On Writing and Music.

Hello folks,

I know it's been a while once again since I've posted and this time I don't really have an excuse because I havent been doing much of anything. Though I packed up and moved home for the Christmas break, almost got snowed in, almost fell on my arse at least 100 times and built a snowman. As well as hanging out with friends and seeing them before the holiday period truly begins.

Anyway, It's been at the back of my head all along saying 'BLOG WOMAN BLOG!' so here I am, a bit late in the evening but an update's an update so be happy about it! Moving on, what I want to talk about today is Writing. I'm an avid follower of a lot of people on Youtube, it's an amazing community of people who make music, write books, educate you on the environment and the sexual mating habits of random animals and other interesting things. There's also a whole community there dedicated to making Harry-Potter related music called Wrock which stands for Wizard-Rock. I am a big fan of Harry Potter and like most of the Wrock music but just the other day, one of the big bands called The Ministry of Magic released a new album and posted some of their songs on youtube with videos.

One song has particularly struck a chord with me and I haven't stopped listening to it basically since. If you're interested, click here and go listen! Anyway, this got me thinking about how amazing it is that people were so taken with a book that they wanted to make music about it. Similarly, there is Trock which is Time-lord Rock based on the Doctor Who series, which is also quite good. Listening to all this stuff and being able to relate to it, as a music fan and as a fan of the books made me want to write something amazing so taht one day someone will want to make music based on something I've written.

I mean the Nano Novel I wrote is a bit of a shambles at the minute, I haven't finished it yet but I know where it's going. However my inner editor is absolutely dying to get out and fix everything because as I've been writing it I've been like 'that is so stupid, it needs fixed' and now that the pressure of Nano is gone, I'm having to resist the urge to let the editor out with the red pen.

I know I'll get there eventually, it's just the timing of Christmas right after Nano makes everything twice as hard and twice as insane. But I'm determined to finish the novel before the new year so I have at least you know, 5 days before my exams start to study for them. Ahh flip sakes, the life of a final year student.

The other thing is that sometimes I feel that saying 'I want to be a writer' is a bit gay and then I start questionning myself about it and wondering if that is what I want to be because I don't write everyday and I don't seem to write anything I feel is good enough. You hear all the time that you should write everyday and I seem to be discovering more and more people that write poems or short stories and are amazing at it and I get a little discouraged about it all. I just don't know where it's going to take me, if anywhere and I don't really know what else I would like to do with my life.

Anyway, I mainly wanted to post about the music and writing correlation which seems to have turned into a bit of a rant! Anyway, please feel free to comment on anything and also what the hell should I blog about! I've had blogs for like 3 years and I'm running out of ideas for things :P

Sami
xox

NaNoWriMo and Life Updates.

I know, say what you want, I'm a bad blogger. But while you've been busy complaining about my lack of blogging, I've been writing a novel all month, so there :P. I finished earlier this evening with a current total of 50, 124 words. By all means, the story is not finished yet, it's barely even begun but I had to ramble on for 50k about something so shush :P. I am very pleased to have won this year as I failed last year and was more determined than ever to win again! I couldn't have done it without the help of the Nanoers in the All-Ireland chatroom as well as my housemate Jesse who was full of useful information about demons and other magical beings when my brain decided to die. So many thanks go out to all of you.

In other news, last time I blogged I said I had ticked off another thing on my 21 list. I have since ticked off a further one. Those two things, which I can happily tell you now are: Go on a date - On halloween night I went on a date. Suffice to say, things have worked out very well and I'm quite the happy chappy. The other one I've ticked off is getting a job. My dad knows an owner of a restaurant and they happened to be looking for staff and hence, I got a job. Which is another reason why I'm quite cheerful these days because there was a point during November where I couldn't afford to live and now I can. It's brilliant :).

November has been a bit of a mental month for me. The first two and a half weeks were full of stress due to coursework essays needing to be done and handed in. I had three to do, I got two done the first week and handed in and the second week when I was in the middle of doing my essay I recieved some bad news. My cat whom I've had since I was 3 was killed in the throws of an angry dog. This news was really upsetting and I was unable to focus on my essay for a while and ended up with an extension. I got it done eventually and was then able to come back to NaNo and end up where I am today. As well as these distractions, the two I mentioned above were quite good at distracting me at points but I through raw determination, I made it across the finish line and a day early too!

So there you go. I was waiting until I made it across the finish line to post about everything because I thought firing it all out in one go would be better than wasting time writing here when I could be writing NaNo. But I'm alive, I'm happy and I hopefully will post more often now that Novembers over and the crazy times have died down. Of course, don't hold me to that.

Hope things are well with all of you,
Sami
:)

50 Books List

Hey guys,

As part of my 21 by 21 list, I had to read 50 books and post the finished list on the blog. Since I'm about to post the final results of my list, I'm putting my complete list of 50 books in a different post. So here you go, the 50 books I read!


1. Tempted by P.C. and Kristin Cast
2. The Book Of Tomorrow By Ceceila Ahern
3. Perfect Fifths By Megan McCafferty
4. Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz
5. Looking for Alaska By John Green
6. Destinations by Sheila O'Flanagan
7. Masquerade by Melissa De La Cruz
8. Revelations by Melissa De La Cruz
9. The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa De La Cruz
10. Will Grayson, Will Grayson By John Green and David Levaithian
11. Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K Hamilton
12. Burned by P.C. and Kirsten Cast
13. The Laughing Corpse by Laurell K Hamilton
14. Ash by Malinda Lo
15. Circus of the Damned by Laurell K Hamilton
16. Paper Towns by John Green
17. Tithe by Holly Black
18. Alice in the country of Hearts 1 by Soumei Hoshino and Quinrose.
19. Simple Wishes by Lisa Dale
20. The Lunatic Cafe by Laurell K Hamilton
21. Bloody Bones by Laurell K Hamilton
22. Need by Carrie Jones
23. Captivate by Carrie Jones
24. Burnt Offerings By Laurell K Hamilton
25. Blue Moon by Laurell K Hamilton
26. Obsidian Butterfly by Laurell K Hamilton
27. Narcissus In Chains by Laurell K Hamilton
28. Cerulean Sins by Laurell K Hamilton
29. Incubus Dreams by Laurell K Hamilton
30. Danse Macabre by Laurell K Hamilton
31. The Harlequin by Laurell K Hamilton
32. Blood Noir by Laurell K Hamilton
33. Skin Trade By Laurell K Hamilton
34. Flirt by Laurell K Hamilton
35. Bullet by Laurell K Hamilton
36. Evernight by Claudia Gray
37. All The Things We Didn't Say By Sara Shepard
38. Young, loaded and fabulous by Kate Kingsley
39. The Good Divorce Guide By Cristina Odone
40. Micah and Strange Candy by Laurell K Hamilton
41. Breaking the Rules: Confessions of a Bad Girl by Cahterine Townsend
42. The Dirty Bits for Girls By India Knight
43. Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell
44. The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell
45. The Sound of No Hands Clapping by Toby Young.
46. Gardens of Delight by Erica James
47. The Wedding Day by Catherine Alliott
48. Madam by Jenny Angell
49. A Scanner Darkly by Phillip K Dick
50. The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

I knew I'd be able to complete this list as I am an avid reader of literature and enjoy reading and loosing myself in different worlds. So yes, onto the final list!

Sami

I Don't Feel Like Blogging

Today I:

- Was roped into helping out at my sister's work as it was their first birthday.

- This involved attempting to put up a tesco value gazebo, but the man helping us was complaining too much about not having instructions and didn't listen when we tried to explain so we ended up with a shoddy looking piece of crap for a gazebo which they didnt bother to use for very long.

- This also involved, sitting on the tiniest chair ever selling sweets to 5million children and ending up with a sore arse with an extra dislike of children on the side.

- I was high-fived by Leo the Lion (the workplaces representative).

- I was asked why I wasn't having kids yet - because I'm still 20 and can't find a decent enough man/I don't like/want kids anyway, you fool.

- I was told that I'd be next in line for marriage out of several of my friends. What is with you people today? Marriage and kids, no thank you.

- I was tagged in several embarassing photos on facebook courtesy of my mother, yet I did not detag myself because unlike others, I am not really all that ashamed or embarassed by them. They're the best of a bad bunch. Deal.

- I finished two books. One I had started reading the other day and was incredibly weird and depressing. The other was more upbeat and fun. (Now I have read 38/50).

- I couldn't be arsed to blog about anything truly worthwhile so instead you got this list of bullet points of crap that happened to me today.

- I think you should comment with a) what you did today and b) Things you'd like me to blog about.

- It is now almost 7-days til I get my University house back, cannoooooot wait.

- I didn't bother my arse learning any Italian so you aren't getting an Italian phrase of the day. Instead you can have a quote of the day courtesy of a quote website, somewhere, I think.

Until tomorrow,
Sami

Quote of the day= “A heartbreak isn’t always as loud as a bomb exploding. Sometimes, it could be as quiet as a feather falling and the most painful thing is, nobody hears it but you."

Team Anita.

As I mentioned the other day, I was engrossed in a book. That book was one of the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series. My best friend and housemate introduced me to the series after we took a notion for vampire books (yes that includes twilight, but others such as the house of night and blue bloods series :P). She had read this series long before Twilight ever hit the shelves and for a year went on about how it was so much better. So when I told her I intended to read 50 books this year, she suggested I read the series cause there is like 20. So I agreed.

I actually started this attempt in November but life was too hectic back then for me to actually get into the series. But when I finally had the time to sit down and read the books I actually took a great liking for them. I couldn't wait for her to give me them all so I could get through the entire series. And I agree with her that they are much better than Twilight. Yes they have vampires and werewolves as you cant have one without the other, but it is much better written and involves other wereanimals and things that you wouldn't believe.

It's violent and sexy at the same time and Laurell K Hamilton is an amazing author, so my respect goes out to her. I have now finished the series (well until another book is released) and I cant wait for the next one! I am actually quite sad that I have to put the books down and read another 15 different ones to complete my list haha. I just wanted to tell you guys about it and start spreading the word because it's actually very good and definitely a worthwhile read. I will say this though, it isn't for the faint-hearted or the squeamish or the prudes. It does involve a lot of grusome descriptions and a hell of a lot of sexy steamy scenes. So if it sounds like your cup of tea, then the first book in the series is called Guilty Pleasures and it's by Laurell K Hamilton.

So yes. That's all I wanted to share today. As a bit of an avid-reader (at the best of times) I wanted to pass on my knowledge to you other bookaholics. You'll thank me later! Enjoy!

Until tomorrow,
Sami

Italian phrase of the day = Arrivederci = Goodbye.
p.s. COMMENT RAWR.