Ellie Rees's Blog - Posts Tagged "fantasy"

We’re all struggling at the moment and for some people it is a lot harder than others to just survive during lockdown. I may not fully acknowledge it every day (as much as I try but I’m a selfish, flawed human) but I am fully aware of how lucky I am right now. I live in a safe home surrounded by my family with plenty of food and we’re all healthy.



Of course, that doesn’t mean that my head doesn’t regularly want to implode with the overwhelming relentlessness that lockdown brings. I miss dates with my boyfriend, I miss seeing my friends in the flesh, I miss going to dance socials and classes and most of all I miss a good old hug! I honestly think I would hug anyone right now because it has been so long. I want to see all of my nearest and dearest and just embrace them for dear life. One of my best friends had a baby at the beginning of the year and every time I see her on Skype I just want to jump through the screen and give her the world’s biggest cuddle. Basically one this is over everyone is getting jumped.



Nevertheless, I am trying to stay as positive as I can because it doesn’t look like life will be normal for a very long time. I practice gratitude everyday without fail, even though sometimes I don’t feel very grateful and I actually feel better just embracing the sadness I’m feeling, but I have been surprised by some of the things that have given me a moment of happiness. For the purposes of length I am not including Skyping with friends because that’s a whole blog post in itself and they OBVIOUSLY bring me so much happiness!



1. Having my meals cooked for me
Just before lockdown was announced I moved back in with my parents and my brother as I’m a type 1 diabetic and knew that I’d feel more comfortable relying on them if shit got real. I’d also really miss not being able to see them and they have a desk so I can work from home without injuring myself!
I have tried my best not to regress to my more youthful years but my brother has become quite the chef recently and quite often cooks for us. Despite his passion for putting butter and cream in EVERYTHING it is just really lovely having someone cook for me; it feels so homely and is definitely something I look forward to at the end of the day.



2. Putting on freshly washed leggings
We’re all in joggers and leggings now, it’s a fact of life. And when they’ve just been washed and you slip them on the level of comfort is just heaven. See also freshly washed bedding for a similar thrill.



3. A mini lie in
I’m fortunate enough to be working from home at the moment which means no commuting for the time being and an extra hour in bed! Follow that up with a cuppa made by my dad on his working from home days and it’s not a bad way to start the day.



4. I have a chance to focus on my diabetes
For anyone familiar with diabetes it’s a complete mindfuck of a condition that rarely sticks to the rules it sets itself. I have been trying for years to get better control and it’s a daily struggle but lockdown has actually given me a chance to monitor my sugar levels a lot more closely. I’m really hoping that when this over things will be more stable!



5. I’m exercising more
Well, I think I am. I’m not someone who hates exercise but I’m quite picky about what I do. I lean more towards dance based workouts rather than burpees, lunges, weights etc. and so I’ve found a really good YouTube channel (The Fitness Marshall) to keep me busy throughout lockdown. I started doing it because I felt I had to do something and then it went from that to ‘well it fills a gap in my day’ to now being something that I look forward to doing as much as possible. This isn’t just for my physical health but as someone who loves dancing it gives me an hour of just doing something fun which can be hard to find right now.
I’ve also been trying to keep up with swing dancing/solo jazz which is a big passion of mine so shout out to Cardiff based The Swing Project for the incredible online classes (go check them out!)



6. I've been able to format my paperback
Like everyone else I have had a lot more time on my hands which means I’ve finally been able to sit down and format my paperback. Turns out it isn’t as scary as I thought and should be finished very soon!



7. So much more cake
My mother is a strong advocate for nearly always eating a piece of cake when you have a cup of tea. It’s very rare these days that the kettle goes on without a ‘Do you want anything with this, love?’ and the cupboards are well stocked with a variety of baked goods. I love that woman.



N.B Yes, diabetics can eat cake. Never ask a diabetic if they can eat something or they will eat you.

You can read this blog and more on my website: elliereeslikestowrite.com

I adore books. I know; that’s a really shocking statement from an author. I love starting a new story, getting to know the characters and then slowly becoming so obsessed with it that you’d happily ignore family members for a few days so that you can finish it. However, what I don’t love is the pressure that sometimes surrounds reading.

I’ve spoken many blog posts ago about the pressure I have felt in regard to reading classic literature even though they are not stories that I’m usually drawn to and I think that intensity can also be applied more generally. How many times have you seen someone you follow on Instagram tell you that you HAVE to read X, Y or Z? Or when the ‘Top Books of 2020’ type lists are released and you immediately start ticking off the ones you think you should buy?
I am not knocking recommendations by any stretch of the imagination; I treasure a friend who tells me of a book they think I’ll enjoy and I really think it’s a gift you can give to someone. Pressure to read is an entirely different beast.

During lockdown I have to a certain extent placed this pressure on myself as much as anything or anyone else has. I think a lot of us have thought that this is the perfect time to make our way through our ‘To Read’ lists as, in theory, we have less distractions. I have tried and I’ve managed to tick off two but for some reason that feels like a failure (never mind that I’ve been busy with work and trying to format my own paperback!) However, I think it’s quite clear that time we choose to take off for ourselves is very different from time we are forced to take off.

I think the worst part of this ‘reading pressure’ is that it actually comes from ourselves. As much as we want to say that we’ve read a book on the Times bestsellers list does it actually matter if it’s not something we want to read?
When I was a child like most of the globe’s ankle biters I was in love with the Harry Potter books. As soon as a new book came out I would beg my mum to make sure she bought it for me ASAP and then it would almost be a race between my school friends and I as to who could read it first. I vividly remember my mum telling me that I should be reading because I enjoy it, not because I need to run into school and tell my friends that I’ve finished the book. This is something I regularly try to remind myself of.

On a personal note I have tried my best to ensure that none of my friends have felt like they have had to read my book. I am so grateful that they want to be supportive and it means so much that so many have proofread or bought the book (and it’s even lovelier when they say they like it) but I understand that it won’t be for everyone. When someone says it’s on their list and they’ll eventually get around to it, I really don’t mind! I would much rather people choose to read it on their own terms, at their own pace and only if they want to.

So if like me you are feeling the weight of many an unread book gathering dust on your shelf just relax! The books will still be there when you’re ready to give them your full attention and right now I honestly feel like our priorities should just be to get through the day however feels right for us. Stories are meant to absorbed, explored and, hopefully, enjoyed. The whole experience will be tainted if its motivated by pressure; it’s far better to hunker down with a cuppa and a book when your mind is ready for it.

You can read this blog and others on my website here: http://bit.ly/ERLTWBlog1

Whether you’ve read my book or not you can probably deduce from the blurb that there’s a fair few made up words in The Arben Bridge. Some of these are completely made up through an extremely intelligent and complex process of taking parts of words that I like the sound of and combining it with other words that I also like the sound of. Or simply changing one letter in a word. I know, it’s groundbreaking stuff.
However, a few of my made-up words have a lot of meaning and reasons behind them. I haven’t included all of them because I think it spoils the fun but here’s a few that may be of interest. Who knows, maybe one day they’ll be a question on a real-life pub quiz!

Liliath – This is the name of the country in which the story is set and is named after my late fabulous nan. Her name was Lilian and I thought the ‘iath’ at the end made the country sound like somewhere you might find in Wales (Welsh speakers please don’t come for me, this is fiction.) I decided to name the country after her because she was a complete powerhouse of a woman and this seemed like a suitably epic tribute.

Jobern – The name of Liliath’s capital city is named after my grandfather (or as I called him; Bampy.) His name was Bernard but everyone called him Joe, as you do. The story goes that when he was a child he and his friends decided to call each other by their father’s names for the day but somehow his stuck for eighty-three years! Jobern is simply an amalgamation of his two monikers and as someone who adored words I like to think he’d approve.

Andice – This is a flyaway reference in the book that you may miss! It’s another city and an amalgamation of my parents’ names. My dad is called Andy and my mum is called Janice so you can see how I arrived at this one!

Yanto – Again, another small detail that won’t have any meaning to anyone other than myself. My Bampy gave my brother the nickname ‘Ianto Full Pelt’ when he was a kid, which I think is a common Welsh nickname but in all honesty I never asked about it so if someone can enlighten me that would be great! My brother’s name is actually Ieuan but I thought this would be too difficult for non-Welsh readers to understand due to all the vowels, as is Ianto, so I just swapped out the ‘I’ for a ‘Y’ to make it more readable.

Carida – This is the name of Tarley’s mum and a very slight anagram for the Welsh word for ‘love’ which is ‘cariad.’ This character is full to the brim of love and it’s her driving force in life so I felt this was the perfect name for her.

Hyd/Haf – If you’ve read the book you may have noticed that my characters are never called ‘Mr,’ ‘Miss,’ ‘Mrs’ etc. and that is a very contrived decision on my part because I truly hate the idea that women’s titles are dependent on their relationship to a man and if you’re making up your own world why not change a few things? Therefore, ‘Hyd’ is taken from the Welsh word for autumn which is ‘hydref’ and ‘Haf’ is the Welsh word for summer. In The Arben Bridge all men have the title of Hyd and all women have the title of Haf. If you’re wondering why I chose those seasons it’s because summer is my favourite (so I had to give this to the ladies) and autumn is the season I was born in.

You can read this blog and others on my website here: http://bit.ly/ERLTWBlog1

As much as I love reading, in non-pandemic years, I don’t do nearly enough of it as I’d like. However, one of the few positives to come out of 2020 is that I’ve been able to devour more books than I usually would. Here, in no particular order, are five of my favourite fiction boos that I’ve read this year.

N.B These books didn’t come out this year, I just read them this year!

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid
If you have frequented my social media pages this year you will know how much I adore this book. My friend lent it to me with a ‘This book is so you, you HAVE to read it’ and I replied with a ‘Sure, thank you’ and got to reading. Within a few chapters I was hooked and finished it within two days.
The book follows the story of famous actress Evelyn Hugo as she recounts her life story and her many husbands, starting in the heyday of glamourous 1950s Hollywood. The characters are well developed, the storyline is filled with dramatic twists and the central love story had me smiling and weeping on every page. I wasn’t expecting to love this book as much as I do but I now consider myself a superfan and will happily talk about it for days on end!

Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
I had been reticent to read this book for years as I don’t tend to get on very well with older texts. I understand the value they have in the literary canon, but I usually find myself frustrated by the plot, the characters or both, and after years of feeling guilty about it I finally decided that I don’t have to be and they’re simply not to my taste. However, I finally gave in after it was forced into my hand by a friend (the same friend who recommended Evelyn Hugo; she keeps me on the straight and narrow when it comes to books.)
This was a slow burn for me but I found myself turning the pages and trying to work out where things were going so before I knew it I was completely invested and eager to read as much as possible.
Rebecca focuses on the central character who is only ever referred to as Mrs de Winter and the second wife of the older Maximilian de Winter. When she moves into his familial home, once run by Max’s now deceased first wife, Rebecca, she finds it impossible to feel at home and make her mark on the place. As the plot progresses, we learn more about how this aristocratic world behaves and the relationships that the new Mrs. de Winter has found herself tied up in.
I’m so glad that I finally got over myself and read this because not only is the story fantastic, but the writing is also top level and genuinely inspiring. I read the whole book thinking ‘I wish I could write like this!’

The Flatshare, Beth O’Leary
This is a romcom with bite. I am partial to a romcom, especially those by Mhairi McFarlane (more on her later), and this one has been doing the rounds a lot on Instagram this year so I thought it would be a good lockdown read.
The Flatshare follows the lives of Tiffy and Leon as they become flatmates except, not really. Rather than sharing a flat in the traditional sense, Tiffy rents the flat for the evening and morning and Leon rents it for the day time, including the only double bed in the flat. As a result, the characters don’t meet for a while and their relationship grows primarily through sticky notes.
The book also touches on some hard-hitting issues including emotional abuse and the false imprisonment of Leon’s brother; both of which I feel were handled really well considering it’s a genre that is usually more fluffy. However, I appreciate that I’m lucky enough to not have experienced those things so understand that I could be wrong.
O’Leary writes with a warmth and humour that really does bring these characters to life in such a way that I found myself routing from them from the start. I’d also quite like to grab a few drinks with Tiffy because she sounds like the kind of bonkers woman I’d get along with.

The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller
You may already know that I’m a Greek mythology nut and this year in particular I have been striving to learn more about these ancient stories. I had wanted to read The Song of Achilles for years but, similar to Rebecca, I was always a bit intimated. I think I worried that the language would be too intelligent for me and there’s always a concern that a book with so much hype then turns out not to be enjoyable. Of course, none of this was true and I fell in love with the story within about five pages.
Miller retells the story of Achilles from his childhood to his time in the Trojan war from the perspective of his beloved Patroclus. I thought this was genius as you’d expect a story this epic to be told by the protagonist but Patroclus understandably gives a new perspective on this legendary hero. This perspective also gives the story an air of mystery to Achilles which I liked. After all, there are so many versions of Achilles’ life that it seems fitting for there to still be a few questions about what he was up to when Patroclus couldn’t see or be with him.

If I Never Met You, Mhairi McFarlane
As mentioned, I am a big fan of Mhairi McFarlane’s books. She writes romcoms with characters that perfectly encapsulate modern living and all the trials and tribulations that come with it. Her dialogue is also hilarious.
If I Never Met You plays into the trope of a fake relationship and although it’s a predictable storyline, as I appreciate most romcoms are, it’s McFarlane’s characters that always win me over. The central character, Laurie, is dumped by her boyfriend of eighteen years and embarks on a fake relationship with her co-worker to make said boyfriend jealous and win him back. However, there’s more to it than that and Laurie is one of the most realistic female characters I’ve ever read. She has her struggles at home and at work, yet her humour doesn’t really fade and her grit always shines through.