Nano - yes or no?

I have a whole 4.5 hours to decide whether or not I shall participate. I have once before and I wrote exactly 1000 words before my mind rebelled and wouldn't let me go any further. Super lame.

I have a whole lot of ideas going on and honestly, it would be good to take a break from Jenna and just ruthlessly pound out 50,000 words. I really do want to do it.

There are two things stopping me though. One, I never can turn that inner editor off. I just can't keep writing if I know I've made some royal screw up. It just bugs and bugs and bugs me until I go back and fix it. The second reason, and probably the most important, is my wedding is on the 1st of December. As it gets closer I'm sure I'm going to be getting a whole lot more stressed and because of the holidays I'm taking, I need to make sure everything at work will keep running without me. BUT I will be finished uni.

http://www.zazzle.com.au/to_write_or_not_to_write_mousepad-144985587859381520

So have any of you guys done Nano before and if so, care to share any secrets with me? And do you vote yay or nay on the whole giving it a go thing? I really hate to lose so I just don't know how I'm going to handle it...

AND last but not least. Books have been sent to everyone who emailed me - don't forget to let me know what you think :)

Proof I've been Productive

I promised that once I was done with this project that's kept me away for so long, I'd post what we came up with. This video was made as part of a first year Communication course with the University of Newcastle. We had to create a short documentary on someone who was 110% sports mad for the ABC Open site. Clicky the link to see more deets.

I'll admit there were a few more things I would have liked to do to get this fully polished but we just ran out of time. As usual, all feedback welcome :)

Roller Derby Rookie from Heather Bryant on Vimeo.

For my giveaway, books will be posted as of Monday. I have emails from Erika, Stacey, Lacey and Aldrea so if you've sent me your addy and your name isn't there, just let me know and send it through again so I can keep an eye out for you.

Should be back to regular posting from now on.

I missed you guys!

Followers Giveaway - For the WIN!

The main reason for this blog is to announce the winners of my giveaway! I've been super slack round these parts lately but uni has amped up to a massive level in its final weeks. So much pre production, filming and post production to be crammed in. And once the mini vid is done, I'll post it here just to prove to you guys that I have actually been working.

The second thing occupying my time is plotting out a new ending to my WIP and the early ideas for a whole new novel altogether (because, you know, I totally don't have enough already). These two things are causing me to sit up into the early hours of the morning and sadly, my real life job is being BADLY affected.

Anywho, I'm sure you'll see a lot more posts in the near future. And to my lovely crit partners - sorry for slacking off! I'm making very slow, but steady progress on your crits. I haven't forgotten ;P

I have decided to send out books to everyone who commented on my giveaway post. (Let me know if e-versions are more preferable). What I need from you guys is an address, so send them to my email heather_b@live.com.au in the exact format I would need in order to send them because I am TERRIBLE with international addresses and there's a high chance they'll get lost if it's not done 100%.

Pk Hrezo - Divergent
Stacey - Cinder
Laura - The Selection
Aldrea Alien - The Hunger Games (silly girl having never read them...)
Cynthia - Shatter Me
Erika - Shatter Me or The Selection
Lacey T - Legend or Divergent
Peggy - Cinder or The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Please let me know if any of you guys have acquired these books since your comment. Also, if you end up reviewing these books on your blog, make sure to let me know. I'd love to check them out!

GUTGAA - Small Press Contest

My pitch is up over at Deana Barnhart's blog! I'd love if you guys could jump over here and give me some feedback. I'm going through the entries on her blog now and leaving some feedback and OH MY GOD, there's no way I'll make it through. Some of those queries are amazing, I have serious work to do.

If you have a query up, please leave me a comment with the link. Also, my 100 followers give away is up on the blog below.

To whoever is in the contest - good luck guys! Hopefully one of you is going to get a publication out of this :D

100 Follower Giveaway!

Holy hell I can't believe I made it! When I started this blog I had a hard time believing I would a) actually blog, and b) have anyone think this stuff was worth looking at.

Over the weekend I was super busy with wedding stuff and didn't get a chance to check in at all. And what would you know? I breached that magic number!

Now because I clearly have the best followers in the world, I'm going to host my blog's very first giveaway. To say I'm excited would be an understatement. Honestly though, you guys are what makes blogging worth it. All the lovely comments, the support, and great advice. The fact that you guys take time out of your busy lives to brighten mine. I love you all so much for it!

ENOUGH OF THE MUSHY - GET TO THE PRIZES!

I am going to give away a copy of every book I have reviewed on this site AND (because there's really not as many as I thought) I am going to offer a beta/crit read of either your first chapter (or 20 double spaced pages) OR your query and synopsis. Now, I'm not going to pretend like I'm super important and know everything but I DO know another pair of eyes can be helpful so I'm offering up mine.

The books up for grabs are:

Legend by Marie Lu

Cinder by Marissa Meyer (my favourite :P)

Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkins

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Eve by Anna Carey

The Selection by Kiera Cass (my second favourite)

If you're after a beta/crit read, just know there won't be a fast turn-around (because you know, life) so if you're after something in a hurry, probably not the best option.

OKAY! So the way I figure it, I'm giving away one of each book and two read-throughs. I've linked to the reviews I wrote on those books in case you haven't heard of any of them (I don't know how you wouldn't have though) so let me know in the comments which option you are after. If there are multiple requests for something, there will be a random number generator used to decide.

Okay, I think that's it.

Thanks again for being so damn awesome.