Yay Awards! In the plural! And a video you HAVE to see

Well, I'm back! Internet is finally fixed, and current WIP is nearly 30,000 words...JuNoWriMo here I go!

Anyway, two lovely bloggers have nominated me for two lovely awards:

Sarah from Word (en)Count(ers) nominated me for the Reader Appreciation Award

And

Katharina from My Writing Journey nominated me for the Versatile Blogger award - so perhaps random rambling about the nineties and weird Harry Potter photos aren't totally pointless!

The photo above is my happy face (although technically it's not me, because then I would be a frightening freak baby who could type).

Because I'm not very good with this linking thing, I'm going to nominate seven bloggers overall (3 for one award, four for another), but first for the Reader Appreciation award I'm to tell you what I'm doing, writing wise.

Well, as I mentioned above, I'm about 3/5ths through my new WIP! happy times. If I could describe it, I'd say it's BEFORE I DIE meets THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE meets FIVE DAUGHTERS. If people don't know about five daughters, it's a UK drama aired a few years ago, about the five victims of a serial killer, all prostitutes - and how because of their profession, they got hardly any compassion from the press and public.
In my WIP, it's the older brother of the main character who has died, and she and her male best friend discover an unusual way to feel closer to him (no ghosts or vamps here).

And apparently for my Versatile Blogger award, I am going to share seven random facts about myself. I've done this recently, but I'll dredge up some more embarrassment ;) :
1) I can date costume dramas to the decade (or five years) by the costumes, and my current Shiny New Idea revolves around one...
2) My cats are called Fizz and Gripper, and Gripper is a total softie who got given the name because Dad wanted irony and a guard dog!
3) I'm obsessed with this folk singer called Seth Lakeman, who sings about Dartmoor. His playing gives me the chills, in a good way.
4) I've now officially left school *sadface*, which means I'm an adult and I have to leave home for university *even sadder face but with excited eyes*
5) I'm a MASSIVE Austen fan but I hate Pride & Prejudice. Elizabeth is too smirky, and Mr Darcy reminds me too much of Edward Cullen.
6) I lambed my first sheep at nine years old.
7) I spent most of my IT (computer) lessons writing books, but I still got an A grade #fluke

And my nominated bloggers are:

For the Versatile Blogger Award:

- Jaybird at Bird's Nest

- Carissa Taylor

- Daisy Carter at Fresh as A Daisy

And for the Reader Appreciation Award:

- Sarah at The Strangest Situation

-  Kyra Lennon at Write Here, Write Now

- a random one, and a fave, The Duchess of Devonshire's Gossip Guide to the 18th Century

- all the bloggers at YATopia

So, check all these blogs, people, because they are awesome.

And to leave you with a laugh, here is the best video you will ever see (although I'm biased, because I'm in it and helped make it). It's a parody of WHAT I GO TO SCHOOL FOR by Busted, which is all about the boys being in love with the hot teacher. We made it to celebrate the end of our Senior year, because we don't get graduation here in the UK. Of course, being us, our tutor group/form decided to make our video with our fifty something teacher, who is a total sport.

Look out for me, I dance on a table! Enjoy:

What do you think of our acting skillz?

*Smiles Sunnily* I've won an award!

Yay! First of all, thanks to Carissa Taylor for nominating me for the Sunshine Award :) I highly recommend checking out her blog, because it's awesome.

Sorry I haven't been blogging much recently - I'm in the middle of my A2 exams (senior finals, UK style), so I'm stressing out and sticking up sociology revision cards in my bathroom (although my dad always ends up learning more than me ;)).

Anyway, here is my top ten random facts:

1) I am slightly obsessed with 1960s pony books, and I have about 100 at home.
2) I'm left-handed, and wrote my name backwards for about 3 years. As in, mirror-backwards. Because my dad's dyslexic, they were worried I was too, but then I turned out to be a grammar and spelling obsessive and the teachers stopped worrying.

3) I have 2 miniature shetlands called Nymph and Luna.

4) When I was 9, I went through a phase where I was terrified of vampires. Not the sparkly glitterpeen kind, but the bad-ass murderous kind. I slept with my Child's Bible and a silver cross beside my bed for a whole year.

5) My closest celebrity connections are that my cousin's best friend went out with the singer Joss Stone at school (and then dumped her for being a hippy), and last year I was in the same art group at school with a boy who is now a top catwalk model.

6) I live 3 miles away from the sea, with many hills and valleys in between, but when it's windy I can hear the sea crashing.

7) When I first started school, I was the only girl in my year group. There were 4 of us in total, and I'm still a real tomboy.

8) I pride myself on buying cheap clothes, and will tell everyone who complements me on my outfit that "the shirt only cost £2!"

9) When I was seven, I took my SATs test (a UK thing I think) and the teaher called my parents in because apparently my English/language/writing skills were that of a clever eleven year old. And it helped that I was writing my name the proper way by then, too.

10) I am obsessed with old country houses, like the ones in Jane Austen. I spent an entire childhood visiting National Trust houses every Sunday with my family, and now, at 18, I'm addicted. Yes, I'm aware it's not cool.

And my ten questions:

1) Pantser or Plotter?
Pantser all the way, guys. For my current WIP, I've got a sort of structure, because it's all about a list, but I'm 100% pantser.

2) Do you listen to music while writing?
Yes and no. No, if I'm writing a difficult scene, one where I can't quite figure out the words for my characters. Yes, if I'm writing a scene I've already totally worked out in my head, because a bit of crashy angsty Evanescence always helps ;)

3) What genre do you write in?
YA Contemporary all the way. I haven't got the skillage to write paranormal bad boys, because I just end up laughing - so you pnr writers, I admire you.

4)Books on writing you recommend?
Writers' and Artists' Yearbook?

5) Which are your favourite authors?
Gail Giles, K.M. Peyton, Gillian Phillip, Hannah Moskowitz, John Green, the Pullein-Thompson sisters (for epically good pony books)...I could go on forever.

6) How long have you been writing?
Since I was 14, properly (aka books). So 4 years.

7) What is your fave part of the writing process?
Ooh. Probably a tie between finishing the first draft (oh, the relief!) and getting a Shiny New Idea. The can't-eat-because-I'm-so-excited feeling of a new idea is great.

8) How do you capture ideas when you are on the go?
I get most of my ideas on the go. When I'm on the bus I always listen to my iPod and that's when I get my best ideas.

9) How do you handle bad reviews?
One day, I will hopefully get a book published and then no doubt the bad reviews will roll in, but for the moment I'm going to have to say N/A. Hopefully this'll change!

10) Worst writing mistake you make?
Comma splices, too many commas, commas in the wrong places, overlong sentences...you get the idea. Commas hate me because I love them too much. As you'll probably notice in every single on e of my blog posts.

So that's all, folks. I realise I sound pretty boring, but I'd like to think I'm more interesting in real life! I can't narrow it down to ten people, so I'm going to nominate the first ten people who comment on this post - fire away, people!

Liebster Love!

Yay - my first blog award! A while back, the lovely Carissa Taylor tagged me for a Liebster Blog Award, and being the forgetful, stressed-out A-Level student that I am, I've only just got round to posting this now - sorry Carissa! Apparently, the word “liebster” is German and means “favorite, beloved, dearest”. It's given to favorite blogs that motivate and inspire us, and have less than 200 followers.

Accepting the award involves:
1. Show thanks to the blogger who awarded you by linking back to their blog.
2. Pick 5 blogs with less than 200 followers and let them know about your nomination by leaving a comment on their blog
3. Post the award on your blog!

And here's my problem: My ancient PC won't let me see how many followers each blog has - so I have no way of knowing the amount of followers everyone has. There are so many totally awesome bloggers out there with less than 200, but until I can upgrade this pile of junk there's not much I can do :(

So anyone with less than 200 followers who follows me and is reading this, feel free to tag yourself as my Liebster awards!