Wanderlust
The Obligatory 2011 Wrap-Up Post
Another year has passed, and tomorrow will dawn the start of 2012. For me, this past year has been one full of changes and new beginnings and generally just lots of new. It’s been exciting and scary and crazy, and it’s sometimes hard for me to believe I’m where I am. But even with all the changes, it was just a sort of plodding along one with my writing. Yes, I got quite a bit done, but I wasn’t as productive as I’ve been in years past. I chalk a bit of that up to all the changes. Anyway, here’s my wrap-up of 2011!
January: In January, I packed up all my belongings in NYC and put them in a truck heading down to my parents’ house in TN for my big months-long trip/move over to England with Victoria. I did quite a bit of first drafting on my NYC book.
February: I landed in England early on the morning of February 1st and settled into the house in Liverpool. I did more first drafting on my NYC book, I started my freelance career, and I got my acceptance letter for postgraduate study at Aberystwyth University in Wales!
March: I finished the first draft of my NYC book. Finally!
April: Revised and revised and revised my NYC book. I walked to an island and back at low tide. I started getting all my accommodation and funding in place for university.
May: I finished revising my NYC book and sent it to my agent with fingers crossed. I took a glorious two week trip to southern Spain, and when I got back, I got my revision letter from my agent and got to work.
June: I finished the first revision pass with my agent and sent the manuscript back over. I also took a day trip to Wales to visit the university and get more information about the course and accommodation. Oh, and take photos of the sea. 
July: Ah, July. This was the month of the last Harry Potter movie. It was also my birthday, which I got to celebrate in England before taking a one-night trip to Ireland and then heading home to visit with my family in America. I also got my second round of revision notes from my agent.
August: In August, I finished up revisions for my agent on my NYC book! I spent three weeks in Tennessee with my family, re-reading Harry Potter and enjoying real summer weather. I also got my student visa and packed up a couple boxes for school. Then, I headed off for ten days in Spain before flying back to England.
September: In September, I got the short story bug and wrote three in quick succession. I submitted two of them. One didn’t pan out, unfortunately, and I’m still waiting to hear back on the other. We shall see! I’d like to do more of them in the future. I also moved to Wales, registered for classes and got back into university life!
October: This month was all about school, school, school for me. I handed in my first postgraduate UK essay. I didn’t do much fiction writing this month, mostly brainstorming ideas and making plotting notes for my next project.
November: Another month where I focused on schoolwork and handed in the hardest research essay I’ve ever had to write. Again, I didn’t do much fiction writing, but I did nail down exactly what my next project would be and made progress on an outline.
December: Handed in another essay! Sensing a theme here, yes? I also started working on (what I’m doing now) the four assignments I have due mid-January. Eep. I took a weekend trip to London where I hung out with Shana Silver, talked books, stopped by a Tardis and visited Platform 9 3/4. I did more outlining on that next project and got some first drafting done on it as well. For the holidays, I took a trip to Liverpool (where I still am) for a British Christmas and to ring in the New Year.
And there we have it. My year in summary. I didn’t do a goals post at the beginning of the year, so I can’t cross things off a list, but I feel pretty good about my year! It’s been a big one. As for 2012 goals, I’ll do that post tomorrow. Happy New Year’s Eve everyone and so long 2011!
To Londontown!
Hi all! This morning I’m heading to London for the weekend! Shana Silver is over here in the UK for work, but she has the weekend off, and we’re going to spend the time in England’s signature city touring literary hotspots (Platform 9 3/4 anyone?), browsing bookstores in Oxford Circus and, I’m sure, talking about books and writing. I’m hoping to snap a lot of photos and maybe even take some video footage of us taking London by storm! Ha. And when I get back Sunday night, the Student Union here is having a free showing of Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows Part 2!
December is off to a great start.
Life In Wales
Things have been a bit busy for me these days, what with all the postgraduate research, the new life in Wales and, unfortunately, sinus allergies. Technically, the allergies weren’t making me busy. Just all around stuffy and ill-feeling. It happens every October/November. Leaves fall from the trees and my sinuses stage a revolt. I’d actually started thinking I’d grown out of it because the revolt was more like a small fist fight when I lived in New York. But these gorgeous rolling hills of Wales backdropped by the sea come with a lot of trees and a lot of wind. Sure is pretty though.
Seafront
By The Sea
Up On Campus
Anyway, that’s probably more than any of you wanted to know about my allergies, and thankfully, I’m feeling a lot better now.
Unsurprisingly, the essays and research papers for my course are the hardest I’ve ever had to do. I’ve turned in two so far and another is due is a couple weeks. The fall semester is laid out differently here, officially starting early October and ending in late January. Yes, late January rather than December. Christmas holidays are in the middle of the term, and when they’re over, I have two research papers due that Monday, another due the following Monday and an open book practical for my Palaeography module right in the middle of it all. (Palaeography is translating 15th to 17th century English court hand on old documents into more readable text. This is what the old handwriting looks like if you’re curious.)
That’s an intense schedule. Needless to say, my holiday break isn’t going to be as relaxed as I’d imagined.
A Short Cut To Lecture
To be honest, though, I’m loving all this researching and writing, especially because it’s on topics I’m really interested in. Libraries, e-books, digital services in libraries, developing programs for academic library users, online catalogues of books, magazines and newspapers. Love, love, love. It’s truly the perfect meld of my favorite things: books and libraries, academia, and technology. This week, my course went on a behind-the-scenes tour of the National Library of Wales. Gorgeous, amazing place, where we learned about digitizing those old English court documents I’m learning to translate.
National Library of Wales
Amidst all this, I’m also working on my new WIP. I had a few plot setbacks, but armed with a new and improved outline, I’m ready to draft. I’m jealous of all those who are NaNoing, but I just couldn’t do it this year.
Anyway, I have a pile of reading to do and a research paper to start outlining. So, I will leave you with this:
<3
Verano en España!
After spending three weeks in America with my family, I headed off for a 10-day trip to the Spanish coast on the 15th via one of the longest plane journeys I’ve had so far. From my parents’ house in Tennessee to the flat where I was staying in Sanet y Negrals, it was a little over 24 hours of travel. Exhauuuusting, but totally worth it.
I flew from Nashville at around 9:30am down to Miami, where I had a four-hour layover. There, I had some lunch, chatted to friends online and got myself one of those travel neck pillows for the eight-hour, overnight flight. I’ve always had trouble sleeping on airplanes because my head falls forward every time I nod off to sleep. This pillow was one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. For once, I actually got some sleep on a flight, although admittedly still not a lot since there were crying children sitting right in front of me.
Due to some weather delays in Miami, I ended up landing in Madrid with about half and hour until my boarding gate closed for my flight on to Alicante. I managed to mad dash through immigration and security, then airtrain my way to the right terminal and run to my gate just as they were doing final boarding call. Whew! A short hour later, I was finally done with flying, and I was finally in Alicante where I would meet my friends from England who were arriving only an hour later. Unfortunately, my luggage did not arrive in baggage claim after all that plane-hopping, and my (lack of) Spanish-speaking skills made for some confusing conversations until I finally discovered my bag was on the next flight out of Madrid and into Alicante and should be in baggage claim around the same time my friends arrived. And, thankfully, it did. Another close call!
My friends arrived, and we made the car journey from the airport to the village, and I promptly fell asleep with my face smashed against the car window. I try my hardest to stay awake until nighttime during jet lag like that to get my hours straight, but I literally could just not keep my eyes open. Soon enough, we arrived in the small Spanish village of Sanet y Negrals.
Sanet y Negrals
The next day we went out for tapas in the village of Benimeli (apparently home to only 429 residents), which are really just small portions of dishes where you’re meant to order several and nibble at them all. The restaurant was located in this little square by the local church. We sat outside on a warm summer evening, enjoying the very Spanish atmosphere, watching the local kids running through the narrow village streets.
The Village Church in Benimeli
At the tapas restaurant
The tapas restaurant
Here, I had maybe the best green olives I’ve ever tasted. They were so fresh you could tell they’d been grown locally and picked from the trees only recently. We also had a pizza that was decidedly not tapas portioned it was so huge. The food was delicious, and I loved sitting out in the little square. We went back several nights later, and I really wish I could remember the name of the place!
The next week was largely spent lounging on the beach, reading and enjoying the very sunny Spanish weather. Our beach of choice was in Xabia (Javea), called Playa de Arenal, with very warm water a lot calmer than the Eastern Atlantic shores I’m used to.
Javea Beach
Enjoying the beach
Our bright orange umbrella
Perfection
Several nights we ate at the Bus Stop Pizzeria in the village of Beniarbeig, probably my favorite restaurant of the trip. With large pizzas shared between two people at only 5 euros, it was also very affordable. It was situated right at the edge of the river, and I’m sure in cooler months, the rushing sound of water would be a nice backdrop to an evening meal, but as we were there in the hottest and driest month of the year, the river had almost completely disappeared.
Other than lounging on the beach and having nice meals, we took a trip to the nearby Chinese Bazaar, the name of which I can’t remember now. It was a large market full of random, inexpensive things fun to browse through. As a sort of souvenir, I picked myself up a small notebook for 50 cents which I plan to use for writing down book ideas and plotting notes. I also found a cute, vintage-looking alarm clock for my dorm room for only 2 euros! That’s one thing to mark off my list!
Time seemed to fly by and before I knew it we were packing up our suitcases and preparing for the journey back to England, another long and tiring experience for me! My friends were heading back the afternoon of the 25th, but I had my flight booked for overnight so that I could arrive in the UK on the 26th aka the day my student visa could be activated. So, I had about a 12-hour wait at the airport for my flight! I worked on plotting a new novel, worked on a freelance project, had some food, had some coffee, read, read some more, got on the little internet machine about five times, read, stared at the wall…
About halfway through the 12 hours
Finally, at 3am, my flight took off the ground, and I wrestled with falling asleep in the cramped quarters that is a Monarch Airlines plane seat. I managed to doze a little thanks to my neck pillow. A couple hours later, and we were landing early in Manchester. I was back in England! I went through immigration, kind of excited to use my student visa for the first time and get it activated. After that, I hopped on the train to Liverpool where I’m staying the next couple of weeks before heading off to school! I’m so excited to be back, and I can’t wait to start classes.
The next part of my adventure is about to begin.
Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth. Pronounced: Aber-ist-with.
The seaside in Aberystwyth, Wales.
This is where I am super happy to say I will be spending at least the next year as a student! I’ve been in America the past few weeks getting my student visa and preparing for the move, but in the morning, I’m off to Spain for a week and a half holiday, and then on to the UK to settle in for school!
So, exciting, busy times ahead! I can’t wait. I am and always have been a student at heart, and I can’t wait to be back on a campus, going to classes, taking notes and being all academic and stuff. :p
And in other news (!), I’ve also finished up a round of revisions for my agent on my latest project and have sent that off to her (as of yesterday, actually). Fingers crossed she loves the changes. I know I’m really loving how this book has taken shape. I had meant to do August CampNano, but I got her notes back and wanted to focus on revising instead. I do have a new idea I really want to get started on now, though, and luckily I’m taking my laptop to Spain with me.
Anyway, I have to be up early in the morning for long, long travel day, so I should say goodnight. Adios, buenas noches!
A Walk to Hilbre Island
Awhile ago, I took a trip to West Kirby beach here in the Liverpool area in order to take a walk across the soggy sand to an island. Yes, that’s right. A walk to an island.
At high tide, the water rushes right up to the shoreline, and the island can only be visited by boat. But during low tide, the water falls far back away, revealing a long stretch of beach. Enough of a stretch, in fact, that you can make the squishy, hour-long walk to explore the island. And then make it back. You have to time it right, though, checking the daily tide notice on the wooden signpost, or an unknowing hiker can find himself stranded there since the tide rushes back in fast when it does.
The beach at low tide.
Interestingly enough, there are a few homes on the island now, powered by solar panels and wind turbines. But, to me, most of the tiny plot of land feels a lot further from civilization than that short walk through the recessed waters. Even so, it’s believed to have been inhabited since as far back as the Stone Age, and there are still remnants of the busy trading port it become in the 1500s. A fading, broken dock ramp for boats. The stone skeleton of a building that resembles an inn.
The power source for the island.
My favorite parts of this little exploration were the nature aspects of it. At the base, there’s a small enclosure in the rocks. A small cave that isn’t really a cave at all, next to stone-carved steps leading up to the top of the island. From a distance, it made me feel as if I was walking onto the set of Lord of the Rings.
Bilbo is somewhere nearby.
On top of the island, there are rolling hills of tall, squishy grass that you almost sink into as you traverse across it. With the sun shining and reflecting off the ocean just in the distance, I just wanted to stretch out and read there for hours.
Perfect reading spot.
And then I found an even more perfect spot on a stone outcropping over the rocky shore below. Looking down, I could see the glimmering water and the moss-covered stones.
A view from a ledge.
The perch.
So, I just plopped myself down and wished I brought a book with me. Then remembered it was time to walk back. The water was beginning to push back against shores, and within the hour, the sand would melt away to blue.
The walk back.
Spanish Adventures
I’ve been a bit lax in my England blog posts and today’s update isn’t even about England. However, it IS about travel and the two weeks I recently spent overseas, specifically on the sunny coast of southern Spain.
Our first stop was a small village nestled in the mountains called Sanet y Negrals. I spent a week here, experiencing the quiet Spanish village life. There were a few small shops: a butcher, a florist and a tiny veggie shop with the biggest red peppers I’ve ever seen, but mostly the only sights and sounds were the horses trotting along the highway just outside the balcony. I spent the days here lazing in the sun and catching up on reading. I finally got around to devouring PARANORMALCY, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, I AM NUMBER FOUR and read my ARC of POSSESSION.
Sanet y Negrals
Quiet village streets
The next week, we moved on to Benidorm, a city right on the beach and a huge contrast to the small village in the mountains. Jam-packed with vacationers and full of restaurants and souvenir shops that reminded me a lot of Florida beach towns in the summer.
Benidorm beach
It was also incredibly British. No seriously. It’s full of more British pubs and restaurants than Liverpool. Everyone on the beach seemed to be a tourist from England. The bands who put on nightly shows were even mostly comprised of the English.
They sang lots of oldies.
The food was also surprisingly cheap. Our favorite restaurant was a British place called The Ship right on the beach that served a huge plate of delicious breakfast for only 4 euros. We’re talking the works: sauteed mushrooms and tomatoes, hash browns, toast, baked beans and eggs. I think we ate there every morning but one.
So, what else did I do in Benidorm? Spent some time on the beach both playing Chess and building a sandcastle replica of Gondor. Played some fooseball. Laughed a lot. It was a great trip, and I easily fell for Spain just like I’ve fallen for every place I’ve ever traveled to. There’s nothing quite like stepping off a plane and experiencing somewhere new for the first time. Travel, I love it.
I lost.
We built it during the day, but it still stood tall and proud and only slightly destroyed that night.
:)
The Food Myth
Before I ever visited England, I heard a lot of random notions that English food is just plain terrible. “If you travel to England, watch out for the food!” “I loved England, but the food was sooo bad!” But, in all the time I’ve spent here in the past year and especially during this extended trip, I’m finding the opposite to be true. Yeah, some of the combinations they’ve come up with sound odd, but I love the food here.
I’ve gotten especially into the English Breakfast (which might account for the little weight gain since I’ve been here… :-/).
New favorite breakfast.
Usually there are sausages included in this meal, but I don’t like sausages so I leave that part out. What we have here are hash browns, roasted tomatoes and mushrooms. And yes. That’s baked beans on toast. I know, I know. The baked beans for breakfast thing here struck me as really weird when I first saw it, and I’ll admit to being pretty skeptical. Baked beans? On toast? What? But it turns out I love it. I’ve gone to the local Tesco, bought a couple cans of baked beans and have been cooking them for my breakfasts.
Another big thing I must mention is the chocolate. I’ve gotten a little out of control with my chocolate consumption since arriving here because the sweets are so much better than American chocolate. It isn’t just the Cadbury brand (if you ever visit England, you HAVE to try their milk chocolate bars) but even the “cheap” chocolate here is better. Granted, Godiva chocolate in the U.S. is really good, but I’m thinking more of the general chocolate you find in supermarkets. Like Hershey’s chocolate. It just doesn’t compare. My current favorites are the Galaxy Minstrels and the Magnum Ice Cream Bars.
I’ve even tried incredibly healthy food such as a Veggie Pasty and a Chip Butty. Chips here are what we call fries, and a chip butty is basically a french fry sandwich.
So healthy.
Hmm, all this talk of hash browns and baked beans and chocolate is making me think I need to join a gym! Luckily, Victoria and I hit the supermarket yesterday, and I picked up some healthier cooking options to balance out all this heavy English food, though there is a definite draw to it after a chilly day walking the misty streets of northern England.
My New World in the Old World
Oh, where do I start! I’ve been quiet here on the blog as I’ve been settling into my new home and getting into a new rhythm of living. And, to be honest, I’m still settling.
The new home, the new location, the new time zone. It’s all an adjustment. I think I’m having the most trouble with the time zone issue, although to be fair, I’ve always been a night owl who prefers to sleep in when she can.
The bottom line though: I love it here.
Victoria and I are renting rooms in a share home. It actually turns out that the house is completely full at the moment which means there are a total of nine of us. Eight roommates! I’ve never experienced anything like this before. There is always someone around. If I wander downstairs to grab another cup of coffee, I will always run into someone watching TV or grabbing a snack. I’ve always felt I’m pretty independent. Someone who likes to live alone. But I’m finding I love not feeling lonely, especially since I’m in a foreign country, in a foreign city, where I only know about three people (besides my new housemates!). If I want to hang out, have a chat with someone, watch TV with someone, share a meal with someone, it’s as easy as wandering into a common room. Everyone here has been so helpful and friendly so far. I already feel like this is my home, even though it’s temporary.
With so many people, it’s surprisingly quiet here during the day. I’ve made myself a little creativity perch for writing and working, and with my view of the English rooftops out the window to my left, I’m feeling very inspired here.
My Perch
Rooftop View
Before we came, Victoria and I were looking at places all around Liverpool. Our hope was to find a place right in city centre, but most places there were let by realtors who required six month leases or more. So, we started looking at the surrounding neighborhoods let by private landlords. And we found this place. I only saw the neighborhood on Google streetview, but now being here, it’s more perfect than I could have hoped.
It’s a little outside of town. The bus into Liverpool One took me a little over fifteen minutes. That’s not quick, but it’s close enough for me. The reason I love the neighborhood though is it just feels so British to me. The old, cottage-like architecture and the little side roads with moss-covered stone walls. On my walk yesterday, I passed by homes that had little signs out front specifying them as the Something-or-other Cottage (I don’t remember the exact name now). In the next day or so, I’ll take a walk to snap some photos of the area. Not to mention, there is a Tesco nearby, a few great shops and restaurants and plenty of cafes. Yesterday, I stumbled upon a Costa. Mmmmm. Best cappuccinos ever.
The Old World
I feel like there’s so much more I could say. How fun it is that my housemates are sometimes intrigued by my American words and phrases, how tasty the coffee and chocolate is, how I’ve found I love a traditional English breakfast (minus the sausages). I know baked beans on toast sounds odd, but I love it! I even love how I have my own little shelf in the freezer, in the refrigerator and in the cupboards. The whole share house experience is so new and different for me, I’m just having so much fun with even the little things.
But as exciting as all this is, my week felt complete yesterday when a package from home showed up in the front hallway. My parents shipped me a small box of some of my TBR books. And to me, a home is not a home without books.
And The Adventure Begins!
I landed in England early this morning. As I sit here typing, I’m in a cafe having my first cappuccino of the trip, waiting to make my way to the house where Victoria and I will be staying. I am very tired and very excited!
More soon!
Jetlagged