Monday 21 March 2011

MONDAY ROUND-UP

Hello, and happy Monday! Today I bring you a random round-up of my various deeds and misdeeds over the weekend.
  1. Taylor Swift. Turns out I like some of her stuff. I know. I KNOW, all right? But I was in a restaurant on Saturday and there was this really amazing song playing and I asked the waitress what it was and she said it was Taylor Swift and I totally didn't believe her because - what? This song is good, dude! So I went home, Googled and, OMG! Turns out Taylor Swift can actually sing! And not all of her songs are really annoying and whiny like that stupid Romeo and Juliet song (seriously? 'Daddy says stay away from Juliet'? Eugh). So anyway, I've been listening to this all weekend, and it's awesome. Make of it what you will.
  2. Two hundred followers? Holy Cr*p you guys! I really want to say 'Whoot!' or something but, even though I'm really happy, it won't come out because I'm also terrified. Listen, I'm a performer. All my life, I've been involved in dance and drama groups. I've performed in front of audiences of hundreds of people. I've even read my own poetry out! But the one thing I've never, ever had the nerve to do was sing solo in public. Everytime that I was scheduled to do it I always got so scared that I lost my voice and literally. Could. Not. So...this is pretty big. I think I've said before that it takes me a full day to make a vlog normally - shooting the material, editing it, uploading it. And in this case I've also got to find a blues song (which is hard because I don't really know any - I'm just grateful that I didn't randomy say jazz, 'cos I know even less about that) and make sure I can actually sing it. Give me a little time. You'll get your ritual humiliation, okay? Don't rush me.
  3. Now I can do my 'whoot'. Because I passed the 50% mark in my FrostFire re-write this weekend! WHOOT! This means I've written the vast majority of the new material, which is the slow work. Now I'm going to be going into the actual re-writing, which, while still tough, will hopefully go much faster.
  4. Authors for Japan finished this weekend and raised an incredible £10,962.25 (subject to sums being checked) for the relief efforts in Japan. I'm pretty appalled that the British media seems to have dropped the disaster in Japan from the top news spot now (the suffering of thousands of people who need our help getting tedious or something, Beeb?) but at least I can feel like we did something.
Not bad for a weekend's work, I feel. 

As for this week - you'll probably remember that I promised an interview and giveaway with Fabulous Author Lee Weatherly (we loves her, precious), so you won't want to miss that. Tune in, same bat time, same bat channel, on Wednesday. And now...away, to the Writing Cave! 

18 comments:

Alex Mullarky said...

Well done on the Authors for Japan front! You inspired me to donate at the very least :)

Zoë Marriott said...

What a lovely thing to say! I'm so glad.

I'mDifferentButMe said...

My friend from Fukushima, got evacuated to Osaka and I have to say it's really good that everyone's donating.

And Taylor Swift- I love her and am going to see her next week live and if you want a really sweet song check out The Best Day :)

Zoë Marriott said...

I only wish that we were doing more. It feels so strange that we're willing to invade countries and take them over (which is effectively what both the Afghan and Iraq wars were) and plough billions into that, but when a country is devastated, utterly wrecked by disaster like Japan, we get bored of it after a week and move on.

Don't encourage my Taylor Swift obsession, dammit! I'm still trying to be cool over here! :)

Anonymous said...

OMG I love that EXACT song by Tay, along with If This Was a Movie and a few more. Some songs of hers I DON'T like, though.

Zoë Marriott said...

Well, I suppose I'll just have to put my big girl pants on and admit that I like her stuff then. I think I'm fine so long as I still loathe The Beiber. And I DO.

bfree15 said...

I confess to having 2 of Taylor Swift's albums and that is one of my favourites. Yes best not to mention Beiber lol.

Your right there doesn't seem to be much coverage about the diaster in Japan. When I spoke about it recently to someone it took them a moment to remember that something this catastrophic had actually happened. There seemed to be much more about the Haiti earthquake, even a charity single.

I'mDifferentButMe said...

I think the reason for there being less help is because Haiti couldn't afford to help itself as much as Japan can (but we should help).
As for Taylor Swift- I have 7 of her CDs, I agree some songs aren't brilliant but some are amazing (I'd Lie).

Zoë Marriott said...

bfree: I shouldn't even have said the B-word. I'm told if you repeat it three times at midnight in the girl's toilet HE APPEARS!

I'mDifferent: All right! God, I'm being buried under mountains of Taylor love here. I promise I'll check out her album, OK?

Isabel said...

Ever since her newest album came out I LOVE Taylor Swift. One of my friends gave me her Fearless album for free. It's a great album -- White Horse is a great song too, very sad, but great. I love so many of her songs it's hard to recommend them all here, but I also love Back to December! Thumbs up if you knew it is about TAYLOR LAUTNER!!! I am definitely not a Twilight fan, but still... she's actually talking about her life experiences, in this album, especially. Zoe, GO BUY IT!!!

Looking forward to the video, but I actually DO feel very bad for you. I know how you feel, okay? Relax -- we all loves you and you're gonna be great!

Looking forward to the giveaway, and I can't wait because tomorrow Wither comes out. I'm going to order it along with the second Demons book (*Spoiler Alert* HE'S A DEMONNNN??? Just found out today AHHH!!!!) and Entangled. And there may be a few others. I have to order all my books online nowadays since Borders is closing down. *Sigh*

Zoë Marriott said...

Isabel: I will add the album to my 'Maybe' list. I don't want to rush into anything. This could just be a phase brought on by too much stress :) I hope you enjoy all your books!

Alex Mullarky said...

We all loathe The Bieber. He's on a different level.

Zoë Marriott said...

Well, apparently quite a lot of ppl like him, or else he wouldn't be a multimillionaire music phenomenom. Someone had a go at me on Twitter not long ago, telling me not to bash him! So there you are. Officially, 50% of the world is insane.

Megha said...

Well. Yes, I am insane. And YES, I do like Justin Bieber. But I HATE the fact that people are REALLY rude to him. I mean, it's a different thing SAYING that you don't like him, and then making REALLY rude comments about him.

But yes, I DO like Justin Bieber, thanks to my friend.

Zoë Marriott said...

Well, it would certainly be a funny world if we were all the same, Megha. I have to be honest and say that I HATE Justin Beiber's voice. I find it really annoying. And I don't like his musical style either. But everyone who puts their work out into the world has to put up with people who don't like it, that's part of being an artist. I make no personal comments about him - I don't know him. And I don't like it when his fans swarm on people just because they don't like his music and make personal comments about THEM. The best way is for us all to respect each other's choices and be as polite as possible.

Isabel said...

I finished The Demon's Lexicon yesterday and I will be posting a review on Goodreads. However, there may be spoilers, so if you have not read it, steer clear! I started The Iron Witch today and I am very impressed with Karen Mahoney's writing voice. I will be ordering The Demon's Covenant, Entangled, and Wither today. I can't wait to read them! And I'm so excited to receive my signed bookplates for The Iron Witch this week. EEPPP!!!!

Isabel said...

I've written my review and posted it on Goodreads. It's my first Goodreads review, so I hope it's okay... I'm not that good at reviews quite yet, but I'm getting better. I definitely had mixed feelings about this book. I'm going to go order The Demon's Covenant now. I'm so excited!!!!

Zoë Marriott said...

I'm glad you enjoyed Demon's Lexicon enough to order the sequel, Isabel. Well done for writing your first Goodreads review, too.

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