New books I'm looking forward to this year

 It's time for a new year of Long and Short Reviews blog posts, and this is a topic I always like - although I have fewer books on my pre-order list than usual.

The first is "The Fatal Unpleasantness at Netherfield" by Claudia Gray. I always love her Jane Austen-inspired mystery series, although I do hope the slow-burn romance is going to burn a little higher in this one.

And the second is "Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel" by Lucy Foley. Agatha Christie continuances are always risky, but after the many Poirots by Sophie Hannah it'll be interesting to see a Miss Marple one for a change.

Other than that I have seven other books in my "currently reading" pile and will be working on those while I wait.

I'm interested to see which books everyone else will have on their list!

Something I wish I were better at doing

 We're coming up to Christmas now, so I'm closing off this year's Long and Short Reviews blogs with something I often think about at this time of year.

As a teenager I wanted to be an actress. Specifically in musical theatre, although I'd have been fine with pretty much anything. According to my drama teachers I was a decent actress and, at the time, I had a good singing voice - I was classically trained and was good at the musical theatre songs.

Unfortunately I fell down hard when it came to dance. I have reasonable rhythm but I can't remember steps for the life of me. I did ask my parents for dancing lessons but my dad REALLY didn't want me to act and so refused point blank. 

He also started many arguments about my wanting to study acting, which ultimately resulted in me giving up on the whole thing and going to university for something else entirely.

Do I miss it? Yes. I don't sing any more either and I don't have time to get back into it. But I do wish I had been better at dancing and that I could still sing.

I wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy New Year! 

My earliest memory

 I'm back on Long and Short Review's blog challenge after a short break and had to think about this prompt for a moment. I can't really remember anything that happened before I was about four years old, but there was one memory that stuck out for me.

My grandfather owned a farm and my dad would take us down to Dorset to visit him at least once a year. I can remember running around the fields and the apple orchard, feeding ducklings and playing with the farm cat Ginger (who was friendly enough as long as you didn't try to stop him catching mice), but one thing I do remember quite vividly was an incident with Grandad's herd of cows. One of the cows had a calf, and after seeing the calf was lying down in the field I had climbed the fence and lain down next to it. 

The calf was happy enough to have me as a companion, but my mother was mildly concerned when she found me there, since the mother cow was standing over the pair of us looking very mama-bear and Mum wasn't convinced she would be able to get me back inside without the cow trying to protect me.

Fortunately, after a quick discussion with Dad, Mum managed to convince me that it was nearly time for lunch and to leave the calf to rest now. I remember the mother cow didn't look very impressed when I got up, but she didn't try to stop me leaving, which is just as well as, to my extremely young eyes, she was about the size of a house.

I'm interested to see what memories everyone else will have!

A strange or useless talent I have

 When this topic from Long and Short Reviews popped up I had to answer, simply because this is one I've had arguments with people about many times - ridiculous arguments, I might add, since the complaint is usually "Why do you know all this stupid shit?"

Remembering who actors are and whether or not they sign autographs.

I collect autographs in my spare time and absolutely love the cinema, so I'm quite good at recognising somebody and saying "Oh, that's X, they were in Y and Z. They sign, but only through venues, not via their agent." I've had a lot of people roll their eyes and wonder why anyone would need to know all this, and the simple answer is I don't need to - it's just something that comes from loving films and knowing who it's worth trying to contact. No point writing to Tom Cruise when he only signs at premieres.

I'm interested to see what everyone else will come up with!

Things that scare me

 I'm back on the Long and Short Reviews blog hop after a break as I liked this one. I probably have a few phobias which are shared widely, but I can think of two that people often find weird.

One is thalassophobia - fear of wide expanses of water and what might be underneath them. For me it's less a terrifying fear and more a "let's watch thalassophobia videos on YouTube" type of fear. There are lots available involving rogue waves, krakens and the like, and all of that I find scary - which is one of the reasons I've never been on a cruise, since I get nervous if I can't see the shore.

The other? Mirrors in the dark. I've seen far too many horror films where someone looks in a mirror at night and sees their face distorted, or someone else behind them, or their reflection tells them to get out of the house. There's just something creepy about a mirror at night, which is why I make sure the light is on if I'm in the bathroom.

I'm curious to see what everyone else will suggest!

How I handle bad days

 After a break enforced by a short holiday and some medical issues, I'm back on the Long and Short Reviews blog hop for this one.

Believe me, I've had to find methods of self-care, ever since working at my previous job where people, including me, were off sick with stress multiple times a year. That's less of an issue with my current day job, but it's still something I have to keep an eye on.

So how do I handle a bad day?

It's quite simple really. I have two major guilty pleasures which I combine when I need to chill out.

I pour a glass of wine and put on a quiz show.

I'm not going to explain why I go for the wine, but quiz shows have always been something I love to relax to, and luckily there will always be at least one on Challenge.

So how do you handle bad days?

Books I had to read in school and didn't like

 I had to laugh when this topic from Long and Short Reviews came up. I have often had people ask me if, as a writer, I enjoyed English literature at school and my simple answer is that no, I didn't. The entire process of reading a book slowly out loud in class, paragraph by paragraph, analysing every word in every sentence, seemed designed to destroy any love of literature - as was proven to me by the fact that I enjoyed "To Kill a Mockingbird", which I read by choice, whereas my friends who were forced to study it hated every word in that book.

The two that I remember specifically? "The Catcher in the Rye" and "Lord of the Flies". I imagine I would have enjoyed them more had I not been forced to write essays comparing Roger and Simon or dissecting Holden's memories of his younger brother. The only part I didn't mind was when we were asked to write an extra chapter of "The Catcher in the Rye", which I used to give Holden a second shot with his childhood sweetheart. I liked having the chance to adapt my writing style to match the book, and apparently I did a reasonable job at it since I got a decent mark.

Hmm. Maybe that's why I liked working with Totally Bound on "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" so much. 

So which books did you read in school and dislike?