NaNoWriMo!

I'm taking part in NaNoWriMo this year. If you haven't heard of it, what is involved is that you have to write 50,000 words within the November month toward your novel. The novel I'm working on, I have planned for many years now, dating back to a time when I was a wee lass at Secondary School. In that time I have made many changes, but hopefully this year my mind is set on the plot. I don't know if any other author out there has had the same type of thing when writing a book, but this seems to work for me.

I know I've been away from blogging for some time, but hopefully my writing for NaNoWriMo will help me write more, as well as vlog more, which is something I have been doing more of recent.

If you would like to check out my NaNoWriMo progress, you may do by clicking the following words: My NaNoWriMo Page.

When I write this, I have only just hit over 6,000 words, and as it's day 10, I am supposed to be way over this word count. Fingers crossed I can catch up!

Anyway, I need to go now, if you are interested in what I am writing, you can read below the synopsis as well as an extract from my novel, feel free to comment with your opinion and critique, I love to know what other people think and what I could do to improve, but please be gentle, this is the only first draft, so it isn't going to be perfect :)

Synopsis: Grace Miller: Otter Odyssey

Grace Miller is your typical inbetweener. Not popular nor un-popular at school. Nothing special. Lives at home with an ordinary mother. Visits her ordinary Grandmother. Her father not in the picture, because he died before she was born. Not that ordinary, but nothing that made her peculiar.

Until her Grandmother, Suzie, is suddenly diagnosed with a fatal illness. An inoperable tumour nested right in the middle of her brain, leaving her just months, if not weeks to live.

Grace prepares herself within these months to say goodbye to her Gram-Gram, and when she leaves her life forever, a new chapter in her life starts, particularly when she opens a letter left for her from her Gram-Gram telling her the truth about her father... her real father.

Now Grace embarks on a journey of self discovery for the missing answers of her life, helped along when after a thunderstorm in the middle of a meadow strikes her with a lightening bolt, trigging something inside her that she never knew existed...

Excerpt: Grace Miller: Otter Odyssey

Dear Grace,

If you are reading this, then it means I am no longer with you. Just know, I love you and your mother with all my heart, and I’ll be watching over you. It was the right time for me to leave. I’d had many chapters of adventure in my life, and while it is sad that I say goodbye to you and your mum now, we will see each other again. I know I’ve never been much of a religious person, but I do believe death isn’t the end.

Even though I’m gone you still have a life to live, and your own life chapters to write. I have left you some money. I’ve known since you were little you’ve always talked about how you would like to travel the world. The money I have left you, I would like you to use that for that purpose.

Now, there is something I need to tell you. Please make sure your mother isn’t reading this part. It’s very important and I don’t think she is going to like what I am about to tell you, so much so, I was a coward and decided to leave it until I was gone.

There’s something you need to know about your father. Your father isn’t dead. In fact, he is very much alive. He was arrested for murder, and has been in prison since before you were born – well, he was supposed to have been, expect he escaped. No-one knows what happened to him. I happen to believe he was innocent, despite what your mum thought. Now don’t get too mad at her, she told you what she told you because she loves you and thought she was protecting you.

Your actual father’s name is Oliver. He escaped from prison. The police contacted me, and told me to let your mother know what had happened in case he came to find her – and you. Even though your mother had told him she had had a miscarriage, he didn’t believe her, he knew her too well to know when she was lying. So he knows you exist. I can’t say where in case this letter gets into the wrong hands, but since he escaped, he has been sending you letters, pictures, birthday and Christmas cards, all of which I have saved for you.

I believe Oliver has a brother who lives in Cape Town, South Africa. His name is Jeremy and I have his address logged down in my address book.

I’m sorry this information has been kept from you for so long, but your mum believed him to be dangerous, and was only looking out for you, not many people believed your father, I was one of very few, and he didn’t deserve to stay in prison. I told him I’ll make sure you are aware of his existence when the time was right, and if you wanted to contact him, it would be easy for you to do so.

Love you forever and always,

Gram-Gram.

30th September 2010

A lot has changed for the better, finally. I’ve finished uni now, and although there is some angst over sitting some resits for a few failed units toward my final degree, my job has picked up from the last couple of months of depression that was there when changes began to happen, and everyone was down in the dumps for.

For one thing, the new changes, although have been difficult and challenging, they’ve definitely brought something different to the team I work with. A competitive side, which, despite much disagreement, I think has made working healthier then not. Obviously, no job is perfect, so there is always something that people are going to complain about, and when these people complain, it fuels that complaint to sounding worse than it actually is.

Fortunately for me, the past few months at work has served me well, and after this week it could not get much better, for I successfully have been granted a nice small promotion following up from my interview the Friday before. This is something I am particularly proud of myself for, as I was really convinced I wouldn’t obtain a place, and to be told that I really impressed people with how I handled the interview has really uplifted myself with confidence that I never thought I’d have.

I had told myself before I went for the interview, with the likeliness of me not getting the job, which it would still be worth going through the interview process just for experience for the future if any other similar job elsewhere were to arise that promised better or more life full-filling opportunities.

I got the good news whilst I was at home-home (home-home being where I lived before I left for university) visiting family, as my Uncle, whom resides in Australia was visiting with his daughter of 1 and a half years. Her name is Alice, and she is beautiful.

Now, as I write this post, I am on a train journey, Lincoln bound, to home, except I am going via Nottingham to visit some friends before returning to Lincoln tonight. I wish I had more than a week to spend with little Alice, so she would remember me for the next time she visits. She goes home today as well. Via Canada for a week first though. By the time she visits England again though, she would have forgotten myself, mum and her Poppa (I know Poppa might mean father to a lot of people, but Poppa is Grandfather to me in my family). I would love to visit her in Australia, but alas, that costs money, and money is something I do not have in this current time.

I’m still settling into my new home in Lincoln, in which I had decided to stay after I finished my university course, mainly because I want to remain independent after I finished university, although, as of this year, I do have family moving up here. My younger cousin has just moved to Lincoln for his university course, so I expect to see much of him now he’s here, which is great because back at home-home I didn’t see him that regularly compared to other family.

Seems that I will shortly be arriving at Derby, where I need to change for my train to Nottingham, so I’m signing off here for now, and will return to add more later. Toodles x

BENICASSIM 2010 - Big Fire?

Hey guys! Long time no post. This one is a quick one, as I will have a ranty one to follow, but I've been browsing at youtube vids of last years Benicassim festival as I am going this year, and found that there was a storm - a HUGE storm, as well as a big fire!

Here's a vid of the big fire:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxom4Un5nuQ&feature=related

I can see this happening again, i.e me and my friends being drunk, smoking a fag, throwing them away without putting them out properly and setting our tent on fire or something!

How To Train Your Dragon Widget

VOTE LIB DEM!

THAT IS ALL.

BUSY!

What can I say? It's been a very busy past several days. Uni work, work work and filling applications for work work after university finishes for my final time.

Currently, I am shooting a film with my fellow single camera group. It's taking the most of my time at the minute, but it's going to be totally worth it. I hope. Looks that way anyway, without meaning to sound egotistical or anything. A lot of early morning starts and late finishes, which has then led on to going to work after, and finishing late too. Lost a lot of hours, but gunna be worth the effort. Still got loads more uni work to do too, such as continuing dissertation and starting RnD work as well as some media cultural question thing for an assignment, oh and applying for a resit assignment. Hard times. But to push through.

So filming and cinema work aside, filling in BBC job applications has been quite exciting but equally nerve wrecking. Some of the questions were really hard, and the creativity test was dreadful! Time limit to answer questions with as many ideas as possible! Nightmare! I'm hoping my answers are good enough. There would be no words to describe my happiness if I got accepted onto the BBC Production Trainee Programme. Took me a couple of days to get it filled in, so fingers crossed I get something out of it!

I've also had to manically clean my room for flat inspections and hide things I didn't want to be seen. The annoying thing was that I was left to clean the kitchen by myself without help of flat mates, and we failed the inspection, because I refused to do every little thing. Then when we were scheduled for another flat inspection because the first round failed, I was left to do everything again! Which I really didn't need on top of mountain load of work and being at work. But there you go. Hopefully I will be left alone with inspections now. But probs doubtful with it being Easter Hols.

From the little free time I've had, I have managed to see two films. One being "Shutter Island", the other, "Inglorious Basterds"

I plan on writing a review on "Shutter Island" later, when I have some more spare time.

Anyway, in other news, I am pregnant, and have a new kitten. (Not really, it was an April Fool I played on my family and friends earlier, was entertaining)

Anyway, I should probably get back to concentrating on this darn dissertation before I have to go and film a house party scene for my single camera project.

Toodles for now!

End of an Era

The past couple of weeks have been awful. Really awful. The other day, I pretty cut all ties with one of my best friends who was in the list of top ten most important people to me. But after a series of events that he has caused, I've felt I can no longer continue our friendship. Luckily a fair few of my friends have agreed with me, but there have been the odd few I thought I could count on for some form of support that have disappointed me.

He is publicly bitching about me, calling me names and making up malicious lies. I know that after all that, if there was ever a chance of talking things through and potentially making up, they are deffo off the cards now because of his actions. I've done nothing wrong, and have nothing to be sorry for. I just want to carry on with my life, yet he is determined to make my life miserable by bitching about my constantly, clearly, to all his friends. People I know and get on with. If shoe was on the other foot, I actually wouldn't do any of that, because I actually have respect for people. It's such a hypocrite too, because if it were the other way round, he'd be demanding to have it all taken down too.

I just hope I can get on the next few months of my life at uni without having to deal with his bullshit. That's probably asking for too much though.