365 Day Photo Challenge - 7 / 365

7 / 365 - A picture of the wonderful gifts I woke up to from Amazon! This is literally half my amazon wish list, so thought I would treat myself when pay day came.  And there is nothing better than gorgeous books to place on my bookshelf and us when Im bored!



Book Blogger Hop - My Choice of Genre

I love joining in with the links other people host on their blogs, so when I stumbled across this Book Blogger Hop, I was very excited and bursting to get started!  Every week, a different prompt is given for us to answer, based on our love for books and reading.  Seeing as I am an avid book lover but dont always get to post about it, this is my perfect opportunity to get motivated and write more about reading!!  To join in, and visit others answers visit Book Blogger Hop.

Todays prompt is:

“Many of us primarily read one genre of books, with others sprinkled in. If authors stopped writing that genre, what genre would you start reading? Or would you give up reading completely if you couldn’t read that genre anymore?”

I have a wide genre of books that I read, anything from chick-lit, to childrens books, biographies and fantasy.  Its quite hard to choose my favourite genre, but if I take a closer look at my bookself, I have more chick-lit books than anything.  I think I am drawn to this genre mostly because I can relate to it and there is nothing more thrilling than reading about something I have experienced.  This genre also helps with my writing, as they say writers take their ideas from their own experiences, who hasn't fallen in love in life? Or had some kind of predicament that affects their choices in life?  We all have something to share and chick lit is probably the biggest genre that takes up the shelves in bookshops.

However, if I couldnt read that genre any more, I still couldnt give up reading.  There is so much more out there and we will never get to experience it if we dont venture out of our comfort zone.  I have stumbled across many a good book by trying something new and this has led to me enjoying a whole new genre of books.  As long as its written well, and has some excitement to it, im happy.

365 Day Photo Challenge - 4 / 365

4 / 365:
Todays picture is to prove I work hard eventually!  This is my completed short story manuscript ready to send off to my first short story competition!  It includes the story containing 1500 words, entry form and a big, fat, white enevelope!



IM FEATURED ON COMPANY MAGAZINES WEBSITE!! Hooray!!

Well, my dream finally came true: I have been featured in a magazine!! Well, almost, their website is good enough for me!!  Yes, Company magazine published my Bloggers in Boots article that I have been going on about in previous posts and you can check it out here
  I would really appreciate comments if you have the time, and I realise that the photos dont match up with what I have written which technically is not my fault!!  But hey, its there for all to see and I am one very proud aspiring writer!!

My Notebook Obsession

I have been meaning to write a post about my notebooks for a while, my blog has been lacking posts about my writing so what better way to start than to write about what I write in!!

I have lost count of the amount of notebooks I have but this picture should give you a rough idea!! 

There are plenty more but I couldnt fit them in the photograph!! So these are my best ones, most colourful, unique and inspiring that I have.  Most of them are not written in, just too precious.





And this is how they sit on my shelf, in the living room!!  Now, my first ever notebook was given to me at the age of about 9, it was from Avon which my mum had purchased and had peaches all over it.  Unfortunately, I dont actually know what happened to it but Im sure it was confiscated for its content!!  My love for notebooks has recently grown in the last four years.  I always bought a diary every year to write my daily activities and life stories in but as I have got older, I have found that time is lacking and by the end of the day, I just want to sit and stare at the tv instead of re-living the days events!!

This is the ONLY diary I have ever completed!!  Page by page, front to back!! It was from 1999-2001 and mainly consists of me moaning about how shit my life is!! So cringey when I read it back, but am pleased I was successful in completing at least one of my many diaries!!



This is one of my favourite notebooks, you cant tell from this picture but the cover is made out of wood!!  And the picture is embossed, which makes this gorgeous! The paper is plain inside and I love the fact that it has a binder on the side so that it is not as easy to ruin when you fold it back.

This is also embossed and was bought from Camden market.  They are handmade with parchment paper inside, and I chose the music note emblem because it represents me and all things music that I love!!



My favourite places to buy notebooks from are Paperchase, Artbox and Selfridges!!  I love stumbling on a gift shop or two especially in museums and art galleries, and am constantly on the hunt for original covers.  I do occasionally write in some of them, mainly journalling, lists and ideas.  I still alway try to keep a diary but I know that i will probably never complete a full one again! Life is just too hectic, however, if I have time to write a blog, Im sure there is time to fill out one of my gorgeous notebooks!!

So to sum up - I LOVE NOTEBOOKS!! And Im not ashamed to say it! Ill leave you with this picture, showing off my vinyl bookends!!









Becoming a juggler!! (an old post, as yet un-published!)

I was inspired today to write a blog about my hectic lifestyle - if you think this will be glamour, glitter and goregousness, think again!!
  I want to re-name my job title, just like most mothers, as a juggler.
Definition - "Juggling" may be used metaphorically, like "multi-tasking," to mean constantly refocusing attention among responsibilities, such as in the title of Juggling Work and Family. ^{[2][3]
 
My responsibilities at the moment are working at a restaurant, working as a nursery assistant, being a mummy, home maker and having time for my family and friends!! This definitely justifies the above definition in my eyes. 
  A typical day for me is getting up to take my son to school who is two bus rides there, getting two bus rides back home, doing the housework or working as a nursery assistant, doing the shopping, getting two bus rides back to pick my son up and another two bus rides to get home, putting the dinner on, going to work at the restaurant and home again!!
  8 bus rides a day is tiring in itself but totally worth it to get my son the best education.  My jobs are important to me and having the money means I can support my family.  I have worked hard to gain my confidence back after having a rough ride over the years so to be able to juggle everything in my life is actually quite rewarding and not very often do i moan about it unless i am having an extremely tiring day!!
  So where do i get the time to begin my main ambition which is to be a writer?  That is the title I am aiming for, and there will be a lot of hard work put into getting it.  Its hard to find the motivation at the end of a long day, when all I want to do is relax in front of the tv!!  Some days I have more time to do writing than others but even then, I set out to do something productive but end up gettig distracted by something else!!} 

My First Article!!

Just thought i would update my blog with this - my first article which i have entered into a well known womans magazine, asking for people with festival experience to enter their competition for a chance to write for them!!  Having never been to a festival though, i may have over stepped the mark but i see this as all good experience for me with my writing!  Have a read and let me know what you think!! xx


I am a festival virgin but going to reading this year!!  I have been to over 60/70 gigs in my short 28 years and hope to double this before I start complaining to everyone to "turn that music down!"
  So although i am a festival virgin, I have many an experience of wat to expect and cannot decide if im more excited about dressing like a hippy (my choice of style rather than influence!) or seeing the bands themselves! 
  Having seen Muse six times over the years, including both Wembley stadium gigs, I am truly excited to see them at reading festival this year, partly because they are playing their 2001 album origin of Symmetry for the last time and because I get to see them at a real life festival instead of on the tv!! Yes, I would turn my tv up to its fullest, bring in the troops, set up my sons Ben 10 play tent and believe i was actualy there!!  But I dont have to do that this year, i can live the real thing, even if i have to think about changing the type of tent i take!
  Other bands I am pushing my way to the front to see include 30 seconds to mars, jimmy eat world, white lies and elbow, all of which I have seen play live in smaller venues.  I cannot wait to soak up the festival atmosphere and if what i see on the tv is anything what it is like in the flesh, then this will go down as my favourite gig of them all and hopefully break my festival virgiity with dignity!!

Working out how to blog!!

Welcome to my first blog entry!! 

I have been inspired to write a blog as I have been studying creative writing and the idea of a blog fascinates me! I doubt anyone will be interested in reading what I have to say- i am normlly ranting and raving on facebook about everyday events, so I thought I could release my anger some more and record it in a blog.  However, I also intend to use blogging as a way of expressing my writing, reviewing media items, talking about the creative writing process that I am aiming towards, and hopefully inspiring others the way I was inspired.
  Working out how to blog is not a problem, I am quite computer literate, its just what to write that will interest the readers and keep them coming back for more, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! I have many ideas and will be testing them along the way!!