Song of the Day: The Bear and the Maiden Fair by Tall Like Tyrion

"The bear,
The bear
Lifted her high into the air,"

Write.

Lately I've been writing as much as possible. With a job it makes it harder to get anything written but I've been writing to NaNoWriMo standards of almost 1666 words per day. I hope to have up to 10,000 words by the end of the day.
 I'm so determined to finish my first novel by the end of the year.

Have you been writing lately?

YET ANOTHER PAY DAY BOOK HAUL

So as you all know, I appreciate books quite a bit. Over the past month and a half I've bought a few books so I thought I'd do a brief updated book haul of books I've bought from March 13th onwards. Here are some of the books I've treated myself to:

• Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
• Escape Kit by William Thirsk Gaskill
• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
• Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
• Divergent by Veronica Roth
• Allegiant by Veronica Roth
• Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence 
• The Heavens Rise by Christopher Rice
• Angelfall by Susan Ee

Of the books above I've only read Escape Kit thus far. I've started on Fahrenheit 451. I gave Divergent and Allegiant to my sister and will hopefully read them once she's finished with them. I promised to buy the books for her if she did well and studied for her exams. I'm really excited to read Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu because it feels like one of those books that I simply have to read in my life. Already I'm thinking of doing a big project around this particular book. I've actually tried to cut down on the amount of books that I buy, but most of these books were under £3 so that's an expense that I can justify. I'm hoping that I'll get through most of these books by the end of the year so that I may count them as part of my 2014 reading challenge.

Song of the Day: Time and Space by The Cinematic Orchestra

"Every soul 

comes to this earth
carried on angels wings
to human birth.
Born of love
or born of hate
each one is heaven sent 

to human fate."

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!

Many of you may not know this but today is FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!
It is... exactly what it sounds like.

Every year on the first Saturday in May participating comic book shops across the world will give away certain comic book titles for free (whilst stocks last)
Click here for the list of titles that will be free this year. There are loads of great comics in there for kids so if you have kids then this is a great way to get them into comic books. There's a Guardians of the Galaxy comic in there which would be great to pick up ahead of the release of the film. There's a really great selection on offer this year so there should be something for everyone.
To find out if your local comic book store is taking part, or to find your nearest comic book store, click here for the comic book store locator. 

Song of the Day: Pure As Snow by Mono

I found this on YouTube lately.
It's just a nice little instrumental piece but it makes for good background music when you've much to think about. 

Enjoy,

Silver Linings Search: April

So this is my fourth month doing this. The idea is to record nice things that happened in the month because it's important to remember that good things do happen, even if they're little things. Those little things can add up to big happiness.
Here are some little things that made me happy in the month of April:

• From the 3rd of April until the 5th, I had a glorious 3 days off. A three day rest was just what I needed.
• I started to look at graduate jobs. I've enjoyed my current job, I've gained a lot from it, but it was always going to be a temporary thing. As I write this I'm currently eyeing up a position as a university librarian. I've been a librarian before. I'd love to be a librarian again. It's quiet work, surrounded by books... 
• I finally got to see a doctor about my knee and he actually took it seriously unlike the last prick of a doctor I had to deal with. 
• I did a lot of gardening. There was one day, a day I had off work, where I just sat in the garden in the sunshine with a beer in my hand. I've planted lots of lovely flowers: lobelia, aster etc. I've planted four different kinds of pepper, tomatoes, cucumbers. We're going to be growing an entire salad bar at this rate. I've found that gardening is truly calming. 
• I won a big sales competition at work, ahead of the best seller and it looks like I'm about the win another. Work hooked me up with a wonderful meal for two. My partner and I each had a full three course meal and left the restaurant without having spent a penny which was a wonderful feeling - such a gorgeous meal too. 
• My Dad does little adorable things sometimes. He's not the most outspoken person when it comes to his emotions, he won't come up to you and tell you that he loves you, but he shows it in his own ways. Like, yesterday he bought me peanut M&Ms because he knows they're my favourite. If I'm unwell he'll make me a hot water bottle and wrap me in a blanket. It makes me smile.
• My boss gave me an Easter Egg as I was leaving one day. We all got one as a thank you from the company. 
• I applied to some new jobs with more confidence than ever before.
• I won an Easter Egg at work at our last meeting for my superior film knowledge
• It may seem like a little thing but on the 6th, I had a wonderful bath with a gorgeous bath bomb from Lush Cosmetics and I curled up, the room lit with candles, and listened to The Vampire Armand on audiobook. It was so relaxing, it left my skin smooth and my hair in curls. Little moments of relaxation like that make life a little easier. 
• On the 7th of April I stayed up until 2am to watch the season 4 premiere of Game of Thrones. I was so happy for the return of my favourite show. 
• I got to see the wonderful Within Temptation. The last time I saw this band live was probably around 2011. They were awesome as always and it gave me a chance to meet up with friends old and new. 
• My Dad and I had a day in London: we went to a Harlan Coben book signing, wandered around Camden and ate foods from all around the world: Japan, Iran, Italy - it was wonderful!
• My sister and my partner spent some quality time together which was all kinds of heart-warming. There's something really nice about the people you love loving each other and being good friends.
• Some baby chicks hatched out on the home farm: on the first day three chicks hatched out with a fourth still pipping through her shell. Within two days we had seven beautiful baby chicks. They're all different breeds so it shall create a wonderful variety of chickens. Here's hoping they're all hens!

April was a decent month. I didn't do VEDA or Camp NaNoWriMo as expected but I'm sure the month of May will be just as positive and productive.