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Showing posts with label Random. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Random. Show all posts

Bloglovin' - I haz one!

 Sunday, 1 June 2014

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

So I know that a lot of blogger folk these days have started using Bloglovin to allow people who may not want to go to the whole hassle of setting up a google account to follow via Friend Connect (do people still use that? Does it even work anymore? idk). From what I've just seen it has quite a similar feel to Pinterest in that nice endless scroll layout. So I thought why the hell not?

So if you fancy following le blog with Bloglovin, click the link at the top and hopefully it will take you somewhere where magical shit happens and you end up seeing my posts there. Such new fangled technology these days y'all!

Anyways have a good evenin' folks!
Ray

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Writing Ray - Where I'm at with things

 Monday, 5 May 2014

Evenin' folks! I thought that I'd do a bit of a post Nano update talking about where I'm at currently with my writing shenanigans (God I love that word). I haven't done much writing since I hit my camp goal, little bits on a couple of scenes that are going to go towards the end of the book and also one which is purely for the repayment of feels to my dearest Alpha reader and Twinnie Jess since she was rather upset with me after she read the dreaded Dramatic Death Scene.

So I'm not going to be allowed to kill any more of my protags for at least one book - which is fine by me since I have already created for myself a musical trigger for tears from writing that death scene. Which is going to be very awkward later this month when Le Boyf and I go to London to see Yoshiki (Former drummer for the band X Japan) play his classical piano music which does include orchestral versions of some of their songs - two of which were playing as I wrote the final bit of the DDS. So it's very likely that I'm going to burst into tears in the concert hall on hearing either of those songs (One is ironically enough *called* Tears - skip to about 3mins in and then tell me that you wouldn't well up. The other is Forever Love - this is a shorter version and do excuse wet Yoshiki :P).

The plan for the next few months is going to be to get the end of the book done (only two scenes left I reckon) and start working on the beginning. Due to how I started writing this project I have the first scene I wrote being the first time my two main characters meet which I have got to write up to and then continue with the next section of the story. Originally I thought this scene was going to occur about a third of the way through the book, but now that I've written about half of the first draft I think it's going to have to come earlier than that.

But then will come the question of do I need to re-write that scene when I get to it? How drastically different has my writing become from that first scene to now? I don't really want to the consider the possibility that I've got worse from that point but one should never rule these things out and with me I have found that the more I do something the worse I get at it in certain bizarre occasions (cf. my book reviewing). It's shit like this that keeps me panicking.

However I gotta keep that neurotic side of my brain crammed in a teeny-tiny box otherwise it'll just jettison my confidence in this book and I'll stop completely - which I really don't want to do. Seriously I am really fucking enjoying writing this book even when it's mashing my brain or making me cry.

All being well I should hopefully *fingers crossed* have my first draft done by the time I finish work in July so I can spend leisurely days sat outside with a stack of paper (heck knows I will need to buy a efficient printer with affordable ink) and a heap of red pens alongside Jess editing this thing into something that works as whole and not in chunks.

I don't currently plan to even attempt to publish it, that is just something I don't have the energy or mental fortitude to put myself through. I want to finish a book, for me, so that I can say that I have *finished* something before I continue writing the second book, which may eventually turn into three depending on how out of control the world-building gets and what plot bunnies spring up from that. If I get to the end of writing this story, however long it turns out to be, and I am happy enough with it that I'd like to start submitting it then maybe I will. But that won't be for a while yet.

Until then I'm just gonna keep plodding on with it and dragging y'all along with me if you don't mind.
Current rough count on the manuscript is probably around 57,000 words but that's with two scenes to write and one to complete that I kind of abandoned. So by the time I hit the "end" of the book I should be at around 60K.

Now this post has got really lengthy and kinda meandering so I'm gonna go back and carry on with this scene that is going to hopefully stop me receiving Howlers :P
Until next time folks
Ray


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Braaaaains, Rock Salt and other bizarre ways to cope

 Monday, 11 April 2011

Yea you read that post title correctly, I promise you I've not gone totally barmy but I reckon some folk might think I'm slightly touched in the head by the end of this post. If you've not seen my In My Mailbox post from Sunday then you might not know that my Grandfather died suddenly last Thursday and instead of taking time off from blogging like saner people might do, I'm gonna be blogging through my grief as it were as I think keeping my mind occupied on something I love is better than being sat ruminating on how bleak life seems right now.

In explanation of the post title; last night I watched the first episode of The Walking Dead on Five. I know this series was shown in the US several months ago but it's taken it's sweet time in getting over the pond so when I saw the adverts for it I got majorly excited (this was maybe over a week ago).
Now you'd think that after a death in the family that you'd want to avoid any and all TV shows that involve death and gore, me... well I'm a little odd and I love shows like that so I sat myself down last night and revelled in the serious creepiness of the spectacular zombie SFX in The Walking Dead. Oh and maybe drooled a wee bit over Andrew Lincoln cos I really rather liked him in Love Actually :P

I also have been binging on another TV show recently and just this morning may-have-kinda-sneakily ordered the third season boxset off Amazon. Yea I'm talking bout them Winchester brothers in Supernatural :P
Normally I consider myself to be pretty wussy when it comes to horror films and other scary shit like that but with Supernatural there's enough humour and non-scary stuff to balance out the terrifically creepy beasties that Sam and Dean come across every episode. So I get the thrill of being scared without being so terrified that I have nightmares for weeks afterwards, plus the added bonus of Jensen Ackles & Jared Padalecki being adorably bitchy with each other and suavely wasting ghosts like the bad-ass pros they really are.

I realise that my choice of comfort TV is probably rather disconcerting (at least it is to my parents) but my reasoning is that the more shocking and scary it is, the smaller the chances of me bursting into tears at some random moment. If I watched some fluffy rom-com I'd most likely spend half the film getting misty-eyed and to be perfectly honest I look hideous when I cry and it exhausts me like hell so I'd rather avoid a crying jag if possible.

I wonder if I'm the only person who has turned to seemingly "inappropriate" TV shows or films in times of grief - I'm hoping that if I drown myself in vivid imagery of things worse than I've seen it'll overwrite the memories that at the moment are seared onto my mind. I would love to have nothing but pleasant reminders of my Grandad and to have that Thursday night erased from my visual memory but I reckon it will take more than a few zombies and demons to shift it.

So I'd like to know, has anyone else got a bizarre choice of movie/tv show/book that they turn to when they need comfort whether it be merely after a bad day, or after the loss of a loved one, that other people would consider as odd?

I swear I'm only half-mad
LadyV

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Silence in the Library

 Saturday, 12 February 2011

So this is just a quick post to say I'm sorry for the lack of posting this weekend since I'm gonna be away from my computer until Sunday evening as my sister and I are off to see the fabulously funny Russell Howard in Birmingham tonight *squee*

I know I owe you folks like a gajillion reviews (ok like 4) but I shall try my darnedest to get caught up on those over the weekend so I can get them all typed up when I get home. I've not been reading much these past few days so I'm not continually adding to my pile of stuff to write :P

Only one book for the IMM this week - a library book called Pemberly Revisited  by Emma Tennant which is a bind-up of her two Pride and Prejudice sequels and I am rather looking forward to getting stuck into it soon.

And Finally I shall leave you with a snippet of the unbelievably amazing soundtrack for Tangled which has been brightening my mood all week (dude if you could have *seen* how insane I looked dancing round my house). I defy anyone to listen to this song and *not* find themselves dancing and spinning. But of course if you don't it'll just prove how weird I really am :P



Enjoy Folks
LadyV

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Hey I'm still here!

 Saturday, 25 September 2010

Helloo there! Never fear I am still here although I'm not getting internet until next Thursday so any posts I do will be prepared beforehand in Word or whatever and then when I can get online I'll copy & paste them onto Blogger :)
I'm now all settled into my new flat, after the vaguely rocky start of there being no flooring in the kitchen and bathroom, no oven and a very dirty microwave everything is now hunky-dory and my kitchen is gaw-juss even if the cooker is slightly weird to use (or maybe I'm just bad at operating it). I have the funkiest room in the house cos I'm on the top floor and some of the roof beams are exposed on the sloped bit of my ceiling - yea I have smacked my head a few times already but hopefully I'll get better at dodging a concussion :P
It is so great being back at uni, well I may not be saying that once lectures start but I love being back by the sea. This year our flat isn't actually on the seafront *sad face* but I've got a decent view of the river and the hill in the distance out of my skylight.
On other matters, I've had a pretty awesome week of reading so far but since it's too late to do an It's Monday post I'll do a double edition next week, ditto for IMM. I've made a start on the books I've brough with me for the sole purpose of re-reading them for my "Favourites Fortnight" so I'll be scheduling the reviews for those to go up during the first two weeks of October when I may not be able to read as much while I'm getting into a work routine. I apologise in advance if those reviews consist of excessive amounts of gushing :P
But anyways I hope y'all are doing alright, good luck to any folk who've started Uni/College this year and I hope you have a fantastic time just keep the booze-ups to a sensible number ;) (Says the girl who's writing this with a glass of Pimm's beside her).
Oh and a *massive* thank-you to you fab followers- I noticed the other day when I logged onto my blog for the first time since the 18th that I'd reached 207 followers!! *flabbergasted* It means so much to me that over 200 people are interested in my insane ramblings so cookies all round! Y'all keep being awesome and I'll be back soon. ALSO DON'T FORGET MY BIRTHDAY BONANZA CONTEST IS STILL RUNNING!!
LadyV

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Move along, Nothing to see here...

 Sunday, 25 July 2010

Yea Sorry but there's no IMM post from me this week since Amazon FAILS!!! I ordered 5 books including *omfg* LINGER on the freaking 18th and they've *still* not arrived!! I'm probably not gonna get them until Monday or Tuesday at the latest which really naffs me off so they'll be appearing in next week's IMM instead of this one. Hmph! So in the meantime I'll try and get some goshdarnit reviews done!!

Have a great Sunday Folks
LadyV

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Writer's Block Blues

 Thursday, 22 July 2010


I have a problem. I have like a shit ton of reviews that I *really* should write before all my lovely followers get sick to the back teeth of me promising to post reviews but then not doing it. I can't remember the last time I posted a book review, seriously I think it's been that long. It's not that I'm not reading, sheesh look at the list now on my left sidebar - I've read 119 books so far this year and I ain't done yet. But I am finding it freaking impossible to write a decent, coherent review of anything I read.

I HAVE WRITER'S BLOCK!!! ARGH!!!!


I want to write, really I do and I can put together in my head things I want to say but when it comes down to actually manifesting those thoughts into words my brain suddenly packs in and turns to mush. It's driving me insane, the last 7 books I've read are ones that I would actually post a review for (some of the books I read are not YA so I'd probably not review them on this blog) but finding the time and energy to actually think about and write down what I liked and disliked about each book in a way that's even slightly helpful to others is ridiculously hard right now. It's not helped by the fact that while I'm at home for the summer I have the stress of trying to maintain the secrecy of the blog/youtube channel from the parentals because if they knew what I'd been doing since January when I probably should have been studying then I'd be *soo* dead and I'd never be allowed near the internet ever again.

Another thing that is totally shot to hell by my inability to string sentences together creatively is any chance of me finishing a single story idea that I come up with. A few months back I had a *holy chorus and god rays* moment and thought of a fab YA novel idea (well at least *I* thought so). I was so excited that I spent three weeks planning and developing my idea, writing little scene snippets, thinking about my characters and whatnot. But then massive feelings of inadequacy overwhelmed me and all my motivation to work on the idea disappeared. Just thinking about how long it would take me to write out the whole story and make it believable and work properly and not be utter crap seemed like an insurmountable task and I had no clue whether I'd even have the creative energy to finish a full-length story. I still occasionally think about the idea and the characters do feel at least partly real to me, I can visualise scenes that I want to write but it's like stuffing a 5 minutes scene from a movie onto a piece of paper, there's so much in it that I wouldn't know where to start and there's no way I could describe it just how I'd imagined it.

Is it really stupid of me to get so hung up about my writing? I spend so long thinking and planning but I can never actually sit down and write out a scene, start to finish in full prose. I just can't and I have no idea why, I can do little chunks of conversation with a smattering of description but a full chapter-length scene is utterly beyond me. When I was a kid I kept saying that I wanted to be an author, but as far as I'm aware I've never finished a story of a decent length. Yea I've started a whole ruck of ideas but nothing has ever gotten into the "sit and write it out properly stage". I know lots of book bloggers also write and hearing how they're thousands of words into their WIP etc. makes me insanely jealous because I've never got even close to being able to say "I've finished the first chapter of my book".

I'm really sorry that I'm venting all this onto you folk but heck I need to get it out somewhere or I'm gonna implode from feeling so crap about my writing (or the lack of it). It'd be great if I could have someone look at something I'd written and tell me whether it's worth even bothering carrying on but I've not got anything that's long enough that I'd even contemplate showing to people. (except Jess, you totally rock BTW).

God I'm not even sure where this post is going anymore, it's massively long and has probably drifted waay off the point of my being sorry for the lack of Book Reviews. I am sorry for that but it is linked into my other problems with writing so it is still relevant. I was really only doing a post instead of doing this weeks Booking Through Thursday question because I thought it was a bit naff but my brain ran away with me and spewed out this enormous rant on my own lack of "stickability" with a book idea.

If you've been lovely enough to read all this rambling then thank you so much, any comment on my insanity, daftness whatever would be greatly appreciated, heck just a cyber-hug would suffice. I think I'm in a bit of an odd place right now and I really am a bit bemused by my own mental state.

I'll leave off wittering about here I think.
LadyV

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Oh Hai, look who finally reappeared from the ether!

 Tuesday, 6 July 2010

I'm baaaack!!!! *happy dance*
Dang it is good to be back on the right side of the pond! Not that I didn't love my two weeks in Barbados but it's always great to be able to sleep in your own bed and not be worried that you're going to run out of books to read :P

I'll hopefully be doing a post specifically about my trip in a day or so and I'll show y'all some photos I took (I have a ridiculous number of pics from the West Indies vs South Africa test match but not a lot of everything else). I've also gotta catch up on reviews since I did finish four or five books while I was away.

Oh and to the winners of my 75 Followers giveaway - never fear I haven't forgotten that I still need to mail out your prizes I only got off the plane at 6:00am this morning so my brains are still pretty scrambled but I will do my best to get them posted in the next couple of days when I'll actually have my car :D

Aww crap.. I just remembered that my exam results for my first year of uni get released on the 9th July... dang so long as I've passed everything that's all that really bothers me, I just will have to work more this year since it actually counts towards my degree.

So, yea I'm gonna hopefully get back to a reasonably regular posting schedule by the end of the week but I'll have something uber awesome going on next week which will be going on from Monday until Wednesday. My awesome book twin Jess (Who's recently started her own book blog *dances*) and I will be going on a book-hauling ROADTRIP! It's gonna be a all-around awesome time and we're gonna do some joint vlogs about our bookish finds and probably do a couple of book reviews of something we've *both* read and loved - our tastes in books is so similar it's actually kinda scary. So be on the lookout for pics and posts from our shenanigans across the Midlands (there's a secret portion of our trip that I can't divulge just yet so shhh!)
Oh and Jess's book blog can be found HERE so go check it out Nao!

Right I've gotta get my unpacking done cos my room is a mess so toodles until tomorrow!!
Ever jetlagged
LadyV

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Vlog of Random and *squee* - Forget You arc Tour

 Wednesday, 26 May 2010

A few weeks ago I signed up to join a UK arc tour of Forget You by Jennifer Echols (whom I've heard fabulous things about) which was organised by Dwayne of Girls Without a Bookshelf and I believe I was third in the list to receive it. This morning a wondrous thing happened which shall be more thoroughly explained in the vlog below (warning: contains a person of bedraggled appearance and hyperactive disposition despite her under-caffeinated state) Enjoy!




So there you have sleepy random English girl getting way more excited than a 19-yr-old really should.
I shall hopefully have my review done by Saturday so I can pass the book onto the next lucky recipient!
I'm now thoroughly tempted to do a Waiting on Wednesday post on Forget You *ponders* hmm...


Ever musingly
LadyV

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Oh Oh Look it's Pretty!!!

 Tuesday, 27 April 2010

I had a makeover!!! I was having a look at the wonderfully helpful post that Lori @ Pure Imagination did about blog design and she mentioned several websites where you could get free blog templates to download. I found this *gawjuss* template on Simply Fabulous and I got it to work! *squee*

This redesign is part of my re-vamping program to get back into the swing of blogging before the summer when I'm going to have *hopefully* a load of time to dedicate to my book blog and my reviews. Over the next few weeks I'm hoping to get involved in more memes other than Kristi's (The Story Siren) In My Mailbox which is on Sundays. I also want to improve with my book reviews as I've only posted two this year and I've read 75 books already so I may do some backlog posting if people want to know my thoughts on particular books I've read (I'll be doing a post on reading challenges soonish). Eventually I may outline my reviewing criteria just so people can make sense of *why* I give a particular rating - but it may take a while as even I don't really know what my criteria are at the moment :P

Anyway so that's all for the time being, any comments or questions feel free to leave some below and I'll be seeing (in a manner of speaking) you soon!

LadyV

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