Chapter One

The manner fell silent.

For once the manner had stopped creaking, the wind daren’t rattle the shutters. The house had stopped living; it had fallen silent in mourning. The manner hadn’t always been this way. After all, the house had seen some truly revolutionary dinner parties. The house had played host to family gatherings and celebrations; it had seen births, christenings, communions, confirmations, after parties, birthdays, weddings and deaths. The reason for its last gathering.

The old Manner itself had begun to mourn the late, the great, Archibald Joseph Darling. The man who had bonded with the house, loving its creaks and murmurs. Archie had danced the fine line between creative genius and madness all of his life, but it was he who had exposed the house’s true personality. This was the very first house to be built on this land. Having replaced the original building after its burning down around 150 or so years ago it was returned to its former glory, and then some.

This house was the foundations for the town. A beautiful little place in New England called Grimeston, not too far from Stars Hollow. The house was made truly spectacular by Archie; after all it was his inheritance. Before Archie the gardens had been plain and simple, until he designed and sculpted a stunning water feature in the centre of the back garden with neatly encouraged tangled ivy and beautiful roses trained along the borders of the garden. The house had never looked so bright and alive. Continue reading →

So it is November after all… This year has gone so very quickly.

Where has this year gone? I can’t believe it has gone so very fast! Not long until Christmas and New Year!

Has everyone else done all their Christmas shopping and gotten everything done yet?

I’ve been thinking about what I want to do next year, in terms of New Years resolutions. I am beginning to wonder what next year will bring but I am sure it will be good.

I have barely done any writing lately but I am hoping to settle into creating a new rhythm so that I am making more time to write. To be honest, barely is putting it mildly.

No NANOWRIMO this year sadly but maybe next?

This month on Netflix… I watched the Daredevil and some of the new Heartland series but other than that, tv has been lazy half baked viewing. I finished watching all of the new series of Vampire Diaries and have been watching some of the Greenhouse Academy too.

Guitar has been SO VERY slow, I have been trying to decide what song to master next but the practice schedule has been pretty hard to achieve… as in, I haven’t practiced, although we learned Two Worlds Collide by Demi Lovato, as much as I like the song I don’t think it is one that I like playing on guitar sadly.

My sumbissions of The Big Project to agents and publishers has been slow and painful… extremely … No luck as yet but there is always hope for the future.

I am still working on that whole work/writing/life balance… its harder than I thought.

Of course I still gotta throw a little plug in for The Diary of Elliot Parker 🙂 I likes writing it so of course I will keep reminding you…

The Diary of Elliot Parker Part Three is now available! Here is the UK link https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B075VSBT3Q

Here is the US link https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075VSBT3Q

 

And as always… I just want to remind you that there are books that are open, and available to you. So here is the link to my amazon author page, why not see if something takes your fancy? There is plenty up there to get you caught up from the first edition to the current of The Diary of Elliot Parker. Perhaps I might even stick something new on there soon so watch this space!!!

May luck and adventure be on your side!

ARA xxx

Wicked.

So yes I know, we went on Halloween and it has taken me an awful long time to type anything to be honest. So what can I tell you, Wicked on Halloween was incredible. Haz, Boo and I seemed to have a great evening, albeit chaotic.

As per tradition Haz was a bit late to meet up to travel into London together. So finally getting into the station we went to Frankie and Bennies, which was a great choice. We all had something a little bit different but we enjoyed the food and only had the mains because, lets face it the portions are decent enough to leave you feeling rather full. We decided to go try some mini cupcakes on a side shop after, which were great.

Well when it comes to wicked we had a lot of fun, a big giggle waiting to go in, our seats were half decent for sitting in the nosebleeds. We had a great view. The cast did an incredible job. Truly, it was magnificent. The vibes were incredible, the energy in the room, everything.

I loved it. For once I wasn’t insanely jealous of the cast performing either, I got to enjoy it completely but I think that has more to do with where I am now and what has been happening in life. Then as for the horrendously pricey mini tub of ice cream… that was delicious.

The cast did a great job, their singing was incredible, the techniques and the emotion they had emphasized were completely on point. It was brilliant.

Basically we all loved watching Wicked. A fantastic night out.

So… Yep I finally went. I’ve not had time to write up about it until now. Although some pictures are slowly making their way to my instagram page, which you can probably tell I went with boo.

So Watford is a lovely place, the studios are massive. It is a magical trip to make for any Potter fan, and yes puns will probably be intentional.

We got to the studio a little bit early but it was good to not rush, we enjoyed the giant chess pieces out the front, wonderful props. So we went inside, I advise a quick trip to the bathroom before you go into the studios, always good to be prepared. So we loved looking at all the beautiful props even in the atrium before you enter. So we made our way inside and there is a whole big thing before the tour really begins which is where I will refuse to give spoilers. But stepping into the tour was insane fun, we loved it, the hall the hourglasses everything. going through all the props, the way that things were made, seeing how things were made, cast and crew interviews on screens throughout the tour were fantastic. I loved the Halloween features that had been put in place, the special touches, it was fantastic. The live show with death eaters. The people that work there are great and need a lot of praise, they do a great job and are there if help is needed.

The entire tour was incredible, but unfortunately, I am definitely not a fan of butterbeer… it is gross in my opinion, but that is ok, we don’t all have to like it… So the next thing, the thing that left me awestruck was the room that has Hogwarts inside. Honestly, it was very much an incredible feeling to walk around the model of a place that for most of your child hood you dreamed of running away to. It did kind of feel like that “ah, I am home” sort of feeling, even though in reality we had never been there before. It was completely incredible. I loved every second of the tour. I can’t wait to go back, honestly I am already planning another trip, though it won’t be for at least another year.