Book shopping in Angel.

Soooo I met up with Grace Latter yesterday, and she was just as lovely as I imagined. We had a lovely chat at the Coffee Works Project in Angel, drank their yummy coffee and just sat. She had a fluffy coat and I had a fluffy hat, I think that must have been a good start?

We then went to the local Waterstone and Grace gave me some expert advice on which books to buy. I got myself 4…
By the way, books are always a healthy investment. Always.

I bought Unboxed by Non Pratt, The Girl of Ink and Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson and Girl Up by Laura Bates. A few YA novels for research and pleasure and Laura Bates’ follow up to her book Everyday Sexism which I loved to read, relate to and engage with.
I have some exciting reading to do!

 

Tuesday.

I’m spending most of my time going through flats all over London, trying ot find our new home. I just want a place with room for a bookshelf really.

Today is an exciting day though and I will not be searching for flats! Instead,  I am slowly getting ready to get towards Angel to meet up with Grace Latter, one of the bloggers I recommended a few posts ago and oh my god I am nervous. She is so cool. We will talk about the publishing industry, favourite books, what we like to write and why coffee is the fuel we need. So so so exciting.

Also, I have almost finished The Power by Naomi Alderman and everyone should read it. A totally thrilling read with so many layers of thoughts and wisdom.
I will do a proper review soon.

 

Beloved.

So, Pingbacks are a thing here on wordpress. Sounds a little like a hashtag or a a @ that fellow bloggers can find you through? Anyway, https://dailypost.wordpress.com/ are doing a weekly photo challenge, and I thought I’d join to see if it will get more people to read my posts, I hope it will.

So, here goes.
This weeks theme is Beloved and here is my photo representing that word.

We have been together for almost exactly 2 years now, and time has sped by in a heartbeat. He is my first ever boyfriend and it has been confusing and scary many times, like “oh yeah that’s right I need to include that guy in my plans”. Weird huh. But we are doing well. He makes me happy, he likes me being silly and all I need is him next to me. He also makes very nice tea and buys the best biscuits. I feel loved, and he is my beloved one.

Photo by: Linnsejphotography 

Photoshoot – Johanna

One sunny Autumn afternoon, me and my friend Johanna went to a graveyard in Fulham and bathed in the light and in the beauty around us. I am very happy with the pictures and thought I should share them here. Isn’t she lovely?
She is @johannamarica at Instagram, and just as cute there.

 

 

Roehampton Alumni students

Today in my brilliant class ‘Business of Writing’ we were visited by “old” Roehampton students. Three amazing girls who have, since graduating 4 years ago, done really well in their “yes, I’m a writer”-lives. It was so inspiring. They are out there, doing the proper grown up thing I’m terrified of doing, and they have been right where I am right now!

I’m so pumped by how much they’ve done and what you can achieve if you work for it. They were also absolutely lovely and I can’t wait to send them my work.

Swarzy Macaly has since university gone into radio, she’s a presenter and has found her passion in working for her community. Her work with the Grenfell Tower tragedy has had a huge impact and she says that making a difference is the most important thing. Oh my god she’s cool (I have to stop fan girl on public platforms…), just check her out here! 

Haley Jenkins is a poet and fiction writer who recently created her own publishing platform where she encourages new and unpublished writers to let the world know that they are there. She’s so sweet and positive, approachable and all around awesome, I really loved meeting her. Here’s her website! 

Nanou Blair Gould is so relatable, so funny and so real. She knows what she wants, how she wants it and wow she has gone for it. Based on her first novel, she was invited to go on a trip to the Arctic, an art and science trip where she could just be and create. And she’s going there again. Here’s her being just awesome.

 

What creative writing gives me.

I am a writer, and my stories have always been based on my own experiences. After a date you’d normally find me on the tube writing in my notebook; jotting down thoughts and expressions I noticed during the date. Same after a night in the club, I would write down the way the music transformed me, how I danced inappropriately, how I wanted to punch that guy who touched that girl.

I have loved that side of writing. I loved how the words on paper seemed easier to reflect and laugh at, how the worst date ever could turn into a chapter of a bigger story. It was my world, but I was the boss of the outcome; the sad ending, the twist, the unexpected.

Now, every date night is with the same guy, and every night out leads me home to the same bed and the same arms.
I have been worried that this life won’t give me material to be creative with anymore.
But, creative writing gives me the freedom to still explore previous experiences, relationships and events that I now am much further away from. I can explore other peoples experiences, which in some cases is better, it distance me from the plot and the “but that’s what happened”.

Creative writing gives me space for reflection and new angles, it gives me plain paper with the encouragement to develop a plot, a scenario based on real life events and to build something relatable around that.
All I have to do is convince my boyfriend that the bad men in my stories are not based on him, or anyone else (because he is obviously the first guy I’ve ever dated).