Guilty pleasures

Whats yours? Chocolate, alcohol, chick flicks, trashy telly?
I like reading, even when I know I should be doing something else,  like the washing, cleaning the house, etc. Or in tonight's case, watching episodes of True Blood, season 4. I've just watched episode 11, one to go, and I'm trying to figure out how to do it. Obviously I can't watch it when my daughter is awake, I can't watch it now (I'd have to down load it first anyway), so should I just pretend to be working on my computer tomorrow night? Like I did tonight. It just feels so guilty. My guilty pleasure.
I did write a little tonight and am up to 57,000 words into my second draft, which I've re-written because I wasn't so happy with my first draft, but then who is?
I also got my uni result this last week, Distinction and High Distinction, gives me a Distinction average for the course. Uni felt a bit like a guilty pleasure as well, putting everything else on hold so I could read the course work and do assignments, and now that I'm finished I wonder when I had the time to study.
Got to read my book club book this week, 'Let the great world spin' by Colum McCann http://www.colummccann.com/
I'll let you know what I think when I've read it.

Hope everyone's weekends were filled with guilty pleasures!

Working on it

Today I sent off a short story. It will be ages till I hear either way, but I feel like it is a positive step towards being published. I have another story ready to send off as well. It has taken a long time to write and polish these two stories, but I've discovered a lot about the writing and publishing process over this last year.

I'm still working on my novel, here is my proof:
My eye’s adjusted to the yellow dancing candle light flickering by Jake's bed. Dust had settled on me and it shifted when I sat and puffed into the air. Jake's chest rose and fell, slowly. His heart was still beating but his body was fading away, we really had to get answers, figure out what as going on with him.

I'm reading book 3 of Game of Thrones and loving it. I just finished reading 'Dead Reckoning' book 11 of the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris, and enjoyed that. I love following the same character through different books. I always feel a sense of loss when I get to the end of a book, it's not so bad if there is another one to come.

If you're not reading, write. If you're not writing, read.

Cheers,
Tristy.

Weekends

I don't know when I turned into a keen gardener, but now I look forward to the weekend, to heading to Bunnings or the local nurseries to buy plants, vegies and herbs. Today I found rolly poly carrots, we rigged up a new dog-proof (fingers crossed) garden bed, and planted the new carrots. We also made a lid for our new compost bin! So weekends are great, productive times at home, I should be writing, but the sun was out and I have a two year old.

I've written a few short stories around my novel and this is the beginning of one that I really liked, at one stage I thought of including it in the novel somehow.

What was really happening? People dying, strange marks on their necks and drained of blood, this would suggest Vampires, but who believed in Vampires? They were myths and stories that made it into our movies and books, not reality. So what then cults? Ritualistic killings? Vampire wanna be? I scratched my head. First day on the job and things weren’t looking good. I’d transferred down from rural New South Wales into the big smoke of Melbourne, wanting to be closer to my family and friends. But seeing these bodies pile up and the bizarre nature of the crimes, I was thinking I should of stayed put.

Happy reading and writing all!

Writing dreams

I've just read Laini Taylor's blog and found it inspirational (view is here Laini's Blog). She talks about dreams and always aiming high, not having a fall back option and not settling for second best.

Here is some text from my novel:
Tears wanted to come, flood down my face, but I was all dried out. Maybe you only got a certain amount and when you used them all no more would come. Jakes face was peaceful, his eyelashes resting on his cheeks, a slight smirk on his lips, but his face was pale, almost like mine and when I felt his skin it was cold. I wanted to fight and yell and scream, take on some strik, like a whole army and beat them all. But what would Jake want?

I still feel like I have a long way to go, but at least I am working towards finishing my novel.
Cheers!

Tax time

I haven't done my own tax since I was a teenager with one part time job. Now it's complicated! I'm sure most of you who work and live in Australia have finished or are going to go to a tax agent. That's me normally, but this year I decided to give it a go. I think I'm a reasonably intelligent person, but still there is a whole other lingo that is used, I was trying to work out the difference between a 'low-cost asset' and a 'low-value asset', and I still don't know.
On other thoughts I haven't written any more of my book. Next time I blog I'll include a newly rewritten paragraph.
Get writing and if your not then get reading!

What next?

Yesterday I handed in my last assignment for uni. Today I spent an hour looking at courses. I'm thinking about a Masters of Arts. But I need to wait. I've been using studying as an excuse to put my book on the back burner. I think if I don't get into it, I'll put it in a draw and leave it there. So I plan on writing a little each week on this blog about how I'm going.
On another note, I have book club tomorrow night, my choice of book 'The Passage'. Can't wait to hear what my fellow book clubians say about it.
Cheers!

Would you read this book?

Blurb:

From a far away land comes an Alien like no other. Amaranda looks like a 17-year-old girl, but looks can be deceiving especially if her diet is anything to go on. Lost, confused and alone on the gritty streets of Melbourne she must figure out what it means to be cast out and left to the night, an interloper and the only one of her kind, or is she?

Filled with love, loss and a host of supernatural beings the Lost soul will be a page turner you just can’t put down.