Top Ten Tuesday | Comic Comic Comic Comic Comic Chameleon

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is 'All about the visuals', so I'm going to share with you the graphic novels that are on my TBR!

The Encyclopedia of Early Earth by Isabel Greenberg: I read Greenberg's The One Hundred Nights of Hero (reviewed here) and really enjoyed it, so I'm interested in checking out more of her work.

Ladycastle by Delilah Dawson and Ashley Woods: This is a retelling of the Arthurian legends with women at the centre. Yes please.

This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki: I read the Tamakis' other graphic novel, Skim, a couple of years ago and loved it, so I'd like to check out this one too.

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, John Jennings and Damian Duffy: I'm fascinated to see how this story has been adapted into a graphic format, and even though it's harrowing I'm totally drawn in by that cover.

Blue is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh: Despite only being a few years old this feels like one of those classics I should have read by now. It really doesn't seem right to me to leave out that extra 'u' though...

Fun Home and Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel: I haven't read any Alison Bechdel yet and that's something I need to change, especially as she's the creator of the Bechdel Test. Fun Home is something of a classic, but I really like the sound of Are You My Mother? too.

Baba Yaga's Assistant by Marika McCoola and Emily Carroll: This looks so fun, and I feel like I haven't actually read many stories featuring Baba Yaga. I liked Emily Carroll's Through the Woods a lot, so I'd like to see more of her illustrations and I love the colours on the cover.

Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton: How have I not read this yet? I love Beaton's Step Aside, Pops so I need to read this one, too.

The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil by Stephen Collins: I've yet to hear a bad thing about this graphic novel. It's just so huge (the book that is, not the beard).

Which books made your list this week?

What's Up Wednesday! | 11/03/15

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly feature created by Jaime Morrow and Erin L. Funk as a way for writers and readers to stay in touch!

What I'm Reading

Since last week I've read The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman, The Ice Dragon by George R. R. Martin, Through the Woods by Emily Carroll and The Great God Pan, The Shining Pyramid and The White People by Arthur Machen.

I'm still reading Relic by Renee Collins, Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and Mistress Firebrand by Donna Thorland - not because any of them are boring, but just because I've found myself with barely any time to read, still not entirely sure why, so I've been reading shorter reads in between. I also started Kindred by Octavia E. Butler which I'm reading for Week 2 of my Forgotten Histories Reading Challenge.

What I'm Writing

I'm still working on my short story 'Piranha' for the Mslexia Short Story Competition, and I've also started writing another short story, 'Stars Over Talsarn', which is set in 16th century Wales. I've been really into short story writing the past few months, I think mainly because I want to get more of my work out there, and also because reading My True Love Gave to Me over Christmas has awakened my love for anthologies and the more short stories I read the more I want to write.

What Works For Me

Reading. I feel like I'm cheating because I've said this plenty of times, but reading other people's work really inspires and motivates me.

What Else Is New

The weather was gorgeous at the weekend, like spring is finally on its way, and on Saturday I went shopping. I bought some new shoes for the warmer weather - they're really cool - and I picked up a few paint samples. I want to redecorate my room, but I can't decide what colour I want my feature wall to be. It's very frustrating.

On Sunday I found out that one of my flash fiction stories, 'Coffee Break', will be up on Flash Fiction Magazine on the 25th March, so that's exciting! And tomorrow I'm off to a new writing and reading group. A friend of mine introduced me to this fantastic site called MeetUp where people can find groups and activities in their local area and meet new people. There don't seem to be that many groups down where I am - I keep getting recommendations for groups in Bristol. I live in South Wales, why the hell would I travel all the way to Bristol?! - but this group is fairly new, the meeting I'm going to is only their second one. I'm hoping to meet some new people. I miss my friends from uni a lot and it gets pretty lonely down here.

At the start of the week I was very sad to hear that IdeasTap will be closing. For those of you outside the UK, IdeasTap is a charity which focuses entirely on helping people in the arts. Every year they collaborate with Sky and offer £30,000 to three artists (that's each, not between them) so that for an entire year they can work on a project they're passionate about and not have to worry about how they're going to pay their rent or where their next meal is coming from. Many people also use the money to travel; if a writer decides to write a novel set in Africa, they can afford to go and do their research in Africa.

It's also fantastic for its articles on creativity and inspiration, as well as for the events and scholarships it promotes and the jobs it advertises. For people looking to get a job in the arts in the UK, it has a brilliant job search that allows you to look for arts jobs by area or salary or arts sector.

Basically it's an amazing charity and I'm gutted it's closing. I'm hoping someone will give it the funding it needs before June. #SaveIdeasTap

What's new with you?