The Scarecrow

One of my assignments for the unit I'm currently doing for my BA is to write a remediation of a text and post it online. So here is my remediation of the song The Scarecrow by Avantasia.

The man woke in the dust. A pale blue, hazy sky greeted his eyes. A burning sun just beyond his peripheral vision made his eyes water. Already he could feel the skin on the back of his neck burning. Hmm, skin. That is interesting, the man thought as he pulled himself to his feet. He looked at the desert surrounding him and his heart ached for the beauty that could have been. It could have been sprawling green fields, rivers and waterfalls, cattle could have grazed on the land and survived, fit and healthy. But it was nothing.

The man moved, his thin, skeletal legs barely supporting his weight. A body, he thought, his mind filling with ideas and thoughts as he examined his hands and arms. He could feel the sun and the dirt beneath his feet. He was hot, his body burned, but it was nothing compared to the burning as his body fell from heaven.

Slowly the man made his way from the desert and entered marsh and swampland. His body struggled to push through tangled vines and peat mud. The cacophonous sounds the jungle insects did nothing to dispel the voice in his head demanding answers to questions he tried so hard to think about. He tried not to think about her, but he wanted to know what had happened to her. He wanted to know how he came to be down on earth, but he tried not to think of the answer he knew awaited him. But he knew there would come a time when he could run no more. There would always be time.

The jungle vines parted before him and he stopped in shock and fear. A bamboo chair took up space between two enormous trees and on it sat a tall, imposing figure in black. The man stepped back in fear, finding himself suddenly trapped as the trees and vines behind him moved to block his way.

‘Who are you?’ the man in the chair asked, straightening up and peering at the lost man.

‘Scarecrow,’ the man replied.

‘Yes,’ replied the man in the chair. ‘And you are very lost. Welcome to my domain, Scarecrow. I wondered how long it would take for you to find your way to me.’

‘Who are you?’

‘Hah! You have fallen from the sky, just as I once fell from the sky. You didn’t believe the rules applied to you, just as I don’t believe they applied to me. Yet you ask me who I am?’ the man did not seem angry, more amused than anything else and Scarecrow found himself trying to take another step backwards. There was something mystifying about the man, the way his face seemed to change from young to old without really changing, and the way his eyes seemed to hold the whole future of the world in them. Scarecrow looked deeply, and found he did not like what he saw.

‘I am, Mephistopheles,’ the man on the chair said at last, rising and moving towards Scarecrow. ‘I am the one to push the pained, I am here to take the fallen away and treat their fears by forcing them to confront them. I am here to penetrate your soul and drag it through this unholy ground until there is nothing left of you that was once holy.’

Scarecrow shivered, but he found himself immersed in what the man had just told him. He felt as if he should be trying to run, but the man’s voice was so sweet and peaceful that he did not know why he should be trying to run.

‘I don’t want to be here,’ Scarecrow managed to say, breaking from the trace the man’s voice had him under. His head left groggy, but the questions still pounded. He remembered her.

Mephistopheles outreached hand snapped back from the inch it had been from Scarecrows head. His face contorted in a glare and he snarled. ‘I can see your thoughts, you think they are pure.’ He spat. ‘Wake up to this world! If what you had was meant to be you would be with her now and not with me!’

Scarecrow stared, his pulse racing as he stared at the suddenly huge and menacing creature before him. It was huge, snarling and vicious, black and winged.

‘No!’ he cried. ‘It was meant to be. There was a time!’ He moved away from the beast, forcing his body through the vines and then his feet were running and he was breaking free.

Trees blurred and swayed, vines swished and creaked around him as he ran for his life. Behind him, he could feel the beat of the giant wings as whatever the man was chased him from above. He broke free from the trees and his bare feet burned as they touched the burning desert.

A dark shade covered and then Mephistopheles had landed before him. The shade disappeared and Mephistopheles was a man again. He held his hands up, non-threateningly, calmly wishing Scarecrow to stop and listen to him.

‘I’m sorry, my friend, if I scared you,’ he purred. ‘It’s obvious that you don’t want to believe she gave you up and made it seem like it was somehow your fault. But your time has come. The winds have changed and blown you here. You believe it’s divine, well push all your stakes in with me and join me, together we will fly away and live peacefully.’

Scarecrow knew, somewhere deep inside, that the sweet words were dangerous. It sounded like he had offered him help, comfort and pity. But what he had heard wasn’t what the man had actually said. Scarecrow also knew that he did not have a choice and that the man would always follow him until he gave in. He knew this stranger was dangerous, but he also knew his time was long since up. He nodded.

Mephistopheles grinned. It was a short flight to hell, but, for Scarecrow, it would last eternity.

NaNoWriMo and Dastardious Hollow Approaches.

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is just around the corner, and a very special detective is about to return to life in The Cold Road, a Dastardious Hollow prequel.

Blood bodies are showing up tied to road signs, their hands pointing in the direction of the signs. In the silent dawn there are whispers of unholy things that happen out in the fields late at night, secret ceremonies attended to by hooded men. The townsfolk are freaked, and as the weight of the  deaths threatens to crush the town a young girl is kidnapped. The only evidence left at the scene is a note "The Moon rises in 6, Death rises in 7 and the first blood will water the crops". To James Holland, a fresh up and coming detective, the note makes little sense, but as it is his first case he knows he has one week to find the girl before the moon rises or risk having a black mark across his name.

I am very excited for this year's NaNoWriMo and can't wait to begin writing Hollow's prequel. It's going to be a very busy month as I will still be studying the two units I am taking as well as working. I am not sure how much of the novel I will actually be able to write, but the life of James Holland aka Dastardious Hollow will come to light.

Captain Von Delgo vs Peter Van Werkhoven

Captain Von Delgo is such an obscure name that, for a blog name, I don't know if it fits or not. How many people, if any, come across this blog of mine, read it, and think, 'who the hell is Captain Von Delgo? Why does he blog? And why doesn't the author, Peter Van Werkhoven, who actually writes the blog posts, whose name is actually on the side of the blog above a very brief bio, have his name in the title of the blog instead?'

It's a difficult answer. My name is Peter Van Werkhoven, I am an 18yr old from Australia, I enjoy writing and acting and am studying a BA in Professional Writing and Publishing and work as a kitchen hand in a restaurant. And that's me.

Captain Von Delgo, on the other hand, is also me, but a lot more complicated. Captain Von Delgo is a name that has a long history with me. The name itself is 5 years old and morphed from the nickname I always wanted to be called as a child -'Dingo'.

Dingo was the nickname of an Australian conman in one of the books in the Three Investigators series that I used to read as a kid. I read it, thought 'hey that is awesome, I want to be called that' and organised with my sister that we should call ourselves Australian animals as our nicknames. She choose Queen Brown after the snake and I called myself Dingo. The nickname lasted for a day because the only one we told the name to was our younger brother. The failure was probably due to the fact that I was close to either 11 or 12yrs old and had close to zero friends I could tell the name to.

So, fast forward to August 26, 2010, I was introduced to an online site called Shelfari. Shelfari is an online virtual bookshelf. On this site you can find any book you want, if you can't find it then you can create it and, once created or found, you can add it to your 'shelf' so everyone can see the books you have read, are planning to read, and are currently reading. To a 13yr old who loved to read this was fantastic sounding and I wanted an account. Just to put it out there, Shelfari is the first online site that I ever joined so it was equally exciting for me. I'd been on sites previously but they were always on accounts belonging to my Mum. This Shelfari account was to be mine, all mine. I could add the books I wanted, I could join the groups I wanted, I could write my own biography on my very own profile, I could even talk to who I wanted without having to begin the conversation with 'This is Peter' so that whoever I was talking to would not get confused thinking they were talking to my Mum. As a homeschooled kid this was my idea of a fun time.

However, before I could begin the exploration of this marvelous site, I had to create a username. Well, to a 13yr old who had no experience in these things the option was simple, 'Can I use my name?'

'Sorry, no, you can't use your own name for security reasons. You have to keep that private and choose a name that people won't be able to link back to you. You have to be careful of stalkers and be careful of people who pretend to be other people.'

That was not the answer I received in reply, but it was, however, all the warnings I did receive from my parents and older siblings.

Dilemma, what was I to do? If I couldn't use my real name I would have to think of something else. So... Dingo was the nickname I wanted, but the problem with me was that I could not for the life of me remember how to spell it. I spelled it wrong, but to me it looked correct so I kept the incorrect version which was 'Dengo'. But Dengo sounded so boring. What rhymed with Dengo? Delgo! It was at this moment that I began to add a little of my real name into the mix. I wrote Dengo Van Delgo. It was good, I was pleased, but it didn't quite sit right. Something was wrong. It didn't slide off the tongue. Van was Dutch, yet German's used 'Von'. So, Dengo Von Delgo. I liked it better. But, then, on further thinking, I realised that I had spelt Dingo wrong. Oh the embarrassment. Dingo Von Delgo I did not like so it had to go. What else could I put in to make the name sound better? After some serious thinking I decided that I would put a rank in there. I would be a Captain! I would henceforth be known on the virtual bookself site Shelfari as the Captain Von Delgo!

If you ever want to find me on a site I can tell you now that almost every single one my username will be Captain Von Delgo. I feel just as connected to that name as I am the one I was born with. The thought of naming my blog as 'Captain Von Delgo Blogs' just seemed the natural choice. However, if I want to be known as a writer and as an actor, owning a blog that does not even have my name in the title means that searching for it makes things very difficult. Unless you know I go by Captain Von Delgo how will you find me?

A while back I did change the title of my blog and put my own name in it, but I never really liked it so I changed it back to having my alias in the title. Now I am thinking again that maybe I should go back to using my own name, but it's difficult when I'm just as much Captain Von Delgo as I am Peter Van Werkhoven.

I would, and I have seriously considered it, use that as my pen name, but seeing as Captain Von Delgo is the name of my main character in my fantasy series that would look a little strange. So, because it is an obscure character name that no one really knows, it should go. When I think of a better title for this blog, that is...

Happy Anniversary, Silence.

Two years ago yesterday was the anniversary of the publication of 'The Story of Silence'. Two years ago yesterday, after a month of hard writing (my first time participating in NaNoWriMo 2012) and also after a hard 6 months of editing as best I could, dealing with a wide range of things I never thought I would have to deal with such as keeping on deadlines, coming to know Microsoft Word intimately and having many arguments and fights with it, and staring at a computer screen for way longer than was healthy, the book was finally complete. It was actually complete a week or two before publication date but the number of problems I had trying to upload the file was not funny. I had to upload the file, then I had to wait, with very slow internet, for it to be accepted, then I had to wait 24 hours before I heard back whether or not it was accepted further. After it was accepted further I had to go through and look at all the problems in formatting Createspace picked out, and then I had to go and fix them all and go through the whole process of uploading and waiting again. I had to do this a total of at least 6 times, that's almost a week of purely uploading slightly different files over and over again and being told they are not acceptable. Somehow, I do not know, it was finally accepted and I published. And wow, two years have passed. Thank you very much all who have bought copies.

Horror Tale

Tell me, you don’t know whom I am do you?
You see me here but you don’t understand.
You have stumbled across a world of black,
the light is gone and there is no turning back.

How have you reached here, my child?
Tell me you know what to expect in the wild?
You came from the light of the world up top,
Bullied, pushed and punished for good.

Seeing things and telling them for what they are.
Never being understood; the truth is too much.
And yet, here you are, I don’t think I understand,
The doors should be closed, locked with a bolt.

I’m sorry for you that you have found us.
Now that you’re here I can’t send you back.
You may seem mystified like a child seeing gold,
wondering what it is that makes it sparkle so bold.

But I think you know I don’t believe your tale.
Coming here is difficult for something so frail.
You say that you fell; you’ve no idea where you are?
Is this Wonderland? No, don’t make me laugh.

I’m starting to scare you with my evil eye,
It watches you move, and it’s black as coal?
I’m sorry, my child, I didn’t mean to scare,
you’re probably not used to it if you live up there.

Something is sniffing you? Pay no attention,
it’ll only eat your legs if you offer it a bone.
Why is the darkness pushing you away?
You’re not yet ripe, you need to decay.

Decay as in die. It’s a semi-quick way,
it depends on the mood of the killer behind you.
I’m sorry, just my little joke, please don’t cry.
Crying attracts creatures I don’t want to see.

Not because I care, believe me I don’t,
it’s just that they’re hogs, they’ll scoff you whole.
What am I saying? You don’t understand?
Child, it’s the only reason I’ve let you live this long.

To have eaten you before when you’d just arrived,
would have been a mistake, I’d only just ate.
But by talking to you now and bidding my time,
my last meal’s gone down and I now have room.

No, no don’t scream, it won’t be long,
It’s really quite quick, I’ll just open wide.

A Little Tale About Fire

There is a light,

It shines brightly.

It is noticeable in the dark,

It is a point many people make towards.

It stands for hope,

It stands for peace,

It stands for all who love,

And it is always there with open arms.

It waits for those that need it,

It will always be there for those that don't,

It is caring,

It is honourable.

It only wants to help,

It will shine as brightly as it needs to,

It will always show support.

It gives the appearance that it will never go out.

But, as strong as the flame is,

As powerful is it's might in the dark,

When it has stood for everything a person needs,

When the door is closed behind it, the flames goes out.

I lowered the prices on my Kindle books.

So it only just occurred to me, like 2 minutes before I began writing this that I should actually tell you all about what I did yesterday.

Yesterday I was perusing my published Kindle books, Of Lights and Shadows and The Story of Silence and checking out other kindle novels just to try to see the difference between them. Just tidying up the way my books are presented and such. My books haven't been selling, which is alright with me as I never expected them too. I have to advertise them and I haven't been doing that. So that's okay. But I was still looking, and I noticed that my books were slightly more expensive than a lot of the other books in the Kindle store. And so, I thought to myself, maybe that's why. So I changed the prices on my two books. Both The Story of Silence and Of Lights and Shadows are now $1.50 USD. I can't remember what that is in Australian $, maybe 50 cents more? Either way, it's now a bargain. For $3 USD, or $4 AUD, you can buy over 200,000 words to read. Who wouldn't want that? And with all the deals that Amazon Kindle offers, if you can follow them all through and work out how they works, you have the chance to buy it for free. And with every paperback edition of the books you also get a free download of the Kindle edition.

So if you enjoy mystery/crime fiction that's not too dark or complex for the brain, with great characters and good plots set in the wonderful city of New York, The Story of Silence and Of Lights and Shadows is for you. Remember, Story of Silence comes first, but it is not absolutely necessary to read first.

The Story of Silence: http://www.amazon.com.au/Story-Silence-Peter-Van-Werkhoven-ebook/dp/B00F3QO1SI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1431133217&sr=1-1 *

Of Lights and Shadows: http://www.amazon.com.au/Lights-Shadows-Peter-Van-Werkhoven-ebook/dp/B00MLNJXHA/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1431133217&sr=1-2 *

*Links are for Amazon.com.au

My first Assignment is complete.

Just like that, I am done. Yesterday I smashed through the final two chapters of 'The Assignment', the first draft edit is complete. This was a long one, it took me something like 10(?) months to convert the book from 1st person to 3rd person, and coming in at 85,000 words it is roughly 10k words longer than the original 1st person draft. And remind me never to convert a book from 1st to 3rd, or back the other way.

I think I can learn from this lesson that given a deadline to push out an edited book I would fail to get it out on time... Or not. While I wanted the first draft finished, I was writing two other books and editing three  at the same time so of course it took me a while to finish this draft, and there was no need for me to really rush it. Now I'm trying not to think of the fact that the book is far from finished and that there are something like a further 5 edits ahead. I'll think about that later.

What's up next now that I have finished this mile course? For now I am going to relax from this achievement. Then, come Camp NaNoWriMo in, I think it's July, July, I will either start the sequel to 'The Assignment' which was my whole reason for editing the first book so I could remember what happened and how to write the characters, or begin my Dastardious Hollow prequel. I really like the ideas I have for that book and can't wait to begin it, I just have to decide whether I want to write it in November when I have more of a plot and ideas, or write it in July. It's a really hard decisions to make.

But even though I am making all these plans for what to write next, I really don't know whether I will have any time for it. This saddens me because at the moment I am in the big mood to just write every idea I have. However, this online course in Professional Writing and Publishing is taking up more of my time than I thought it would. So that takes up four days of my week, my acting theatre course takes up one day, and I work the weekend. So where in all of that do I expect to find time to write? I'll stop complaining because I know that the key to being able to write is to find those moments in the week when I could be doing something but I'm really doing nothing and use them.

For all those reading this blog, thank you very much and I hope you are enjoying learning about the hardships of being a teen writer. I think I may appear slightly negative and unhappy when talking about everything I have to do and all the time I don't have to do things. This isn't true, it just looks that way. I am very grateful for the opportunities that I have to study and write, and I am very thankful that I have the abilities to do so. I may appear negative about my overwhelming workload, but I was exactly the same when I was unemployed and wasn't studying (I complained about not having anything to do). And because I want people to actually read my blog and take something away from it, I'm going to work on an idea that just came to me. If people read this to know about my life as a writer, then maybe I could help out by actually writing some blog posts about tips for writing that I find useful.

Keep an eye out on this blog, I don't know when I will next upload but I'll try to make it soon and have it involve interesting content about writing.

I'm still alive, and still editing.

I haven't had much to write about on here so I haven't written anything. Not much has changed for me since my last post. I now only have two chapters of 'The Assignment' to write before the book is complete. I understand now what to write as I fixed the plot holes and joined in the pieces that separated the end from the rest of the book. My online writing course is taking up most of my time during the week so I haven't had time to edit.

As well as that course, last week was busy because my future sister-in-law is visiting and we held an engagement party on Saturday. We had to prepare for that, so lots of cooking and cleaning. Then the long Easter weekend, I worked Sunday and Monday, and boy were they busy days! It's completely thrown my week off as I keep thinking that it's only Monday today. It's okay though because I still have the same number of days to study as my theatre course on Wednesday is over for the holidays. We will return to that at the end of the month. Out of both my course that one is by far the best. I have loved every moment and will be very sad when it is over. I have learnt so much, and as I am writing this I really should be finishing a written test I have to do for it. Blah, tests, that's the one thing I don't like about studying.

What else is new? Not much. Waiting for my 9 month anniversary of starting work on Thursday. And I really can't think of anything else interesting to mention, apart from the fact that I got a very belated birthday gift from my amazingly awesome best-friend in the states. Seriously, her gifts are just the best. I love them almost as much as I love her, which is saying something.

Peace and such like out, I'm gone. I'll post a message when 'The Assignment' is finally finished because then it will really be an occasion to celebrate and talk about.

Story of Silence -Free!

Yessir, indeed, sirs, and madams, for the next five days you will be able to buy and download 'The Story of Silence' for free on Amazon. If you would like to read the book but were hampered by the price, worry no longer! Just scoot over to Amazon and begin that free download.

I am living in Australian time and as Amazon seems to be controlled by the U.S. I'm not actually too sure of exactly when it goes on sale. But if you live in the U.S. or any other country where it is not yet the 23rd, then it's probably not on sale. But fear not, they're not likely to run out of downloads. I think that would be impossible.

'The Story of Silence' is a mystery novel written by your's truly. Silence Mourner has been hiding a secret ever since he was discovered in a graveyard hugging three fresh graves. Who is he and how did he end up there? And more importantly, what was so bad that it ripped out his tongue and reduced him to a mute? Follow him through his life as he deals with the hardships of being unable to speak in one of the busiest cities in the world, a hostile take over at work, and a lady who seems persistent in discovering Silence's past and spreading it all over the country.

Link for Amazon.com U.S: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F3QO1SI

Link for Amazon.com Aus: http://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B00F3QO1SI?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

The book is also available in all other Amazon stores.

And might I implore you to please consider leaving a comment or review on my book when you download it. All comments and reviews help push my story towards the first page and also help me improve as a writer to know what readers think.

Thank you all!

I Shall Prevail!

'The Assignment', a story I planned to finish editing months ago, is now another chapter closer to finishing. This afternoon I completed the rewrite of Chapter 20, leaving me with only five more chapters to go through. All up it is roughly 15,000 words till the words 'The End', but it's closer than it was 70k words ago. Phew. I had planned to be finished back in January but work got in the way and then I lost the plot. 

I lost a bit more of the plot by dipping into depression these past two weeks, thinking that I'll never be a good writer and not seeing the point of editing or writing if I'm never going to get anywhere with it. I'm still in this spot, but I think one of the reasons I fell into this hole is because I'm just rewriting old stuff which is slow and boring. The rewriting is slow and boring. The story may be too, I don't know, no one has ever commented on it to tell me their thoughts. So, as therapy to help myself from going insane from the severe slow and boring time of editing, I have started a new piece. 

It is a short story set as a sequel to 'Taking Back the Outpost' and a prequel to 'The Assignment', featuring Captain Von Delgo in his early years. If you've never read either of the stories above you will have no idea who he is, but he's a cool guy.
If you want to read about him, here you go: http://www.wattpad.com/story/15475983-the-assignment

Among other things, yesterday I set out a bit more of a plot I have been working on for a Dastardious Hollow prequel. I have even come up with a title for it which definitely means this story is going to happen.

I'm excited for both of these stories as they hold two of my favourite characters and will allow me to delve deeper into who they are and how they came to be the people they are today. Hopefully fun days ahead.

One last piece of news, despite the fact that it will probably drive me insane, I have begun another edit on another of my earlier stories. Which, after my news above, isn't a good thing. However, this edit should be easier as all I will be doing is touching up the repulsive grammar that I had when I was 14. It's also only a short story so it shouldn't take too long. In a week I edited 6 chapters so, with luck, it won't take long.
The reason for editing is that I think it's a good story and I want people to read it. It used to be up on Wattpad for a couple of years but then either last year or the year before I took it down because it was unedited and I couldn't stand the thought of people reading something that was revolting. If you want to check out the edited first two chapters, here's the link: http://www.wattpad.com/story/599655-hunting-a-hunter

The next step into life. Studying.

Acting is the life for me! At least, I certainly hope so, we shall see in the coming weeks. About two weeks ago I enrolled in a short Acting Skill Set, one day a week for a semester at a Theatre. I am excited for it. So far I have been to the orientation, that was last week, and this week I had OHS on Tuesday and Wednesday I had my first class.

The Theatre that I am going to is a small company in Southbank called Masks, and the collage I am doing the course through is called Collage of Theatre Practice. They are all run together. It's a nice little place, holds, I think, roughly 200 odd people. They've been going for quite a while now; my teacher has been there for 18 years, my age, and it was going long before he started.

First day last week, orientation, was good. I got to meet the one other person in the class I was taking. That meant that there was only two people, three if you counted the teacher. Needless to say I found this all sorts of emotions. Funny, sad there was only one other person I would be doing this with, and excited that it would be a small class and so more time for one-on-one.

Come Tuesday this week, we had OHS, Official Health and Safety. Everyone thought it boring expect me, I think. It wasn't terribly exciting, and we have a test on what we learnt, but it was good to know some of the hazards around the place and what to do if we see one. On Tuesday we had another guy join us, that rounded us up to three students. We all got along very well with each other.

Wednesday, the actual day we have class. We only went on Tuesday because our class was so small there was no point doing it by ourselves so we joined the other classes. It turns out the class isn't as small as I thought it would be, two girls joined. Both very nice, and it just makes everything better. In plays there is often a mix of boys and girls, and before, having a class of just boys, made things difficult. Also, they have both done acting before and so aren't newbies, like myself and the other boy at orientation. This means, if it isn't clear, us newbies have help besides the teacher.

I think this class is going to be very good. Being there in person and experiencing the feel of the theatre and the thrill the teacher has of teaching us, and the thrill the other students have of learning, is so much better than I imagined and what I read on the enrollment site. We all get along very well with each other, and I am looking forward to the coming weeks of getting to know them better and building up some acting skills. As for whether acting truly is the life for me, we shall see. I think it will be.

And Here We Are, 2015

Over here in Australia we have finally crossed the line. For about 10 hours now we have been reveling in the beginning of a new year. Or, as is most likely true in all cases, in bed nursing a hangover. I giggle at those poor unfortunate souls. In other countries around the world people are waiting for the clock to strike 12 so that they can celebrate the start of a new year for themselves. Happy New Years to all of you! Your turn will come in a few short hours.

This year has been a wild spin, let me tell ya!

I spent the first half of the year busy writing and editing my second book, Of Lights and Shadows, for publication. In April, I think it was, I entered Camp NaNoWriMo for the first time and finished off what I think is one of the best stories I have ever written called The World of Mr Green. Everything about it is just perfect.

In August I started my first ever job as a kitchen hand in a kitchen, a job I am very pleased and blessed to have. My work mates are the best people ever. The last couple of months a few of them had to leave which I was very sorry to see them go, but hopefully they are all enjoying life still.

Two days after I started work I self-published my second novel! So far 98 copies have been downloaded.

Shoot forwards to November I completed NaNoWriMo for the third time. In December my family and I head the most awesome news ever, my older brother is now engaged to be married! I am really looking forward to this and am more than excited for them.

Summed up all in one spot it seems kind of like it was a short year, just with all the major points of what happened this year. But it was a fantastic year and I cannot wait to see what this new year is going to bring.

For everybody just starting brand new, I have one piece of advice for you all that was given to me shortly after I started work by one of the chefs in the kitchen. Look, Listen, and Ask. I think it's self-explanatory.

Look: The world is a big place and if you think you have seen everything all you have to do is look and you'll find there is hidden depth and what you will see will change your life.

Listen: So many times we go through life only listening to ourselves and that hurts people around us. Sometimes we have to stop and listen to our friends.

Ask: Well, this point matches the first and second. You can never learn, you can never make yourself, or help others, be better if you refuse to ask questions. Listening and looking only gets you so far.

May this year be fantastic for you all!