I'm awkward

Just as a little disclaimer, there is a poem I have read twice now that refuses to be caught on camera. The first time, my friend forgot. The second time, my camera bugged out. Do not fret, however! The rest of my performance comprised of poems you can find here and here. Today's video is a snippet from my reading at a recent event that was put on to celebrate the launch of-

Okay, you know what? That sentence was going to be unnecessarily long-winded and my brain gave up on it halfway through thinking it up. Let me take some time out to give you some background and context. Ready?

In 2011 I went to a Creative Writing summer school which lasted three days. During those three days, I met two amazing writers who I kept in contact with all through these years. One of them set up a blog to encourage and showcase writers, and recently decided to expand it. It is now a fully blown website. Or, it will be, once they've ironed out the kinks. I'll share the link when it's ready and you can be just as blown away as I was. For now, here's their official Facebook page to give you an idea what it's all about.

To celebrate the creation of this website there was a launch event: an evening which applauded the written word as writers stood up and read something they'd written. There were poems, short stories - and mingling. Oh yes, there was mingling. I mingled. I'm a mingler. I'm the type of smooth and competent mingler who walks away mid-conversation because she can't think of something of value to add. Which, I realised about three seconds later, was probably seen as incredibly rude.

I'M AWKWARD OKAY?! *breathes* I'm awkward. Hence this poem:

Skulduggery Pleasant: the Dying of the Light

I do genuinely love the series.

This was meant to be a book review. It's more of a rant (sorry).

I've been following Derek Landy's Skulduggery Pleasant novel series for about five or six years. I discovered it by being amazed that my younger brother/twin was reading a book, and, becoming intrigued by the skeleton on the front cover, I asked to read it when he was done.

Nine books later, here we are. If you've never heard of it, the Skulduggery Pleasant series is about a skeleton detective and his teenage sidekick/apprentice as they fight to save the world. It's set in Ireland, uses a variety of magic, and the style is incredibly witty and fun.

I was gripped from the first book, when my favourite character nearly died (I was later to learn she had died in an earlier draft). A character known as the strongest man on earth got killed in a later book. And the main character was, as you know by now, an undead skeleton. The novels were gritty even while they were witty (I couldn't resist the rhyme!).

That being said, the final book disappointed me. It maintained the level of humour, action and character dynamics I was used to. Sure, it killed off a lot of my favourite characters without ever giving the hope of bringing them back. Okay, it did ruin the chance of my favourite fictional romance possibility ever. Yes, it marked the end of an era for me and my brother - ending a series we shared, giving us something to talk about it. I could deal with those things, fine.

21 selfies*

I turned 21 at long last! Being an August baby meant that my friends who were in my class at school treated me like I was five years younger, rather than just a few months. It meant I couldn't go out and celebrate when all my friends were 18, because they wanted to go out drinking and I wasn't legally old enough yet. Now, it often means that when it is finally my birthday, a lot of my friends are on holiday and so can't make it to the events I put on to celebrate. As long as they bring me some warm weather when they return, it's all good and gravy!

To commemorate my ageing process this year, I decided to try and get 21 selfies to document the occasion. I went to a vegetarian restaurant on the day of my birthday, and invited friends over the day afterwards (because the day afterwards was a Friday). That way I had a better chance of actually taking 21 seflies, which apparently turned out to be quite a lot of selfies for me. As it happened, I was only able to take 19 selfies - I wasn't smart and didn't count as I went along so I had no idea what number I was on at any stage.

Despite my failure, I have here for you 21 pictures from my two-day birthday: the 19 selfies and two pictures that were taken of me by my mum (photo 8) and a random stranger (photo 12).