So, I was meant to be going down to visit my gran tomorrow, and coming home on Sunday. I've got train tickets between Glasgow & Birmingham for each trip, but she rang up this morning to say that she's got a bug, and the doctor told her not to see people. Grr. I wouldn't mind losing out on the tickets getting there, because it was cheap, but to come back, it was £48. And, of course, a non-refundable ticket. So mum is drifting around the house trying to think of other people I could visit near Birmingham for a few days.
Hum.

The best laid plans of mice and men...

That's the question everyone hates, isn't it? Well, this post is a sort of long-winded example of where I can get ideas from.


For months I've been saying that I want to write a werewolf/were-something story, but I just don't have a plot to go with it. So, I'll wait. There are lots of books I want to write, that I do have plots for, so I'll let my desire for a werewolf plot sit in the back of my head and poke me occasionally.

I finished reading 'Bound to Shadows' by Keri Arthur yesterday. As I'd been reading it, I was sort of writing my review of it in my head, noting which bits I'd talk about, which bits I liked, etc etc. And then I got to the last couple of chapters, finished, and thought, I just can't write that review. The way the book turned out was just so different from what I'd expected/hoped/wanted, that I just sort of sat there blinking for a while, like a rabbit in the headlights. (Well, I didn't really. But I sat there, at least. And that's what it felt like.)

It was a brilliant book. I loved it. But I wanted something else to happen. And I firmly believe that what I hoped for would make a good ending to a story arc. So this is where I split away from thinking about the book I read, and start thinking about my own stories. I could do the fanfiction thing, and write a couple of scenes to get it out of my system and make me feel a little better. But really, that would be boring. And I like this idea of how things could end. So the other thing I could do is take that idea and make it my own. It's these questions - "What if X didn't have quite so much of that personality trait?" and "What if they had done Y instead?" - they lead to my own ideas.

So maybe I know nothing more about this character in my head now other than how she gets to a resolution - I don't know anything about the conflicts before, or if she's human, or where they are - absolutely nothing else about her/the situation, but it's a start. Maybe it's something that could be my werewolf story. I don't know yet. But it can sit there, and I'll think about it, and sometime I'll hopefully have enough little snippets of idea floating around to push them all together into an idea-soup, and make it into the bones of a story.

What about you? Any interesting examples of where you get ideas from?

Snaffled from greatalexanders
1) Post a list of up to 20 books/movies/TV shows/etc. that you've had an obsessive fannish love or interest in at some time in your life.
2) Have your f-list guess your favourite character/member from each item.
3) When someone guesses correctly, strikethrough the item and put the name of your favorite character next to it.

I realise I have a lot of series' in here. I'm no good at picking just one book from a series.

1) the Twilight series, by Stephenie Meyer Jasper, guessed by Lomesir
2) the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series, by Laurell K Hamilton
3) Deadly Desire, by Keri Arthur
4) I, Robot (film)
5) National Treasure (film)
6) CSI (first season, haven't seen the rest yet)
7) the Old Kingdom trilogy, by Garth Nix
8) Bone Crossed, by Patricia Briggs
9) Magic Strikes, by Ilona Andrews Curran, guessed by Suzanne Mcleod
10) The Name of The Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss Bast, guessed by greatalexanders
11) Speak of the Devil, by Jenna Black
12) Thorn Queen, by Richelle Mead
13) The Outlaw Demon Wails/Where Demons Dare, by Kim Harrison
14) Nightwalker, by Jocelyn Drake
15) Rosemary and Rue, by Seanan McGuire
16) Sunshine by Robin McKinley
17) The Cold Kiss of Death by Suzanne McLeod
18) One Foot In The Grave, by Jeaniene Frost
19) Midnight Awakening, by Lara Adrian
20) Lover Enshrined, by J R Ward

When the sun sets, and in the morning, we will remember them.

I've always thought that that's one of the most beautiful lines. Services were on Sunday, but today, too, we stopped for those two minutes at 11 o'clock to remember what was done for us, to think about all the soldiers who fought for our freedom in the wars, and those who are still fighting today.

Jessica over at A Book Lover's Diary is having a big book giveaway this month. You can win a choice of books from:
( Books under cut )

Just click here for the giveaway.

I'm sorry. I've been neglecting this. And when I have updated, it's been mostly Book Bundle stuff. Today, I've got a proper entry. *g*

I've got a job for the ski season!! Yay! *dances round the room*
I actually found out the day before we left for Canada, but didn't have time to post then, and when I got back, and caught up enough to post things, then it had almost become old news. I forgot I hadn't posted it yet.

I'm going to work for a company called 'Ski Activity' who are based in Scotland, and I'll be working in the 'Hotel Christiania'. It's actually somewhere I've stayed with my family twice before. On the one hand, I would have liked to go to a resort or ski area that I hadn't been to before. On the other, it means I know exactly what to expect from this hotel, and from the skiing. I know the hotel is a good size for me - small enough to be friendly. The skiing is very good, and I know it has plenty for my ability level.
I'm so excited! Going to be in Glasgow on Saturday, and I'm taking the opportunity to hunt around for extra salopettes, base layers, gloves, & a new ski jacket. Lots of fun!

Here's a photo of the hotel:



And one from their dining room window:


When we've been before, it's been Easter, so there hasn't been enough snow to ski along there to the bottom of the lift. It will be cool to see this resort in the best parts of the season, and skiing to the door will be great!
I'll be doing waitressing/housekeeping, and I should have at least 5-6 hours a day to be out on the slopes. The lift pass we get is the one they offer the local residents, so it covers three local resorts - it will be fun to explore the snow over at the other two! I haven't been there before.
It's so exciting! Yay!

There is an interview with Chloe Neill over at Ellz Readz today, and you can win a copy of Chloe's second book, Friday Night Bites, just by leaving a comment. You can find the interview/giveaway here: Click.

Over on the Book Bundle, I noticed we've just past our 50 post mark, so I'm having a small giveaway to celebrate, giving one copy of 'The Vampyre: the secret history of Lord Byron' by Tom Holland.

From the website:

For centuries Mira has been a nightwalker -- an unstoppable enforcer for a mysterious organization that manipulates earth-shaking events from the darkest shadows. But elemental mastery over fire sets her apart from others of her night-prowling breed...and may be all that prevents her doom.

The foe she now faces is human: the vampire hunter called Danaus, who has already destroyed so many undead. For Mira, the time has come to hunt or be hunted.

But in a dimension just beyond the worlds boundaries, a banished race stirs dangerously, hungry for power, for domination, for vengeance. Already a protective seal has been breached: already blood flows like a river through the world's great cities.

And only the collaboration of two sworn enemies can save humankind...and its feral brethren.


***

I’ve lent my copy of Nightwalker to a friend at the moment, so I hope this review is still ok!

Nightwalker begins with Mira stalking Danaus through Savana, her city. You see straight away how skilled a hunter she is, and her feisty personality come through very strongly. Very quickly, Mira is forced to postpone Danaus’s death and trust him as he shows her an enemy from her past who she thought was long dead. The feared Naturi are back. Mira and Danaus must head to Egypt to warn vampires & others alike, all the while wondering whether they can trust each other.


It’s very interesting to see how being around Mira is forcing Danaus to reconsider his notions of vampires, and his agenda against them. Mira, too, is changed by being around the hunter. I loved all the interactions between them – one moment bickering, the next fighting back-to-back. It was great to have such strong characters.

Another thing that I really liked about this book was that the two main characters didn’t jump in to bed with each and fall madly in love. It’s something that really annoys me in a lot of books – characters who’ve known each other for less than a week deciding that they want to spend the rest of their lives together. There is some chemistry between Danaus and Mira, but I liked that the author doesn’t just disregard all the mistrust and stereotypes that they are carrying around with them, in the week that ‘Nightwalker’ lasts.


The plot was excellent, it pulled me in right away and didn’t let go. The ending was maybe a little abrupt, but the second book, ‘Dayhunter’, picks up right where ‘Nightwalker’ leaves off.

‘Nightwalker’ is also a lot darker than many vampire novels these days – there is a lot of fighting, and never much rest for Mira.

I’d strongly recommend this book, and the third book in the series comes out at the end of the month.

My interview with Jocelynn is here: click to see - she talks about things including the Coven, her journey to getting Nightwalker published, and even a bit about Danaus's past.

19/7/09
Today has mostly been travelling. I really liked Paris sometimes, but overall I'd decided I'd rather just move on, so yesterday I booked a flight down to the French coast, to the second place on my 'Places I must stop' list. I had great directions from a guy called Jerome to get to Orly airport. It was a bit of a hassle in the airport, but fine once I got on the plane. Landing in Nice was one of the scariest plane landings I've ever experienced, even though there was no turbulence the whole trip. You curve out over the sea, but then you just kept following the water by the coast, getting lower and lower. I kept thinking "I'll see the airport soon. Okay, I'll see it in a minute. Right, I really should be seeing the airport now." The airport is right on the coast, on a little peninsula, and the way we came in, you didn't see the runway until a split-second before we touched down.

I got myself on a shuttle bus, and the drive into town was lined by palm trees. Palm trees. Woah. In case you haven't guessed, this was pretty cool for little ol' me, who's never been on a warm foreign holiday before.
I found my way on & off a tram, and treked up a hill to the hostel. One thing I liked really quickly about Nice was how, if you take out a map and looked intently at street signs for a few seconds, someone will come up and ask where you are trying to get to.

The hostel is amazing - such a great atmosphere. There's a paved outside garden that curves around the building, down the steps, with benches and tables. I ordered the pizza they make there, which was great (& only €5.50) and joined some friendly people. Topaz & her mum are from Canada, and traveling around Europe before she went to Uni in the autumn. Sophie & Nada are from London, and have been traveling around France for several weeks.

Because I hadn't booked in advance, I was on the waiting list for the hostel, but they guarantee you a bed somewhere, and I ended up on a mattress in a 5 bed dorm, which was really nice, and worked fine for me.

If you go to Nice, I would definitely recommend that hostel: The Villa Saint Exupery. Such a great atmosphere, really friendly helpful staff, and an amazing view.

Hey, that almost rhymes. *g*

First day
So, it was my first day of the new job today. And it was really nice, it seems like a really friendly place to work. There was Emma, who I knew at primary school. But it was a long time ago, because I'm sure she was either P6 or P7 when I was P1, so we would only have known each other for about a year. It was nice to see a 'familiar' face though, when I arrived. There was also Andrew, who was the year below me, and again is someone I first met at primary school. And, there was Alix, who was cooking things today.
I think one of the things I always like about the cafe is that it's always full of people who are very local. People who went to Kilmartin Primary, or would have if they'd been in the area at that age. It has a real 'local community' feel, I think.
I'll see how it goes tomorrow, and Friday night - those are the only other ties I"m working this week.

Interviews
Not me going to interviews this time! I'm so excited, we've been trying to start adding more interesting things to the Book Bundle, and I'm interviewing JOCELYNN DRAKE!!! Squee! (I'm sorry, I'm trying not to squee so much on the blog, because it makes me sound like an immature fan-girl, but I believe in this case it's justified.) I'm just hoping that the questions I came up with will lead to interesting answers. I had no idea what to ask. So I sent them off this morning, and I'll post them hopefully late next week.
We're also getting some interviews from a few people who write short stories, which will be interesting - a lot of the people who follow the blog are aspiring writers, but I know a lot of us know very little about writing short stories. I'm looking forward to reading the answers we get.

Book reviews
And I wrote another book review, this time for Richelle Mead's 'Thorn Queen'. You can find it here, if you are interested: Click

So, here is day two from the Europe Trip! I haven't added anything to this, it was all written at the time.

( Day Two: Paris )

Edit: Photos work now! *g*

'The Dark Divine' is Bree Despain's debut novel, and it comes out in a couple of months time. She's holding a contest to win an ARC of the book, some Dark Divine nail varnish, the same colour as the model is wearing on the cover, and some Barnes & Noble gift vouchers!

If you want to enter, click here: Bree's blog

I was so glad my friend blogged about this contest - I think this book looks awesome!

I need, advice, I think. I'm looking for a job at the moment.
I'd heard from a family friend that the local pool was looking for staff, so I went to talk to them last week. They said that, if I could find a training course to go on, they would give me a job. Great! Because I think that would be a lot of fun. Maybe quite a lot of sitting around, but still, an interesting job, and it would be a great qualification to have for the future. The problem then is finding a course. And I admit I maybe could have looked a little harder this week, but I was going to call more people today, honest!

The dilemma is that I just had a phone call from a guy who says he's the chef at Kilmartin House, the museum just up the road. He got my number from one of my friends who works at the cafe, who'd said I might be looking for a job. This guy wondered if I'd like to come up for 'a chat, to see what it is you're looking for' tomorrow. I know I might be getting a little ahead of myself, but I think it's quite possible that could lead to a job.

The thing is, I'm planning to be working as a waitress/domestic over the winter in a ski resort. I'd kind of decided that I'd like a little time off from waitressing. I'm also aware of how much I got fed up with certain aspects of working at the Cairnbaan, but I think those were unique to working there.

On the other hand, the museum is just a cafe - the most they do apart from cake is sandwiches and soups, during the day, and I'm fairly sure that they only do meals a couple of times a week. The kitchen is tiny, right behind the counter, so it's a much smaller place, and the staff size is much smaller. It's also very convenient because I can cycle there in 15-20 minutes. No need to worry about whether or not a parent is around to give me a lift.

I'll post tomorrow afternoon once I've talked to the guy, but I guess my problem is that I'm not sure whether or not I want to do this, or whether I should just take it anyway because it's a job, in an easy-to-get-to place, and I don't need to do any training courses for it. Hum.

The book review blog I contribute to (The Book Bundle) got nominated for the Book Blogger Appreciation Week awards. I've seen some of the competition, so I think it's unlikely we'll make it to the shortlist, but still, pretty cool, considering we've only been doing this for a couple of months. We have to wait until September 7th for the shortlist to be announced, so I'll keep my fingers crossed anyway.

I'm home, safe and sound, and glad to have my own room.
I'll try and catch up on the most recent lj entries over the next couple of days. If there are posts you think I'll be interested in, please point me in the right direction.

Stories will come soon, and photos. Oh, the photos! Heh. I think it's going to be a tough job picking out which ones to share, so that could take a while... but stories are definitely on their way.

I'm in Prague!
This is amazing. It's somewhere I"ve wanted to visit for years, so when I was walking along the riverbank today to go and visit the castle, I had to keep stopping myself from giggling with excitment. I don't know why, I guess I'm just so happy to be here.

I will be home soon, I'm flying in to London on Wednesday morning (it was London or Birmingham, and the buses home are cheaper from London) so I'll spend Wednesday afternoon/evening in London and then be in Glasgow on THursday morning, where mum is coming to pick me up.

So, you will get proper stories about adventures soon.
I love all this travelling though, and while I miss home some times when I'm tired or hungry, I wish I could keep going for a while longer, and keep seeing so many things. It's fascinating, and it's just so nice to be experiencing things that are so different to what I'm used to in my tiny little corner of Scotland. It's amazing.

Proper posts soon. *g*

I'm off for a day on the RIB & trailing up mountains with Dad today while he goes to see a group, so this is just a very quick post.
(x-posted from the Book Bundle)

Just a quick reminder to everyone that you can still enter our competition to win a copy of 'Crossed Wires' by Rosy Thornton here: Click - you've got until the 12th to enter that.


Also, Suzanne McLeod has another competition running. Once again, I'm disorganised, so you only have until the end of the day, anywhere, tonight (Wednesday) to enter. You can win a signed copy of either her first or second books, and also one of the Felix Castor books by Mike Carey. You can find out more about them, and the competition, over here: Suzanne's Blog.

I'd highly recommend you check it out - I've read the first Felix book, and thought it was fantastic.

Well, I found out today that I'm not getting to camp this year.. oh dear. Yeah, I was sad. But I'll apply again for next year.
And this afternoon I threw myself into fine tuning my back up plan. I will be going round some cities in Europe.
I'm starting with Paris, on the 17th, and staying there for a few days. Then I'm going to drift down to Nice, and again stay there for a few days. This will be great for a few reasons. One, it will give me fantastic opportunities to use my French, and get my speaking up to a better level. Two, because I can speak reasonable French, it will be a nice ease in to the traveling.

From Nice, I'm going to Budapest. Then getting the train to Vienna, train because I've heard that particular journey recommended. From Vienna, I'll go to Prague. And then I'll come home.

If anyone has tips, hostel recommendations, suggestions for sites to see, etc, then as always I'd love to hear them.