Discussion Post
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NEWSLETTER SNIPPETS; Issue #3
The 31st of March saw the third issue of the newsletter – and the first issue of this year – go out. I’ll let the snippets speak for themselves. You can sign up here! These few months have been filled with very high highs – some weddings, a trip we decided to go on last minute with extended family to Cairo and Dubai – and a couple of very low lows – my mother’s oldest brother passed away pretty unexpectedly in early March and barely a week later, our community’s spiritual godmother also unexpectedly passed. The grief comes in ebbs and flows, and it hasn’t really hit, you know? My emotions have therefore…
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NEWSLETTER SNIPPETS; Issue #2
The second issue of the newsletter went out on New Year’s Eve – yes, over a month ago! – and, well, looking back at not just the last quarter of 2024 but the whole of it makes me pretty happy, really. On a creative level, I think I was pretty consistently productive. 208,081 new words last year, not counting blog posts, reviews and newsletters, which as a whole? Pretty good, if I say so myself. You can sign up here! I read more in November and December than I have in the rest of the year combined! I fell deeply into the cozy fantasy side of things in November after…
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NEWSLETTER SNIPPETS; Issue #1
To paraphrase Jane Austen, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a writer in want of engagement must put herself on multiple platforms. Or at least, that’s what I’m telling myself. My first newsletter went out at the end of September. I’m still figuring out what I’ll be putting on there, what the layout will look like – I’ve already made some changes since the first issue went out – but a few things I know for sure: You can sign up here! Reading is one thing I talk about here, so you’re mostly up to date with what I’ve finished this year. I also found an audiobook of Howl’s Moving…
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July Online Writing Events I’m Looking Forward To
A little bit early, but I’m hyping myself up for a few events that will be happening in the online space this July! These are writing events with an emphasis on community and encouragement, and I’ve had the privilege of taking part in them at least once each before. You can bet I’m taking these events as a way to hit targets I’m setting for myself, and find new writing friends! GWIC – or the Global Write In Crawl – will take place during the first weekend of July. Described as a “virtual event during which participants can visit the virtual writing spaces (Discord) of other regions, participate in writing…
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The Importance Of Building A Habit
It’s been a little bit since I’ve had the chance – and inspiration – to write a blog post outside a review or prompt round up, so please bear with me. This is a little bit of a ramble, but I swear I have a point! I’ve written a number of blog posts – tips, tricks, things that work for me – on content creation. I wrote an entire series on it, in fact, and one thing that I keep coming back to is that what works for one person may not necessarily work for someone else. Take each piece of advice with a grain of salt – keep what…
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What’s New, 2024?
It is 2024, and I am equal parts excited and anxious for what the new year is going to bring. I had actually written – a while back! – a post about what I was hoping to bring to my page in the next year, but if you’ve been following this page, you might have seen me mention that those plans have been shelved indefinitely. Personal and health reasons mean that I do have to put those on hold. Fingers crossed for either the mid-year or 2025! That does not mean that 2024 will not see some new plans and projects and aims to reach! No, no, much like the…
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‘Tis The Season For Hallmark
It is Hallmark movie season! And it has been for a while, but I’ve only just got back into it now that I am in medical isolation for about three to four months. Already, I’ve ticked off a number of this year’s Countdown To Christmas offerings (small rec list going up on YouTube next week) and am excited to watch the rest, and some older offerings as well. In the past few years, Hallmark has been taking a turn away from the same stories of the past they are still remembered for. The same white, heterosexual romances where someone gives up their success for someone else, or a Grinch has…
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More Literary Adaptations And Why I Love Them
It may no longer be the season – or trend – for vlog-style retellings of classic novels anymore (though some of my favourites still hold up), but it doesn’t mean webseries adaptations have stopped. Instead, they’ve turned into mini-TV shows in their own rights, and I cannot say I’m displeased by this. This year, two adaptations have come to a close, the story coming to their natural ends, and I’m still in awe at the levels of production they have both put forth. Never let it be said that webseries are not professional forms of media in their own rights. I have read neither of the classics they are based…
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What Lilly’s Library Represents To Me
Growing up as a non-white reader in a non-Western country was interesting to say the least. You don’t realise how many Western cultural things you pick up on until you actually pause and look around you and go, wait, this is nothing like my lived experience. It took a good many years for me to unlearn the way media centralises white stories that I didn’t have to consume only those stories. (I still read and watch them, because a) they are everywhere still even if now we’re getting our voices out as well and b) look, some of them are really good.) I’ve talked about the first time I felt…
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The Little Things In Life
Since I’ve started this blog, I’ve gone from being a student, to a graduate, to a wife, to a student again, and then a mother. Time has been taken up by new responsibilities and new duties and new lessons. Finding time for the things I enjoy has been difficult. But if one doesn’t try and find that time, one’s mental health can and will suffer, as I found out the hard way. What do you do then? How do you carve out time without feeling guilty for shying away from responsibilities? For me, it’s about finding the little things that bring joy. Yes, sometimes big things are also encouraged. Once…