April Life Update; That Drowning Feeling.

Hi readers,

I'm struggling today. I'm still not well and had to take some more time of work but I now have to look at claiming benefits again as I've used up all my sick pay. It's a bit of a catch 22 situation because I don't want to but I don't have a choice. So, I have to go through trying to put a claim in and hoping I can get some finical support.

I also have to go back to work next Saturday, even if I don't feel well enough because not going will just make this situation worse. I want to go back. I enjoy my job and working, so I will try hard to self manage my colitis. 

That isn't an easy task, it's okay to avoid the food, drink and pain relief tablets that trigger me but what my battle really is about is my anxiety and stress. Trying to keep both of them down, is currently hard for me to do as I have so many worries and now I have the money and work ones back! 

I know deep down I will get through all of this. I've done so before and it's just a rough time for me again. I have the support of a lot of people around me, though I know today doesn't feel like that's the case but it's very much true. 

I'm also real lucky that I still live with my parents and don't have all the responsibilities of paying bills etc. I have some emergency money savings which can see me through till this month's payday, so as long as I don't actually buy anything for the next few weeks I'll be fine. So, I'm going to try and not worry about that all too much.

I've used some of those savings today to pay for my car tax and MOT. As my car was due both and the last thing I need is to be worrying about losing my car. My dad will make sure my car passes the MOT test, so I don't need to worry about that, just got to let him do some work on things this weekend to make that a positive pass as much as possible. 

So, now I just have to try and sent all this side and focus on other things. I know that's easily said then done! But I know that spending time over worrying, being upset, depressed and anxious won't get me anywhere or make anything better. Acting and trying to solve my issues with a calm mind and heart is the best way to go. 

Trying to stay positive has always been a hard thing for me to do. I like to think I'm a positive, happy person but that's not actually the case. I make myself like that because that's how I think I should be. I'm sure some of you also do that. Being negative and unhappy is a lot easier to do and people noticed that a lot more too. 

I do feel a bit like I'm drowning at the moment. It's like being on a boat in a storm and being thrown overboard. I'm struggling to save myself from the crushing waves and I know only I can really do that. Other people might be throwing the life ring out for me but it's up to me to grab it and hang on. 

So, what I do I do when I'm in this situation? Normally, I do have a break down. I cry lot and wonder over so much. I talk to people - my parents, boyfriend, some friends and just let everything out to them and try to listen to whatever advice they give me. Which can be hard as sometimes I don't want that but afterwards, it kinda useful to think about their suggestions and maybe act on them. 

I do lots of writing - in my diary, reflectively and though it can be hard, short stories. I can let everything out and I don't have to show my writing to anyone and I can just release all my thoughts and feelings on to paper and then it doesn't go around in my head. Actually, I do have a big focus this month as it's the A-Z Blogging Challenge! I'm wring a short story everyday prompted by words that are new to me. You can check it out on my other blog here; https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/

One of the other things I do is blast some heavy metal music and sing along. It's really get way to de-stress and just release all my emotions. Sometimes I'm too ill or not in the mood for this, so finding the right moment sometimes has to wait. But by taking the hours to do this, it's worth it as I often feel so much better afterwards and like I'm rising above everything that's getting me down. 

I have lots of bands and songs, I cycle through but I always return to these favourite bands; Disciple, Five Finger Death Punch, Disturbed, Iron Maiden, Drowning Pool, Bullet For My Valentine, Bring Me The Horizon and Soil. All their songs speak to my soul and find a peace in the lyrics that I don't get anywhere else. 

The other thing I do to feel more positive and really I need to do more of this as I've found it can help lot and also change my mind set, is to get my Happy Books out. I think I've wrote about this before but briefly, a friend got me a notebook that had Happy Book on it and I decided to collect quotes and memes and imagines that made me happy inside the book. When I filled it, I went and brought this artist's A4 book to continue doing this. 

The front cover is a temporary thing until I get around to making one.      

I used Pinterest to help find things that make me happy and this can just be anything. I put this into a document, print them, cut them and stick them in the book. This helps focus my mind and also soak up some positive thinking. Here's an example of this; 

Recently, I have also turned to knitting and that helps me get through too. I was going to add to the end of this post about my recently finished knitting and my current projects but this post is all ready too long as I'll leave it like this now. 

I hope that things do get sorted for me soon and that things can change. Keep your fingers crossed for me. 

Thanks for reading and don't forget to check out my other blog. 

(Photos my own).

March Life Update: White Scar Cave.

Hi readers,

I've been meaning to write for the past few weeks and then just not getting around to it! I've like three books I want to review on here too, so I really need to start that. Plus, I'm still job hunting and getting no where, though I'm sure you are all tried of hearing about that! Today, I thought I'd share with you my trip to a cave that I took with my boyfriend. He's really into them but it's been awhile since either of us visited any!

White Scar Cave is in the Yorkshire Dales next to a village called Ingleton. It was just over an hour's drive from my boyfriend's house in the Preston area. I was the driver for the day as he's not had any motorway experience yet but it was mostly countryside roads anyway which I've had nearly any experience off, whilst he - because he actually lives in the countryside, is kinda use to it. I was little scared but I did okay! Even when the SatNav took us along this single track, farmer's road and I almost ran over a dog that was sat on top of a hill on a blind bend!

We made it fine to the caves and back again though! And I got some more driving experience though, I really could do with some more countryside driving now! Sounds like some more trips to Yorkshire might be in the planning for the months ahead then. 

White Scar Cave has guided tours every hour, so you can't access the caves by yourself. I don't think you'd want to anyway, not because it's easy to get lost - it's a one track trail, but because the ceiling is really low and the sections of the cave do flood. You follow a natural fast flowing small river though the caves which was how it was first discovered. Walking above the river, you first go down then up into a really large area. You have to wear a helmet at all times due to the low and pointy ceiling. Here's my boyfriend and I modeling these nice red ones!

The tour is an hour and 20 minutes with the walk a mile and bit. There are a few different chambers to enter and lots of things to see. They had labeled some of the most interesting stalagmites and stalactites as well as other features. Here's a photo of the information map.    

The first thing we saw in the cave was this really loud waterfall! I've always liked waterfalls and this one was really cool. 

The Witch's Fingers and the Judge's Head below were pretty interesting to look at. It's weird to think there's are naturally created over time. 

This was the second free flowing waterfall further inside the caves. There was only a small spot at the side to walk passed if you didn't want to get wet! All the other waterfalls were going down the sides of the cave and not over like this one and the first one. 

This feature is called the Devil's Tongue. Water was dripping off it and there was little choice but to try and walk under without getting wet! The guide said if you did get dripped on it was seven years bad luck! We just about avoided it, I think.

After almost crawling though a really low section and going up almost 100 steps we made it the Battlefield cavern. Here there were a lot of stalactites, an ice age rockfall and a prehistoric mud floor. 

Just past that was this huge and really tall area. There were changing lights along the walls which made it so pretty. The guide said that cave explores had been in this area looking for another way into the cave as there's only one so far and it would be good to have another. It's also one of the deepest points underground too. At Christmas time, they have a Santa sitting here who gives out presents to the kids. - Sounds a really strange way to see Santa to me!

This is one of the upper tunnels which has been explored. People say they can see the outline of a woman's face on the left side of the image. The guide said she was know as The Witch. Below her at the bottom is the shape of her cat. 

We had a great time exploring White Scar caves and there was a lot to wow over. Afterwards we visited the cafe and had lunch. Then we went to the shop which was packed full of cool things. I brought some postcards, crystal animals, a piece of amethyst and an eraser for my collection. My boyfriend surprised me with a cute wooden bat keyring he'd brought whilst I wasn't looking! I'd not even seen those key rings, so it made it even more of a surprise!

If you are in the are then these caves are with the visit!


Since I've not blogged in awhile, I wanted to share two more things today. Firstly, there's been a lot of snowy weather in England recently. It does snow here, but it's been awhile since it's been this bad! I've not been enjoying it that much due to ill health. But I do love that magic feel snow can create. This is a photo of my back gardening, showing how much snow we had over one night. 

Then these are awesome icicles hanging off the kitchen window. Been an age since I last saw anything like this! They were really big too. 

And this is my dog, Patch. It's taken her sometime to get use to the snow but now she loves running and playing in it. 

Best though, she loves coming home and getting all warm and snuggled in her jumper and bed! I totally agree with her there.

I'm glad it spring has finally arrived now and I was hoping we'd seen an end to the snow. But it looks like we might get some more over Easter now! so maybe winter isn't just finished yet.

On another note, I'm currently reading the Harry Potter books again! It's been ages since I last read them. Probably, when the last book came out 2007 but then I might have read the third on again a few years later - that's always been my favorite! From my memory though, I've only read the last three books once. The other 4 I've read at least 3 or 4 times. It'll also be interesting to read them one after the other too.

Last night, I finished the first and started the second! I'm not sure if I'll do a review of them yet. Perhaps, I'll do one of the all together when I'm done.   

Thanks for much reading. Here's hoping I can get those book reviews up soon!

Please check out my other blog; https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/ I'm taking part in the A-Z Challenge next week!

(Please note; all photos belong to me. Please don't use them.)

July Life Update Part 1: What am I doing right now?

Hi readers,

I'm writing this early too to try and get a head as I'm so busy right now. Originally, the sewing project post was meant to be up first, but then I realized this follows on well from last week's post when I wasn't able to write about two things on there. So, I'm moving that post to August now. Which means the three Mondays for the rest of this month will now be the book reviews of the Soulless Manga trilogy and the first two books in the Custard Protocol series. Though as I've just checked, the second book isn't out till the Thursday 21st July and that's 5 days to read it in. Just pre-order it so it'll come just before or on that day now. Should have got it with my birthday presents, oh well.

The first thing I want to write about today is the question of if  I'm a 'serial dater' or not. Now, my only slight risk of writing and publishing this is that there are certain people I'd rather not see this post. But I do want to reflect on recent things and prove that I'm not really a serial dater. So, as most of you know I broke up with my boyfriend back in January. Since then we've still stayed friends and though this has been hard it's working...beside from not being able to break some of the old habits....

Around April, I decided I had to move on and prove to myself that I was still date-able and not stuck on the highest shelf like a broken doll. I joined two dating websites, both of which I had used before though, this time I was going to juggle being on both of them at the same time. My inboxes every since then have been stacked high with messages from men. Unlike the last times though, I tried to be more picky in which men I message back.

Internet dating is hard. Everyone seems to think it's easy, but to be honest it's a lot easier to lie and just say what you want, because you feel more protected by the screen and being home then say if you met some at a bar or public event. So, I get a lot of messages with men just saying "I have great ect 'place body part here.'" or do "I want to have a one night stand ect ?" I don't reply to those messages. Also, its rare I reply to people not in the same country as me, just long distance dating isn't my thing and I have enough friends right now. Okay, maybe I could do with a few more...but I like meeting up and doing stuff, not just talk online.

I have a lot of rules and stuff in place for my safety as I am so aware of the problems online dating can led too. One of my rules is that I try to spend awhile talking to the guy to get to know him. Another is that the first date is actually called the first meet up and we meet as friends. That's how it's been for all my 'dates' and I have stated this every time, we are meeting as friends. Because it's less pressure off everything really and I'm not in a hurry to get back into a relationship. Not because I'm holding a candle for my ex, but because I've suddenly discovered the freedom of being single. Though sometimes I don't like it, I'm enjoying it for the most part. My long term goal is of course to find someone, but right now I'm happy building friendships. They say that's how the best relationships start anyway.

So, Over the last two months or so I've meet up with four guys now from the two dating sites. To code them, I'm going to give them letters of the alphabet and try not to go into too much detail about them personally (just to protect them and myself, because I'm nice like that).

The first guy, A, I have meet 3 times now. I really like him and we get on, there's this flitting between us which I enjoy too. He's very funny and sarcastic, which I like. He makes me laugh a lot and he finds my stories and jokes funny. Also, all the meet ups we've turn into mini adventures as we end up wandering around looking for places! The downside for me is that he does live far away from me, but he sees the city I live in as his true home and he does want to move here one day. I am hoping things will develop with him, but I'm not sure if it'll last, we don't seem to have that much in common as of yet anyway.

B lives a lot closer and we had an okay first date, even if I ended up taking the led on it. Which I don't mind, but he was lacking in confidence for me. Plus physically, I didn't feel attracted to him. He was really sweet, but I think he was too nice and was happy doing whatever I wanted. Which I didn't trouble me, but some input would have been good. We've stayed in connect and I said we could be friends, which I know he's not too happy about. We have yet to arrange a second meet up.

C and I have met twice now. He seems nice, but like B he is lacking in confidence and also he's shorter then me and I just can't deal with that. There's just something about tall men I like and it doesn't help that I'm tall myself! The first time we met, I had to buy my own drink. which I don't mind - it's not a date! but I think it jarred with me that he didn't even ask me about it or anything....unlike the other two guys. We had a good talk and we did have a bit of a walk too - which is how I noticed the height difference!

We went bowling and for lunch as our second meet up and he talked a lot about this girl he liked. I was actually in one of my low moods and the conversation wasn't that interesting. Bowling was fun though and lunch was okay. I fear that he'll go the same way B went though as he's not for me, but a friendship might work.

D does live a bit away from me and we have met twice now. The first time, I broke my rule of not eating on the first met up. I'm not a shy eater, but I can be a bit messy and I'd rather just get something like a drink which can easily be handled. And I was messy! We had a talk about a number of things and I do feel once again that I was far more confident then him. Though for some reason I was really on edge and so chatty. He was taller then me though and paid for lunch - super nice of him because he didn't have to. But then he give me super mixed signals because he decided to leave.

I don't normally set an end time unless I have to, but that meet up only lasted about an hour and 40 minutes. Which isn't that short but compared to the the four- six hours I'm use to it kinda is. I so thought I'd come on too strong and he'd not liked me. I had all this paranoia about it until he texted me and asked me if I wanted to meet again...turns out he was just super worried about missing his train home though they seemed to be every hour. I agreed and decided to give it another go.

The second meet up went a lot better and actually changed some of my first judgement about him. I think it helped that we went and did something this time. We went to an art gallery and had fun looking at the paintings. He made some jokes and we talked a lot about art and relationships. We went for tea and it was my pick this time, I choice a new place I'd not been to before, but the food was good. We split the bill this time and we hugged like three times before he left.

I'd like to see him again and not just because he said he wanted to go to the zoo for our next meet up! But because I think his confidence will grow and we have lot in common.

So, am I serial dater? I don't believe so. For starts, I'm not actually 'dating' them and they and me know where we stand and I make it repeated clear that's the case. Also, this the first time I've seen a number of men at once. Normally, I stick with one guy and if the first meet up doesn't work then I move on to the next. Actually, I only started dating in my early twenties. As a teenager, I wasn't that interested in boys and it's only been over the last six or seven years that I have changed my mind and become interested in finding someone to spend the rest of my life with.

I looked up what the actual differentiation of a serial dater and there's lots of interesting information out there, but I came to understand that it's a person who has a few dates with someone then moves on to someone else and the pattern repeats. They do this because they like the first stage of dating and don't want to commit to anything. Also they don't want to spend time getting to know people, they enjoy having money spent on them and date people who have nothing in common with them. I don't really tick any of those boxes.

Of course, I know there's going to come a time when either I decide to start a relationship with one of these guys or another I've yet to meet. I currently have two guys I really want to meet up with as well. Then I know I'll have to sort things out because I'm so not a cheat. At the minute I'm having a bit of trouble juggling the four guys I'm making friends with, so I can't imagine managing two different relationships! To be honest, I'm just having fun meeting and getting to new people, which is something I don't do really do.

And before I forget here's a link to a tumblr I llike and some of the posts on here just sum up internet dating messages for me really well; http://really-not-ok-cupid.tumblr.com/ If you need a giggle it's a good thing to check out, also it reminds me why being single can be a good thing!

On the flip side of this, for the past six weeks I have been giving up my Sunday mornings to be a part of the group mentoring at the youth center. It's the first run of this and it's to help 8-12 children who can't do 1-1 mentoring because their problems are not big enough or do to their additional needs they are unstable. But, if once we finish in another seven weeks, the young people still need support they'll go into the 1-1. I thought this would be a good way to start my mentoring as I've not been matched up to a young person yet.

I am finding it tough. It's hard to do anything for the first time even with training and support. I think it's going to take awhile for me to get into it as even after all this time I'm just not getting to grips with it. I'm not going to say mentoring isn't for me, I just think I need more practice at it as with everything. Maybe I need to do some more reading around the subject and look at how I can improve myself.

So the group mentoring sees three mentors, a supervisor, a supporter and eight young people meeting to do a range of activities which I divided into doing an activity often based around teamwork and looking at emotions/feels, lunch and small group time which sees the mentors working with the same 3 or 2 young people in a more focused activity. Now, my two kids are brother and sister and they have a bit of a rough home life, not in any abusive and neglecting ways, just that their mother has a lot on her plate it seems.

Last Sunday was also the second time they'd not turned up and it was the four time all together. It bugs me because I'm giving up my free time to help these kids to reach the reasons they are on mentoring and their mum doesn't seem so bothered to bring them. I'm so hoping this is going to change and that I can now spend the next few weeks actually helping this kids out. I keep telling myself that even if I'm just there for them and they can talk to me and I can teach them one coping technique they remember when they are having a bad time, then I'll feel like I achieved something. It'd be goo if I can do more, but as a mentor there's only so much you can do anyway.

Even though I love my part time job, I'm currently looking for another. I'd love to find some morning work in an office somewhere, so that I could still keep my shifts at the youth center. It wasn't my plan to really stay so long and I wanted a full time job, but I've not had much look and I guess I've become to comfy where I am. But I want to move out and get a car and the only way to really do that is to save up and I need more money to do that. So, I'm on the look out again and hopefully, I'll find something soon enough.

The issue is that job hunting doesn't get any easier really. I find it takes up so much time and it's tiring. Being on sites like Linked In and signing up to temp and agencies does make it easier, but it's putting in all the leg work and the fact I don't get many replies triggers my depression. A few weeks back I had a phone call and I was headhunted for this job as a research at a recruitment center. But the interview was cancelled the evening before because the guy said on reflection I didn't sound confident enough and that totally didn't make any sense to me. Also he wanted to hand in my notice that day before I had the interview so he could hire me the next day! That's just weird too.

In some other news, I have finally got a goal date set for my short story collection anthology release. It's going to be on Monday 1st August. This is going to be published on amazon kindle for £1. Which seems really cheap to me! It's going to be a collection of around 30 short stories from the first year of my other blog The Story Files over on Wordpress. I've been saying for ages that I'm going to do it and now I really mean it. I'll post on here when it's ready.

I so want to look at getting money from my blogs. I know its' difficult to do and most people say it's like a full time job. I've never really wanted to actually get money out of this because it me it's always been my space to just out pour, but it'd be great to get some else in return for writing now. Speaking of that and blogs.....

I had a great idea for a new blog and I plan to start that up next week. My plan is to post on that blog on Fridays and it's going to be about fighting negativity and how to stay positive. This blog is different from my current two and others I've done in the past because it's going to focus on advising people. I had this idea after having a talk with my dad then seeing some self-help books work. Originally, I was just going to make a life post about it but when I started planning it out there was so much I wanted to write about that I thought I could just turn this into a new blog.

I have set a word limit of 500 words per-post because that's about the right word count to draw people in and to read it fully. I try hard to keep the word count down on here, but like I said with this being a space to out pour it can be hard to keep things short!

So, I'll let you know about that when I've sorted it all out.

Update! I've set it up and done the first post! You can check it out here; https://negativitybreakout.wordpress.com/

Lastly, I wanted to write about my future plans. Right now, I'm on a short break in Leeds with my mum. On Saturday it was actually my birthday and this trip to Leeds is apart of that. I might write about that at some point. So, I've got some books lined up for reviewing, more short stories to write, two novellas to finish and I want to get the other two short story collections for the second and third year of my blog sorted and published. I think I'll carry on with what I've been currently doing on this blog, because it seems okay, but I'm hoping my new blog takes off.

Thanks for reading and please stay posted for some updates on all of this stuff soon!


My other blog: https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/


Images from https://pixabay.com

November Update part 2 : Why I give up on NaNoWriMo

Hi readers,

I failed National Novel Writing Month. 

There wasn't an easy way to say that, but I failed to reach the 50,000 word count target in the 30 days of November. I only got to just under 15,000 words, though Trust is now at 44, 383. Which is still under! I do feel a little bit annoyed that I couldn't do it, but I was very ill two weeks ago with a bad cold. That put a stop to everything for a whole week - even going to work and playing dungeons and dragons! I somehow manged to post my daily short story though, (Thinking about it, it was all the Trust parts I'd already written!) but writing Trust went on hold. Unfortunately, I never picked it up again.

I did have thoughts about writing it and I do have an idea about where to take it next. I think the brick wall appeared when I suddenly realized that I didn't have a real enemy for my main characters. The vampire who was suppose to be decided he wanted to be good and that kinda meant there was only so much I could do with him. Now though, I've an idea to introduce some more characters and create some more tension. 

So, what did I learn from NaNoWriMo? 

Firstly, that I could write more a day then I was doing and thought I could do. I was able to write one or two short stories and between 500-1,000 words of Trust. 

Secondly, I'm not so great at talking to people online! Remember my thinking about trying harder to connect with people in my last post? Yeah, I didn't do much about it. I don't know, if I still feel over-protected of my stories or I'm just not balancing my time well enough. 

Thirdly, Changing the stats on the NaNoWriMo doesn't make me feel better. In fact, I feel guilty for not writing! 

Fourthly, I did try my best but being ill and life etc, didn't help, still though it doesn't mean I should give up. 

I think one of the others reasons I give up was because for me writing is a thing I do everyday anyway. I don't need to find time or space to write because I've a lot of that. And on the days I don't, I'm taking a break and thinking about things. I look for inspiration all the time - on the internet and around me which I then use in my stories. I've a Pinterest board/s where all my ideas go and which I refer to everyday. 

Anyway, here's my stats page for NaNoWriMo and yeah, I decided to add the total I had actually written, so the last day is kinda wrong, but I wanted to add it in.      

Well done to all those who did make it and to those who didn't! At least you've start writing now.

I did have a few other things to add, but I want to get this post up before midnight, so I'm going to leave it. I'm thinking of doing a post tomorrow about the start of Christmas, though it'll depend on timing as I'm at work and I do have a gift to make for my best friend.

How did your NaNoWriMo go? leave me a comment below and please check out my other blog; https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/

April's Update

Hi readers,

So much for keeping up with my plan! Life has gotten in the way basically and writing stories, going to work, doing things for work, reading books and having a social life has all taken up most of my time. Plus, I've had days were I've just not wanted to write or days when I feeling down or stressed about things. I know everyone has those days, but sometimes I know its my depression still lingering. I know I should be happier and not worrying so much about things, but I can't help it. I've always been quick to worry and known to panic.

So what's been happening? Well, I've now finished my teaching course and will soon get my results back. Which equals one less problem and a new qualification! At the minute, I'm really struggling with my driving lessons. Though I did better today. I'm due to take my test at the end of the month, but right now I'm not sure if I will be taking it or even passing it. I just seem to have a great problem judging the distance of things, parallel parking and unmarked lined roundabouts. I hope it'll come together in the next few weeks. I've been having lessons a year now and though I've made a lot of progress, its this final part that seems to be taken awhile. Of course, I knew it was going to take awhile, but it just seems I've reached a stage where I just can't get pass it. I guess it'll come with more practice, Though learning how to stay calm would also benefit me. 

I'm still working at the youth center, though its only one day a week. I'm not sure if I will get more hours, but I stay hopeful. I do keep thinking that I should look for another part time job, but right now I'm still happy about taking a break from that. Job hunting can still be hard even when you already have one. 

I've been doing lots of writing, but not been achieving much with it, though my blog is still gaining followers and likes. I want to try and put together an anthology of some of the stories to be published on kindle. Not sure if anyone will buy it, but at least I'm still trying. I've also seen a few publishers where I can submit stuff too and I really need to be getting on with doing that. I also need to be getting back into working on a novel either writing or editing it, because I've not done that in a few months. I think I'll have a go at working on my latest one tonight and try to get another chapter sorted. It's the one I've been publishing on my blog, but stopped after I felt that people weren't that interested in it. I need to keep trying though. 

Finally, I do want to write some book reviews about the last few novels I've read. I really want to share my thoughts on The Handmaid's Tale, Sand and The Book Thief. I will set sometime aside to that. I also want to keep doing this 'updates' on this blog because at least I can try to keep it alive and because it does give me a place to reflected on things without having to be too deep or boring. 

That's it for now. Feel free to check out some of the other posts on here or my other blog for my short stories which is linked below.        

You can also follow on me on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thestoryfiles 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ironmaidenfan9

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/user?u=327832

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=208056472&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile

Pinterest:  http://www.pinterest.com/hails9/

Readwave :http://www.readwave.com/hayley.hardman.7/

Blogger: http://hailscrazyblog.blogspot.co.uk/

Wordpress: http://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/

Writing Techniques : Writing Prompts

Hi readers, 

Today and to kick off the new ideas I've had for my blog, I'm going to look at writing prompts and how they can be useful to us writers. I'm sure that many people are already aware of them and for me in the last few months they have become something of a reliable source for generating ideas and starting my creative writing pieces for my short story blog. For those that don't know about them, prompts can take many different forms including single words, whole sentences, dialogue and images, (all of which sometimes come with instructions) and you can use them to inspire you to write.

There is no right or wrong way when using prompts and no one is going to judge you for using one! I normally start my opening line or paragraph with the word or sentence or dialogue, then continue the story from there. With image prompts I normally start with introducing the setting or the character, before trying to include as much as the image as possible. One of my favorite examples of this comes from a short story I wrote about a piano in the woods and it can be read on my other blog, here:     http://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/the-soldiers-piano/ One of the best things I have also found about using prompts is that you don't have to begin the story with them, you could have them appear at anytime or not at all. For example, removing them in the finally draft or just not including the prompt at all. 

Let's now look at some actual prompts. The first one I chose was a written prompt and these kinds seem very popular. There are so many pages and websites out there that list a whole load of these and they can be so useful for starting off imagination and writing.   

The key to these prompts is that it gets your mind asking questions, which hopefully will make you want to write in order to get answers. So, for example this prompt makes you ask: who is he? Why is he knocking on doors? What happened at the other doors? What is going to happen next? This really does kick start your brain into wanting to find out and from there you should be able to write a story all around this prompt. 

My next prompt is an image one. I'm a visual person, it's how I learn and think best, so I love image prompts more because I find I get a really good use out of them and can create much deeper stories. This is one my newest images on my Pinterest board (Pinterest is a great website by the way and it lets you group things together under different sections. I've included the link to mine below). So, if I'm going to use this image I'd start my story by describing a character walking down this road and coming across this gate. The image, like the word writing prompt, helps to raise questions, for example: where is this place? what's beyond the gates? what's going to happen, if anything at all? 

The last thing I want to look at is physical writing prompt books, like the 642 Things To Write About one below. I own this book and have found it useful, though I just enjoy looking through it and giggling to myself more then actually using it for writing. There is a number of books and also ebooks available now packed with prompts similar to the ones above and they do work in the same way - get your mind and writing going-. Some of them even have blank spaces or pages which you can write in, so you don't feel stuck to your computer and notebook all the time. Some of the ebooks are even free to download like this one;  

Four Seasons of Creative Writing: 1,000 Prompts to Stop Writer's Block (Story Prompts for Journaling, Blogging and Beating Writer's Block) [Kindle Edition] by Bryan Cohen. (linked below) I recently downloaded this myself and though I've not used any of the prompts, most of them look really interesting and do most of the setting up of the story for you.

Overall, writing and image prompts can be great tools to help with any writer's writing. They can get your mind and imagination working and your fingers typing. They can be used in a number of ways; as warm up exercises, the opening line of your story or perhaps in a group or teaching situation. There seems to be an endless supply of them too, so you are always sure to find one that you can use. Also genre and themes are always nearly neutral and you can use them how you want to. If you are just starting out using prompts I'd recommend searching around on the internet first and gathering lots of free ones - in fact I'd recommend that to anyone. Having the prompts in a physical book or ebook which you have to pay for can be useful if you aren't near technology, or you like your breaks from it. I'd never tell anyone not to buy a book, but in this case and with so much being free online, I'd recommend going down that route instead. 

I hope this has been a useful post and you can let me know by commenting if you wish. Also, if you have any other writing techniques you'd like me to look at and try out. You can follow me in a number of different places and these were linked in my last post, so feel free to check it out. Up next in a few days is my book review on Prince Lestat, so I'll see you all then.

Links and Images:

http://www.invyn.com/category/writing-is-like-quotes/

http://thesarcasticmuse.tumblr.com/post/82864997733

http://www.pinterest.com/hails9/fantastical-stories/

http://www.amazon.com/Four-Seasons-Creative-Writing-Journaling-ebook/dp/B009GLMF7U/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1420493456&sr=1-3&keywords=writing+prompts

http://poetryismedicine.wordpress.com/

A New Year, A New Start

Hi readers,

It's been a long time since I last wrote on here. I've been mega busy and this blog just fell to the side. I guess part of the problem was that I didn't seem to be getting much interested and I wasn't having fun any more reviewing books. That in a way is my own fault though, because I'm highly educated and wanted to review books in an essay style way, which just doesn't work that well with a blogging format. So, now I've decided to try and have another go at doing that, but compacting my book reviews to a limit of 500 words. I'll still be looking at the normal things of character, plot, writing style and my evaluation though.

I also want to do a new publishing schedule and for now it looks something like this:

• A book review, once a week, (though not necessarily the current book I'm reading).
• A review of writing technique(s) etc, at the start of each month, (how to and examining usefulness).
• Creative writing piece, once a month, (see below about my sister blog). 
• A monthly update, at the end of each month, (on what I've been doing and what's coming up).

I'm hoping that this will help and encourage me to write more on this blog and also all my readers will find it useful. You can also connect me if you have an suggestions or other comments. I have a number of ideas for this month already such as looking at writing prompts (probably my next blog post), reviewing Anne Rice's Prince Lestat and things I could write about for my monthly update.

I'm currently still writing and publishing daily my own short stories on my sister blog at: http://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/ This is where all my creative writing will now take place and it just makes it easier for me to have two separate blogs instead of trying to mash everything together. Though, I might publish my most read story of the month up on here to try and generate some more interested in my writing. I should add that to the schedule. Please check it out. It's growing fast, but I could still use help to spread the word and gain more followers.  

Also, I have decided to try and do a reading challenge. I've posted the list below and also the link to it. I saw this on Facebook and thought I'd give it ago. It's a good way to expend my reading and book reviews. I believe I have got a lot of books that would qualify, which is great news because once again I'm watching my money this year. Even though, I now have a job! I finally got offered a paid position at the youth center I've been volunteering at for two years now. It's doing the same thing I was doing before - helping and running arts and crafts activities for 8-12 year olds- which is really great. I'm only doing one day/three hours at the minute, but hopefully that'll increase once I've done my trial period and finished my teaching course, which I'm currently doing on Thursday. I'll be writing more about these things in my monthly update post.

For now, I'll leave you reading through the reading challenge list.    

You can also follow on me on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thestoryfiles
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ironmaidenfan9
Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/user?u=327832
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=208056472&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile
Pinterest:  http://www.pinterest.com/hails9/
Readwave :http://www.readwave.com/hayley.hardman.7/
Wordpress: http://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/

Thanks for reading and your support. 

• Public Profile

Images and Links Used:

http://videohive.net/item/new-year-countdown-clock-2015-v2/6417745

http://writerswrite.co.za/50-lyric-titles-as-writing-prompts

http://tammarawebber.blogspot.com/2014/12/favorite-novels-of-2013-and-2014.html

Urban Exploring

(Hotel del Salto, Bogotá, Colombia)

Hi readers,

I thought today I'd write about a new hobby of mine. I'm not sure why or how I've got into it, but I do understand some of the appeal of it. Hopefully some of you might find this interesting and/or inspiring. So let me tell you about Urban Exploring.

Some of you might know or be some what aware of the term already. For those of you that don't know, Urban Exploring or UE is the exploration of man-made buildings or structures that have been abandoned. These places are interesting because you can learn a lot about decay and nature. As well as the history of the place, the people that were involved and/or lived there and how something works. Mainly photographers and researches class it as their hobby. However, other people like artists, writers, ghost hunters may find these places fascinating and/or useful.

Of course to get access to some of these places means trespassing and running the risk of getting caught. There are also other dangers like falling materials and unsafe flooring, to be aware of. From doing some research into the habits of Urban Explorers, I have learnt that most of the time the explorer will try and find an easy access point, such as an open doorway or broken fence. They will also leave the place as undisturbed as possible, only taking photographs and jotting down useful notes to either accompany these images or to do further research later. This is the difference between UE and mindless vandalism.

I guess I am what would be called an 'armchair urban explorer.' This is because I don't go out and explore these places myself as I use the Internet to look at other peoples explorations and research. This isn't because there are no abandoned places near were I live, its just that I feel that I don't need to experience these places myself- though I've wondered what it would be like! I do like taking photos, but I'm far from being a professional and I enjoy doing research, but I'm no historian, I just like looking at the fascinating images that people have manged to capture and learning something about the places they visited.

As I said at the start I'm not sure what first got me into UE, but I do know that the above photo- Hotel del Salto- was one of the images that drew me in. I remember reading the buzzfeed artical  

The 33 Most Beautiful Abandoned Places In The World (linked at the end) and I believe that's when my arm chair urban exploring begin. Since then it seems I've become hooked and eager to look at more places. 

(Abandoned type writer, unknown)

The main reason why I've gotten into this hobby is because it appeals to the writer inside of me. All of these abandoned places have their own stories to tell about the lives of the people that lived/came there and how they came to be 'forgotten'. Some even seem to be the perfect setting for horror/thriller stories and others are a perfect fit for dystopian/ science fiction stories. I feel the urge to use these places or else to create fictional (with some factual) stories about them. 

For some reason though, I've been having trouble writing and capturing the ideas and images I've had. It seems that as of yet my mind can't find a place for these abandoned places to fit in. I guess that's why I keep returning to look at my favorite photos and to discover more. My imagination is sparked by the images and though I might feel like writing, I seem unable to place what I see into words. I'm hopefully that one day I shall be able to write something though as there are a lot of stories here. 

I've always been a very visual person and this reflects in my writing. I like to go into a lot of detail describing things. Also, I've find that photographs and drawings/printings inspire me. This is because I can see the image and can use it as a starting point for describing. Or else I can take the image and use that to create a story. I guess using the above image of the abandoned type writer would be a good example. For me it rises so many questions; In what kind of building is this? Why was it abandoned? Who owned the type writer and where did they go to? What was the last thing it wrote? What's going to happen to it now?

It's the answering of these questions that leads me into writing. In real life, I might not be able to find the answers, but in the world of fiction I can do and that allows me to give my interpretation of the photograph. It also opens the door to me writing my thoughts, feelings and reflections through my characters. This is a really good way to actually start writing and it can led many places. I'm sure its been used as a writing exercise in many creative writing sessions. I just about remember a poetry session where we had to look at images from the Berlin Wall and describe it in a poem.

I probably could go into a lot more detail about how and why UE gets my creative mind going and its usefulness in writing, but I'm going to move on and look at other aspects. 

(Nara Dreamland, Japan)

Following on from the start of my interested in UE, I became fixated on abandoned theme parks. I'm really not sure why these of all the kinds of abandoned places attracted my attention so much, but they just did. I think that one thing that really gets me is that the rides and mainly the roller coasters have just been left and nature has been allowed to claim them back. Though I know that this is seen inside buildings too, I think that theme parks being outside just get taken over much better. 

There are many abandoned theme parks across the world, but there is one that draw me in more then the others and that's Nara Dreamland. It's really popular with explorers and has a detailed history. For me, it has some of the best photographs too. There is just something about nature taking over wooden and metal roller coasters and creating interesting images. When I see these photographs I see the beauty in the scenery and can imagine how quiet the place has become.

I think that's one of the reason why people do urban exploring. They can see the beauty in these places, that other people can't see. They also like to re-live the memories of the place and experience the calm and quiet that has none taken over. I guess these places are sort of like pockets on the world where people no longer go and Mother Nature can show what the world was once like before we came. Of course the other way to look at it is; what the world will be like if there became no humans. Though, I've never liked to think of it as that. 

Back to the theme parks, There are a few more famous abandoned ones and also water parks. Wikipedia has a long list of them! So, as well as Nara I've also been drawn too; Six Flags New Orleans, Speepark Berlin, Sports World Japan, Gulliver’s Kingdom Japan, Takakanonuma Greenland Japan, and Chippewa Park Thunder Bay Ontario. Each of these places has their own story to tell and as well as the images, I'm drawn to these stories. 

I think it would be interesting to actually walk through one of these places and experience for myself what its actually like there. They must be so different now without all the people wondering around and enjoying the rides. The voices and screams must seem like a distant memory, as well as the mingling of smells. These once over-crowd, loud, happy places have now fallen silent of humans forever.   

(Pripyat City, Ukraine)

One of the most famous abandoned places, that most people are aware of is Pripyat. This whole city was abandoned when a nuclear accident happened at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in April 1986. Due to everyone having to leave suddenly a lot of personal things still remain and in most places it looks like the people could return any minute to continue with there lives. However, other photos show that the city is now laying in ruins and is still uninhabitable. The most iconic images of Pripyat are those of the abandoned fun fair/theme park, which was due to open in May.   

Pripyat isn't the only abandoned city/town though. There are others like Hashima Island and Tomioka Fukushima in Japan, Kolmonskop, Namibia in Africa,Varosha, in northern Cyprus, Pyramiden in Russia and Detroit, Bodie, Seattle Underground,  in the USA. All these places have been abandoned for one reason or another and the haunting images they now create really do have that World's End feel to them. 

I guess it most be pretty surreal and eerie to wonder around such cities and towns. I also think that's its such a shame and a big loss though. Granted some places can never be reclaimed back, but those that could would allow homeless people and those that needed it to start a new life. I think this thought about some of the wonderful houses/manors/castles/hotels that have also been abandoned. The images of them decaying away might be interesting, but to see these buildings back to their form selves would be- for me any- a lot more fascinating.   

(Lee Plaza Hotel, Detroit, USA.)

Another city I've become interested in studying is Detroit in the American State of Michigan. This image from the hotel was amongst the first that caught my attention. I was fascinated by the piano and left in wonder as to why it had been abandoned. I then found out that this seemed to be a thing with most old and large buildings and that lots of pianos had been left to rot. I guess its because they are too heavy and big to move, so they just get left behind. Though I have to admit that pianos do add to the atmosphere, its still a shame that they've been left. 

I should point out that Detroit isn't fully abandoned, more that its a city in decline. There are large areas of abandon buildings mixed in with small pockets of inhabited areas. However, it seems that most of the abandoned public buildings and houses have almost been completely taken over by the decay and nature. This does make for some interesting images and you do really get the sense of an abandoned city. 

There is actually a group of abandoned places that creep me out and these are the hospitals, asylums, orphanages and other such buildings. (Beside from libraries and schools, I'm okay with them.) I think its due to knowing what want on and possible what happened in such places. I think just seeing equipment left laying around and the records of people, just makes my skin crawl. However, I still have some interested in these places and you do have to wondered what secrets they are hiding.   

(Paris apartment time capsule)

One thing I really enjoy about these abandoned buildings is finding places like the above. These time capsule abandoned homes have remind untouched for years with personal effects being left to lay. Most of the time they don't even show that much decay. Once again for me, the interested lays in the questions, answers and stories that come out of these images. I was keen to find out about this apartment when I first saw the photo of the dresser. 

There is actually a lot of information about the apartment out there and its' history. The woman who lived here left just before the outbreak of the Second World War and went to live somewhere safer. She took only what she needed and then just left everything else. For some reason she never returned and no one knew about the apartment until 70 years later when she died. Her relatives going though her things found out about the apartment and went to investigate. Thus they found a time capsule of pre-WWII items, including some rare and expensive paintings.  

(The Royal House, Japan)

Lastly, I want to share with you one of my favorite abandoned time capsule places. This house in Japan is known as the Royal House and they have tried to keep the location quiet so that its' not vandalized. Though I've recently read that this has now happened and the house has fallen into more decay. I was drawn to this place because of the photos of abandoned treasures and personal items, but then I discovered that people had actually done research into the house and the family that it belonged to. 

The house and family have a really interesting history and it was nice to see it being brought back to live. I was sad to learn that the house had been abandoned because all the family members had died and there'd been no one to take on the place. It has become something of a shrine or memorial to the family, I guess. I would so recommended that you read about this house and I've linked the website below. 

Thanks for reading this post, I know its been a long one, but hopefully you can understand why it had to be. I hope also that my passion for these abandoned places has come across and that I've got more people interested in Urban Exploring -even if its only from your chair!

                                                   (The Royal House, Japan)

Images from;

http://underthemountainbunker.com/2012/08/11/abandoned-places-saturday-the-hotel-del-salto-tequendama-falls-columbia-river/
http://bizarrebeyondbelief.com/2012/10/29/andre-govia-photographs-of-abandoned-spaces/
http://iplacesblog.com/2013/06/01/nara-dreamland-japan/
http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/the-33-most-beautiful-abandoned-places-in-the-world
http://www.roughguides.com/gallery/abandoned-places/#/2
http://homes.yahoo.com/news/art-filled-paris-flat-left-untouched-since-world-201500692.html
http://www.haikyo.org/abandoned/houses/the-royal-house/
http://gakuran.com/the-royal-house-haikyo/


My Pinterest board;

http://pinterest.com/hails9/abandon-places-urban-exploring/

Interesting Websites;

http://www.abandoned-places.com/
http://www.forbidden-places.net/explo1.php#.Uhn-9ZLVAlN
http://www.messynessychic.com/
http://weburbanist.com/category/architecture/abandonments/
http://www.haikyo.org/
http://www.abandonedplaygrounds.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abandoned_theme_parks
http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com