• Favourites,  Lifestyle

    Having a blog break/Started a Substack

    November 23, 2023

    Hello.

    It’s been a long time since I wrote a post on here and felt I owed you an update since 2021/22. I now no long work in my local library and looking actively for another volunteer position local.

    I have decided this will sadly be my last post on this blog for a while, however you will be able to keep reading my content already posted and archives.

    Also just incase you want to keep in touch via reading my work online, I have created recently an educational and writing based account.

    I didn’t come to this conclusion lightly but I decided a Stubstack account is capable, in the long run, of furthering my career and education.

    For those of you that are unaware of Substack , it is a website for people to join and read articles. Some free, some paid in a monthly subscription. My article to start up with will be free.

    For those who don’t know my future goals, I am interested to a studying for. BA or Bsc degree and a job as a paid fiction writer from home.

    I want to thank all my readers and people who have been reading my 5 year journey into blogging so far, and will be here when I come back!

    Read More

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  • Lifestyle,  Single Life

    Monthly Wrap up – January 2021

    January 29, 2021

    This month has been a pretty interesting one.

    I have had two ZOOMs with my best friends and a birthday in the family. Also I binged the entire boxset of SKINS (E4/UK series) & organized my diary into 4 categories using coloured highlighters.

    Watching TV series (SKINS):

    I forgot how much I loved watching that series when it came out on E4 (UK Channel). I don’t want to write too much about this topic as I am going to write a blog post dedicated to SKINS later in the year.

    DIARY & ORGANISATION:

    As many regulars of this blog will tell you, I am terrible with the organization. I decided this year will be the year I finally up my game and organize my life properly. I found a pack of 4 highlighters that I used to divide my diary monthly spreads into 4 topics (FAMILY, PERSONAL, FRIENDS, and BLOG/WORK). I will in the future show you my monthly spread, starting next month. This worked out well for me because I could see at a glance what I was looking at and what topic I was. I will be continuing this method for the next few months to check it works well.

    ZOOM/Keeping in Touch:

    Many people are now aware of ZOOM, but have you tried FACEBOOK Rooms? It is basically the same thing but using Facebook instead of the application ZOOM. This month I and friends have used this App twice to have a casual quiz amongst ourselves which went well & to celebrate the New Year together from 10:30 till gone Midnight on January 31st 2020, which was the best New Year’s celebration I had done in years. I was so glad to spend it with my best friends because we couldn’t in person.

    So this wraps up the first month of 2021. It’s been an interesting but still quiet month for me and I hope the next few months, things will pick up & lockdown will finally end so I can visit places with friends again, and add more new content, maybe even partnerships with companies on this blog.

    Read More

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  • writing

    Writing Wednesdays #1

    December 4, 2019

    As I write this blog post, I am aware of how hard writing fiction is. I started my first venture into writing when I was in my early teens, creating poetry from real life experiences. Never did I show anyone what was on the 20+ pages of a4.

    This project however is different. I am aiming to write between 1 and 20 books: these include 2 adult novels, 1 young adult/teen book, and lastly a children’s book series of 5+ (150 pages each) books. It is a big commitment for me & hard work!

    For now, I will refer to the page already up on my blog (Previous work etc). This has all my WIP (Works in Progress). I am aiming in 2020 to complete 1 of my novels or be half-way between 2 of my novels. I am aiming to plot another 5 books in my children’s series but not start until my first novel is fully complete.

    I am expecting this journey to be a hard one. I am aware even after completing the novels there is a long process before it gets published, possibly years later.

    The way I get my inspiration for the novels, is through watching great TV, reading even greater novels (did you know I’m also a part-time book blogger on this blog too), and of course by real life events, whether they be with me or around the world. I’m hoping my novels will inspire people to read, write, appreciate books, people and respect others more.

    My children’s series I plan on writing in the future, I got the inspiration by growing up reading Harry Potter, Beatrix Potter, & the Famous Five series. I loved reading throughout my childhood, even reading in the dark under a blanket with a torch after bedtime… I really did think carrots would help me see in the dark, honestly!

    So, as I close this post about getting to know me and my writing, I hope you will come on this journey with me and discover more about my writing and how far I’ve come, since starting my first project.

    CURRENT STATS:

    • CRIME NOVEL: 8,000 words
    • Mental Health novel 1,000 words,
    • Historical Novel: 500 words,
    • Children’s 5 book series: not started. (TBC)
    Read More

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  • Languages,  Lifestyle

    ITALIAN FRIDAYS #2

    November 8, 2019

    ITALIAN LANGUAGE

    Hello all, remember that time I said I was going to help you expand your knowledge of Italy, country, history and the language? I know it was nearly 2 years ago but guess what? It’s baaaack!!

    I have been learning Italian for over two years, then quit classes to learn online with apps and reference books while still enjoying it.

    In this post, I am going to introduce you to some of my favourite sites that help you with learning Italian. whether it be an application on your mobile phone or a website, they have all come in handy over the last few years

    APP/SITES FOR YOUR PHONE

     These are all the applications (app) that I used over the last year. My personal favourite is Busuu and Google Translate. As they all have very good software , I recommend you try them all first before you choose your own favourite.

    Please Note: Obviously there are many more apps on IOS and Android Store but I recommend these apps myself from first hand experience using them. Also this post is 100% NOT sponsored or paid for.
    Read More

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  • Blogging,  Favourites

    ONE YEAR OF BLOGGING, IN 2018.

    May 15, 2018

    This post is a celebration of blogging for a whole year. Am I proud? Yes. Will I continue? Yes. Do I think I can improve? Definitely. Will you join me reading my blog? I hope so!

    As this year has flown by so quickly, I want to look back on what I’ve learned this year blogging. Then do a brief description of what My Blog was, is & My new goals.

    WHAT I HAVE LEARNED:

    This year has been an eye-opening experience into the world of blogging. Although I have tried before in my teens it wasn’t until I fully dived into the community of books and blogs I didn’t have a clue it even existed. Blogging may look easy but it takes a lot of work, effort and sometimes creativeness to pull it off.

    It is a competitive world but most bloggers all pull together and help one another. I feel I have been neglecting this blog recently due to a thing called “Life” and I’m hoping to jump back into it soon. I noticed that some bloggers are more successful than others but others are a more interesting read. Just because they are popular right now doesn’t make the blog superior – blog popularity quickly changes.

    Just because your blog isn’t “popular”, doesn’t mean you haven’t put in the same amount of work into content!

    My blog personally has tried a few things and failed but that’s okay because you need to think outside the box and try – sometimes it works & sometimes it doesn’t.

    WHAT MY BLOG STARTED AS: This blog started out as a hobby as I enjoyed reading I wanted to share it with the world. While first starting out in the blogging world I had no clue what I was doing and had to change a lot of my posts. Most of my first few posts were obviously book reviews. This is my first blog post HERE.

    WHAT IT CURRENTLY IS: My blog has recently become self-hosted (post about it HERE). I am looking into different topics to add to posts as I don’t believe I am doing my best by writing book reviews. I believe I need to create more posts with more passion for what I am writing. This means right now I am coming up with a few different posts and seeing which ones work best with readers.

    WHAT I WANT FOR THE NEXT YEAR: In the next year, I hope to get more daily views and continue posting good quality posts. I don’t know which direction my blog is going yet as it is an on-going process. I want to increase activity and start writing more posts. I would love this little space on the internet to become my full-time career maybe a few years down the line. I think if I put enough effort into creating content I could create an income from this blog one day.

    WHAT do I want TO ADD TO MY BLOG?: I am going to start adding a huge variety of different topical posts on my blog, which I hope will become popular!

    What are your blogging achievements? Will you be continuing following my blog?
    What are your favourite posts on my blog? What can I do to upgrade my blog?
    LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS.

    Read More

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  • Blogging,  Favourites

    Are you obsessed with your blog?

    January 23, 2018

    When people hear you have a blog you usually have two different reactions. The first one is “OMG, Good for you trying something new, relevant and interesting to hear about!” and the second is “What are you doing with your life & why are you wasting it blogging?”. Luckily I have so far only had the first reaction with my friends and close family, except one family member.

    How long have you been around?

    This blog was started on the 15th of May 2017 on a whim to write down my thoughts about books. it has since expanded to have blogging tips and recently other reviews on different topics. I started this blog on the idea it would be like a journal recording all my book reviews so I could look back on them and remember the books I enjoyed.

    What is this blog about?

    This blog has expanded more than I ever imagined when starting! I have a loyal follower count of over 100 and it seems to show I have nearly 1,000 subscribers. In January 2018 I decided with help from a friend to go self-hosted and have my own domain name (.com) to expand my blog’s potential. I have tried a few different blog topics trying to find my niche and I’m still a year after starting this blog not there yet.. but I will get there one day!

     

    My new obsession..

    I have recently started to get obsessed with my blog. I constantly all day spend time thinking about new posts and how I can improve content. Today for example I spent over 2 hours watching Youtube videos with bloggers giving advice on exploring your blogs brand and how they are still blogging 3 or 4 years down the road, how they didn’t give up on their blog. I have also spent over 2 hours on top of that planning new posts and content. Yesterday I spent an entire day planning out different things for my blog and updating content – it’s a hard job!

    I believe this is a good thing as I am now committed to my blog, in a effect it is like another part of me and I don’t remember who or how I was a year ago without my blog. There comes a time after blogging for nearly a year you have to assess is this worth it? and down the line could I actually make a career out of this time and effort I am putting into content on the internet.

    Negativity towards bloggers.

    Some abuse is by people who either don’t understand blogging and what it entails and how much hard work it is to get a good post up on a weekly basis. Some abuse (although I’m not blaming the bloggers as such) there are some bloggers out there who go too far with companies who don’t agree with the blogging world and they then get abused.

    Will I carry on Blogging?

    Although I believe because I am currently in a reading slump so I am using my blog as a distraction from the previous goal of reading I think that I honestly want to work hard at this blog so I can finally reap some benefits. I want to make my blog more well known and eventually work with brands on sponsored posts or companies approaching me as a blog (brand) – the only way that will happen is if I can find ways to get more traffic to my blog.

    Read More

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