Blog Birthday!

Today is the 30th January 2014. Do you know what that means?

This here blog just turned two years old. Aw, they grow up so fast.

*Sniff* Oh I'm getting all emotional *eyes tear up*.

I would like to thank everyone for their amazing support and wisdom and whatnot, and all my bloggers and followers for commenting and sharing the love. *Cries* Without you all, this blog would have been lost in the Blogosphere, never to be found or read. It's still weird to think that people actually read my blog, and how I even got people over here in the first place. *Rubs eyes*

So, to celebrate, I resolve that every single one of my readers eats a hella lot of cake, and takes a lot of photos to capture this very special moment. 

Happy birthday to this here blog (':

Astronaut, July 2017 - February 2018 (CV Replica)

So I was watching a load of back-to-back Big Bang Theory episodes, and you know the ones where Howard is in space? Well I was thinking about how cool that would be, and I now want to be an astronaut. Maybe not as a life time occupation, but just something to out on my CV, you know?

But, as I hopefully checked over the NASA website, I couldn't help but notice that there are a few limits as to who can join.

"Mission Applicants for the Astronaut Candidate Program must be citizens of the United States."

Now this I could do. I would quite happily buy a house or two in the US if it means I can float into space.

"Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in engineering, biological science, physical science, or mathematics. An advanced degree is desirable. Quality of academic preparation is important."

Appart from the fact that I have no interest in getting a PHD or MA for any of those subjects, I guess I could devote a few years (I looked it up, the PHD I would want takes at least 36 months) to what I would inevitably call 'Astronaut Training'.

"At least 1,000 hours pilot-in-command time in jet aircraft. Flight test experience is highly desirable."

I could fly a plane. You know in the film Yes Man where he signs up to flight lessons, and can fly solo by the end of the film? He made it look so easy. Pfft, I could so do that.

"Ability to pass a NASA space physical which is similar to a military or civilian flight physical and includes the following specific standards:

• Distant visual acuity: 20/100 or better uncorrected, correctable to 20/20 each eye."

I guess I could have laser eye surgery, although Final Destination has freaked me out a tad.

• "Blood pressure: 140/90 measured in a sitting position."

Mine is about 120/80, but I guess I could find a trauma to go through to get it up a bit. 

• "Height between 62 and 75 inches."

I just checked, and I'm 66 inches. *dances*

^May or may not be a 100% accurate photo representation of me on the moon.

I am now fully convinced that I'm going to be an astronaut for a few years, even if it only means that I can have a cool Facebook header of me on the moon.

*I'm not quite sure what this post was going to be, so I just went with it, and I don't understand what it means*

And the moral of that post was *thinks*, reach for the stars.

*Shrugs*

The Blog Apocolypse

I don't know what happened. It all came as a shock. 

Suddenly, as I logged into Blogger one day, it hit me. They've all died in the blog apocolypse.

Do you remember Voyage? Emily Etc? Nicola's Notebook?

One by one, starting about a year ago, some of my favourite blogs became abandoned. I thought it was just a phase. Oh, how wrong I was.

Yesterday, logging onto Blogger, I noticed that The Girl Next Door hadn't posted in months. Neither had Abigail's Treasures. As I continued down the lost of blogs that I follow, more and more had been completely silent for the past five months or so. Only a few of my favourite blogs still stood. But the rest? Oh we don't talk about that.

RIP^^

They've gone. Some were kind enough to post their goodbyes, but the rest? I guess we'll never know.

May their little blog souls rest in peace in the blogosphere.

*Cries*

MY NEW BABY

Recently, my parents bought me a Nikon Coolpix P520 Bridge Camera, and I must admit that I am IN LOVE.

If you ignore the fact that I hadn't dusted before taking these photos (oops), you will realise that it is the most gorgeous thing EVER. It's purple, and when I took it to Tenerife it glittered in the sun and looked pretty awesome. 

I'm naming it Jayze. (pronounced jay-zzz)

Technical stuff - http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/cameras/digital-cameras/bridge-cameras/nikon-coolpix-p520-bridge-camera-21328874-pdt.html

And That's When It Hit Me; Needles, Part One

So I got home a few days ago when my parents handed me a letter as I just got through the door, with solemn looks on their faces.

"What's this?" I asked.

"I'm so sorry dear," my mother whispered.

As I unfolded the already opened letter sent from my school, I had to hold back tears as I slowly read each word, trying to take it all in.

After a few 'hello's and 'we hope you are well's, the letter began to take a turn for the worst.

'We are writing to inform you that we have trained nurses arriving at the school to preform our free routine injections for the students.'

As I read on, the letter just got worse and worse. Measle injections. Mump injections. Polio. Tetnaus.

My heart was beating much too fast to classify as the usual rate, and my hands began to shake far too much for me to even hold the letter. I had to sit down as it all sunk in.

So, immediately, I ran to my IPad to Google the injections, only to scare myself more. People die as a result of them, they get paralyzed from the waist down, they have heart attacks, the injection ingredients damage their brains...

I hardly slept that night, imagining what might happen. Granted it will hurt, but what if she misses a vein? What if she accidently uses a dirty needle? What if she uses an infected serum? What if she needle slips and goes all the way through my arm?!

Night after night I would tick off the days in my mind, and suddenly, without warning, the day appeared out of nowhere.

I decided to wear black to school, head to toe, to symbolise the pain and anguish that I would soon be going through. After sitting on hard plastic chairs for a while, my name was finally called.

As I heard "Amy-Anne Williams through to the clinic, please," my whole body tensed up. I could not remember a single piece of advice for calming down, which I had completely memorized the night before from a website targeted at facing your fears and coping with your phobias.

I slowly sat down on the chair provided, and couldn't help but watch the faces of those around me having their injections, wincing in pain. And as they winced their eyes watered. And as their eyes watered they wimpered. And as they whimpered they tensed up. And just as they blindly began to reach out, to clutch someone for support, my nurse turned to face me.

"You ready?"

---To Be Continued---

Quick Tips; How To Publish A Novel

Okay, so I have decided that I am going to have regular 'And That's When It Hit Me' posts, and am now pondering over the idea of 'Quick Tips'. Let me know what you guys think of this revelation.

During a chat with Sophie Marris from Booktrust, she gave me a handful of tips on how to publish my own book. Now me, being such a great blogger, am sharing these tips with you.

"As I am sure you will know, many people have a go at writing a book, and – even though over 100,000 books are published each year in the UK alone – most of them do not make it into print. The major publishers are inundated with ‘unsolicited manuscripts’ (as they call them) and as a rule simply do not have the time or resources to sift through them all (although on occasion some do manage to slip through).

(An exception is Macmillan, who have launched the New Writing scheme for well written manuscripts that need little editing.)

Of course, this is not to say that you will not be successful in getting your book published, and there are several alternatives to sending your manuscript off to a big publisher:

You may, for example, have better luck sending your work to smaller publishers.

Or you could self-publish (but you would have to do all the work involved – and pay for it yourself).

By and large, however, it is advisable to get yourself a literary agent who will have contacts in the publishing world and help you (for a fee of course) to get your book published.

If you want advice about how to get published, visit www.spreadtheword.org.uk and click resources. Alternatively, please visitwww.train4publishing.co.uk/careers for further advice.

I would also strongly recommend you get hold of a copy of the “Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook” if you do not have one already. It contains invaluable advice and information for anyone wanting to get their book published, including lists of publishers and agents (with brief notes as to the type of books they specialize in publishing and representing). You can buy a copy via the official website www.writersandartists.co.uk you can also register yourself at this address, there is lots of useful information on the website along with forums where other authors can give you advice.

Best wishes and good luck!"

Thank you to Sophie Marris for the tips!

So, is Quick Tips staying, or like 'fetch' is it 'so not going to happen'? (Slight Mean Girls reference? No way..)

Zed

I remember learning the alphabet when I was at my first year of Primary School in Wales, and how we would always finish the alphabet song with a nicely rhyming 'zee', before moving onto the 'now I know my ABCs, won't you come and sing with me-e-e' part.

But then, when I moved a whole four hundred miles East of the island of which I lived, to sunny old England (slight sarcasm?), everything changed. The trees were darker, the air was foggier, people lived at an incredibly fast pace. But most importantly, the English said the aplhabet differently.

I began to end the alphabet with 'zed', which really makes no sense. A....B....C....D....E....F....G........ and ZED. I mean, ZED, really?! 

All of a sudden, my life was flipped ipside down. It was a travesty. It was a revelation. It was a new way to end the alphabet. 

No longer did the 'ABC, won't you sing with me' apply to the alphabet. After zed replaced zee, life really was never the same.

It was one of the most confusing fimes of my childhood, before the whole 'grarss' instead of 'grahss' incident happened, obviously.

And, until the very end of my days, I will always stand by the fact that it is wrong that zee was horrifically slaughtered from the alphabet.

And That's When It Hit Me; Winnie The Pooh Mental Illnesses

I may just be extremely unobservant, but I've only just been made aware of the revelation of the Winnie The Pooh series.

I've always thought that the collection was about a group of animated animal friends and the journeys in which they lead, but as it turns out, each character represents some form of a mental disorder.

Christopher Robin is said to have schizophrenia, where he imagines that the characters are alive and well, when really they're just stuffed animals sitting on a shelf. I actually remember watching the television series, where at the end of one episode it zoomed out of the animations straight onto a load of toys on a shelf, in a real-life room. I didn't really pay attention to that scene, but it must have had some affect on me as I still remember it now.

I found several versions of Pooh's disorder on the interweb, but I think that he is either an addict or has an eating disorder, or both. This perception is merely based on the fact that he is so het up over his honey.

As it turns out, Tigger has severe ADHD, which means that he acts without thinking, is extremely hyperactive, and he also has trouble focusing. I could actually have guessed this, if I had been looking out for the fact that he had a mental disorder, of course.

Image credit http://wordmachines.wordpress.com

Piglet is represented as having anxiety, and after some research I did for this post, a few people said that the reason for this is that he had experienced some childhood trauma. Piglet was one of my favourite characters in the books, films, and television shows, to to realise this was a tad disheartening.

Rabbit is demonstrated as having OCD - an anxiety disorder in which the person suffers from obsessive thoughts and compulsive tendencies. I just thought that Rabbit loved cleaning, and I only made the link with OCD when I read about it, although now I realise it is incredibly obvious.

After reading several versions of what Owl represents, I finally decided that the most suitable disorder is NPD, which means this he is excessively preoccupied with himself. Remember when he said about being smarted than everyone? When he said they were all just fluff? The mirror that he constantly checked himself in? It all links.

Even I could work out that Eeyore suffers from extreme depression. He was always another one of my favourite characters, despite his gloomy state. But I've always remembered him as always being without a tail, and being sad because he missed it.

I found a bit of trouble trying to find out what Kanga and Roo have, but have finally decided that they are just extremely codependent, and have trouble trusting what may happen if they are away from eachother.

It is now incredibly obvious what each character portrays, and I cannot believe that I never picked up on it before. Then again, as a six year old I never thought of making the connection from my beloved book characters to representatives of mental disorders.

Although, my sources show that A. A. Milne, the author of the Winnie The Pooh books did not base his characters on mental disorders, readers just happened to pick up on the fact that some character traits matched those of mental illnesses. The only reason that I find it to be such a revelation is because Winnie The Pooh was aimed at younger generations, and I guess the media is dishevelled at portraying a 'darker' side.

Interview with Andy Robb from GEEKHOOD!!

Thank you to Andy Robb for letting me interview him for this here blog.

I am a massive fan of both books in the Geekhood series so far, and it has even inspired me to buy a few comics, and, believe it or not, I actually began reading The Lord Of The Rings (which I found slightly over rated). The Geekhood's are great, and I seriously encourage my readers to give them a shot.

(Image credit; vimeo.com)

What inspired you to write Geekhood?

 

It sort of happened like this: I had had an idea for a story about a teenage witch-hunter who falls in love with a girl accused of witchcraft. It was going to be all medieval and grim and full of something that might or might not be magic. I went to my agent with the idea and she tactfully suggested that I write something more contemporary, so I went back to the drawing board.

 

A little while later, I was chatting with a mate about my teenage years and told a story about when I first tried to ask a girl out – which didn’t end well! Because he found it so funny, I started thinking about what life was like for me back then; what was going on, how I was dealing with it and what my interests were – and then I started writing.Geekhood is almost semi-autobiographical; a lot of what happens to Archie happened to me and, I’m sure, continues to happen to teenagers today. But the inspiration was that story that I told my friend; that’s where it really came from.

 

Was Geekhood originally planned as a Trilogy, or did you enjoy writing the first books so much that you carried on?

 

I seem to be one of those people with no ambition; I tend not to plan anything – just have a go and see where it takes me. When I wrote the first book, my agent suggested it might be worth coming up with a couple more stories, in case a publisher wanted another book or two. When we signed the deal with Stripes, it was for two books – which made me ridiculously excited and getting to continue the story was fantastic. Whether there’ll be a third is unknown at the moment, but I know what happens – I just need the go-ahead to write it. But, originally, I had no set plans to write anything beyond the first book. Anything that has happened after that has just been an extraordinary and unexpected bonus.

 

What one person would you label as your inspiration, not only for Geekhood but your whole life?

 

I have learnt more from my dear old mum than anyone else. She’s an incredible woman and our friendship is one of the most valuable things in my life.

 

Which Geekhood book would you say is your favourite?

 

The one I haven’t written yet! The first book will always have a beautiful nostalgia attached to it because it was my first book, but the second one is where I applied what I learnt from writing the first one. I can’t separate them, so I’ll have to say that it’s the third one that may or may not be.

 

Have you always wanted to be an author? What was your previous job?

 

No – but I was always interested in telling stories, after a fashion. From the age of about 12, I wanted to be an actor, so that’s what I did. I went to the drama school, LAMDA, for three years, came out the other end, got myself an agent and worked for over 20 years, telling stories through theatre, TV, film and radio. The writing thingwas a sort of challenge I set myself; I’d spent so long telling other people’s stories that I wanted to see if I could tell one of my own.

 

Is being an author your dream job? What would your dream job be?

 

I think being an author comes pretty close – I just hope I get to continue doing it! I’m a fairly idealistic person and being able to write what’s in my head and pass along information that I think is important ticks a good few boxes for me. And I love the whole going to festivals and doing school visits thing. The only other job I can think of that might have the same resonance for me would to be in a successful band.Bagsy rhythm guitar.

 

Have you got any writing tips you would like to share?

 

The way I see it, everyone’s got their own approach. Some like to plot things out, some just like to see where the words take them – so it’d be fairly arrogant of me to presume that I’ve got any better ideas on how to do it than anyone else. But, if push came to shove, I’d say that you’re only going to find out what your approach is by having a go. So, if you want to be a writer, the best tip I can give is: start writing and keep writing. I treat everything I write as an experiment and even the apparent failures have something to teach you – you’ve just got to be open enough to look for the lessons.

Again, thank you to Andy Robb for letting me feature him!

Yay 2014

So, here we are, finding ourselves in the early midst of the year 2014, and I am returning to resume my position as blogger, happiness giver, and overall world wide sensation here on Blue Scarf Girl. So, from now on, I am going to be a full-time, overly commited blogger, regardless of the fact that I may or may not still have people interested in my blog..

Anyway, I am currently debating my third, and final, blog name. Maybe something do do with Luna or moons or whatnot?

So, to celebrate the comings of the next year, and my decision to ban reviews on my blog after I purely wrote about fifty reviews and nothing else for a while, here's a guest post from Sunny, explaining the basics of beginning a blog (which is extremely relevant to the new birth of this blog), and the commitments which it entails.

Hey guys,

My name is Sunny and I’m a YA Book Blogger from Australia. My blog ‘A Sunny Spot’ has been running for just over a year and a half now. But enough about me, the lovely Amy has allowed me to guest post on her blog today and I’ll be giving some blog making tips. I’m sorry if these aren’t very clear and if you have any more questions don’t hesitate to ask me on twitter (A_SunnySpot). These are just tips so feel free to take no notice at all. Enjoy :D

----------------

Starting a blog is hard work, I’m not going to lie. But it’s also incredibly fun and rewarding! With the right help it can also be a lot less difficult. I’d like to think that deciding to create a blog was the best choice I’d made, so if you’re hesitant but considering it.. let me help you!

Ok.. so you’re thinking of creating a blog? Blogging is time consuming and takes a lot of dedication. So you should probably be sure that this is something you're interested in doing. You can blog about anything you want, books, music, lifestyle, fashion.. there are no limits. Firstly you need to decide what you want to blog about and then we can go from there.

So you came up with a idea but now you need to come up with a blog name and believe me this isn’t easy. Try and come up with something you know you’ll be content with in years to come. Because whilst you can always change your blog title it’s always easier to stick with the one name so your blog is easily recognizable. Can’t think of anything, here are some tips.

• Think of something memorable and recognizable.
• Something that incorporates both you and the theme of your blog.
• Something fun and quirky. Maybe it’s got a hidden meaning. Have fun with it!

Once you’ve got a name. It’s time to choose a platform for your blog ie. Blogger or Wordpress? Being a user of blogger, my personal opinion is that blogger is really easy to work with, it’s free and allows a range of different customizations. On the other hand, a self hosted Wordpress (wordpress.org) is great if you willing to add some dollars to your overall blog look. Once you’ve got your blog up and running, it’s time to write a post! Your first post can be anything but a introduction post is always nice so your readers can get to know a little bit about you. Design a header and button and work on your blog until you're happy with it.

When you begin blogging it’s hard to get followers and views. But the absolute best way to do that is to BE SOCIAL. This is actually a key element of blogging because it makes the experience so much better for you, others and your blog. Blogging Buddies are the best and something I’m so grateful to have. We are not a scary bunch and it’s actually really easy to make a blogging friend. How do I ‘Be Social’?:

• Comment on other blogs: Commenting on other peoples post is a great thing to do. It can make someones day and it’s always cool to see what everyone else is writing. But comment like you care! Don’t skim the post, read the post and let them know why you liked it. Because comments really are mood brighteners
• Goodreads: If you're a book blogger then Goodreads is a great site to be. Join groups and discuss your fave reads.
• TWITTER: This is the best way to be social! I’m addicted and believe me it such a great way to make friends, fangirl and advertise your blog. Ask people how there day is and in no time you’ll make friends.

Once your blog is up and running here are some tips:

• Make sure to update frequently but in your own time.
• Don’t ditch your blog without notice, let your readers know what’s going on.
• School before blogging, find the correct balance. It’s something we all struggle with.
• Be yourself, it’s really the best thing to be. Your blog shouldn’t be a model of everyone else’s, it should be yours.
• Have fun! Blogging should feel more like a hobby and less like a task.

Anyway I hope these tips helped. There aren’t any rules when it comes to blogging and these are just tips. I’d love to know if I’ve helped anyway and if you're a new blog, give me a hollah.

So thank you so much to Sunny, for starting this blog off to a great new year!

I hope you all enjoy what is to come ahead on this blog, and please, if you have any blog name suggestions feel free to drop me a line.

So for now, adios mi amigos!