Recommended Reading and Seeing!!

It has been a while since I posted but I have just been enjoying the opportunity to relax so much that I haven't had a chance to post on here.

Well, let me fill you in on my writing news. I have a 4000 writing assignment for my MA due in about two weeks and I have been doing a fair bit of reading towards it. So far I have read Monster and The Beast by Walter Dean Myers, a writer recommended to me by an American colleague. And a good thing too. His works are perfect research for my next project.

I have also read Negotiating with the Dead by Margaret Atwood - a non-fiction book on writing which is on the MA secondary reading list and is highly rated on Amazon, but I am sad to say I found it a bit of a yawn. I prefer Atwood's masterly fiction. Stephen King's On Writing for me is a much livelier account of the writing process which I am now dipping into. I am also reading Party Girl by Lynne Ewing and have a couple of other fiction books and a pile of non-fiction books I'll be referring to before I complete my assignment.

Other news; since last posting, I went to see The Golden Compass at the cinema which was an entertaining, engaging and magical film, well worth seeing.

If you get a chance, go see it.

Hope you all are enjoying the festive season and your (no doubt) well earned rest!!

Good News

Good news number 1: I am officially on holiday! YAY.

Despite the dark and cold I am determined to have a good break. I may even escape this hideous weather and find some warmer climes to enjoy. I have some work to do for my MA but I have no intention of not relaxing.

Good news number 2: earlier this week I discovered that my writer friend Candy Gourlay had got herself an agent, which is not surprising given how fantastic a writer she is. It is of course brilliant news and encouraging for all us unagented writers.

I went out for a pub lunch today with a friend in an attempt to distract myself from the weather and tomorrow I am trying out meditation for the first time and spending some time with another friend. I shall hopefully be very relaxed after the meditation and definitely in holiday mood.

Looking forward

Well, just this week left before we break for Christmas holidays and I can safely say I cannot wait.

I am completely exhausted after a very busy term and, with the weather as miserable as it is, I am looking forward to not having to get up in the dark and return home in the dark.

I am also looking forward to reading all these books as part of my preparation for an MA writing assignment:
What my Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones; Stop Pretending: what happened when my big sister went crazy by Sonya Sones; Monster by Walter Dean Myers; Beast by Walter Dean Myers and Street Love by Walter Dean Myers.

I'm also doing some other research and reading but I won't bore you with it now! I shall save that for another day.

I went swimming yesterday and for a walk today in an attempt to beat the winter blues and, well, with just this week to go I think I am well on the way to happy land.

Eye Candy

Well it's been a week since my last post so probably time for an update, methinks.

I am seriously tired; my eye is twitching in a comical fashion because of this. Yes, go on imagine it.

Well, it's either the tiredness or my contacts that are causing this twitching! Aah... contact lenses. I have this really weird fear of being somewhere like a desert island and losing my contacts and glasses and not being able to see - a thing. I hate being dependent on anything! I have actually contemplated getting laser surgery on my eyes because of this ridiculous fear.

In any case, that is not why I am here.

I am here to tell you about American Gangster, the film, which, those readers in the UK will know, is out at cinemas at the moment. I went to see this film a couple of weekends ago with a friend, for no particular reason other than it looked to be the best thing out at the time and well... despite it being not at all my kind of thing, I was completely into the film. It was a thought provoking and fascinating insight into not only one man's life but the very nature of gangsters who could so easily be depicted as cardboard stereotypes.

Even if you hate violence, are not a man or don't like films about gangsters watch American Gangster. It stars the gorgeous and fantastic actor, Denzel Washington, and the equally talented Russel Crowe, not looking his Gladiator (which incidentally had the same director as American Gangster) best, but still strangely alluring. For all you ladies out there, I'd go for the eye candy! That way, anything else you get out of the film will be a bonus.