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 I'm celebrating: - My new hours at work. My manager told me yesterday that I'll be doing them permanently at least two days a week, so that's great. I'm really enjoying the later shifts.  - Making progress on my A to Z theme - I have a subject for every letter apart from Y, and I should be getting started on research in a couple of days.  - My mum bought me the Thor boxset yesterday - I've been asking for it for ages, so I'm super happy about that. I can't wait for us to watch it. - I bought my mum Grey's Anatomy season 9 for Christmas, and we finally started watching it this week. I forgot how much I loved it!

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 still reading CassaFire by Alex J. Cavanaugh, but I should get it finished soon. I've had more time to read lately, so I'm getting through it faster than I was. It's an excellent read, hopefully I can sit down and finish the rest of the book within the next couple of days. 2. What I'm writing I'm still working on my revised outline for my NaNo novel. It's taking a while, but I should have more time and energy to work on it now that my work hours have changed.  I'm also working on my A to Z posts. I haven't started writing the posts yet, but I've decided on a theme and I have a subject for every letter apart from Y, which I'm struggling with! I'm sure I'll find something; at least it's one...

It's almost April, and I'm sure most of you know what that means; the A to Z Challenge is almost upon us! If you don't know exactly what the challenge entails, you can find out more here . This year will be my third time taking part in the challenge, but I still feel the same excitement I felt when I first participated. Anyone who is on the fence about participating, I strongly urge you to sign up. There are so many benefits to taking part, and if you plan your posts in advance and work out a system for visiting other blogs on the sign up list, it really isn't as difficult as it might seem. Why you should take part in the challenge: - You get to meet so many interesting bloggers from around the world, who you might never have come across without the challenge. It's great for community building. - Chances are you're going to gain quite a few new followers to your blog. - Every blogger posts about something different for each letter, some even com...

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: - Porridge. I've never appreciated it so much before. I usually get the pots that you only have to put hot water in, since they're so convenient for taking to work, but I made home-made porridge on Tuesday and it was delicious. It's just what I need with all this wintry weather - it warms me right up.  - My new favourite drink, a nutella, banana and oat smoothie from this recipe . I've never had a blender before, but Joe (my mum's boyfriend, who we moved in with last December) has one, so I've been having some fun with it. This recipe is by far my favourite, for now at least.  - I spent some time with my sister on Wednesday, making flapjacks and watching Shrek 2. I love spending time with her, but I don't get to much since I moved.  ...

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 still reading CassaFire by Alex J. Cavanaugh. I haven't had much time to read in the last week, but hopefully I'll get more this next week. I'm behind on my reading goal for the year, but I know I can catch up. 2. What I'm writing I've started my revised outline for my NaNo novel, and I'm quite excited about the progress I've made. I've changed quite a lot of the story, and added quite a few extra scenes. This is a good thing, since my first drafts are always the bare bones of a story - I always need to add more, rather than take scenes away.  I've also been getting quite a few short story ideas, though I haven't started working on them yet. 3. What else I've been up to Work ha...

Jennifer Ellis is releasing her novel Weaver today! As a Weaver, Myra Castor has always depended on her ability to read the lines of the universe, and create new possibilities in the fabric of reality to keep her footing in a world that most people have no control over. But when she hears that her mentor, Susan, has died of a heart attack, Myra's world begins to fall apart.  Before Myra can process the news, Jack, another of Susan's students - and Myra's former lover - appears on her doorstep. He tells her Susan's death wasn't a heart attack, and when he shows Myra an anomaly - a hole in the universe - that leads to a dead world full of ghosts, Myra begins to question her perception of reality. She knows that without intervention, the lines holding the universe together will unbind, and slip away into oblivion, and their world will cease to exist.  Together, Myra and Jack work their way through the anomalies riddling their part of the universe, se...

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: - I finished reading my NaNo draft, something that I've been trying to get done since the start of January. It feels great that I've finally got it done, and now I can move onto creating a revised outline for my story, and get started on edits.  - I had a great Valentine's Day part one with my boyfriend on Tuesday, since we won't get to see each other tonight. I'm looking forward to Part Two next Tuesday - I think we're planning on going for a day out this time.  - I got so stuck into a book ( An Unstill Life by Kate Larkindale) that I had to force myself to stop reading and go to sleep at 12.30am, even though I really didn't want to! I love it when a book has that much of an effect on me. 

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 started reading An Unstill Life by Kate Larkindale on Monday night, and finished it on Tuesday morning. I won it in a giveaway a few weeks ago, and I'm so glad I did. I stayed up until gone midnight on Monday night reading it - I haven't done that with a book in a long while. I would definitely recommend it.  Next I'll be reading CassaFire by Alex J. Cavanaugh. 2. What I'm writing Still not much, but I did manage to finish the first read-through of my NaNo draft on Monday. I've got pages of notes for it, and I'm looking forward to getting to work on revisions. I'll be doing a revised outline for it today, then I can get started. 3. What else I've been up to I went to my boyfriend's last ni...

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: - M. J. Joachim has chosen me to be one of her A-Z Techs! I love the A-Z Challenge; this is my third year taking part. I'm even more excited for April now :) - I managed to get myself a copy of Alex J. Cavanaugh's novel CassaFire for 77p on Tuesday - what a bargain! I read CassaStar last year, and I've been wanting to get CassaFire for ages. The offer is on until the 10th on Amazon, for anyone who wants to get it. - I just booked a holiday in May to one of my favourite places - Centerparcs ! I absolutely can't wait, and I'm so glad I've got it booked finally; it's nice to have something to look forward to. 

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 . It hasn't been a good start to the year. I had high hopes for January - I was planning to write at least two short stories, get well on my way with the revisions on my NaNo novel, and get a head start on my Goodreads reading challenge.  Unfortunately, I didn't manage any of these things. I only managed to get two-thirds of the way through the first read-through of my NaNo novel, I didn't get any short stories written and I only managed to read 4 of the 6 books I wanted to read, therefore putting me behind on all of my goals.  However, I'm not going to let this bring me down. It's not like I didn't get these things done because I couldn't be bothered ...

I had a pretty bad January - I spent most of it lying on the sofa reading or watching TV, waiting for my illness to pass. It seems to be gone now, though, I just hope it doesn't come back. There have been a couple of times when I thought it had gone, only for it to come back a couple of days later. My January goals: - Read my NaNo draft and start revisions - While I didn't get this done, I'm proud of the work I did do. I still haven't finished the first read-through, but I have a lot of notes on the chapters I have read. I'll be able to finish the read-through fairly quickly, then I can get started on the revisions. - Read 6 books - I only managed to read 4 books this month. It was easier just to watch TV, so that's what I did most of the time. - Join a gym -  While I did join a gym, I only managed to go 3 times, because of my illness. However, that's 3 times more than I would have gone if I hadn't joined, so it's better than nothing. - See The ...