My Baffling Brain

Time for another Musing Monday, this week’s question is: Have you ever read a book after watching the movie/television version only to find that you don’t like the book as much as the adaptation? Most of the time when I watch a book adaptation, I prefer the book. this is the case for Harry Potter (the films really do not do the books justice), Twilight (the films are absolute rubbish compared to the books, although I admit I went to see Breaking Dawn Part Two the other day and enjoyed it quite a lot) and The Hunger Games (I loved this movie, but the book is still better). However, there is one exception: Lord of the Rings. It could be because I read the books after watching the movies. I absolutely love the Lord of the Rings movies, they’re some of my favourites, I’ve seen each of them at least 5 times. I asked for the books for Christmas one year, and was really excited to read them because I loved the movies so much, but I found them a bit hard to get through. I think I’m going to...

For this week's Express Yourself meme, the question was: What are a few inspirational quotes you'd like to pass along to others? My first few quotes are from Harry Potter, all said by Dumbledore, of course: It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live. You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be. Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it.  After all to the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. A couple of writing inspiration quotes: "People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them.  - George Bernard Shaw  "If there's a book you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."  - Toni Morrison ...

Musing Mondays is a weekly event held over at Should Be Reading , which I've decided to start participating in. (I'll be posting for the Express Yourself Meme on Thursdays now). The idea is, each Monday a question will be put up over there which we have to answer. This week's question is: Do you read the ending before you start a book? Do you ever skip ahead to read the ending? I used to do this when I was a teenager, but I would always find out something crucial that spoilt the book for me! I don't do it anymore for that reason; I want to be surprised when I get to the end of a book, I don't want to know what happens until it actually happens. I'm a fairly patient person, so unless it's a book I'm really excited about I don't feel the urge to skip to the end.  However, if I'm reading a book and I just can't get into it for whatever reason, I sometimes skip through just to find out if it's going to get any better, or even if i...

One of the additions to my new schedule is Flash Fiction Friday, since I hardly put writing up on here anymore. I'll find a prompt from a website, and use it to write a short flash fiction. This week's prompt is from this website, and is the first line; They were never happier than when they were arguing. I wrote it fairly quickly and it's not brilliant, but here it is: They were never happier than when they were arguing. Whether a tiny dispute over what channel to watch on TV, or a full blown fight, they were in their element. They rarely agreed on anything, and if they did they would lie, just to have something to argue about. It didn’t make any sense to me; why would anyone in their right mind rather argue than have a civil conversation? But then, I’m not the confrontational type; I’d much rather hide away in a corner somewhere than have to exchange harsh words with someone. I’d spent my whole life watching my parents rip each other to shreds during arguments, and it...

I used to say I would never, ever get a kindle - I like my books too much! But over the past few months, the idea of owning a kindle has been growing in my mind. A lot of bloggers I know have self-published books that are only available on the kindle, so this was one of the reasons I wanted to get one. Also, my bookshelf is pretty overcrowded so I could do with buying less paperback books! Originally I was just going to get the basic £69 kindle, as I only really wanted it for reading and didn't really want to spend too much money on it. However, my mum's a bad influence and persuaded me that I might as well pay the extra £50 and get one that I can do a lot more on. I'm glad she did, because I love my new Kindle Fire. Here are some good things about it: - It's much lighter than most of the books I tend to read - It has a backlight, so I'll never struggle to read it - You can download free books for it from Amazon - You can buy books for your Kindle at the cli...

This week for the Express Yourself Meme , we are asked to "Post a picture of your work area; cubicle, craft area, writing area, etc. Then explain what it is you do." Now, my actual job involves working in a supermarket, and I'm fairly certain most of you will have seen one of those before, so I decided to post a picture of my writing area instead. By the way, this picture was taken after  I tidied up; imagine what it was like before! This is where I spend the majority of my time when I'm not at work, writing and blogging and occasionally playing The Sims 3. If I need to hand-write something, I move the keyboard out of the way and put my notebook on the desk.  As you can see in the picture, I always have a cup of tea next to me, as well as whatever book I'm currently reading (The Casual Vacancy in this case) with my notebook and my recently acquired Kindle Fire on top of it (I'm doing a post about this on Thursday).  I could do with a bigger d...

To commemorate Remembrance day, I thought I'd put a war poem up on each of my blogs. I picked poems that I remember studying at college, my favourites. Someone on my facebook posted the poem "In Flanders Fields" which is what gave me the idea in the first place, and reminded me how much I love that poem, so I decided to put it up on my other blog here . For this blog, I found another poem which I love, having studied it in college as well; The Soldier by Rupert Brooke. If I should die, think only this of me: That there’s some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England. There shall be In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam, A body of England’s, breathing English air, Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home. And think, this heart, all evil shed away, A pulse in the eternal mind, no less Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England giv...

Heather from Random Interruptions has tagged me in "U Got the Look", thanks Heather! To take part in this I have to go to my current manuscript and find the word "look" and post the surrounding paragraphs, and then tag 5 other writers. I'm using my Camp Nano novel, which I haven't touched since I finished the first draft on the 31st August, so it's very rough! My first "look" is in the first few paragraphs, which I'll be changing dramatically when I edit, but I'll post them up anyway. As soon as the sun rose, Alexia got out of bed. She usually stayed in bed as long as she could get away with it, but not today. She’d hardly slept last night because of her excitement and nervousness, and now that it was actually morning, she could finally start getting ready for the most important day of her life so far. Alexia knew she was up far too early, but at least that meant she had a long while to prepare. Taking advantage of all the extra...

Time for the weekly Express Yourself Meme . This week’s theme is playlists, whether for writing or non-writing. I don't have a specific playlist for a WIP, I have a playlist on you-tube that I use, which I entitled “Writing” because I listen to it when I write – original, I know! My playlist is quite geeky – it’s mostly music from animes! I love anime music, and it helps me to concentrate when I need to write as the majority of it doesn't have lyrics and they really capture emotion very well. The songs are very helpful for getting me into the right frame of mind for a scene. Here is the link for the playlist – it really is mostly anime music: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3B2BCE55157ADBDC&feature=mh_lolz I also have a lot of piano music in the playlist, for the same reasons; I love piano music and I find it really brings out a lot of emotions in me. This playlist is great for sad scenes, or hopeful scenes, or just emotional scenes! It also relaxes me,...

I know I say this every month, but I can't believe another month has flown by! It's crazy how fast time flies when you're busy. So, time for my monthly goals! Last month my goals were: 1. Start planning my assignments - I haven't got as far as I'd like in planning my assignments, but I'm hoping to get a lot done this weekend while I'm off work. I only have one assignment due in before Christmas, so I don't have to start panicking too much. 2. Try to find time to read - I finally managed to start A Casual Vacancy yesterday, so hopefully I'll get that finished soon, and put a review up. 3. Set aside one day a week for piano practise - Yet again, I haven't spent any time practising. At the minute this is my lowest priority, but I'm hoping I'll get some time to practise soon! Here are this months goals: 1. Do my first assignment well - it's due on the 14th of November, and I want to get it planned and written plenty of time be...