Just a note, most of the examples I will be using in this post will be from my novel, which is 70,000+ words of (hopefully) well planned war literature.

For the two main characters in my novel I created timelines as a way to map their lives before the story started, so I could keep track of dates and ages for back story purposes and to hopefully avoid continuity errors. For example, I didn’t want a character to say that they went to a certain place when they were 20 and then in the second half say it happened when they were 19.

The timelines read something like this brief excerpt. (There are two separate timelines but I cross-reference them, so the births of both characters are on both lists)

Timeline L.

(Monday) 18 Aug 1890 K.E.C is born
(Sat) 7 Nov 1891 L.E.L is born
1909 A.L is born when L. is 18
4 Aug 1914 England declares war on Germany7 Nov 1914 L. turns 24
19 July 1915 start of book

and so on for most events in the book.

Another advantage of these timelines are having a definitive list of dates so that as I mentioned before I don’t forget important dates and “life events”.

Using a time frame to build a story around (a year, two years, once every year on the same day…) can be helpful to try and keep structure but I don’t rely too much on this. Having too rigid a time frame can also trip you up if you don’t plan every single month of the story line. There’s the chance you could say which month you are in and then say two months have passed and then it’s not the right month! If this makes sense. Planning, if the novel is going to be really specific about when and where things are happening is really important.

I tend to get a bit willy nilly with weeks and days so I try not to mention exact dates or days of the week, just in case I say “It was Monday. Three days had passed and tomorrow was Saturday” or something stupid like that. My novel only has three exact dates (to my knowledge) throughout the whole thing. One of them is in the first line, the other is the mention of a character’s birthday and the third is a very vague hint that it is the armistice. Because of the nature of the book and the state of mind that my main character finds himself in, I found that for half of the book it doesn’t matter what day/date it is as my character wouldn’t know or care anyway. How much or how little time passes in that section of the novel is irrelevant, but I’m sure if you squint hard enough there is some clue.

That’s all for now,

Lil

I’m going to talk about character development this time.

If you are a rare subspecies who wants to avoid spoilers of my superhero story that will come out in about two to three years, then I advise not reading this post. It’s not possible to give details of this character’s development without some kind of spoiler.

My empath character was created because of my compassionate side; she is based a little on myself, and also on my mother; which is why she is called ‘Jacqueline’, because that is my mother’s name.

First of all, I knew this kind of character did not only have to be a part of the Fatal Femmes, but be an important character from a very different perspective on the team.

Each character has very different problems and perspectives, which is why I think this might become my biggest story so far. It works on so many levels with so many perspectives merged to create one entire story. And without delving into these perspectives nobody would understand their actions and reactions in the action scenes when they are all together.

Jacqueline was created to be the conscience of the team; the one with so much compassion and understanding of morals; these are not looked at as skills or even intelligence; but they can be honed to strengthen ourselves and those around us.

My mam has all of the above; there is no doubt my mother is a trooper! There will never be enough words to tell her how much she means to me. She has always been there for me. She has always worked her hardest to give her big family the best she can; I would be very lucky if I turned out to be half the person she is.

Okay, so here is the arc in bullet points:

Jacqueline

Abilities: Empath; able to feel and sense other peoples emotions, inflict and make specific emotions arise on multiple targets within line of sight (or with one individual when not in line of sight). Can also hone on people she has come to know over time and track them from afar with what she calls ‘empathic identity frequencies.’

1. Jacqueline is introduced via the opposing team in school. The team it focuses on first is Iris, Lena and Lorna. Opposing team: Marie, Jacqueline and Eva. Also know in the story as the teams A-17 and A-27.
2. Jacqueline and her team A-27 fight for the first time against A-17. Though no one wins technically (even though A-17 does on a combat and power basis) as the property is damaged by both teams, and is the main point in it; as the government doesn’t employ navics (supers) that destroy their property to rebuild and lose money over.
3. The empath becomes out of tune with her ability for a few minutes in school in  a corridor; because of the mystical energies channeled through Iris (which is explained much later on), who walks past, subconsciously. When Iris goes to help, she is fully restored, which is explained later on why also.
4. A-17 and A-27 end up in a bank heist together, and the criminals end up killing large amounts of people inside; A-17 figured out Jacqueline sent out a distressed empathic emotion to all those near, which made the team curious about the situation in the bank before they entered. Though both teams were driven to help, only the empath and A-17 could use their abilities because of the bands placed on navics in training; these are only activated in controlled rooms in school. But Lena creates a way around them; and psionics (a type of navic) like Jacqueline can use their abilities on different frequency waves to by pass them if really needed (though this is not known by the government yet).
5. Iris is possessed by the goddess Hecate in the bank and seeks justice on those killed; the end of the scene gives both teams a very good reason to start working together, and essentially is Hecate’s view of the way she wants the world to see women now. But both teams see this is also a great way to manage these abilities in a much more people driven way, and also a positive way nobody has ever done before them.
6. First time in real battle, Jacqueline realises that big numbers of enemies’ hate and fear fuel her own, and cause her rage to almost kill someone as she uses a combatant second skin Lena creates to enhance kinetic energy; this person becomes paralysed; they eventually become allies, and realise there is a much bigger plot by several groups of people at work though later on in the story.
7. Jacqueline soon becomes very afraid of using her ability because of the last fight scene. She fears tuning in with her emotional empathic ability might lead her to actually kill someone someday. But also fears she will be of no value without her empathic senses; as it becomes the ground for the Fatal Femmes’ tactical intelligence in the field. So she turns to Lena for help, and begins to hope something can be done.

That’s all folks. There is a lot of spoilers in there. I still don’t want to reveal everything I’ve done and have planned; but you can see how she is starting to develop pretty well here; at least I would say so.

Thanks for reading folks

This is Jon saying… BYE. Waves.

So I have a review for you today. Just a small one mind, especially after the mammoth size of last week’s post.

First! I have not been asked or paid or anything to link to any of the following sites or to do this review. I purchased my notebook cover with my own funds, and all opinions are entirely my own.

(Also while I’m thinking about it, please forgive the slightly terrible photos. Especially the last one, ’cause it was taken under my yellow desk lamp. The others were taking under natural light.)

It started with the Midori Traveller’s Notebook, which was an interesting concept in itself. Then came along the Pelle journal; a cheaper version of the Traveller’s Notebook, but with three sizes instead of two and a few more leather colour options (I think the sizes are more standard too). And then, the lovely Kate over at The Life of the Perpetual Student posted a video about her Midori style notebook. It turned out to be an A5 version.

That was more attractive to me. A5 is a size that I use on a more regular basis. And it’s easier for me to get my hands on, and for cheap too. The Pelle and Midori notebook refills are a) not quite sizes I’m used to b) not exactly cheap especially in the case of the Midori ones, and c) not easily obtainable here in the United Kingdom. (More to the point, the Pelle journal is practically impossible to get from a UK source, the Midori a little less so.)

So I thought about it for a little while, and then I saw a “customise your own” listing on Etsy, from a shop called BroLeatherWorks. I messaged the seller, Stefano Bramato, a few times. He was very quick to respond to me, very helpful and very friendly. So, I ordered one; an A5 cover that opened like a notebook instead of a reporter’s notebook in canyon tan coloured leather (which reminded me of the 5th Anniversary Edition of the Midori Traveller’s Notebook to be honest), with a single strand of light turquoise elastic. (Stefano also does double elastic, which looks quite good, but I know it would’ve gotten on my nerves.)

I paid $33.50 (that’s American dollars, just so you know), which worked out, according to my PayPal history as £22.24. Including shipping. Yup. That’s like, half the price of a regular (not passport sized) Midori notebook cover.

I purchased it on the 1st May, Stefano dispatched it on the 6th, and it arrived on the 10th. From Italy.

So, the postman knocked on my door, I signed for it, and took my armful of post upstairs. This is what I was greeted by when I opened the envelope:

My dear lord it smelt so good. And that leather smell hung around until… I think Monday evening. Here, let me give you a little close up on that bow:

That badge is so cute. It’s on my elastic at the moment, but I think I have another plan for it, so we’ll see whether I keep it or not. Anyway. So that’s the outer packaging. Simple, yet elegant. And I’ve kept the tissue (though it’s a bit stronger than tissue so I don’t know what to call it) it was wrapped in. So, what was under the wrapping?

THAT is what was waiting for me under the wrapping. (The thing on top is a little handwritten thank you note, with a note about his shop.) The leather is so thick and so smooth; the colour is so pretty and I can’t stop touching it. I’m not currently using it properly, it just sits on my desk and I keep petting it, but I know what I’m going to do with it.

It even has the shop logo hand stamped on the back;

Stefano even included a little home and hand made insert too, which I love. (You can even see the little bookmark):

Oh, and one more thing. Look:

(This thing is -mine- baby!)

Basically. I have nothing bad to say about this seller or this product. I’m extremely happy.

Until next week folks!

Danni

x

Word count: 698 words

Oh! If you want more information on the Midori Traveller’s Notebooks and the Pelle journal then the lovely Azizah over at Gourmet Pens has a review of each, and then a massive comparison review:
~ Azizah’s Midori Review.
~ Azizah’s Pelle Review.
~ Azizah’s Comparison.
Finally, the folks at Ink Nouveau have a video on the Midori Traveller’s Notebook.

I originally found this on youtube, but for various reasons, I can’t link to it right now. I shall endeavour to come back and amend this post with the link in due course.

Here goes:

1) What are you currently using as a book mark?

I’m reading three books at the moment (though it’s actually probably more than this) and these are the three bookmarks I’m using. The one on the left was free, the one in the centre from a bookshop in Hay-on-Wye (where I spent a lot of money) and the one on the right was a present.

2) Best thing ever used as a bookmark?
Probably the one in the picture above from the Richard Booth Bookshop (which I also have a tote bag from which they gave me for free after spending so much). I just like the way it looks and feels. Bit weird, I know.

3) Weirdest thing ever used as a bookmark?
Probably a tissue. Don’t worry, it was clean!

4) Do you ever annotate/highlight/write in books?
I wrote a whole blog post about this a few weeks ago, so in brief, yes sometimes, depending on what it is. I am going to do it to my uni books once they arrive.

5) Share something you’ve found written in a library book/used book/book that didn’t belong to you?
This is the best example I could find. I looked through a lot of my books and apart from names, this was the only one with anything in. This is on the first page of a biography of Alexandre Dumas.

It’s quite hard to read, but says “With all good Dumasian wishes, A. Craig Bell.” Wonderfully enough, A. Craig Bell is the author of the biography.

6) What books in your collection are by someone named Mark?
The only book I could find (in about 300) was  The Vesuvius Club by Mark Gatiss.

7) What book has made the biggest mark on your life? (figuratively?)The easy answer here would be Harry Potter, as anyone who’s read my Dear Harry post would see, but I fear that it is a bit of a cop out. Harry certainly reintroduced me to reading (not that I ever really stopped), but only a slim part of my life is now directly influenced by Harry. If we can use the term book very loosely (and I hope we can) my true, ultimate ‘book’ that has made the biggest mark on my life is Tintin , more specifically probably Tintin in Tibet or The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure double story. As for adult books, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that Brideshead Revisited hadn’t had some effect on me. I think I have it to thank for the many books of the same era and earlier that I read now. Also, Jonathan Coe’s The Rotter’s Club for helping me read outside my comfort zone.

8) What book has made the biggest mark on you? (Literally – do you have any literary themed tattoos? If not, and if you had to get one, what would it be?)No, I don’t but let me direct you to this website, which is a gallery of literary tattoos. Some great, some not so, but still interesting. It’s been a point of thinking for me for some time. I can never settle on something I’m still going to love in twenty years. That said, I’d probably go for some sort of quote rather than a pictorial representation of a book.

9) Which book has made the biggest impact on your generation?
Harry Potter. Obvious answer, but true.

That’s all for this week! Would love my other bloggers to have a go at this too!

Lil

I don’t know about my fellow bloggers but I find that writing works best as part of a routine. Writing should be a pleasure, not a chore or nagging responsibility, and breaking away from the routine to write can be as pleasing and productive as setting time aside from the routine to do so. In a way, they may both be the same thing – it’s entirely plausible to have a busy routine and get away from it by planning specific times to write. It all boils down to the writer’s own requirements.

Having just finished eight weeks of work experience, I find myself back in a less-productive routine, resuming my search for work while keeping myself busy with other things. Perhaps this time around will provide more inspiration to write. The key to a successful writing routine is knowing when you work at your best, and when you have to settle for just getting words on the page. Either way, I need a refresher course in both.

So. If you pay any attention to some of the things that I say, or if you remember a lot of things, then you’ll know/remember that that I’m an avid listener (and fan) of several podcasts. I was listening to episode 199 of the “Enough” podcast the other day/week (it’s called “That’s All I Have To Say To You” for reference) and minding my own business while doing whatever it was I was doing (probably playing with pens, let’s be honest) when Mr Myke Hurley says (amongst other things, including the awesome phrase ‘geeky nerd nerd’ which I found hilarious); “why does everyone on the Internet want to write?”

I think Patrick Rhone tackled this fairly well from what I recall, but, I’d like to chip in a bit. I mean, I can’t speak for everyone, but I can, obviously, only speak for myself.

I should let you know that I am going to look at this from a fictional/creative person’s perspective instead of from an article/non-fiction based one, because that’s how I roll. Oh, and this is me so it’s probably going to be a long one. Get comfy.

First, I think a little history might be in order, and then I’ll get around to answering the question. Probably a little along the way too. Oh, and I might even throw in stuff about me that I don’t recall mentioning before. So, here we go.

I’ve been writing stories since I was little, since I was in year… Four or five I think so maybe since I was about seven or eight. Ish anyway. (To put it in perspective, I’m almost 24 now). My maths is terrible and my memory isn’t much better. So, I’ve been writing stories for as long as I can remember. Just like the fact that I’ve loved books for as long as I can remember. I think it somewhat goes hand in hand. In fact, I could talk before I could walk and crawl and whatnot so I’d imagine that my poor mother would’ve had to listen to me babbling to her a lot. I just tell stories with my hands by typing/writing now. Anyway, there used to be a time when you would hardly ever see me without some form of reading material. I love stories, books, words more than I love most other things.

Books, stories, fairytale and whatnot were there when no-one else was for me. Disney stories were my friends when everyone else was hanging out with the neighbourhood bully and I had been left out again. I identified with with the characters in my books much more than the kids in my class. Especially in primary school – it was really odd having divorced parents in my year group. It didn’t feel like… Y’know it felt like I was the only one? I mean, I don’t remember if I was, I probably wasn’t, but it really felt like it. It wasn’t all bad, I think having split up parents is one of the main reasons why someone told me that I might like “The Suitcase Kid” by Jacqueline Wilson. That did it for me, I read everything by her that my school’s library had, and then asked for a load of her books for Christmas and birthdays and stuff. I even got one of her books as my year 6 leaver’s present (“The Illustrated Mum” just so you know, which I still love the concept of.) I identified with the girls in Wilson’s books so much. I wanted to do it; I wanted to write like that. I can’t say that, at that age, that I knew I wanted to have them identify with my stories, to help them escape from their own lives. I’m not sure that nine or ten year old me was really… Aware of all the precise reasons why people loved reading. Despite the fact that I knew why I loved it so much.

This love of books intensified as I hit secondary school. I moved away from where I’d spent all ten years of my life thus far, and I started a new school. God that was lonely. I needed books more than ever. Secondary school was really… Difficult for me. It didn’t really perk up until the last term of year nine and even then it was almost too little too late. Bullies really, really suck man. I mean, what gives you the right to make someone else’s life so utterly miserable?

English was my favourite subject alongside… History I believe. But English was always my favourite. I wasn’t necessarily good at it, at all of it, but I enjoyed it. I looked forward to it. Except for when I had… I think it was Mr Clarke in year eight. He wasn’t a very nice guy to be honest. I think he scared me a little. But anyway. English was my favourite all throughout secondary school. English Language was the first course I signed up for in college actually. Then in my second year I took English Literature. Then, obviously, I went to Uni to take a Creative Writing course.

(Are you all still with me? If you are, thank you!)

Basically, I’ve been connected, for lack of a better term, to words my entire life. I’ve always loved reading and I’ve always enjoyed writing. I’ve always realised that they’re both things that… They helped me y’know? Escapism. Liking books, shows and movies and… Anything that tells a story. It connects people, it helps you realise that you’re not the only one going through certain things. The Internet is just a bigger library, a bigger book club, a bigger writer’s circle. There’s so much already there, that whatever you put online is just another drop in the water; it’s easier to admit that you want to write because apparently everyone else does too. (Or, if you’re a more… “Glass half empty” type, it can devalue the whole “I’m a writer” thing ’cause apparently so is everyone else. But, that’s another thing.)

As for ‘writing on the Internet’ – I think I first put something online 2006. (I should really, really take some of that down because it makes me cringe to look at it, but I digress) and I continued to do so until University. I mean, I used to post my fiction online, nowadays I don’t. I just put things like this online. I think there’s a big difference between posting fiction and posting something like this. Probably something to do with the fact that you can find people’s thoughts all over the Internet, from Facebook to Twitter to blogs, so it’s not so… Hard to post them. I think that might be another post for another time.

So… Why do I/did I post things online? Um. I suppose that there’s a wider audience online and a bigger change that people will see whatever it is you post, especially if you’ve tagged/labelled it right. I suppose it’s easier to share things with people, ’cause you can just send a link and leave.

I put things online for that reason – the internet is a bigger audience/larger possible reader base. I mean, I’m not bothered if people find me or not, but hey, if they do, it’s a nice bonus. It’s something to do, that I enjoy. Anyway. I’ve never really had the biggest circle of people in “real life” that I’ve been able to/felt comfortable enough with to share my writing with. Especially not face to face. I mean, man, I suck at face to face interaction. The writing workshops in my second year of university were really hard for me for that. I think even my criticism comes out too nice?

I don’t know, maybe that’s a good thing either way. You don’t always need to be so harsh with people, especially the creative types ’cause if they’ve given you something of theirs to look over and/or review or whatever, then be darn grateful ’cause that’s hard. Especially face to face. Handing over something that you’ve spent hours and hours on isn’t easy. Us creative types are (almost always) constantly worried that someone (we’ve trusted with one of our “babies”) is going to tear it apart (and not in a good way) or laugh at us or… Whatever you know? Sharing your creative self, your creative heart and soul, if you will, is hard. Even more so face to face. (And that might be the… Fruitiest thing I’ve ever written, but darn it, it’s true.)

Putting stuff online is easier ’cause you can “hide” behind usernames. It’s also easier to take criticism from a faceless person, I think. You can post something and walk away for hours or even days and not look at it for as long as you want. Unless you’ve signed up to something like email notifications of comments or whatever. And even then! You can set comments to be approved by you before they’ll be posted to the world. Although, admittedly I can’t really hide behind my username; it’s unique, it’s mine and I’m very possessive of it. Plus, I sign my name at the end of every blog post. I don’t really think it’s very hard to find me, so… No running and hiding here! But that’s because I’m getting better and braver and frankly, I guess I don’t care too much? Most of the stuff I post is my opinion, and I think people need to stand up and claim their opinions more, instead of retracting them all the time if/when they’re ashamed. I find it easier to share my thoughts and opinions than my fiction, at this time anyway, so that’s what I do. I’m not saying that I don’t share my fiction; I have special people for that, I just don’t share it with the world. Yet. I think. One step at a time, baby steps!

So, in summery I suppose! (In my case at least) it’s not a case of everyone in the Internet wanting to write. In my case, I wanted to write and then the Internet came along. I use it as a… Hmn… Communications device, an improvement tool, a bigger platform to “talk” to more people. (That and putting things online is a great, massive storage system if you don’t have much space. It’s seriously a huge filing cabinet.)

I’m not really sure that all that properly answered the question. I tend to dance around the topic and then get there in my own, rambling way. A massive ‘thank you’ if you managed to read it all; seriously, well done.

Something shorter and hopefully more light hearted next week!

Danni

x

Blog post word count: 1776 words. (Holy cow, seriously?!)

Many authors explore various genres of fiction, others stay firmly in their comfort zone. One example I can think of is Ian McEwan. His novels span many genres and a variety of themes. Another, a personal favourite, Jonathan Coe, does the same thing. Variety is interesting, both for authors and readers. If you are going to spend several years working on a book, you don’t want to turn round and write about the exact same thing.

In turn, there are people who only write about the same thing. Staying in the same era is a commong thing that authors do. I know I certainly like to stay in the same timeframe (1900 – 1930ish) because its an era I’m interested in and am interested in exploring. I think there are so many stories to tell from that timeframe, from many different perspectives. Obviously there are stories to tell from any time and many of them, but this is my favoured one.

If a story needs to be told, it shouldn’t matter where it takes place, as long as the story is good enough. One of my favourite books, Jonathan Coe’s The Rotter’s Club, is set in the 70s/80s, against striking and social change, but it’s the story of Ben and his friends, growing up and finding their way through one problem after another that makes me go back and read the book again.

I have two recurring themes that often crop up in my work. The characters are either readers or writers or someone in the book (and it literally could be anyone) has been affected in some way by the First World War. Obviously this second point doesn’t usually occur if I’m writing something set in the modern day (rarely, but maybe I’ll talk about why that is some other time) but I think it’s OK to have a trade mark across your writing, as long as every book isn’t a carbon copy of the other.

That’s all for now,

Lil

Anyway, the title really says the dilemma here, which is probably trivial for everybody else, but not for me.

So–we have superheroes/villains, mutants, and metahumans, and the more recent one: Alphas.  I decided to call mine ‘supers’ in this Fatal Femmes novel, which really doesn’t sound so super.

‘Superheroes’ or ‘mutants’ are used in marvel; and of course metahumans in DC (which is just a replacement for mutants from Marvel if we are honest); metahuman was originally taken from George R. R. Martin in 1983 from a role-playing game called Superworld; so there you go.

It still leaves me stuck on what to call mine though. The term mutant fits, but because of the social status of the people who have power, they have refrained from calling themselves this. I don’t buy that you would want call yourself a mutant if you had the choice; it doesn’t fit overall. So I just referred to the people as super(s), which worked for a while, but realised this was basically taken from the Incredibles movie. So I ended up slapping myself when I realised this; I was meant to put my hands on my head and just went terribly wrong; as you do.

I have tried using a thesaurus for so many words; so that I can create my own group for something that resembles ‘mutant’, ‘metamorph’ or ‘alpha’. But I’m still finding it hard. It will come to me one day, but it might be a long time coming.

The only ones I’ve come up with that make sense are:

Triple Helix: Which I think sounds too much, but it also gets the point across about us having two helix strands in human DNA, thus meaning another would result into something extra: An EXTRAordinary ability could then take place.

Navic: Which simply means ‘extra’ in another language. Which works too, because the story isn’t about someone who is ‘super’ like Superman ( who is pretty much invincible); it is about harnessing and using their extra ability for a cause which could just as easily kill them. There is a great sense of danger every time they enter battle, and this affects each character differently; what is interesting about this, is the different coping mechanisms they start to develop for themselves, and not just as individuals, but as an entire team too.

For example: The shapeshifter Marie (or metamorph) begins to develop a complicated surge of anxiety every time she shifts back to herself; mostly because she starts to believe her worth is based upon being what other people want her to be (which is true in some sense); this leads her to not knowing the true person she is herself, and creates a coping mechanism to try to remain in her alternate forms as much as she can, ones other than her own; which in turn, creates even more destruction to her personality. I thought this was fascinating from my point of view, because I know we all feel this way in life. We may not all be metamorphs, but we know if we want something we have to change ourselves to get there–or usually. And it is hard to feel accepted for the people we are because of it. Some people are more luckier than others though at times.

So I guess I just need to wait until I feel I know I have made the right choice.

Till next time.

Jon

I’m feeling might fine and dandy today. It might be the oddly bright weather we’ve had recently. It might be the fact that I’m utterly enjoying writing at the moment. It might be the fact that I’m expecting post. Or there could just be something in the water. Who knows? And frankly, who really cares? I’m going to grab this good mood by the horns and keep a tight hold on it. Wouldn’t you?

So anyway. I re-tidied my desk, like I said I would. The underneath looks much better now. Even if I haven’t quite learnt where everything has been moved to yet, but I’m getting there so it’s not all bad. Hurrah for productivity!

Writing is going very well actually; my word count at the end of the second month of the Year of Continuous Writing is 39,516 out of the 182,500 word goal I have over all. The target for the end of yesterday was 30,500 so I’m a little bit ahead of myself. Yay!

Reading isn’t going so well, but I’d rather not read if it means that I get to spend most of my time writing y’know? I think it’s a fair trade off myself. Bedsides, it’s not like I’m not reading a single thing – I read a lot of reviews, articles, blog posts and fanfic online so… Yeah, it all counts. To me anyway. For me? Whichever way. I still think that it counts.

The post I mentioned last week? Yeah that’s coming, I promise. I’m working on it when I’m not working on about a bazillion over things at the same time. I keep thinking about it so it’s not going away any time soon. I just have a to do list as long as my arm.

If you follow my stationery Tumblr you might have noticed that I recently completed my collection of J. Herbin ink cartridge tins. Woo! Yay for small achievements!

On that note, I’m going to leave you with a photo that I took recently that I’m quite pleased with.

Until next week guys!

Danni

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Blog post word count: 350 words.

Lamy Fountain Pens – April 2013

First, on the 8th of January I posted a list of books that I wanted to read this year. The list below will show you how little of them I have read. Anything crossed through, I have actually read, anything in italics I have started.

By Royal Command by Charlie Higson
Finish A War of Nerves by Ben Shepherd
At least one book by P. G. Wodehouse
The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard
The Last Expedition by Captain Robert Falcon Scott
Start Christopher Isherwood’s diaries
For The Sake of Example by Anthony Babington
At least one book by Evelyn Waugh
Re-read – if possible – Brideshead Revisited and/or The Absolutist
Finish C. S. Lewis’ Narnia series
Finish The Great War and Modern Memory by Paul Fussell
Finish T.H White’s The Once and Future King (or Sword in the Stone at least)
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
One James Bond book by Ian Fleming
The Memorial by Christopher Isherwood

As you can see, it’s not going that well. I’m battling through the introduction of The Worst Journey in the World and also have a foreword to contend with before the book actually starts, but as its non fiction I feel if I don’t read these two things I may get lost in the text. According to goodreads I am 8 books behind my 50 book goal for this year. This should all change when I have to start studying books again in September, though my plans there are: read all the books once to get the general gist and try to enjoy the story then read them again to analyse them and tear them apart and start hating them…

Second thing I thought I’d bring back was WWW Wednesdays as seen in this post from December. Here goes!

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you just finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently reading: As mentioned above, The Worst Journey in the World. Very slowly. Also still reading British History for Dummies and plan to start brushing up on my Shakespeare ready for September.

Finished reading: The last book I read was The Longest Journey by E. M. Forster, which unfortunately was not as good as I had hoped. Some parts were so good and the writing was amazing but then there’d be two horribly dull chapters to make me hate the book again. I also read Howard’s End is on the Landing by Susan Hill which I mentioned several weeks ago, which I really loved.

Read next: I have no idea. I want to read everything! I may start some literary diaries as they are quite easy to read in small chunks. (Not that I’ve done it before, I read Evelyn Waugh’s diaries over two days while researching an essay…) or something I don’t have to think too much about. Or perhaps something from the list above.

That’s all for now. Now, off to work on the novel…

Lil