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Looking to the Edges: The Space Between Categories
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New 'All Creatures' Evokes Old Series Without Imitating It
Belle (2013) Review: The Importance of Impassioned Reason
'Daughter of the Deep' Review: A Swashbuckling Adventure Rich In Wit, Mythology and Mystery
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🕸️Ahh I've just started rereading my favourit

🕸️Ahh I've just started rereading my favourite book series of all time and it is such a wonderful feeling!🕸️

Y'all have heard me rambling about Lockwood & Co a lot - so here I am tending to my reputation😂

I first read The Screaming Staircase for a book event where I had to read 6 particular books and vote for my favourite. This was the first one I read, and I was captured by the world, concept and characters. It remained my solid favourite, and after voting went through... it won!

A few months later, I got to meet Jonathan (@jonathan.stroud) and he signed my book - having given a fascinating talk about his writing process, which was so fun!

There was talk of a movie back then, but I don't think anything came of it... HOWEVER:

They recently announced that a Netflix production is in the works, which I'm INSANELY excited about. Like, I've been waiting 7 years for this!!

As much as a part of me wants the fandom to stay like it is: personal, as if I'm part of a secret circle... I can't wait for more people to be introduced to this world.

🕸️If you want to join before the rush, here are just a few things I love about the Lockwood and Co. series:

The sarcasm

The spookiness

The cosiness

How real the characters feel, despite the supernatural version of our world

The pacing and the way it flows - I'm a slow reader, but I fly through this

How the descriptions are just detailed enough to be vivid, without detracting from the plot

The DYNAMIC of the 3 main characters:

Lucy Carlyle's heartwarming determination to be grouchy, and her introverted inner world that makes me feel seen

George Cubbins' dry sarcasm and endearing habits, which make me burst into laughter

And, of course, Mr Anthony J. Lockwood's swashbuckling flair, wit and turn of phrase that make me grin like an idiot

And most importantly:

Tea. Lots of tea. ☕

Also biscuits. 🍪

•

💀Have you read Lockwood & Co? (Hint: if not, PLEASE DO)

If it's not your vibe - what's your favourite book series? (Or if you don't have a single favourite, what's one that you love rereading?)💀

•

"After dark, ring bell and wait beyond the iron line."

I'm waiting. Patiently. 👀

☕When/where do you feel most like 'yourself'? Or

☕When/where do you feel most like 'yourself'? Or do you have many 'selves' for different situations?☕
•
I was just reading an essay written by Virginia Woolf, and this quote stood out to me:

"Is the true self this which stands on the pavement in January, or that which bends over the balcony in June? Am I here, or am I there? Or is the true self neither this nor that, neither here nor there, but something so varied and wandering that it is only when we give the rein to its wishes and let it take its way unimpeded that we are indeed ourselves?"
- Virginia Woolf

This is something I often wonder, myself. Is the "me" walking across an open field and smiling as strangers pass... the same "me" who sits at my writing desk, sipping hot chocolate?
How about the "me" that reads for six hours in one sitting, compared to the one that struggles to read a page?
Is the "me" who loathes leaving the house the same as the one who loves looking out the train window and watching the passing buildings?

Do we all have different versions of ourselves that we become depending on time, place and circumstance?...

Anyway, that's my tuppence-worth for today! I'm on a break between uni sessions and thought I'd drop this into a post in case it was of interest - so do let me know your thoughts; I'd love to hear✨

•
🎃 P.S. I'm so excited for Halloween!! How is it just over a week away already??

☕Here's a sneak peek for a project I've been wor

☕Here's a sneak peek for a project I've been working on!👀

Hint: it's an Audiobook

Daughter of the Deep by Lina C. Amarego

Coming soon.

[P.S. put sound on to hear me attempting to be a siren]

⚓Do you like listening to audiobooks?⚓

✨It's my Bookstaversary!🥳✨ Well, it was ac

✨It's my Bookstaversary!🥳✨

Well, it was actually yesterday, but the first ever photo I shared - of the book Jane Eyre - was no doubt posted late at night on the 11th, so it still counts😂 Rather poetically, it was another Jane - my wise and wonderful friend @jannath.fazli - who reminded me! See, this is why I need you folks around😆

Ready for the sappy caption? Here we go!

Two years ago, when I was inspired to start this account, I couldn't have predicted how much of a magical impact it would have.

That sounds dramatic, but I was thinking this morning how much Bookstagram has shaped my life over the past year. (I say year, because I didn't properly *get into* posting until last October.)

Thanks to this community, I:

•started writing a book
•began a writing blog
•set up a Society for creators & dreamers
•got my first art commission [thanks Nay!!]
•became *an audiobook narrator* (my first proper paid job!) [Lina, literally where was I before I knew you]
•got to develop my creativity [thank you Kaby, Alysha and Beatriz for the impact our regular calls have had on that]
•discovered new story-worlds & creators

I think we'll agree that this community is something special. All of you are thoughtful, generous, talented and inspiring. I love that we can share snippets from our worlds, embrace our creativity, and be ourselves here. We 'get' each other. Often, after spending time interacting with you all, I forget how different much of the "real world" is - then I'm reminded when I have to return to it😂

Being part of this community has been so enriching, opening up a whole new dimension to my life. I never imagined that I'd find such a hub of like-minded people - who care deeply, think carefully, and uplift others unconditionally.

I can't imagine my life without the friends I've made here - those I chat to in DMs (with your patience, waiting for my sporadic replies😜), exchange memes, laugh and fangirl with, those I check in with, and those who are soul-sisters whom I know I'll keep for life. I am so honoured to call you friends❤️

While Instagram has its downsides, I am so grateful for what it has brought to my life - all of you, and all of this!🌞✨

🍁I'm not quite sure whether this pose is elegan

🍁I'm not quite sure whether this pose is elegant or creepy, but it sort of confuses my brain, so I thought it would work for a leadup-to-halloween post😂🍁

I'm fascinated by your responses to my previous post - and delighted to see that it interested so many of you! Sometimes when I write long, detailed captions, I don't expect many to read all my ramblings (we all have busy lives!), but your contributions made me think more deeply about the topic, and I really appreciated hearing your in-depth thoughts! This community amazes me, and I am very grateful for you all❤️

ANYWAY, I thought I'd keep today's post more light-hearted after the deep historical pondering of the previous one, and do a 'this or that' inspired by Wuthering Heights (the book in this photo). But, it's a little different; you're on an adventure...

•
🏞️
1: Imagine you're up on the windy moors, washed-out green fields surrounding you like a tartan blanket, the horizon hazy in a shroud of grey fog.

Do you:
a) walk up towards the hills
or
b) go down towards the valleys

☕
2: It's cold, the wind nips at your quivering fingers, and you hunch beneath the knitted shawl around your shoulders. You've forgotten how long it has been since you ate a good meal. Just as you're feeling the claws of despair set in... you see a piece of bread, and a cup of warm cocoa left on a rock up ahead.

Do you:
a) eat the bread
or
b) drink the hot cocoa

📖
3: Now with something in your stomach, you have some more energy, and continue on. Unfortunately, rain begins to soak your clothes, and you hurry to the woodland for shelter. Up ahead, you see an orange glow... but further to the left is a blue light.

Do you:
a) go towards the orange light, to find a cottage, where a kind family take you in and let you share a warm meal
or
b) go towards the blue light, to find a mysterious book glowing with magic. Its open page says: "Step forth, and you shall embark on an adventure."

•
☕🍁Which would you go for?🍁☕

Mine would be: 1.b, 2.b, 2.a

As much as I'd love the promise of adventure, I feel like I'd chicken out and go for the hot meal instead😂 Whoever picks the adventure option, let me know where it takes you!

☕Do we glamourise the past?☕ I've always been $☕Do we glamourise the past?☕ I've always been fascinated by eras from centuries past. On the one hand, the history captured my interest: facts about greedy kings and cunning princesses, knights and peasants and chimney-sweeps. It's incredible to learn about times that have come before - the people, the landscapes, and the architecture; the unsolved mysteries and little-known stories. There is an endless well of history to discover, so complex and layered that it would take centuries to read even a fraction of it. So that's history: the facts. But there's another part that goes hand-in-hand, and has probably held my interest even more than just the facts - instead, capturing my imagination: the aesthetics. The dark castle corridors, mahogany floors and flowing cloaks of the Middle Ages. The bejewelled curtain-thick dresses, woven tapestries and wooden-panelled buildings of Tudor times. The ebony veils, clinking teacups and smog-filled streets of Victoria's age. The newsboy caps, roast dinners and flower prints of the 1940s... and that's just Britain. Strangely, I find such comfort in these images of the past. Probably, because I've seen them depicted in films I love. Therefore, my emotional attachment to them could come from any of these things: - I find the visuals pretty - the historical facts are interesting - I've connected with the historical stories, and know that those people were real once, so there's a tangible link - the movies I've watched have captured a version of those eras, and I love the characters/stories of those movies, so I associate them with a cosy feel If it's the latter... is there a danger in fictionalising the past; turning it into a story that brings comfort, instead of a lesson that raises questions? Is watching actors in fancy costumes, portraying a version of the past, an insult to history textbooks... or a complement to them? I think for me, it's both. Sometimes I want a thought-provoking insight into the mechanics of history. Other times, I simply want to sit on the sofa and escape to a recreated world that evokes eras past, and enjoy the stories within them, fictional or not. • 📜What's your favourite historical era?📜$

⏳"How long is forever?" "Sometimes, just one sec

⏳"How long is forever?"
"Sometimes, just one second."⌛

(So the White Rabbit says in Alice in Wonderland...)

•
Q: 🐇If a rabbit hopped up to you with a note that said "Follow" tied around its neck... would you follow?👀🐇

•
⌚ The symbol of the white rabbit is a mysterious and intriguing one: on the one hand, he's a bespectacled rabbit, wearing a tuxedo, dashing about with a pocket-watch and declaring that he's late... But on the other, he's the key to the entrance of a new world - the being that leads Alice into Wonderland and changes her world forever. He's both comical and gravely important.

📖 I've made a "nod" to this symbol in my book, with not a white rabbit but a beige one (like you often see in the wild here in the UK). It wasn't until I was talking about it with my dad the other day that he reminded me of the white rabbit symbolism in The Matrix. I've actually made a slight reference to The Matrix earlier in the book (as my story involves some similar themes) - but I'd forgotten the white rabbit was a thing in the movie. I need to rewatch them😂 Perhaps it was subliminal, though👀

🐇In my book, I'm combining the "follow the rabbit" concept with Hansel and Gretel's "leave a trail of breadcrumbs" in one particular chapter - and it's one of the key turning points for the story! I'm excited to share more about it soon✨

•
👉(Swipe to see a version with colder colours)

Also, my aunt made this dress! My mum wore it as a bridesmaid at her wedding in the 80s! It's actually pinky-orange - I've edited it to look blue for this picture.

🌳🧙"There was once a witch who lived alone...

🌳🧙"There was once a witch who lived alone..."🧙🌳

Today was gloriously October-ish! I woke to pattering rain and that slight gloomy orangey-ness that marks an Autumn morning. I dressed in my 'Hocus Pocus' top and my knitted orange cardigan, and had a coffee while the wind rustled the falling leaves outside.

Along the same lines... I thought I'd share a little snippet from my book with you!

Each chapter is prefaced with a concept, analogy or thought-provoking fact - but at the END of each chapter is a poem, from the great 'Myths & Legends of the lands between Berribury and Windlebury', which my main character Zoe grew up reading.

The first of these poems is called The Witch of Windlebury Wood' and begins with this stanza.

Here's a sneak peek at the next stanza:

"She had no friend to call her own
So gathered sticks and whittled bone
A whispered word she did intone
And from the soil a beast was grown"

What was the beast like, I wonder? Find out more in a post next week, when I will be introducing an illustration of the witch!

🧙We be the witches of the wood, my enchanted folk😎🕸️🍂

•
🌳What do you think the beast she created looked like?
Cute or scary?🌳

🍂🎃Hi folks! I'm back - and I'm VERY excited

🍂🎃Hi folks! I'm back - and I'm VERY excited about the fact it's October!!🤩🍂

This is *our* month, right? Here on Bookstagram? Comment a pumpkin (🎃) if you're with me! (Or let me know your favourite month if it isn't October!)
•

So I've been away for a little while - I started uni, did lots of artwork, and I've been working on the audiobook, which will be released this month!! (See @lina_amarego_writes' page for more about the book and its wonderful author✨)
Lots of excitement ahead🥳

Also, in other news - I wrote an article for The Writer Community blog! It's a bit of rambling about my experience with my current draft, along with some pointers that have helped me find motivation to write. There is, of course, no obligation to read it - but the article is in the blog of thewritercommunity.com, which you can find in the bio of @the_writer_community. I've added some screenshots of the key points in the next few slides here, in case a summary might be useful to you lovely writers✨

I have a post for each day of October - in a slightly darker theme, which I'm looking forward to sharing with you🕸️

May your October be the perfect balance of cosy and spooky🎃👻

•
🍂What are you most looking forward to about October?🍂

(My answer:) I'm so excited to go on our annual holiday to the seaside, which my family and I do for a few days every October - it's where all the brainstorming for my story started, a year ago! I also can't wait to watch spooky cosy movies, bake pumpkin pie, and adorn the house with ghoulish decoration!
•

[Also, I wanted to say - thank you for your patience with me getting back to comments and messages. I value every interaction on here, and I read every word. I'll be responding to each of them soon - it just takes me a while sometimes 💕]

✨See below for 2 snippets of my writing!✨ I w

✨See below for 2 snippets of my writing!✨

I wrote 1500 words this morning✍️ It was one of those days where I became really immersed in the scene, which was lovely. I usually find the dynamic of my two main characters (best friends Zoe and Finn) easy and freeing to write.

•
🌳Here are two excerpts from what I wrote:

☀️1:
"We walked in blissful silence for a while, reaching the top of the hill where a willow tree swayed its draping locks over a part of the river. Finn and I liked to call it ‘The Whispering Willow’ – not because its rustling leaves sounded like whispers in the wind, but because it was our secret place to talk, just the two of us, when we wanted to escape the noise of the Fair.

While Finn laid the picnic blanket on the grass, I smoothed out the creases, its red and white squares reflecting the sun."

🍔2:
"Oy, this isn’t about me.” Finn chirped through a mouthful, the potent scent of pickle drifting with his words.

“It’s about both of us.” I said diplomatically.

He grimaced. “Your notebook started it.”

“So you’re saying it’s my fault.”

“Well, all I brought was the picnic basket and it’s done no wrong.”

I threw a piece of cheese at him. “Yeah, well your panini stinks.”

•
👉Which is your favourite: 1 or 2?

•
✨How has your writing been going? I'd love to know!✨

✍️"The first draft is just you telling yoursel

✍️"The first draft is just you telling yourself the story." - Sir Terry Pratchett ✍️

•
✨Do you often feel like you've 'failed' if you don't get something 'perfect' first time?🦉

I think we can often forget that progress and growth over time is a thing?! Like, we're allowed to let our creative projects be not-so-good until they become not-so-bad, and beyond.

I've had to keep reminding myself of this while writing the first draft of my book. Especially at the start, I felt like everything I typed was being displayed on a whiteboard in front of an audience, and I had to make sure it was exactly as the final book would be.

In our heads, we KNOW what we want our story to feel like, and we can see the finished product like a shining vision. Yet, when we're first writing it... that vision slips out of reach like a writhing fish.

The words aren't right; the voice is weak; everything you write sounds far less eloquent than when you imagined it in your head; etc.

But I've realised that a first draft is SUPPOSED to sit uncomfortably. It's meant to have plot holes and threads that don't tie up yet, characters you're worried about representing right, and dialogue you're sure sounds lame.

Like sorting out a messy room, it has to get worse before it gets better. Imagine the room is your mind, and the floor is the page. You have to get everything out on the floor to see what there is - just like writing everything down in the first draft. We have to accept that it'll look messy for a while. Then, you pick out the things you really want to keep - until you'll eventually be able to tidy these 'best bits' together, and the book will be finished.

I know it's common to have CPs give feedback while you're still writing the first draft, but I've realised this doesn't suit me so well... I end up very conscious of wanting the draft to look like the finished-book vision; to sound right - I think because I don't want them to point out anything I already know I'm going to change.

So, in other words: write your story for YOU. Give yourself permission to let it be messy, as much as you might hate that. It has to begin as a bundle of ideas in order to become what you envisioned.
✨

✍️ Are you a writer? I'm hosting a writing liv

✍️ Are you a writer? I'm hosting a writing livestream every day from 3rd-15th September!✍️

You know when you sit down to write, all ready to go with the document in front of you... when two hours go by and you realise you've been staring at a picture of Mr Darcy the whole time (which you have on your wall, obviously), imagining you're Lizzie Bennet WITHIN a novel instead of writing one?

Yup, same.

✨If you're wanting to write more often, but struggle with sitting down to do it, I hope this will help:✨

☕WRITE WITH ME!☕

For two weeks starting from September 3rd (so long as there isn't some unexpected reason I can't on the day), I'll be hosting a 1.5hr writing session every day at 9:30am UK time.

Now, a lot of you are in the US, so I know this time won't be so great for you (sorry😖), but I will save one of the livestreams to my IGTV so that you can write along with it whenever you like! Perhaps set a particular time you're going to start writing, and set the video going then?
I know it's not quite the same as me writing live at the same time, but hopefully it will still help.

It will be with this view of my desk, me typing away, and probably some calm background music on a low volume. If you're wanting some focused writing time, you're welcome to tune in!

•
Also, for those wanting an earlier start, @meganbethdavies is hosting writing sprints from 7:00am (or sometimes 7:15) until 8:00am UK time on weekdays...

AND

@itslivdarling and @lafilledapollon are hosting a 24-hour writeathon, on Thursday 2nd! See their pages for details✨
•

Let me know if you have any questions! I look forward to writing with some of you over the next two weeks🤗 See you on September 3rd!

✍️Do you think you might join?✍️

•
If it's not your timezone, vibe, or if you're not a writer:

☕Do you like having a clear workspace, or lots of pictures for inspiration (*cough* distraction)☕

Load More… Follow me!

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Latest Posts

The Innkeeper by Keaton D. Winter – A humbling reminder of the beauty in kindness March 15, 2021
‘Darkwind’ by Renee Dugan: A Magical Journey of Building Resilience, Forging Friendships, and Embracing Possibility… November 30, 2020
Rebecca (2020) Review: More Bland Than Bittersweet November 22, 2020
Looking to the Edges: The Space Between Categories November 20, 2020

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$☕Do we glamourise the past?☕ I've always been fascinated by eras from centuries past. On the one hand, the history captured my interest: facts about greedy kings and cunning princesses, knights and peasants and chimney-sweeps. It's incredible to learn about times that have come before - the people, the landscapes, and the architecture; the unsolved mysteries and little-known stories. There is an endless well of history to discover, so complex and layered that it would take centuries to read even a fraction of it. So that's history: the facts. But there's another part that goes hand-in-hand, and has probably held my interest even more than just the facts - instead, capturing my imagination: the aesthetics. The dark castle corridors, mahogany floors and flowing cloaks of the Middle Ages. The bejewelled curtain-thick dresses, woven tapestries and wooden-panelled buildings of Tudor times. The ebony veils, clinking teacups and smog-filled streets of Victoria's age. The newsboy caps, roast dinners and flower prints of the 1940s... and that's just Britain. Strangely, I find such comfort in these images of the past. Probably, because I've seen them depicted in films I love. Therefore, my emotional attachment to them could come from any of these things: - I find the visuals pretty - the historical facts are interesting - I've connected with the historical stories, and know that those people were real once, so there's a tangible link - the movies I've watched have captured a version of those eras, and I love the characters/stories of those movies, so I associate them with a cosy feel If it's the latter... is there a danger in fictionalising the past; turning it into a story that brings comfort, instead of a lesson that raises questions? Is watching actors in fancy costumes, portraying a version of the past, an insult to history textbooks... or a complement to them? I think for me, it's both. Sometimes I want a thought-provoking insight into the mechanics of history. Other times, I simply want to sit on the sofa and escape to a recreated world that evokes eras past, and enjoy the stories within them, fictional or not. • 📜What's your favourite historical era?📜$

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