My First Blogfest!

I'm taking part in my first blogfest! Hurray!

Here are the credentials for the posts. I'll be well finished my exams by then so it'll be no trouble for me to do come February!

The Posts:

February 6th - Monday: Characters on the couch: Have one of your characters answer the following questions (to make this work to your benefit, choose a character who is the hardest for you to write :) Max 250 words (Not including the questions—only the answers).

1.      What is your biggest vulnerability? Do others know this or is it a secret?

2.      What do people believe about you that is false?

3.      What would your best friend say is your fatal flaw? Why?

4.      What would the same friend say is your one redeeming quality? Why?

5.      What do you want most? What will you do to get it?

February 8th - Wednesday - Dialogue Introduction: Have two characters introduce each other using only dialogue—no backstory, no internalization, just dialogue between the two. Max 250 words.

February 10th - Friday - Emotion Flash Fiction: Emotion is the engine of a story. Pick an emotion and in a flash fiction piece of 250 words MAKE us feel it! We want to connect with your character. This will be a challenge in 250 words.

If you want to take part, of just find out about this and of course the fabulous prizes, then check out either of the co-hosting blogs HERE or HERE. 

I'm very excited! So keep tuned for those posts on the 6th, 8th and 10th of February!

Sarah x 

Starstruck: Period Drama Costume Exhibition

WARNING: Picture heavy posts.

A while ago there was an exhibition in my local museum which featured actual costumes from some of the best known and loved period drama films and TV shows. It was a fabulous experience seeing all the costumes up close and personal. The detail is so fine, way beyond what the camera's can pick up, so I wonder why they do it? The work that would have gone into some of them is astounding.

Here are some of the pictures of my favourite costumes, the movie that they're in and the actor/actress that wears it.

Howards End - Susie Linderman

Onegin - Liv Tyler

The Secret Garden - Irene Jacobs

The Merchant Of Venice - Joesph Fiennes

Portrait Of A Lady - Nicole Kidman

Charles II: The Power And The Passion - Rufus Sewell

Downton Abbey - Maggie Smith

Downton Abbey - Jessica Brown-Findlay

Downton Abbey - Thomas Howes and Rose Leslie

Downton Abbey - Michelle Dockery

Pride and Prejudice - Colin Firth

Elizabeth I - Cate Blanchett

Phantom Of The Opera - Minnie Driver

Casanova - Heath Ledger 

The Kings Speech - Freya Wilson and Ramona Marquez

The Kings Speech - Colin Firth

The King's Speech - Helena Bonham Carter

Ever After - Drew Barrymore

Sarah xx

Wordless Wednesday: Panic

The Wonders of Listening

I don't know if there are many people who listen to Audiobooks, or even to spoken word on the radio but I just love having people talk to me. I also subscribe to a number of podcasts. During the summer, where I have a lot more time on my hands, it sometimes gets so bad that I don't know what to do unless someone is talking to me!

My favourite audiobooks and radio series' are as follows:

1. Animals of Farthing Wood.



This was my childhood. It was on the BBC for 3 series, and I had an audiobook. I must have listened to it every night until the cassette tapes broke, and then I think insisted that I got new tapes and wore those out. It was amazing, and from the TV series anyway, it was real. The animals died which is uncommon in children's TV nowadays. I found the intro theme on Youtube, and the nostalgia had me tearing up!

2. Earthsearch



When I grew up a bit mum let me in on the wonders of Earthsearch. It's a sci-fi radio drama from the 1980's, set on a ship that has been searching for an earth type planet, and when it returns home, the earth has vanished. It's amazing, as is the sequel and the spin off series. We also abused this until the cassette's gave out. Thankfully, the BBC brought out CD version's of it so we now have those to see us through.

3. Old Harry's Game



A radio comedy set in Hell of all places. As a Christian, you would think I wouldn't approve as it does have a tendency to be a bit... well... blasphemous. But, I really, really enjoy it. Mum and I have spent countless hours on car journeys, outside on the grass, or just sitting by the CD player listening and guffawing at this hilarious series, written and starring the same guy who writes for BBC's Outnumbered.

4. Pillars of The Earth



I bought this as a book for Mum ages ago. I just liked the front cover, I don't even think I looked at the synopsis. She said she enjoyed it when she finally finished reading but I was put off by the sheer size of it. It's  a MASSIVE 976 pages of tiny print. This is the sort of book that you either love or hate. Then it was turned into a TV mini series made of the book starring Donald Sutherland, Ian McShane, Eddie Redmayne, Matthew Macfayden and Hayley Atwell. I LOVED the series, and so decided to get into the book... however, I cheated. I signed up for an audiobook website, and was given a credit for a book. I wanted to find the biggest book I could, and this was it. A massive 40 hours of audio. And I lapped up every second. I did the same for the sequel World Without End (also now being turned into a mini series!)

5. BBC Radio 4 / Radio 4 Extra

Everything from drama's to books to comedies. Whenever I run out of things to listen to, I always go and check out BBC iPlayer to see what's there that I can listen to. Some of my favourites are the dramatised Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, Poirot, Agatha Rasin and Cabin Pressure.

Do you listen to programs on the radio? Or Audiobooks? Have you a favourite?

Sarah xx

To Kindle, or not to Kindle.

So, I'm having a dilemma. 

I've been avoiding the subject of getting an E-reader of any kind for a while now. If someone said they had one, I'd nod my head and smile, but inside I'd be thinking, "I'm never going to get an E-reader... that would be like... betraying books in some kind of way."

I've always stuck by the ideology that holding a book, being able to smell the paper and the print, is a far superior way to read than any electronic device.

Of course this opinion, like all good opinions, was based entirely from one side of the argument. I've never properly read anything on an E-reader, and I've only held one and that was in the store, so me saying that it's a 'far superior' is more than just a little biased.

However, I'm beginning to have second thoughts.

E-gads! Technology!

Pros

1. Price. The first thing that has made me begin to doubt myself is the price of some e-books, more specifically, the Kindle books from Amazon. 77p or to you Americans, about $1.20, was the cost of one of the books that I came across and my mouth hit the floor. Now I know that I'd have to cover the cost of the Kindle first, but with the amount of books that I buy, or better would like to buy, I have no doubt that I'd have saved that in about a year! 

 
2. Ease of transport. I take the train up and down from Uni every weekend, and end up carrying a small suitcase of clothes for washing, a laptop, and a large handbag with weekend work, my normal handbag stuff, and the book I'm currently reading. I know it wouldn't be a huge difference to my load. But every little helps when you're lugging it down the street! 

3. Desirability factor. ITS SHINY TECHNOLOGY AND I KIND OF WANT IT JUST BECAUSE I CAN. Ahem. Yes, quite so. 

4. I have some money lying around after Christmas that I know should go in the bank but it hasn't managed to get that far yet... 

5. Not all publishers have turned to E-books, so for those books that don't have an electronic counterpart I can still purchase in paperback, and get my fix that way!

Cons

1. Pride. I'm still quite stubborn with regard to my feeling of somehow betraying the printed word. Am I just being silly, or is this something someone else has thought about? 

2. I can't share. Me and mum would have a very similar taste in books, and we seem to end up reading the same book at the same time quite often. It makes for great fun, chasing each other around the house calling, "It's my turn to read now!", interspersed with, "I know what happens next!"
If anyone's the adult in our house it's me. Seriously.

3. I've heard they break easily. Especially the new ultra-thin one. Even with a case. And I think my heart would break if I spent that amount of money on something that would expire within two years.

I'm torn. Have any of you got E-readers, and if so, what do you think of them? Comments below please!

Sarah x

I really have to start listening to 'normal' music

The story that I've made a start on is set in modern day, and there is absolutely nothing fantastical about it. 'Normal' people requires a 'normal' taste in music for inspiration and that was when I realised...

...my music collection is completely unprepared. 

I like listening to dramatic music such as Nightwish, and soundtracks by Hans Zimmer. When I need something a bit more mellow, I turn to Loreena McKennitt. But these people, and the lovely people that they share my iTunes with, don't really seem to cut it in your every day 21st century.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not disowning the music that I love just for the book. It's just, it's hard to write about something ordinary while Hans Zimmer's strings are trying to tell me that all hell is breaking loose aboard the Black Pearl. There's a time and a place, and this isn't one of them. 

So, I'm off to check out the charts to see what there is there that I like, but never really considered putting into my music collection. Bruno Mars? Perhaps. Take That? Their new album is pretty good. Adele? All right then. Everyone else on the planet has 21, it's probably about time I did too.

I draw the line at Rihanna. When she writes a song about a 'hopeless' place and films the video in my country, I do take it a little personally.

Sarah xx

Wordless Wednesday: Revision