December 2016 Link Love

December has mainly been a month of slobbing for me, a lot of sitting on my butt and reading crap on the internet so there are quite a few links in my link love post for December. I think most of them will interest you though (hopefully), there are lots of book bloggers and posts, some writing tips and then just a whole load of random crap. Enjoy!

Reading

Savidge Reads: Favourite Books of 2016 - Simon from Savidge Reads is one of the first book bloggers I started to follow and he is still one of my favourites. He also has a YouTube channel and I loved his 2016 favourite books video. I've actually only read one of them, The House at the Edge of the World by Julia Rochester (which I will review at some point). But now I want to read pretty much every other book on his list. His book choices are really interesting and he has concise, fun descriptions.

Artful Reader - I recently discovered the Artful Reader blog, it's a book and lifestyle blog but with a bit of a difference. Suss, the blogger, includes books, decor, art and lots and lots of cocktail recipes. It's a really refreshing read.

A Little Blog of Books: The Tokyo Zodiac Murders - I love locked room murders and A Little Blog of Books' review of The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Soji Shimada has made me really want to read this one.

A Model Recommends: Six Good-looking Emergency Books - Ruth Crilly from A Model Recommends is one of my favourite non-book bloggers. She mainly blogs beauty but she also has great taste in books and sometimes does book posts. This list is for books for Christmas, a bit late now, but I like her suggestions for really beautiful books that are also good stories too. I now really want to get the MacMillan Children's Classics of The Water Babies and Gobbolino the Witches Cat, I loved them when I was younger.

Omnivoracious: Feel the Force...is that Felt? - Needle-felted Star Wars kids' books? Amazing! I wish I'd seen this blog post on Star Wars Epic Yarns from the Amazon book blog before Christmas, these books would have been perfect for my Godson...and my husband.

Writing

Source: BadRedHead Media

Writer's Digest: How Long Should Novel Chapters Be? - Do any other writers struggle with chapter length? I tend to scribble everything down and then try to split it into chapters later, which I often find difficult. This article from Writer's Digest is fairly helpful but it's actually the comments section where I found the best advice.

BadRedHead Media: Writing Goals - When writing Highlanders' Revenge I found that setting myself writing goals was really helpful. But I still find it a bit difficult to do. This article on writing goals from BadRedHead Media is really helpful, not just for writing goals but also marketing ones. She also suggests realistic goals and the benefits behind them.

Random

Source: Pinterest

Matilda Manicure - These Roald Dahl Matilda nails are just amazing. I can't find the original source photo but here's the Pin.

Sainsbury's Brushed Knit Trousers - I know these don't look like much, and there's no escaping the fact that they're beige, but these fleece trousers from Tu at Sainsbury's are amazing. They're somewhere between pyjamas and jogging bottoms and are just so bloody comfy, ideal for lazy days, or working from home days. I just don't leave the house in them, because they aren't going to win any style awards. They are half price on the Sainsbury's website at the moment, only £6!

La Roche-Posay Effaclar H Soothing Moisturiser - I normally use Effaclar H from La Roche-Posay as it's one of the moisturisers that suits my annoyingly combination skin, but I strayed from it earlier this month and really regretted it. My skin is normally oily and prone to spots (still, at nearly 30 years old) but it also gets really dry. This winter I tried out a few couple of different moisturisers instead and my skin just fell apart, it was so dry and patchy. I got Effaclar H again and it sorted it right out. If anyone else has combination skin this is ideal, it's actually designed for people taking acne medication which really dries out the skin, Effaclar H Soothing Moisturiser gives skin a big dose of mosituriser but doesn't block pores. I've linked Effaclar H on Look Fantastic as at £6.27 it's the cheapest I can find at the moment, but Feel Unique also often have off La Roche-Posay products.

Lovejoy T-shirt - My husband bought this Lovejoy T-shirt, I love him so much (that wasn't sarcastic). We bloody love watching Lovejoy. If you haven't heard of it,  it's a show from the late '80s/early '90s about a 'loveable rogue' antiques dealer in Suffolk, starring Ian McShane with dodgy hair. Ask your parents, seriously it's amazing and Amazon does T-shirts. It's still on now, I think on Drama or Yesterday or something, usually Sunday mornings.  I'm seriously considering getting the woman's T-shirt.

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