Hello my lovelies!
How are you? Come on in for a quick cuppa in today’s Weekend Coffee Share!
If we were having coffee today, I’d preface this by saying I’m essentially locked in my flat to avoid distraction for the next two weeks as I have deadlines looming and need to get stuff done.
I’d also tell you that my Sherlock fanfic The Bravery of the Soldier is currently in 22nd Place in the Inkitt Fandom Writing Contest!! It’s the first contest I’ve entered as a writer, and to be 22nd out of more than 1,000 entries is making me all kinds of giddy.
Voting ends on October 21, so if you haven’t already, please head over to Inkitt via this link, click on the heart to like my story and tell others to do the same! 39 of you already did, and I know that I will not get the 200+ votes needed to reach the top, but Top 15 would be awesome!
If we were having coffee today, I’d tell you that I saw the National Theatre live screening of Hamlet on Thursday and it was magnificent. I’d seen and reviewed the play starring Benedict Cumberbatch in August, but I’d seen a preview and changes have been made since then. The “To be, or not to be” speech was moved around – the play used to open with it. Cumberbatch really found his footing in the role and made it his own. The ghost speaks more, Ophelia sings and plays the piano more, and the whole aspect of teenage depression is more obvious than it ever was before by the way especially Hamlet and Ophelia are being portrayed. That Hamlet is a very physical role – Benedict Cumberbatch keeps jumping on and over furniture, running across the set – and the role is taking its toll as the lead actor has noticeably lost weight since the show started its run in early August. When I saw Hamlet live, Jim Norton who plays Polonius fell ill on stage and could not continue, and his understudy had to use the script to complete the play (although I say again that he was excellent under the circumstances!). But it was nice to see the play without interruptions and with the full main cast. The only thing I still don’t like about this particular production of Hamlet is the costumes, which are still all over the place. Just pick an era and stick with it already!
If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that while I still wait for the DDP Yoga DVDs to arrive, my Fitbit Charge HR made it. I’ve been wearing it to get used to it, and I’m especially impressed by the sleep tracker and the silent alarm. No wonder I’m always knackered – turns out I spend half the night tossing and turning, which shows as restless on the tracker. And usually around the same time too! I’m the sort of person who could happily sleep through various alarms. The Fitbit vibrates to wake you up, and it really works! I didn’t think it would, but so far I’ve always woken up! Last Sunday I also started to offer a new free download for a Fitness & Food Journal.
If we were having coffee, you’d have to excuse me a second. I’m washing clothes which I will be donating to refugees, and I just need to put another load in the machine.
How was your week? What are your plans for next week? Mine are: study, study, study. I’ve got 2 weeks left to complete this course and I still have loads to do. I’ve got these two weeks off work, but more because mum’s taken on a work experience kid and there’s no room for me in the office than actual concern over my academic future or voluntary holidays. But it gives me the time I need, so that’s good.
If we were having coffee today, I’d need to get back to my textbooks. The other Weekend Coffee Sharers will gladly have you over for coffee, though, so head over to Part Time Monster for the linky or find us via the #WeekendCoffeeShare tag.
Thank you for having coffee with me. Same time, next week?
Study. Read. Write. 
Great post! I hope you love your fitbit as much as I and so many others do. I have the One model and love it but hope to get the HR sometime in the future. I hope you do well with all your deadlines! I have a lot of work to do this coming week and am finishing the last legs of a cold so finally have more energy again lol.
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I love the Fitbit so far! I was going to get the Fitbit One for the longest time, but then decided I want to be more active again and the HR monitor would come in handy. Love the sleep tracker function!!
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It is really awesome!
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Thanks for the coffee and good luck with the writing contest.
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Oh, Shakespeare. *sigh* And live theater. One of the best things ever. Hope you get your studying done! My goal for next week is to finish a creative writing piece I started this past week. By Friday!
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I hope your DVD arrives soon! Glad you are liking your FitBit! Good luck with the writing contest. I’ll post the link on FB and see if it gets you any more votes!
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Good luck with the study…such a stress! Well done on the fan fiction. That’s a fabulous achievement. I used to work with a girl who wrote fan fiction and she was good at it but wasn’t always working.
I appreciated your review of Hamlet. It might even be worth revisiting now that I’m a “grown-up”.
This week. I’ve still been coughing and have been reading and reviewing a friend’s novel and trying to finish writing about our trip to Byron Bay.
Take care and good luck with the study xx Rowena
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Hi Rowena! My studying is always last-minute cramming, with my job and family I don’t get much undistracted time to myself to sit down with my books, let alone write 20 pages. But the pressure helps, lol! Writing fanfic is my guilty pleasure. But Bravery is the first story I ever shared with more than just friends, and I am thrilled it’s doing so well! As of this morning, it made the Top 20! Hamlet is definitely worth revisiting. I was never a Shakespeare fan when I was at school, and we had to do Macbeth, Hamlet and the sonnets like native English-speakers (I graduated from a bilingual grammar school in Germany). We even had to write our own sonnets in Elizabethan English, as a response to Sonnet 116… I think what sold me on Shakespeare was last year’s performance of Richard III. All of a sudden, in a more modern setting, I got it. And I’ve been soaking up Shakespeare since then. Hamlet is well worth a read, especially when you consider Hamlet is a teenager dealing with the loss of a parent – that theme is still relevant.
Oh Byron Bay! I’d love to see Australia again! I was there in 2007 for 2 months, mainly around Sydney, Tamworth, Bellingen, Grafton, all along the Gold Coast to Brisbane and then I headed from Adelaide to Alice Springs. I’d move to Australia tomorrow if I could, such a beautiful and friendly place! Back then, I had to limp my broken car from Ulmarra to Brisbane, but spent the night in Lennox Head and spend a day in Byron Bay. xx
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Congrats on the Fanfic piece! Very glad to see you are doing well.
Thanks for the coffee!
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Love the fanfic piece, hope you make your deadline. I’ve put myself on the deadline of finishing my current editing phase by November. I’ve been dropping hints about hamlet to hubby since the summer but not sure its worked. Have a great week. 🙂
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Found your blog through the weekend coffee share. Love reading these posts, even though I don’t write them. I’ve had a Fitbit for nearly a year, and I love it. It wakes me up too, and I typically sleep through a blaring alarm!
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