Hang on a minute...?

Whoops! Late again!

Thank you everyone who left a comment on my hookers! (Which sounds so wrong by the way!) I loved reading them, and was quite surprised by the response because I personally didn't find them very hook-ey!

But ONWARDS, to the hangers. 

WIP

Chap 1 - He’s unmistakably dead.

 Chap 2 - A guard yells at us to be silent, and we are.

Chap 3 -  As I'm led away, to gods knows where, all I can think is how long it'll be before I'll loath being called Princess.

I've enjoyed this blogfest! You lot always come up with such good themes! Just wish I'd been a bit more organised and got these out on time!

I will eventually get around to reading others, promise! 

Sarah x

Gotta love me some Hookers!

Well that title's bound to get some views...
(sorry this is late!)

So, I know I've been absent, but so has my brain. With moving Uni house, and mum deciding to redecorate most of our house, my muse seems to have gotten lost in the mess. Its so infuriating, because it's summer, and this is when I have the most time to write and I just can't seem to be able to do it!

Reading my WIP hookers... they don't seem very... hook-ish to me. If I'm completely honest, I'd never really taken a good close look at the beginning and endings of my chapters before now! If nothing else, these two posts will be an exercise in being more... hook-ey?

Chap 1 - "Thief!"
Chap 2 - Panic grabs hold of my throat and I can’t breathe.
Chap 3 - There are no windows in this godsforsaken prison. 

I'm sure I have other hookers floating about the place, but this post is late so I just better get it out here quick!

See you, tomorrow, I guess for the hangers!

Sarah x

Got Green? St. Patricks Day Blog Hop!

Being Irish myself I just couldn't resist this little hop!

First a little mood music! If you don't have Spotify, then look it up on Youtube!
Ronan Hardiman – Dance Above The Rainbow

It's funny though, because I get the impression that St. Paddy's day is celebrated more in other countries that have a large proportion of Irish immigrants such as America or Australia, than it actually is here in Ireland. Perhaps it's because I live in Northern Ireland, and although things are much better now than they were back in the 70's, there can still be a bit of trouble here and there, so they don't make too big a deal out of it... I'm not sure! But nevertheless here's my post, in green for the occasion!


My fondest St. Paddy's day memory isn't very grand or extravagant. But it's a memory that I hold dearly. First off, the best thing about the 17th of March is that we got off school! On that day in 2010 my then-boyfriend and I packed up my car with a picnic basket and a blanket, and headed to Tollymore Forest Park (a filming locations of the HBO's Game of Thrones!). I didn't take the photo below, but that's one of the bridges in the park. If it's one thing the Emerald Isle knows how to do, it's forests!

 

We arrived just before lunch time, and sat down at a picnic table and spread out our feast of sandwiches, crisps, and of course, tea from a flask!

Later, we went for a walk, hand in hand, as those who are in the throes of a relationship tend to do. I've never been one for exercise, so there were several points along our walk, mostly on the hills, that he actually had to push me along.

There is a second reason that I remember this day so vividly. While out on our walk, we met my oldest and closest friend having exactly the same kind of day with her boyfriend (now fiancée). The strange thing is that neither of us had previous knowledge of how we were planning on spending our St. Paddy's day! It also makes me grin, because when we happened upon them, my boyfriend and I were stumbling out of some bushes. Now, before your minds run away with you, here is my completely innocent explanation: we had been down by the river having a stick race, and the only way to get there and back was through a very overgrown path. Honest! Many suggestive comments were made by both parties as a result.

Although I’m no longer with my then-boyfriend, it’s one of my fondest memories of our 18-months together, and I have yet to have a better St. Paddy’s day!

Word count: 333. Exactly! 

Hope you enjoyed! Why not have a jolly hop around some of the other entries after reading mine!

Sarah x

Origins Blogfest

So after the 'Hearing Voices' blogfest last week, I'm getting straight into another one!

Today I'm taking part in the Origin's blogfest! If you'd like to check out some of the other participants, click here to one of the co-hosts blogs, where there is an absolutely HUGE list of people taking part! There seems to be so many out there willing to share their origin stories. I'll try my best to get around them, but with class, I've only got so much time on my hands!

So here's my origin... (There was no word limit right? Because I do go on a bit...)

I've always had a creative mind. There are probably two factors to this. Number one is down to my wonderful mother. Bedtime stories were a daily event in my house when I was growing up, but quite a lot of the time, instead of reading to me from a book, my mother would make up a story on the spot, about what my teddy bears got up to when I wasn't around. I got used to the idea that stories weren't something that only came from books, but that everyone could do it! The second reason I attribute my creative mind was the fact that I spent a lot of time on my own as a child. I'm an only child, and when I was young my dad was very ill for quite a few years. Because of his illness I wasn't allowed to interact with very many other children for fear that I could bring new strains of viruses into the house that would make him worse, so I spent a lot of time playing by myself and imagining situations.

The first thing I ever wrote was on holiday's once when I was about 6 years old. It was about a bubble that I'd blown from our balcony, and it's journey to the mountains that I could see on the horizon. I don't remember the plot, but every time I talk about wanting to be a writer, my mum brings up the bubble story.

Then came Fanfiction. The first thing I wrote was an alternative ending to the 2004 movie version of Phantom of the Opera ( Gerard Butler... swoon...). I didn't even know there was a name for what I was doing until about a year later I discovered that quite a few other people on the internet liked to do the same thing! I went through several fandoms. It was the first time in my life that I'd finished a story. All through my childhood I would have started stories, but never gotten past the first few chapters. Until, that is, I found fanfiction. I fell in love with the community spirit that it gave, and the support that my stories seemed to get. I still have them all lurking around in my hard drive somewhere for nostalgia purposes.

I can't exactly pinpoint when I decided that I wanted to be a writer. It's always been there, in the background. Although it's always been what I've dreamed of being, it's always been Plan B. Unfortunately we live in a world which dictates that you need a steady source of income to be comfortable. I was never confident enough that I would be able to make a living from my writing, so instead of putting all my eggs in the writing basket, I'm studying to be a Biomedical scientist. (In case you don't know what that is, we're the people who check blood samples, and do the research behind medical and pharmaceutical methods.)

My dream to be a writer is secret from most people outside my family. A few months ago I told a friend on my degree course that it was what I wanted and she got very brisk with me, saying that some people would kill for the change to get a degree, and that if it wasn't what I really wanted, then I was robbing someone else of a place. That hurt. In my head I'm only trying to be realistic, and account for the fact that the highly subjective world of writing might not open it's doors to me.

I'm a religious person, and I believe that God has a plan for my life. I find it hard to believe sometimes that I would be gifted with a creative mind full of characters that demand to be let out of my head and onto paper, if I wasn't meant to be a writer. But at the same time, I have to be realistic. Although it's what I want, it might not be the path that's best for me. Perhaps my characters are only meant to keep me company and not to be shared with the wider world! At the end of the day, I'll still have a degree, and job prospects (however limited in this economic climate!) if my writing is just not meant to be.

So, after writing this, it's not so much my origin than my whole writing history, but once I started I just couldn't stop. I do hope I haven't bored you!

Sarah x

I'm Hearing Voices Blogfest - Dialogue Introduction

Post two of the I'm hearing voices blogfest!


First of all: Oh, my, goodness! I never expected such an AMAZING response from everyone! Thank you to everyone who commented on my post! Next time I see Nasreen, I'll tell her all how much you liked her, but as you can probably guess, she's not the easiest person to pin down!


I had to flick back through a few stories that I'd written until I found two characters who jumped up and grabbed me. I did eventually find some that were suitable and once I got them talking they couldn't stop so it's a tiny bit over the word count! But here are Alannah and Christian to introduce each other!

“Thanks Sarah! So, my name is Alannah…”

“No, sweetie, you’ve totally got the wrong idea about this. We have to introduce each other. I’ll go first. Specky-four-eyes over here is Alannah.”

“You have glasses too…”

“Yes but mine are fabulous. And don’t interrupt. She’s twenty two, and a reporter.”

“Ex-reporter.”

“What did I say about interrupting? Ex-reporter, but technically everyone at that magazine was fired so it doesn’t count. She was born in Essen, in Germany. She’s a bit too shy for her own good, and clumsy. She is the funniest drunk you will ever see. Her hair is naturally blonde but she’s currently sporting a brunette ‘do because she thinks it makes her look more intelligent. It doesn’t.”

“Okay. I think it’s my turn now. The loud-mouth over here is Christian. He’s twenty-three, obnoxious and most defiantly gay.”

“A regular bum-chum, but you should really say homosexual. It’s much more politically correct.”

“Urgh, he’s also vulgar in case you can’t already tell.” 

“I’m not vulgar, I’m just telling it how it is!”

“Well stop. You’re going to scare away the readers. He’s always scaring away people. When we’re out on the town I can never get a guy because, believe it or not, Christian has a very overpowering presence.”

“As I always say, if he can’t stand the heat, then he better get out of the kitchen.”

“But they’re not in your kitchen, they’re in mine!”

“They’ve just never sampled my cuisine.”

“I give up. I really do.”

“You’d never give me up, Lana, you wouldn’t know how to.”

“The sad thing is; he’s right. And I guess that's why we're best friends.”

“Aw, thank you sweetie. And despite the fact that your roots need done, I love you too!”

That's when they started arguing about how long you can reasonably leave between hair appointments. I don't even think they saw me leave...

Sarah x

Characters on the couch - I'm Hearing Voices Blogfest

My first post, in my first ever blogfest! This should be exciting. Having never done anything like this before, I don't really know what to expect, but I'm already finding it great fun!


Here was the brief for today:


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).

The character I have picked is one of my original characters that I slipped into a fanfiction once. I fell in love with her, and I've already begun to map out her own story. I can't wait to get started!

Her name is Nasreen. She's a gypsy living in a fictional Persia during the middle ages. She can't quite remember how old she is, but even if she did, she wouldn't tell you. Here's what she had to say:

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

"I don't have one, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you. Once people know your weakness, they own you."

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

 "Most people believe that I am a whore. They just assume, and wrongly so, that a woman living on the streets has to prostitute herself to survive. Let them think whatever they want. As long as they can’t feel my fingers as I cut the cords of their purse strings, I don’t care."

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

 

"Well, the word fatal implies that I would be dead, and seeing as I'm not, I mustn't have one. But, if there was something, it would probably be my arrogance. I'm so used to getting away with my ‘crimes’ that one day I might get complacent. It’s not likely though." 

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

"I steal, I cheat, I lie, and I backstab. There’s nothing redeeming to be found in me. But I survive, and that’s all that matters.” 

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

"I spend most of my days wanting. Food, money, shoes that fit. What I want most though, is to not have to want. Ultimately, I want security, but that’s not something I can wrap my thieving fingers around. It’s just a concept, and one that is beyond even my grasp.”

Thank you Nasreen for your time, I... hold on... where'd my handbag go...?

Sarah x

Semester 2, Year 2 - Half way...

So as it stands, I am officially less than an hour away from starting my 2nd semester of my 2nd year of university. Provided I don't get held back for failing (Unlikely, but I thought I'd mention it) I am now officially half way through my degree. SCARY. I'm only 19, yet I'm only 18 months away from possibly taking the first steps onto the career ladder. I'm not even sure that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I originally decided to do Biomedical science at University because I was under the impression that I was more likely to get a job this way, and now that's not even true because there are hardly any jobs in this sector any more due to the economic climate. Lovely.

Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to this semester. I just would have preferred a bigger gap after my exams to cool down! (And that the course wasn't going by so ridiculously fast!)

So that's just a little rant.

Writing is unfortunately my Plan B. It's a Plan B that I really want to be a Plan A, but I need to be realistic.

On a happier note, the blogfests that I'm taking part in are coming up soon, and I'm really looking forward to them! Make sure you check them out, the buttons are over on the right hand side of the blog!

Sarah x

The one about the Oscars and the writers block

I spent the whole of my exams and revision time desperately wanting to be free so that I could get settled down into my manuscript. I have officially been free for a week, but now I can't seem to write anything! It's so infuriating. I can't work out if this is because I really don't have a good grip on my plot, or if I'm just so zapped from my exams. It's not just a new phenomenon though, this always happens. When I really can't afford to spend time on my writing, it's all that I can think about. However, when I get my free time and sit down to write, a tumble weed blows across my keyboard. ARGH!

On another and brighter note, I've signed myself up for another Blogfest! The 'origin's' blogfest which is happening on the 13th of February. I can't wait for this one either. If you're interested, click on the button on the side of my page!

Also, the Oscar nominee's were announced earlier today, and although I'm happy that there are so many nominations for 'The Help' because that is an awesome book and film, I was very annoyed that Michael Fassbender didn't get a nomination for 'Shame'. Although the film isn't out yet in the UK, I have seen nothing but high praise for it. Not only was he predicted a nomination, but the award itself! I feel very annoyed that he's been snubbed (but when it comes to Fassbender, I am decidedly biased!). But hey, ho, that's Hollywood for you!

Sarah xx

EDIT: I have since seen Shame. Although the film itself is good (well made, well acted), I'm not sure if I enjoyed it. Its a very different style to your typical film. The subject matter is very disturbing also and if you have any qualms about nakedness, this won't be the film for you. It can't have been easy to be an actor in this film so Carey Mulligan and Michael Fassbender defiantly need more recognition than they're currently getting!

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