Phone

Testing sending a post from my0 phone

So Much To Do

I've got so much to do... this picture really sums it up:

Time Flies

Has it really been months since I last blogged? Time certainly does fly.

I've been on the Exante Diet since April.. lost almost 2stone, but I seem to have lost my momentum and drive to continue.

*sigh*

I'll get there.

Been doing lots of web development work lately. I've re-vamped my website, which still isn't finished yet.. but I've at least settled on a style.

www.swanstardesigns.com

Well, it's late and I'm tired. Bedtime.

Spammers Are Scum

Why do people think that the best way to market their website is to spam others?

I'd bitch-slap the lot of them if I ever saw them in person.

Fucking wankers!

New Books

Well, I finished the Book Thief.

Still not impressed.

So, I've bought some new books to read.

Robin Hobb's Rain Wild series.... I can't wait to start, the first one arrived in the post today.

I've read the Liveship Traders, and the other ones with Fitz (my favourite!!!), so hopefully this series will be just as good!

Plodding Along

So I'm still slowly working my way through The Book Thief. My opinion hasn't changed much. Its not a bad read, but then again I wouldn't give it the glittering stars that others have.

But anyway, I'm wondering what I should be writing... my simple urban fantasy story, or part one of my fully fledged high fantasy novel.......

Hmm... tricky. My lazy side says stick to the stand alone simple story, which would not only be easier to write but would probably be easier to get published (especially on the back of all this Twilight rubbish).

But somewhere deep down there is a kernel of long-lost and almost forgotten ambition that is smouldering away waiting to burst into the flames of my ravaging high fantasy novel which is set in the clouds above a world on fire. It keeps eating at me. Its what I want to write in the end. Ever since I had glandular fever and was bed-bound for a week and I picked up Feist's Magician I've always wanted to write a fantasy novel.

My first attempt (which is still in the pipeline!) was dragged out over many years and I really enjoyed exploring it. I think I managed to plan out two trilogies - with scope for more! In fact I may even set this latest trilogy in the same world, but set in the future. So, hopefully my first published fantasy trilogy will actually be the sequel, while the second to be published will be the prequel and the next one will be the prequel sequel.. or something like that. I dunno. Its going to be something like 9 books all up... give or take.. and I'll be starting at number 7.

But there'll be zero if I don't start writing sometime soon... grrr!

I'm just rambling now. I'm gunna goto bed and read some more of The Book Thief. Its just a shame that it doesn't inspire me to write. I don't actually like the way it's written. Some lines are too abstract. I can't stand that poncy bullshit. Keep it simple, people!

'Night.

Desiderata

Go placidly amidst the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Reading

I'm still struggling through The Book Thief. Its written ok, and it can make your imagination fill in all the blanks, but I just can't care about the main character. I really don't care about a young girl growing up in Nazi Germany.

But I'm not even half-way through yet... I'll keep slogging along! I must finish reading a book!! If I put it down without finishing it I'll be bloody disappointed in myself!

I didn't finish reading Game of Thrones by George RR Martin, and I just watched the first season of the tv series just last week. Its an awesome story, and I'm glad I read at least some of it before watching the series. I think I might have to pick it up and finish it (even though I know what happens). I think it'll be worth it. I remember it was just so thick with characters and storylines that it was hard to follow if you put it down for a moment!

Hey yo.. I will try to stick to my guns and get back into this reading thing.. If I can't read how can I expect to write!!!

Shout Out

So, although I haven't been writing much in the past few years I have been doing other stuff.

Since I'm working as website admin for a company, I figured I'd try my hand at website build & design in my spare time.

I'm slooowly getting it together, while constantly battling all the distractions of life - especially laziness.

But anyway.. I've got a friend with a business who let me use him as a web design guinea pig, and after building his site from scratch and then redesigning it once I decided to redesign it again using a web design program. Made it easier to build coz these programs are made for dummies. I combat the guilt of cutting the corners by keeping in mind that I know I can write all the code from scratch... but really, is there any point in re-inventing the wheel? And also, just because you can build a wheel and build a car from the ground up it doesn't mean that its going to run well. These web programs mean any idiot can get on the web.. but unless they know what they're doing they're still idiots and they'll create an idiotic site.

Having said all that I'm sure I've just set myself up for a fall...hahaha..

Here's the site - www.adtdesignaspirations.co.uk

Writing is like web design. Any idiot can put a few words together to make a sentence, and can string a few sentences together to make a paragraph, then stitch paragraph on paragraph until they have a chapter, then repeat a dozen times. BUT - just because you can do that doesn't mean the book will be any good.

So I'm faced with wondering whether I'm any good.. at web design and writing...

Then I put the wondering aside and just get on with it because I'm having fun! ;-)

What Am I Reading?

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I'm not impressed.

I've only continued with it because my Mum recommended it, but its a struggle.

I'm not sure if that's because I've struggled to stay interested after the first chapter of any book for the past year or two.. but I'm not entirely interested in the story of a girl growing up during Nazi Germany anyway, even if it is narrated by death. Interesting concept, but I think its wasted.

I'm not even half-way through yet, so perhaps it'll get better and I'll change my mind.

But if it does I still won't be impressed that you have to read through a hundred dreary pages before the good stuff starts. The whole journey should be amazing otherwise its pointless!

These are the books I've tried to read in the past few years:

Game of Thrones - got about half way then put it down for too long and couldn't pick up the story again
Labyrinth - only got through the prologue, though I think it showed promise
Black Swan - I read about half of it, but wasn't really absorbing it
The God Delusion - only read a few chapters, but wasn't really in the mood for it
The Power of Now - same as above
The Mists of Avalon (I'm a bit ashamed of this one) - got about a third of the way through, and was enjoying it, but just wasn't in a reading mood

I have the attention span of..... oooh what's that over there?!

I'd say the last full book I read was The Pillars of the Earth (which is also a TV series). I really enjoyed that. I think the only reason I read it was because I was on holiday and was on a train for 7 hours from NY City to New Hampshire and it was the middle of winter so when we weren't skiing we were inside doing nothing (and I was with my folks.. we were staying with their 'friends' so you can imagine how bloody bored I was).

Hopefully 2012 will bring books back to me.

Listening to Lana Del Rey's album Born To Die.... love it!

Alphasmart 3000

I transferred all my writing off my dusty old Alphasmart the other day. I had six files of stuff, and some of it wasn't backed up anywhere else! So, I'm glad I downloaded it all ok and I've carefully saved it and backed it up so it doesn't dissolve back into the ether.. funny enough it was the first few chapters of my book 'Children of the Ether'.

I can't seem to turn the Alphasmart on now. It transferred files ok, but pressing the on/off button does nothing. I changed the batteries, but perhaps I need to plug it in. Shame I can't for the life of me find the damn adaptor!

Anyhoo.. I distracted myself with redesigning the site. Its probably still a bit bland, but at least its something.

Right, well, that's enough work for now. Don't want to strain a finger or anything.

Two in ten minutes

Wow, two posts in ten minutes.. I'm on a roll!

Just deleted hundreds of spam comments.. well, that's what I get for neglecting it for so long!

I might have a play around with the design tomorrow.. freshen things up a bit.

I'm trying to kick-start myself into putting writing at the top of the priority list. How I could have let it slip, I don't know, but hopefully I can salvage it.

I've got a new friend to help me along.. his name is Buddy. (But I will not make all my writing about a hamster! I am merely introducing him, tis all).

Time passes

Well I certainly have neglected my poor little ole blog.

I have no excuses.

Pure laziness.

And perhaps some wicked & wild distractions...

I'm not sure what my plan is yet... or whether I'll just stick to the no-plan plan. Perhaps I should plan to plan a plan.

All this planning is making me tired. I'll think about it later.

What's Next?

Well, the last few months have wandered by fairly uneventfully.

I did turn 31, though. It was Easter Saturday, and I had arrived in Australia the night before, so I had all my family around me. My Ma cooked her usual lamb roast (god, my mouth waters just thinking about it), and my older sister baked me a cake. Hooray! She didn't put icing on it, and she already cut it before she threw it in front of me. Hehehe. It was a nice thought, though.

So I had two weeks in Oz, soaking up the sun and enjoying the Easter festivities. For anyone wondering what to do for Easter, go to Bendigo, Victoria, Australia. The Easter parade on the Monday is famous for having the longest chinese dragon in the world. Its enoooormous!

The reason for my trip to Oz was to see my little sister have a baby! I was only in Oz for two weeks, so it was a bit of a gamble that she'd have it while I was there.

But she did!

On the Monday of the second week she started having minor pains for a while, and by Thursday morning (after a full day and night in hard labour - damn its hard to watch someone in that much pain!) she had a little baby girl.

Little Mina weighed 6lb 11oz, and everything went very smoothly. I was on video camera duty, so I saw the whole thing and had the best view. I tell ya, it was pretty damn amazing!

Everything has kinda slumped back into 'same old same old' now. I'm back in the UK, back at work, back in my little flat. I get to chat to my family on the computer every now and again, but its not the same as being there. But my sister says its 'same old same old' there too, so its an anticlimax all around. Little Mina eats, sleeps and shits... so I guess I'm not missing much.

Writing has taken a back seat again. How uninterestingly predictable. I do think about it constantly, though.

I'll get there one day.

Anyway, here's a pic of me holding the new bub, or is she holding me?

New Life To Fleeting Life

So, the snow has been very helpful. Apart from giving me time off work - coz I have to catch two trains to get to work and both the Southeastern and the Southern lines were having a teeny bit of trouble with the snowflakes - its giving me time to write.

And write I did.

I'm getting back into my NaNoWriMo novel which, although completed with over 50,000 words, it wasn't completed completed. I finished Nano, but I cant actually say I have a completed novel on my hands. A lot of it was rough, and the storyline was a bit gappy. I need to add in a whole 'nother character, plus I'm thinking of adding in a twist to the plot aka Twilight style. (Gee, can ya guess what I'm talking about?).

I've never really been into the whole vamp novel thing, but 2009 seems like a good year to start afresh, so I'm going to see what I can do. Fleeting Life isn't going to be a vamp novel per se, but it will lead to one. Fleeting Life is actually a ghost novel. Well, sort of. Well, kinda sorta, but, umm... oh never mind. I dunno what it is. And I think its best I dont try to define it.

So, how's it going? Good, I think. I re-hashed the first chapter with a heart-thumping new section in it where the hero and heroine meet. I think its a must if I'm aiming for the younger market. I think the novel lacked a bit of heart and emotion anyway. Hopefully the snow will continue so I can take more time off to write more, but I'm happy with the new ideas I'm coming up with.

Hey, and I'm blogging again. What a long break its been. Its been an iffy start to the year, but hopefully I can find some semblance of an ordered life and start getting back on track.

Come on, SNOW goddamit!

Testing

Just testing a sidebar blogger buddy thingy

Have A Happy New Year - I Dare You!

What a crappy start to the New Year.

I woke New Years Day with the beginnings of a three-day migraine! I only had three drinks the night before, so I dunno what brought that on!

Then as I was cleaning up my sister buzzed me on the computer and told me that one of her friends couldn't handle moving into 2009 and had hanged herself. Shame. She was awesome, and I'll miss her loads.

Then I had to go to work on Friday coz I was too stupid to book it off as holiday, and I think at some point between leaving my house and getting home I lost my wallet. All my bank cards and stuff. Gone. And its soooo frustrating!!!

To add to that after making loads of phone calls trying to find my wallet, and canceling all my cards, my phone battery went dead and my phone charger refuses to work.

It has been kind of liberating though. I've spent the last month or two accumulating possessions for my new flat, so I suppose it was things trying to balance out. I wandered around town with my friend who is staying with me and I felt oddly liberated not having my phone or wallet on me. My watch band broke a week ago, so I also didn't have a watch on. I was timeless and free. It was actually pretty cool (except for the sad sad news of my sister's friend weighing on my mind).

Santa was good to me, though. Amongst some lovely gifts I received Stephanie Meyer's 'Twilight'. Its out at the cinema at the moment, but I've got to read it first. The first chapter had me completely hooked and I'm now trying to slow down and enjoy it. Its looking good so far. I haven't read for a while now and I feel like I'm putting my feet back on the ground.

So, there it is. Happy New Year. It can only get better. My wardrobes, bookcases, and microwave are being delivered on Wednesday, and I hear its supposed to snow.

OH - almost forgot the most important news of all. The NEW Doctor! The 11th Doctor! Matt Smith eh? I was a little taken aback by his somewhat odd looks, but he interviewed well and I'm thinking he could be a good edition to the Doctor Who clan. I await Spring 2010 eagerly! (But I will always love David Tennant as the Doctor!)

Electricity in the Air

I can feel it. The buzz.

I've moved into my own flat and I'm slowly gathering my things to me. I'm nesting and burrowing, gathering and collecting. I'm carving out my own space and it feels fabulous!

I find myself occasionally thinking about my flat and I smile. Its a secret smile all to myself, and when I realise that it just makes me smile all the more.

2009 is going to be my year.

The buzz is buzzing, and its relentless. No matter what gets thrown at me (ie a job that is getting so stressful that I think my head is going to explode, an ex-husband who loves door-handle arguments etc) I still find myself smiling because I know I have my own space and I have my own future to carve out. Its deliciously selfish, and I'm gratuitiously writhing around in it and I'm not giving any apologies.

So, when is the writing going to come? Soon. I feel it bubbling. I'm not such an inexperienced little girl that I'm going to push a great weight of expectation of my new situation onto my writing, I'm just going to carefully carve out a channel to properly direct myself towards success.

Twilight is out at the cinema, and I remember reading about it on the Pubrants blog, so I feel the push of competition and inspiration upon me.

I cant wait. Bedamned with Christmas, and 2008 be over with! The new year is mine. I cant wait!

My Poor Neglected Blog

I've been so lazy on the blog/writing front. No excuses.

I've at least got a new job - Web Administrator for Southern Railway (www.southernrailway.com), which is great. I get to mess around with website.. well, within very strict guidelines.

Ummm, so, yeah. I've got no excuses. I'm just lazy and haven't logged on to Blogger in ages. I really miss reading everyones updates, but its kinda tricky to be reading blogs while I'm at work coz my boss sits right behind me and I cant hear it when he swivels his chair around. He's always catching me out on Hotmail, so I'd better not push it.

I'm still here, though. Still thinking of everyone. Still thinking of writing. Still plotting away. Just had quite a busy personal life and have had quite a few changes, but I'm sure once I'm more settled I'll get back into it.

I'm reading 'A Game of Thrones' by George R.R. Martin at the moment. Its fcking excellent!

Fast Times

So, I haven't been working for a few weeks coz my temp job came to an end, which is soooo annoying financially, so I thought I'd fast for a few days. Ten days to be exact... and today is the last day.

Its been a very strange week. It feels so odd to wake up and not have to plan meals all day (or all week), and its pretty boring. The first two or three days were a bit agonising in that I had to watch hubs eat delicious food right in front of me!! But, at least he got off his fat arse and cooked for himself, which is one of the surprise side effects of this 'diet' (for lack of a better word).

This 'diet' is actually called the Master Cleanse, and is sometimes also called the Lemonade Diet. Basically all you have is home made lemonade to drink (made from real lemons, no sugar!) and its supposed to clean you out etc. I've developed a bit of a cough but I would say thats understandable if I'm detoxing.

I've been counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds all week, and this morning I had a small handful of berries. I stupidly ate them just after I brushed my teeth so they tasted pretty grose with the toothpaste taste in my mouth, but besides the taste it was a pretty uneventful breakfast. I'm not usually very hungry in the mornings, so its not a huge deal. I daresay by this evening I shall be quite rampant - especially since hubs is having burritos. But I'm not going to be stupid and jump into eating cooked meat for some days yet. I'm starting slow. Fruit first. Then raw veg. Then steamed veg. Then add some fish. Then add other healthy cooked food, and gradually build up to a balanced diet.

I've lost a stone in ten days, but I'd say thats pretty superficial. I dont expect my weight to keep plummeting once I start eating solid food again, but I'm going to keep the portions strictly small and the food strictly healthy so it at least keeps heading in the right direction no matter how slow.

I've got a wedding to go to in less than a month, and the dress I want to wear doesn't fit me. I'm determined to fit into it! I must!!!

On the writing front things have not only taken a back seat, they've pretty much been left by the roadside. I haven't read a blog in about three weeks (and haven't posted), and I haven't even read a book in that time also let alone written anything. But there is a reason... I've got a test coming up.

Its called the 'Life In The UK' test and its for fucking immigrants. I have to pass this stupid bollocks test before I renew my visa in July. So, I've got a half-inch thick book to study and its fucken shite!! I spent six years at university loathing exams and now I've got to do another one! Goddammit!! I vowed never to do another damn exam ever again. I think its multiple choice, though, so that at least is something.

Anyway, must get on with my day and plan my meals for the next few days very carefully, before sticking my nose in the stupid book and learning all the statistics and intricacies of British Life. (Surely Aussies should be exempt! I mean, I worked in a pub when I came over here - isn't that enough?????)