Whoo! Got my mark back!

I just got my most recent mark for the Distance Learning Course I'm doing. If I finish all of the bits, its equivalent (apparently) to the first year of a theology degree. I'm only on the second part of six though... Anyway, I got a B! Yay!

Wow! I won something!

Got home from college this afternoon, and there was a brown padded envolope on my desk. I figured it was the model I ordered from Airfix a while back, but when I picked it up, I was like 'hmm, this is in two seperate bits, this is a weird model'. Then I opened it up, and lo and behold, there were five CDs! Appears that the competition on Crossrhythms I decided to enter the other night, just because, I actually won! So now I have five more CDs and am busy loading them into iTunes.

Hi!

Hello. My faith in human nature is restored :D. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna allow anonymous comments again. So, sorry people. But I think you can comment if you've got a youtube account. Not sure on that one.
Anyway, my brother was getting off the bus yesterday and all these boys were messing about and they started pushing him about a bit. Really upset him. And then it turns out one of them was employed by our next door neighbour who's just come round and apologised on behalf of the lads. So that was pretty neat.

A note to the anonymous commenter

Ok, whoever you were--I don't really care to be honest--I just want to say a couple of things.
One: In case you hadn't noticed, I'm sixteen. I don't make any claims to be good at reviewing books. I'm still learning. The only way to do that is to write them and see what happens. I'd be interested in seeing anything you've produced... if you've done any.
Two: Same with the writing thing. I'm still learning. I've been writing for four years, I don't expect to be an amazing pro. And writing book reviews and writing stories are two very different things.
Three: I don't know where you're getting your info from, but as far as I was aware, SAS people aren't on especially high salaries.
Four: If you haven't got the guts to say who you are, don't bother commenting any more.
And that's it.
(Oh, and for everyone else: I've deleted the comments because they were pretty nasty, but given the way they've been appearing over the past couple of minutes, I suspect whoever was leaving them is still on here)

The Dam Busters

This is a non-fiction, and I thought 'great, get some good knowledge in me'. Wasn't expecting it to be quite as exciting and entertaining as it was. The only thing I can think of to compare it to is the 633 Squadron books, which I guess shows you just how good they both are. The 633 Squadron ones because they're so realistic that it almost seems fact, and The Dam Busters because it was so well written it could almost be fiction. Incredibly interesting, I absolutely loved it. Don't be put off by the fact it's non fiction. The people it talks about are developed as well as characters in a book, the whole thing is told like a story. And what I really like is that it doesn't stop telling the story of the squadron with the raid on the dams and the bouncing bombs, it continues to tell what happens with them throughout the rest of the war. Some of the people it talked about, like Guy Gibson, seem so interesting and now I want to go find out more about him. An awesome book.

The Third Option

This is another book in the Mitch Rapp series by Vince Flynn. Again, it's really, really good. About what happens when forces within Washington DC decide it'd be a good idea to embarass the government and the potential successor to the head of the CIA by killing Mitch... Not the smartest move in the world. Very interesting. Well worth reading. Love these books.

The Hitchikers' Guide to the Galaxy

I've had this book recommended to me plenty of times, finally got round to reading it. Completely crazy, hilariously funny, and yet it still has a plot! An amusing, confusing, random plot to be sure, but a plot all the same. And plenty of fantastic quotes that I'm just gonna have to start using. I really recommend this book, it's fantastic! Don't expect anything serious. Oh, you can see comments on our own society thrown in there, but it doesn't take itself seriously. Brilliant. You really ought to read it.

Hello! I'm back! And I'm alive!

Hello, hello, hello, I'm back! Had a great holiday, but the broadbandy stick thing wouldn't pick up the right broadbandy signal (don't ask me for the details, I don't really understand them myself...). Anyway, I read a lot (as you'll see as I frantically try to write reveiws of all the books I've read whilst still trying to read more and also type up the story stuff I did and do the homework I didn't take with me). Anyway, we went to Bury, stayed in the caravan. Went round the various towns. Attempted to do the regimental museum and art gallery with mum while James and dad did the tram system (my brother is train/tram obsessed). The museum was closed, but not looking at all like it, and was no longer gonna be there either, and the art gallery was pretty rubbish, scarcely deserved the name. Bought a lot of books and have had to reorganise my book shelves a little as a lot of them were non-fiction. Um... What else? Relaxed. That was about it.

Hello

Hi. I'm currently in Bury. Well, not when I'm writing this, but I will be when it appears. Because I'm using that clever little schedule post thing. So this will appear while I'm away in the caravan. I can make a couple of guesses about it now. James will snore. Dad will snore. Mum will probably snore. I won't sleep well. I'll lie about in the middle of the night and feel bored and annoyed. James will wake everyone up really early. But for all that, I'll probably be having fun.

Followers

Just to say, I have now added the followers gadgetty thing, cos I felt like it. And it's only small, so I thought I'd point it out. Just down to the left, between the about me and the firefox dude.

The 'broken' computer...

Lol. Was playing my clarinet, and we'd been talking about this jazz guy in English, and there was a long note mentioned in this poem about him. My English teacher was saying about circular breathing and stuff and I was thinking 'well, if a soprano sax is anything like a clarinet, you don't really need it to hold on a long note'. So I figured I'd test that little theory when I was practicing today, held on a long note at the end of my practice. Forty seconds :D. Was quite chuffed with myself, but it's not my best. If I do it at the start, I've gone up to near enough a minute holding one note on, but that's pretty hard. Anyway, I went downstairs because I'd been bribed with the promise of tea after I played, and apparently my dad thought his computer had broken and was having a paddy.

Hotmail

Meh. Hotmail went funny on me yesterday. Kept going on about how I seemed to have it open on two computers at once or something and just wouldn't let me read my e-mail. Very annoying. I changed the password and it cheered up. But it's annoying. And they keep messing around wiht the design and stuff. It worked at first. And what's this ridiculous network request thing? I don't get that. I just want it for e-mail, nothing else. I have my blog here, I don't want to post photos or whatever on there. And stuff just disappears. Weird. Oh well.

Transfer of Power

I might possibly have reveiwed this before. If I have, oh well, it's worth reviewing again because it's really really good. Basically, terrorists manage to storm the White House. The Vice President is too scared of looking bad to give the order to retake it. Mitch Rapp, who is one of my all time favourite characters, gets himself into the White House and does his best to get good info to the guys outside, info they can use to persuade the Vice President to take action. Really well written, very exciting, and Anna is pretty neat as a character too. Well worth reading.

The Escape

Sometimes when authors start a new series, it isn't as good as the original. Especially if they're linked in some subtle way. I'm happy to say that The Escape does not fit into that category. It's just as good as the Cherub books, if not maybe a little better *hides from missiles thrown by Cherub-lovers if there are any of you out there*. Seriously, it's good. And Henderson is an awesome character! Dangerous, kind-hearted, he's everything you want a spy to be. He's got a ruthless streak, but he's not gonna let the kids get hurt. I can't wait for the next one! Or the next Cherub book for that matter. I think I know where the name Cherub comes from now, but I don't want to say anything for fear of spoiling the book for you. I'd read a sample chapter of The Escape, and was a little confused when I got a considerable way through and still hadn't got to where it featured. Turns out it comes about half way through. Which is even more unusual than the third chapter of Brisingr being released. Anyway, the kids have that realism I've come to associate with Cherub books, the girl is not a whimp, and like I said, Henderson is awesome. The plot's pretty fast paced, although it does take a while for the two halves to join up. At first it seemed there was absolutely no connection, but there's a very clever way of getting all the different bits joined up. Totally enjoyed it, although I would've liked it to last a little bit longer. Still, well worth reading. Don't know whether to recommend reading the Cherub series first or not. It's kind of interesting to see where it came from, but then again, it's equally valid to read it chronologically. Maybe start with The Escape and then go onto Cherub, I don't know. Either way, it's good. And I have a signed copy, yay! Went to the Trafford Centre, queued up for an hour in Waterstones to get it signed. Robert Muchamore looked surprisingly ordinary. I don't know quite what I was expecting, and I have seen him before, but you think there'd be something different about such a good author. Seems not. Anyway, Cherub and Henderson's Boys series come high up on my list of good stuff to read.

Character Web

I'm taking a break from history homework, because it's hard work and time consuming and feels like it's never going to end. So I'll explain one of my favourite techniques for planning stories. It's the one I most often use (although it has to be said, I don't plan all that often). I invented it, and it's called the character web, because, well, it seems to describe it. How to do it:
1. Write down the names of your main characters. It needs a big piece of paper (or small handwriting, or both if you've got a lot of characters).
2. Now link them up with different colours/lines for the relationships between them.
3. Now start adding information about them, eg what job they do, what they enjoy spending time doing etc (what sort of information you want depends on what sort of story you're writing). When you have two or more characters who have the same bit of information about both, use the same statement and link it to both.
4. Add in minor characters, link in in the same way. Hopefully they fit to a couple of the descriptions you've got already, that being how they've got themselves involved.
5. I have added in things like hair colour and eye colour under each character (no point linking this as it won't be how the characters are connected to each other, but it can be useful to write this sort of stuff down, especially for minor characters).
6. You are now done. If the relationships change as the story progresses, I'd advise either making up a new line style, or using a different set of colours for later feelings/relationships, or if some things only come in later in. Haven't done this myself.
7. You're character web will probably look a bit messy, have lines everywhere, and be full of colour. That's good. You might also get ideas from looking at how people are linked together and get ideas to link other characters in more thoroughly. That's what happens for me.
There we go then. The seven steps to making a character web. And it's in seven steps because seven is a nice number. And it just turned out that way. Because I don't plan things like this. Or pretty much anything else. Unless I'm using character webs.