received two copies of my book from lulu.com :)!! It's so pretty! I'm so happy with it - I just wished I'd actually managed to finish it, instead of leaving three quarters of it blank....but anyway, here's a few photos of it, just for you :):

Let me know what you think!