lildropofmagic

Just a quick post to say that my mindset is now focused on getting the next chapter of New Dawn done! It's been at the back of my mind for a few weeks but I have found lots of other stuff to distract me! It's been a while since I've updated so I'm putting it at the top of my things to do list. For all you reading this, you should bear in mind that, for me, writing a chapter is quite a slow process, especially if I have a little block. I normally write a chapter plan with bullet points detailing the plot of the chapter. Some are more detailed than others: my plan for chapter 9 was 2 1/3 pages on MS Word but for chapter 10 it was 6 pages. For some reason I haven't done much of a plan for Chapter 11 and I'm just sort of writing it as i go! I'll just have to wait and see if that's a good thing or not. I would give a time frame for the next chapter but i reeeally doubt that I'd stick to it. Please just be content in the knowledge that it's on its way.


Anyway, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas (or other religious holiday!) and I wish you a very Happy New Year! Let's hope 2009 is a good one!

Lots of love, Rebecca
xXx

I can't believe it's been about a month since i've last written! I would say that the main reason is because nothing too interesting has happened til now but also my computer contracted a 'malicious' virus. That's right, my laptop told me that the virus was malicious and i agree with it!!! I got it on from a link through a facebook message someone sent me. It took to some weird video sharing site that was like a rip off of youtube. I was kinda tired so i just clicked on the video to play- big mistake. My computer froze so i restarted it. You could log onto a user fine but then nothing would load at all. I was not pleased. This happened last Wednesday (26th Nov). I couldn't take it to a repair shop on the Thursday because i had to go to a meeting at Uni and after that i had choir. So, on the Friday after I.T i took it down to a shop in Kingston. It was dark by the time i could be bothered to go down and i was really worried that the shop didn't do repairs and they'd laugh at me. Aaaaanyway, once i got in the shop they said they'd have a look. They charged £35 just to look at it (which was a bit of a pain) and said they'd be in touch.

I got a phone call on Monday evening to say that I'd have to have a new hard drive at a cost of £75 + VAT and he was charging me for something else (but I don't remember what it was, probably an installation fee). I asked whether i'd loose everything and he was hopeful that i'd be able to keep most of it. He also said they'd install Windows XP but i'd have to get Microsoft office myself. I don't really have that many documents on my computer that i'd be heartbroken to loose and most of my photos are on facebook. The thing i was most worried about was loosing all my music from my itunes. I have 1317 items on itunes (i just checked- i'm not sad enough to know that off by heart!) and i would've been a HUGE pain to have to accumulate my music again. Also, i hadn't charged my ipod recently or put my christmas playlist on it so i've been struggling without christmas songs and my ipod in general for a whole week! As far as the internet goes, housemate leaves his laptop lying around in the living room so i was able to keep up to date with things with that otherwise i would've gone INSANE!

I finally got a call this morning saying that my laptop was ready to be picked up. While releaved that they'd finally finished with it i was also a bit worried that i'd discover no music, files or pictures etc. and i wouldn't be able to use MS Word or anything cos i'd have to get that myself. However, once they charged me £160 (my housemate thinks they should've gold plated my lap top for that price!) i was very pleased to discover that, as far as i can tell, everything's still here! YAY! Plus, they've installed Microsoft Office! YAY!!!!!! I've never had Publisher before so i'm pretty chuffed that i have it now although i'll probably never use it. I'm charging my ipod and listening to The Pogues as i type this so i'm a pretty happy bunny!

Moving on from the laptop kerfuffle (i love that word! I'm soooo going to try and get that into the next chapter of New Dawn!) I had one of the best night's ever on Wednesday because i went to the launch of Beedle the Bard in the Waterstones in London!!! My friend, who has never read Harry Potter, was going to come with me because i didn't want to go on my own but it was her Dad's birthday. I don't know anyone at Uni who's a big HP fan so i ended up going on my own. After getting my wristband from Waterstones i wandered over to Leicester Square cos i knew the UK Twilight premiere was happening. There were quite a few people still there but i managed to stand right at the front near the Vue cinema (where it took place). I had no idea what stage the premiere was at so i just stood for a while to see what was going on. After a few minutes people started to get a bit excited (i say people, but i mean young teenage girls). There were a few cars waiting outside the cinema so i knew the were still people inside. Suddenly they all started screaming and peering down the row of fans i could see people coming towards the car. I could see Robert Pattinson briefly but then the fans were leaning over the barrier. The cars drove past- in the first one had the director Catherine Hardwick in. She was smiling and waving at us while i looked blankly back. The next car had Kristin Stewart in and she looked scared and confused. The last car must've had Robert in but i really couldn't see.

After that i went to a Starbucks to get a hot chocolate. Then i went into an arcade by Picadilly that i can't remember the name of. I won some money (yay!) and then saw two people dressed in Harry Potter gear. I asked if I could be a pain and tag along with them and they allowed me lol! They're called Rosi and James and I have since found out that they've published loads of videos on Youtube. We decided to go back to Waterstones to spend the rest of our time. We met up with a couple of people that Rosi had met before called David and Elizabeth who had come all the way from Rotherham. When they finally let us up to the 4th floor the was a big scrum and then we practically ran up the stairs. Waterstones offered us hot and cold drinks. I was very hot so i had a glass of some random red drink that had weird floating stuff in it. It was nice though. They'd decorated some of the floor and it looked really cool but i didn't pay too much attention because i wanted to get a good seat for the podcast. We sat on the floor right at the front and waited for it to start.

Some people came out dressed as Hagrid and Dumbledore. They were very good and were obvoiusly fans by the things they said and jokes they made. Hagrid introduced the Mugglecasters and everyone cheered. I'm quite a big Mugglecast fan so it felt really weird to actually see them! The podcast was really good fun. They did some trivia questions about Beedle the Bard (which were SO difficult!) for prizes and James won a wand! Rosi asked a question. I was tempted to but i was too scared! lol! After the podcast there was a rush for Beedle the bard/Waterstones t-shirts. James managed to get one but I didn't :(

There was still about half an hour til midnight and the Mugglecasters were taking pictures and talking with fans. Oh! Hang on, there was also a fancy dress costume. Rosi had full Gryffindor robes, skirt and jumper etc. A girl dressed as Luna rightfully won because she had made a lion hat. She won £200 waterstones vouchers and also got the first copy of the book. The winners were chosen by scream-o-meter and Rosi definitely came second but for some reason 'Dumbledore' said 2 other girls beat her. Rosi came 4th and recieved £100 waterstones vouchers. The photographers loved her and she loads of photos taken with 'Hagrid' and 'Dumbledore'. Then, someone from the BBC came to ask her if she wanted to be on BBC breakfast the next morning! Of course she said yes!

The book was about to come out so Rosi, James and Elizabeth went up the front because they were dressed up. Me and David went to talk to Andrew Sims as it was less busy now that the book was about to be released. We talked to Andrew for a bit about Politics and Hairspray if that makes any sense! Then Matt Briton gave me a balloon thingy that one of the entertainers had made. It's sitting on my desk now. Jamie's girlfriend was with him and i talked to her for quite a while because she didn't really know anyone. She's not a HP fan either so she obviously found the whole experience very bizarre! I went to get my book, and got it stamped to say i'd been at the launch party. I talked with Sophie (Jamie's gf) while he was finishing up with fans and then got the night bus home! I got a few funny looks due to the balloon but i didn't really mind. I tried to read the book on the bus but i was too tired!

The next morning i set my alarm to see Rosi on Breakfast. She was wearing her robes again and she looked so cool!!!!!!! Jamie was there too and it felt so surrealy to think i'd been talking to them only a few hours earlier! 

I really enjoyed the book, especially Dumbledore's notes. My favourite tale is probably the fountain of fair fortune. My arm's aching now so i'm going to stop. Talk to you soooon!  

Ok, now to be honest this question doesn't really work with me because i'm not an album sort of person. I tend to go more for singles and compilations. And the albums that i own aren't really by bands anyway: they're mostly film soundtracks.

The only album that i would absolutely HAVE to have would be my Hairspray movie soundtrack!!! If i wasn't allowed to listen to Hairspray I would be very, very sad.

So, to make this question more interesting i think i'm going to do my personal Top 10 list for today. And i stress today because in a week's time it may well be very different.

Ok,

10. Feeling Good by Michael Bublé. I LOVE this version of the song. I really love big band and swing music and...i don't really know what else to say.

9. Too Lost in You by the Sugababes. I think this song is really beautiful and romantic. It also reminds me of Love Actually which is one of my favourite films and i only allow myself to watch it at Christmas.

8. A Star is Born from Hercules. This is the song that plays right at the end of the film. I prefer the version that's on the soundtrack rather than the one that it actually in the film. It's so cheesy and feel good. You gotta love it.

7. Son of Man from the Tarzan musical soundtrack. I heard this one via my sister. Again, it's a real feel good song. It's my favourite of the Tarzan ones i have but for some reason it's the one that gets least played on my itunes!

6. He's a Pirate from Pirates of the Caribbean: the Curse of the Black Pearl soundtrack. I've learnt to play about half of this song on the piano (not very well). It just makes me happy. I love the 1st Pirates soundtrack but the other two aren't quite as good in my opinion.

5. Harry's Winter from Goblet of Fire. It's just so preeeeetty. My fav from the HP soundtracks.

4. Rule the World by Take That. It's also from the Stardust soundtrack (another of my favourite films). A really beautiful song that just reminds me of the film.

3. Across the Stars (Star Wars Love theme) from Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones. SO, SO beautiful and evocative. My favourite piece of classical music (albeit from a film score but whatever!)

2. So Close from Enchanted. This song literally melts my heart. When you combine it with what is going on in the film at this point too. Sigh

1. You Can't Stop the Beat from Hairspray. I've only allowed myself one Hairspray and this is it! It's my favourite but i'm not overly sure why. Maybe because it's so fast.

There you go! Reflecting on my choices it's quite astonishing to see that 90% of my choices can fall under Disney, musical or movie soundtrack... Hmmmm weird.

Anyway, a quick update on New Dawn: there's been a whole lot of progress! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!! I got past the bit i was struggling with and now i'm moving a lot faster. In the past 2 days i've written 2,500 words, while the previous 2,500 words probably took me about 2/3 weeks! I've got about a page and a half left of notes but (fingers crossed) this bit shouldn't take too long. Wahoo!

Right, I just watched 'The Tale Of Despereaux' trailer on IMDB. I haven't been following the film at all, i just knew that Emma Watson was doing a voice for it. When i went on the IMDB today there was a picture of her character 'Princess Pea' on the main page. So i clicked on it and saw there was a trailer, which, obviously, i watched and the main character is soooooo cute!!!!!!

See! When they showed this shot of him I couldn't help but go 'awwwwwwwwwwwwwww!' He's so, so cute! The rest of the trailer was quite good too and i waited earnestly to hear if they had any of Emma speaking. They did right at the end and unfortunately i've gotta say that it made me cringe. It was not Emma's fault at all. I think that it was just that it was soooooooooooooooo obviously Emma and it sounded weird to hear her voice coming out of a strange looking character. I dunno, maybe if i actually watch the film it won't stand out so obviously but, to me, her voice and the image of Princess Pea didn't fit at all. Anyway, i suggest you all watch the trailer anyway. Who knows, she might sound completely fine to you!

While on IMDB i also watched a trailer for 'Bride Wars', starring Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson. It looked ok- i wouldn't pay to see it but if one of my friends had it on DVD then i wouldn't be averse to watching it. I just could not help but feel that Anne Hathaway looked so ill, and drawn because she was so skinny- not in all the scenes, just some of them. Whatever, it's her life, she can do what she likes.

Anyway, back to 'The Tale Of Despereaux', the film comes out on 19th December, here in the UK so i'll hopefully convince my mum to take me and my sister to see it! I still need to see High School Musical 3, i'm not sure when that's going to happen though. I only have one person at uni who'll go see it with me but we never have the same days off to go! :(  One of my best friend's down in Exeter has seen it twice! Twice! How unfair.

After that in the cinema diary is 'Twilight' which i'm kinda looking forward to. The books get next to no publicity over here which i do find a little bit strange. I'm the only person among my friends that have read them but I'm going to get my Uni friend to read it and go to the cinema with me to see it. The trailers look ok, i think the latest one summed up the book (and film) very well: girl meets boy, boy is weird, girl finds out boy is a vampire, they fall in love, another vampire wants to drink girl's blood so they run away, vampires fight, the end. But, i'm just going to wait til i see the film before i properly judge it.

The Twilight Saga was an enjoyable series but it really wasn't my favourite. It just didn't have enough action in it for me. It's truly amazing how Stephanie Meyer was able to write such long books without anything really happening! The fourth book made me so annoyed about half way through, seriously, i have NEVER been that angry about an advance in the plot before. Those of you who've read it will probably know what i'm talking about. However, i have to say that my favourite bit of the whole series was the bit from Jacob's point of view: it was funny and gut wrenching at the same time. It also helped that he was my favourite character. The ending to the fourth book could have been AWESOME, but Stephanie Meyer chickened out if you ask me, and didn't have the heart to let anybody go. If Breaking Dawn is turned into a film can you imagine how disappointed the audience is going to be after all that build up? Sigh But, at the end of the day it was a romance series- not an action/adventure one so i've juts got to let this go.

Hmm, i'm not sure how this turned into a Twilight post...never mind.

I promise I'm slowly but surely getting there with New Dawn!

Sooooooo, it's been about a week since my first post. At that point i was about 1/3 of the way through Chapter 10 of New Dawn and since that point i have had loads of free time to write. I've spent many hours sitting in front of my computer screen, the Chapter 10 document and plan have always been open and yet in the last week i've only written about 3000 words. That doesn't sound too bad but really that boils down to less than 500 words a day. That's just so pathetic!

I really, really want to get this chapter done because it's constantly hanging over me. I am getting there, slowly and surely but i just wish i didn't get distracted so easily! With the internet it's so easy to find something else to do but to be fair that's not the only thing that's stopped me from writing the past few days...

Let's go from last Wednesday: I had absolutely nothing planned that day. NOTHING! Did i do a lot of writing? NOPE!

Thursday: Ok, on Thursday, Dad, Mum and I drove to Bristol to go and see my Nan. But, i took my laptop with me in the car and i actually got a fair bit of writing done before my battery ran out. So, to be fair, this wasn't really a bad day. Plus, i got to see my Nan, Uncle and little cousin. She's sooo cute and seems so much older than when i last saw her!

Friday: Any plans? Nope, not really. I wasted a fair amount of time by watching clips of Top Gear on my computer (You gotta love Top Gear! The Hamster's my favourite!) I think i did a little bit of writing but not much. I was going to attempt some more that evening but my friend came over at the last minute.

Saturday: I moved back up to uni on the saturday so i was quite busy. We bought me a desk to go in my room so i spent the rest of the day/evening trying to make it while watching Formula 1 qualifying, Strictly Come Dancing and the X Factor.

Sunday: I didn't get up til quite late and then i went food shopping with my housemates. I finished making my desk (Yay! Although i accidently christened it with a lot of wine last night which was VERY stupid of me :( ) while watching more Top Gear clips on my laptop. Then it was the Formula 1 actual race which was AMAZING!!!!! I felt soooo nervous at the time because i had a really bad feeling Lewis was going to do something wrong. When Vettel passed him with 2 laps to go i was so pissed off! The cat had been sleeping on my lap but i threw him off because i was too angry to have anyone being peacefully asleep on me! (Sounds stupid I know, but i was in a weird state of mind) And then when Hamilton passed Glock i was in shock! I couldn't believe it! So, so, so, so happy for him! I made it up to the cat by giving him hugs and playing with him, don't worry. Then, a bit later on, the new series of Top Gear was on which was very good. I know some people are complaining about what Jeremy Clarkson said about HGV drivers and murdering prostitutes but i thought it was funny. AAaaaaaaaanyway, I'm not too sure what i did for the next couple of hours but i started watching Cars before bed but stopped it about half an hour in because i was too tired. I had just drifted off when the cat decided he wasn't ready for bed after all. I'd say it took about an hour and a half before he went to sleep. If i hadn't been listening to Mugglecast to calm me down I would've chucked him out (not into the street! just into the kitchen)

Monday: Ok, yesterday I had the whole day to do some writing but i wrote 362 words. That, is, shit. The only notable thing that I did yesterday was go out in the evening to a nightclub.

Today: I had a lecture at 3, but that's pretty much it. I didn't get to sleep until about 4 and when i woke up i felt slightly nauseous. So i didn't get up til after noon and then i just got ready for my lecture. I've come home, had dinner but i've felt kinda tired today so my grand total of words is...0.

I do feel a bit more awake right now so i might try and see if any inspiration comes to me!

I don't really know what the point of this post was. Maybe to give you an insight into my boring, lazy life.

Soooo this is Live Journal? I'm not going to lie, i'm a teensy bit confused by everything but i'm sure i'll get the hand of it as i go! I don't have a real reason for creating an LJ account but i might keep my readers updated a but more about how i'm getting on with the next chapter (or they can tell me to get a move on!)

Right now, i'd say i'm about 1/3 of the way through chapter 10 of New Dawn. It's a veeeery long chapter and i did struggle a little bit with writer's block when i was planning the chapter but things are moving a lot quicker now. Yay!

Believe it or not, i actually did some location research for chapter 10 and i'll hopefully be doing some more tomorrow. It isn't really necessary to the writing of the chapter but it's quite fun anyway.

Seeing as my sister likes to talk about her dreams on LJ a lot i just thought i'd briefly mention one i had last night. I was swimming with a dolphin. I know that there was a lot more to it than that but being with the dolphin felt soooooo amazing and it felt so real, sigh. Realistic dreams are so disappointing when you wake up.

Well, just a short post to start with until i find something to talk about!