Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! Who can believe it's 2015 already?

I can't believe how fast this month is already going. I've been making the most of the month so far though, and have started using the calender reward system that Victoria Schwab, and many of my friends (Laura, Cole, Emma, and more) favour. Victoria has written about the system here. And so far it has been fantastically successful! It's rewarding to see the stickers build up and be able to see exactly what you've achieved. Otherwise, I find that it's so easy to forget what you've actually done and just spend your time feeling bad about things. I highly recommend it! I do need to get some more stickers though, I wasn't really prepared.

The rest of the month promises to be busy, and while of course I'm hoping for lots more reading and writing, I'm also returning to Exeter for graduation, spending some time in Fowey (eeek!!), and then visiting school friends in Leeds - so it's going to be a busy couple of weeks. A mini holiday I suppose - and I think I need it! Will be good to get some perspective, make plans, think about the future, forget about inboxes full of rejections (both from agents and jobs).

But that's life I suppose. And compared to all the grisly and really depressing, scary things that have been happening in the news recently, it's nothing.

I am busy both editing and writing, which is going well so far - one of my resolutions for this month - and year - was to not let myself get bogged down in too many projects or get worried about what to work on. I've set myself clear targets for what I want to achieve and all the other ideas can wait, for now anyway. So far it seems to be working! I've got to remember that there's time for everything - although it doesn't seem like that sometimes. I feel like I have to be working on EVERYTHING all at once. But I've got to remember to take it slow and easy - and there you go. One of my goals for this year, which is so far going well. I hope to keep it up!

I hope that everyone else is having a productive 2015 so far, and are managing to stick to their goals and keep being creative! How's it going for everyone?

Rory's Story Cubes

Okay, everyone - I have a confession to make. I am obsessed with Rory's Story Cubes. I've only had them a few days, but I am addicted.

I've been aware of these for a long time, and always been tempted to get some. Then, I attended a workshop with the wonderful Liz Kessler back in May and she used them, and I was even more determined to get some because I thought they were awesome. Yet, I've only just actually purchased some, after seeing them once again in Waterstones, on a whim and a kind of well, I've finished all my studying now...

In case you don't know what they are, Story Cubes are a game designed to spark imagination and stories. There are nine dice in the original set, and each side of the dice contains a different image. The dice must be shaken and then a story constructed by connecting the images. There are no rules except for the story to begin with 'once upon a time...'. Of course, even this rule is flexible and the cubes can be used in all sorts of ways, not only to spark children's imaginations, but for writers and writing exercises.

I have found that using these really wakes up my brain and makes me think in a different way about things. I like being able to scribble down a little story about aliens, fairies and torches. There is hundreds of combinations of images and stories to create.

There is not only the original set, but expansions too - including actions and voyages, and smaller sets enchanted, pre-historic, and clues, all of which can be mixed in to any of the sets. I got enchanted with my original ones, thanks to a special deal. It's great to be able to mix the cubes up and get all sorts of quirky stories.

I can't recommend these highly enough - they're transportable, fun, can be used as a game with lots of people, by yourself, simply as a writing exercise, or to break a writer's block. They're great to get thoughts flowing and a way of just writing. 

You can buy these cubes on Amazon, in Waterstones and here, as well as lots of other places. Does anyone else use these?!

YALC Recap!

This weekend saw the inaugural YALC (Young Adult Literature Convention) take place as part of the larger LFCC (London Film and Comic Con). This was the first time that anything like this had taken place in the UK, so I and so many other people were unsurprisingly very excited! There have already been lots of recaps, but I thought I'd do my own anyway, with a few pictures.

The weekend itself was absolutely manic and so crazy, as the con was part of the larger LFCC. This meant that there were huge queues to get in, and inside, lots and lots of people, a noisy and very, very hot hall. Luckily the Book Zone was at the back of the hall, and things were a little quieter there! It was also very exhausting, with lots of queueing, standing about etc, and I was out late both nights seeing other friends - I managed to make it through the weekend, and collapsed in exhaustion when I got home Monday!

There was so much going on each day though, it was hard to know what to do - there were panels, workshops, and signings - lots of which clashed, and so lots of choices had to be made! The panels and signings I went to though were really great. The whole event was really awesome and there were so many awesome people there, all full of enthusiasm for YA, which was INCREDIBLE. I hope this do this again, it was the best.

While I was there, I was also able to meet lots of wonderful people, including my awesome CP Laura (and we got to hang out lots! Yay!), Cole, Emma, Catherine, as well as a fellow MuggleNet writer, Toni! I also got to hang out with one of my school friends, Katie, which was great. It was also wonderful to say hello to the lovely Liz Kessler who I met at the Fowey Festival!

This was the Book Zone, with an awesome wall of books, as well as a table of free goodies!

 

 

 Lots of publishers, as well as Waterstones, had stands and they were selling books (something I took advantage of, of course! Although I did get home and think, I thought I got more than this... maybe I should have...). Hot Key Books were there (and I love them, they were so friendly and great). They were giving out We Were Liars samplers (which I've already read) as well as awesome hand stamps with quotes from the books, as well as posters and tote bags!

As well as managing to get a couple of free books (!) I also picked up plenty of bookmarks, posters, badges, and posters!

"be a little kinder than you have to"

Onto the events themselves - on Saturday, I attended two panels: "It's the end of the world as we know it: the ongoing appeal of dystopia" with Malorie Blackman (!!!!!), Patrick Ness, Sarah Crossan, and James Smythe. This was really great, and everyone on the panel made really interesting points about dystopia and were so funny and great. I also attended "Superfans Unite!" with Rainbow Rowell (!!!), Lucy Saxon, Andy Robb, and Tim O'Rouke. This was another great panel, with lots of Harry Potter chat (yay!). 

Sunday, I attended "How get published" with Phil Earle, Sally Green, and Ben Horslen. I also went to "Crossover: not just for kids" with Matt Haig, Anthony McGowan, Nick Lake, Meg Rosoff, and David Maybury. It was a really thought provoking panel - and at times rather controversial (in a good way!). Lastly, I went to "Sisters doing it for themselves" with Tany Byrne, Isobel Harrop, Julie Mayhew, Holly Smale, and Sarra Manning. Another really good, and brilliant panel that made me think a lot!

There were other panels and workshops that I was interested in both days, but I ended up doing lots of queueing for signings and stuff, and it didn't work out. It's always hard to know at these things what to focus on.

I managed to get lots of books signed - as well as buy lots. Here's some pictures (all the authors were LOVELY so it would be boring if I wrote that as a caption for each one!):

MALORIE BLACKMAN!!

Natasha Ngan!

excited to read this!

picked this up from Hot Key as well!

Can't wait to read this one too!

I was SO excited to get this!

Rainbow!

Holly Smale!

picked up this short story!

excited to snaffle a free copy of this!

 Phew! That's a lot of pictures! All the authors I met were SO SO SO lovely and keen to have a chat, and were all so friendly, I loved them all. I've got lots of reading to do!

Let's hope this happens again - it was awesome.

Films about Writers

I rewatched Miss Potter recently, the film about Beatrix Potter and how she got her books published.  The film portrays her as a forward thinking, modern woman, with a vivid imagination and strong principles and it is inspiring and encouraging to see how determined she was. She was truly an inspiration woman.

It led me to think about other films that are about the lives and careers of writers. 

Straight away I thought of Enid, the BBC film about Enid Blyton, which reveals the darker reality of her life.

Another one I quickly thought of was Finding Neverland, one of my favourite films, all about J.M. Barrie, a troubled man.

Here are some more I came up with:

The Waves. I've never seen this, but it's meant to be fantastic. All about Virginia Woolf. And a book as well.

Daphne. As a du Maurier fan I am ashamed to say I haven't seen this BBC film, but this was made to coincide with her centenary, all about her affairs with Ellen Doubleday and Gertrude Lawrence.

Becoming Jane. Another American actress takes on a very famous British woman (I know right) but Anne Hathaway does a great job as Jane Austen, charting her early years as an author and a love story.

Miss Austen Regrets. Another Austen film, this time about her at the end of her life as she looks back over her life.

Shadowlands. An emotional film about C.S. Lewis and his wife.

Shakespeare in Love. I'm sure everyone has seen this. It's been a while since I saw it, but I seem to remember it is about the writing of Romeo and Juliet (?) and plays around that time.

Of course these are all about real life writers.

There are ones about fictional writers too, like I Capture the Castle, with Cassandra's eccentric writer father who, since his first well renowned book has not written another word. And of course Cassandra is a budding writer too.

And that's where I got stuck.... Do you guys know any other films (or books - although of course there is a wealth of biography about many of these authors and more) about writers, real or fictional?