Get To Know My Reading Habits!

Well hey there, it's been a while! Christmas and New Years wiped me out, and then I had a tonne of essays and assignments to do. But as of last Monday, they're all over now, or at least they are until March, so I thought I'd make another blog post.
Now as I said in my latest video, which you can watch here:

I want to make more blog posts about writing, and not just reviews. I would start with some writing tips, but my brain has fallen out of my ears thanks to my assignments, so I thought I'd do a tag I found on readerwriterzoe's blog. It's about reading and books, so it counts... Mostly... Don't judge me, I'm TIRED! I'll be back with proper writing blogs soon.

Do you remember how you developed a love for reading?
I can't remember because I was too young, but apparently I was talking before I was walking because I had health problems as a child. I spent a lot of time in hospital, not walking around, instead listening to everyone around me talking, so I picked up words very quickly. That soon descended into my falling for words and all things literary, and because I come from a family of big readers, I was fed books my entire childhood, and I loved it! 

Where do you usually read?
In my chair in my front room, and on the bus and train journey's to uni. Though journey reading is generally saved for things I need to read for whatever lecture I'm having that day. At home it's almost purely for enjoyment, though I have also been known to read fiction for fun on long car journey's too. 

Do you prefer to read one book at a time or several at once?
Weirdly, both. If I'm reading a book/ebook, only one at a time. I get confused far too easily otherwise. But if we're talking fan fiction, I can easily jump all over the place, even when it's all in the same fandom. Don't ask why I can't do that with more traditional books, but I can't!

What is your favourite genre?
Oh, that's tough. I like most genre's, though I am fond of Young Adult and a bit of sci-fi. 

What genre will you not read?
I'm really, really not fond of anything that's Victorian, I've been completely put off thanks to reading and analysing Dickens etc for uni. I'm not fond of romance either. 

Do you have a favourite book?
That's like choosing your favourite child! I love The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett (if you hadn't guessed by me talking about it constantly, and I really like Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, I'm so like Kath it's actually physically painful at times. 

What is the worst book you've ever read?
Jesus, that's tough. Most recently, I really did not enjoy Wide Sargasso Sea, but I think the worst, and please don't kill me for this, but Alice In Wonderland. I read it for English A Level and wanted to slap Alice for most of the book, I know she's a small child, but I really cannot stand characters who cry at everything and accept everything so easily without questioning it. 

What is the biggest book you've ever read?
Er... I have absolutely no idea. I've read some quite thick ones in the past but I can't think of anything that big right now. Ask me some other day, I may remember! 

What was the last book you bought?
Nocturnes At Nohant - The Decade Of Chopin And Sand by Helen Farrish. I had to buy it for part of my uni course, and I wish I could say I've bought a book recently for my own reading pleasure, but I simply haven't had the time as of late! My best friend did get my a Doctor Who trivia book for Christmas though if that counts?

Which do you prefer? Library books or buying books?
BUYING! I love libraries too, but there is nothing better than staring at all the books you have bought and feeling incredibly proud that you have read them all. It's like a badge of honour, or several walls of them. 

What are you reading now?
Unfortunately, nothing at the moment! I'm too busy to read! If I had time, I would be either finishing Fangirl, working my way further through the Discworld or finishing off the Buffy The Vampire Slayer comics. Or starting on the Marvel comic universe, because I want to know EVERYTHING these films are going to give me in the future!

What are the disadvantages of being a book-lover?
Having absolutely no money thanks to books, running out of space on kindle/bookshelves and bad movie adaptations ruining perfectly good stories with bad casting choices/leaving out important details.

Too Much To Write!

I currently have a serious problem, I have far too much to write! To a writer, that may sound like a really good thing, so there's always something to write. But currently it's causing a problem for me - I can't figure out what to write and more importantly, when. 
Currently, I have this blog, my vlog channel, two fan fics and my Wattpad one shots to write, and it is scary to think about. Really, it's scaring me a bit to think about it all! Now, as a rule, I prioritize my fan fics, as I'm posting them on a regular basis. This means that both of those are my go-to with writing, but then that means I forget about everything else. Take this blog for example, it's been three weeks since I wrote an actual post, which is not what I wanted for this! I wanted to write a blog post a week, yet this hasn't happened. The same can be said for my youtube channel, and my Wattpad story.
The youtube channel is fairing a bit better, as I've managed to (for the most part) get a vlog up a week for a while, but the Wattpad story is suffering like this blog. And I hate it.
One of my pet hates is leaving these things for weeks on end, leaving anybody possibly interested wondering if I will ever update again. As a general rule, I don't post anything I don't plan on finishing, but others don't know that, so I am potentially losing readers by not updating regularly. But I really do forget to write these things, and if I do remember, I have nothing to write! It's a terrible catch 22, but that's how my brain is working right now.
So what do I do? Do I dedicate a day to write each thing? Do I set myself reminders? That's no promise for me to get something up. I don't know what to do! AHHHHHH!
Currently, I'm just hoping this problem doesn't get worse when I get back to uni, when I'm so exhausted I can barely think straight. Though, alternatively, I could be given some inspiration from whatever my lecture has been about, or something else that has happened in the day. Also, I'll be on long train journeys, so I could have some time before I get too tired to write. Who knows? I sure as hell don't! I'm hoping for the best, but there's no promises, as there never is.
Oh, the writer's life, such hardship...

RIP The Works

Not a writing tip or review, but a mourning of a good book shop instead.
Some of you may have heard, but The Works bookshop was hit with an arson attack in Maidstone recently, in the hour before another 5 cars were also set alight. The cars survived mostly and the owners are on their way to replacing their vehicles.
But The Works, oh The Works is wrecked. There is nothing left of the shop, I've seen it for myself, just a few hours ago. All that is left of the book shop is the charred shell, reminding me far too much of the Baudelaire Mansion from A Series Of Unfortunate Events. Shops on either side of the building have also lost their roofs, leaving most of the street cordoned off for safety of the public.
Luckily nobody was hurt in this terrible attack, apart from all the book fan's hearts. Everybody loves a cheap book, and that was The Works for us, good quality, first hand, cheap books. It's probably the single biggest threat to my best friend and my Mum's bank balance, with many trips in there ending up with a new bag filled with new stories to explore.
But now we have been robbed of that, because someone decided that they wanted to set the place alight and burn it down. Countless precious books have been lost, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Sherlock Holmes, hundreds of other classics, have been destroyed by fire. This has then subsequently robbed many of the chance to buy and then read these books at a lower price to normal. Sure, we still have a Waterstones, WH Smith and Amazon to order from, but there's nowhere for those of us on a tight budget to shop. And that is a tragedy. 
Not everyone can afford to buy full price books, and book lovers like myself relied on The Works to give ourselves books are a discounted rate. Sometimes places like Waterstones proved too expensive when buying an entire series of books, whereas The Works provided the same series in the same great condition for a fraction of the cost. That was a Godsend to us, it meant we could buy our books and not break the bank as much as a shop at another retailer would have.
The shop also proved useful when buying books for our education too. Not all of them (I can't say I found any of my uni course books in there) but I did find many of my A Level books in there. There was no wait time or P&P costs from Amazon, and they were generally cheaper there than at any other book store, which was useful as a 16 year old.
Book lovers aren't the only ones affected either, artists who bought their supplies at The Works now have look elsewhere, others looking for notepads and school supplies have to trek somewhere else to buy them. The people who worked in the shop are now out of a job, all because someone felt the need to set something on fire. What I'm trying to say is that the shop was a life line for many, and now it's gone for a long time.
And for what? Entertainment? A sick need to see flames? What was the point? 
There wasn't one, now people have lost their jobs, others have lost a shop filled with their passions, and a building has been destroyed. It's going to take years to get that back to normal, and it's because someone likes to light things on fire. The only positive in this situation is that nobody was physically hurt in the blaze. Instead we've lost a big part of our lives.
So to whoever did this, fuck you, if you like fire so much, get your kicks by lighting candles and fireplaces. Stay away from buildings and places of enjoyment for so many, you've robbed so many from their cheap book and art outlet, and took away several people's jobs.