Happy World Book Day!

“You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax, all you need is a book.” – Dr Seuss

02.03.2017

Today is one of my favourite days of the year (aside from Christmas and Pancake day that is). I love World Book Day because it celebrates my absolute favourite thing in the world – reading. Just to put in perspective how much I love it, in the last month I have read all 5 books in the Throne of Glass series (would highly recommend) and the first book of the Legend series. But World Book Day is a day where everyone celebrates reading, not just weirdos like me who could quite happily spend their life reading books.

I love seeing all the different characters children dress up as. My siblings are dressed as The Gruffalo, Willy Wonka and Harry Potter and honestly they could not look any cuter! They’re actually dressing up tomorrow instead of today but I made them put their costumes on early so my mum could take photos for this blog. Yes I really am that sad.

 

In honour of WBD, I thought I’d take a trip down memory lane and list some of the books I used to absolutely love when I was younger.

1.We’re Going on a Bear Hunt

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We used to read this as a class, and making all the different sounds was the most exciting thing ever for some reason.

2. The Magic Key books

These stories about Biff, Chip and Kipper and their dog Floppy were my go to books at reading time. There’s now over 300 books in this series, and I probably read a good 250 of them.

And some slightly bigger books:

3. Harry Potter and The Philosophers Stone

Obviously. This was the first ‘big’ book I ever read, and it’s stuck with me. Now my favourite in the series is either The Prisoner of Azkaban, The Goblet of Fire or The Deathly Hallows. I can’t just pick one, please don’t make me!

4. Every single book by Jacqueline Wilson

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The day I got too old to be waiting for her latest release was a sad one. Some of my favs included Lola Rose, The Girls series and Double Act, but I loved pretty much all of them.

5. George’s Marvellous Medicine 

And basically every other Roald Dahl book. This was one of my favourites but I definitely read and loved every single one of them (except Boy and Going Solo because for some reason I didn’t want to read his autobiographical ones). Danny the Champion of the World and The Twits were two of my other favourites.

6. The Chronicles of Narnia

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I used to have the most beautiful collection of these books, but I can’t find them or a picture of them anywhere (sad face). The artwork on the front was so interesting and they looked so good on a bookshelf. (They say don’t judge a book by its cover, but bookshelf aesthetics are so important you know). Voyage of The Dawn Treader was my favourite though, I read it so many times that it actually started falling apart. I was so excited when they made this one into a film even though by that time I was already like 15/16.

There are so many other books I could talk about, like The Worst Witch, The Mary-Kate and Ashley books (with hilarious titles like How to Train a Boy), all the Enid Blyton books, especially The Famous Five, and so many more but there’s just not enough time! I read so much when I was younger, and thinking about all these books is making me so nostalgic.

But anyway, I hope you enjoyed World Book Day and have fun reading every day!

Until next time,

Aimee x

 

 

Falling

23.02.17

“It’s strange,” said Elara thoughtfully.

“I thought I loved Jackson. Being with him made me feel safe, it was like coming home to a warm bath after a long day. And for a while that was exactly what I needed. But then I realised that that’s not really what love is. You can’t just be with someone because it’s safe. Because it’s easy. Falling for Gabriel was different. I use the word falling because that’s exactly what it felt like. It was almost as if I’d been thrown off a massive cliff, and even now I’m still falling. I can feel the wind rushing past me, my stomach is full of butterflies and my heart is pumping like it’s trying to force its way out of my chest. But even though I’m absolutely terrified, I know that Gabriel is waiting for me at the bottom of this cliff, and I know deep in my heart and soul that he’s going to catch me. Loving him is both utterly terrifying and totally comforting at the same time. I don’t know how thats possible, how something can scare you to death but simultaneously make you feel completely safe. But that’s how he makes me feel. So maybe that’s what love is. Knowing that you’re completely vulnerable but still doing it anyway. Giving someone the power to completely destroy you, but somehow knowing that they won’t. I don’t even know if that makes any sense. But now Gabriel is gone. I’m never going to see him again. So that safety net, the one person who I knew could save me isn’t here anymore. Now I’m just falling.”

I’m Back!

“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart” – William Wordsworth

16.02.2017

I’m going to be honest. My New Years Resolution to blog more frequently totally went out the window recently. I don’t really have any excuse apart from the fact that I was pretty busy, and (this sounds like a cop-out but I promise that it isn’t) I kind of got writers block. In my defence, I have done A LOT of reading in my spare time recently, and everyone always says that to be a good writer you have to read a lot. I’m pretty sure I heard that somewhere anyway. But that’s no excuse, there is no way I can fail my resolution this early in the year! I may be indecisive but I am definitely not a quitter. As if that wasn’t obvious from the fact that I managed to eventually pass my driving test after failing it 4 times, and having a panic attack right at the start of one so I barely even drove out the test centre before turning right back around. Definitely the most expensive example of my inability to give up when I’ve decided I want something!

Anyway back to my original point, I need to get back to writing as often as I was at the start of the year. And I think (thanks to the help of my best friend) that I’ve come across a solution to my writers block. I’ve realised that I was too focused on trying to make my blog fit into some sort of category, intent on writing about books, and reading and writing. I have no idea how I got it into my head that that’s what I had to do, but I did. So now I’m going to throw that idea out the window (after sheepishly climbing through it to pull back my resolution because I’m so not done with it yet).

From now on this blog is going to be a personal blog. While I’m still going to write about books and reading because hey, I love all that stuff, I’m also just going to write about whatever crosses my mind. If I happen to go somewhere interesting or experience something new, or even if I just saw something online and want to talk about it, I’m going to blog about it. The only way to get better at writing is to write, and that’s exactly what I intend to do. When I first started this blog, I said that I imagined life as a book that I was just writing in haphazardly as I go along. So now that’s what this blog is going to be. So if you’re reading this, welcome to the very convoluted, confusing and generally strange book of my life.

Hopefully you’ll enjoy it as much as I hope I am going to.

Here’s looking at you,

Aimee

Devastation

 

“Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is poverty. Ignorance is devastation. Ignorance is tragedy.” – Jim Rohn

via Daily Prompt: Devastation

When I saw that todays ‘Daily Prompt’ word was devastation, I thought I’d do a little experiment and Google it. I can’t say I was surprised to see hundreds, if not thousands of news articles with the word ‘devastation’ in the headline.

What did surprise me was the range of news that was being described as devastating. I was seeing articles about the crisis in Aleppo, and the recent avalanche in Italy alongside articles about The Great British Bakeoff leaving the BBC and The Washington Redskins losing to the New York Giants. Don’t get me wrong, I love Bakeoff just as much as the next British person, but how is its changing channels in anyway comparable to the deaths of over 31,000 people, at least 20,000 of them being civilians ?  And that’s just in the city of Aleppo. Nearly half a million people have been killed during the Syrian Civil War, and 11 million have had to flee their homes and are in desperate need of food, shelter and clean drinking water. Whilst I was reading about the Syria Crisis, I realised that there’s so many other people suffering out there, some of which I’m ashamed to say I knew nothing about. Like I had no clue that 6.5 million people in Malawi are starving because of a drought last year. (Read more about both the Syria and Malawi crisis’ here).

It completely amazes me what constitutes as ‘news’ these days. Doesn’t it make you sad that we live in a society that would rather read news articles about whether the bum slip is the new side boob (I’m looking at you Daily Mail) than articles about what’s actually going on out in the world. I don’t claim to be innocent, I do spend a lot of my time reading trivial showbiz news, I want to know what the Kardashians are doing right now and I want to see pictures of Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid being totally adorable. But I do still care about what is happening in the world, and think that we should be doing anything we can to help people that are suffering. And I certainly don’t think that the loss of a football game should be compared in ANY way to the the deaths of thousands of innocent people. I know that headlines are supposed to grab peoples attention, but you’d think that something like the Syrian Civil War and the loss of thousands of innocent lives would be at least slightly more news worthy that The Great British Bakeoff now having ad breaks.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I think everyone should try to put things into perspective when they either read the news, or write about it.  I know that it seems really trivial, but seeing these articles side by side as the top Google results just made me feel a little bit ill.

Until next time,

Aimee x

100 Things to be Grateful for

“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” – Marcus Aurelius

  1. You are alive.
  2. You are healthy.
  3. You have survived every bad decision you’ve ever made.
  4. You have survived every bad thing that has happened to you.
  5. (And you’re stronger because of it.).
  6. Somebody (whether it’s your mum/dad/sibling/pet/friend/partner/etc) loves you.
  7. You have clean and safe water to drink. 
  8. You have food to eat when you get hungry.
  9. You have a roof over your head.
  10. Puppies exist.
  11. Same-sex marriage is now legal in over 20 countries.
  12. Smiling.
  13. Laughing.
  14. The smell of coffee.
  15. A homemade meal.
  16. Fresh sheets.
  17. Long showers.
  18. Good hair days.
  19. Good makeup days.
  20. That feeling you get after you work out, when you feel exhausted but also like you can accomplish anything.
  21. The sound of rain when you’re warm and cosy in bed.
  22. When the trees start to blossom in spring.
  23. Long summer days.
  24. Autumn walks.
  25. Snow.
  26. That moment where you wake up and you realise you still have ages before your alarm goes off.
  27. Those days where you can sleep in as long as you want.
  28. The cold side of the pillow.
  29. When you find extra money in your bag/pocket/purse that you totally forgot about.
  30. Sunrises.
  31. Sunsets.
  32. The stars.
  33. The moon.
  34. The Northern Lights.
  35. Rainbows.
  36. Out there somewhere, there is a baby being welcomed into the world RIGHT NOW.
  37. Out there somewhere, someone is probably being proposed to by the love of their life.
  38. Out there somewhere, someone has just been given the all-clear. They’re now cancer-free.
  39. You know how to read.
  40. And write.
  41. You can see.
  42. You can hear.
  43. You can feel.
  44. You can walk.
  45. You can run. It may not be fast or far but you can do it.
  46. Those times where you laughed so hard you swear you got a six-pack.
  47. You have friends.
  48. You have a family.
  49. New shoes.
  50. The smell of a new book, just waiting to be read.
  51. Music.
  52. Dancing.
  53. Singing.
  54. You are allowed to have your own beliefs.
  55. You have the freedom of expression.
  56. You have freedom in general.
  57. Parties.
  58. Barbecues.
  59. Alcohol.
  60. A really good cup of tea.
  61. Chocolate.
  62. Strawberries.
  63. Kittens.
  64. Those times where you can laugh over old memories with friends.
  65. You can speak to someone on the opposite side of the world.
  66. You could learn a new language.
  67. You can learn anything you want.
  68. Old friends.
  69. New friends.
  70. That random person you smile to whenever you see them but you’re not quite sure how you know them.
  71. No matter how lonely you feel, you’re never alone. Not really.
  72. The ocean.
  73. The countryside.
  74. The big city.
  75. The beach.
  76. Mountains.
  77. Somewhere out there a baby just took their first steps.
  78. Someone has just said ‘I love you’ for the first time.
  79. No matter what, you will always have hope.
  80. Your first kiss.
  81. Cuddles.
  82. Sex.
  83. If you earn over £6,000 a year then you are in the top 20% of the richest people in the world.
  84. You can wear whatever you want.
  85. If you get sick, the NHS still exists. For now anyway.
  86. ‘This too shall pass.’
  87. If you think about it, Time doesn’t really exist.
  88. For every piece of bad news there is always a piece of good news.
  89. For every bad person, there is a good one.
  90. Films.
  91. TV shows.
  92. Netflix.
  93. The Internet
  94. Books.
  95. Magazines.
  96. You can walk down the street without fearing for your life.
  97. Fridays.
  98. Lazy Sundays.
  99. You have the power to change someones life.
  100. It doesn’t matter if that someone is you.

My 5 Favourite Film/TV Adaptations of Books

“Serious writers pretend they don’t care about film adaptations of their work, but it’s a colossal lie. We all care.” – Jean Hanff Korelitz

What’s up guys?

Friday Favourites is making a comeback in 2017! Today it’s about something that any book lover loves to talk about – TV or Film adaptations of books. It’s mainly inspired by the fact that I’ve spent the last 2 weeks binge-watching True Blood, which I’ve been meaning to watch for a very long time. I’ve read the books obviously (we all know teen fantasy fiction is right up my street), and I had seen that there was a nice amount of eye candy in the TV series. Can I just say 3 words – Eric fu*king Northman. But while I was being a total geek and thinking about all the similarities and differences between the books and the show, I got to thinking about all the other shows and films that I’ve watched but also read. I’ve picked my 5 favourite adaptations, ones that were so good that I never felt the need to voice that extremely cliche statement ‘The book was so much better’ (bleurgh). Don’t get me wrong, I say this all the time, but in my defence, I do hate myself a little bit for doing so.

So without further ado, lets get into this list.

1.Romeo + Juliet (1996)

I know that a lot of people don’t like this version of the play, including all of my secondary school English teachers who refused to show us this at school. But I’m always one for a bit of controversy, and I love this adaptation. Even though the Friar is the only one that actually speaks in the original iambic pentameter, I genuinely think that Shakespeare would be happy with this version if he ever saw it. It’s hard to describe but I really think Baz Luhrman perfectly captures the mood and the essence of the play through his direction. It’s not just about the words, it’s about the score/soundtrack (which is so good), and the symbolism and imagery he captures through the cinematography. It’s how he makes you feel when you watch it. I can’t be the only one who gets shivers when Romeo and Juliet first catch sight of each other through the fish tank, or when they share their first kiss in the elevator. Obviously the casting of Leonardo DiCaprio has a little to do with that, but I like to think that I’m not shallow enough for that to be the only reason.

2. The Vampire Diaries (2009-present)

This is a perfect example of (please don’t shoot me) a TV adaptation that surpasses the book series it was based on in Every. Single. Aspect. I hate to say it, but the book series of The Vampire Diaries was just plain weird. It gets way too mythical and spiritual (read: just plain confusing), the plot is very average and Elena is actually a really un-likable character. But the TV series is so much better. Its packed full of drama, romance, violence and so much more. Also I swear it must be in the contracts of the show that you have to be beautiful to be even considered for a part. There is not one single character that was not blessed in the looks department. The one thing that annoys me about the show is it’s tagline ‘A girl is torn between 2 vampire brothers’, because it reduces the show into a petty love triangle, when it is sooooo much more than that. I highly recommend it to anyone.

3. The Girl on the Train (2016)

Whilst I enjoyed this book, I only read it because everyone was raving about it. I hate to say it, but I feel like it was really over-hyped. I didn’t think it was really stand out in it’s genre, as I’ve read other thriller/mystery books that were better. That being said, I enjoyed the film adaptation as (like with Romeo + Juliet) I feel like the essence of the book was captured really well. I was surprised at how they managed to make the film so disjointed and disorienting (like it’s supposed to be due to the  mental state of the alcoholic narrator) but somehow still making sure it made sense. I feel like some of the mystery was lost though as *SPOILER ALERT*it seemed really obvious to me that her ex was the murderer in the film. Obviously I already knew this, and I did work it out fairly early on in the book as well. But I feel like they could have made it a bit more tense. Overall though I’d say it was a successful adaptation.

4. Game of Thrones (2011 – present)

Quite possibly one of my absolute favourite TV shows of all time. I’m so grateful that my lecturer had us watch the first episode in our ‘Writing Adaptations’ module, because until then I’d avoided watching it because it sounded too gory for me. Once I’d seen the first episode though I was totally hooked. Its full of action and fantasy and some absolutely incredible episodes like The Battle of the Bastards (for some reason I really enjoy watching battle scenes- don’t ask me why). This is kind of cheating, as I’m actually still in the process of reading the books because they’re so long! I feel like I’ve been reading them forever and I’m still on the third book and I watched the entire show (so far) before I even started reading them. I think the fact I’ve watched it actually makes it harder, as I know whats going to happen most of the time, so some of the excitement is lost. But the books are still amazing, as is the TV show.

5. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

I have to say first of all that I am impressed with how Peter Jackson managed to make a relatively small children’s book into three exceedingly long films. He added a whole load more drama and little storylines to a quite simple story, and made the spectacle that is The Hobbit Trilogy. Even though I (again don’t shoot me) found the first one really boring and the third was not as good as I  expected, I fu*king love this one. One, it has Orlando Bloom in it, who is my ultimate crush. Two, it has Benedict Cumberbatch doing a pretty darn good job of voicing the dragon Smaug, which is also an absolute work of art in my opinion. Did you know that he had no effects altering his voice, it’s all his own raw talent? Three, it contains one of my favourite film sequences of all time, when the dwarves escape from the elves down the river in those barrels.

There are so many more I could talk about, like The Twilight series (which I love), The Hunger Games, and She’s the Man to name just a few! However, I managed to whittle it down to these 5. I also decided not to include Harry Potter in this list because I talk about it a lot and I don’t want people to realise how much of a Harry Potter geek I really am. *Hint* – I’m a massive one, but I physically couldn’t stop myself from at least mentioning it here!

Until next time,

Aimee x

 

Amor Fati

“Amor Fati – ‘Love your Fate’, which is in fact your life.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

What’s up guys?

Today’s blog post is about something that is very important to me – my first tattoo. That’s right, I have the words Amor Fati tattooed on the back of my neck. Whenever I try to explain to anyone what they mean, I can never articulate why the phrase means so much to me. But here I have all the time in the world to try to explain how 2 little words had such a big impact on me that I decided to have them forever inked on my skin. Anyone who knows me will know what a big deal this is, because I am notoriously indecisive. One minute I can be obsessed with something, but a few days, weeks or even months later I couldn’t care less about it.

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‘Amor Fati’ translated literally from Latin means ‘love of ones fate’. Nietzsche used the phrase a lot in his writings, but it’s actual origins are uncertain. (Btw, anyone who has ever studied Modernism will know way more than they want to about Nietzsche, I know for sure that I do!).

‘Love of ones fate’ is so vague though when I’m trying to explain why the phrase resonates with me so much.  It means far more than just accepting whatever life throws at you. In order to really lead a fulfilling life you need to not only accept the hand you are dealt, but embrace it. While life can be hard sometimes, the struggles that you face on a daily basis are what make you, you. Whilst suffering and loss can be hard to bear, it’s important to remember that they are not only necessary, but actually beneficial. I know this may be easy for me to say as I consider myself lucky to have not experienced a lot of loss or suffering  in my life. But I have experienced enough to know that it can be extremely hard, but in the end you always come out of the other side stronger than you were before. Amor Fati means that you have to understand that everything happens for a reason, but instead of just allowing life to happen to you, you have to take charge of your life. If something happens that you weren’t expecting, then don’t just accept it. Use it to your advantage. When I was doing my GCSE’s I was convinced that I wanted to do medicine, and become a doctor, or a nurse or something in that general area. I spoke about it in all my careers meetings, read all the UCAS fact sheets, and based all my decisions on it. I picked Chemsitry, Biology, Geography and English for my A levels. English and Geography because I enjoyed them, but to me Chemistry and Biology were the most important because they were what I needed. Fast forward a year and I realise that my brain is just not cut out for science and facts, I’m way too creative and imaginative and just don’t understand logic. This isn’t really an ideal situation when you’ve spent a year studying A levels that you weren’t really very good at, and which now seem totally pointless. Espically seeing as you put so much work into trying to get better at those two that you let the subjects you were naturally good at be pushed to the side. It was at this time when I first came across the phrase ‘Amor Fati’. Don’t ask me where or how because I don’t know, but knowing me I probably stumbled across it while I was googling random stuff. For some reason though, it really resonated with me. Instead of freaking out that my life was definitely not going in the direction I thought it was, I decided to drop my Chemistry after AS and study English at University. Now my AS grades weren’t very good, because I had really struggled with the work (my own fault really for picking very difficult subjects that I had no affinity for). I gave up on all thoughts of medicine, and universities like Exeter that had way too high grade expectations. I went into the common room at school and picked out a university prospectus totally at random from the shelves and found myself looking at the place that would become my home for the next 3 years, St Mary’s University. Fast forward again, and 3 years later I’m graduating with a First Class Honours degree in English from St Mary’s (which is a universal grading system, it doesn’t matter what university it came from, it’s still a First), I’ve made some amazing friends, and can quite honestly say I’ve had the best 3 years of my life.

None of the amazing experiences that I have had in the past 4 years would have happened if I’d have moped about, upset that my life plan had totally fallen apart. It sounds totally cheesy but if I hadn’t decided to ‘love my fate’, I never would have realised that actually, I was never really destined to become a doctor. Now I realise that I don’t have the temperament, the patience, the intelligence. I’m an emotional person, I feel things far too strongly to be able to think rationally enough to help people that are suffering. I applaud the people that can do it, I really do. They have the power to really help people, which must be so rewarding. But if I hadn’t learnt to love the new path my life was taking, I never would have realised that the one thing I want from life is to somehow, someday change someones life through my writing. If I can write one thing, one day, that in any way helps just one single person, whether it encourages them to chase their dreams or simply makes them realise that they are not alone, then I will be happy. That’s what Amor Fati means to me, and since then I have always tried to remind myself of those two, seemingly insignificant words whenever life gets tough. I tell myself that its MY life, and while I may not be in control of what happens to me, I sure as hell can control how it affects me.

This post got a whole lot longer and deeper than I expected, so I’m gonna end it here! Hopefully I’ve managed to articulate in some way how those two little words on the back of my neck mean so much more to me than I could ever explain.

Don’t just accept your fate guys, embrace it.

Until next time,

Aimee x

When books give the best Life Advice

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.” ― Charles William Eliot

What’s up guys?

People read for a whole load of different reasons; sometimes it’s to escape reality for a little bit, sometimes it’s to feel as though you’re not alone and sometimes it’s to help put your life into perspective. Whatever your reasons are for reading, I often find that books contain a whole host of words of wisdom that can be used in real life, if only one takes the time to follow the advice. I’ve gathered up just a few of these little nuggets of wisdom that I’ve found throughout the books I’ve read in my life.

1. “Here is my secret. It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” — The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The Little Prince is one of my favourite stories, because on a basic level it’s a nice story for children, but it also deals with a multitude of difficult concepts such as loneliness, the nature of friendship and human relationships, loss, love and more. Here the character of the Fox is explaining to the titular Prince that what is on the surface is far less important than what lies beneath.

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2. “A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” – The Twits, Roald Dahl.

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Just as the Fox says in The Little Prince, true beauty comes from within. Always think good thoughts and you will never be ugly, at least not in any way that matters.

3. “Here’s some advice. Stay alive.” — The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins.

A basic piece of advice but a good one. instead of worrying about the little things just focus on the fact that you are alive. In the end sometimes just surviving the day can be an accomplishment.

4. “Whenever you feel like criticizing any one, just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”
—The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald.

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I know this is supposed to be an ironic statement, but I think this is actually a good piece of advice when take it at its most basic level. It’s important to remember that everyone has experienced life differently to you, and that you should never judge someone just because they’re different. Which brings me perfectly to my next quote…

5. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
—To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee.

People are always quick to judge, but rarely take the time to consider things from someone else’s perspective. The world would be a much better place if people took the time to (figuratively) walk around in a person’s skin before making assumptions.

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6. “Live in the present, remember the past, and fear not the future, for it doesn’t exist and never shall. There is only now.” —  Eldest, Christopher Paolini.

Whilst this is  fantasy story about elves and dragons and magic, this advice is as true in the real world as it is in the fictional land of Alagaesia. Too many people let life pass them by as they insist on looking back in to the past or worrying about the future.

7. “The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it.” ―Peter Pan,  J.M. Barrie.

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Belief in yourself or in others can go a long way. Nobody ever achieved anything by doubting themselves.

 

8. “It does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that.”—Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J.K. Rowling.

Come on, there was no way I could not include at least one Harry Potter quote (even though I’ve already done a whole post on advice from the series). For real though, this is some pretty sound advice from JK!

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9. “This above all: to thine ownself be true.” – Hamlet, William Shakespeare.

Good old Will, always coming up with gems like this! At the end of the day, the only person who needs to be happy with who you are is yourself.

This is a very small selection of some of the things I have learned from books in my relatively small lifetime. I try to follow all of these pieces of advice, amongst others, and while it can sometimes be a struggle, I know that it makes me a better person. If I’ve missed any that you think are important, let me know!

Until next time,

Aimee x

The Butterfly Effect

This post is kind of cheating, as it’s a little excerpt from the novel I’m trying to write. This is the moment my heroine meets Gabriel, the moment that sends her world catapulting in a totally different direction to the way she was expecting her life to go. I hope you enjoy it!

Whenever Elara was stressed, she found it therapeutic to go outside and run as far and as fast as she could. Something about the wild beat of her heart, the slight pain that grew in her legs as she pushed herself, the increased labouring of her breathing, always seemed to clear her head. Today it was taking longer than usual, but she could feel the sea of calm skirting around the edge of her consciousness, waiting for the right moment to crash like a wave through her brain. Her blood was pumping furiously through her body, she could almost feel the oxygen coursing through her veins. Out here was where she felt most alive, as her feet pounded along the old tarmac of the country roads surrounding her small town. She let her mind wander, willing the wave to crash over her and quiet the guilt over breaking up with Jackson that was nagging at her conscience.

Suddenly, as if from nowhere, a car appeared moving so fast that she barely had time to register it, let alone move out of its path. Before she even had time to cry out, a pair of strong hands grabbed her around the waist and lifted her out of the way as the car whizzed past her. Breathless, she found herself pressed closely against a lean, hard body, so close that she could feel his breathing which incidentally was much more steady and even than her own. She span around to thank whoever it was that had saved her but the words died on her lips when she found herself face to face with the very same Gabriel Ashwood that every girl in her school had been gushing about all day. Her eyes widened as she took him in, finally understanding why everyone was swooning over him. Although roughly the same height as her ex Jackson, he couldn’t have looked more different. Where Jackson was broad-shouldered and muscled, Gabriel was lean and slim, and he moved with an easy almost feline grace. His build belied his strength though, he’d lifted her as easily as if she was a small child. Now she was close to Gabriel she could actually see the cords of his muscles snaking beneath his skin, and had to clench her fists to stop herself tracing their path. She tore her eyes away from his body and glanced up at his face, to see him gazing at her in a way that seemed both intent yet entirely disinterested all at once. She gulped as her stomach did a backflip but she was too engrossed in him to stop her examination of his features. His eyes, bearing a somewhat bored expression, glowed a deep green, the colour of the ivy the adorned the old church at the end of her road. They were framed by thick, dark eyelashes that would be the envy of every girl she knew. His mouth curved sensually, his lips slightly too full, which should have looked feminine but somehow didn’t. His hair was a colour Elara couldn’t describe, as it seemed to contain an array of deep, muted browns reminiscent of the bark of a tree, which complimented his smooth, golden skin. It was long enough that it curled over his ears and down just past the nape of his neck. The whole effect was unlike anything Elara had ever seen before, he had a subtle, almost wild like quality. He reminded her of a panther, at once beautiful and utterly terrifying.

His mouth quirked up on one side, in a devastatingly handsome expression of amusement that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Usually when one is saved from almost certain death, it is customary to thank the person who saved them.” he drawled, his voice deep and smooth like a river running through a forest.

Suddenly realising that she’d been studying him for at least a couple of minutes, Elara looked down and laughed nervously.

“Sorry,” she said, a smile on her face that was perfectly calculated to be the right combination of shy and flirtatious, “It’s not every day you get saved by a tall, dark and handsome stranger”

The smirk disappeared so quickly off his face that she wondered if she’d even seen it at all.

“Well,” he said in that bored drawl of his, “you should take more care to watch where you are running. Maybe next time you won’t be so lucky.”

And with that he released his hold on her and sauntered off down the road, moving swiftly but casually as if he had all the time in the world. Elara stared after him dumbfounded, before shaking her head and turning towards home. Her brain was now whirring even faster than before, the wave of calm that had been about to wash over her having completely disappeared. It seemed like a small, insignificant encounter, but she couldn’t quite shake the feeling that was gnawing at her insides, telling her that something was about to change.

 

New Year New Me

“Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.” – Brad Paisley

Happy New Years Eve everyone!

To tell you the truth, I have some mixed feelings about saying goodbye to 2016. In many ways it has been an absolutely terrible year with the deaths of so many inspirational people, Brexit (seriously Britain), the new President (seriously USA?) and a whole load of global disasters. Selfishly though, 2016 has been a pretty good year for me. This year I finally passed my driving test (on the 5th time – I know), ran the London Marathon and not only completed my final year of uni but managed to graduate with a first. So personally 2016 is going to go down as a major year in my books.

However I am definitely a firm believer that all things must come to an end, and that it’s so important to know when it’s time to start a new chapter. So in a way I am glad to say say goodbye to 2016, knowing that I will treasure many memories from it, but also looking forward to starting the next chapter of my life in 2017.

Even though it’s a total cliche, I am making one major New Years resolution, as I’ve decided that 2017 is going to be the year that I finally get my sh*t together. I am a walking talking contradiction as whilst I don’t have a 5 year plan (I barely even have a 5 day plan to be honest) and love to just go with the flow, I also hate not being organised. My life feels so much better when I sit down and write hundreds of lists, and timetables and little weekly goals that I can tick off as I go along. So this year my resolution is going to take advantage of my love of organising, and I am going to get my life back on track. This doesn’t mean I’m going to start fully adulting yet and settle down with a proper job and move into my own house, because to be honest that prospect still scares the hell out of me so I’m putting that off for a few years. But I do want to give my life a little bit more direction as I feel like I’ve been in a bit of limbo since graduating uni.

Stage 1 of ‘Get my sh*t together’ is getting my health and fitness back.

I was so fit at the start of 2016, because I had to be to be able to do the marathon. Since then I’ve let it slip but this year I’m going to start exercising 2 or 3 times a week, and try to eat healthier (because lets be honest, the whole of December I ate way too much using the ‘but its Christmas so its ok’ excuse). This shouldn’t be too difficult as last year I managed to go from nothing to training 5 or 6 times a week. I am planning on entering some sort of charity half-marathon to motivate myself even more.

Stage 2 is to write more.

I kind of forgot about blogging for pretty much the whole of December because I was so busy all the time. Whilst I did have some free time, after doing a degree where you feel like you have to constantly be doing extra work or reading, it was so nice to have free time where I could actually do nothing and not feel guilty!. But this year I want to blog more, as I do want to be a writer one day. As long as I make sure to set aside time for it I’m sure I can do it. I’ve also just started writing a novel, so need to make time to write that as well! Who knows whether I’ll actually ever finish it, but I’m definitely going to try!

And stage 3 is to start organising my travel plans.

This is an important one as I want to go travelling for at least 3 or 4 months in September so need to start actually planning and booking it. I need a better answer to the question ‘Oh so where do you want to go?’ than ‘Oh well, I’m thinking about starting in South America but I’m not sure where exactly or where to go from there’! I also need to start putting away more money each month or else there’s no way I’m going to be able to afford to go!

I’m trying to trick myself into thinking that I’ve only really got one resolution that encompasses a few things, rather than classifying these things as 3 separate resolutions as I feel like it might make it easier to stick to. But who knows!

What are your New Years Resolutions? How are you going to make yourself stick to them for longer than a week?

Until next time,

Aimee x