The book is set to be a huge hit over Christmas.
Zoe Sugg, aka Zoella, one of the most famous YouTube stars in the UK, will become a bestselling author in the next few weeks.
PA / Matt Alexander
Amazon
J.K. Rowling Has Just Posted A New Harry Potter Story Online
And it’s full of new insights into Dolores Umbridge.
J.K. Rowling today published a new Harry Potter short story on her website, Pottermore, all about Hogwarts professor Dolores Umbridge.
Getty Images Danny E. Martindale
The new 1,700-word essay was published this morning as a special treat for Halloween.
Pottermore/BuzzFeed
The new story focuses on new facts, reflections, and insights into Umbridge, and can be seen in full on today.com without needing to sign up.
After the new story, Rowling reveals her personal thoughts on the character and how the malicious pink-loving witch was based on a real person that she knew. Although she makes sure she doesn't reveal who that person actually was.
In the new musings, she writes:
Once, long ago, I took instruction in a certain skill or subject (I am being vague as vague can be, for reasons that are about to become obvious), and in doing so, came into contact with a teacher or instructor whom I disliked intensely on sight.
The woman in question returned my antipathy with interest. Why we took against each other so instantly, heartily and (on my side, at least) irrationally, I honestly cannot say.
Knitting Myself Back Together
Jenny Chang / BuzzFeed
When I decided this past summer to move into my own apartment after years of living with roommates, my anxiety took over completely.
“Idiot,” it hissed after I signed a lease on a beautiful little place in a not-quite-nice area. “How the fuck do you think you’re ready for this? You can’t afford it, it’s not safe, you’ll regret it, you chose wrong.” Really, what it translated to was this: I hated not knowing the future, not being able to chart the edges of my life and promise myself it would all be OK. One day, shortly before I moved, I stayed home from work because I had such a strong panic attack that I threw up mucus all over my sheets. I put the sheets in the bathtub, called my mom, and then, in order to stave off another wave of nausea, began knitting a mustard-yellow sweater.
My knitting predates my anxiety by about a decade. I learned when I was 6, making washcloths and coasters and doll blankets (which are actually all pretty much the same thing) and years later moving on to lace cardigans, Mad Men-style dresses, and a lifetime supply of mismatched mittens. Those began in 2008, the summer after high school, and the only time in my semi-adult life I’ve been truly unemployed and truly depressed. I was competing for part-time jobs at Victoria’s Secret and Sephora against people who had degrees in fashion merchandising. I felt formless and invisible, so I spent those three months waiting for my high school boyfriend to get out of his lifeguarding job. I would then pick fights with him and stay up until 3 or 4 in the morning watching cartoons alone on my ancient laptop. And even though I was over the moon about college, which I’d be starting in upstate New York in the fall, the present muck of it all made me feel nothing if not useless. I had nothing concrete to point at to prove that I was doing OK; I was claustrophobic and tense, all of a sudden scared of driving and blindingly angry (at the world but mostly at myself) that nobody wanted to give me a job, that nobody seemed to be able to see me.
About a month into this listless, lightless summer, I pulled out my knitting needles. I’d never really gotten past that first washcloth-shaped phase, occasionally making things that kind of looked like hats or sweaters but not quite a garment anyone would actually wear. I couldn’t read patterns and that alone felt like it walled me out from all the knowledge and inspiration floating around on the internet, among people much more skilled than me who knew how to speak that secret language.
Knitting, then, became my task. During one of those nights of cartoons I started to pore over books and YouTube videos, figuring out what it meant to seam a shoulder or turn a heel. I knitted my first real sweater, a bright-yellow cropped cardigan I don’t think I’ve ever worn, in a blurred week of near-insomnia. It didn’t matter that the sleeves were too bulky or that the buttonholes didn’t line up — here was something that was 100% mine, that seven days prior had been nothing but a pile of exceedingly raw materials. Nobody had asked me to knit or had given me permission; I just did it, and that power was enough to propel me into a summer of unbridled, fibery productivity. I could, in some small way, stop waiting to be chosen.
Still, over the last few years, my anxiety has expanded and mutated. It gorges itself on mistakes I make at work and feasts on fights with the people I love, anything that makes it look like the happiness I’ve harvested could all of a sudden disappear. My good, logical self tries to wrestle the twisted and bloated version or at least make it listen to reason: You will not be fired, he will not leave you, that had nothing to do with you so please slow your heartbeat. More often than not, these arguments don’t work.
But making things dims the roar. The rhythm of stitches, the steadiness and the solidity of the ever-growing project — these are REAL, the antidote to the made-up apocalyptic extrapolation that is my anxiety’s bread and butter. What’s more, they’re under your control, progressing at exactly the rate and (sometimes) in exactly the manner you choose. Crafting is a lot like sex or yoga, how it shrinks your immediate world down to this cozy, manageable size where all you have to focus on is what’s right in front of you; unlike sex, at the end you get a new pair of socks or a coaster. I can graph my life by the pile of finished (and not-so-finished) knitting projects nestled in the back of my wardrobe: a chunky lace shawl from my first summer interning in New York, a pair of leg warmers from a winter break spent worrying over a test I’d kind of sort of cheated on, a single slipper for an ex (the relationship ended before I could make the second one). They’re all imbued with a certain energy from the period I spent working on them, and that helps me trace how far I’ve come and how far I have left to go. They anchor me.
The moment you know you are a real knitter, for good and for keeps, is when you fix your first mistake. Before that you are a little helpless, seeking out the aid of teachers and internet walk-throughs to take you back to the place before you made the hole, quadrupled the stitches, yanked out the needle. That first summer I learned how to read my knitting, to know which loop had to be repaired in order to create the next one. It’s good practice for what I try to do every day in my non-knitting life, with my therapist and with my family and with myself: Trace the troubles back to their source so I can better know how to fix them. So often my defensiveness or my irrationality spring from that fear of not knowing what’s next, of not being in control of a given situation; so often a gaping hole in a sleeve just needs a little tug a few stitches back.
When I moved into the new apartment, one of the very first things I did was unpack my yarn. It’s arranged in rainbow-ish order on a bookshelf across from my bed, and so when I wake up in the morning it’s often the first thing I see. I like having all those colors around, all that squishy, toasty goodness, but more than that I like the potential of it. What will you be? I wonder of a large pile of marled green wool, three balls of unbleached cotton, a tiny skein of silk picked up at a festival near the college I’ve since graduated. The not knowing isn’t actually so bad. In fact, it could be the best part.
Tim Cook: "I'm Proud to be Gay"
Tim Cook: "I'm Proud to be Gay"
While I have never denied my sexuality, I haven’t publicly acknowledged it either, until now. So let me be clear: I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.
17 DIY Stationery Projects That Will Make You Want To Write A Letter
Because a letter in the mail beats a text message, every time.
Arty splatter paint cards.
Channel your inner Jackson Pollock with these arty cards. Your friends will think you spent $6 for these at a museum gift shop. Get the DIY instructions at Elizabeth Anne Designs.
Crafty layered notecards.
Want to say "hey" without using the YO app? Try this simple-yet-fancy card made from scraps around your apartment. Get inspired at Whisker Graphics.
Traveller's stationery set.
For the letter writer with wanderlust, homemade envelopes and notecards made from vintage maps are the perfect incentive to get to the post office. Get the DIY instructions at Design Sponge.
Jon Hamm Was Of No Help The Night Before Amy Poehler Gave Birth
The moral of the story is: Never have Jon Hamm around in an emergency.
The night before Jon Hamm hosted SNL for the first time, (the day before Amy Poehler was due to give birth to her son Archie), Amy got a very important phone call.
And she was like... :O
Naturally, she started freaking out.
There were some very important questions that needed answering!
How To Bring Out Your Inner Wednesday Addams
Here are 12 steps to help you become your somber, sadistic dream girl.
Get pale.
Pallor is necessary. Remove any trace of a healthy glow.
Paramount
Paramount
Why Are The Kardashians Obsessed With Writer Robert M. Drake?
A literary investigation.
Robert M. Drake, also known as r.m. drake, is a Miami-based writer who posts a lot of his work online.
And in the past year or so, the Kardashian girls have taken a liking to Drake's work and repost his quotes on Instagram on a regular basis.
Specifically, Khloe, Kylie, and Kendall constantly post the author's writing, which is something they don't noticeably do with other pieces of literature.
So, why are the Kardashian-Jenners so obsessed with the author?
E! / Via its-our-jenneration.tumblr.com
According to the man himself, he believes it's because his writing is super relatable.
How To Fix A Guy's Room In Ten Days
For less than $250 we made over a recent college grad’s pad. See the before and after, then take our quiz to learn how to give your own space a refresh.
Lauren Zaser for BuzzFeed
These Med Students Will Solve Your Last-Minute Halloween Costume Woes
Halloween made very, very easy.
Turtley Enough for the Turtle Club is a self-proclaimed "make-your-own crappy costume blog" run by a group of Australian medical students.
Like this 30-minute gingerbread house.
turtleyenoughfortheturtleclub.tumblr.com
"Costuming is a long-standing tradition amongst Aus med students," creator Karen Freilich told BuzzFeed Life.
It's "a means of escaping high pressure life and letting creativity out" (like in the case of this "Bad News" costume).
"Also anonymity!" she added.
turtleyenoughfortheturtleclub.tumblr.com
The tutorials also come with suggested pickup lines, as any worthwhile tutorial should.
For example, if you are masquerading as a berry or bunch of grapes: "I can’t offer you raisins… but I can offer you a date." FOOLPROOF.
turtleyenoughfortheturtleclub.tumblr.com
Some are easy, like this 15-minute spaceship costume.
turtleyenoughfortheturtleclub.tumblr.com
5 Great Books To Read In November
A roundup of recent favorites we’ve reviewed in the BuzzFeed Books newsletter .
Justine Zwiebel / BuzzFeed
Knopf
Dese'Rae L. Stage
This “Anne Of Green Gables” Themed Wedding Is The Sweetest Thing Ever
Sure, it was created for a photo shoot, but it is positively dreeeeeamy.
17 Jane Austen Characters, If They Were On Tinder
“She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me.”
Colin Heasley / BuzzFeed / Focus Features
Colin Heasley / BuzzFeed / Focus Features
Colin Heasley / BuzzFeed / Focus Features
Colin Heasley / BuzzFeed / Focus Features
30 Hilarious Truth Bombs Amy Poehler Dropped During Her Reddit AMA
“Adam Scott smells like… lemons and possibility. Future and peppermint. Loyalty and vanilla ice cream.” Amy Poehler A’d a few Q’s to celebrate the release of her book Yes, Please .
Amy Poehler took to Reddit to promote her new book, Yes, Please . Check out her hilarious answers to fan questions below!
NBC / wiblebible.tumblr.com
She proved waffles are not more important than friendship after all:
Click here for more details about this super sweet answer!
NBC / danyvasquez.com
She's all about dat leather:
25 Chilling Tim Burton Costumes You Should Try This Halloween
♫ This is Halloween, everybody make a scene… ♫
Courtesy of Lilly Wilton
Courtesy of Lilly Wilton
16 Books That Will Do The Flirting For You
Forget pick-up lines. Give your crush a book.
Getty Images / iThinkstock / Photobos
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Try this instead of: "Hey beautiful, give us a smile."
Vintage
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Infinitely more effective than: Sending a "sexy" Snapchat.
Harper
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
Way sexier than: Buying her the cheapest drink at the bar.
Penguin
Poll: Who Should Katniss Actually End Up With?
The odds are ever in your favor.
So in Mockingjay, Katniss' romantic fate is finally revealed and you were all like:
Lionsgate Films
And after she chose Peeta, some people were like "DAFUQ"...
Lionsgate Films
... and others were like "Hell yeah, team Peeta!"
Lionsgate Films / Via banamout.tumblr.com
So now, it's up to you to decide in the most important poll of our time.
May the odds be ever in your favor.
Lionsgate Films
