Freelance Journey

How To Become a Freelancer – April Update

Christy.E.SLeave a comment

Intro:
During the course of March, I have finished the first draft of two new screenplays and am now trying to edit them into some coherent form. One is about witches. It was only at the end of the first draft that I realised why in fact my main character is accused of being a witch. Before that, there was no logic to the story whatsoever. Not even 1600s Puritan England logic. There is now.

I have also signed up to the website the-dots.com which lists all kinds of jobs in the industry from sound production to video editing and more. I haven’t found anything I want to apply for yet, but am looking on a regular basis.

I have realised, as well, that in terms of editing-assistant work there is in fact a surprising amount of transferable skills with my current job of working with rare books. Editing assistant work often involves labelling shots, putting them in order, syncing sound and so on. My current job involves making sure all the information given to me by the valuer matches the book I have in front of me: from title and author, to edition and value. It is the same thing only with words instead of video and audio. All I need now is to make it clear in my CV that these are transferable skills!

So on to the update!

Scripts Update:
Have not managed to do work on my audio drama this mont. I will research budgeting for a podcast studio for a few days in April and I hope to be able to book one in May.

Also in April, I will have another read-through/edit of my screenplay about actors in the 1665 plague lockdown. I try to read through my work out loud every few months, just so I am not abandoning any works before anything is done with them! Plus, if I leave the work for a few months, I’m more likely to notice mistakes when I go back to it.

My pilot scripts of a re-telling of Troy, and time travel are now back in my hands and I will re-edit them in April. The Troy script is the one I am hoping to submit into the Scribe Lounge Elevate competition, so editing that will be my priority between now and June.

The time-travel one is still submitted into another competition that I am waiting to hear from.

The draft 0 of one of my three different screenplays is now complete. The arduous task of editing has begun! I am making progress with the one about a con-artist in the Californian gold rush – I just can’t seem to work out the ending it needs. Also, as mentioned at the top, I have had a break-through in the one about the Puritan witch trials (It’s the water!) so need to go back through and make sure that doesn’t just randomly come up at the end, but is laid down from the beginning. Finally, am still working on the draft 0 of an alternate re-telling of the Napoleonic Wars where women were allowed in the army and navy in the 1700s.

Editing for my two other scripts is still ongoing. The screenplay about two actors both up for the same role might do with some time being ignored in a drawer before I go back to it, but I’m still editing it at the moment. The pilot script about vampire highwaymen now has a one-page pitch for it! I am hoping the pitch will make it clearer how I can set up what is quite a lot of lore. I have been ruthless, however, and cut out an entire main character as I realised the story would be better without them. I was only keeping them in because I liked them. You really do have to Kill Your Darlings in editing!

The short film I wrote for my film course is shot and edited! Just under three minutes long. I’m very proud with how it turned out.

Things Learnt:
Have been doing research into some agencies as I want to start sending out query letters. I have been doing research into who I want to submit to and have a list.

I have a tendency to get very overwhelmed with these sorts of things – when anything becomes official I want to run a mile – so, to make it less overwhelming, I am giving myself the whole year to submit these query letters. I have 14 agents I would like to query overall. As long as I average two a month, I’ll be done by the end of the year. The worst that will happen is I don’t hear back!

Finally, I have been hearing a lot recently about the benefits of going to production companies over agents first as that way you can approach an agent by saying you have a production company interested already – making their job a lot easier. I am unsure if this is the right fit for me, but provided I don’t get overwhelmed, maybe in a few months’ time I can have a separate list with which I can approach both at once to see who bites first.

What are your thoughts on the ‘production companies versus agencies first’ debate?

Freelance Journey

Writing To Budget

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As part of the film course I’m attending, we get the opportunity to film two short films – up to three minutes in length.

Naturally, I jumped at the chance to get a script made (Even if only three minutes) and happily mine was one of the two selected.

The lecturer for the course liked my idea because of its simplicity.

The short film only needed one actor (and a spider or fake spider), could be filmed all in one room (with a sound effect of someone rifling through kitchen cupboards needed at one point but done out of vision) and really that was it.

The script originally took place in an old cottage with multiple rooms, but seeing as there’s only one living-room set available, I did some re-writes so it could all take place in one room.
The lecturer noted that a lot of the scripts received are too ambitious for the budget of £0.00 that is available to students and it made me think.

I have often been told in screenwriting not to worry too much about how things are going to happen. If you need a fiery tornado in order to tell your story, then put in a fiery tornado in order to tell your story. How the fiery tornado gets made and put into the story is a problem for the director, editors and special-effects crew to actually make happen.

But what if that’s not an option to begin with?

Re-writing a script multiple times is something that writers have to do on a set. Re-writing scenes so they take place in different rooms if one isn’t available, different characters if an actor isn’t available. So surely that might also include taking out the fiery tornado if no-one can make a fiery tornado?

Re-writing the script so it can be done in another way, with fewer characters or suddenly take place in one room instead of three is an interesting exercise and tests my ability as a writer.

Sure I might need a fiery tornado to tell my story, but without one what will happen? Will the characters see the tornado outside the window, but it will be invisible to the audience? Maybe we hear about it on news segments or we simply see its aftermath?

It’s made me think that in future this will be a useful exercise to try with all of my scripts. How many ways can I think of to tell the story I need to? Therefore I can learn not only which approach works best from a writing point of view, but which one works best from a camera operating/directing/editing point of view, too, and they might not always match up!

Besides anything else, we discovered that the best way to film the (fake) spider falling into a mug of hot chocolate was to tie thread around it, put it in the mug in the first place and slowly pull it out of the mug from out of shot. We will then, in the editing process, reverse this footage so it looks like it’s falling in. Which means I have given everybody on the course the chance to learn how to reverse footage as a bonus lesson!

Freelance Journey

How To Become a Freelancer

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Intro:
It may have been nearly two years since I last wrote something on here, but that doesn’t mean I can’t start up again now.

I am not a freelance writer. Yet. But it is where I would like my career to get to. I have a special interest in scriptwriting and can also do proof-reading, fact-checking and general feedback.

Wanting to be a freelancer is all well and good, but it’s a difficult thing to actually get there. The idea of not making the exact same amount of money each month so as to adequately budget and not starve/get evicted etc. is a frankly terrifying one.

So what is the best way to go about it? Right now. I don’t know, but I am trying my best to walk towards it and a monthly update post on what steps I’ve made towards that goal seems like a good way of keeping track of those steps and keeping this blog updated at the same time.

Each month I will write an update of where I am at with each of the scripts I am working on, what I have submitted in places, things I have learnt that others may find useful and other (AKA things I can’t fit in the other three categories).

Scripts Update:
Currently I have six finished episodes of an audio drama, that I am working towards making as a fiction podcast this year – children’s medieval fantasy is the genre. I just need to work out how to book a podcast studio and pay some actors and I’ll be off on this one!

Not currently submitted anywhere ( but has been in competitions in the past) is my screenplay about actors in the 1665 plague lockdown.

My pilot scripts of a re-telling of Troy, and time travel are both submitted into a competition and waiting to hear any news.

The time travel one is submitted into another competition also.

I am currently working on my draft 0 of three different screenplays: One about a con-artist in the Californian gold rush. One about the Puritan witch trials and one about an alternate re-telling of the Napoleonic Wars where women were allowed in the army and navy in the 1700’s.

I am editing another screenplay about two actors both up for the same role and another pilot script about vampire highwaymen.

I have also written a short (3 pages) for an evening class I am taking in film-making. Where I should get to make the short as part of the course. This script is about a spider.

Competitions:
Haven’t heard back from any competitions I’ve submitted to in the first two months of this year, but I am taking part in the Scribe Lounge Elevate competition where the deadline for submissions is June.

Things Learnt:
Have learnt the importance of budgeting, but am not yet very good at actually doing it…

Plus as I mentioned before, am taking a short course in film-making, and though I do have some knowledge of editing, I didn’t have any knowledge of actually recording film. The course has been fascinating from this aspect thus far. I have learnt that technically, film isn’t really moving – it’s just a bunch of photographs taken really really close together and then put next to each other, which our brain interprets as movement because of how we see – this can be demonstrated by just waving your arm up and down in front of a mirror, you see your arm at the top and at the bottom, but not really in the middle; in the middle, it’s a blur and your brain fills in the gaps, creating movement where it can’t see it.

So my scripts currently submitted to competitions might be creating movement that I just can’t see yet.

weekend writing exercise

Made-Up Job Offer

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This week’s writing exercise was to write a made-up job offer for a job that does not exist. If there really are any ducks who are scared of water, then I can only hope soprano singing does soothe them, though sadly my own singing voice is contralto, so Florence The Duck would not be soothed.

Dear Christy,

I am delighted to inform you that your application for the role of Receptionist at the Duck Sanctuary has been successful.

May I take this opportunity to say how impressed we all were with your ability with the ducks, especially Florence, who, of course, is scared of water.

Though your role will be based mainly at the front desk and you will see very little of the ducks themselves, you will of course have to walk past them everyday so your ability with them was significant in our offering you the role.

We have just one question to ask, can you sing soprano? We only ask as we know this soothes Florence when she must be washed.

We hope you will accept this offer and we look forward to discussing the role with you further if you so wish.

Yours sincerely,

The Duck Sanctuary

weekend writing exercise

Made-up Horoscopes

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In an attempt to get used to writing fiction again, I have started giving myself writing exercises each week. Here is the first one: Completely made-up horoscopes that I did no research for whatsoever (minus looking up star signs I didn’t already know).
I take no responsibility for the accuracy or inaccuracy of anything I have written here.

Aries
That isn’t your lunch. Put it back Libra. Wait you’re Aries? Oh you can eat it then.

Taurus
I wouldn’t think too much about what happened Taurus. You’ll just find plot holes.

Gemini
Aries will eat your lunch today.

Cancer
You should blame them. It is their fault.

Leo
You have only yourself to blame Leo. Cancer agrees.

Virgo
Is it sunny today? No? Oh…well then, carry on.

Libra
Do not eat that Libra, it’s for Aries.

Scorpio
What was with all those plot holes Scorpio?

Sagittarius
Remember Sagittarius, Remember.

Capricorn
Is it sunny today? No? Well then go on out and achieve those dreams Capricorn!

Aquarius
It is time Aquarius, you must…clean your kitchen and good things will come after.

Pisces
Mercury is in retrograde, so you should not leave bed today. Stay in bed and eat crisps. That is where the good things are.

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Volunteering at The Keep: One

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Before I started work on the Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The project is run by the British Library aiming to digitise as much of the UK’s sound collections as possible before 2021. Why? Because the cassettes and records and cd’s and open reel tapes that they are currently on are deteriorating and soon they won’t be listenable to at all.
Once they are digitised however, how do you decide which ones should be kept in public collections, which ones should be kept for posterity?
By listening to them. All of them.
This is where the volunteers are needed. On my first day, I was given an excel spreadsheet with a list of recordings on them. Most of the recordings I am currently listening to come from BBC Radio Brighton in the early 1970’s. As someone who grew up in Brighton and Hove these are extremely interesting to hear. From town planning disputes in nearby Shoreham to interviews with the cast of plays in the Connaught Theatre in Worthing.
I learnt a composer called Havergal Brian was a longtime resident of Shoreham and listened to not only an obituary for him, but also heard his voice through an old interview.
I marvelled at the fact that in the 1970’s the southern area manager for what was then still National Rail, took it upon himself to hear his customer’s grievances, not by setting up shop in a station, but by holding a meeting on one of the commuter trains to London one morning, announcing that he would seat himself in a central carriage for anyone to be able to ask questions without them having to take time out of their day.
After I have listened to the excerpts they need cataloguing. Everyone who speaks on the recording, needs their names verified so the rights can be properly sorted. The date of the recording must be obtained and made as specific as possible.
There are many more recordings still to be catalogued, all providing unique opportunities to hear news of my home town from all that time ago and listen to what was once so important to the community that it was broadcast on the radio.

readathons

Bout of Books 26 Update Post

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The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, Twitter chats, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 26 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

I have some spare time on my hands before my masters starts up again in September, so will be able to participate in the bout of books read-a-thon again!

My goals for the week are subject to change, but I plan to:

  1. Read 1000 pages over the week – this may include some audio books as well.
  2. Participate in one twitter chat – one of them is at 2am for me and I may be at work for the other one, so I’ll have to see.
  3. Participate in 3 challenges throughout the week.
  4. Leave comments on other people’s update posts.

I am hoping to finish reading the Ruby Red trilogy by Kerstin Gier – only having the final book Emerald Green to read.
I also have a Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris from the library and Summerland by Lucy Adlington which is a book I received from readersfirst so will be reviewing once I have finished it.

I also have Wilde Like Me by Louise Pentland, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, and The Bear and The Nightingale by Katherine Arden on audiobook, so will be listening to a few of them on my commute to work.

I will be posting updates on here every day.

Monday:
Pages Read: 225
Total Pages Read: 225
Notes: am halfway through Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier so should be able to finish it tomorrow.

Tuesday:
Pages Read: 235
Total Pages Read: 460
Books Finished: Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier
Notes: Having been at work and having to start packing for when I move house in less than two weeks time, I haven’t had a chance to take part in any of the challenges yet but have the day off tomorrow so can take part in tomorrow’s challenge as well as read Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris and listen to an audiobook while I try to catch up on my packing!

Wednesday:
Pages Read: 244
Total Pages Read: 704
Books Finished: Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
Notes: I won’t be able to take part in the twitter chat on Saturday as I’ll be at work but I still have time to do tomorrow’s challenge ‘If This, Then That’.

Thursday:
Pages Read: 30
Total Pages Read: 734
Notes: Was at work all day and completely forgot about the challenge! I still have three I can do though, so long as I start tomorrow!

Friday: 
Pages Read: 60
Total Pages Read: 794
Challenge: Today”s challenge is “I want that!” something that exists in another form of media that you want made into a book. I chose Lingthusiasm – a podcast about linguistics. The podcast is awesome, though as I listen while I’m working on other things, I sometimes forget what’s being said or miss bits, and if it were a book I could read it when I was not busy.
Notes: If I still want to meet my 1000 page goal then I have Saturday and Sunday to read 206 pages, while this is do-able, (although tomorrow I will be at work all day and as a result I’ll be surprised if I get ten pages.) I will have to read a lot more than I have the past two days and possibly start another book after finishing Summerland by Lucy Adlington.

Saturday:
Pages Read: 164
Total Pages Read: 958
Books Finished: Summerland by Lucy Adlington
Notes: I already knew I was going to miss the twitter chat today, but I’m still a little annoyed that I couldn’t time my break at work to fit around it! I also completely forgot about today’s challenge, so won’t be able to do three challenges throughout the week, but will still be able to do tomorrow’s. I am looking to be able to reach my 1000 word goal for the readathon which I have never reached in a bout of books readathon before, so am excited for tomorrow!

Sunday:
Pages Read: 76
Total Pages Read: 1034
Total Books Finished: 3. Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris and Summerland By Lucy Adlington.
Notes: I listened to The first hour of Wilde Like Me by Louise Pentland as I packed for my house move. This is the first read-a-thon that I have managed to read over a thousand pages within the week!

 

 

 

 

 

readathons

Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon Update Post

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This is my update post for Dewey’s 24 hour Readathon.

This readathon is one which starts at the same time all over the world and in my time zone that’s 1pm on Saturday. However I will be at work at the beginning of the readathon and most likely won’t be able to start reading before 9pm, but as I have Sunday off I am hoping to read through the night.

I have a few books that I need to read for my masters course – they all have thrilling titles like Open Licensing for Cultural Heritage – but am giving myself time to finish reading Greenwitch by Susan Cooper and Six of Crows on audiobook by Leigh Bardugo.

 

Books Finished: Greenwitch by Susan Cooper

Total pages read: 143

 

 

 

readathons

Bout of Books 24

Christy.E.S6 Comments

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 7th and runs through Sunday, January 13th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 24 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team


Bout of Books
Goals:
For this readathon, I won’t set myself a page count goal, because I never really reach them and they usually just make me focus more on the amount I’m reading than what I’m reading. I will still provide updates for my page count, but I won’t be too fussed if it’s not a lot (as it often is).
I want to finish reading The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper and if I can I want to read the other three books in the series as well. I will also be re-reading The Cruel Prince by Holly Black before I start the second book in The Folk of The Air series – The Wicked King – if I can finish all these books by the end of the week it will be a miracle as I’m in work every day except tomorrow, but I’m hoping I can at least make a big dent in all of them!
The only other goals I have are to update on here every day and to take part in at least one of the twitter chats – though one of them is at 2am my time, so that really only leaves one as I will be asleep at 2am, and to spend some time either on blogs or on twitter with other people also doing Bout of Books this time around as I usually get so caught up in the reading that I forget the point of a readathon is to make reading sociable!
I will also try to take part in at least three of the challenges throughout the week.
Monday:
Pages Read: 110
Total Pages Read: 110
Challenge: introduce yourself in six words: Reads when not distracted or working.
Notes: Have found that The Wicked King won’t be being released tomorrow but is now being released next week instead – after the readathon has finished – while this means I won’t be able to read the book as part of the readathon, it does mean I have more of a chance of being able to read the other books in my TBR pile this week and if I can get through all of them this week then I have nothing to stop me from reading The Wicked King when it finally does come out next week!
Tuesday:
Pages Read: 10
Total Pages Read: 120
Notes: Today was probably the day that I will be able to read least, although I am in work all day Thursday and Friday too but am hoping that I will be able to finish The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper tomorrow.
Wednesday:
Pages Read: 120
Total Pages Read: 240
Books Finished: The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
Notes: Have found out that I have the day off work on Saturday so will be able to take part in the twitter chat that is going to be in the middle of the afternoon for me. Finished The Dark is Rising and am thinking of doing a full review of the series when I have finished all five books. I am however, going to be in work earl on Monday morning – so won’t be able to read until midnight on Sunday, so the last bits of my reading will be happening on Saturday.
Thursday:
Pages Read: 41
Total Pages Read: 281
Notes: The Wicked King is now available on my kindle – I think there must just have been a delay in letting me download it. So as I am off work on Saturday, I plan to finish reading The Cruel Prince on Friday night and read The Wicked King on Saturday morning.
Friday:
Pages Read: 76
Total Pages Read: 357
Notes: Won’t have time to finish The Cruel Prince before I get tired and have to go to sleep, but it is a fairly quick book to read, so I do still have time to read it on Saturday. I have to go out in the afternoon, but have Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo as an audiobook so can listen to that while I’m out of the house.

Saturday:

Pages Read: 130

Total Pages Read: 487

Audiobook: 3 hours 39 minutes

Notes: will definitely be able to get up to five hundred Pages Read before the end of the readathon and will hopefully finish the Cruel Prince tomorrow, but won’t ha time to finish Greenwich or start The Wicked King before the end of the readathon.

Sunday:

Pages Read: 24

Total Pages Read: 511

Notes: Only have a few more pages to go of The Cruel Prince but won’t be able to read it before Tuesday now, so will have to finish it then. Over five hundred pages is pretty good going for me during a readathon though, even if it I did only finish one book during the week.

 

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Reading Goals and Not Reaching Them

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On Goodreads it is possible to set yourself a reading goal for the year, previously I have set and succeeded in reading a total of fifty and sixty books in one year. In 2018 I set the goal of reading 35 books and failed. I managed 27 of 35 books which Goodreads tells me is 77% of the way there.

I had wanted to reach the goal but I simply had less time to read in 2018 then I did in the year I read sixty books and even if I had had the time to read I had less disposable income for the majority of the year to spend on reading material.

In 2019 I have set the goal of reading 30 books, this is less than I planned to read last year  as I am unlikely to have any more reading time this year as I am starting a Masters course at the end of January. However, it is still more books than I managed to read because it is supposed to be a challenge after all.

And if I do fail again, the goal of reading thirty will still make me read more books this year than I would be likely to if I set no goal at all.

 

 

Book Reviews

The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All The Way Home (Catherine M. Valente) Review

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5 stars.

This is the fifth book in the Fairyland series and I think the last. At least it is the last following these characters anyway, but the ending does such a good job of tying up September’s story that I don’t mind at all.

“The Land of Parents is strange and full of peril.”
The last book in the series followed the changeling children Hawthorne and Tamburlaine and I did find that the writing style which I usually thoroughly enjoy started to annoy me a little in that book, however, that must have just been down to the characters or the story, because the writing style in this book read to me like the first one and is infinitely quotable all the way through.

“Today I shall be a wicked murderous tyrant and crush something nice under my heel.”
We meet September as she is the Queen of Fairyland, but all the previous monarchs of Fairyland are also present and they all want to rule, so The Cantankerous Derby is set in place and whoever can find The Heart of Fairyland will rule. The derby takes up most of the rest of the book and The Heart of Fairyland, while possible to be anything is of course only possible to be one thing really, and once you know what it is it’s obvious and very fitting for not only the Fairyland series but every fairytale about magical worlds.

“All librarians are members of the Catalogue. That’s what you call a coven when it’s made up of Librarians instead of witches.”
I would say that while I do have my favourite books of the series and less favourite books of the series, as a whole the series does work extremely well and I know this will not be the last time I read the whole series through.

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Dewey’s 24 hour Readathon Update post

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So normally by the start of a readathon I would at least have some kind of TBR sorted but a combination of being busy at work, moving house, and training meant I forgot about this readathon completely until last night!

However, I am still reading The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All The Way Home by Catherynne M. valente (I had hoped to finish it by the end of September) so thought the readathon was the perfect time to read it.

I will be updating on here throughout the 24 hours.

1pm – 2pm:
Pages Read: 20
Notes: managed to read while on my break at work but now won’t be able to get more reading done before 7pm.

9:30pm – 10:30pm:
Total Pages Read: 60
Notes: Have set my alarm for a little bit earlier than I need to tomorrow so I can try and get to a hundred pages before I have to leave for work!

7am – 9am:
Total Pages Read: 101

12:30pm – 1pm:
Total Pages Read: 111
Notes: Am now more than halfway through The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All The Way Home and will hopefully be able to finish it before I go away tomorrow!

TBR's

August Wrap-Up and September TBR

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Books Read in August:

The Island by M.A. Bennett:
3 stars
I did a full review of this book here.
Favourite Quote: “”They cancelled the show. So you never saw the characters getting off the island. In the world of the show, they’re still there, stranded, frozen in TV limbo.””

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson:
4 stars
This is a collection of short stories by Shirley Jackson, as with any collection of short stories, I enjoyed some more than others but the majority of these stories are good and I read the entire book in only a couple of days.
Favourite Quote: “”Reality,” she said, and went out.”

September TBR:

The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All The Way Home by Catherynne M. Valente:
The latest book in the Fairyland series of which I have read all of them. I think this may be the last book in the series and am looking forward to finishing it and am hoping that I enjoy this book enough that I want to spend winter re-reading the entire series!

I don’t have any other books planned to read in September so once I have finished this book I’ll have to choose another!

 

 

 

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Bout of Books 23 Goals and Update Posts

Christy.E.S2 Comments

Bout of Books
The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 20th and runs through Sunday, August 26th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 23 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team
Goals:
1. To read at least 500 pages throughout the week.
2. To finish at least one book during the week.
3.Participate in three challenges.
4. Maybe participate in one of the twitter chats – it depends though because one is in the middle of the night for me and the other is when I might be out of the house.
Monday:
Pages read: 8
Challenges: Introduce yourself in six words. I did this one on twitter: Writer that reads, Barista drinking tea.
Notes: I knew I wouldn’t get much reading done today, but should be able to make up for it tomorrow when I have the day off work. Am currently reading The Lottery by Shirley Jackson which is a book of short stories, so is easy to dip in and out of during a readathon.
Tuesday:
Pages Read: 109
Total Pages Read: 117
Notes: Was hoping to finish reading The Lottery today but will easily finish it tomorrow. I had already started r adding The Lottery before the readathon so want to try and finish another book before the end of Sunday.
Wednesday:
Pages Read: 74
Total Pages Read: 191
Books Finished: The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
Notes: am hoping to do the challenge tomorrow and start reading The Girl Who’s Raced Fairyland All The Way Home by Catherynne M. Valente.
Thursday:
Pages Read: 29
Total Pages Read: 220
Notes: Have started reading the last in the Fairyland series by Catherine M. Valente and am already enjoying it more than I did the last book in the series.
Friday: 
Pages Read: 4
Total Pages Read: 224
Notes: Knew I wouldn’t get much reading done today and tomorrow is likely to be the same, but as I have Monday off work, I can read Sunday evening all the way through to midnight.
Saturday:
Pages Read: 20
Total Pages Read: 244
Notes: Not bad considering I was travelling for most of the day and couldn’t get much reading done. Unfortunately I had to miss the twitter chat (as I thought I might) as I was on a bus at the time and can’t read while being in a moving vehicle!
Sunday:
Pages Read: 96
Total Pages Read: 340
Total Books Finished: 1 (The Lottery)
Notes: Didn’t quite manage to reach my goal of 500 pages in this readathon but didn’t fall as far behind as I normally do and there’s always the next readathon to try again!
Book Reviews

The Island (M.A. Bennett) Review

Christy.E.S1 Comment

3 stars.

Contains spoilers for the book.

A sort of retelling of Lord of The Flies by William Goldman. Seven students survive a plane crash on a desert island, but all is not as it seems.

“I was just sorry I didn’t have a swishy cloak.”
I was going to give this book two stars until I got to the last third. Though the writing style is similar to how a modern teenager would speak and is written well. There didn’t seem much point to the story and I after a few incidents on the island I found it hard to sympathise with the narrator, as he does act incredibly selfish while on the island.

“”You know there actually is a middle of nowhere? It’s the Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility, and it’s called Point Nemo.”
The last third of the book gained that extra star as the character does start to become less selfish as time on the island goes on. And after the characters find out that the plane crash did not happen by accident but was in fact staged and their time on the island is being documented, then they do all work together to get off the island.

“”They cancelled the show. So you never saw the characters getting off the island. In the world of the show, they’re still there, stranded, frozen in TV limbo.””
The book is quite a quick read and easy to follow. It’s just a shame that the last third of the book is the only part where I enjoyed the story and characters.