Exciting Stuff

I’ve just booked my next tattoo – my first literary one! As you guys know I’m a rather fanatical fan of Christopher Maine’s “Tales From The Terra Firma Fleet” series, and I’m proud to say that I’ll be the first person to get a Tales From The Terra Firma Fleet tattoo. It’s a different studio to last time so I’m a tad nervous, but more excited than anything! I can’t wait!  

NaNo Update – (Nearly) end of week 2!

I know it’s not quite the end of week 2 yet, but I figured a pre-emptive one was called for because I’m very proud – I reached 50,000 words today. This means I’m well on target for hitting 100k by the end of the month if I keep it up, which would be great. Then December starts and it’s editing time!

I’m quite impressed with myself, especially considering I had an assessment last week and I’m fairly confident with how I did. I thought this’d be the year I struggled with NaNo, but I think the combination of plenty of time to myself to write without distractions, and the bonus of having a story I absolutely love writing and keep coming up with new ideas for really has helped. I am loving everything about my novel so far; I’m well aware it’s only the bare bones and I have a lot of work to do, chopping and cutting and adding a lot of stuff in to flesh it out and make it more realistic, but I really am feeling confident about it. This could become the novel I work on for a good six months, if not more, but it’ll be worth all the time and effort because of just how great I feel. I love my characters, the majority are three-dimensional from what I can tell and I’m working on fleshing out those who need it, and I know what happens – I just need to write it and piece it all together now.

So, hopefully by next week I’ll be at 75k, if not higher, and ready for the final push towards 100k. I know it’s a case of quality rather than quantity, and at the moment my raw, naked novel has plenty of the former but little of the latter, but I know that with a bit of spit and polish in December, I could have a really great novel on my hands!

 

Happy novelling,

Maddy x

Excited IS the word!

First of all, a little introduction so you’ll understand exactly why I’m so excited. Me and my fiance both love the song “Hey Soul Sister” and, as an extension, the band who wrote/played/sang it, Train. They’re like “our” band, we play their songs on guitar together, we sing them, we have it on in the car all the time – songs like “Hey Soul Sister”, “Marry Me” (my particular favourite, for obvious reasons!), and “50 Ways To Say Goodbye”. So whenever I hear one of their songs, I immediately think of him, and even though just recently it’s been hard because he’s back home and I’m at uni, just listening to a Train song makes me smile.

We also both like Mumford and Sons, and when I couldn’t get tickets for their tour, I was quite upset. Then, two days later, Train announce that they’re doing a small UK tour – only a few dates. So it was like fate, we weren’t meant to get the Mumford and Sons tickets because otherwise we couldn’t have had the Train ones. I was fairly convinced there was no way I’d get tickets – if Mumford and Sons sold out so quickly, what chance was there of getting Train ones?

This morning, I managed to get us tickets via the LiveNation pre-sale. Words can’t even describe how excited I am – me and him, going to see “our” band!!! So yes, I am a very happy bunny today. In other exciting news, I go home tomorrow for the weekend again! I know most people are quite happy to go home and then not go back until Christmas, but not me – I love my family to bits, and I don’t think I’d enjoy a weekend where I don’t see them and my fiance. I like it at uni, I’m making new friends and everything, but I still wouldn’t be here without my family, and I think it’s important to remember that.

On Vlogging.

Vlogging is something that’s actually quite new to me. Not as a concept in itself – I’ve watched plenty of vlogs before and I used to follow charlieisocoollike on YouTube – but I’ve never actually made one myself before, until today. Reasons for this have varied from the fact that I’m convinced my face will break the camera, to the fact that I have very little to vlog about, to the fact that until a few months ago, I didn’t have a good enough webcam to do so. Now that my new laptop has one built-in, I’ve been meaning to make more videos – mainly of me singing, seeing as only one exists at the moment – but never quite gotten around to it. However, I am now a vlogger!

I’m making a series of vlogs for The Student Room about being a university fresher this year. Each week has a different theme to talk about and I’ve just finished the first one. I have no idea when it will be uploaded, but I’ll keep you all up to date. If it goes well and I get a fairly good reaction to it, I might make longer videos and post them on here as a resource for any future freshers who want a bit more in-depth information on the whole process, as well as some information for A Level students that I learned that could be useful for them. Still, that all depends on reactions etc, and the first one hasn’t even been uploaded yet!

With regards to writing, very little has been done, I think I’m going through a writer’s block of epic proportions – I want to write, I just don’t know what to write about!! Blogging is easier because you don’t need any imagination for that, and you can’t really get writer’s block with regards to your own thoughts and events in your own life. Hopefully when I get to uni I might be able to properly start writing again, but I’m not holding my breath. In better news, my university has an Am-Dram and Musical Theatre society! I’m very excited for starting now, but the nerves are getting more and more intense too.

Getting Ready To Go…

I’m actually feeling fairly organized with regards to uni. A lot of my stuff is packed into boxes and ready, 12 days ahead of schedule, and all that really remains is the bits and bobs that I have in my bedroom that I can’t pack until the last minute – my lava lamp, TV and ps2 etc.

It’s been weird seeing people go back to college and school this year – my brother and sister have both gone back to school, and some of my friends in the year below have been posting on Facebook about how they’re back at college, and it really is strange to see. It sounds stupid but I can’t help wondering who’s sitting in my seat in class, who likes the teachers who taught me, what they’re studying right now. Saying that, you couldn’t pay me enough to get me to go back there and do two more years. Whereas when I finished secondary school, once I started college I would have loved to re-do my last year at school, because I had a great group of friends and enjoyed it, now I just can’t wait to get to university. It’s a shame I didn’t enjoy college, but there’s no point sitting and moping about it – time to look to the future and enjoy it.

I’m struggling with the thought of leaving my family behind. Most people seem to be really excited about it, but I’ve always been so close to my family that it is going to be very hard – and my dog is definitely included in that, I’m going to miss her and I really hope she recognizes me when I come back! My plan  of going home every weekend isn’t going to work out too well – for starters, the first three weeks are going to be so hectic with pre-freshers, freshers and re-freshers, so there’ll be no going home in that time. Also, I don’t want to be backwards and forwards every weekend, because travel will cost a lot. Still, I really want to see my family – and especially my fiance – as often as possible, because words can’t even describe how much I’m going to miss him. I’m already dreading the last time we see each other before I leave, because I know I’m going to cry buckets.

On a brighter note, it’s not like we’re not going to see each other at all – we’re going to talk over video chat as much as possible, and it’s not even like he won’t see me until Christmas – as many weekends as I’m able to, money and work permitting, I’ll be back to see him, and hopefully he’ll be able to come and see me sometimes. Also on a brighter note, and regarding my fiance – well, it’s a brighter note for me, but not so much for him – is his sponsored walk this Saturday! He’s in a medievel re-enactment group, and part of that involves wearing the armour – all 8 stone (5okg) of it. So, he and two other knights are doing a 30 mile walk from one castle to another in full armour to raise money for Diabetes UK – that’s 30 miles carrying the equivalent of 50 bags of sugar, each! They’d really appreciate it if you could sponsor them – http://www.justgiving.com/ardudwy-knights-glyndwr-march

I’m hoping to blog more often once things are settled, but I’m also doing some video blogs for http://www.thestudentroom.com all about the experience of going to university, so that’s going to take up some time. However, if you’re a fresher this year – or will be next year or the year after etc – and you want to check out the video blogs so you know what to expect, I’ll post a link to them once it’s all up and running.

**** Just Got Real.

So… three weeks today, I go to university. I move away from home three weeks today, to a new place with new people and new experiences. I’m excited, don’t get me wrong – I can’t wait to meet new people, and the thought of independence is exciting – but it’s also really scary. I’m in the same town for uni where I was in hospital back in April, and I think a lot of my fears stem from the fact that I was so aware of how far away everyone was from me when I was up there. I think I need to remind myself that in April, I was in hospital – I was poorly, I didn’t want to be there and I didn’t have a choice about it. In this case, I’ve made the choice to go to university, I can visit home whenever I want, I can easily chat to my family on Skype or Facebook and I’ll be having fun – I won’t be ill (save for the Freshers Flu, which I’m bound to end up with), and I’ll be with new friends.

I think this will only get more nervewracking in the next three weeks. Looking at my bedroom, with the pile of bags and boxes ready for uni, only serves to remind me of just how soon it is. I’ve got loads of stuff ready – pillows and sheets, boxes and decorations and towels and bathroom stuff – so I know that physically, I’m pretty prepared. The question is, am I prepared mentally? I’m looking forwards to the course – my best friend from college is doing the exact same course as me, so I know that friends won’t be too much of an issue. I also know that I got great results at A Level, so I’m ready for it. I’m looking forwards to meeting the people who’ll be in my flat – I’ve already spoken to some of them on Facebook, so I’m looking forward to actually meeting them. I’m looking forward to parties, to nights in with pizza and films, to living independently and shopping for myself and cleaning up after myself.

I’m dreading leaving my family behind.

I’m so scared that my fiance will get sick of me being away, and I’ll get home to find out he’s with someone else. I’m terrified that my dog won’t recognise me when I go home. I’m scared of being away from my family, purely because I’ve never been away from them for so long. It’ll be nice to challenge myself, to live on my own without my parents there to correct me before I go wrong, but that doesn’t make it any less scary. I’m worried I’ll be really homesick and end up shutting myself away and not make any new friends. I’m worried that people will think I’ve changed since I’ve been at uni. I’m worried because I’ll miss my fiance so much – he’s everything to me, and I hate the thought of being so far away from him. It’s not a huge distance – people continue relationships across continents – but for me, it’ll seem massive, because I’m so used to being so conveniently close to him.

So, in short, the feelings are a bit mixed at the moment. Excitement and fear are having a bit of a battle, and I’m not sure who’s going to win. All I can do is hope that by the time I’m settled in at uni, all my fears will be gone, replaced with excitement for what’s bound to be a great year – and as many chances to go back and visit my family (and yes, I do include my fiance in that) as often as possible.

Remember Me?

Sorry I’ve neglected this blog so much recently. I knew exams were going to be mad but I had no idea how much. College has been an epic fail thanks to this illness so I’ve been revising like mad to make sure I have a chance of getting into uni! Add that with trying to have a social life, and yeah – it’s been crazy, and I think I’m starting to burn out. All this revision is catching up with me, I’ve ended up with one hell of a cold which, combined with having awful pains in my back every time I sneeze,  isn’t fantastic. Really hoping things will get sorted soon, or that if they don’t I can maybe apply for special consideration because of how ill I’ve been.

On a brighter note, it’s sunny outside! Yeah, I’m inside revising but I’ve got a t shirt and shorts on and it’s lovely and warm and bright outside, which cheers me up a bit and makes revision a bit more bearable. I just hope that by the time my exams are over we’ll still have such nice weather, so that I can actually enjoy it – especially on holiday for my birthday in July!

I think the wait until August is going to be a really nervewracking one – before I was so confident for my exams, but now I’m terrified because although I know I am prepared because of the amount of revision I’m doing, I still feel somehow like I should be doing more (not sure what else I can do, really, other than go to college, which doesn’t really feel like an option the way I feel at the minute!). So expect either no posts at all as I spend all day, every day rocking backwards and forwards in a gibbering heap because I’m so nervous, or lots of frightened “ohmygosh I’m gonna fail” posts. Normal service will be resumed in September.

Revision Day (warning, may contain sweary gifs)

Today is going to be a revision day for me. Revision days are always a funny kind of day, because you start off really motivated like –

And then your revision comes at you and you’re like, “I’ll start in a bit” –

You drag yourself to your bag to get your revision notes for a different subject.

Then you look in your bag and realize just how much revision you have to do.

So, you start writing. You manage two minutes, three at the most, and feel like you’ve just climbed Everest, cured world hunger, brought about eternal peace and written a 10,000 word dissertation on the preservation of cute widdle hedgehogs in the Forest of Dean.

… then you realize how much more work you’ve got to do, and just how soon your exams are.

 

This cycle repeats itself throughout the day, and this will form my day in a nutshell. It will end like this.

I’M GOING TO HOGWARTS! or, the dinosaur-related benefits of en-suite accommodation.

I’m so excited for going to university! It’s getting quite close now – I know I’ve got to get through my exams, and the anxious wait for results day, but it’s still about five months until I fly the nest, so to speak, and head off on my next great adventure, university! I went for an open day on Saturday and it was wonderful – everything about it is brilliant. I had an informal interview with one of the lecturers, who was really nice and put me at ease, it looks like I’m going to get some extra money for doing a couple of modules in Welsh, and I know what accommodation I want and everything! Best of all, I’M GOING TO FREAKING HOGWARTS. 

*ahem*. Sorry. That was my Harry-Potter-Fangirl side coming through there. I’m over it now. I’m so not over it Anyway, back to the subject. University. Eek!

I’m glad I’ve picked one that isn’t too far from home. I know how important it is to get a bit of independence when you go to university, but I can’t deny the fact that I am a homebird, and I have a lot of things at home that nothing will ever make me give up – a wonderful boyfriend and an amazing family. No matter how much I enjoy university or what’s going on, nothing’s going to keep me away from them, and I’ll be spending as much time as I possibly can with them. It’s not too far from where I live now, and I’ll still get my lovely views over the sea – a slightly different sea, admittedly, as I have a view of the Irish sea and up there I’ll be seeing the Menai Straits – but it’s still the sea and I’d miss my views too much if I didn’t have them. I hope my accommodation will be able to see the straits or I’ll be very tempted to commute every day from home so I can keep my lovely views 😛

There’s so many exciting things about getting ready to go to uni. I’ve finally decided that I am going for en-suite bathrooms, because I can afford it and it’ll be worth it for that little extra comfort and privacy, as well as the fact that the security is quite good, the building is a lot nicer than the old, shared accommodation (apparently it used to be an asylum, so I’d imagine it might not be too pleasant at night, particularly if you’re prone to bouts of paranoia like I am!) and everything about it sounds pretty good. The downside of going into en-suite does mean that there’s more stuff to buy for the bathroom, and I have to clean it myself, but everyone has to learn at some point, and it’s better to have to do it now than later! Plus, it gives me a chance to have a dinosaur themed bathroom as well as a bedroom (I wanted llama, but so far the only llama products I’ve been able to find were ones made out of llama, which (being a llama lover), is not what I wanted at all and actually made me die a little inside), which is always good!

So, here I am, ready to take on the world (or rather, university) and all it has to throw at me (as long as I can go back and see my boyfriend and family as often as possible). All I have to do now is get the grades….

Moom’s Views: 100 Days To Go!

Yes, it’s 100 days to go until the 2012 Olympics open in London. The Olympics have completely divided Britain into people (mostly the ones from London) who are absolutely thrilled and excited and can’t wait, and the people (mainly from everywhere else) who are fed up of hearing about it, especially when it won’t benefit them, and are fed up with the focus always being on London.

Personally, I feel like I’m one of not many people who is in the middle. I mean, I’m not screaming my excitement from the rooftops or anything, because I’m honestly not that excited. I’ll watch the events I’m interested in on TV, and it’ll be good to see what they come up with for the opening and closing ceremonies, but I’m not particularly interested in it. I’m not much of a sporty person and London is hundreds of miles from me, so I’m really quite indifferent to it. However, I’m not incredibly opposed to it like a lot of people seem to be.

Yes, we’ve heard a lot about it on TV, and it can get a little tiring of having people enthusing about how wonderful London is all the time – but let’s face it, the modern Olympics have only been held in London twice before. The events aren’t ONLY taking place in London, although it might seem like there are, and the vast majority are being held there – there are events happening all over the country – but, it does seem a bit like a “let’s pay attention to London and throw money at it, even if it means neglecting the rest of Britain” thing, so some of the anger is understandable.

The thing I hate the most is this very British way of being miserable about everything. You don’t have to hate everything – British people are allowed to enjoy themselves occasionally, and we are allowed to get excited about things. A lot of it seems to be jumping on the bandwagon – it’s suddenly cool to be annoyed about the Olympics, because apparently it shows solidarity amongst all the places that don’t have events taking place. It doesn’t really – it just makes you look a bit stupid really, because it’s so bloody obvious that you only dislike it because lots of other people do too.

Personally, you wouldn’t get me into London for those two weeks for love nor money, because of the massive terrorism risk. I hope that nothing will go wrong because it doesn’t bear thinking about, but it just seems like such a big risk – all those people gathered together is an accident waiting to happen. There’s also the problem with the fact that there’ll be so much traffic disruption, the whole “will the underground cope?” debate (judging on what I’ve seen of it on a normal day at rush hour, my guess is that no, it won’t) and the tickets were so overpriced that there’d be no reason for me to go to London as I don’t have tickets anyway!

I’d rather be at home, where it’ll be busy (such is the side effect of living in a busy holiday area) but hopefully, not as busy as usual – I’m hoping many people will opt to stay at home for a couple of weeks and watch the Olympics, or that they’ve got tickets and will be in London, so we might get a couple of weeks of peace and quiet during what is usually our busiest time. That way, there’s no insane queuing, no travelling to be done, hopefully nice weather to enjoy and, if I want, I can watch the games on TV, but I won’t be having it shoved in my face all the time like I would be in London.

But, in short, if you’re sick of the Olympics by now, just ignore everything to do with it! No-one’s forcing you to read about it in the newspapers or buy merchandise or watch TV programmes about it – you can switch over or not read it or not buy the stuff. Some people really do need to realize that they are their own person – rather than expecting the rest of the world to tiptoe around them, maybe they should look out for themselves, stop blaming the TV or the LOCOG or anyone else and realize that, if you don’t want the Olympics being shoved in your face, the onus is on you to avoid it. This is, I think, a good thing for Britain (morally, in any event… financially, it remains to be seen!), and surely that is worth a few months of  a few whingers having to change their lives slightly to make it a bit more comfortable to them.