It’s a miserable day.

So outside the rain is falling, the sky is murky and there’s a very miserable atmosphere. Inside, things aren’t much better. I’m feeling miserable today because I don’t feel well, I’m tired and I’m missing Daf very much. Friday feels like ages away and there’s so much to do until then that it all feels a little overwhelming. We’ve started getting information about our modules and while I’m glad there’s no exams this year, the amount of coursework and practical work makes it sound like a lot. I’m used to coursework – when you do three essay subjects for A Level, you can’t really get away from having to write loads of essays – but I feel like I’m out of practice. Also, it’s like going from GCSE to A-Level – I guess you’re writing at a whole new level now, needing to use a more complicated vocabulary, etc. This time it’s even more complicated – we have to do “Harvard referencing”, whatever that is (I know what referencing is, but not sure what’s special about the Harvard variety), so at the moment it’s all a bit overwhelming and I’m just hoping I can cope.

Had some information about the Great Birmingham Run on the 21st October; found out that the day after I have lectures from 11am-5pm, which could be interesting when all I’m sure I’ll want to do is have a foot massage and then curl up in bed and sleep for a week. I’m still feeling fairly confident that I can do it. Without having a car handy, I’ve had to walk absolutely everywhere – the only place I’ve gone by bus has been home, which is two hours away by bus so I think you can forgive me for not walking that. I’ve also been going swimming once a week, which seems to be improving my stamina and helping me tone up a bit.

So, it’s still quite a busy time for me. I finished “Where She Went” and I will review it soon, but it might have to wait until the weekend.

Putting it off…

I’m putting off starting Chapter Ten for a while. I don’t want to leave it too long… might even make a start on it tonight… but I suddenly feel quite out of the loop because I haven’t got a chapter that I’m halfway or at least part of the way through. Before I’ve always made sure I’ve at least started and got a few paragraphs on a chapter before I start, but now I’m kind of leaving it hanging, and I don’t know how I’m going to start Chapter Ten or which characters it’s going to focus on. Hopefully it’ll all go well – I’ve found the “winging it” approach has been a lot more succesful, actually, than the meticulous planning approach with the past couple of chapters – because I don’t want to lose the motivation to write.

I’ve also got quite a lot of homework and essays to do, and the dreaded UCAS TRAAAAACK opens tomorrow so I shall be slightly distracted, but I’m determined to keep writing little bits and bobs to make sure I keep my inspiration flowing!

So, now I’m off to learn two Wuthering Heights quotes which, knowing my memory, I’ll forget them as soon as I learn them but still my English teacher seems to think it’ll be beneficial.

Writing when ill…

Normally, when I’m ill, I get my best writing done. I mean, when you’re stuck in bed all day with a bad cold, or coughing your lungs up, there’s not really much more you can do than watch television, grab the old laptop and amuse yourself by writing. Today, however, I’m off college because I’m ill – but this isn’t the sort of illness where you can actually make use of the fact that you feel like crap by churning out a couple of thousand words in between eating copious amounts of chicken soup and watching Jeremy Kyle/other equally amusing-yet-horrifying “let’s deal with your relationship problems live on air” TV shows – or am I the only one who does that when I have a cold?

Nope, today I’ve encountered the horrible problem of BRAIN FOG. *horror chords*. Yep, as well as the fatigue, joint pains, muscle pains, headache and sore throat, my head feels like it’s been stuck in a blender and I could very well pass for a zombie out of Shaun Of The Dead (or one of the Romero “_____ of the Dead” movies if you’ve never seen the brilliant Simon Pegg parody) this morning, and I’m FED UP! I want to write, because I know what I want to write – but thanks to this brain fog, I don’t think the messages will actually reach my hands before my hands have gone “I can’t be bothered waiting for these words, let’s play on Bejewelled Blitz/stalk people on Facebook instead”.

I can’t even write my coursework! I’d actually like to get my coursework done and dusted, but it’s proving impossible because I’m looking at these words I’ve written down in my plan (it’s a comparison of the presentation of the theme of marriage in Much Ado About Nothing, and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof) and I don’t think I even remember writing them. Plus my teacher has made notes that are nearly impossible to decipher when my head’s like this. Even as I’m writing this, it’s going slowly and I can feel my fingers edging nearer and nearer to the mousepad to click on the tab with Facebook on it. Must – resist – must – keep – writing – curses, foiled again. Oh well. Facebook it is!