I feel like this has crept up on me, we'll and truly. I feel like November arrived when I wasn't looking and now I'm panicking.
This month I have about three essays to submit, I have social events to go to and I have a few other things that class as work, oh and yeah, I have to write a novel by midnight on the 30th...
Hang on. What?
I take part in this competition every year and have for a few years, and I already know how upset I get when I don't finish it, so it's not even worth contemplating that outcome. So yes, trudging towards 50k from the minute OLL say it's midnight.
Bring it on.
31 Oct 2012
19 Oct 2012
A Month of Sundays
For those who know very little about me or who have only just met me, you won't realise that I'm on the very borderline of crazy right now, because we're getting almost too close to November for me to contain my excitement.
00:00 on the 1st November marks the start of NaNoWriMo and you have until 23:59 on the 30th November to write a 50,000+ word novel (50,000 words is the official length required for a piece of writing to be considered as a novel and not a short story or novella). I'm actually pretty terrified for this year, because I have a few uni deadlines around the same time, but I know that if I don't finish NaNo, I'll be kicking my own butt until at least Camp NaNo in the summer...
In preparation for such a monumental event occurring, I've already had the pre-NaNo ills, done a little nesting and dusted off my typewriter - Hermes. There are notes and character profiles floating around in basically all of my notebooks and I'm wondering how easily I can get away with essentially becoming a recluse. Seriously, I'm looking at my calendar and trying to plot in all the days which I can spend in my bed with the Craptop just getting down to it and getting some work done!!
On said subject, there are a multitude of ways to encourage yourself to work, such as the very effective (or so I have found) Write or Die - Putting the Prod in Productivity (I love that so much XD) and also the very cute and cuddly WrittenKitten. One forces you to work by either playing you horrible music or deleting your words slowly if you stop typing for too long and the other refreshes and shows you pretty photographs of cats each time you pass a goal of word count...
As a vegetarian, I'm meant to love the animals, all the animals. I'm meant to love them for ever and always,...but I don't. I mean, I like these cats, because they are on the screen and they can't slobber or malt on me and they can't scratch me and they can't knead my leg (that really goes through me) but still, some of the photos are just scary...
Anyhow, that's all I wanted to say really, so I will leave you with the suggestion of a song to listen to. Brett Dennen - Heaven.
Charlie x
:D
00:00 on the 1st November marks the start of NaNoWriMo and you have until 23:59 on the 30th November to write a 50,000+ word novel (50,000 words is the official length required for a piece of writing to be considered as a novel and not a short story or novella). I'm actually pretty terrified for this year, because I have a few uni deadlines around the same time, but I know that if I don't finish NaNo, I'll be kicking my own butt until at least Camp NaNo in the summer...
In preparation for such a monumental event occurring, I've already had the pre-NaNo ills, done a little nesting and dusted off my typewriter - Hermes. There are notes and character profiles floating around in basically all of my notebooks and I'm wondering how easily I can get away with essentially becoming a recluse. Seriously, I'm looking at my calendar and trying to plot in all the days which I can spend in my bed with the Craptop just getting down to it and getting some work done!!
On said subject, there are a multitude of ways to encourage yourself to work, such as the very effective (or so I have found) Write or Die - Putting the Prod in Productivity (I love that so much XD) and also the very cute and cuddly WrittenKitten. One forces you to work by either playing you horrible music or deleting your words slowly if you stop typing for too long and the other refreshes and shows you pretty photographs of cats each time you pass a goal of word count...
As a vegetarian, I'm meant to love the animals, all the animals. I'm meant to love them for ever and always,...but I don't. I mean, I like these cats, because they are on the screen and they can't slobber or malt on me and they can't scratch me and they can't knead my leg (that really goes through me) but still, some of the photos are just scary...
Anyhow, that's all I wanted to say really, so I will leave you with the suggestion of a song to listen to. Brett Dennen - Heaven.
Charlie x
:D
10 Oct 2012
Changing Part 2
The last time I had someone important stay at my place (if people are stuck, I let them crash with me, but obviously there is a difference between them and my significant people) we were both going through our old Facebook profile photos, and it struck me how much, even though I have definitely changed from the sixteen year old on a cruise that I was in that first display photo, I still look pretty similar.
I mean, that photo was taken following the first major haircut I ever had - as in, all of a sudden I had a side fringe, layers and a hell of a lot less hair. Except the prom cut of 2011, nothing has ever been so drastic ever since.
Okay, so these days my hair is more red or ginger than light brown, I don't still own the t-shirt that I was wearing (although, I did only just throw it away, which is somewhat embarrassing) and these days I own a much better camera compared to that old piece of crud, but between all of them - there have been 47 which are actually photographs of me - I see very little difference, other than a change of hair colour and brief flirtations with looks of happiness, excitement and nonchalance.
My music is something else which has never changed, too. It's true that now I have so much more to listen to, but I would say that it has developed more than changed on account of the fact that I still love to listen to all of the things I listened to back in those days.
It's strange. Sometimes we seem to change so little, but then there is so much that's different.
I mean, that photo was taken following the first major haircut I ever had - as in, all of a sudden I had a side fringe, layers and a hell of a lot less hair. Except the prom cut of 2011, nothing has ever been so drastic ever since.
Okay, so these days my hair is more red or ginger than light brown, I don't still own the t-shirt that I was wearing (although, I did only just throw it away, which is somewhat embarrassing) and these days I own a much better camera compared to that old piece of crud, but between all of them - there have been 47 which are actually photographs of me - I see very little difference, other than a change of hair colour and brief flirtations with looks of happiness, excitement and nonchalance.
My music is something else which has never changed, too. It's true that now I have so much more to listen to, but I would say that it has developed more than changed on account of the fact that I still love to listen to all of the things I listened to back in those days.
It's strange. Sometimes we seem to change so little, but then there is so much that's different.
9 Oct 2012
Changing or Discovering
I'm not going to get bogged down in the detail of whether or not we actually change as we grow, or if we just discover things about ourselves we didn't know, because I could probably write an essays worth on it and I really don't think I care enough about the difference to go doing something like that. What I want to talk about is the last few weeks and the things I've discovered/changed.
John Green
became one of my favourite authors recently. I don't think he's overtaken Sophie Kinsella, let alone Danny Leigh, but he is Epic. I've read paper Towns and An Abundance of Katherines and I loved them both, although Katherines was most definitely my favourite. I had sort of expected to have been reading more Tony Parsons over the summer, but Green's books actually differ in the storyline, so it keeps things interesting.
Celery
is actually nice; raw or cooked, it's beautiful. Who fluffing knew, because I certainly didn't. I've also been eating peppers and onions, and I tried olive paté. Not really my thing, but I tried it. I'm getting all food-y; this is weird.
Hermes
is making a comeback ladies and gentlemen. Hermes is my typewriter. After someone tried to stupidly call him Clicky I had to come up with a pretty awesome name for him, and since he's an Olympic typewriter, it made sense for him to be named after an Olympian deity.
Tea
is an indisputable argument for the existence of a benevolent god. Sorry, but I'm being ridiculously serious. I have about six kinds of tea in my kitchen cupboard and even that's not enough!! (Yorkshire tea, Tetley, Afternoon Tea, Assam, Earl Grey, two kinds of fruit tea and a couple of camomiles, plus all my coffee.) I have become more obsessed.
Doc Martens
and they're yellow. They're beautiful. I love them. If you're one of those people who refers to them as Doctor Martens, then I want you to be stabbed in the eye with a pencil. There is no requirement for that. They exist most beautifully as DOC Martens. [/rant over]
Make-Up
is not something I have ever really bothered with so much, but I have been making more of an effort recently, since all I need to do to make my eyes stand out is put a little eyeliner on. It's actually worth it as well, except for all of the pervy men thinking that gives them a right to wolf whistle in the street. They're old enough to be my dad, it's gross.
Social life
I'm actually seeming to have one, which is something new considering I have been in relative solitude the last few months. It's pretty nice to be able to go out and let my hair down a little. I'm actually starting to really love London in a way I wasn't sure that I would.
Enough about me ~ feel free to tell me something you've changed or discovered recently.
Charlie x
:D
John Green
became one of my favourite authors recently. I don't think he's overtaken Sophie Kinsella, let alone Danny Leigh, but he is Epic. I've read paper Towns and An Abundance of Katherines and I loved them both, although Katherines was most definitely my favourite. I had sort of expected to have been reading more Tony Parsons over the summer, but Green's books actually differ in the storyline, so it keeps things interesting.
Celery
is actually nice; raw or cooked, it's beautiful. Who fluffing knew, because I certainly didn't. I've also been eating peppers and onions, and I tried olive paté. Not really my thing, but I tried it. I'm getting all food-y; this is weird.
Hermes
is making a comeback ladies and gentlemen. Hermes is my typewriter. After someone tried to stupidly call him Clicky I had to come up with a pretty awesome name for him, and since he's an Olympic typewriter, it made sense for him to be named after an Olympian deity.
Tea
is an indisputable argument for the existence of a benevolent god. Sorry, but I'm being ridiculously serious. I have about six kinds of tea in my kitchen cupboard and even that's not enough!! (Yorkshire tea, Tetley, Afternoon Tea, Assam, Earl Grey, two kinds of fruit tea and a couple of camomiles, plus all my coffee.) I have become more obsessed.
Doc Martens
and they're yellow. They're beautiful. I love them. If you're one of those people who refers to them as Doctor Martens, then I want you to be stabbed in the eye with a pencil. There is no requirement for that. They exist most beautifully as DOC Martens. [/rant over]
Make-Up
is not something I have ever really bothered with so much, but I have been making more of an effort recently, since all I need to do to make my eyes stand out is put a little eyeliner on. It's actually worth it as well, except for all of the pervy men thinking that gives them a right to wolf whistle in the street. They're old enough to be my dad, it's gross.
Social life
I'm actually seeming to have one, which is something new considering I have been in relative solitude the last few months. It's pretty nice to be able to go out and let my hair down a little. I'm actually starting to really love London in a way I wasn't sure that I would.
Enough about me ~ feel free to tell me something you've changed or discovered recently.
Charlie x
:D
28 Sept 2012
Sometimes, CharliesDon'tWrite
If you don't already know that I can be somewhat lazy sometimes, then that's something you should probably be prepared to take notice of. There are times when that laziness is actually fuelled by the amount which is going on in my life, because there are times when I can be VERY busy.
As many of you will probably be already aware of, September is the month wen the majority of university Freshers' Weeks occur and we get to introduce a new yera group to our institutions, our students and our surrounding areas. (I am aware that universities don't just exist within cities). I'm a member of a university SU, so I've had a bit of a busy week since landing back in Manchester and then returning to London by train the same day.
The result of all this has been a distinct decline in the time I have to blog and the time I have to write anything very much. The pen is not down, but it's hovering in a rather relaxed fashion. After managing to self-publish two novels this summer though, I think I can afford to be pretty unpreductive until the start of November and my beloved NANO!
This week has been pretty fun though. One of the Freshers said that a friend of mine is a lot like Hitler, which made me properly belly laugh like I haven't in a while, there has been the fun of making popcorn in pans - microwave popcorn has too many I'mnotevengoingtoattempttospelltheword in it - and then there has been two club nights which have been fantastic. Looking forward to more.
Charlie x
:D
As many of you will probably be already aware of, September is the month wen the majority of university Freshers' Weeks occur and we get to introduce a new yera group to our institutions, our students and our surrounding areas. (I am aware that universities don't just exist within cities). I'm a member of a university SU, so I've had a bit of a busy week since landing back in Manchester and then returning to London by train the same day.
The result of all this has been a distinct decline in the time I have to blog and the time I have to write anything very much. The pen is not down, but it's hovering in a rather relaxed fashion. After managing to self-publish two novels this summer though, I think I can afford to be pretty unpreductive until the start of November and my beloved NANO!
This week has been pretty fun though. One of the Freshers said that a friend of mine is a lot like Hitler, which made me properly belly laugh like I haven't in a while, there has been the fun of making popcorn in pans - microwave popcorn has too many I'mnotevengoingtoattempttospelltheword in it - and then there has been two club nights which have been fantastic. Looking forward to more.
Charlie x
:D
20 Sept 2012
Very Kefallonian
So for those who haven't been exposed to the random Tweetings of my Instagram photos, I've been in Fiskardo, Kefallonia which for those of you who are really geographically special, it's a Greek island in the middle of the Ionian Sea.
I love Greece because of the language, the people and also, most definitely the sun and the food. And the alcohol doesn't go down too badly either. Especially the free alcohol; that's even better!
If you think I am joking, you clearly need to get your butt on the first place here, because I most certainly an not.
The fact that I have a burn/ tab that tells the line of my halter neck bikini is a tad irritating, but at least I have a tan I guess. It's been a hellova week, in the same town as Craig Revell Horwood, where Bon Jovi and Charles and Cam were only a couple weeks ago. Okay, the weather occasionally has left a little to be desired, but the scenery hasn't and the view of Ithaca from my bedroom has definitely not gone under appreciated.
One more day and one more night here, featuring live music and Greek dancing BOOM, but then it's back to old Nodnol to be ready for the first years' moving in on Sunday. Yay.
Please wait while I reign in the excitement caused by the conversion of two such events...
Charlie x
:|
I love Greece because of the language, the people and also, most definitely the sun and the food. And the alcohol doesn't go down too badly either. Especially the free alcohol; that's even better!
If you think I am joking, you clearly need to get your butt on the first place here, because I most certainly an not.
The fact that I have a burn/ tab that tells the line of my halter neck bikini is a tad irritating, but at least I have a tan I guess. It's been a hellova week, in the same town as Craig Revell Horwood, where Bon Jovi and Charles and Cam were only a couple weeks ago. Okay, the weather occasionally has left a little to be desired, but the scenery hasn't and the view of Ithaca from my bedroom has definitely not gone under appreciated.
One more day and one more night here, featuring live music and Greek dancing BOOM, but then it's back to old Nodnol to be ready for the first years' moving in on Sunday. Yay.
Please wait while I reign in the excitement caused by the conversion of two such events...
Charlie x
:|
11 Sept 2012
Fundamentally Flawed
As people, we are bound to screw up. We are bound to do it at least once a day, pretty religiously if I'm honest and sometimes it's such a monumental screw up that we wonder how on Earth we could have let it happen. I've really been experiencing this lately.
There are so many things we can screw up in so many ways and I don't intend to make a list of them right now; it would be completely useless, not to mention endless.
When we screw up, it's really easy to feel like everyone is rehashing our mistakes to us, giving us the same lecture and everybody is judging us for what we've done, but recently I have had to hand it to my friends - they've not been doing that.
I know I have messed up, I really do, and trying to figure out why I did it and what the hell happened to me has been, and continues to be, a more than somewhat painful process. I've talked to a close group of my friends about what has happened, and I don't mean simply mentioned what has occurred, I mean REALLY gone over it with a tooth comb with these boys and tried to get to the heart of it, and what I've found is this:
These men, as I should refer to them really, have been condemning my actions, reminding me very gently that what I have done is wrong, but then one went over everything and, because he knows me so well, pointed out very bluntly the issues I was having that I was struggling to see, while remaining completely supportive of me, one offered me hope as to how to myself in the aftermath and another continued the work of the other two in making me take my mind off it for a little while and just enjoy the moment.
Everyone goes on about this YOLO thing. I accept it to an extent, but I won't let that make me see actions as a) without consequence or b) to ever be undertaken lightly. The thing is though that for the last few months my life has been a lot of work and not much else on account of how anti-social my hours and my sleep pattern became. It's difficult to try and see your friends when you finish work at eleven at night and can be back in from half five the next morning. Granted I wasn't doing that every day, but my body got used to grabbing a few hours of sleep just as and when I could get it. It's nice though that my friends are trying to reintroduce normalcy into my life in order to help me sort my head out with all this crap.
Truly, I have the most beautiful of friends.
Charlie x
<3
P.s. Listen to Esbjorn Svensson Trio - Believe, Beloved, Below
There are so many things we can screw up in so many ways and I don't intend to make a list of them right now; it would be completely useless, not to mention endless.
When we screw up, it's really easy to feel like everyone is rehashing our mistakes to us, giving us the same lecture and everybody is judging us for what we've done, but recently I have had to hand it to my friends - they've not been doing that.
I know I have messed up, I really do, and trying to figure out why I did it and what the hell happened to me has been, and continues to be, a more than somewhat painful process. I've talked to a close group of my friends about what has happened, and I don't mean simply mentioned what has occurred, I mean REALLY gone over it with a tooth comb with these boys and tried to get to the heart of it, and what I've found is this:
These men, as I should refer to them really, have been condemning my actions, reminding me very gently that what I have done is wrong, but then one went over everything and, because he knows me so well, pointed out very bluntly the issues I was having that I was struggling to see, while remaining completely supportive of me, one offered me hope as to how to myself in the aftermath and another continued the work of the other two in making me take my mind off it for a little while and just enjoy the moment.
Everyone goes on about this YOLO thing. I accept it to an extent, but I won't let that make me see actions as a) without consequence or b) to ever be undertaken lightly. The thing is though that for the last few months my life has been a lot of work and not much else on account of how anti-social my hours and my sleep pattern became. It's difficult to try and see your friends when you finish work at eleven at night and can be back in from half five the next morning. Granted I wasn't doing that every day, but my body got used to grabbing a few hours of sleep just as and when I could get it. It's nice though that my friends are trying to reintroduce normalcy into my life in order to help me sort my head out with all this crap.
Truly, I have the most beautiful of friends.
Charlie x
<3
P.s. Listen to Esbjorn Svensson Trio - Believe, Beloved, Below
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