Author Archives: Shanella

The Bletchley Circle

The Bletchley Circle

The four women in the Bletchley Circle worked together in a top secret department during WWII. Years later they moved on to ordinary civilian lives (more or less). Susan, the main protagonist, hears about a series of gruesome murders over the radio and notices a pattern that everyone else seems to miss. She calls in the help of her Bletchley Park friends and together the four women solve the crime.

Absolutely LOVED this show and I’m so glad to hear that they have been renewed for a second series coming this Spring!

~*~

If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything. ― Mark Twain

My Netflix Queue – Top Ten

Posted in Media, The Telly by

Now it’s called “My List” … I really like the old way. But, I digress, here is what I’m watching on Netflix!

doctor

Though I’m sad that, with the recent popularity of Doctor Who, the seventh season has not been made available, I’m still keeping this up on my queue and in the first spot!

torchwood

I have to take Torchwood a few episodes at a time because some of it is a bit over the top. But, I love Captain Jack Harkness so I will continue to watch it. Also I find that this is one of the few spinoffs of already established TV shows that I love and it was the show I found before I even became a fan of Doctor Who!

Sherlock

I don’t rewatch TV shows a whole lot, but I have seen the first two series of Sherlock three times.

Serenity

I dropped this on there recently because I wanted to give it a second change. I saw this a long time ago and for some reason couldn’t get into it. However, given my recent tastes in TV shows I feel like I might enjoy it this time around.

firefly

See above, similar reason.

Bones

Bones is by far one of my favourite TV shows. I’m not usually one for character arcs in my crime shows but the character growth in Bones is excellent!

psych

Are you beginning to see a trend in shows I watch? Psych, part Sherlock, part Bones. I like this sorta stuff!

Screen Shot 2013-12-31 at 9.11.12 AM

This is a show about Merlin, you know the wizard in King Arthur’s time? It’s a really fun watch!

Screen Shot 2013-12-31 at 9.11.23 AM

An oldie, I grew up watching Columbo. He’s a seemingly bumbling detective and this is what throws people off. He always ends up catching his guy because he’s intelligent and outwits the crooks.

Screen Shot 2013-12-31 at 9.11.31 AM

Seeing my number one, I hardly doubt I need to explain my number ten.

** all screenshots were taken from Netflix!

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I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. ― Albert Einstein

Now that I have my laptop again, I’ve run out of excuses

Posted in Thoughts by

These FIVE THINGS (14) are brought to you by the end of the year.

It’s the end of the year! If that wasn’t clear. Did you finish all of your resolutions? I didn’t set any big goals for myself, other than to read widely – which I did – and to write one of these posts at least once a month … which I’m now doing to complete that goal. So without further ado, here are FIVE THINGS from 2013.

— Thing One —

I was in a legit book club.

Usually my book clubs consist of me and a girlfriend or two, having tea and talking about books that we’ve read and what we thought. However, this year I was a part of a book club consisting of a group of women who read theology books together and discussed it chapter by chapter. We did The Good and Beautiful God and are currently reading Theology of the Body.

I am also a part of a small group who is reading through The Ragamuffin Gospel together (I absolutely love this book!!!) . It has been a LOT of fun.

— Thing Two — 

I completed NaNoWriMo!!!

The good thing about telling everyone who asked me “What’s new?” during the month of November about NanoWriMo was that it motivated me to finish.

The bad thing about being verbal about it was getting asked to read what I wrote. I’m gonna be honest, I don’t like it. It’s a rough, rough, rough, rough first draft, with plot holes and dialogue that I do not enjoy. But, it’s a rough, rough, rough, rough first draft and I did it! I finished it! I am extremely happy!

But, I do feel a little bad that no one will really see it, especially after all of my talk about it, soooo, here’s a tiny peek. Please do remember that this is a rough(x4) first draft. Also, I suppose I just revealed it, that’s my writing blog. As you can see, it’s pretty sparse, you can criticize anything that’s already on there (if you’re bored, or something). I’m probably gonna move to Wattpad … I haven’t made my mind up yet.

— Thing Three — 

There were some firsts this year!

I gave blood, became an organ donor, planned a bridal shower – probably one of my biggest accomplishments this year – went to a speakeasy and attended a jazz festival where it felt like I stepped back in time.

I taught someone to drive a golf ball and actually found out that, after not practicing for a VERY LONG TIME, I’m quite good at driving now. I wonder if the same will happen when I get back on the snowboard?

Went to Wyoming, got cowgirl boots.

Planted tomatoes with great success!

There were a few more firsts, but those are the big ones that I can think of at the moment.

— Thing Four — 

There was death, there were births, there were weddings. Illness, wellness … I noticed life a lot this year. I felt it more too. For some reason, I feel that this year, of all years, I’m finally an adult.

— Thing Five —

I finally said “yes” to someone.

Oh that cat’s out of the bag! But calm down, there’s nothing to see here (no, seriously, nothing else to see or hear). I just needed to do it, and I did it. I stepped out of my comfort zone, met someone fun and we went on a couple of dates (literally). And that’s all there is to the story folks.

Those who know me on a personal level will understand why this is even worth mentioning, since I’m  always saying no (did I mention that I attract strange folks? That’s part of why I always say no. Especially to that one guy who was my dad’s age that invited me up to his “farm”. Yeaaaaah. No thanks. ). So … I said yes, once. That’s a step, right?

Well, 2013 was quite a year, I’m looking forward to 2014.

~*~

He says the best way out is always through. And I agree to that, or in so far as that I can see no way out but through– (A Servant to Servants by Robert Frost)

Second Hand Experiences

The Word we study has to be the Word we pray. My personal experiences of the relentless tenderness of God came not from the exegetes, theologians, and spiritual writers, but from sitting still in the presence of the living Word and beseeching Him to help me understand with my head and heart His written Word. – Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel

I have, at times, taken someone else’s word for my own, but I admit, the things that have stuck with me – really stuck with me, so much so that I can relive the experience when I’m thinking about it, and not just say, “oh, someone said” or “I read it somewhere, something like …” – are the things that I have understood while digging into the Word on my own.

There is a difference between hearing someone else’s experience and actually experiencing it for myself. Sure, someone’s POV might supplement my personal experience, but when I experience it, when I get it, it sticks.

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Five Things (13)

Posted in Bookish by

This is a different sort of five things … these five things are all about NaNoWriMo!

2013-Winner-Facebook-Cover

I don’t remember when I heard about NaNoWriMo, but according to my page I’ve been a member for about 5 years, so I imagine it was 5 NaNoWriMos ago.

Last year I decided that I was going to be a participant for the first time. I started off really well, my idea made me excited which was great, but then around day 13, with almost six thousand words written, I lost steam. This year, when I decided that I would do NaNoWriMo again I wanted to try to learn from my mistake from last time and do better. Now that I have completed my 50,000 words goal, I can say that I’ve learned a lot about what I thought my writing style was and what my style actually is, and I have to say that I’m a little surprised!

So, here are five things that I learnt while doing NaNoWriMo:

  1. I’m not a plotter. I have ideas, and most of them are half baked. I know how I want something to start, and I have a general idea about how I want something to end, but I don’t necessarily have a clue as to what happens in the middle of these things and I realized that it’s OK. Last year I tried to map the story out beforehand, this year I decided to write whatever came to mind and I found more inspiration when I allowed myself to have more freedom.
  2. Last year I tried to make my characters do what I wanted them to do and a lot of times that meant that I didn’t know what they wanted. I know it sounds strange, but this year I let them do whatever they wanted to do and sometimes they surprised me. Now before you check me into a mental institute, I think the idea here is the same as above, letting the story flow as opposed to controlling the story actually works better for me.
  3. The rule of absolutely NO editing was important in helping me move forward. There are people who can go back through their NaNoWriMo manuscript in November and move things around and add and remove things and still finish on time. I am not one of those people. When I do that the perfectionist in me takes over and I want to make the piece I’m editing perfect and that slows me down.
    There were times in this manuscript when I was cringing at my dialogue because I thought it was too cheesy or awkward and I had to stop myself from going back and re-writing large amounts of texts because, in the end, NaNoWriMo is about writing and meeting a goal, I would have 11 months to edit, to update dialogue and fix inconsistencies.
  4. I needed to talk to people about my story and what I’m doing. It was easy for me to keep last year’s project quiet. I don’t usually talk to people about my creative endeavors. I did tell a couple of writers what I was trying to do and they were encouraging but this year I went big. I told almost everyone I could whenever it came up in conversation. “So what have you been up to?” “Well, I’m attempting to write a novel in 30 days.” I found that this actually helped me. The more people I told the more real the task became until I knew that I would disappoint myself if I didn’t complete it.
  5. This year I wanted to finish it because I wanted to finish. I know that sounds strange but I’ve attempted to write down stories many times, but I never finished them. This year I decided that I wanted to finish something so that I can show myself that I can write a first draft – even if it never sees the light of day.

I think the most important thing I learnt throughout this exercise was that writing makes me happy. It was stressful, I spent a lot of time doing it but never once did I regret it, writing always brought me joy.  

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