To all of our lovely readers:

I wish you a happy, successful and blessed 2012. I can’t wait to share some new stories with you all!

Happy New Year!

These are two poems that I wrote in school, as part of our Egyptian-theme that we are studying this term.

The Egyptian cat stretches on his sparkling gold throne.

He yawns a crocodile yawn.

He blinks his segment-of-lemon eyes.

Servants feed him red, juicy grapes and grey, munchy mice.

Rich, royal Pharaoh strokes his silky fur.

Living in luxury.

★     ★     ★

Velvety soft house cat snores quietly by the snug, warm fire.

Happy and safe in the messy home with his family.

Bright, ginger fur matches the hot flames.

Feels like soft, velvety fur.

I hope you enjoyed these poems.

I have another story for you from our ‘Flowers and Plants’ project – I hope you like it!

One lovely, sunny day, ben was walking in the park because he really wanted to feed the ducks. On the way, he saw two ladies sitting on a bench, having a chat. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something unusual sticking out of the grass. He carefully picked it up. Before he knew what was happening, he was turning round and round in a tornado!

When he opened his eyes, Ben found himself in a jungle! When Ben looked up, he saw a silver, cheeky monkey. Ben looked around him, but to his amazement – camouflaged in the sweet, long grass – was a zebra. When he looked at a tree, he saw a very long cobra! Ben did not like the sight of it at all! When Ben looked down, suddenly the monkey walked down to him.

“Hello there mate, what is your name?” asked the monkey.

“My name is Ben,” answered Ben.

“That’s a lovely name! Would you like to have a lovely picnic with me in my tree-house?” asked the monkey.

“Oh, yes please!” replied Ben. “But how can I get up there? I do not want to climb the trunk with the snake there!”

“Just grab my hand and I’ll pull you up,” said the monkey.

“Thank you, monkey,” said Ben excitedly.

So, Ben grabbed the monkey’s hand, and up he went with the monkey to the tree-house. When they got up there, they had a feast of wonderful coconut milk, a lovely apple and three chocolate biscuits!

“Yum yum, this is delicious,” said Ben. “But it’s time for me to go home now, goodbye monkey!” Ben said to the monkey. Suddenly, with a BANG! and a CRASH! he was back in the park. Then he remembered that he was supposed to be going home. When he got home, he wondered if his family would believe his story!

Thanks for reading. I’ll see you again soon for another story.

Here is another story for you to read. I wrote this as part of our ‘Flowers and Plants’ topic at school. I hope you enjoy it.

One bright, breezy Autumn day, five seeds flew off a plant and into the air on a gust of wind. They were beautiful, multi-coloured seeds. They flew over a park and one seed fell down onto a slide. It slipped and fell to the ground with a BUMP! The rest of the seeds carried on flying in the dazzling, sparkling blue sky – but the seed that could not grow just stayed on the ground. Just then, there was a huge gust of wind and the rest of the seeds floated on until they got to a massive town. Sadly, one fell onto the roof of a tall block of flats and died – but the rest still remained.

At last, a lucky seed fell into the soil and got covered up really well, ready for the Winter. When it was time for that season to come, the soil kept the seed extremely warm, which was really good before the Spring came. After the snow melted, a really small rainbow-coloured shoot appeared. It was shiny, because it’s no ordinary stem. It shimmers in the sun.

The shoot started to grow blue, crispy leaves. The leaves started to become bigger, fatter and stronger. The stem grew quickly and kept on growing until it was nearly as tall as the roof of a house. Next, it grew as tall as an enormous oak tree. It carried on growing straight up, towards the sky. The leaves grew fatter, until they were the size of a big rubber ring. A really prickly green bud appeared after that.

Weeks later, an incredible flower burst out of the bud. It was amazing. People from many countries came to see it.

“It’s stunning!” said a lady from America.

“It’s beautiful!” said a man from Africa.

“Oh, wow!” said a little girl from Russia.

Soon, Autumn came again and the petals fell to the ground. In two weeks, the seeds flew off and the pant and the flower died.

Then, the story started again.

Thanks for reading. I’ll see you again soon for another story.

Here is my first story for you to read.  I wrote it for a Literacy project at school.  I hope you enjoy it.

“Mummy, please may I go to the moon?” asked Little Cat.

“No!  Anyway, you need to find a rocket first,” replied Mummy.

Soon, Little Cat found an old cardboard box in the shed.

“It’s perfect!” shouted Little Cat.  Afterwards, he found a blue plastic bowl for a space helmet.  Next, he looked in the cupboard and found a lovely strawberry cake, a can of Pepsi, a packet of salt and vinegar crisps and a can of coke.  Then he put all his stuff into his spaceship.  After that he went out into the garden, and with a BANG! and a ZOOM! he flew into the air.

A little bit later, a bat flew by.

“Where are you going to?” clicked Bat.

“I’m going to the moon,” replied Little Cat.

Then Bat climbed in and off they flew to continue their journey.  On and on their journey went.

After a while, they saw the moon.  Soon they arrived, and with a big BUMP! they landed on the moon.  After, one by one, they got out of the spaceship.

“Would you like to play football with me?” asked Little Cat.

“Yes, please!” replied Bat.

So they played football nearly all evening.  Sadly, it was soon time to go home.  So they said goodbye to each other and hoped to see each other again soon.  Then, they took off and headed back down to Earth.

After a long journey, he landed with a big BUMP!  Then, he went into the living room.

“Where have you been?” asked Mummy Cat.

“I’ve been to the moon,” replied Little Cat.

“You and your stories,” giggled Mummy Cat.  ”Whatever next?…”

Thanks for reading, I’ll see you soon for another story…

To all of our wonderful readers:

I wish you a happy, successful and blessed 2012. I can’t wait to share with you my exciting photography plans for the coming year!

Thank you for being so great!

This is a Sponsored Post

You have probably heard me waxing lyrical about PhotoBox photobooks in the past. Ever since they printed my first portfolio for me, I have been in love with them! So, when I was asked to review one of their seasonal photobooks – for Father’s Day – they didn’t have to twist my arm.

I hadn’t realised before that as well as standard photobooks, there are several other templates on the site. Some of these are seasonal – including Mother’s Day and Father’s Day – and they are such a great idea.

There is a lot of scope for creativity when creating your Book for Dad. Chipmunk and I had a whale of a time choosing the design, the pages and the photos that we wanted to use to create a unique gift for his Dad – and it really is a unique gift! I can’t go into too much detail about what we did – because Chipmunk’s Dad reads the blog and I would hate to spoil the surprise for him! Suffice it to say that PhotoBox provides wonderful design combinations which can be applied to your book cover and also individual pages. There are also inspirational quotes about the relationship between fathers and their children, which adds a really lovely touch and is a fantastic accompaniment to the images. There are so many page layouts to choose from that you really could spend hours just putting a book together!

The book we ordered arrived really quickly – instead of the stated six days, we had it within three. The quality, as expected, blew me away. We went for standard paper quality (you can pay extra for other types) and I have to say I am really impressed with it. The book looks professional and sturdy – and the presentation is fantastic.

If I have one criticism, it is that the uploading tool is still very slow – and quite temperamental. I would recommend only adding a few photos at a time and making sure you save them to your album before starting the next batch. If they can get past this, PhotoBox will have a five-star winning formula on their hands! Overall, I was very impressed – again.

With prices starting from as little as £13.99 it won’t break the bank and with a whole host of optional extras to really give your gift some added bling, you really can’t go wrong with a PhotoBox Book for Dad.

Disclosure:  I was provided with £50 PhotoBox credit. I received no other compensation. The opinions stated in the above post are my own. They are my true opinions, and are in no way influenced by the aforementioned compensation I received for this post. To see my full Disclosure Policy, please go here.

To all of our lovely readers:

I wish you a happy, successful and blessed 2012. There are some exciting things on the horizon this year for me – I can’t wait to share them with you all!

Happy New Year!

In Winter we shiver, frost leaving its glitter,

Snowfall covering the ground.

Gazing in wonder at sparkling splendour,

Carolers all around. 

Written for the 100WCGU#15. The prompt was: To write something with the same rhythm as the 5th November rhyme, using only 21 words, including the phrase ‘…in Winter we shiver…’

For those who do not know the rhyme, it goes like this:

Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot…

I missed last week’s challenge due to being on holiday, and I seem to have come back just in time for another even more difficult challenge than usual! For more wonderful responses, or to take part yourself, please visit Julia’s Place.

Well, it’s November – so that must mean it’s NaNo time again! For those of you still in the dark, NaNoWriMo is a novelling adventure held every November. Those of us crazy enough to take part have to write at least 50,000 words before the clock strikes 23:59 on November 30th. I didn’t make it last year. This year, however, I have been really excited to get started on my novel – which has to be a good sign, right?!

I’m also really excited for another reason. Chipmunk – my 8 year old – has decided to take part in the Young Writers Program this year. He has set himself a goal of 5,000 words and has been really looking forward to taking part. It’s so great that we are taking this journey together. He will be posting updates over at The Story Spot, so make sure to check in and show him some support!

As soon as this year’s word count widgets are available, I’ll be putting one in my sidebar. That way you can keep an eye on my progress (or lack thereof!).

For now, I thought I would share with you my synopsis (which may change, depending on where my characters decide to take me!):

A Bucketful of Flowers

A tale of murder, art, a persistant feline – and flowers. A bucketful of flowers.

Someone is killing the elderly on the streets of London. Only one woman has caught a glimpse of the attacker and lived to tell.

Monica Rain is a forensic artist with a gift for creating the perfect likeness of a suspect, with even the most limited information. She is also in reluctant possession of another, altogether more powerful gift.

Mojo is a cat. One with a penchant for salmon, blue yarn and art.

If you’re taking part in NaNo this year and want to connect with me on the site, you can find me here.

If you feel like sponsoring me – and helping NaNo develop their Young Writers Program and other resources – you can do so here.

If you or a child you know are taking part in the YWP, you can connect with Chipmunk here.

Quiet as she tried to be, the Autumn leaves crackled under Maya’s feet – intrusively loud in the silent evening. She hugged her coat tighter against the cold. Almost there. She could see the stone circle ahead of her now, just a few feet away. Suddenly, a noise from behind. Intense pain, then…nothing.

Written for the 100WCGU#15. The prompt was: …the autumn leaves…

The title of this post is misleading – this may be the 15th week of this awesome challenge, but it is my first foray into the – frankly, terrifying – world of flash fiction (thanks to the lovely Susan). Please, be gentle with me! Now, head on over to the awesomeness that is Julia’s Place and join in – or just read some of the other offerings for this week’s prompt!

I suddenly realised, as I was getting back into the swing of my writing, that I never updated you on how NaNoWriMo went in November.

Although, if you look over at the widget that is still languishing sadly in my sidebar, it is pretty self-explanatory!

I failed.

Spectacularly.

Out of a possible 50,000 words, my grand total come November 31 was 13, 746.

So, nowhere near, then.

But you know what? A really weird thing happened when it became abundantly clear that I was not going to win in 2010. I didn’t mind. I actually felt ok about it – and a little bit relieved. And when I stopped to wonder why, I realised – it isn’t about NaNo.

No, I haven’t gone mad – really, it isn’t.

It’s about the book.

NaNo is just a way to achieve the writing of the book. To start you on your journey. To introduce you to these characters who are taking the ride along with you. When you embrace the goal of writing a novel, the time limit actually doesn’t matter at all.

Of course, it would be nice to win. I would have loved to have written the 50,000 (and more!). But I’m ok that I didn’t. Because I love my book. I love my characters. And I love not knowing where they are taking me on this expedition into their little world.

Surely, that should be the goal of any author…right?

Those of you who read The Thought Bubble (my main blog and outlet for the majority of my online ramblings) will be aware that I am making some resolutions this year – for the very first time. Well, the very first time I’m doing them properly, anyway. And in public.

There are two that concern The Writer’s Bubble, so I thought I would share them here:

Now, I am not at all sure how posting every day is going to go here on this blog. On The Thought Bubble, I can pretty much get away with posting crap, let’s face it. On bubblebooPhotography, I can post a picture. Even with editing time, that doesn’t take as long as trying to write something. And I can just take a shot with the Hipsta app on the iPhone and call it ‘art’

But here…well, here is different. This place is so important to me. It’s my sanctuary. It’s the place where I can be whoever I want to be…let the muse take over and run free.

The trouble is, oftentimes she runs free in the opposite direction from where I need her to be!

So, I will try to post something here every day. Writing-related, obviously – but possibly not always out of my head. I might post about new challenges I’ve found, or tips and tricks I might have come across. And of course, if my muse decides the time is right to inspire me, you may even find that I write.

You may have noticed that I haven’t written anything here for a while, when I promised to keep you updated on my NaNo progress. You may have thought that this meant that I was haring along and would easily be finished by November 30th.

You really don’t know me at all, do you??

Yes, dear readers, as with last year’s NaNo I am woefully behind. I’m not going to say just how far behind, but if you look at the little widget thing over there —>

you will be able to see for yourself. Now, the widget is not entirely accurate. In the last few days I have taken my iPad on the school run. (I know it sounds mad, but bear with me, ok?) I have to get to school really early in the afternoons to be able to park anywhere near the place – and Chipmunk needs me to park near because he’s not so great with his walking. So, how have I been spending those extra 40 minutes? Writing!! The other day, I got 750 words done, and today: 1100!

I have got my mojo back – and the best thing is that today, I found out what my killer’s motivation is! Yay me!

Wait, what? You didn’t know there was a killer in my book? No, me neither, but apparantly there is – and now I know why! Hurray!

And now, please excuse me while I go back to my book…

Yes, really. I kid you not. NaNoWriMo has started off great for me this year!

{I know, I probably said the same thing last year, but we’ll forget that for the moment!}

I sat at my computer yesterday morning, without any idea at all a clear idea of what I was going to write about. I had the vague outline of my Main Character {MC} and that was it. Then I started to write.

I wrote, and I wrote, and I wrote.

And then I edited a little bit, which was very bad of me and I must not do any more of that until December 1st at the very earliest. For, you see, November is for writing!

Oh yes, and then I wrote a little more.

By the evening, I had smashed my word target {1667 words, if you please} for the day, and was happily sailing into today’s word count. Perfect!

And, because I love you all so much, I’m going to share the opening lines with you – but no more than that, I’d hate to spoil the surprise when I finish

The pretty young woman stood in front of the two-way mirror, gazing into the sparsely furnished room beyond. At a table in the centre of the room sat a thick-set man smoking a cigarette. His eyes darted nervously around the room, from the door to the mirror and back again. He was anxious, on edge and waiting for something to happen – or for someone to enter.

The young woman watched him for a long time. She studied his movements. She looked for any sign as to his mood, his state of mind – anything that might give her an edge when she spoke to him. She noticed that his leg was trembling slightly underneath the table, and she nodded to herself. He’s nervous. Good.

She felt the familiar butterflies skip through her own stomach, and the icy hand of terror snake up her back, making her shiver. Taking a deep breath, she shook the feeling off just as there was a gentle tap on the door.

Turning to face the doorway, she saw it open slightly, and a familiar face peer into the small, dark room where she stood. His eyes searched for a moment, adjusting to the darkness. Then, he saw her, and his handsome face broke into a grin.

“I brought coffee,” he said, showing her the styrofoam cup in his right hand and waggling it at her briefly for effect – she assumed to entice her to drink. “It’s the machine stuff, but it’s all I could get at this ridiculous hour of the morning.”

She smiled and took the cup from his outstretched hand. “Thanks, Jack.” Her soft voice betrayed the slightest hint of an English accent, barely discernable after many years away from the land of her birth.

“You’re welcome,” he smiled. His warm brown eyes studied her beautiful face carefully, watching for any sign that she was not yet prepared for her upcoming meeting with the man on the other side of the mirror. Her face gave nothing away as she peered into the coffee cup he had handed to her.

The young woman took a long drink of the lukewarm coffee and pulled a face.

“That bad?” he asked. She nodded, grimaced, and set the cup down on the bench which ran along the back wall of this closet-sized space.

“What time is it, anyway?” she asked him.

He checked his watch. “Three fifteen.”

She sighed. “He’s been in there, what, an hour or so?”

“Seventy-three minutes.”

She cast Jack a sidelong glance. He shrugged. “Seventy-four now.” She rolled her eyes at him. He ignored her, staring through the glass at the man on the other side.

For a moment, the two of them sat motionless. Partners in silent contemplation, they watched their prey nervously stroking his straggly grey beard as he waited to see what would happen next. The woman sighed once more, and began to gather up the various pieces of paper that she had strewn around the room over the last hour, as she tried to determine how to tackle this particular task.

She looked up at Jack, who met her gaze with his customary grin. “You’ll be fine,” he promised her, without her needing to say a word. “You always are. Just do what you always do, he’ll be putty in your hands.”

The woman nodded and turned to face the glass one last time.

That’s it, that’s all you’re getting!

The story, such as it is right now, is writing itself. I’m just along for the ride. Let’s hope my characters know where they’re going with this thing, because I still have no idea at all!

November is here already?! How did that happen??

Well, I guess that can only mean one thing: It’s time for NaNoWriMo!!

If you’re here reading this, I’m guessing you know what NaNo is, and are either:

• Rolling your eyes;
• Shrieking with excitement;
• Running around the room like a headless chicken wondering why the heck you signed up for this thing!

Just in case you are still uninitiated, you can find out more about NaNo here: National Novel Writing Month.

Please do keep up with my ups and downs here throughout November. I won last year, so I have a lot to live up to! As for the book, I have no clue what I’m going to write about. Yes, I am aware it’s November 1st already and I have to start today! Apparently, some people even have plans. Plans?? Why don’t I have me one of those??

Oh well, too late now…