May has been one crazy, exhausting, exciting month. From
mountains of coursework, to the Merrowdown awards, and finally finishing my
first year of university, I’m both relieved and sad that May is over. So I
thought, as a way of looking back over some of my best bits, I would write a
post on some of my favourite things from the month. Let me know what some of
your favourite things of the month have been at the end.
Pandora
Of course, my number one favourite for the month of May is
my niece, Pandora. Pan was born on 20th April 2016 and although she
lives over two hours away from me, I’ve been lucky enough to meet her twice so
far. Once a week after she was born and again last weekend. It was amazing to
see how much she’s grown during that time.
She’s such a strong and clever little baby, pulling herself
around and looking at everything and everyone with such curiosity. She has the
most beautiful blue eyes and it’s lovely to see them taking every detail of the
world in. She’ll be walking and talking soon, and then Emma and Chris will have
a real life actual little person on their hands!
Outlining Your Novel by K.M. Weiland
If anyone has ever wanted to write a book or has a little
story idea itching at the back of their mind, this book will be your lifesaver.
It takes you through all of the planning stages from one tiny idea to a fully
planned outline that will go on to take you on your book-writing journey.
I loved this book because 1) reading about writing is one of
my favourite things to do, and 2) planning the story is my favourite part. I
must have planned hundreds of stories in my life so far, and if I can ever get
my hands on new methods of doing that, and then actually want to carry the plan
on into a real book afterwards, I will be all for it.
I love that at the end of every chapter, there’s a little
checklist so that you can make sure you’ve followed all of the steps and it
makes it that little bit easier to work on your plan step-by-step with the
book. I highly recommend this to any writer, whether you’re a plotter or a “pantser”.
Book Mug
I bought this gorgeous mug on a spontaneous trip to
Waterstones when I was still living at university. I literally stood at this one shelf for a good ten
minutes just staring at all of the beautiful bookish items that were for sale.
I think that if I could spend my life anywhere in the world, Waterstones would
be very high on that list. Waterstones and St. Ives are my happy places.
I knew I had to buy this mug as soon as I saw it. It’s
covered in a pattern of books and books and more books, featuring classics both
traditional and contemporary, from Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, to The
Tiger Who Came to Tea and a little peek of what can only be Harry Potter. I want to drink out of
this mug with every cup of tea I ever have (which is many), and you can expect
it to be in as many of my book photos as I can possibly fit it in.
Kindle
I rediscovered my kindle over Easter, after putting it to the
side for about a year, and I’ve been obsessed with it over the past month. It’s
just so easy to get the book you want on there. For example, the day A Court of Mist and Fury by S.J. Maas
came out, I knew had to read it right there and then so instead of waiting for
the right time to trudge all the way out to my nearest bookshop, I just tapped
a few times on my screen and lo and behold! I had the book right there in my
hands.
It's not just books either. My kindle has reunited me with
some of the apps and games that I used to be obsessed with but put to the side
for university. While this might not be such a good thing for my productivity,
I've got Farmville back so I don't care!
Sims 4
Talking of ways to kill productivity, this is by far my
favourite method. I have been playing Sims 4 almost religiously over the last
few weeks. I don’t know what it is about it that gets me, but it seems to hook
its fingers around me and I get lost in that virtual world for hours. It’s like
a kind of dolls house where the dolls can go out and explore the world and do
whatever you’ve always wanted to do but are too lazy to try. It’s great.
Instead of doing things yourself, you can just make your sims do it.
I’m a little obsessed.
Sound of Silence by Disturbed
I found this song on Spotify and it was only after I’d
listened to it five times in a row and told all my family about it that I learned
it was actually a cover of a very popular song by Simon & Garfunkel. But
even after listening to the original – and I’m sorry to any original purists
out there – I just love the cover so much more.
There’s something about it that grabs me. It’s so epic and
passionate, it makes me think of a pivotal moment in some fantasy film where
the hero suddenly realises he has the support of millions behind him and
prepares for battle. I can listen to this song so many times in a row and not
get bored.
Merrowdown Family
***
That’s about it for this month, but this has been fun to
write so I think I’ll do this again next month. What are some of your favourite
things this month? I’d love to hear from you.
