Rejected! Yay!

Good day fine internetters.

So, I've been quite busy lately. I have had a surprising amount of university work to contend with. And contend I have. We aced a presentation just two days ago, and I have been highly commended for my graphic design work in another subject. Work is going very well too. I managed to find several of the posters I designed up in a tavern in town. It's ridiculously satisfying to see one's work actually being used.

But, the main purpose of this post is to let you all know that I got a rejection! Woo! The submission I sent to the Cameron Creswell agency about Soulless in July has finally gotten back to me. Here is the letter:

Dear Ms Hudson,
Thank you for your submission. We have now had a chance to consider this title and do not think we are the best agents to represent you. We already have a long list of client authors and only take on new authors if we believe very strongly in their writing and our ability to place the work.
However, another agent could well have a different and more enthusiastic response to your work and we suggest that you contact some of the other agents listed on the website of the Australian Society of Authors at www.austlitagentsassoc.com.au.
Thank you for thinking of The Cameron Creswell Agency and we wish you all the best in finding an agent and publisher.
Regards,
Sophie Hamley

Now, I'm not too sure whether this is an actual letter or rather a generic reply. But anyways, it's a rejection and the first step towards being published! When I tell people that I got a rejection, they always seem ready to commiserate,  and then seem confused when I smile and tell them that it's a good thing. I mean, I totally expected it. It really is the first step to being published. And now I get to go and ask someone else. I think it's important to have such a positive attitude about it, otherwise I'll just be completely miserable every time someone says no.

And now for other news. I went to a party dressed as a lego block. The theme was 'Toys from your Childhood'. I unfortunately have no pictures, but just know that it was the most epic fifteen-second costume.

I managed to get my hands on the latest Skulduggery Pleasant book, The Last Stand of Dead Men. My goodness. The feels. Me and every other fan I know just want to strangle the author. The moments of comedy were beautiful, but the low moments were so dark and dismal... I cried a couple of times. And the worst part is that I have to wait a whole year for the series finale.

I am now a Supernatural fan. I remember I watched the first season quite a while ago and got a little bored of the 'let's find dad' storyline. But I finally decided to get back into it because I really wanted to meet a character who would appear later in the show. I was so glad I did. The show got considerably better after the first season, and when they introduced that lovable, scruffy, poker-faced angel in a trench coat, Castiel, I was in love. I am now waiting very impatiently for the start of next season. For the start of all the new seasons actually. Everything I love is coming back sometime this October or November. It will be wonderful.
I also entered a Threadless design challenge! I've always wanted to see a Herobrine themed Minecraft tee, so I thought this competition would be the perfect opportunity to try and get one printed. It's my first submission ever, but here's to hoping. To see or vote for my shirt, go here: http://thrdl.es/~/2g3H

And now for some more Soulless art!

Rook and Evie being growly

Rook and Evie being less growly

My own strange version of a chimera

"Quintin Rthrant Xesi Esiorto at your service,"

Faaro Lovell

An old friend of Rook's named Turi.

Feeling: Like I should get back to work.

Eating: Gonna go get the last of my delicious birthday cake.

Listening to: Black and Gold by Sam Sparro.

Wearing: Short shorts and high school senior shirt.

Skulls and Sparkles

Good evening ladies, gentlemen and assorted flying sock monsters.

I got in my three thousand word quota yesterday, bumping up the total on Soulless to 52,000. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that I will manage to put in the same again today. I feel quite delirious at the moment. I was up will midnight last night making sure I hit my quota, and even then when I went to bed, I could not sleep. My brain had suddenly become a lightning rod for ideas. I'm not complaining in that respect - I got some epic new bits for the ending of Soulless - I just wish they hadn't come at a time when I really needed to sleep. 

So, today I think I will just take a break. I might go and finish reading Twilight again. I started it after sitting and being rather bored while I waited for my - ahem - underdoos to dry. I had just been for a swim in my cousin's creek and hadn't brought my swimming clothes. On that note, what are your opinions on said vampirical, cheesy, romance novels? I actually happened to pick them up and read them before the movies and all the hype and love/hatred of them was around. I found them to be reasonably okay. Not brilliant stuff, but enjoyable when I got into the story.

While you ponder this question, here is some new fan art I have done for a rather more classy, witty and downright fantastic series by the name of Skulduggery Pleasant. The subject of these works is the wise-cracking, fire-throwing, magical skeleton detective, Skulduggery Pleasant himself. See the larger versions here and here.

Feeling: Deedly deedly dee... blargh. *Slow, lightheaded blink*

Wearing: Pretty black shirt and shorts.

Eating: I had some Red Rooster takeaway for dinner.

Listening to: Nothing, but I can hear Sparks by Fedde Le Grand & Nicky Romero playing over and over in my head.

Light or Set Fire; Arouse or Inspire

I finally did it. I went and got myself a Kindle. It's a Kindle 3, keyboard and wi-fi only version. I found it listed on a classifieds group on Facebook. It came with a case and all of the books the previous owner had loaded onto it. I had fun staying up late last night customizing the screensaver images and reading the original Grimm's fairy tales. Very happy with my purchase.

I read the latest in Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series. The Last Guardian is the finale and is very, very good. The entire series is extremely good for that matter, bar one. The second last book I found to be funny in parts, but had a dissatisfying ending and felt a bit like it had been written simply to fill a gap or pass time. Don't let that discourage you though, I highly recommend the series. The stories are about a teenage criminal mastermind and a city of magical beings who live hidden just beneath the Earth's crust. Here's the Amazon blurb for the first book.

At the moment I am taking a weeny break from reading the second book in a series by Ally Condie. Another young adult fiction, Crossed is the second in her Matched series, with the third being released in late November. Crossed is about the society that has risen up in place of this one after it has broken down. Everything is perfect, or so it seems. Everyone gets the same food, everyone is safe and secure and everyone is 'matched' with their life partner. Cassia lives in this world, but when she begins to see the cracks and falls for a  boy who is not her 'match', she finds out just how rotten this idyllic bubble is.

My interview on Thursday went very well. I met Dr. Matthew and he, I and another applicant for the job discussed how we would go about making two brochures. He is very into whales. There are dozens and dozens of pictures on the walls of his little office.

As of late, I have been watching the last episodes of one of my favourite TV shows. House MD was one I scoffed at in the beginning. I thought it was silly to name a television show 'house' and mocked it, saying they'd name the next one 'window'. But, I was hooked. Dr. Gregory House, the show's twisted, genius main character is such a fantastic character. Season eight finished this year, I think. I've been waiting a while to see the last few episodes because I've been rewatching them all with my boyfriend who hasn't seen them. The ending has some of the most heart wrenching twists I've ever seen in a show. If you're looking for something good to watch, definitely go and watch House.

Listening to: Total Eclipse of the Heart - Bonny Tyler

Eating: Musk sticks

Wearing: Shirt decorated with butterflies and short shorts. For the first time in several months I am actually wearing shorts!

Feeling: Like I desperately need to get back to reading. Ciao all!

The Door into Summer

Have you ever felt so ill and tired that you slept on the floor outside your lecture theatre? Bonus points if you used your bag as a pillow and squished the sandwich inside.

That was the start of my relatively uneventful and overcast day. Lectures were pretty much the same. I'm very sure that my photography lecturer simply utilised a presentation from a subject I did last year.

After lectures, I headed home. Found 30c in vending machines along the way. Decided that I wanted to watch some Disney movies. Watched an old classic, Aladdin, and for the first time heard the genie for who he really was. I only found out just recently that he was voiced by none other than comedy king and actor, Robin Williams. I've heard some say that they didn't bother giving him a script, they just let him take it away. They did have to get him to tone it down on multiple occasions though; it was a children's movie after all.

Then I decided to watch the original Tron. Having already seen the new Tron Legacy, I thought it only right that I see where the whole thing started. I was quite surprised too. The movie was quite fun for a sci-fi and even though the effects were outdated, I seemed to forget the fact after a while.

Last night I decided to be daring and buy something off Ebay. Usually I don't go shopping, online or in real life, apart from food and other necessities. But I was feeling down, and it was cheap and there was no shipping fee. The product purchased, my pertinent peeps, was a book by Robert A. Heinlein. The Door into Summer was published in 1957 and it is a rather brilliant little science fiction novel. There is time travel, robots and a rather memorable cat. My father once borrowed it from a far off library and we mused over the predictions the author had given of the future upon its publication. Some of these predictions were actually quite accurate.

Feeling: I've got a headache. It's not very nice...

Wearing: Red connies, Top Gear Stig shirt, jeans and jumper.

Listening to: Hang on, let me find a song... Planetary (GO!) - My Chemical Romance

Eating: Had some Milky Bar chocolate. Yummy...

15 Day Challenge No# 7 & 8

Bah. I did it again. I left myself some time to do yesterday's blog, but accidentally spent it playing Facebook games and Minecraft. Oops. So today is another double post.

Challenge 7: Recommend a book.

Hmm... I have read quite a few books. Mostly young adult fiction. I think I would have read more books than any other person in my grade at high school. I always had one with me in class to read when I had finished my work (teachers used to dislike me doing this) and I developed the ability to read while walking, without running into things.

Now, it may seem like I'm copying Paul, but I really do have to recommend Terry Pratchet's Discworld series. Start at The Colour of Magic. That's the first of the fourty-two or so that he's written. You will not be disappointed - Pratchett is an absolute genius when it comes to writing. The language he uses is simply magnificent and his characters so unique and loveable. Each book is a romp that will have you splitting your sides. I know I did.

Challenge 8: Describe "The Good, Bad and the Ugly" about myself.

The good: I, in my humble opinion, am a very nice person. I am nice to everyone I meet, I try to see the reason behind people's bad behavior before I make judgements and I really don't like to manipulate people. This kindness leads to other people not wanting to be mean to me, so it's better all round for everyone.

The bad: I can be very lazy at times. Occasionally I have these sudden spurts of inspiration or productivity, but generally I am a couch potato. For example, since I got home a month ago on a break from uni, I have not unpacked my suitcase. There are clothes and art supplies spilling from my bag an suitcase all over the floor.

The ugly: In stark contrast to my first statement, I am very selfish. I like to take and not give anything back. I realise that a lot with my parents. They feed me, clothe me, provide me with money for uni, accommodation, entertainment etc, and I find myself complaining when asked to do simple chores.

In other news, I went shopping today with my mum. I got to use my Provisional license for the first time. I very much dislike driving. It took me four goes to pass my practical test because of serious underconfidence.

We went to several op-shops and to Big W and just had a general look around. I found a lovley pair of red silk stilettos seond hand. It's very rare to find such lovely shoes in my size, so I snapped those up for six dollars. Having really big feet is a trait in my family. My younger brother has size fifteen feet. When anyone else tries on his shoes, they look like clown shoes. I used to tell people that the phrase "Act your age, not your shoe size" kind of didn't apply to him lol.

So, after that, we went and had lunch at McDonalds. I decided I'd try the new Paris Chocolate Delight thing, which is a brownie with ice cream, chocolate sauce and mini marshmallows. It was... weird. The ice cream, chocolate sauce and marshmallows were all as synthetically sweet as usual, but the brownies - they tasted like chicken. I could only assume it was from being cooked in the same area as chiken patties and nuggets were prepared. I tried to convince myself that it tasted otherwise, succeeded for a while, got distracted and then realised it tasted like chicken again. I felt a little sick afterwards.

Listening to: Nothing. I don't even have music stuck in my head.

Wearing: Old school shorts and a t-shirt. I was doing a line-dancing video with Mum this afternoon.

Feeling: Tired. I expect my muscles will seize up tomorrow from the intense workout.

Eating: Definately not chicken-chocolate-ice cream soup.