Vocabularies, Writings and Gun Raids

Woah. I haven’t updated for, like, ever. Best sort that out, eh? I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year–I did! Got a Wii and a few games and books and DVDs and stuff. ‘Twas much fun.

I’ve come across a few cool places recently. The first of which is FreeRice.com. It’s fantastic for building up your vocabulary in not just English, but other languages too. And also things like grammar or just general knowledge. But it gets better. For every question to answer correctly, 20 grains of rice go to help end hunger. It’s paid for by the sponsors on the website. It’s doing wonders for my Vocab. The decent alternative to using a thesaurus when writing (which you should never do =) ).

And it gets better, too. We all know that if we try to write, we’ll be distracted by the internet. It’s just there. Calling.

So who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters! LeechBlock!

It’s a very handy tool. For me, it’s almost natural instinct to start writing say, 50 words (or even less), then open up Firefox and go to YWS. But now, if I want to, I can block it for about half an hour (or for however long) and get typing. It really helps. What’s more is that you can block access to the control panel too, for limited time-frames so that you’re not tempted to just unblock what you already have. Sadly, it’s only available for Firefox (although there might be other similar add-ons for Safari and IE). Anyway, it’s a great productivity tool, and not too difficult to start up.

Anyway, my life:

I’m picking up the novel thing again. It’s at 14000 words, so I’ll need to write abut 250 words everyday if I’m to reach my target by my 16th Birthday (or rather, the first draft) but since I’m thinking of a few more plot outlines (the reader still hasn’t had a chance to get to know the characters) it could be longer. Which is fine.  I’m reading a load of books again. There’re things like George Orwell’s stuff (my brother got me the entire collection), in which you’ll find me reading Burmese Days. I also bought Amsterdam by Ian McEwan, borrowed Malorie Blackman’sNoughts and Crosses from the library and am a fair way into Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men. Very impressed by the lot.  I tend to only read meaningful stuff, and the latter is like the only modern day thing that I enjoy reading, really.

I also wrote a few short stories, my favourite being Burnt Sausages, which I have submitted to the Young Writers Literary Journal. Whether it’ll be accepted or not, I don’t know. But there’s nothing wrong with hoping. Nothing to lose, eh?

Oh, and on the news (UK, that is), there was something happening with a post office worker being shot by some burglars. It was huge, and didn’t realise how big it had gotten until I watched the news. There, I saw my street on TV with a load of police. I knew him, kind of. It’s sad. This is why guns are illegal, and must remain so.The police have been round to ask us a few questions, but we could hardly help them. =(

So, that’s me. Over and out, people.