happy times

Even with my blog being a boring, empty one as of late, I've received an award! Thank you to Lily for this lovely award that has immediately brightened up my page!




In order to accept this award I have to answer these questions with one-worded answers...

1. Where is your cell phone? Desk

2. Where is your significant other? Non-existent

3. Your hair color? Blonde

4. Your mother? Work

5. Your father? Hospital

6. Your favorite thing? Pinboard

7. Your dream last night? Unknown

8. Your dream/goal? Graduate

9. The room you're in? Dorm room

10. Your hobby? Reading

11. Your fear? Failure

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? London

13. Where were you last night? Pub

14. What you're not? Confident

15. One of your wish-list items? Boots

16. Where you grew up? Leicester

17. The last thing you did? Lunch

18. What are you wearing? Jama bottoms/ DMU hoodie

19. Your TV? No TV for me...

20. Your pets? Dog at home home.

21. Your computer? Love it

22. Your mood? Worried

23. Missing someone? Joe

24. Your car?

25. Something you're not wearing? Make-up

26. Favorite store? H&M

27. Your summer? Exhausting

28. Love someone? Yes

29. Your favorite color? Yellow

30. When is the last time you laughed? Playing pool.

31. Last time you cried? Watching Pretty in Pink.

I would like to pass this award onto Paige, KayJay and Sarah G as I love all of your blogs very much.

=)

Y

O

T

W

I really do find it harder each week to find a hottie to out-hot my previous YOTW. And next week is going to be impossible.

You should know those eyes. The one and only 22 year old Chace Crawford, uber gorgeous/perfect guy/all over yum.

I have my own personal blog up and running, it's a bit easier writing about my life on there instead of clogging this up when i don't have time to write.

So I'm not abandoning my writing, just trying to get back on track with it!

yum

of

the

week

yummy yummy Danny Cipriani. Born 1987, plays rugby for Wasps and of course England. The next best thing, he's amazing on the field, clearly beautiful off the field, and not even afraid to get his kit off for the Cosmopolitan centrefold to raise awareness of cancer.

lucky lucky Kelly Brooke!

my life in pictures #1
happy birthday Joe-bo.

I miss you, I wish you were here and not there, [I wish you would answer your bloody phone], I wish you a very happy 21st birthday, and I love you more than I've loved anyone in the whole wide world.

xxx

the [problem with the] bookshelf

i'm having a slight problem. I'm packing, getting all excited for my move-into-flat day on Saturday. The dvds I want with me are packed, the exclusive CDs are packed and the rest on iTunes........ and then there are the books.

I want to take all of my books with me. Yes, all 78 of them!!! There's just one problem - I know for certain that they will not all fit in my tiny tiny tiny tiny dorm room.

So which ones do I take? I love them all, and if I leave them behind they will surely find themselves in the trash can [the brother is moving into my room].

This made me think of something as I looked at all of my wonderful books -which is your favourite book of all time? I found mine hiding on the top of my bookshelf whilst sorting out my collection:

Danielle Steel - The Ring

"In the turbulent days of Germany nin the Thirties, Kassandra von Gotthard met the man who changed her life ... Dolff Sterne.

She was the beautiful wife of a wealthy banker. He was a famous Jewish writer.

Together they shared a love that happens only once in a lifetime. But theirs was a love fated to end in tragedy.

The fateful day came when Dolff was wrenched from Kassandra's arms by Nazi soldiers - leaving her heartbroken and humiliated. And Kassandra decided that her life was no longer worth living. All that she leaves for her descendants is her memory of pain and a diamond signet ring. A ring that will carry the destiny of the von Gotthards to new lives and new loves..."

My best friend from Australia sent it to me to read about a week before we lost touch forever, so this book really means a lot to me. It made me cry absolute buckets, but it had me gripped all of the way through.

And it's definitely on the take-to-dorm pile!

year 3 english : studies in literature and film

Term One
William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare, Hamlet
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813)
Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility (1811)

Term Two
Henry James, The Turn of the Screw (1898)
Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon (1930)
Raymond Chandler The Long Goodbye (1953)
Alice Walker, The Color Purple (1983)
Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987)
Dodi Smith, The One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1956)

Films
William Shakespeares Romeo +Juliet, (Luhrmann, 1996)
Shakespeare in Love, (Madden, 1996)
Hamlet (Almereyda, 2000)
Hamlet (Olivier,1948)
Hamlet (Zeffirelli, 1990)
Hamlet (Branagh, 1996)
Miss Austen Regrets (Lovering, 2008)
Pride and Prejudice ( Leonard, 1940)
Pride and Prejudice (Wright, 2005)
Becoming Jane, (Jarrold, 2007)
Sense and Sensibility (Lee 1995)
Sense and Sensibility (Alexander, 2008)
The Innocents (Clayton, 1961)
The Maltese Falcon (Huston, 1941)
The Big Sleep (Hawks, 1946)
The Long Goodbye (Altman, 1973)
The Color Purple (Spielberg, 1985)
Beloved (Demme, 1998)
One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Disney animation,1961)
101 Dalmatians (Herek, 1996)

Going to be a good year! Although I'm so fed up with studying Hamlet for the past 4 years, and now I have to watch FOUR versions of the film! Enough to send anyone mad..

gossipgossipgossip

i'm really loving The Hallam Brats, a new blog I discovered a few days ago when trawling through some random blogs. It's like our very own Gossip Girl, and has added to the many distractions keeping me away from writing!

I'm not sure whether it's fact or fiction, but either way it has me constantly checking for updates on the world of the rich kids. I love Lilly, hate Summer, can sympathise with Camps, and think Josh is a total hottie. And it's all only just started!

http://thehallambrats.blogspot.com/

yum

of

the

week

William Chalker,the face of Louis Vuitton's SS08 campaign.

Aged 28, from Sussex.

I quote the ex-construction worker: “Before I became a model I was quite content in any profession that allowed me to use my hands.”

Yum.

work in progress

So far I've completed 539/2000 words for my entry to Company/Galaxy/LBD's short story competition. How's everyone else doing? I'm sure most have been written, edited and sent by now! I'm not leaving myself a lot of time, although I'm quite pleased with what I've written so far.

My idea's quite quirky and I do like it, although the whole short-story idea gets me so nervous! I've never written a short story, ever ever or ever. I'm hoping to get it finished and sent off by tomorrow, with only the chance of praying that it gets there on time!

How many people have entered? I don't know what's made me enter this year, I nearly wasn't going to until an idea popped into my head whilst on holiday. It gets me back into writing though, which I'm pleased about, although I'm guessing I won't have time to do much of anything after uni starts again next week.

Good luck to everyone that's entered and I hope we get more success from this fabulous magazine compared to you-know-who!

the bookshelf



I love my parents' work book clubs. Look what my mum brought home for me today, all shiny and beautiful with the promising of a great read. And all for a fiver! Has anyone read My Best Friend's Girl or the Cupid Effect yet? The Chocolate Run is why I'm so excited about reading the other two - I love that book SO MUCH. It's amazing, please go and buy yourself a copy if you haven't read it already! It's one of the best books I've ever read, it really picked me up and made me laugh and smile as well as the usual ahhhs of romance. The trickiest bit about this collection is deciding who to give my spare copy to!



My two weeks in Spain were amazing, loved almost every minute of it. I knew I would love Lucy Diamond's Over You as soon as I read the first page. I don't intentionally pick up novels about family life, although I thoroughly loved every part of it, so much that it's now creased, bent and full of sand from me lugging it around with me everywhere I went. I genuinely cared about Josie and all of the decisions she made, and felt like laughing and crying with her all of the way through. A very fabulous novel, I loved it.

I wasn't so keen on Be Careful What You Wish For. It is written from the main character's point of view and written in such a simple way that I thought she was a teenager, not in her thirties. It was a good storyline although not used in the best way. I found it a bit annoying, and found myself reading quickly through it to get it finished rather than to find out what happens next. I also wondered why, if everything she wished for came true, and she was so devastated when her bag was stolen, why didn't she just wish for it to come back?

Bridget Jones was as fabulous as expected, and even funnier than the original. I loved Beach Babylon. It really made me laugh and you have to kind of read it twice after remembering it's all real and has all happened. I'm gutted that I can't find Fashion Babylon anywhere, I'm really looking forward to reading it too.

i think it is safe to say that Caroline Smailes' Black Boxes widget is the best thing since sliced bread!

happy
birthday
to
me!
no
longer
a
teenager!

the bookshelf



these are the beach reads that I've finally sorted out for my (second) holiday! Very exciting stuff!

short story competition

The most fabulous glossy magazine on the planet, Company, has teamed up with Galaxy this month to host its annual short-story competition!

All you need to do is write a short story of your choice, no longer than 2,000 words, and send your entry in hard-copy format to:


Galaxy Short Story Competition
Company magazine
72 Broadwick Street
London W1F 9EP

by 16th September 2008!

How exciting for our team of short-story bloggers.
Who's planning on taking part??

the bookshelf

Lucy Diamond - Over You

Look what came through my door this morning. So pretty! So shiny and new. And utterly fabulous, I'm more than pleased that it's arrived in time for my holiday! I still haven't read Any Way You Want Me, which is near to the top of my reading list, although I feel that with all of Lucy's excitement about the release of this book, it shall have to jump straight to the top of the reading pile.

I'm not too sure what I'm most excited about - two weeks in Spain or the bookshelf I'm taking with me?!

rewrite : very pleased

now reading

Has anybody read this book? I got through all of my holiday reads and couldn't bear to wait around Athens/Luton airport for two and a half hours without a new book in my hand. So, with the limited choice on display at Athens, I picked up Be Careful What You Wish For by Alexandra Potter - I loved the cover, and the blurb offered a good, light read for my flight.

After being wrapped up by Gossip Girl I didn't get the chance to read it, however after coming home I logged onto Trashionista (naturally.!) and found disappointing reviews for Potter's new release, Me and Mr Darcy, with links to people who also weren't very pleased with this book. I'm still going to continue to go ahead and read it, but wondered if anyone had any views/reviews on this book or any of her others? I've never heard of the author before but her novels include Calling Romeo, Going La La, Do You Come Here Often? and Mr and Mr Darcy. She has a new release for January 2009, titled Who's That Girl?

The heart-throb in Be Careful What You Wish For is called James... what a perfect name for a heartbreaker............ Another thing that inspired me to read one of Potter's books is the author herself, who has achieved what I aspire to do in future - Potter has worked as a features writer and sub-editor for women's UK glossies including Elle, More, OK! and Vogue. Wow!

yum of the week :

don't
they
just
get
yummier?

the bookshelf - holiday reads

The Bride Hunter - Amy Appleton

I picked this book up a few weeks before my holiday and it looked so delicious that I jumped straight in and started reading it, before finding that life was too hectic to sit down and enjoy it completely. So I reopened it on my first beach day in Greece... and couldn't put it down. It's fantastic, I LOVE IT and it's jumped straight into my shrine.

I'm a hopeless romantic and all throughout the novel I was wishing for Becca to find her own man, at the same time admiring her for the changes she makes to the lives of those unlucky in love. I was gripped until the very last pages and it was so fabulous that I was tempted to turn back to page one and read it all over again.

It's full of twists and turns and unexpected surprises - go and read it, now!

I didn't know that 'Amy Appleton' had her own blog here too, at http://amyonlove.blogspot.com , so if you haven't already then check that out!

rewrite : a little progress is still progress

our community

I've just been having a nosy at the Novel Racers blog and found myself smiling uncontrollably at the achievements of its members since the blog opened. Getting published is something we all aim, strive and wish for, and for some of us on here to have achieved that is amazing. To have one, two, three book deals, to be able to walk into Waterstones and see your book there in print... I admire all of the people who have worked so hard and stayed so determined and shown that it is possible.

And however it seems otherwise, it is possible!!!

rewrite : started!

question #1 :
how
do
i
use
ywriter?

bear's attempt at a good rewrite
#1 : get to know your characters

I've been flicking through Legs lately and realise that I need to prepare myself for the rewrite. It's been so long since I started the first draft that I need to familiarise myself with everything and anything Legs.

So, over the next few days weeks I am going to introduce you to the world of Legs, starting with an insight to my delicious (and not so delicious) characters.

the bookshelf

Holly's Inbox - Holly Denham

I picked this book up from WHSmith, after hearing about the international success of her website

http://www.hollysinbox.com/. It read well, and being in its email form, I finished it in just a day.

I enjoyed reading it but wasn't as gripped as I thought I would be - there was huge hype surrounding this book but I'm not sure it lives up to it. I much preferred reading the emails as they unravelled in real time on her website.... and where was all the scandal? There was gossip, back-stabbing, friendship and office bitching, but scandal I wasn't really so sure about.

I was left a bit disappointed, and although I loved the warmth of the characters I couldn't really click with Holly as much as I hoped I would. It's a fun, light read, although not gripping enough.

Next read: The Bride Hunter - Amy Appleton

we are novel lily

more... more, more

I have just accepted the offer of work experience with More magazine, commencing January 5th 2008!

I couldn't be more excited at the prospect of working for two whole weeks in London, on a top magazine!!

Next attempt : Company

let the rewrite begin

a new start

Oh my lovely blog, how I have missed theee......

Dansi is back.

the bookshelf

The Chocolate Run - Dorothy Koomson

I can't remember the last time I found myself giggling out loud so often when reading a book. This book is FANTASTIC! I picked it up from WHSmith one night to start reading in the interval at Bingo (yes, really) and I haven't been able to put it down for so long. I love Amber, the main character. She's so warm, bubbly, funny... and she's a chocoholic!

I haven't finished reading it yet but I'd definitely recommend it. It's cheered me up no end and has been getting me through my breakup with my boyfriend, making me smile every day.