Readathon Update

So the #YALCreadathon finished at midnight on Sunday. Here' sweat I managed to read:

Fangirl by rainbow Rowell

Tinder by Sally Garner

The Third Doctor: The Spear of Destiny by Marcus Sedgwick

The Fifth Doctor: Tip of the Tongue by Patrick Ness

She is not Invisible by Patrick Ness

Not bad considering there was a funeral, a parents evening and a mini-festival going on that week as well! 

Plus, I finished sewing the book bags for me and my friend to take to YALC with us, ready to stock up on lots of lovely signed books and goodies. As you may have noticed, I'm getting pretty excited about next weekend. But first, I have to go and see my all-time favourite human being THIS weekend... 

Ladies and gentlemen, Mister Neil Gaiman! Neil will be reading 'The Truth is a Cave in the Black Hills' accompanied by a string quartet and artwork by Eddie Campbell. It's going to be a-maz-ing. More on that in a few days' time.

For now, I will be tucking in to Holly Bourne's Soulmates. Look out for more reviews on http://literary-loves.blogspot.co.uk in the next couple of days.

Until next time x

Readathon Day 3

So last night I finished Fangirl - read my review here: Literary Loves: Fangirl (started a proper book blog after I'd already signed up to YALC Readathon with this one).

I've also managed to finish listening to the audiobook version of Tinder by Sally Gardner - a review will be going up at some point in the next 24 hours.

I'm picking up a copy of Phil Earle's Heroic tomorrow, so tonight I will either be listening to She is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick or reading a Dr Who short story by one of the other YALC authors, as several of them appear in this lovely anthology:

I was excited to see that there's a 'Regenerating the Doctor' talk as part of YALC, and will definitely be after tickets for that - sadly Malorie isn't on the panel (why, Malorie, why?!) This book is also going to be my book-signing secret weapon: 5 author signatures on one book = more room in my book bag for more new books! Genius!

Readathon Day 2

Just a quick update - literally just finish Fangirl! Loved it. Will write a proper review tomorrow because, right now, I'm off to Bedfordshire. Nighty night x

YALC Readathon: Day 1

With just 18 days, 13 hours and 43 minutes until the UK's first ever Young Adult Lit Con, I am on a MISSION to read books by as many of the author's attending before the big weekend.

So far I've managed 11 books by attending authors, but this week I'm making a concerted effort to reduce my 'to read' list! 

I'm nearly half-way through Fangirl by my new favourite lady, Ms Rainbow Rowell, and on Chapter 22 (of 34) of Sally Gardner's magical, creepy, Hans-Christian-Anderson-inspired Tinder.

I like this readathon... I feel like I'm doing important preparatory work now, and not just skiving off, reading a book!

YALC Readathon is being hosted by 4 prolific bloggers, who are posting special something's each day of the challenge:

Jess at Jess Hearts Books, who today had a guest post from one of the YALC organisers, Katerine Woodfine;

Carly at Writing From The Tub, who featured a guest post by one of the authors, Beth Reekles;

Vicky at Books, Biscuits, and Tea had a guest post from Marcus Sedgwick, another of the authors that will be appearing;

And Michelle at Fluttering Butterflies wrote a really interesting and exciting post about her top five authors attending YALC. This last post may have altered my highlighted and annotated copy of the YALC schedule, as she's really rated a couple of writers in there that I, at present, know little to nothing about.

Needless to say, I've been reading plenty of authors' twitter-feeds, and am getting well and truly in the mood for what is going to be an AMAZING weekend! Hopefully, I'll be able to get 3, maybe 4 book reviews up this Readathon week - wish me luck!

On that note, I have started a separate blog for bookish things: http://literary-loves.blogspot.co.uk (there's also links to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Goodreads on the site... Go look!) This is basically my bid to become a professional reader, in readiness for my future career as a highly influential bookseller! I'd really appreciate it if you could read some of the posts, chip in on the comments, follow on other social media and/or share with your friends. Some of you already have, and for that I am very grateful.

I must go now and READ, READ, READ!

YALC Readathon

With just 30 days to go, I am in full reading-flow getting prepared for the UK's first ever Young Adult Literature Convention, happening at Earl's Court this July. You can check out some reviews of books by authors that will be appearing in my previous blog posts.

Until the schedule for the weekend was published yesterday, I had also been doing a fair bit of trawling the internet, desperately looking for things with YALC hashtag to get glimmers of information about what might be happening. I may also have badgered some authors on Twitter to find out what they would be up to, but they were quite accommodating!  One thing that I did come across, was this lovely blog by Jessica - Jess Hearts Books. Along with some other bloggers, she is running the #YALCReadathon, which will take place between the 23rd-29th June 2014.

I will definitely be doing this. I'm not sure where I'll be up to by then, but my to-read list is currently:

• She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick
• Tinder by Sally Gardner
• Take Back the Skies by Lucy Saxon
• Undone by Cat Clarke
• Trouble by Non Pratt
• Hello Darkness by Anthony McGowan
• Geek Girl by Holly Smale

And at the moment, I'm reading Geekhood:Close Encounters of the Girl Kind by Andy Robb and How I live Now by Meg Rosoff. Phew!

So expect more book reviews soon... lots of books!

Also, check out some awesome reviews by students in my Carnegie Award shadowing group here.

Review: Say Her Name by James Dawson

Do you remember those Point Horror books from when you were at school? James Dawson does, and he has a whole part of his website dedicated to them, so I'm going to steal his format for reviewing his latest fright-fest inspired by the mythology of Bloody Mary.

What's it all about?

A group of seven teenagers are hanging out on a stormy Halloween night, in the grounds of Piper's Hall School for Young Ladies, telling ghost stories. Determined to up the scare stakes, Sadie dares the others to summon the ghost of Bloody Mary by saying her name five times in front of a candlelit mirror at midnight. Three of the gang take up the challenge: Bobbie, the slightly nerdy protagonist; Bobbie's best friend, the gorgeous and wise-cracking New Yorker, Naya; and Caine, a boy from the local comp, who's snuck into the posh boarding school with his friend, Mark. 

It's all a bit of a laugh, until the next day when the gang reunite in town. In the graveyard. In a shady, abandoned bit that no one visits, obviously. Suddenly, Naya starts having a horrendous nosebleed, quickly followed by Bobbie and Caine. The others think this is a carefully orchestrated stunt to freak them all out after last night's shenanigans, but the trio claim otherwise.

Creepy messages?

You bet! After a hair-raising experience in the shower, Bobbie receives a message written on the steamed up bathroom mirror: "FIVE DAYS". Naya receives the same message, written in a scratchy hand, on her planner. Bobbie and Caine also start to have the same hot and heavy, but decidedly creepy dreams - is Mary trying to show them something? 

The Girl

Bobbie (Roberta Rowe) is the daughter of an actress somewhat past her heyday and an anonymous sperm donor, affectionately referred to as Spermy!  Consequently, with her mother's theatre rehearsal and touring commitments, Bobbie has to board at Piper's and often stays on during the holidays. Dawson describes her as "happy to fade into the wallpaper", the opposite of her drama queen mother, but she has a quiet confidence the grows as the story progresses and she has to act with more urgency.

The love interest

Caine. He's the "cuter" of the two bit-of-rough boys from the local high school, mixed-race, and comes with an interesting family history: "It's just families, ain't it? They're all messed up. My mum left my dad for my uncle and then my dad tried to stab 'em both". Caine is originally from Croyden, by the way. Ah, but he's not all that he first appears to be, and beneath the hoodie, he's a sensitive "creative" type. Perfect bit of stuff for a YA novel, and I think Dawson may have based him on a personal crush, as there were a few very appreciative descriptions of his physical appearance!

Dialogue disasters

Well, there weren't any, to be honest. This is one fast-paced, frightner, and the dialogue really helps shape the characters and gets the action going. What I did love about the dialogue were the little references to other media texts - I spotted at least 3 references to Clueless in there! 

That's way harsh, Tai.

Body count
4 definitely, but more implied...

Did the best friend do it?
No, although there were times where I thought she could be involved - there were physical similarities between her and the perp.

Some mild peril?
You will want to remove all mirrors from your house. Also, do not read this book in the bath (lesson learned the hard way). You will read certain bits of this book, and only when you get to the end of them, will you realise that you stopped breathing!

Is it any good?

YES YES YES! Having grown up reading Point Horrors, this is so much better - genuinely chilling, but with a solid teen back story. I'd love to see this made into a movie - it had me desperate to re-watch classics such as Heathers and The Craft! Needless to say, I will be picking up copies of Dawson's other novels, Hollow Pike and Cruel Summer, and cannot wait to see what he'll be doing at YALC. Now, go read this book... Mary would like it if you did! 

Review: Heart-Shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne

This is an intriguing story, revealed in the form of a hidden notebook found in the psychiatric wing of a young offenders institute. It has been written by Emily 'Krazy' Koll, the daughter of a notorious London gangster, who has been incarcerated for an act of violent revenge. Clue #1 "Don't believe everything you read".  Quite what that act is is not revealed until the very end of the novel, and believe me, you will turn those pages quickly to find out!

However, be warned - an unhinged 17 year old girl is definitely not a reliable narrator - how much of what Emily writes is true? She's been living a double life and I think this has definitely taken it's toll on her and how she remembers the events that are unfolded in the pages of her notebook. Clue #2 who's writing in the notebook?

Emily knows nothing of her dad's criminal activities, until he murders the policeman leading an investigation on him, and the policeman's daughter - Juliet Shaw - stabs Emily's father in self defence.  Then, her whole world falls apart: has her entire life been a lie? What happened to her mother? Bent on revenge, Emily sets out to unpick Juliet's 'perfect' life, one thread at a time until there is nothing left. Clue #3 pay attention to things that go missing.

I have a theory about what really happens in this story, but for now, I'm going to keep that to myself... If you read this book, then we can talk. This was an engrossing read, and Byrne expertly keeps you guessing right up until the end (and beyond!)

"You want to know what happened, why I did it. That's why you're reading this, right?" 

'Yes!' I screamed in my head, 'YES!'. I'm hoping that when Tanya Byrne is at YALC I'll be able to try out my theory on her and get some answers! In the meantime, you should totally read this book!

#ThisBook

The Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction winner will be announced tomorrow. Ahead of that, they have launched #ThisBook – an exciting social media campaign to find the novels written by women that have most impacted the nation.

To support the launch, a diverse selection of inspiring women, including Jennifer Saunders, Dawn O’Porter, Susanna Reid and Martha Lane Fox, have come together to encourage book lovers across the nation to nominate the novel, written by a woman, which has had the biggest impact on their lives.

My chosen #ThisBook is Oryx and Crake by the awesome Margaret Atwood. I first read it when it came out over 10 years ago, but it's one of those books that stays with you. Probably because it's terrifying. In a 'this is totally the way things are headed' kind of way. In fact, Atwood pulled the following developments directly from the headlines of our newspapers, magazines and websites.

The story is told by Snowman, who is mourning the loss of his beloved Oryx and wondering what happened to his once close friend Crake and where the world went wrong: genetically altered animals, the elimination of the middle class, ecological disaster, the commodification of just about everything, and humanity's extinction. You can read an except here.

There are two more books in the series, The Year of The Flood, and MaddAddam, which was published last summer.

Review: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

It's 1986 and two awkward teenagers fall in love on the school bus. It's not love at first sight - far from it - but an act of kindness on behalf of Park, a half-Korean kid who doesn't conform to his father's ideals of masculinity, allows the pair to discover some common ground. Eleanor, a large girl with unruly red curls and dreadful clothes isn't used to kindness: she's an easy target for bullies, and

for her abusive step-father.


Through a shared passion for music and Alan Moore's The Watchmen, Eleanor and Park grow closer and closer, in spite of the pressures exerted on them by their peers and their families (and these people's views on what is 'normal' and acceptable). Rowell uses her cast of characters to explore gender roles, identity and race, and what it means to be a family. There's a really good balance between her portrayal of the positive experiences of teenagers - the excitement of first love, making mix-tapes etc - and the heartbreakingly negative ones - domestic violence, child abuse, bullying.


This could have been a really depressing read, but fortunately, once our pair finally admit and accept their attraction to each other, they become a force to be reckoned with. That said, if you're thinking of picking this book up and getting the 'happily ever after' ending, I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed. This isn't a childish love story, it's a book that shows the damage that some people can inflict on others, and how they in turn can survive it. At times the drama can seem a little OTT and melodramatic, but there's something about it that still strikes a chord, and I definitely had a lump in my throat reading several emotional scenes.

Fave bit of dialogue:
"I love you," he said.
She looked up at him, her eyes shiny and black, then looked away. "I know," she said.
...

“You know?" he repeated. She smiled, so he kissed her. "You're not the Han Solo in this relationship, you know."
"I'm totally the Han Solo," she whispered. It was good to hear her. It was good to remember it was Eleanor under all this new flesh.
"Well, I'm not the Princess Leia," he said.
"Don't get so hung up on gender roles," Eleanor said.”
...

“You can be Han Solo," he said, kissing her throat. "And I'll be Boba Fett. I'll cross the sky for you.”


Rowell may not be hung up on gender roles, but if I'm honest, this is a book for the girls. There's plenty of pop culture references in there that would appeal to both 'typical' males and females, but I'm not sure if boys would really get/be interested in the popular girls' bitching and bullying of Eleanor, Eleanor's hang ups with her appearance or her relationships with her mother and her younger siblings. Also, this is a YA novel that means just that: young ADULT - there is plenty of swearing, abusive and threatening notes of a sexual nature, references to drug and alcohol abuse, and teenage pregnancy. None of this is done gratuitously, but I would definitely suggest that this is a 14+ book.

Review: Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

This is another book that I picked up to read ahead of #yalc. I've seen the eponymous hero grinning at me from the cover in the school library for years, and never once felt the urge to pick him up. I don't know why, maybe the graffiti font or the garish colours made me think this was a book for boys who needed bright colours and grinning skeletons to make them pick up a book. Oh how wrong I was!

Firstly, Skulduggery isn't really the hero. Granted, cheating death and surviving as a living skeleton detective with awesome combat and magic skills is pretty heroic, but wait until you meet Stephanie. She's just a teenage girl, chilling out alone in the house that her dead uncle bequeathed her, when she gets thrown into a secret world of magic and ...erm... Skulduggery! The end of the second chapter had my heart racing, and I've already used it as a good example of storytelling with a student I'm tutoring.

As Stephanie is just learning about this new world and trying to figure out how she fits into it, she doesn't  play too much of a part in the numerous action scenes, and does end up being rescued by Skulduggery and his allies on several occasions. What she does have in abundance though, is determination. Despite many characters warning her off the path she has chosen, she is committed to discovering who murdered her uncle and helping Skulduggery to prevent his arch-nemesis from awakening an ancient evil. There's a small part of me that cheers every time Stephanie does something badass in the book - this is a girl that boys enjoy reading about. I'm so unimpressed with the stories in the recent press, such as this one in The Times, about men and boys not being able to read books written by or about females, or deemed to be good by females. Stephanie would kick Frankie's Magic Football right where it hurts! (Don't even get me started on footballers writing books for children...)

The grimace suggests that, perhaps, she already has.

I devoured this book. The fast-paced action, the snarky dialogue and colourful characters made it a real pleasure to read. It's definitely a good book to hook a reluctant reader, as the gripping story and short chapters make it really accessible, but there's also lots in there for more accomplished readers - references to other stories and myths, and Landy is clearly a lover of language - the names of his characters are perfect. For adults who are interested in a bit of YA fiction, if you like Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, you will probably like this.

Why not the full five stars? At the novel's climax, the brilliant dialogue and description was definitely playing second fiddle to the epic fight, and Landy's subtleties that I'd appreciated earlier on became somewhat lost. However, once I have finished my mission to read as many of the authors attending YALC, I will definitely be picking up the rest of this series, as I think this is going to be one awesome adventure!

Review: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

This book had been recommended to me by a girl in Year 9 last year, and despite having owned a copy since December, I only just got around to reading it, in readiness for #yalc, where the author will be appearing. Having only read one of Ness's short stories before, this seemed like the book to start with as it not only won the CILIP Carnegie and Greenaway Medals for writing and illustration in 2012, it also won the National Children's Book of the Year, the Red House Children's Book Award and the Kitschies Red Tentacle award (Best Novel) for speculative fiction. Phew!

But does it live up to the hype? It's a relatively short book - just over 200 pages - but it feels even shorter, as it's absolutely compelling and un-put-downable! Conor, a teenage boy whose mum is battling cancer, is plagued by nightmares and then a monster visits his room one night. At first Conor assumes that it is just another nightmare, but when he awakes to find his bedroom floor covered in yew tree leaves, he realises he's going to have to give the monster what it wants - the truth.

I really enjoyed this book, as it blurred the lines between reality and dream, science and spirituality. In a way, it reminded me a lot of Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane, which also used magic and old gods to help a young boy through several experiences of loss. Both of these books have a magical quality of their own, that instantly immerses you in the world of the story, and has you feeling the pain, the fear and the comfort that the protagonists themselves experience. 

What I especially enjoyed about this book, were the stories told by the monster. Conor complains that they're terrible stories because they don't have happy endings, but these stories, to me, are captivating because they, A) establish that not all stories have happy endings, B) present a moral ambiguity that is true to real life, and C) highlight the complex, often contradictory nature of people. That's pretty heavy stuff for a YA book, but massively important stuff too, so hurray for Patrick Ness who doesn't shy away from the tough stuff or dumb it down for the younger audience! 

With that in mind, I don't think this book should be limited to a YA readership - there is an important message in this books for adults and children alike. Ultimately it is a magical story about the limits of reality. Sometimes bad things happen to good people and vice versa. Sometimes, even though you try your hardest and do everything you can to help someone, it' still not enough. Sometimes the kindest thing you can do, for others and for yourself, is to let go. This is a beautifully written, subtle and symbolic story that I would recommend certainly to teenagers, but also adults, especially the ones that think YA fiction is all about sparkly vampires and and other such nonsense!

  

Once I've completed my YALC readathon, I'm really looking forward to reading Ness's Chaos Walking trilogy and More Than This.

One Month On...

Yesterday marked the monthiversary of my #100happy days challenge. Am I happier? Yes.  Is this because of the challenge? To be honest, I don't really think so, but I'm liking taking the photos, and looking forward to my photo album at the end of it.

Some highlights so far have been, in ascending order:

                            New books...                                     New hair...

                            New job...                                          New house... For the boys, at least!

So taking the photos hasn't made me any happier, but on the days where I haven't been to the hairdressers or got a new job, it has made me more conscious of the little things that make me smile. And without sounding too much like an old hippie, I would encourage anyone who's feeling a bit down in the dumps to try and be more mindful of the things that bring them joy, even fleetingly, because it does start to change your outlook on things. I find I am worrying a bit less, especially about things outside of my control, and actually doing more, as I'm actively trying to do more things that make me happy and not just mooching around being a bit 'meh'.

I've been reading more (which was one of my goals when I started this blog), and will try to get some YA reviews posted on here, ahead of me and a friend attending the first EVER Young Adult Literature Convention #yalc. This is doubly if not trebly happy-making as the books I've read so far have been excellent, but to see lots of brilliant writers speaking on panels and running workshops for a whole weekend (plus an exclusive fringe soirée) is going to be AMAZING!!!

I've been writing more - although, clearly not on here. I entered my first short story competition and was chosen as a runner-up. I later found out the most of the entrants were teenagers, which did slightly take the edge of my achievement, but never-mind... I've also started an online fiction-writing course with the Open University, which so far has been really interesting. The best thing about it? It's totally, utterly, 100% FREE! Reader, you too can sign up here if it sounds like something you're interested in. There's lots of other free courses from other universities on all manner of subjects, so have a look. Now. And then come back again!

Lastly, I've been making more. Later this year, I will become a great aunt! I know, how did I get this old? This has meant that the crochet hooks and knitting needles have been out and clicking away; the previously threatened crochet post will become a reality soon! I'm also knocking up a rather lovely pair of book bags for my friend and me to take to YALC so we can stock up on signed copies of our fave authors' works. Can you tell how excited I am about this? Only 52 days, 12 hours and 45 minutes to go. 

Ho hum.

Happiness

Now that spring has sprung, and the sun has put in an appearance, I'm generally feeling optimistic about things. The last 12 months have proved quite challenging for me in a number of respects, but I'm beginning to feel that perhaps I just need to rethink my - for want of a better word - priorities. I've been quite reflective these last few weeks about how things have turned out, and how all the worrying and ranting and analysing I've done about the situations or people that have bothered me have served no purpose other than to make me more anxious about said situations and people.

And it pisses me off! Whilst I'm brooding over whatever problem, I wind myself up about it completely, start thinking about all the (negative) consequences of any course of action and ultimately ends up in some self-pitying  fantasy of running off to some far-flung place and starting a new life. Which then makes me even more miserable, because what sort of wife/mother/friend would do that?!

Um... So this post was called 'Happiness', and so far it's been pretty bleak. Sorry! Here' something to cheer you up:

Awesome tune, and I challenge anyone not to start tapping their toes and grooving along! It also has a great message in the second verse : 

Here come bad news talking this and that
Yeah, give me all you got, don't hold back
Yeah, well I should probably warn you I'll be just fine
Yeah, no offense to you don't waste your time

I've let stuff bother me, when really I should've just said at the time 'I don't agree with this... This is what I'm going to do...' So watch out - I am being happy and I'm not putting up with any of your negative shit, ok?

To keep up the positive vibes, I've started the #100happydays challenge, and will be sharing a photo of something that has made me happy each day on Facebook, but I'm sure a few of them will migrate over here too. Here's my first one:

I had a gorgeous day out with my family at Cholderton Charlie's Farm, picnicking, looking at the animals, watching the boys playing on all the climbing stuff, doing an Easter Egg hunt/quiz and meeting real Easter chicks! And then the hubby got the grill out for the first BBQ of the year - winner.

We're off to see my parents in West Bay now, so more sunny, happy family fun. And lots of chocolate eggs. What's not to be happy about? xxx

The 3 'R's - Reading, Running and [w]Riting

Firstly, apologies for radio silence... It's been a busy few weeks! There's been World Book Day, a Wally run, a night on the tiles, an outbreak of norovirus, a parents' evening, a trip to West Bay and competition deadlines to meet - phew! So in this post, I'd like to catch you up on the important things in that list whilst omitting the messy ones!

World Book Day
To celebrate WBD at school, I carefully planned an assembly on Reading for Pleasure and significant books in my life to share with Year 10. And then promptly failed to email it in to work, so the head of IT did an assembly on not being a GTA addict instead, with a seamless link to WBD -  suggesting that instead of picking up the Xbox controller, the students should pick up a book instead.

Despite this rather poor start, I had organised a competition with the staff to decorate their classroom doors with a book-related theme, which bore rather more impressive results.  A special guest judge and I then scored each door on three aspects: how clear the book choice was to students, how creative the door was, and how much effort had been put in. Here are the top 3 prize-winning doors...

For my door, I chose to re-create both the exterior and interior of 221b Baker Street, based on the BBC series, Sherlock to make it more recognisable to students (I did suspend my university copy of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in the interior diorama, just to make sure it was a book-related door, and not a TV one). This is what it looked like...

At lunchtime, we had a real life 'Where's Wally?' hunt in the library, where students had to record the location of 5 hidden Wallies to be entered into a prize draw. There were also some Wally activities that I found on the Scholastic site, and plenty of Where's Wally books for students to examine. This Wally-themed WBD was to help promote the Wally 'fun' run that was taking place the next day.

Where's Wally?
Friday 7th March. 3.30pm. 30ish Wallies running around Amesbury to raise money for The National Literacy Trust.  The money is still coming in, so I will update you with how much we raised in the near future.  Quite a few of the staff and students positioned themselves along the route to cheer us all on which was blooming LOVELY! We also got 'Facebook famous' with a mention on the 'Spotted in Amesbury' page!  Was it fun? Sort of. The run itself was ok, but I still had to walk most of the death-hill... I did manage to run the rest though, and completed the route in 34 minutes. Seeing my colleagues dressed up as Wallies and jiggling around town - and the reactions we got - that was the fun part.

Sadly, I have not been for a run since, as the post-run night on the tiles ended with a rather nasty toe injury, that definitely counts as one of the messy bits that I said I wasn't going to mention! I'm hoping to start running again next week. Target 1: get comfortable with running 5k (including hills!); Target 2: start building up to 10k, so I can join in with all Emma's (Central Wally above) other silly runs!

Writing Comps
On Tuesday, I finished my first short story for a writing competition on the website, Movellas. It's a community of professional and wannabe writers where you can publish your writing, get feedback from readers/writers and enter competitions.  The one I have entered is based on a YA novel called Who Framed Klaris Cliff? I found it quite challenging to tell the entirety of my story within the 3000 words limit, and I'm not entirely happy with how it turned out. If, however, I do win a prize, I might be tempted to share the story more publicly.

I'm now focussing my attentions on a poetry competition. I've got one poem down that I'm really quite pleased with, one that I think is a bit crap, and one that is still a little germ of an idea in my head. I've got until the end of the month to finish those off, but if any of them get selected, they will be published in a real book!!! If that happens, you will be among the first to know!

On that note, I should probably stop writing this, and get on with something more productive...

The Final Countdown (will things ever be the same again?)

T - 6 days until the Where's Wally [alleged] Fun Run. In my massively condensed training programme, I should have been running for 25 minutes solidly today. Reader, I failed. I ran for only 20, which is what I should have done this time last week, but again failed by doing a short walk after 10 minutes, before picking the pace back up.

BUT...

I'm actually feeling pretty good about this last run, because although I didn't go the distance, I did push myself to reach some different milestones.

Look at this...

That bit of running is at a fairly steady 6'30"/km, having calibrated my Nike+ to match my stride. If I can match that pace on Friday, I'll do my 5k in just over 30 minutes (it took me nearly 50 the first time I did the route at the beginning of the programme!)

Furthermore, there's two hills hidden in that run. Two! Normally, I try to run around on as flat a route as I can manage, but today I thought I needed to face my fear, so that the mountain I have to climb on Friday might seem more like a molehill. And do you know what? It actually does! Turns out, I could run up not one, but two hills, with no change to my pace whatsoever... 

So... 

Hopefully I should be able to make at least part of the monster hill if I just chill out and take things 

s-l-o-w-l-y! Bring it on!

And why am I putting myself through all of this? Well apart from trying to get fit for 30, I'm also doing this run in particular to raise money for The National Literacy Trust to help with their work to promote and encourage good literacy skills for both young people and adults.  For an interesting perspective on reading and literacy, have at look at this speech given by my hero, Neil Gaiman, at The Reading Agency's annual lecture last October.

I've quoted the conclusion on my JustGiving page, as it really resonates with me as a reader, a mother and a teacher. If you'd be kind enough to sponsor me, you can make a donation on my online sponsor form (thank you in advance!).

If you'd just like the quote, here it is:

"Albert Einstein was asked once how we could make our children intelligent. His reply was both simple and wise. "If you want your children to be intelligent," he said, "read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales. He understood the value of reading, and of imagining. I hope we can give our children a world in which they will read, and be read to, and imagine, and understand."

Happy running and reading, until next time, adieu!

Call off the search!

It's OK, I'm still alive! I did my run yesterday and then had a lovely time meeting my friends' - Adam and Clare - new baby, Thomas! He was gorgeous and can totally wave, which is pretty amazing for 6 weeks old.

I will confess, I didn't quite make the 20 minutes solid running; at 10 minutes I did about 30 seconds of walking, which at the time I felt I needed and, on reflection, wish I had pushed through so I wasn't having to explain myself to you now. Ah well, in 3 runs' time, I have a full 25 mins to aim for, so hopefully I'll use this experience to try and tought that one out a bit better.

As I'm moving towards proper running now, I thought I'd share some links that I found useful when I got into running the first time around.  Firstly, this is a really quick warm-up routine from Runner's World that gets your legs good to go. And, from the same website, this is a lovely Yoga-based cool down that really stops you from feeling stiff and achy. I also noticed that I became a lot more flexible after completing this routine after each run for a couple of weeks.

Finally, after sustaining a fairly nasty ligament injury in my foot, due mostly to high in-steps and poor running form, I did a bit of research, corrected how I was placing my foot on the ground, and found  this blog post after my friend Suzi suggested I lace my trainers differently. There's lots of suggestions for combatting common foot problems, so check it out.

In which I surprise myself...

Firstly, a quick (and surprising) update: on Tuesday I did my second weigh-in and found I had lost 4lb; that's a 6lb total in two weeks! Go me!

But that is not how I surprised myself...

Last night some words came tumbling out of my mouth that I thought I'd never hear myself say. In fact, this is what I looked like after I realised what I had said:

And what words would create such a face of confusion and disgust? 
"I'm looking forward to my run tomorrow".
Does this make me a bonafide runner now? Probably not, but I hope I'm on my way.

I was mainly looking forward to it, as I have got a bit better, but mostly because this was going to be a homecoming run. By that I mean, that instead of running the 'Where's Wally Run of Eternal Torment', I'd be running one of my old routes from the last time I'd got into running (approx. 18 months ago).

And now that I've done it? Nope, I do not regret those words at all - I ENJOYED my run! Saturday is going to be a tough one though - it's my first run run - no intermittent walks - 20 minutes solid running. If you don't hear from me by Saturday bedtime, could you send a search party because I'll probably be dying somewhere?! 

Twelve Days of Blogging

Today I made a breakthrough - by taking The Infamous Sadist aka Emma running with me, I shaved 5 minutes off my time round the Escherian circuit!  That means I'm running a kilometre a whole minute faster than I was twelve days ago! To be fair, I abandoned my cosy little walk/run routine, and just ran as much as I could. This started well and ended less so, but I could feel the improvement. Fingers crossed, I'll be able to run most of it come March 7th (the hill of death is still too horrendous to even think about running!)

If you've been following my blog, you'll remember I set myself some goals in my first post; here's a reminder:

1) To lose 30lbs through hard work and eating healthily - no fads or shortcuts!
2) To get organised about shopping and cooking (this will help with goal number 1)
3) To do my own kitchen makeover (the 'tester' cabinet has been done since October-ish)
4) To read daily
5) To complete outstanding craft projects so I can start new and exciting ones

As for number one, I've been putting in the effort pounding the pavements of Amesbury and Durrington and managed to lose 2lb last week without really making any other changes.  My diet does still need a lot of improvements, but one thing at a time, eh?

Number two has been delegated to the hubby, who thinks he's the more frugal shopper. Fine by me!

Nothing has happened in the kitchen, and probably won't until the weather improves so I can paint outside.

I've been reading most days - currently reading Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman, as I'm using it for a GCSE Literature project, and it is really gripping stuff! I may have accidentally found out what happens later on in the book, but that hasn't spoilt it; in fact, it has just made it all the more tense. It may be Young Adult fiction, and I know some people get sniffy about that, but it is GOOD and well worth a read. Also, Malorie is a bit of a hero to me - she rocks!

And finally, I have been catching up on some crochet! I know, I know... I am that cool! I may do a little crochet post in the next few days, so if that bothers you, you have been warned!

Defying the Laws of Nature

Today I went for a practise run, following the route of the charity run I mentioned previously. It was monumentally difficult, no lie, no exaggeration and I was still following the Couch to 5k system of switching between running and brisk walking.

This alleged 'fun' run is in no way fun, at least not from my amateur perspective.  This is what it felt like:

I kid you not, despite being a circular route, the majority of the run was uphill - how does that even work? And one of those hills is BIG. On reaching the top, whilst trying not to be sick I had to carry on past a certain Year 10 boy who owns a bright orange puffa jacket... For those of you who know who I mean, you know that he is not top of the list of people you'd like to see in that situation! Ideally, I wanted a paramedic with a survival blanket who would hold my hair while I puked.

This was only one of the natural laws that was broken today. Secondly, it didn't matter how many times I turned into a new road, ergo, a new direction,  I was constantly running into the wind. As if this wasn't hard enough already!

I suppose this all serves me right. I made the statement that I could walk the route quicker than 50 minutes. I'm now not so sure... This is how long it took me with a mixture of walking and running (including 5 mins warm up walking and 5 mins cool down)...

Yep. 42 minutes. And I missed out part of the route. And my Nike+ lies about distance, so I didn't even do 5k. (I've checked and the route is 5.16k if you actually do all of it). So if anyone has any brilliant ideas on how I might get slightly less likely to die whilst doing this for real on March 7th, let me know!

National Libraries Day

Today has been fun! To celebrate National Libraries Day (officially Saturday) I've been pestering students to make monster book corners like this...

And join in a library treasure hunt that I found here (you will need a TES account, but they're free to set up).

Then, this evening, I took my 5 year old son to our local library for a pyjama party. It turns out that 5 year olds are not brilliant at being good sports when playing party games at bedtime! However, the stories and the craft activities went down a treat.

Next Friday, I will be hosting my second speed-book-dating event at school... A big part of Reading for Pleasure is sharing that enjoyment with other people, soppy schmaltz etc etc...

Go show your local library some love this week!

First steps

As planned, today, I went for my first run. I use the term lightly. As I've done before, I'm following the NHS Couch to 5k programme, which is really good at gradually building you up to running a well-paced 5k over a period of 9 weeks (you can download the podcasts here).

This is what my run looked like - a 5 minute warm-up walk, 8 sets of 1 minute jogging; 90 seconds brisk walking, and then a 5(ish) minute cool-down walk. Apparently this stop-starting is good at building stamina, and having completed the course before, I know it must work, as I was easily going for 45 minute - hour long runs on a regular basis by the end of it. Bring. It. On.

Today's 'run' was made slightly more challenging by the amber weather warning gale force winds and rain. Initially, this seemed like another good reason to put off running (again), but thanks to this blog, I was a bit more determined to get out there. On the plus side... In these conditions, there are less spectators. Or at least I couldn't see them through the rain and windswept hair!

One last thing. This 9 week programme is all well and good, but I have a charity 5k to run on the 7th March. Dressed as a Wally. Hmmm. Lots of staff from my school are all doing this to raise money for the National Literacy Trust, so yet more motivation to step things up. #LiteracyWontWait !

Accountability when it counts!

I appreciate that this first post is for the most part self-indulgent and quite dull for most people outside of myself, but I am feeling the need to go public with my goals to hold myself accountable and make sure I achieve them. The fact that I was meant to start working towards these goals on January 1st, and it's now February 4th is probably a good indication of why I need motivation and/or public shaming!

So these are the goals:

1) To lose 30lbs through hard work and eating healthily - no fads or shortcuts!
2) To get organised about shopping and cooking (this will help with goal number 1)
3) To do my own kitchen makeover (the 'tester' cabinet has been done since October-ish)
4) To read daily
5) To complete outstanding craft projects so I can start new and exciting ones

Future posts will generally centre around me working towards and achieving these goals... Don't worry, I'll keep them short and maybe, every now and then, you might like to cheer me on, just so I don't think no one's looking and I can get away with skiving off!

If you've got this far, thank you and good night!

Sam xxx