Flare; To Begin Burning Brightly

Good afternoon 2014!

Hah. Look. I spelled the date right.

So, following the trend a myriad of other online blogs, tumblrs, tweets and Facebook posts have, I will welcome the new year. Hi 2014! Nice to meet you. Do you take tea or coffee? Uh-huh, and how many sugars with that?

Honestly though, I don't think I'm as concerned with the change of the year as other people are. On Facebook I've seen posts saying things like "So sick of this year. Can't wait for it to be over. I hope things are better in the new year." I don't understand those people. You may as well say "So sick of this hour. Can't wait for the next one. Maybe it'll be better." There is literally no difference between 11:00pm on December the 31st and 1:00am on January the 1st. If you are trying to make things better in your life, why wait for an arbitrary human construct to give you permission to start? Why not just start right now?

This also means that I don't really make resolutions either. Sure, I have goals that I want to achieve but it doesn't matter to me what the date is. 

This might make me seem a bit like a cynic; I really do appreciate the celebration of bringing in the new year, but I just don't follow the hype as much as others do.

With that dry grumble out of the way, I have much news to announce! Many things have happened!

I finished my university degree! I am now qualified with a Bachelor of New Media Arts, majoring in Media Design.

I sold some art! Seriously, I keep accidentally selling art. I've logged onto DeviantART several times to find that people have just gone and bought prints of the same piece of Doctor Who fanart I did ages ago. I also sold a print of a painting in our graduate exhibition at uni. Go me!

I went fishing! All I caught was bait...

I applied for jobs! And was declined for them all. *sadface*

I'm thinking of making a Youtube channel! It will be a kind of vlog with me talking about all the weird and wonderful dreams I have. Also other things, like me being bad at games and good at writing. Go to The Ink Stained Brain to look at my as yet nonexistent videos and fancy channel art.

And finally, I accidentally wrote half a new book! Seriously. It's already half done. 42,000 words. Somehow, I wrote 10,000 words yesterday. It's boggling my brain a little bit. I suppose the reason it's been so fast and easy is because it's based on the first full novel I ever wrote, Sparks. 

I did a complete overhaul of the plot, deleted one character and added another. Some of the major themes are still there, but a lot of them have been trashed. And I started writing the whole thing from scratch. There has been no copy and paste, mainly because original Sparks was writing in first-person while the new edition, now called Flare is in third-person. I did enjoy writing first-person, but third-person gives a lot more freedom. It's more logical for if an when you want to switch between characters, or show a 'many years ago' style thing.

Which means I should probably update the Sparks info tab at the top of this blog.

Label for the file of notes for Sparks. I designed it to look like a laboratory
filing system label. All I need now is a 'TOP SECRET' stamp.

Now for a question for all you writerly types out there. How do you name your characters? Do you take names from people you already know and let the character take on aspects from them? Do you just pick names that you think sound cool? Do you research name meanings relating to the character's personality?

Personally, I prefer the latter method. I don't think people will ever pick up on looking up names to see what a character's true nature is like, but I like having those little in-jokes.

Feeling: Accomplished. 10,000 words in a day man!

Listening to: O Death sung by Jen Titus from the Supernatural soundtrack. Brr. Chilling. Also Short Change Hero by The Heavy, from the Borderlands 2 soundtrack. Delish.

Wearing: Grey shirt with pink printed tie and denim short shorts. It's an average day.

Eating: Had some Macca's for lunch. I have a miniature Boost bar sitting on my desk staring at me though...

Hold E to Swap for Shotgun

Good evening lads and ladettes.

I feel ridiculously proud of myself today. I accomplished many things, the first of which was finally completing Halo: Combat Evolved. The original one. For PC. I honestly can list the number of video games I've finished on one hand. The main reason for this is because I generally play never-ending games like Tycoons or the Sims. The other reason is that I have very little hand-eye-finger-keyboard coordination and suck very badly at FPSs. But a few days ago, I sat down and decided I would finish Halo. It was thoroughly enjoyable! The worst/best part of the whole thing would have had to have been the final run through the Pillar of Autumn in the Warthog. The first time I tried it, I rolled the stupid jeep several times and the timer ran out with me only ten metres away from the ship I was to escape on. The clock hit zero, the Autumn's engines detonated - and my game closed. It seemed like the ship blew up so hard that my game crashed XD

Yay! Mastercheif!

Another thing that happened, was that I finally got all my grades for my final semester of university! I got three credits and a distinction, and as such, I am now qualified with a Bachelor of New Media Arts, Majoring in Media Design. I printed out the summary page and stuck it to the fridge to show it off...

Another, if lesser, accomplishment is that I cleaned up my incredibly messy downloads folder. Now all of my files are lovely and organised on my external drive, all with proper names and folder systems. It just feels so nice to sit down at a computer and know that everything is in it's right place and nothing is named 'asdfjhalfkh.jpg'.

On a bit of a down note, I didn't get the pre-press design job I was angling for this week. It was a very sudden and hectic process. I saw the ad one day, somehow got and interview the next day and then had to wait nearly two weeks to hear back from the interviewer. He kept delaying and delaying. I had a new rental place all lined up nice and close to the job too. /sigh. Ah well. I shall continue my searches.

There is nothing new on the novel front. I had a look at the website of the agency to which I've submitted my current manuscript and been a bit confused to see that they've closed submissions. I do not know whether this means they will still be considering my novel /shrug.

Does anyone else shop at second-hand shops? I absolutely LOVE them. Just the other day me and my mum were doing the rounds here in our little town and we found the most awesome toy ever for only $2. He's what's called a Signature Collection Buzz Lightyear Action Figure. he stands at 12" and looks like he's jumped straight out of the Toy Story movies. 

I'm a Space Ranger!

He talks - he even responds to your voice! His wings pop out at the push of his chest button and flash just like in the movie - so does his laser! He has fully poseable arms and legs, and fingers, and he even frikin glows in the dark! Unfortunately he's missing a few parts, but I contacted the company who made him and they are willing to send me all the missing parts for a bargain! I absolutely love my Buzz. Yes. Yes I am a 20 year old who acts like she's 6.

Anywho. That's all for now. To infinity and beyond! /flies away.

Feeling: Content.

Wearing: Stig (from Top Gear) shirt and old school shorts.

Eating: Had curry and rice for tea, but need an evening snack.

Listening to: Lots of things actually. I have a playlist of four songs; Wrecking Ball - Miley Cyrus, Applause - Lady Gaga, Counting Stars - OneRepublic and Warrior - Havana Brown. I am also listening to the old Roosterteeth podcasts, back when they were called the Drunk Tank. I am currently up to #18. They're brilliant ^_^

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.

So Many Vectors

So, internet, this is my second post for this evening. My last one was the latest story in my Passage of the Planeswalker series. For quite a while all of my blog posts have been those; I haven't done a lot of updates on Soulless because of them. 

So, this, is an update. I'm updating you. Still updating. More updating!

*Ahem*

Soulless is still at about 99,600 words. I've been occasionally going through and doing tiny, itsy-bitsy edits with the prompts of some of my beta-readers. I managed to recruit three of them sometime during the year. There was one main, annoying thing one of my reader minions picked up on. Every time I wrote or used the phrase 'soul-wraiths' I wrote it with different capitalizations - Soul-wraiths, Soul-Wraiths, soul-wraiths, etc. This was  because when I was doing the bulk of my writing, I was never really sure how or if I wanted to capitalize the name, and so they ended up being quite random. It's actually quite a good tips for any other writers out there; make sure you have consistency. So get right on that. Make sure all your cities and terms have the same formatting. The 'Find' tool is your best friend here.

Editing on Soulless and even the writing of my D&D shorts have been on hold for a while due to my moving from Uni back home again. Living on college has the one downside that you must vacate the premises mid- and end of year. They hire out the rooms to people coming to conferences and students going on experience trips. So, me and my brother (who is attending his first year of uni this year) had to shove all of his stuff into his car and haul it all the way back home. The car was so loaded we had trouble keeping up with highway speeds. The five-hour (plus time waiting at about a dozen roadworks stops) ride was made very enjoyable though by the Skulduggery Pleasant audiobooks on my brother's iPod. The guy who reads them even has an Irish accent. Extremely delicious...

Since I've been home, I've been very sick. I actually missed out on my last day of work for the semester because I was so dead. Some weird flu thing that started with a sore throat. But that's also another thing that's happened to me lately. I got a job! My Bachelor of New Media Arts has already landed me a job as a graphic designer! I got the news that Digimen, a very cool graphic design and sign writing company, were hiring an undergraduate from one of my university lecturers. Three hours after the email landed in my inbox, I whipped one back to them, my portfolio attached, practically screaming "Pick me! Pick me!" So, I had an interview, and then another. I showed the boss my portfolio again, smiled and chatted - and suddenly I was sitting behind an enormous Mac, creating posters for a tavern, brochures for a hotel and a new logo for a garage! I am so thrilled to be working there! Hopefully they'll let me stay on at the end of the year when I graduate. If they do, I'll be set for life. *Insane happy dance*

If you want to check out the Digimen and all the awesome things they do, go here: The Digimen

And here are some of the cool things I have been working on.

I derped, but it was the best photo of the poster

Mirror printed sign - SO MANY VECTORS

Feeling: Bit tired and headachey.

Eating: Had Violet Crumble Chocolate for desert. A chocolate block with candy-honeycomb crunch bits.

Listening to: Get Lucky by the delicious French Duo, Daft Punk. I seriously cannot get enough of those robot helmets. Also, I got myself a new pair of headphones. I've just been using some old, cheapo ones, but two days ago I found a pair of Phillips Specked headphones. They are SO good. High quality heads, silicone ear sleeves, a woven cord for maximum un-tangleability. They are also a gorgeous shade of purple, blue and orange. And the bass. Oh man, THE BASS. *swoons*

Wearing: Too much pink. Also a fluffy robe and new fluffy boots. My old boots somehow grew mouths and drafts.

Beginnings and Ends

Hrm. Well, I haven't written anything on this blog for a little while, but let me assure you I've been going at it quite well with Soulless. Up until last Saturday that is. 

On Saturday, I got up in the wee hours of the morning, bundled myself and my family into two cars and made the five-hour trip down to where I'll be staying for the year. I got my old room on campus and I am now commencing the final year of my bachelor. My brother however, is only just starting his university experience. He's doing a bachelor of engineering and is staying in the building next to mine. We get a sibling discount this way.

It's been quite amusing to watch him running around in his 'fresher' (sorta short for freshman) bib, getting all sorts of drunk and disorderly. I, having not attended the lewd activities of my orientation week, due to being underage, decided to have a go at them this year. I went to a wicked toga-themed party at the university's club, snagged all sorts of free food and drink at a different party, rode a mechanical bull, played in a gladiator ring with giant foam boppy-hammers, attended a market day, got heat exhaustion from promoting the club I am associated with, SoMAG, at said market, went to the amazing saltwater aquarium here in Townsville, attended an art exhibition that had decided, much to my delight and surprise, to include a piece of animation I did for an assignment last year, and then, after all that, I found I had a sprained hip from the blasted mechanical bull. So, overall, not a bad week so far.

Some random freshers in rather good improvised togas.

I am feeling so good about Soulless, apart from the fact I couldn't quite concentrate on any writing today. I may just need to settle in a little more. The current brain-matter-to-keyboard count is way up at 79,000 words. This book, excluding any future edits, is going to be just a little more than the 80,000 words I first predicted. Which is a good thing, I think. 80K is only an average novel after all. I am guessing now, that this will probably turn out to be up around the 90,000 word mark. I am totally psyched; it's nearly finished. But then again, a little apprehensive. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when it's finished. Of course there are the obvious answers - editing, publishing, etc. But that doesn't really stop it feeling like I've finished my adventure with these characters, characters that are really all too new to me still.

Feeling: It is ridiculously hot here in Townsville. Seriously. Someone is putting humidity in the air on purpose. For what fiendish reason, I have no clue.

Eating: About to head to dinner.

Wearing: High-school senior shirt and yellow pants.

Listening to: Never Been Kissed Before by Nikki Webster. Shush. Nikki's music just feels lovely and innocent to me.

A Solid Granite Milestone

*Thunk*

Did you hear that? That very solid thud, was the sound of a rather large milestone slipping neatly into place. That was the sound of my exhausted brain looking at the clock at three in the morning and then looking at the dial that tells me exactly how much brain I have transplanted into my computer. That was the sound of 20,000 words. And it shall only be upwards from here dearies. 

I have recently completed the last of my second year at university and now have a three month break in which to loll, eat lollies and uh, loll... and write! Of course! The writing I shall do! The words I shall paste upon the screen! The places I shall take Rook and Evie within this messy space residing in my skull! Oh, yeah, it's messy. It's filthy. Every day I have to carve out whatever song has been stuck in there, and then there are all of these strings of stupid, unrelated words that always require reordering - and the cravings! My brain gives me the weirdest cravings...

I have, uh, been busy packing and then unpacking myself. It was a long trip home from university, so I have not opened that little word document labelled 'Soulless' on my desktop just recently. I do not quite remember what I have just written. It gets that way sometimes. I'll be in a stupor, writing till the wee hours of morning, go to bed, get back up and read what I wrote and be utterly surprised and sucked in by my own story. This also happens with stuff that I've written and haven't read in a long time. My old novel, Sparks, I went back to edit one day and found myself laughing while reading some of the antics I painted in there. I think it's a good sign when you can surprise yourself with your own writing, don't you?

For my fans, Vlaedr in particular who has given me a wonderful shout out on his own blog, here is a weeny bit of these new words.

There were several tracks here. Small, dainty hoof prints lead off to the right. Rook sniffed the air deeply.

“This way,” he growled and began following the tracks. They followed the tracks back around the hill. Evie was just about to complain that they had nearly reached the point at which they had started up the hill from the other side when she saw movement ahead. Rook turned to her and held one claw to his lips. She rolled her eyes but stayed quiet. Rook turned back and lowered his pack to the ground as quietly as he could. Despite her anger at him, she felt her curiosity flare. She had always wondered how Rook caught their meals each night. He made his way silently through the thin trees on the hillside. Evie followed him as quietly as she could. She kicked a small stone accidentally and flinched at the sound. Rook’s ears flicked towards it. He turned and glared at her. He motioned sternly for her to sit, stay and be quiet. She raised her hands in a ‘fine’ gesture and crouched near a bush. Rook turned back and scented the air again. He crouched too, and moved forward on all fours. Evie noticed that he didn’t look as awkward doing this as normal people did.

Rook froze as their prey took a few steps. Evie could see it now. It was a small doe. She was grazing contentedly on a tussock of grass that grew a little further down the hill. As content as she looked though, Evie saw her large soft ears swivelling alertly. Rook was suddenly in Evie’s field of view. He was hidden from the doe by a few bushes. Rook closed the gap as slowly and as silently as possible. Evie heard a slight rustle. Rook had brushed a stick accidentally. The doe raised her head, alerted by the noise. She poised for flight, looking around with dark dewy eyes. Her nostrils flared, trying to catch the scent of possible approaching predators. Rook inched closer. Evie felt her breath catch as he poised to spring. Evie saw the muscles of the wolf within Rook tense and then suddenly release. He flew from cover. The doe was startled and took off, but Rook was fast. He closed the gap between them in several strides and was on the deer in seconds. She struggled as Rook clawed to get a grip, and then weakened as he sank his teeth into her neck. She stopped moving as the blood began dripping down Rook’s chin. Evie felt a surge of animalistic pleasure at the sight, then immediate crushing nausea. The doe blinked her soft lashes one more time.

Feeling: Tired.

Listening to: Nothing.

Wearing: Short shorts and Car Club tee.

Eating: Had some yummy white chocolate for dessert.

Design All the Things!

So, I've had an assignment for a university subject which requires me to do at least 30 hours of experience in a workplace of my choice. Today was my first day of work experience at TBD Communication and design. It was so good! 

First off, my boss, Casper Shougaard, showed me around and explained all the emergency evac stuff, where the fridge was, all the randoms in the office etc. He then sat me down at my desk and gave me my tasks for the day. I was to work on a letterhead, a clothing tag and a business card for a logo I had designed ages back as part of my portfolio and for my own start-up t-shirt design business (which has not gone anywhere just yet). I was then able to sit in on a meeting with one of TBD's clients and witness how that worked, and then how Casper clocked and logged the beginning of that new project. He then looked over my drafts and we discussed how we might improve them. I'm going to work on them tomorrow too.

Here's a preview. This is just the logo. I would post a picture of the business card design, but my version of the software it's made in is too old to open it. *Sad face*

Other projects have been going on a scale from well to um-what-the-hell-am-I-going-to-do. The one that's going well is the one that doesn't really count. That is my papercraft Immortal from two posts back. The other projects are two assignments that are due soon. One, a group member has just dropped out on and two, I do not have the equipment for, let alone an idea. *le sigh*

Here's an update on the Immortal bits.

Feeling: Looking forward to day two tomorrow.

Listening to: Can't Fight the Moonlight - Leanne Rimes (Coyote Ugly Soundtrack)

Wearing: Very yellow shorts and high school senior shirt.

Eating: I had a craving for a thickshake earlier. I have no milk though... *extra sad face*

Good Day, Chaps

Well, my voracious and virile viewers, you have helped me to recently surpass four-hundred views. For this you will receive a tiny round of applause (it is only me clapping after all) and a cookie. Shipping costs extra. :P

Well, today has been quite a lot more successful than the last couple. Something has been getting me down, but it seems to have taken a vacation - for now anyway.

I was actually able to stay awake in class today, which was a bit of a first. The clay sculptures I handed in last Wednesday have dried and turned out nicely. I had a lot of fun trying to mould a perfect cube out of a lump of clay. I am quite happy with how smooth and even the sides are and how sharp the edges got. Everybody else seems really impressed with it too.

On my way home, the vending machines provided me with $1.40, bumping my total this semester to $12.20.

When I got home, I watched some YouTube videos. There is a bunch of guys from the UK who call themselves Hatventures. Chris Trott, or Trottimus, Ross Hornby or DJH3MAX and Alex Smith or Alsmiffy are the three misfits who make up the team. They started out making videos about themselves playing Minecraft, which became a very popular series, and have since then moved onto playthroughs of other games. Currently I'm watching their DayZ series. DayZ is a modified version of the game Arma II. It's a realistic, multilayer online, zombie survival game. What they get up to is pretty funny, but the conversations the guys have are the best bits. Have a look at their channel here: HatFilms.

A Portrait of the "Hatters"

In other news, I have to contact international artists for an assignment. The first one I managed to contact was yesterday, and he, believe it or not, has actually worked on the set of Hellboy and Doctor Who! I was so excited! He sent me this long, delicious email of all the stuff I need for my write up. *Squee!*

I also contacted a fella who wanted some graphic design work done by a uni student. He's a doctor studying minke whales and he  seems to want some brochures for something. So, I've got a meeting with him tomorrow. Looking forward to that. :)

A very good day chaps.


Feeling: Talkative. Or write-ative. Is there an adjective that means you want to type a lot at things?

Wearing: Jeans and an old black shirt with 'Stussy' written on it in highly stylised letters. Just Googled the name. Seems to be a Californian surfing brand originating from the 1980s. It's botique. Cool. I always just though it was a scruffy old shirt lol.

Listening to: The Hatventures theme repeating over and over in my head.

Eating: It's four o'clock and I'm still as full as a goog. Had these delicious fried chicken crispy bite things for lunch. It was quite a large helping - and then I went back for seconds.

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...

The Wolf and the Butterfly

Which, funnily, is the name of the second chapter of the newest book in a series I love. A shout out here to the marvelous Mr. Derek Landy and his awesome series Skulduggery Pleasant.

Yesterday was pretty average in terms of days at uni - apart from one thing. It started out normally. I really didn't want to get up. It was much too cold. "19 degrees is cold?" I hear you scoff. Yes. Yes it is. For a North Queensland girl anyway. I wanna see you deal with temperatures averaging on 40 degrees in summer. 

Eventually I got up, proceeded to rug up, have brekky, attend classes, fall asleep in classes, etc. Upon walking home from said classes, something beautiful and surprising happened. Across the small car park in front of the college neighboring mine, there fluttered an enormous butterfly. To my utter astonishment it flew towards me and alighted on my shoulder. I think she had mistaken me for some large, exotic flower due to the hat I was wearing at the time. For my birthday, my friend had given me this gorgeous, red, fluffy wolf hat. The ear flaps extend down into mittens with paw prints on the inside, and there are two fluffy ears on top. The red fur in the sunlight must have seemed irresistible to my new friend as she took off, then came to land on my other shoulder. (Ew! I just found tinned spaghetti sauce in the hair above my right ear! I have no idea how it got there... Ew... It's actually above both ears...Weird...) So, eventually the beautiful creature realised I was not edible and flew away, leaving me with a glowing feeling for the rest of the day. It was just so lovely to have such an encounter like that.

She was a Cairns Birdwing - The largest butterfly species in Australia.

*Woof!*

Feeling: Really good. I seemed to have avoided the flu going around here.

Listening to: To The Sky - Owl City. It's one of the songs from the movie Legend of the Guardians, a truly beautiful movie. Go watch it if you haven't, purely for the beautiful animation.

Eating: About to go have lunch in the dining hall. This will either be sandwiches of some hot food and chips. Here's hoping for the latter. I get sick of sandwiches sometimes.

Wearing: Dad's Custom Car Club tee, jeans, red connies and wolf ears.

15 Day Challenge No# 12

12: What are you most looking forward to in the next six months?

Actually, just the rest of this month! I love July. It's winter, so expeditions to the Drive In theatre are like expeditions to the south pole, the Big Mareeba Rodeo is on this weekend and the weekend after is my 19th birthday, after which I get to go back to college!

I love the Rodeo. We've been attending it since I was really little. It has bull rides, bareback bronco riding, barrel racing, steer wrestling - all the great rodeo spectator sports, and then they have a State of Origin competition. In Australia, there is a huge rugby league game called the State of Origin. The best players from New South Wales and Queensland go head to head each year. Queensland won this year for the seventh time in a row! Go Queensland! So, at the rodeo, we do a similar tradition. A team of elite bull riders and rodeo champs from both states duel it out. Last year the New South Wales team won... Such a shame...

The best part of the Rodeo in my opinion is Sideshow Alley and all the rides that come with it. There is one awesome ride, that seriously makes you question how it's still in operation with all these health and safety regulations. It's old (it was around when my mother was young), it's rickety, and it is a total blast. Here's a short video of what the contraption does: The Zipper. The best part is when one of the small carriages on the track is thrown over then end of the main rotating oblong. There is so much g-force in your tiny little cage and sometimes you can get up to nine revolutions in one go.

So, my birthday is also coming up. On one hand - presents! Big yays! On the other hand - oh my God, I'm going to be nineteen... It really does freak me out that I have one year left of being a teenager. The time has passed so quickly it seems.

I'm looking forward to going back to college. I love my little room on campus. I love the unlimited download after eight pm. I love that I can walk across the yard and see my friends. It's great living on campus. I can't wait to get back to anime club and back into my subjects. I am so glad I chose to do this degree. i just suits me so well.

Feeling: Uber excited. Rides tomorrow!

Wearing: Short pink pyjamas. It amuses me to notice that nearly all of my pyjamas are pink. I really do not make a conscious decision to have pink pyjamas. I don't even like pink that much lol.

Eating: Trying not to eat the lollies I collected from the Rodeo Downtown Parade... Must... resist...

Listening to: Nada.

Writing Again!

Hello to whoever is out there! I don't know if there are many of you who read this, but if you do, you get a hug and  cookie

So, I'm back at university, classes have started and I'm catching up with all of my friends, including my boyfriend. It feels like so long since I've seen them all.

Anyway, the stimulation of classes seems to have given me back some of my motivation. I had written a more detailed plan sometime on the holidays - the only thing it seems I did on Sparks II - and this has helped greatly in allowing me to add several thousand words to it today. Granted, some of that was copy-pasta from the spare parts I keep in another document, but I still feel that I have acheived a lot.

In other news - I got my Ps! That is my provisional license. I can now drive without a supervisor in the car. Not that I really want or need to at the moment. I kind of only got the thing out of nessecity. My Learner's license was going to expire in August and I wouldn't really have had time to get a lot of practice in before that what with being at uni and everything.

That's all for now. I might go and write some more, or I might just end up watching a movie.

Fangirl Rant

Well, here goes my first real blog entry. Part of which is already on deviantART, but, meh. I have study to do, so I'm going to cheat a little and copy-paste. You won't tell anyone, will you?

Anyway.

I am currently most of the way through my second semester of my university degree. My first year is nearly over. It seems only yesterday I had just arrived on college, a brand new fresher. Exams are coming up, I had assignments due, and all I could seem to do was listen to Doctor Who audiobooks!

I didn't actually know they existed until about a couple of weeks ago, when I was craving more Doctor Who and decided to Google them. Turns out there are about four audibooks that are actually read by David Tennant and three by Matt Smith. This led me to curling up in my deskchair for hours, headphones in, clutching a pillow and my doctor doll, wearing my fez, and listening to that gorgeous Scottish accent. (I haven't got to Smith's books yet.) I must say that he does them books just as well as he acts. The transitions between his narration and doing the Doctor's voice is seamless, and you can hear every wink and grin. *Stares off dreamily into mid-distance*

I was also bouncing up and down in my seat, eagerly awaiting 7:30 a few Saturdays ago. Most of my friends downloaded the Doctor Who finale and watched it early, but I decided to wait. It was fantastic. Not as good as some episodes I've seen, but still fantastic. I won't go into detail about it, as it would be spoilers for those who haven't seen it, but as the episode is titled The Wedding of River Song I feel I am at least allowed to gush about how much I fangirl 'awwwww'ed and 'squee!'ed when River tied the knot. It was a lot. My poor Doctor doll nearly got the stuffing squished out of him in my excitement lol.

On other notes, but still Doctor Who related, I thoroughly enjoyed the Cosplay event that was put on at the university Anime Club I attend. It was great fun and I got a lot of comments on my costume, [link] . It was fun to make, fun to wear, fun to pose for photos in and incredibly fun to go and collect my 2nd place prize in. The prize turned out to be a 1:24 scale diecast model Delorean time machine from Back to the Fututre, another series that I absolutely adore. So there was then the question of what happened when a time machine was given a time machine...

Now what other stuff was I going to write about? Oh, yes. Writing.

My novel! It is finally finished! The main reason I wanted to start this blog so as to follow the beginning of what I hope to be a successful writing career. The first edition of my novel was completed when I was in grade nine at high school, I think. Since then it has had many, MANY rewrites and edits and periods of hating it, then loving it and then realising it was naive trash. But finally, I have produced a manuscript that I feel happy with. Now all I have to do is find an agent. Such a task is going to take a long time, with many, MANY rejections.

This is the synopsis bit I have written for my query letter, but cut an pasted here for a quick overview of the storyline:

My novel, Sparks, is Young Adult Fiction. It spans a period of three months and is set in Sydney, Australia, in the present year. The protagonist is Sarah 'Sparks' Harrier, a lonely sixteen-year-old girl who is abducted by puma/men hybrids and transported to an eerie, white-walled facility, where she awakens to find that she has been given extraordinary powers. The novel tells the story of Sparks' subsequent escape and her struggle to deal with her strange and dangerous powers as they begin to take over her life and affect her friendships. During her fight to understand why they have been forced upon her, she learns a devastating secret. This novel is approximately 86,000 words long.

If anyone knows of any good agents, whether it be here in Australia, or elswhere, contact me with their info please?

That's all from me for now, I thinks. I might go and listen to more Doctor Who. Or, y'know, do some study.

Tata.