Redly

Wow thank you Keth. And thank you for the comment. I love writing. Blogging gives me a seriously good outlet for talking about deeper stuff and trying to be eloquent. You can subscribe to it if you want to know when I've posted again. If you want more of my random! Ha!

That’s it does. Or tea. Tea is also good!

Ha ha you’re welcome! I love to share. Kyleigh, said star baker, is pretty amazing. The candy cake was phenomenal. Its good fun. The charity do a coffee morning every year as their drive to raise a shit load of money, but we choose to sell cake instead. It works out so well, especially being in a training school - there’s always hungry students either going to or returning from a muddy field.

Instead of heading back into painting or other more traditional art mediums (as I see them), I took a foray into line drawing and hand lettering, largely because I started bullet journaling and many of the inspirations I followed used both to make the journal prettier. Heres some of what I get up. Not all in my journal. This was my motto for 2017. Some of my colouring from my Secret Garden book. My first hand lettering piece. It will have a frame around it but I haven’t decided what yet.

forgive the random sizes. I had to clip a fair bit out.

Also courtesy of our star baker was this beauty. This was a weigh the cake competition. There is a real cake inside there.

Here's the epic, homemade rainbow cake. Sorry, I've had to clip a lot of the image for security reasons, as this was done at work! I'll add more in a second.

Thorn allowed a throaty, loud laugh. "Yui, I'm glad you like it! There's no need to be embarrassed." Alanna joined in with Yui's questioning as she came back in and Thorn's grin faded to a smile slightly. "Aye, of course. My name is Thorn. And no, I am definitely not Fae. I'm actually a hybrid from an era that perhaps might be future to any of yours, but certainly from a different world. My world also had sat nav, Yui, but also explosive weapons, science labs filled with living experiments - like me - and, worst of all, politics." She shuddered involuntarily. "So you can all call me Thorn. I've been Thorn since I became a hybrid soldier in my world, long before I became Lost." She brought the flat of her hand down on the bar, firmly but not hard. She winked at Alanna, and smirked in a friendly, casual way, showing off little pointy teeth. "I'll be right back. I'll get some food on that you won't regret having!" Thorn left the bar area and went back to the kitchen. She grabbed several plates from a shelf to one side of the room, and then a silver platter from a cupboard on the other. Thorn spun around to the other side of the room, pulling open some wooden drawers and wicker baskets, grabbing bits and pieces as she went, humming to herself. It was so good to have some other people here! It had been a while since her last companion had left. Grabbing a black pot from another shelf, Thorn dipped it into the cauldron and then hung it on a hook near the cauldron over the burning fire. Stoking the embers and adding a couple of logs, she threw the bits from the drawers in: several carrots, some parsnips, and potatoes. A quick pinch from pots on the stone shelf above the fire place, and she'd added some dried herbs, salt and pepper. Turning to the stove, Thorn snatched a cloth from the countertop nearest, pulled upon a squeaky door, pulled out a deep roasting tray from which protruded several bones. Around the bones were thick chunks of deep red-brown meat, bubbling in the juices surrounding them. She chucked a few onions in, pushed it back and closed the door. Standing, she rolled her shirt sleeves up from the heat, revealing intricate, woven tattoos that disappeared under the cloth. Sweeping back out to the bar, she announced dinner would be half an hour, just in time to see the door swing open and their latest friend arrive. "Welcome, friend! Welcome to the Inn!"

Sadly, not anymore. I have just become recently single and I'm not sure I'm ready for it, to be totally honest with you. I loved having that person you could rely on completely, but then I couldn't completely rely on him. Sometimes he didn't fully understand me, and that hurt. He left, in the end. I wish I had, a long time ago. But he was the braver one.

@Cyrain good to see you again. I'd love to read some of your stuff.

Thank you. I must say, I can't take the credit for the best ones. They were courtesy of my office's start baker. She baked about three million cakes. And a rainbow cake that was completely epic.

I have strange issues with dizziness and nausea anyway so I stay away from anything that might feel like that

Agreed. We could, alternatively, start a writing club? We’ve had one in here before but it died with the forums.

We could just do another thread in here? Then everyone can share. The only issue can be that free writing can be incredibly revealing because it is so free. If you commit to it, you record everything your head thinks without censorship. So it could be painful for some. It’s used as a therapy technique sometimes.

I must say, BBC Radio 4 do something similar occasionally with books. They did a dramatic reading of my favourite book, Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman a few years back. It starred quite a few people including James McAvoy, Natalie Dormer and Benedict Cumberbatch. It was brilliant. Not an audio book but all the dialogue and order of the book was perfect. They didn’t abridge or add sections. They’ve also done Good Omens by Gaiman again and Terry Pratchett. That was brilliant too.

Of course! I don’t give blood so I admire you. I’m actually under the weight parameters so I haven’t been able to. And the idea of giving blood and it making me vomit absolutely terrifies me, truth be told. Ever since a friend told me she was sick and passed out, I’ve never gone. I really should face that fear.

Oh for sure, that's Amy. Amy has been my rock, throughout my shitty relationship and the break-up. She totally gets all my weird habits, especially how much I love my stories. I swear, that girl buys me a new book every month. She's a real diamond. I can't remember exactly when we met, but we bumped into each other at the library where I work. She was volunteering at a kid's reading session, and we just instantly hit it off. We haven't known each other for many, many years, that's another friend, but we just click. I'd say she was my soul mate! That girl puts up with me in so many ways, so she does. She knows she won't hear from me often but when she does, I can be intense. I try my best not to be, for her. She has a hard enough time.

@hirondelle a friend of mine did a different kind of food challenge to force herself to give up the psychological attachment to food. The basic premise is that food is purely for survival - if you start to eat food for enjoyment, then you will end up over-eating and attaching emotion. So none of us really need cake (yeah I said that) but my goodness do we want it. She broke the psychological connection with food by going back to basics and eating really plain food. I can find the challenge if you want. It will not be fun for a little bit, but it helped her. She lost a load of weight, in the end, and was happier being unattached to food. When she explained the challenge, it made total sense. Food = survival. Nothing else. It's amazing what food contains unusual macro levels when you start to look at them

Thanks for the recommend @Lightningfall. I'll keep an eye out for those. They sound great.

Wow, that's a difficult question, right away. Um. I think the worst thing I've ever done is cheat on an essay. I had a friend, I can't even remember her name, help me write an essay I hadn't made time to write. We laughed and thought we were so smart. My teacher asked me about how I'd produced an essay so quickly - I guess I wasn't that smart - and I lied to her face, telling her I'd been up all night. She told my parents, still, like she knew. I'm probably not a great liar. Oh my God they were so disappointed that I might have cheated. I cried and cried. Since then, I've never cheated. I worked so hard after that day. I must have been about 15, maybe? I hated seeing the disappointment on my Mum and Dad's faces.

I'm currently trying to get my head back into writing the novel I've had planned for (too many) years. I have a rough outline of the plot, but want to now focus on the characters, making sure they are real. One of the ways to do this is to interview them. I thought it would be fun if other people came up with the questions and I replied as my character. Her name is Keelin. That's all I'm giving for now. I know some rough details, but want to hear her. Any help would be much appreciated. Your questions can be basics (where are you from, what do you do, etc) or complex, moral issues (what would you do if someone cheated on you). This could be interesting!

You could make your own protein energy balls? Then you can keep the sugar count down. I suppose it depends on what ingredients you can get there? Also, my cousin is doing a naturopathic course - basically natural nutrition and healing, absolutely fascinating - and says one of the most misunderstood things about hunger is that we aren't actually hungry. We're thirsty and dehydrated. Most human beings are chronically dehydrated. I made an effort to drink more water after that, but infuse it with lemon slices and ginger. Yummy and a massive boost to my immune system. If I come across other high protein snacks, I'll send them your way.

Thorn's peculiar eyes glanced between Yui and Rapture - now Bob - and finally to Alanna. She jerked her chin in Bob's direction and grinned. "That depends on what you like to eat. I've got mutton, lamb, venison and chicken. I also have various different vegetables, fresh from the plot outside, and fruits. I'm afraid I have no bananas - the Inn hasn't been placed anywhere tropical or convenient for a while." She looked to Yui and back to Bob. "I have a shoulder of lamb fresh out of the oven, slow-cooked and ridiculously tender, if you'd like that and some bread? It sure beats stew." "Yui, I must say, that's the first time I've heard of someone becoming lost because they left their sat nav at home! What were you looking for?" Whilst waiting, Thorn busied herself grabbing a big mug from under the bar. She quickly nipped through the door that led to the hallway and the stairs to the rooms. A smaller, cooler room behind a heavy wooden door was the pantry and Thorn grabbed a generous helping of powdered cocoa, a few pieces of milk chocolate she had traded with another of the Lost travellers from a while back, and a small ceramic container. Coming out the pantry, she swung left and into the kitchen as Alanna was heading upstairs. A large cauldron hung over a pile of glimmering embers, bubbling gently. Grabbing a ladle from the nearest utensil stand, she spooned boiling water into the mug in her hand, inhaling the scent of cocoa powder and melting chocolate. Before leaving the kitchen, with a spare finger, she grabbed up a teaspoon and headed back to the bar. Setting the now-steaming mug on the bar in front of Yui, she smiled and pushed the container towards her. "Hot cocoa, with real chocolate and, if you wish, cinnamon on top. Enjoy!"

Oh god yes you do. It's really quite twisted and really well done. I absolutely adore Tom Hardy anyway, and I think this is where he does so well, with darker, twisted and haunted characters. I loved it and cannot wait for the second season.

Do you mean the results of people's free-writing?