I've started up my new blog for this year's Book Count. Again, my target is different, but there are new rules. It's a fresh start, and I'm already close to putting my first book of the year (Looking For Alaska by John Green) on there. It's funny how, last year, I'd read four books by the 3rd January. This year, it's the 6th and I've barely even finished one. However, I do have other things to think about (i.e. exams) so reading isn't my main priority.
Anyway, if you'd like to follow my 2011 Book Count blog, you can find it here. My 2010 Book Count, for anyone curious, can be found here.
I don't have much else to say, other than it's kind of late and I'm tired so I'll be going to bed now. Goodnight!
Showing posts with label Book Count. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Count. Show all posts
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Saturday, 30 October 2010
Such Little Time
I am fully aware that I haven't blogged in an entire month, but I'm not going to apologise for it, because it genuinely isn't my fault. For the past three and a half weeks (since Friday 9th), I've been stuck in my bedroom with the lights off and (new, black, thick) curtains drawn, unable to do anything but watch movies and sleep. I only left my room to get more water, eat, and go to the loo.
Because I've had the worst migraine ever.
I was up crying with my mum one night during the first week, and a little while later, I actually went into A+E. That's how bad it was. The slightest noise or sliver of light made my hands instinctively fly up to cover my eyes and let out a whimper of pain. It was awful. Eventually, I started spending a few minutes on the computer, but I couldn't read more than a couple of sentences at a time, and I had to set it aside every ten minutes. Therefore, I wasn't up for being on the interwebs, let alone writing a blog.
It's been gradually easing, and it's nearly completely gone now, but having been sheltered from noise/light for so long, I'm still rather sensitive towards it. I've missed two weeks of school, and this week is half-term, but I'll be going to back on Monday.
But that's not the only thing I'm doing on Monday. Throughout November, I'll be participating in NaNoWriMo. For those of you who don't know, that stands for National Novel Writing Month. As it sounds, you have to write a novel in one month. Specifically, a novel with at least 50,000 words in it. Now, I'm not actually doing that ... I'm doing the NaNoWriMo Young Writers' Project, which is for people up to the age of seventeen who don't feel capable of doing the entire 50k. Unlike the original site, you can set your own goal -- I'm going for 25,000 words. So you probably won't be hearing much from me throughout November, either. AND in December, I'm going to be editing, studying, AND reading my friends' novels.
But I'll try to blog as much as I can.
I'm really worried about my Book Count. I know it's just a fun challenge that I've been partaking in all year, but I still have to read eight books before 31st December, at 11:59pm. I can almost hear you now: "What are you on about? You still have two months!" But with November pretty much cramped, and December I'm pretty busy, I don't know how many books I'll manage to read. (I will, however, be counting my friends' novels towards it). But even more importantly than my Book Count, is my English teacher's. He wants everyone in our class to read ten books before the end of term. That means that the few days before the New Year (which is when I generally get a lot of reading done) won't count towards his ... manga doesn't count in his mind, and 10 poems can equal "one book" in our book logs -- but I still don't know how I'm going to manage.
I'm thinking that maybe I'll let him know about NaNoWriMo, and see if he'll let me read a lower book count/let my friends' novels count towards it.
Anyway, I have to go and eat dinner now. I have another blog in the works that I started while I was ill (wrote about three paragraphs before it got too much), and I'll probably finish that while procrastinating next month. Heh.
Because I've had the worst migraine ever.
I was up crying with my mum one night during the first week, and a little while later, I actually went into A+E. That's how bad it was. The slightest noise or sliver of light made my hands instinctively fly up to cover my eyes and let out a whimper of pain. It was awful. Eventually, I started spending a few minutes on the computer, but I couldn't read more than a couple of sentences at a time, and I had to set it aside every ten minutes. Therefore, I wasn't up for being on the interwebs, let alone writing a blog.
It's been gradually easing, and it's nearly completely gone now, but having been sheltered from noise/light for so long, I'm still rather sensitive towards it. I've missed two weeks of school, and this week is half-term, but I'll be going to back on Monday.
But that's not the only thing I'm doing on Monday. Throughout November, I'll be participating in NaNoWriMo. For those of you who don't know, that stands for National Novel Writing Month. As it sounds, you have to write a novel in one month. Specifically, a novel with at least 50,000 words in it. Now, I'm not actually doing that ... I'm doing the NaNoWriMo Young Writers' Project, which is for people up to the age of seventeen who don't feel capable of doing the entire 50k. Unlike the original site, you can set your own goal -- I'm going for 25,000 words. So you probably won't be hearing much from me throughout November, either. AND in December, I'm going to be editing, studying, AND reading my friends' novels.
But I'll try to blog as much as I can.
I'm really worried about my Book Count. I know it's just a fun challenge that I've been partaking in all year, but I still have to read eight books before 31st December, at 11:59pm. I can almost hear you now: "What are you on about? You still have two months!" But with November pretty much cramped, and December I'm pretty busy, I don't know how many books I'll manage to read. (I will, however, be counting my friends' novels towards it). But even more importantly than my Book Count, is my English teacher's. He wants everyone in our class to read ten books before the end of term. That means that the few days before the New Year (which is when I generally get a lot of reading done) won't count towards his ... manga doesn't count in his mind, and 10 poems can equal "one book" in our book logs -- but I still don't know how I'm going to manage.
I'm thinking that maybe I'll let him know about NaNoWriMo, and see if he'll let me read a lower book count/let my friends' novels count towards it.
Anyway, I have to go and eat dinner now. I have another blog in the works that I started while I was ill (wrote about three paragraphs before it got too much), and I'll probably finish that while procrastinating next month. Heh.
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Eye Diary
For the next thirty days, I have to write a diary. An eye diary, specifically. Yes. An eye diary. Well, that's what I'm calling it. No one knows this, but I actually have a diary. A proper one. I haven't written in it about two years. It's light pink, with two sleeping labrador puppies on it. It's pretty cute. Okay, I just looked in it. The last time I wrote in it was December 09. But I haven't taken it seriously since I was about nine. The last time I wrote in it, it was notes for a new story I never got round to writing. And even when I took it seriously, I was hopeless with it. I'd think "I'm going to write in my diary when I get home", but I'd forget, and it'd sit in my drawer for a couple of weeks without me thinking about it.
Which is why I'm going to hopeless with this eye diary. I should probably explain what my eye diary is.
I went to the opticians today and I told him how things were starting to get slightly blurry even with my glasses on, but the blurriness is only periodically. And so, over the next month, he wants to me record the time and date every time my vision blurs, and include what I was doing/how I was feeling. I've already written in it.
Which is why I'm going to hopeless with this eye diary. I should probably explain what my eye diary is.
I went to the opticians today and I told him how things were starting to get slightly blurry even with my glasses on, but the blurriness is only periodically. And so, over the next month, he wants to me record the time and date every time my vision blurs, and include what I was doing/how I was feeling. I've already written in it.
September 2nd. 16:50.
Reading online.
And I actually need to write in it now because the screen is starting to blur. Grr.
Okay, written in it. "Typing. Kinda tired." was my doing/feeling description. Heh. So, I reckon I'm going to last a couple of days and then completely forget about it, because I have the memory of a seventy-year-old. However, if I remember by the 6th, I'll take the diary (a plain, black notebook we got from a Pound shop in my town XD) to school with me, and hopefully, having it with me will help me remember. And if I get into the habit, I might continue to record it. The optician said I only had to do it for a month, but I think it'd be easier to spot a pattern if I record throughout the six months between now and my next appointment.
Or I could do it for a month, stop, and do it again in February (appointment is in March), to get a more up-to-date record of how mucked up my eyesight is.
In other news, I got this awesome t-shirt, I've started reading Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (it's amazing), this competition I'm holding with a friend (Amy) on HPFC has ended and I'm going through the process of judging all the entries, I'm participating in my Dribble Drabble challenge for the second time, I'm ten books away from completing my 2010 Book Count challenge, and I'm going back to school on Monday. I'll post a back to school blog on Sunday, and my holiday blog is still in the works XD
Saturday, 28 August 2010
Tiny Update
I'm sorry I haven't blogged in ages. I've been pre-occupied. I have a half-written draft of my holiday blog waiting to be finished and I really don't want to write it but a part of me does. Yeah.
So, I went out with Jess the Thursday before last, and while we were waiting at the bus stop to go home, this rather chavvy-looking guy in his late teens comes over from the next bus stop down and says "Ello ladies, my friend over there (he points to the taller one of two other chavvy guys) thinks you're fit and he was wondering if he could have your number. Oh, and how old are you?"
Instantly, I noticed how he didn't specify which one of us he was talking to, and he was looking at both of us, so presumably, if it was legit, his friend wanted BOTH of our numbers. The little player. "I'm thirteen," was all I said, and my nose was wrinkled slightly. He asked Jess how old she was, and she said "Thirteen", too. He nodded, and then as he was walking away, he cracked up and pointed at his friend. He called him something that I didn't quite catch, and yelled "They're thirteen!" for the entire world to hear.
From the look on his friend's face, it was a joke (and one that he had been left out of), and he started shaking his head at us and mouthing words that we couldn't lipread.
That's pretty much the only eventful thing that's happened recently.
BUT, on that same Thursday, someone I know committed suicide (I didn't find out until last Saturday), and Esther Earl lost her life to cancer during the early hours of the Thursday morning just passed. You're not to know this but Lisa, the person I know, had been mentally ill for a long time, and she'd had enough so she committed suicide. I'm not going into any more details because I'm not meant to tell anyone. She was the mother of an old friend, and she was an amazing person. Esther Earl was a sixteen-year-old nerdfighter who I didn't know personally, but I looked up to and respected. After a four-year-long battle to cancer, she passed away.
So it's been a very sad week for me. I can't wait to see what happens NEXT Thursday ... *sigh*
On the bright side, my best friend Katie lost a bet between us and wrote me this amazing fic that I think you should check out. AND I've decided that I'm going to be participating in NaNoWriMo this year, but not the official one. I'm doing the Young Writer's NaNoWriMo, because there's no way I can write 50k words in a month. Not now. The YWP, as I'll refer to it from here on in, is a flexible NaNoWriMo challenge that lets people of ages 17 and under set their own writing target, rather than aiming for 50k. I'm going for 25k, and each year, I'll raise it by 5k or whatever, until I feel confident enough for 50k.
Anyway - a holiday blog is on it's way, and I'm going to go and read some more of An Abundance of Katherines. Speaking of reading, I only have eleven more books to read until I reach my goal, and four months to do that in. It's going to be so easy. Also, once I hit my target, I'll continue recording the books I read. For the hell of it.
See ya!
So, I went out with Jess the Thursday before last, and while we were waiting at the bus stop to go home, this rather chavvy-looking guy in his late teens comes over from the next bus stop down and says "Ello ladies, my friend over there (he points to the taller one of two other chavvy guys) thinks you're fit and he was wondering if he could have your number. Oh, and how old are you?"
Instantly, I noticed how he didn't specify which one of us he was talking to, and he was looking at both of us, so presumably, if it was legit, his friend wanted BOTH of our numbers. The little player. "I'm thirteen," was all I said, and my nose was wrinkled slightly. He asked Jess how old she was, and she said "Thirteen", too. He nodded, and then as he was walking away, he cracked up and pointed at his friend. He called him something that I didn't quite catch, and yelled "They're thirteen!" for the entire world to hear.
From the look on his friend's face, it was a joke (and one that he had been left out of), and he started shaking his head at us and mouthing words that we couldn't lipread.
That's pretty much the only eventful thing that's happened recently.
BUT, on that same Thursday, someone I know committed suicide (I didn't find out until last Saturday), and Esther Earl lost her life to cancer during the early hours of the Thursday morning just passed. You're not to know this but Lisa, the person I know, had been mentally ill for a long time, and she'd had enough so she committed suicide. I'm not going into any more details because I'm not meant to tell anyone. She was the mother of an old friend, and she was an amazing person. Esther Earl was a sixteen-year-old nerdfighter who I didn't know personally, but I looked up to and respected. After a four-year-long battle to cancer, she passed away.
So it's been a very sad week for me. I can't wait to see what happens NEXT Thursday ... *sigh*
On the bright side, my best friend Katie lost a bet between us and wrote me this amazing fic that I think you should check out. AND I've decided that I'm going to be participating in NaNoWriMo this year, but not the official one. I'm doing the Young Writer's NaNoWriMo, because there's no way I can write 50k words in a month. Not now. The YWP, as I'll refer to it from here on in, is a flexible NaNoWriMo challenge that lets people of ages 17 and under set their own writing target, rather than aiming for 50k. I'm going for 25k, and each year, I'll raise it by 5k or whatever, until I feel confident enough for 50k.
Anyway - a holiday blog is on it's way, and I'm going to go and read some more of An Abundance of Katherines. Speaking of reading, I only have eleven more books to read until I reach my goal, and four months to do that in. It's going to be so easy. Also, once I hit my target, I'll continue recording the books I read. For the hell of it.
See ya!
Saturday, 3 April 2010
"Blog Every Day in April", Half-Term, and Books.
'Blog Every Day in April', often called BEDA, is something a lot of nerdfighters do. Or, at least, did last year. A few of them are doing it again this year, like HayleyGHoover. Some, like Kristina Horner are doing BMFA (Blog More Frequently In April). How do they DO it? Quite frankly, I wouldn't have the inspiration nor the time to blog EVERY day in April. BEDA is also 'Blog Every Day in August', which Kristina says she's going to do with Maureen Johnson (author). But, still, it seems next to impossible to blog every single day for an entire month. Ahh!
In other news, it's half-term! I go back to school on 19th April, but until then, freeeeedom! Which will probably be spent locked up in my room reading, writing, blogging and generally being anti-social. For this first week, my best friend Jess has gone to Yorkshire so I definitely won't be going out, but we'll probably arrange to do something when she gets back (like finally going to Alice in Wonderland, which we've been rescheduling for weeks). My aunt and her husband are coming down from Ipswich this weekend for a couple of days, and like always, I'm getting kicked out of my room to make room for them. Just because my mum doesn't want to give up her double bed and my grandparents don't want to give up theirs, I have to give up my single bed and my futon because I don't get a say in the matter. Arrghh. I'm a teenage girl, I like my privacy, and I don't want adults snooping around my room! But now I have to share my mum's room for a couple of days. And I never sleep well in her room! It gives me the creeps.
I've challenged myself to read at least three books this half-term, because I haven't been reading much, and if I want to complete my 2010 Book Count challenge by the end of the year, I need to pick up the slack - and fast. Since January, I've only read three books. And that's not acceptable.
There isn't really a point to this blog, other than to tell you what I've told you. Usually, I start writing a blog with a purpose in mind, but this was more of a "I'll just open up a new blog page and see what spews out." Alas, this was born.
In other news, it's half-term! I go back to school on 19th April, but until then, freeeeedom! Which will probably be spent locked up in my room reading, writing, blogging and generally being anti-social. For this first week, my best friend Jess has gone to Yorkshire so I definitely won't be going out, but we'll probably arrange to do something when she gets back (like finally going to Alice in Wonderland, which we've been rescheduling for weeks). My aunt and her husband are coming down from Ipswich this weekend for a couple of days, and like always, I'm getting kicked out of my room to make room for them. Just because my mum doesn't want to give up her double bed and my grandparents don't want to give up theirs, I have to give up my single bed and my futon because I don't get a say in the matter. Arrghh. I'm a teenage girl, I like my privacy, and I don't want adults snooping around my room! But now I have to share my mum's room for a couple of days. And I never sleep well in her room! It gives me the creeps.
I've challenged myself to read at least three books this half-term, because I haven't been reading much, and if I want to complete my 2010 Book Count challenge by the end of the year, I need to pick up the slack - and fast. Since January, I've only read three books. And that's not acceptable.
There isn't really a point to this blog, other than to tell you what I've told you. Usually, I start writing a blog with a purpose in mind, but this was more of a "I'll just open up a new blog page and see what spews out." Alas, this was born.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)