My Travels Part Three

The third and final 'chapter' of my travels from earlier this year is here - if you're interested (if not I totally don't blame you for moving on to find a blog that is solidly about writing and reading!)
The first two parts covered our time in Africa which was amazing, not we move on to Egypt (which technically is Africa, I know) and Europe!

We arrived in Cairo very early in the morning and were worried the hotel might not have sent the car to pick us up. However, the driver was ready and waiting with a sign with our name on it! He didn't speak much English though so chit chat was limited. He drove us through a quiet and almost deserted Cairo to The Windsor Hotel, an old Victorian era hotel with a lot of charm. You have to love charm to stay in a place like this because it really is very vintage and rustic - the original elevator, the rooms haven't exactly been updated, but nevertheless it's got a huge amount of character and makes for an interesting stay! It's history is so vast many films have been made in the hotel!

The Windsor Hotel Restaurant

The service at the hotel was really wonderful and we even had the owner come and chat with us to make sure everything is okay. The reason, I suspect, is because of all the conflict and the lack of tourists. There are so many staff bending over backward to do whatever you wish because there are so few guests coming to stay. The owner doesn't want to lay anyone off yet he worries the hotel will close if the tourists don't come back soon. It was rather sad actually.



Just a few hours after we arrived we were awake again and being given breakfast before a big day of touring the city. We'd originally planned for a two day tour but having spent more than we intended in southern and eastern Africa we thought it better to just do one day. On reflection possibly the two day would have been better but that's hindsight for you! Our guide's name was Mina Samir - if you're ever in Egypt and find yourself needing a guide, he is wonderful. he speaks perfect English and even has a degree in Egyptology specifically for tour guiding.

Our first stop was visiting Saqqara the oldest and first pyramid in Cairo, also known as the step pyramid. It was fascinating! And given all the trouble Egypt had been having, all the tourists had pretty much stopped
coming, i'm not kidding we had the place to ourselves. This was good and bad. Great for photos but bad as it meant all the peddlers would try and get every penny out of you. Seriously. It was quite awful actually but you have to just be strong enough to say no. Occasionally Mina would offer to pay for a photo on a donkey or whatever as a way to continue good relations with the locals since he brings many tourists through regularly.


After checking out Saqqara we visited the Papyrus shop. It's the authentic Papyrus paper and it really is
quite spectacular especially with the Egyptian paintings on them. They could also write your names in hyroglifics as well as special dates in arabic on the painting you chose. It was very cool and we got a demonstration of how the paper is made. There was one we loved.... really loved, but it was just too much for us to afford at the moment. We chose a much cheaper one and what happened next was evidence of how hard the country has been hit by the conflict. When the city is thriving, you cannot bargain in these places. The prices are fixed... However they don't have enough customers and they're desperate for a sale. We genuinely weren't trying to bargain them down, we were happy with the smaller cheaper one we'd chosen, yet we really did want the other bigger one. He brought the price down from 1300 Egyptian pound to 750 Egyptian pound and threw in a small version of another big one we liked. We felt SO bad. We were of course really happy to get our beautiful painting but we felt awful. If only we could've afforded the full price! We said we'd come back when we had more money. They said, next year? Ahhh might take us a bit longer than that...!

After the Papyrus store we headed out to Giza and saw the pyramids in all their glory. We went for a camel
ride (my gosh those poor camels I'm convinced they're treated very poorly. Jesse's camel whined the whole way :( it was sad I wish I could free them all!!!!) And then we went down to see the Sphinx. What wonders they are! It was strange too, all the local girls wanting to take their photo with me. I felt like a celebrity of something. Apparently the white skin and blonde hair is something they are fascinated with. We then headed to a local bazaar to pick up some souvenirs (they drive a hard bargain but when you genuinely don't want something and are happy to leave it behind they'll start bargaining with all they've got.) Then we headed to an Egyptian cotton factory. Would've bought something there if we had room in our luggage!

By that stage we were exhausted so headed back to the hotel, had dinner in their restaurant and slept. We were a little too afraid to leave the safety of the hotel! The next morning we headed to the Egyptian Museum. The receptionist at the hotel had no idea how to give us directions and naturally we got entirely lost. I have never been so scared in my life. We got lost in the Islamic area and I wasn't wearing a headscarf (novice). We got a number of looks... and walking past barricaded buildings wasn't fun. It took us an hour to find the museum. The museum itself was good. It was surrounded by more than 20 tanks all with at least 10 soldiers inside, that was a little disconcerting. The museum was very interesting but a complete mess in terms of layout. I was so freaked around the mummies. Silly really, they just.... I dunno, give me the heebie jeebies!

When it came time to head home I was worried we wouldn't find the way. We had no map, no address, no phone.... well done. We got utterly lost. Not in the Islamic direction this time though thank goodness. We just had no idea where to find our hotel. We walked around and around in circles until eventually we walked into another hotel.The hotel manager said he'd seen us wandering around half an hour ago.... clearly we stuck out like sore thumbs. They gave us very good directions and eventually we found our way back to the hotel. It was great to see the pyramids but honestly I didn't enjoy my time in Cairo. Most of the people, unless you were possibly going to give them money were really rude, the streets were full of rubbish and everyone drove where ever they wanted. No one followed the rules anymore because of all the problems with the government. It was chaos! We were really glad to leave to be honest.



By the next day we were safely in Athens and feeling like we were rejoining society a little bit! We spent the first night on an overnight ferry out to Crete. We bought the cabin ticket which was a really good idea as it meant we got a good night sleep in the beds while the people who just bought tickets for the seating areas looked exhausted. We spent the first day on Crete exploring Heraklion, checking out the city and its restaurants.

The next day hired a car and drove to Chania (we got really lost. again. and ended up on the other side of the island. Tourist time I called it. Jesse wasn't impressed at my navigating skills....) Chania was beautiful. A little Venetian style town right on the harbour. Gosh it was beautiful. Wonderful vibe, lovely people, all keen to share their stories. We had a great time there. We made good use of the car too, going out around the peninsulas and to the beaches around the area. If only it had been a bit warmer!

The blue of the water at this particular beach was so incredibly beautiful if I didn't know better I'd think it was fake. It was the most incredible beach. In the summer time it's packed with people swimming and sunbathing. It also has pink sand which is really incredible to see. It was pretty windy when we were there, would love to see it thriving in the summer months but it was quite a hike to get to!

We then headed inland and checked out this beautiful lake. This is one of those gems that usually get hidden away from the tourists simply because they don't know about it. I believe a lot of the locals love swimming here. There are paddling boats you can hire too and a restaurant right on the shore. It was quite breathtaking and at that time of the year (April) we had it all to ourselves!

The reason I chose Crete initially when planning our trip was because my granddad fought here during the war. He wrote a few of him memoirs down before he died and his time in Crete was one of them. He was stationed there however when the fighting came they were evacuated. His evacuation ship was hit and they swam back to shore. Many men were injured and couldn't go on but my granddad and other soldiers swam out to an abandoned fishing boat and used that boat to make their escape. It was really interesting visiting the area and seeing where he spent some of his time during the war. We also went to the graveyard where many of his friends and fellow soldiers were buried. The Kiwi soldiers take up a huge amount of room in that graveyard. It's a beautiful sight that's well cared for and overlooks the water.

From Chania we flew out to Athens where we spent two days checking out the Parthenon/Acropolis,

Lycabettus Hill and it's stunning view out over Athens, The Temple of Olympian Zeus, The National Archaeological Museum and wandered around the Plaka and the streets of the city. Athens was really lovely actually and we had a great time!

The food in Athens was actually really good too which was a nice change from what we'd become used to!

Then we headed over to Turkey! We headed straight down the South-West Coast to Kalkan where we were staying in a villa for a week. It was really beautiful but unfortunately we were there at the wrong time of the year and not a lot was open yet. We had hired a car but when we got there realised it was a manual. Jesse can't drive manuals and I'm not a super confident driver, particularly when it's driving on the opposite side of the road. We had the car for a night. We took it for a drive, we tried to visit another town, another beach.... I failed.

I freaked out, I couldn't do it. I don't know why... it was just so different driving from the other side of the car with the gear stick being changed with my other hand... I kept messing up and I really didn't like it. We decided we were on holiday and I didn't want to be that stressed, so we returned the car and spent the week lying by the pool in the sun reading and playing monopoly. Jesse got a bit bored but I loved it!



Then came Paris, the city of love! It's definitely not my favourite city in Europe and for me.... it didn't really live up to the hype. Going up the Eiffel Tower was cool as we saw the sunset from the top, and we were there with Jesse's sister and her family so that was really nice.

We enjoyed walking through Notre Dame during the Easter Mass too which was interesting. The food in Paris is not good. Unless you have a lot of money... all the touristy restaurants have exactly the same menu and it's dull and bland. There are plenty of crepe places though which are good. We also checked out Sainte-Chappelle which was so beautiful! What a church! Even better than the Notre Dame in terms of impressivenses I'd say. Those stain glasses... wow! We also took some time to check out Montmartre & Sacre Coeur which was lovely. We sat on the hill and ate gluten free treats from the gluten free bakery we'd discovered! We went to the Louvre and walked around looking at all the art, hello Mona Lisa.

We saw the Moulin Rouge (though we're too cheap to see a show there!) and we had an amazing day out at Versailles which was our Paris highlight. We did a bike tour through the gardens which included a stop at the Versailles market to stock up on food for a picnic.




We got strawberries, cheese, roast chicken, tomatos and a few gluten free treats and after biking past Marie Antoinette's house and various other places in the grounds we sat by the canal in the sun for a picnic. It was perfect! We ended the tour with a trip through the palace. Amazing.

The last thing we did was something I've wanted to do for a long time. We bought a padlock, wrote our names on, padlocked it to this 'over run with padlocks' bridge and threw the keys into the water :)


We took an overnight bus to Amsterdam which was not fun and as soon as we arrived were greeted with nastiness from public transport staff. Some people don't have a heart! I found quite a lot of that in
Amsterdam actually, general rudeness and disregard for others. Such a shame as it's a really beautiful city. We had arrived really early so were right at the front of the line for the Anne Frank House which was very sad and a really moving experience. That poor girl.... Then we had lunch at a delicious Dutch pancake house (Called Pancakes!) then headed for a canal cruise on one of the canal boats.

That was really nice, though both Jesse and I were having trouble staying awake not having got much sleep the night before on the bus! We were staying in an Airbnb apartment and fell asleep almost as soon as we got there! The next day we checked out the streets of Amsterdam, walking around the canals to Dam Square where there was an incredible festival going on, trying the famous hot chocolate, trying chips in a cone (huge in Amsterdam!) and checking out the Sex Museum and the Red Light District (when in Amsterdam!).

The next day was King's Day so it was madness with orange everywhere on the streets. There was a lot of partying, drinking, street stalls, food stalls, live music... it was quite epic, but I think it's the kind of thing that's best if you know the good places to go and if you have a big group of friends to celebrate with! We spent our final day at the Rijksmuseum which is a really impressive art museum in a beautiful building. I'm not a big art museum fan but this one I highly recommend!


That evening we jumped on another overnight bus and headed to our new lives in London. This bus trip was awful as we got woken multiple times, had to get off the bus for the ferry ride and for customs etc etc. horrible! But we got to London and that's what matters! We've been here ever since, exploring all the corners of our new city and trying to find jobs. We miss our travelling hugely and would love to get back on the road and explore more of Europe. It'll happen, in time I guess.


So that's that. That is the end of my big adventure for 2014! I hope you enjoyed it and maybe it inspired you to do some travelling. I highly HIGHLY recommend Africa :)

What's Up Wednesday

What's Up Wednesday is a super-awesome-cool-fun blog hop created by Jaime and Erin to help writers keep in touch with each other. If you want to take part, head over to either of their pages to check it out!

What I'm Reading
I've just finished reading Hollow City, the second in the Miss Peregrine series. Now I've started on the latest book in the Pretty Little Liars series, Toxic. *sigh* Those books just keep coming and coming and I'm getting sick of them but I really need to know what happens!!! I'm also reading Salt, Sugar, Fat; How the Food Giants Hooked Us which is really interesting, informative and scary!!

What I'm Writing
Before I took my blog hiatus, I worked my ass off to get two - three posts up a week. Part of the reason I stopped it because I just couldn't sustain that any more. I was writing my blog instead of writing my book and my book is the whole reason for my blog in the first place! So when I came back to my blog I decided I would post when I could and when I wanted to but not feel the pressure to have to post all the time, and it's helpful. So i'm still working away on my WIP, the one I finished and then completely rewrote. If all goes well I should have my first draft finished by the end of day!!! *cue applause* so fingers crossed!

What Inspires Me Right Now
Two things - adventure and summer. I'm trying to make the most of the weather by exploring the UK, seeing what's in and around London and heading out of the city for day trips. Last weekend we headed to Epping Forest and took a walk through the trees (unfortunately summer didn't come to the party and we had a picnic in the rain) but even still! For me, it was very inspiring as the scene I was about to go home and write involved a forest. How convenient!

What Else Have I Been Up To?
I'm still unemployed. It's VERY depressing. The UK job market is tough to crack into! So it's been really hard but I've been looking and applying for jobs an awful lot! I also have been making an effort to get out and do as much as I can (as given the job situation I don't know how long i'll realistically be able to stay in London...). SO a week ago I headed into Trafalgar Square where they put on this free event called West End Live. Stars from all the Broadway shows came out and sung numbers from their shows! It was so great! While Les Miserables and Wicked are my all time favourite, I loved seeing the performances from the upcoming revamp of Miss Saigon. The Jersey Boys and Mamma Mia songs got the whole crowd on their feet dancing. It was fun!!

I also went to a creative writing course with my man (who has finally decided to unleash his creative writing potential and write his own book!) The course was on intricate storylines and while it was interesting it was more geared at those who hadn't started writing their book and possibly didn't even have an idea in mind. So for me I didn't find it particularly helpful at this point in time but I think Jesse did. There was also a lot of workshopping which I wasn't a huge fan of.... just lecture me!

I checked out a performance of The Drowned Man which is put on by Punchdrunk of Sleep No More fame. It was really good! It had a similar style to Sleep No More - four floors of set, audience members wear masks and they're free to wander as they want to follow the stories they choose to follow. It was really complicated but a great show. If you've seen Sleep No More.... think bigger - bigger cast, bigger (and way more) storylines.... bigger. It was awesome

We also went to the Southbank Philharmonia Concert on Friday where they performed 'screen themes'. We're talking theme songs from the favourites - Indiana Jones, Ghost Busters, James Bond, Batman, Superman and so many more. Then they ended with a few songs from their new Abba album which had everyone up on their feet. Best Orchestral concert I've ever been to!

The week ended at Wimbledon where we sat for many hours watching an empty court in the rain (and totally not dressed for the cold!) but then finally got to see some quality action. We saw Serena Williams defeated by Alize Cornet. Wowza it was an epic game. Pretty sad actually too, I was cheering for Serena but almost everyone else in the crowd was going for Alize.

So that's pretty much me! How's your weeks been? I'm going to leave you with this little picture as I thought it was quite clever....

Book I've read lately

When I was in Africa (yes I promise I'll write a proper post of my adventures at some point) I spent a LOT of time on a truck driving cross country. In the last three weeks when we headed into East Africa we'd often spend up to 14 hours on the truck each day. It was kind of awful. It was SO hot and sticky, any bathroom breaks were squatting on the side of the road, and our lunches were usually a piece of plastic cheese slapped between two slices of cornbread. (Needless to say we all lost weight). Anyway, more on that another time. It was an amazing experience and I had the chance to read so many books. I'm not going to review them all but thought I'd give a quick run down here.....

1. Before I Fall - It got a little repetitive but overall I really enjoyed it. I love seeing a huge character transformation, especially when it's based so solidly in reality
2. If You Find Me - A heartbreaking yet beautiful story. I really enjoyed it and it's stuck with me too which is always a good sign
3. Gone Girl - Oh my GOSH yes. Such an intricate, complicated and incredibly clever story. Interested to see what they do with the movie. The ending infuriated me something wicked, another reason I love it. They didn't give me the ending I wanted. 
4. Calling Me Home - A stunning novel. I love split historical novels like this - half in the past, half today, and with a dash of the civil rights movement... it's a brilliant story and very well told. 
5. The Time Keeper - I think if I hadn't read this in a day it would've taken me a long time to read it. It didn't pull me in. It was kind of weirdly told... but I kept reading and I still, four months on, think about the story a lot. It has a lot of power in it, and I really loved that.
6. The Kindrily Series - I adored this series. I've only linked to the first book here, but all three were great. I really got immersed in the story of the characters and truly loved the plot and the mysteries. It's a shame it's not more widely known.
7. Ruby Red Trilogy - I've actually only just finished series this as I only had the first one on my kindle in Africa but I loved it. A great mix of teen drama, romantic frustrations and time travelling 'someone is going to kill us' type of drama. The story moves easily and hooks you in straight away. I love it. I want more! (I still REALLY hate the covers though)
8. A Bit Mental - Not fiction, not at all. But a really interesting memoir about a guy from New Zealand suffering from depression and what he did to help himself overcome it. Quite inspiring actually. 
9. Between Shades of Grey - Beautiful, stunning, heartbreaking story. I had no idea about the Soviet genocide and this really opened my eyes. So well written but it really does break your heart into tiny little pieces and only sellotapes a few fragments back together. 
10. Orphan Train - One of my favourite books this year. Reminded me a lot of my all time favourite book The Tea Rose. A really lovely story and the true meaning of 'started from the bottom now we here'. It really touched me. I seriously recommend this book
11. I'd Know You Anywhere - I'm still not entirely sure or convinced about this book. Great premise... it just didn't sit right with me
12. Where the Stars Still Shine - Oooh this book was nice. It wasn't as deep as many of the others I've put on here but I did really enjoy it. And I learned about sea sponges from it, which is kind of cool. It was a much better story than I was expecting
13. Pretty Little Things - Haunting, scary and sad. It's a good book but very disturbing. For the first time ever I did guess who the killer was though. I usually don't read crime books because I never know who did it until it's revealed even though everyone figured it out on page 9.... I figured this one out, I was pretty proud of myself. It was really well done though :)
14. If I Stay - I loved this book. Such a great concept and so well written. I'm really looking forward to the movie
15. Where She Went - A follow up to If I Stay told several years after Mia's accident and told from Adam's point of view. Really sad the state of things when the book opens but over the course of one evening things change a lot and it's really cool to read and see why things happened the way they did. Not as good as If I Stay, but I still really enjoyed it.
16. Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children - I don't think I would have read this book if I hadn't been on a truck for so many hours, but I really enjoyed it once I got into it. It did take me a while to get into it though.... Great concept, very well told. Reading the sequel currently!
17. The Ocean at the End of the Lane - This book has had praise heaped upon it. I tried three separate times to get into it and it just didn't draw me in. I wish I could've loved it. Maybe I'm doing something wrong?
18. Auschwitz: A Doctors Eyewitness Account - words cannot even begin to describe how disgusted I am with what the human race is capable of. And what we do in desperate situations can be almost as bad. This is a book that is ... very hard to read. For obvious reasons. 
19. The Luminaries - An author with my own nationality, oh how proud we are of Eleanor Catton. Unfortunately, hard as I tried, I just couldn't get past the first chapter. I tend to stick to YA novels and this is certainly not YA. Despite having been to the places written about in the book and being able to picture them with perfect clarity, for me the book is too complex! She's a genius, and I, am afraid, am not (so much so I can't even read the writing of said genius). I've heard from many it's a brilliant book. Obviously it is, but for me I found it too wordy, too descriptive and very slow. Like I said though, I didn't get past chapter one, things could change greatly in the following chapters! Maybe one day i'll try again.
20. Ender's Game - Maybe I wasn't in the mood but I just couldn't get past the writing style. I loved the movie and perhaps I was too stuck on that. I wanted to love it, but I just was so clueless as to what was going on for too much of the book that I got frustrated and stopped. Then I sat about wondering why I couldn't seem to get through one of the YA classics! Failure.
21. A Stolen Life - What Jaycee went through is awful, and reading about it in such detail is so uncomfortable yet I guess that human curiosity propels you further, wanting to know what other horrors lay in store. 
22. Flowers for Algernon - A classic, of course. Very powerful and an interesting story. A case, I believe, of science being pushed too far.
23. Out of the Easy - Oh wow. I adored this book. So brilliantly written. I wanted more. I still want more. I love love love this book. Such a great story, so much action and I loved Josie, the main character. Waiting in anticipation for Ruta Sepetys next book.
24. Chew on This: Everything You Don't Want To Know About Fast Food. - I never want to eat fast food again. Really interesting to learn about the origins of the insane food industry, but seriously. I've gone paleo and partially vegetarian and I don't even want to go near a McDonalds. Ew.
25. Just Listen - This feels like a much younger book and has less depth than many of the other books I've read but I still really enjoyed it. One thing I did feel though was that it was almost exactly (save for a few details) like that book Speak... the one that was made into a movie with K-Stew... seriously, it's like exactly the same. But I still enjoyed it.
26. Forgiving Ararat - Why can I just not get into some of these books that have good sounding plots?! I just got so confused in the first few chapters that I gave up. I'm sorry
27. Chosen - This book really appealed to me being a child of adoption and I was excited to read it. It was told in multiple voices and none of them sounded any different from the other... sentences were confused and the story was so slow moving I gave up before I reached half way. Such a great premise though.
28. Friends Forever - What happened? Isn't Danielle Steel supposed to be a writing super star? This book drags on and on. I managed to get to the end, but I don't know how. It was like watching someone mow the lawn. It moved slowly and big events (like main characters dying) seemed to only get a mention on one page, the next page the characters mourn and the next page they're partying at the local football game. I couldn't get past the writing either. Did DS really write it? A quick look on Goodreads shows I'm not alone in my opinion. Such a shame :(
29. This is What Happy Looks Like - This is a perfect rainy Sunday afternoon light hearted teen book. I likened it to the equivalent of People Magazine or Hollywood Life. We're not talking high quality and suspense, we're talking what you really need to give your mind a rest and take yourself away from the pressures of life for a while. and I really enjoyed it!
30. The Distance Between Us - Aww I liked this book. Another light hearted one, but throws in quite a few interesting twists along the way. I should read more books like this, they give me the warm fuzzies.
31. Steve Jobs - This guy was such a genius, yet such an asshole. The book was long. I started it the day I left Turkey to move to London and it took me a month to finish it (I wasn't doing a lot of reading but it did take a long time to read.) A really interesting and incredible story. What a life he led. I love his lack of fear and his brilliant mind. He may have pissed a lot of people off but my gosh he changed the face of our world. 

So that's all I've read for now. I'm working on the second Miss Peregrine book at the moment and next up is 1984 (I'm going to see the show in August so want to read it before then), Elizabeth is Missing, While We Run, Sugar Salt Fat and Wheat Belly. So many great books! So little time! I need to go back to Africa so I can get through my book collection!!

What have you been reading lately?

What's Up Wednesday!

Wow, it's been a while since I did one of these!

What's Up Wednesday is a blog hop created by Jaime and Erin to help writers keep in touch with each other.

SO, without further ado....

What I'm Reading
I've just finished reading the Kindrily series which I really enjoyed and am now starting on Sapphire Blue, the second book in the Ruby Red series. Although I don't seem to have a lot of time to read at the moment, I'm spending more time working on my writing instead :)

What I'm Writing
A week ago I completely gutted my WIP that I've been working on for a year and a half and pretty much started again. I kept the bones of the original wip but it needed a total make over so hopefully this will make it much better!

What Inspires Me Right Now
My photos from my travels. I had so many great ideas for new stories while I was travelling and so many of them are held within the thousands of photos I took. I honestly get lost in them every time I start looking through them. The life that many Africans live is somewhat similar to the life of my central character in my WIP (yet also very different), so I was able to really gain a lot of insight and inspiration from that. That and the gloomy London weather! (Summer, what summer?) A rainy day is always conductive for inspiration!

What Else Have I Been Up To?
Well I've just made my return to the blogging world after 9 months away. I wrote a post here about why i've been away and what I've been up to. More recently though, I've been working on cutting out grains and sugar from my diet, have been going to the gym, learning guitar and applying for job after job (with not a lot of success. Le sigh). I did go to a writing seminar on Monday night which was hugely interesting and i'll write a post about it soon :)

How is everyone in the blogosphere going? :)

What's Up Wednesday

How is it What's Up Wednesday time again already? If you're not up to date yet, What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme that allows us to touch base with our online friends to tell them what's up in your world!

What I'm Reading

I'm ashamed to say i'm STILL reading Code Name Verity. I've been so crazy busy over the last few week that it's been a bit abandoned! Whoops! I miss my daily subway reading time! I'll get there, I promise!

What I'm Writing

A lot of you are aware I've been having some mega issues getting past my writers block. I deleted a good portion .... okay most of my current WIP and am starting again with a different angle. So I did the deleting and then I stared at the blank page and got frustrated. I blogged about my frustrations, got some great advice and then stared some more at my blank page. So I took a week off. I've barely even thought about my WIP for the last week until today. I went to the gym, and started to let my mind wander to my WIP. It was the first time I'd let myself think about what might happen next. 

See I've been writing out a broad plan of the book and I got to this point and I just couldn't figure how to get from point A to point B. At the gym, it was like the dam had been blown up and the water could flow freely. No kidding, I suddenly got the answer. It hasn't got me to the end of my plan, but it's got me pretty close. I feel I'm ready to get back on the horse and start writing the chapters again. I don't know why it's taken so long, but I'm glad things are flowing again!

What Inspires Me Right Now

Nature. Everyone always goes on about how beautiful New Zealand is, and I know they're right. I do live in a really stunning city. But truth be told, I don't see a lot of that on a daily basis. I live in a city, I go to my house, to the gym, to work and back. Last weekend I got out into nature and saw just how beautiful it can be. My book is very tied in with the power of nature, and so that has really got me inspired!

What Else I've Been Up To


Yikes I just wrote a whole speil here then it disappeared!

The main thing I've done in this last week was head to the West Coast of the South Island with my man so we could go to the glaciers! We had planned to go up on Franz Josef, but the whole time we were there it rained and rained. The cloud was really low which meant that the helicopter which transfers you up onto the ice couldn't operate so the tour was cancelled. We were so gutted! We headed 30 minutes down the road to Fox Glacier and as they don't need a helicopter their tours usually still operate in the rain. Only problem was, there'd been a rock slide so all their tours were cancelled too. We were so disappointed. There wasn't a lot else to do there except the glaciers so we packed up and left a day early. Typically within two days, the sun had come out and the tours up to the glacier had perfect blue skies. grrr! We did have a good chance to really spend some quality time together though. It was the first time we'd seen each other properly in 3 months so we were in dire need! We also managed to walk through the valley to the bottom of the glacier (in the rain, we got very wet), but that was nice to see.

Aside from that I've been busy at planning more of our big trip for next year! We've added in 5 days on Crete which I'm very excited about as my Grandad fought there during the war! We're booking the rest of our flights this week which will be great to get locked in! Then it's all about saving as much money as possible!!

Speaking of money, I've been working like a mad woman at work - the festival have released four of our top shows for the festival ahead of our main launch which has been very busy! So if anyone plans to be in CHCH, NZ in August and September you'll have to see some of the shows we've got on offer!

Lastly, I've been spending a lot of time with my parents lately which has been nice. My brother-in-law convinced us all to start watching this BBC show Orphan Black. I don't always trust his recommendations but this one is actually really great so far! Have only watched one episode but I'm looking forward to seeing how it develops. Does anyone else watch this?

What have you been up to this week?

What's Up Wednesday

I swear the weeks are just whizzing past!


So word is starting to get out about What's Up Wednesday which is GREAT! I just now need to remember the time zone difference and get them up at the right time! Yikes!

How's everybody's week been? :D


What I'm Reading
I've now officially started on Cody Name Verity, and so far it's pretty good. Has a bit of a slow start but it's enjoyable to read. I've been going to bed really early to try and get lots of reading time in but unfortunately I end up falling asleep within half an hour. My co-workers do find it funny when I say I went to bed to read my book and ended up asleep by 9pm! Crikey!

What I'm Writing
Well I sat staring at my blank page with the title Chapter 8 for just over a week. You know when you read a book that is so boring you have to force yourself to get over it and just read but it's SUCH. A. HASSLE? Yeah, well my book's been like that. So repetitive and boring, and I sat there saying 'this is going no where.' So I did two days of serious brainstorming and then I looked at what my issues were.

I was trying to focus on two many characters at once. There wasn't a sole purpose of the story and there was too many smaller story lines trying to creep in. So I'm pretty much going to scrap chapters 4 - 8 and start over. Chapters 1-3 are where I want them, but I need to hone it in, and focus more on the issue and the resolution... the characters journey. I was also writing in split narrative as I thought that was the best way to get over a certain language barrier, but it was creating too much confusion so i'm kicking the guy's narrative to the curb and going to change a few things up. Hopefully it'll work better this time!

What Inspires Me Right Now
My motivation to get the story right, that's inspiring me. Every time I log onto my blog and check the newsfeed I get inspired. And of course my lovely man who won't let me give up even when I feel it's useless.

What Else I've Been Up To
Sleeping! I've been so tired I've been sleeping so much! A lot of physio as well - I have a slipped disc in my neck which is causing these awful headaches so I've been doing a lot of physio exercises to help that come right. I'm still planning my trips, and at work we're planning a big launch party for Friday night. We're pre-releasing four shows that'll be in our Arts Festival which is very exciting! And the brochure has finally been sent to the printers!

Aside from that, my man is FINALLY coming down to see me - it's been two months since I saw him last so I'm very exciting, and in a week's time we're heading to one of New Zealand's best glaciers which I'm very excited about!

What have you been up to? :)

Review: Please Ignore Vera Dietz

Please Ignore Vera Dietz

Written By: A. S. King

Published By: Knopf Books

Published On: October 12, 2010
Pages: 336

Vera’s spent her whole life secretly in love with her best friend, Charlie Kahn. And over the years she’s kept a lot of his secrets. Even after he betrayed her. Even after he ruined everything.
 
So when Charlie dies in dark circumstances, Vera knows a lot more than anyone—the kids at school, his family, even the police. But will she emerge to clear his name? Does she even want to?
 
Edgy and gripping, Please Ignore Vera Dietz is an unforgettable novel: smart, funny, dramatic, and always surprising.



I was recommended this book by a friend of mine who's judgement on books I trust immensely. If she goes on and on about a particular book, I'm 99% convinced that I'm going to love it. Vera Dietz was no exception.

The cover is simple yet effective, a design in which you don't often see on many modern books which I quite like. I love the way the lighter is forming the title and the green background is quite eye-catching. As you make your way through the book, you also realise the lighter is actually a very important part of the story.

The book is narrated by Vera as she moves on with her life after the death of her best friend, Charlie, who she hadn't spoken to in months after he had changed enough to cut out of his life. The thing that I really love about this book is how very real it is. As though this situation, and this life, could really happen to the average teenager.

Aside from the somewhat confusing drunken hallucinations of Vera seeing dead Charlie's ghost, the book is exceptionally well written. It was easy to get captured into the story within the first few pages and it very quickly becomes hard to put the book down. While Vera knows the true cause of Charlie's death, you want to keep reading so you can find out the heartbreaking truth of what happened on that fateful day.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves a strong and powerful YA novel.
I would give Please Ignore Vera Dietz 5 stars

What's Up Wednesday

I've been meaning to do What's Up Wednesday for a couple of weeks since Jaime and Erin came up with this awesome idea.
Only problem was I kept getting confused with the different time zones and pretty much failed. This week though, i'm on it!

What's Up Wednesday is just a way to keep in touch with blogging friends and let everyone know what's been happening in your life!

What I'm Reading
I just finished the latest Jodi Picoult book The Storyteller which I, embarrassingly, took two months to read. It was a good read, just very heavy and life kept getting in the way!

Tonight i'll also be finishing The Future of Us. Tomorrow I can finally start on Code Name Verity. My friends been bugging me for ages to read this, so hopefully it sucks me in!

What I'm Writing
I'm taking my good sweet time to get through my current WIP. Seriously, I'm up to chapter 8 and have been writing for three months already. I currently have hit a snag and haven't written all week. I'm sure i'll be able to pick it up this weekend when I'm a little less crazy with work and life in general. I just need to stop changing so many important aspects of the book!

What Inspires Me Right Now
I'm not getting a lot of inspiration from certain things right now except perhaps my dreams. When I need something to come to me I go to the gym and about half way through my work out, once i'm well and truly lost in my story land my ideas come pouring out. Then of course there are a few of my own life events and parts of history that lend themselves and inspire me.

What Else I've Been Up To

At work
We're in full on brochure production mode for the Arts Festival Programme Brochure. It's a lot of work and I've done a lot of proofing and editing over the last few weeks. I had no idea how much work went into those brochures. It's almost time to send it to the printers - very exciting but also nerve wracking.

At home
I've been thinking a lot about my book, but haven't done a lot of writing. I've been playing my guitar a lot too, losing myself in the music is a great way to spend some 'me time'. I've also been planning my next lot of travels! My man, my sister and my sister's man booked flights to Africa on Monday, we're all booked in for early next year to head to the great African continent and safari for 5 weeks before spending 9 days in Egypt, 6 days in Athens and 10 days in Turkey. Then we'll move to London. The plans are starting to come into place, I'm very excited! I'm also planning my trip to the New Zealand glaciers which I'm doing with my man in two weeks time. I've never been before even though they're only a few hours drive away, so i'm looking forward to that!

In Remembrance
The last week has been pretty difficult. On Friday two people I knew died. One was expected, and one was incredibly sudden and unexpected. I saw this guy on Friday morning and he was happy and full of energy. Within a few hours a brain aneurysm had snuffed out his life. So cruel and unfair. I've rarely known anyone to be so chirpy and living life to the full. It's hard to believe that someone who really was larger than life could be taken from us so early. Words can't fully do justice to how much of an incredible guy he was, and why he managed to touch so many people's lives, but he really did. A good portion of my town knew him in some way or another. His death has hit me harder than any other I've been through, including my grandparents (but that would be because I was so young). All my love, prayers and thoughts are going out to his wife and his two children who haven't even reached the age of five.

Sooo that's me for now! What have you all been up to? :)

Review: The Book Thief

The Book Thief
Written By: Markus Zusak
Published By: Picador (Australia), Knopf (USA)

Published On: March 14, 2006

Pages: 576

It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .

Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.

This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.

It's been a couple of months since I read The Book Thief, and I've mentioned before how much I enjoyed it, so I thought I might as well write a review on it. 

There are many different covers out and about for this particular book but the image I've chosen here is the cover on the book that I own. I feel that it really represents the story. Death, the narrator, standing alone in a frozen almost dead forest. Then of course the splatter of blood. The mark of war. It's a very thought provoking image if you really look into it, and I'm sure English classes all over the world have a field day pulling it to pieces. (I used to hate that part of english.)

I had been recommended this book to read by so many people for the last two years. I had been roaring through my books at such a fast pace and I thought this would be the same. Not so. 

Firstly, the writing style is very different to everything else I'd been reading. It's narrated by death, so of course it's a different reading experience. You're not hearing about the story from someone who is actually in the action, you're hearing about it from someone who is on the outside, looking in. 

Secondly... you read the plot synopsis. You know it's set in WWII, and you know at some point during the book she'll be a part of hiding a Jewish man in her basement. The content of this book is heavy. There are no restrictions on who may die and who may live. Who may be sent to the war front and who may be beaten to a pulp in front of all the other characters. 

There are of course funny moments, charming moment and sweet moments. But it's a difficult book to read. That being said, it's very rewarding. It's a great story, very powerful and very serious. I love the occasional book like this but you really have to be in the right mind frame to read it. I should issue some form of warning. By the end of the book your heart may be broken.

Otherwise, it's a very thought provoking and well written novel. I would certainly recommend it, but you probably have to be into the darker, heavier books.

I give The Book Thief 5 stars.

What's your preferred genre?

The other day I was having a conversation with a friend of mine who is an avid YA reader. She asked me what my favourite YA genre is, and then proceeded to tell me her top three genres and her top ten books in each genre.

I was kind of in awe.

I tried to answer her... I really did, but I was too busy doing this....

 

 

I had no idea what to say. I don't know what genre I firmly sit in. I just....read.

Okay I don't much like straight romance novels, but for the most part I don't stick to a particular genre. I like the book for the book and I don't want to box myself into reading just dystopian, or just steampunk, historical or sci-fi.

I choose books by hearing titles being thrown around, seeing people rave over a particular book, or if I like the sound of the book based on the plot summary. I like to read widely and I want each book I read to be dramatically different from the last, so I'll rarely read two books in the same genre one after the other. It keeps it interesting, keeps me reading. 

At the moment I'm nearing the end of a twelve book series. I've been reading it for two months, and to be honest, I can't wait to get to the end. I'm sick of it and want to read something completely different. I can see the finish line, I just wish I could read a little faster. Only problem is, I'm not motivated to read faster because it's starting to become a chore. I love the series, I love the story (albeit it's a little bit like a soap opera) but I'm wanting something new, fresh and different now.

Am I the only one who doesn't have a set preferred genre? Does anyone else just blow around like the wind? Like a non-committed village bicycle who can't decide which genre to settle down in? If you do have a preferred genre, what is yours?

 

I bawled the whole way through, and loved every minute

There are some books that stay with you long after you've read them. Of course, it'll depend on what kind of books you really love as to which ones stay with you, but I'm sure you can think of one or two that you've never quite managed to forget, or that you always say 'oh, I must read that book again'. I love stories that are true, honest, raw, and make you feel all sorts of emotions. 

The ones I'm thinking of are those that really make you think. They tug the heart strings, they make you laugh, they make you cry and you then want to go and recommend the book to everyone you know.

About a month ago I talked about non-fiction books that stick with you. Now I want to talk about fiction novels.

There's been a couple of these that I've read recently. One of which is Ape House, by Sara Gruen who wrote Water for Elephants. Water for Elephants is a great story, however I actually feel Ape House is slightly better. Maybe I'm a sucker for stories that include animals, or maybe it just really pulled me into the story, and wrapped me up in the world. I laughed and cried with the characters, I cheered them along and I got angry and the injustices. Once it finished I recommended it to my FH, to my parents and my friends. Many of them also tracked down the book and enjoyed it almost as much as I did!

Sometimes the story won't make a huge impression on you at the time, but later your mind keeps drifting back to the story. This happened with me when I read Still Alice. I think this story just resonated with me because so many people I know, or know of, including my grandmother suffer from Alzheimer's disease. This book is told from the perspective of Alice who begins to suffer from early onset Alzheimer's. It's really interesting seeing how her brain starts to fail on her, seeing how she thinks and how she begins to forget. It was also a little bit scary as the character of Alice had so much in common with my mother (profession, interests etc). While the book didn't particularly make me laugh or cry, it definitely stuck with me enough for my brain to continue drifting back to the book, six months after I read it.

The Kite Runner is one I'd love to read again, I've never forgotten the impact that book had on me. It was disturbing and heart wrenching and incredibly well written. As hard as it is to read, that is one novel I still recommend everyone to read.

The Lovely Bones is another I've read numerous times. It's heart breaking and upsetting and causes you to feel all sorts of emotions - happy, sad, angry, confused..... It's a brilliant book, and while the movie is great it doesn't compare to the book!

I've talked before about The Tea Rose, that's another that I'm still raving about.... you can read my review of that here.

 And as cliche as it may be, My Sister's Keeper - a long time favourite with a twist that I never saw coming that completely broke my heart and left me crying for hours.

While well written fiction novels can have this affect that still makes you sad when you think of the story, they really can't compare to the non-fiction novels that have the same effect. Partly because you know the non-fiction novels are true, and that the person telling the story really went through, or witnessed, all this heartache and trauma. I planned talk about these books in this post, but some of these stories touched my heart so incredibly that I feel they deserve their own post.

So they're a few of mine.... what are the fiction books that have never left you?