My Baffling Brain

Celebrate the Small Things is a weekly bloghop hosted by Viklit over at Scribblings of an Aspiring Author . The idea is to post anything you want to celebrate from the last week. This week, however, Vikki thought it would be a great idea to celebrate the whole year, rather than the week. I have to say, I thought this was a brilliant idea. So, the main things I'm celebrating from this year are: "Helping" us wrap Christmas presents - This little beauty is probably the best thing that happened to me this year. We had to get our dog put down in April, and the house was just so empty and depressing - I hated coming home from work. So my mum decided we should get a kitten. I was a little dubious - I'd always been a dog person. I've been converted, though; I never thought I could love a cat as much as I love Misty. Mostly because I didn't know cats could be as affectionate and loving as she is. My dissertation - I passed my Masters degree with Merit -...

Celebrate the Small Things is a weekly bloghop hosted by Viklit over at Scribblings of an Aspiring Author . The idea is to post anything you want to celebrate from the last week. This week I'm celebrating: - getting most of my Christmas shopping finished. There's only a few bits and pieces left to sort out now. I've wrapped them all up, too, which I'm kind of sad about - I like wrapping presents! - Christmas! It's my favourite time of year, even if it did creep up on me a bit this year. I've got Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day off work, so I'm looking forward to relaxing. I'm doing 3am starts for the next three days, so I'll need the break! 

What’s Up Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Erin L Funk and Jaime Morrow , and the idea is to let other bloggers know where you are with any writing and reading goals you may have. 1. What I'm reading I just finished reading Angelfall by Susan Ee. I'd heard a lot of good things about it, and it didn't disappoint! I just ordered the second book in the series on my Kindle, so I'll be reading that next. I'm also reading Echo by Alyson Noel - the first in the series wasn't brilliant, but I saw this in a book shop the other day and thought I would give it a chance.  2. What I'm writing Not much at the minute - I'm barely keeping up with my blog posts. Once Christmas is over I'll be starting my NaNo edits, so I'll be spending a lot of time writing then. 3. What else I've been up to Mostly working and getting ready for Christmas. I put the Christmas tree up on Monday, so it actually feels like Christmas n...

Celebrate the Small Things is a weekly bloghop hosted by Viklit over at Scribblings of an Aspiring Author . The idea is to post anything you want to celebrate from the last week. This week I'm celebrating: - life in the new house is still going well, my Mum and I are getting used to it now, and I think her boyfriend and his son are getting used to us. It's starting to feel like home.  - we went to a Christmas market on Sunday, and it was great. Very festive, and I actually managed to start my Christmas shopping! I've left it very late this year, but that's because I had to wait to get paid first! - my Mum and I watched The Hobbit the other day in preparation for the next one. We won't be able to see it until sometime next week though, but I'm sure it'll be worth the wait!

Celebrate the Small Things is a weekly bloghop hosted by Viklit over at Scribblings of an Aspiring Author . The idea is to post anything you want to celebrate from the last week. This week I'm celebrating: - The move went well - we're almost settled in now, the hardest part is finding places to put our stuff! My new bedroom is really small, so storage is a bit of an issue, but I'm sure we'll find a way. - I work in a supermarket, and I transferred to one here in Hull after the move. I've done two days so far, and it's going well. Everyone is friendly, and I already know what I'm doing, which is good. - I have a lot of free time at the minute, and I'm just using it to relax for the time being. It's nice not having to worry about deadlines.

Is it really December already? I can't believe how fast November went. These are the goals I gave myself last month: - Read 4 books - I only just managed this one, which means I'm at 45 out of my goal of 50 books for the year. - Nanowrimo! - Done. I finished my 50000 words on the 25th of November, thank goodness. I can't wait to get started on editing in January. - Get ready for moving, and move! - Phew, this was the hardest part of the last month, but it's all over now. We're all settled in our new house. - Get started on Christmas shopping - One thing has stopped me from achieving this goal, and that's a lack of money. I'm going to have to wait until I get paid later this month - it's cutting it fine, but it'll get done. Here are my goals for December: - Read 5 books - I only have 5 more books to read to achieve my goal of 50 books for the year, so I'll be reading a lot this month, I think. That suits me just fine! - See Th...

If you're looking for my IWSG post, you can find it here . What’s Up Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by  Erin L Funk  and  Jaime Morrow , and the idea is to let other bloggers know where you are with any writing and reading goals you may have. 1. What I'm reading I just finished reading  The Faerie War  by Rachel Morgan yesterday. I've really loved this series; I haven't been able to read it in the last couple of days, since I packed my Kindle away for the move and couldn't find it when we arrived here. I found it yesterday, and devoured the final book in a couple of hours. Since I'm done moving, I'm going to go back to reading two books at once; one paperback, and one on my Kindle. For my Kindle book, I'm going to read Angelfall by Susan Ee. It's been on my to-read list for a while. For my paperback, I'm going to read Divergent again, because it's been a long time since I read it, and Allegiant kind...

The Insecure Writer's Support Group was created by Alex J. Cavanaugh as a place where writers can talk about their insecurities once a month, and receive encouragement and support from other writers. It's such an amazing group, it even has its own website now, which you can visit here . I'm feeling pretty good about my writing right now, purely because I've just won NaNoWriMo; there's something about writing 50000 words in a month that really makes you feel good about yourself. I even managed to finish a few days early, something I never thought I could do. My main insecurity dwells within those 50000 words. I have to keep reminding myself that it is a first draft; it's meant to be rough, there are bound to be a lot of problems with it. The ending is the part I have the most problems with; it just doesn't work. It'll be the hardest part of editing, I think; it needs a complete re-write. When I finished the 50000 words it took a while for the ...

Celebrate the Small Things is a weekly bloghop hosted by Viklit over at Scribblings of an Aspiring Author . The idea is to post anything you want to celebrate from the last week. This week I'm celebrating: - Finishing NaNo! I have my first draft completed, and I already have plans for editing - I know the major plot holes, the things I need to change, and I have plenty of ideas on how to improve it. I'm going to lock it away until January, and then I'll be in full editing mode! - I had my last day at work today - it was sad to say goodbye to my co-workers, but they gave me a great send off, complete with a card, a home-made decorative owl and a gift card. I'll miss them all, but I still have the Christmas party on Sunday to look forward to! - I'm moving on Sunday! I can't wait to be settled in the new house. - Rachel Morgan and her Creepy Hollow series - I finished the second in the series yesterday, and immediately bought the third - I...

What’s Up Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by  Erin L Funk  and  Jaime Morrow , and the idea is to let other bloggers know where you are with any writing and reading goals you may have. 1. What I'm reading I'm currently reading The Faerie Prince by Rachel Morgan. I read The Faerie Guardian last week, I'm really loving this series! I'm hoping to get more reading time now that I've finished NaNo; it's been awful not being able to properly sink my teeth into this series!  2. What I'm writing Nothing! I finished NaNo on Monday, so I'm taking a well-deserved break from writing. I don't really have the time anyway, what with the big move this weekend! 3. What else I've been up to I spent most of my weekend writing, trying to get NaNo finished, which I did on Monday. The rest of the time has been spent packing and sending stuff over to Hull, which is where I'm moving to this wee...

I'm a winner! Yesterday I wrote 5239 words, finishing my 50000 words for this year's NaNoWriMo. I'm glad it's finally done - it'll be nice having some free time again! Of course, most of it will be spent packing, but at least I have time for that now! Here are my stats: Your Average Per Day 2,006  Words Written Today (Monday) 5,239  Target Word Count 50,000 Target Average Words Per Day 1,667 Total Words Written 50,174  WINNER! Words Remaining 0 Current Day 25  Days Remaining 6 Goal Achieved On November 25, 2013 Words Per Day To Finish On Time 0 Day 1 Day 4 Day 7 Day 10 Day 13 Day 16 Day 19 Day 22 Day 25 Day 28 0 15,000 30,000 45,000 60,000 Words Edit Word Count By Day

Celebrate the Small Things is a weekly bloghop hosted by Viklit over at Scribblings of an Aspiring Author . The idea is to post anything you want to celebrate from the last week. This week I'm celebrating:  - since I watched the first Thor last week, I was able to go and see the new one at the cinema on Tuesday, and it was awesome! I totally love Loki, he's such an awesome character. It's made me really want to watch The Avengers again, but I can't find my copy.  - I've been getting on quite well with NaNo - I'm hoping to have my 50k done by Tuesday, which leaves me four days to focus all my energy on packing! - One week until the big move! My mum and I took a lot of stuff over to Hull (the city we're moving to) yesterday, so there's only little bits to take over now. It's all starting to come together, and that's equally exciting and terrifying!  - I took Misty to the vets on Wednesday to be spayed, and she was not a happy...

If you're looking for my Celebrate the Small Things post, you can find it here . Today I'm helping Crystal Collier out with her blog tour to promote her novel, Moonless , by doing a character interview. Alexia’s nightmares become reality: a dead baron, red-eyed wraiths, and forbidden love with a man hunted by these creatures. After an attack close to home, Alexia realizes she cannot keep one foot in her old life and one in this new world. To protect her family she must either be sold into a loveless marriage, or escape with her beloved and risk becoming one of the Soulless. MOONLESS is Jane Eyre meets Supernatural. Kiren takes a seat across from Laura, ginger hair framing his clean-shaven face. Paralyzing blue eyes lift to his interviewer and one eyebrow pops.  - Thank you for agreeing to this interview. Did I agree, or did my writer agree? - If you hadn’t wanted to take part, I’m sure your writer couldn’t force you. *he smirks* -So tell me, what is i...

Celebrate the Small Things is a weekly bloghop hosted by Viklit over at Scribblings of an Aspiring Author. The idea is to post anything you want to celebrate from the last week. This week I'm celebrating: - Getting back on track with NaNoWriMo - I got a little behind with my project earlier on in the week, but I'm back on track now. I'm hoping to power through and try to get it done a little early, so I can devote my full time and energy to moving on the 29th.  - Speaking of the move, my mum and I have got a lot done this week, mainly packing and organising. Just two weeks to go, which is quite scary! Exciting at the same time, though. - I watched Thor for the first time on Tuesday with my boyfriend - I've been meaning to watch it for ages, and it was worth the wait! Hopefully I'll get to see the new one soon.

Phew, what a week! I was doing really well towards the end of last week; I got a decent amount of writing done on Thursday and Friday, so I was ahead for a while. Then on Saturday I couldn't get any writing done at all, and on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday I only got a few hundred words down for each day, so by yesterday I was very behind! What with working and getting ready for the move, which is just in a couple of weeks now, I really haven't been able to write very much. Luckily I had a day off yesterday, and managed to catch up. I wrote 3983 words, which is quite a lot for me to write in a day, so I'm pretty proud of myself for that. I also got a lot of packing done too, so it was a productive day. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up better this week! Here are my stats: Your Average Per Day 1,673  Words Written Today (Wednesday) 3,983  Target Word Count 50,000 Target Average Words Per Day 1,667 Total Words Written 21,753  Words Rem...

Celebrate the Small Things is a weekly bloghop hosted by Viklit over at Scribblings of an Aspiring Author . The idea is to post anything you want to celebrate from the last week. This week I'm celebrating: - NaNo! It's going really well for me so far, but I know it's only a week in so that could change.  - I got a $10 amazon voucher from Jackie  for being a runner up in Spooktoberfest - I immediately used it to buy a couple of books for my kindle, definitely something worth celebrating! - I've had some really good ideas for Christmas presents, which is great because I was struggling a little. Now I can't wait to get started on them.

I meant to do my first NaNo update on Tuesday, but time got away from me in the end. I'm currently ahead, because I managed to get 3325 words written yesterday. I'm hoping to get about the same written today, as I want to finish before the end of November. Here are my stats so far, taken yesterday: Your Average Per Day 1,957  Words Written Today 3,325  Target Word Count 50,000 Target Average Words Per Day 1,667 Total Words Written 11,744  Words Remaining 38,256 Current Day 6  Days Remaining 25 At This Rate You Will Finish On November 26, 2013 Words Per Day To Finish On Time 1,531 Day 1 Day 4 Day 7 Day 10 Day 13 Day 16 Day 19 Day 22 Day 25 Day 28 0 15,000 30,000 45,000 60,000 Words