The Bra Street Rambler

Welcome back to Ten Week's of challenges! If you don't fancy yourself a writer and have no interest in beginning, scroll on down for your challenge. Ten Weeks of Writer's Prep Week Four: Keeping Notes! Hello there Rambler's, and welcome back to your Ten Weeks of Writer's Prep! This time last year, we discussed creating your basic plot (See Here ). This year I'm going to throw an idea your way on how to keep track of those plot ideas, characters, quotes, and actions scenes that find their way into your brain all through your day. Trust me, you don't want to rely on your memory to keep track of those ideas until you're no long rushing around! Different things work for different people, and if you're like me you'll use a little bit of everything depending on what you're doing and what's handy. So here are some ways to jot down those ideas until you need them. Scrap Paper Notes Grab yourself whatever paper, napkins, or ...

Welcome back to Ten Week's of challenges! If you don't fancy yourself a writer and have no interest in beginning, scroll on down for your challenge. Ten Weeks of Writer's Prep Week Three: Character Depth So this week last year, we focused on creating antagonists by answering some questions (See  Here .) This year we're going to expand a little on that post by focusing on furthering character depth.  Be your character protagonist, antagonist, side character, or by all means a characters favourite lamp, if there is going to be any focus on someone or something, as a writer you'll want to give it depth. Something that makes readers connect, and want to read more.  Now you may be laughing at that lamp part, but if you've ever watched the show Supernatural (to use just one example), you'll know that an inanimate object can indeed be a character all of it's own, a focus point, something that conveys emotion in readers/viewers. In this part...

Welcome back to Ten Week's of challenges! If you don't fancy yourself a writer and have no interest in beginning, scroll on down for your challenge. Ten Weeks of Writer's Prep Week Two: What's In A Name? Hey there Rambler's! It's week two of our Ten Week Challenge, and we've got some characters to consider. This week last year, we reviewed protagonists (See Here ), but what is a character without a name?  This week I'll share the various methods in which I go about naming my characters. Hopefully, this will assist you in naming your own characters in a way that isn't too generic. I mean let's face it, our favourite boy wizard might not have made it quite so big in the world of books and fandoms had he been named say… James Smith. "Listen here, author. " Sometimes, our characters truly have a mind of their own. They walk into our imaginations and declare their existence to us in such an undeniable way that we can ...

This week, I received the devastating news that a friend of mine had passed away. For days, I have been bawling my eyes out at this turn of events trying to find a way to cope. I am fortunate and exceedingly grateful to have a group of friends to lean on and go through this with that have also had the great pleasure of knowing him. Together, we have been sharing photos, videos, stories, and memories with one another to keep this wonderful man alive in our hearts and souls.  Some of you may have known Kenneth McAlpine from the phenomenal duo that was Team Give'r on Amazing Race, but we knew him from college and residence life as RA's (Resident Advisor's), and having grown to become a working family.  This man was a force to be reckoned with, and while he joined out staff a little late, I am not exaggerating when I say it took Mere Moments to catch up it terms of bonding and team building. That's just how he was, his extreme energy and enthusiasm drew you in and he...

Welcome Ramblers, to Week One of this years Ten Week Challenge! What's the Ten Week Challenge? Well, last year I created a small series of challenges designed to help people prep for their first attempt writing a book for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writers Month: a challenge issued to writers around the world to spend their month of November writing 50, 000 words in 30 days.) That being said, I couldn't very well write ten challenges for them and exclude anyone who had no interest in writing, could I? So every week, I would throw in an additional challenge for those non-writers. So let's dive in, shall we? Never fancied yourself a writer? Scroll down below for your alternative challenge! Good luck! Looking to teleport yourself to the wonderful world of writing? I hope you enjoy this Ten Week Challenge and highly recommend you check out last years equivalent challenge each week, you'll be providing a link with each weeks post. Good luck! Ten Weeks of Writer...

Last week, I mentioned using my own emotions as research for my books. This week, I'd like to take a moment to elaborate on this not only from a writer's stand point, but also in self exploration. For anyone who knows me, or has spent enough time reading my posts, I'm definitely known as an emotion based individual. I feel things deeply and I am true to those feelings. I am a firm believer that exploring and understanding my feelings allows me to better understand myself as an individual and if I can be honest with myself, then I can also be more honest with those around me about who I am. So how does knowing I'm hurt or sad, angry or happy, anxious or scared help me to better understand myself? By accepting how I am feeling, giving myself permission to feel it, and then asking why I'm feeling it. I ask myself if I am feeling sad because of the triggering event alone, or if I am perhaps hurting more deeply because of a build up of instances that lead to that mom...

Hey there Rambler's, Those few of you who tuned in last week are probably expecting the Ten Weeks of Challenges this week however, I've had a bit of a blunder and miscalculated the number of weeks to November in my excitement to commence, so that will Actually begin on August 29th. To those of you who did not tune in last week and are now confused; don't worry, you didn't actually miss anything. I went back and updated the post to remove anything making mention to this week being the debut to that series. That being said, much like I explained in  My Heads in NaNo  a few years ago, it can be hard for me to pull my head out of  the NaNo verse this time of year. After a conversation last night with a dear friend of mine, I've realized that with each passing year the time period in which this mental takeover occurs is expanding, so I thought I'd take advantage of this weeks post to delve deeper into that. When does NaNoWriMo mode begin? Every year begins so...

Well Rambler's, soon begins our 10 weeks of challenges, I hope you're as excited as I am! Speaking of challenges!  Some of you may or may not know this about me, but I often have a difficult time holding myself accountable to my goals. Especially when it comes to morning routines. There are so many things I know I could accomplish in that time, but I'm a Snooze Queen. I will choose that snooze button every time. That being said if you read my blog regularly, you'll know that I encourage asking for help in your goals. That's why when I recently decided to start waking up early to workout, I turned to a friend for assistance. See, I knew that if I woke up and saw my alarm clock and focused on the fact that I was tired and in want of more sleep, the snooze button would win my attention. However, if I woke up and was distracted from my alarm with a text message, then I'd be more keen to see what it said than to slip back into sleep. So I asked my friend wh...

Well Rambler's, Last week I wrote about the differences in Canadian and European after-work culture ( See Here ). This week, I'd like to let you in on a little secret and give you all a little bit of an update. Posts like the last one, are realizations that occur to me during the writing process. What does that mean? It means the beginning of the post is the idea I wanted to write about, and towards the end when I wrote about trying to redefine the way we recharge after a long day of work... that perspective only developed as I was writing my post. I use my blog both to share my perspectives, and to explore them myself. So, last week I had a plan to write about my observation that Europeans in the countries I had visited were far more social on weeknights than people where I live are. As I wrote, I thought about my own experience out with friends mere hours before writing my post and realized that I felt much better than I would have had I simply come home, ...

Canadian Rambler's, I learned something very interesting during my recent travels….in other countries, Monday to Friday isn't all about work.  This may come as a surprise to the other fifty countries that read this blog because they seem to idolize us in some parts, especially among teenagers, but we're not terribly active socially. Where I'm from, people don't usually do a whole lot after the work day is through. Chores? Yes. Going to the gym, maybe. But socializing? Not terribly common. We've become so exhausted as a society, that a lot of us simply shut down after work. We are physically tired, mentally tired, emotionally tired, and most definitely socially tired. In Europe however, it didn't seem to matter what day of the week it was, something was happening outside or down the street. Live concerts in the street, friends meeting up for drinks in the local pub, people hanging out outside their homes just chatting the night away, you name it! What ...

Hey there Rambler's, We left off with some highlight points from my trips through Greece, and Bulgaria. Now on to Romania. First off, the hotel. Wow. While in Bran, I stayed at the Contele Vladimir hotel. Please, feel free to take a moment to view their website  Here even if you do not intend to travel to Romania. It's amazing and offers a balcony view of Bran Castle. Surrounded by a small bit of countryside, you can hear the bells as the cows move around outside, and you can make friends with a giant dog named Bernie who, as it turns out, is absolutely petrified of thunder. But that's a story for another post! I arrived well past desk closure due to failed train connections, nevertheless, the owners of the hotel were wonderful enough to have a car sent to collect me from the station. What happened following my check in is something I will forever be grateful for: I went down to breakfast at the right time and made new friends who hailed from England. I'm sure I...

Hello there Rambler's! Last week, I promised some highlights of my trip to Bulgaria and Romania. Well let me tell you, Bulgaria is highly underrated. If you love the outdoors, then this is certainly a place worth visiting. The scenery had even me at a loss for words and if you know me, you know that's not exactly a common occurrence. That being said, I believe my favourite parts about this country were having wonderful people take the time to teach me about the food and culture, as well as getting a chance to explore some caves as further research for my next book. Those caves, my goodness, those caves. If ever you are in Bulgaria, I highly recommend taking the time to visit Prohodna Caves, as well as Magura caves. They are absolutely indescribable. Belogradchik rocks are also worth making a trip to see. Something else to be said about Belogradchik, I do believe this is where I met some of the nicest people in the country. They truly made my experience in Bu...

Greetings Ramblers! I do apologize for the delay in posting, but I am not sorry. The truth is, June was a rough month for me and that's just how the cookie crumbles sometimes. I needed to drop some commitments and put myself first. I can't speak to other countries around the world, but I know that where I'm from, we have been conditioned to put our commitments above ourselves and that's simply not alright. We have to take care of ourselves first, otherwise, what is it all for? But hey, that's a post for another day. Anyway, I am back now, and I have some content planned for you lovely Rambler's who have stuck with me for so many years. I hope that you are all doing well and remembering that you are worth your effort, that you are your number one commitment and should be your first priority. That being said, on to today's post! I have now returned from my semi-mysterious trip abroad, and can now reveal where it was I ventured off to! Drum roll ...

My birthday is quickly approaching, and as you'll likely be able to relate to, this often means being asked what I want and not having an answer. If you're like me, you don't need gifts, but people still want to give, so this year I am instead asking for experiences. What does this mean?  It means doing silly little things together, sharing experiences with loved ones that we can look back on and smile about. This can be a movie night, a game night, an outing, a Pinterest DIY attempt (and likely fail), horseback riding, a picnic, a day at the beach, going to see a new release... As you have often read from me: the sky is the limit! Life has become far too material, and gosh knows I have far too much stuff in my apartment to begin with, but time spent with those who mean the most to us is priceless. During my travels, I have come to face just how much Canada and America have become withdrawn within our belongings and our technology. When asked what they liked to do i...

Hey there Rambler's! As you know, I'm not home this week or the next but rather am writing this post from some other magical part of the world. I had intended on posting something oh so insightful about travel this week, I got rather distracted enjoying cake with two of my three roommates in the hostel I am currently residing in. This is actually the first trip I stay in hostels and I must say, I'm truly enjoying the experience. It has been so very nice meeting new people from all over the world, discussing where we have been, and where we are going, what prompted our respective trips, and what sights are worth seeing. If you have never given hostels a try, I recommend it. I have met all ages and walks of life in the two I have stayed in so far, and have enjoyed many great new experiences because of it. What's more, they are definitely far more budget friendly than some other options out there and you learn a lot more about the local hot spots from many different pe...

Well dear Rambler's, when this post goes live, I'll be on a plane to my next adventure. It's been a while since I went on my last one to the Amazon Jungle of Peru, and I must say I am rather excited for this new one. For safety purposes, I won't be telling you where I'm going just yet however, I will tell you that it's Definitely something to write home about (Love you mum, don't worry I'll be safe! xo) On more than a few occasions, people have asked me how I go about planning my trips, how I choose where to go, what to see, etc. So I thought this week the perfect opportunity to share that with you in case you've been entertaining planning your very own vacation. Step 1: Stop telling yourself it's impossible and allow yourself to dream a little. You'll never go anywhere if you don't allow yourself to believe you can make it happen. There are of course, always limitations such as money, health, etc, but to those limitations there ar...