That 'So... what now?' Feeling

March has been a pretty busy month for me, I'm not going to lie. There was a lot that I had to get done for Uni and as a result, blogging and writing took a back seat. As they should, I think, given that I am supposed to be a student first and blogger/writer second.

But now it's March 30th, I've just handed in the last of my essays before the three weeks of the Easter holidays begin and it's sort of left me feeling a bit... strange. Do you know what I mean? When you're whole life is focused in around one thing and when that one thing happens, in the aftermath you feel kind of... dead? That pause and then 'What now?' thing? Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. It's happened me a few times recently.

The first was right now when I handed in my essay. I had two of them, both 2000 words long. English and students of the arts will laugh at me right now for complaining about 4000 words because, let's face it, that's their lives! However, as a science student, I'm really not used to writing essays at all. Most of our work is based on practicals and lab reports of very limited wording. So essays were a bit of a shock to the system! For the past 3 weeks all my house mates and friends have got has been: "Nah, I don't think I've time. I have these essays for next week." I kinda looked like this for a while:

But  I've been so focused on getting these essays done that now they're finally handed in, I kind of don't know what to do with myself! (I should probably start working for my exams in May, but I can't begin to even think about those right now!)

The second was in reference to this movie that was kind of a big deal recently. You might have heard about it. Something about Hunger Games? Yeah. That one. As you may or may not know, I read these book a long time ago. I think Catching Fire (book 2) had just been released when I read them, so in terms of the fandom, everyone's been jumping on my bandwagon. I saw it for the first time on the night before it was released in the UK. (It was an advanced screening!) And it was amazing. There were some few subtle changes from the book, but they were so well done that I didn't mind. The majority of it was so damn faithful to the books, it was like watching what had been happening in my head while I was reading the book. I think I may have a girl crush on Jennifer Lawrence. She's amazing.
But again, that same thing happened when it was over. I felt kind of... empty inside. I had been waiting for years for this movie to come out, and I got so into all the hype in the run up, that when it was all finished, I had no clue what to do.

They're all so beautiful. Damn you Hollywood.

The third and final type of this feeling will be the one probably most familiar to my readership. I have never had the fortune of finishing my own original piece of fiction, but I have finished a fair few fan fictions in my earlier days. And it was always the same with them. As I typed, or penned, that last sentence the first feeling was, "Oh my gosh, I've finished!" followed soon after by that crash of "my life no longer has a purpose." Yes, very melodramatic, but for a short period of time after finishing something that has taken over your life, it does kind of feel like that?

Or am I on my own? Perhaps it's my obsessive personality that leads to me feeling empty after finishing goals that I've set myself.

Do you ever feel like this? Or if you don't, how do you feel when you finish something big?

Sarah x

p.s. this post is nearly 700 words and has taken me a little over 30 minutes. Why on earth cant this be my speed of output when I'm doing school work? Life would be so much easier...

What I Read In: February

Yes, I know we're already a week into March but give me a break, I've been busy!

(On a side note, I've begun sketching out chapter outlines for my WIP. Haven't done that in a long while, so hopefully it's a step in the right direction! Probably isn't a good thing that the notes were made in the margin of where I was supposed to be making class notes... oops!)

So yes, what I read...

1. Seizure - Kathy Reichs

From the writer of the Temperance Brennan series that inspired the TV series Bones comes the second book in her series 'Virals' for young adults! 

I really enjoy Kathy Reichs writing, and just like the first, I couldn't put this one down! 

My only complaint is that Kathy seems to be a little out of touch with the younger generation in parts. For a start, her characters are meant to be around 14-15, where as they talk and act much, much older. She also doesn't seem to have a clue what kids study in school these days. They seem to know about scientific procedures that I'm only learning about myself at University! 

2. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

The first book that I finished on my Kindle! 

But it was a struggle. This book, while beautifully written, was painfully dull at times. I do understand that it's how books were written back then, with lots of description. I think in today's world of drama and everything being very over the top and fast paced we don't really know how to digest a slow classic like Wuthering Heights.

I didn't keep English on long enough in school to be able to sink my teeth into the classics. Perhaps if I was more tuned into how to read them, I would enjoy this more. 

3. Across The Universe - Beth Revis

The cover. 

I kept seeing the amazing cover of this book around the blogosphere and just had to get it onto my bookshelf. It wasn't a bad book by any stretch of the imagination, I actually quite enjoyed it and got through it quite quickly. I know this is supposed to be science-fiction, but as a science student the improbabilities of some of the stuff that went on in this book just bugged me. The book wasn't fantastical enough for me to be able to remove myself from why the things just wouldn't work. I know I'm a stickler, but there we go! Was a nice read though, and I'll be checking out the sequel! 

4. The Alchemist's Secret - Scott Mariani

My friend told me I had to read this book. She said it was Dan Brown only better, and I have to agree with her. It's fast paced, the characters are interesting and the story compelling. I just sat and read, and read, and read until it was done. There's a whole series of books about the same main character and I'm really looking forward to getting into the rest! 

So, that's it for February! What books did your read? If you've read any of the books that I have, what did you think of them! 

Sarah x