The blogger is back...

Okay, so it's been just over 2 years since I last wrote a post for this blog, and even then it was only introducing you to me and telling you a little bit about me. A lot has changed in two years, as you may well imagine.
I shall update you!

I've now been through my gap year, in which I quit my first job working as a sales assistant at Superdrug, and 2 months later found my current job at my local branch of Waterstone's, which I love. I've worked there now for a little over 18 months and still love working there, which I tend to see as a good indicator that I love my job (I challenge you to find a passionate reader that wouldn't love working in a book shop). My love for books and reading has rocketed in the past 2 years as well - I was a fairly avid reader before, but since reading so much in my gap year and working in a book shop, I have become a woman obsessed! I believe my physical book collection is up to at least 250 now, but I also have a Kindle eReader, which has several hundred on it at the moment.

After my year out I started my degree course at Birmingham City University and have now completed my first year with some fairly stunning results. My degree is English with Creative Writing, so it's a fairly creative course, but with enough of the academic side of life to earn me a degree with honours at the other end, and to set me up not only for a creative career, but for any other career option that may come my way in either the near, or the not-so-near future. The first year of my course was about setting myself up for the next two coming years of study. We did 8 modules in total, spanning across the range of different English-related subjects that I could choose to study in my next two years. Semester one was comprised of 4 modules; Literature Criticism (I received 69%), English Language (70%), Drama (68%) and Reading Literature: Prose (69%). Semester two was built up of the remaining; Literature Criticism: Contexts (I received 86%), Describing Language (68%), Adaptation (68%) and Reading Literature: Poetry (50%). Fairly steady results for my first year (if you didn't know already 70% is the boundary for a 1st, 60% for a 2:1, and well - you get the idea), but I have been, and will continue to work on poetry to push that grade up a little - we all know how difficult poetry can be to study properly at a higher level. Anyway, I am beginning to ramble. The point is, that I have done fairly well in my first year, and know a fair bit about a range of subjects as I go into my second year, which starts at the end of this month.
I will study two modules in the first semester of this year, both of which are academic; Literature 1660-1830 (which begins in the restoration period and ends during the reign of the 'great' Jane Austen - you will hear me moan A LOT about this module. I am in no way, shape or form, a Jane Austen fan), and Children's fiction. My two creative modules for the year will be in the second semester and are both portfolio work; Creative Writing and Life Writing.
Just to make things a little more interesting, here is a little photo of all the things a university student needs:




So we are fairly up to speed on my life as it is at the moment. I won't bore any who may be reading this with the ups and downs of life that university has caused me in the past year, but I am sure, if I continue to blog (which I am planning on doing), that you will hear plenty about the stress of university in the months to come.

I am not planning on simply posting about university (although this will probably be a main focus), but I will also be posting about whatever social life I have (if I deem it interesting enough to post about) and I also hope to be posting more reviews of the books I am reading simply for myself. If you're lucky, I may even post some extracts of my creative writing that I will be doing in the second semester of this year.

So, who am I now? I am Dani, second year English and Creative Writing University student, obsessive reader, bookseller, aspiring author and (I like to think) all-round word-smith.
I hope you enjoy reading.