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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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AUTHOR AVENGERS; August Round Up
If you follow me on my various social media pages, you might have seen me talk about the Author Avengers over the past few months. We’ve been promoting each other’s Ko-fi pages and hyping each other up on Discord, and I like to think the group of us are now bound by the laws of writing as friends. This month, we went from individual author promotions to writing prompts, and boy, has it been interesting to see how each of us looked at the same prompt and came up with something that fit into our style. It’s been a treat and a half for me on a personal level, and…
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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…
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On Representation & Writing
Many years ago – about the time I started university, before I started this blog – I began to write a story based on Roman mythology. At the time, it seemed there were so many Greek mythology inspired novels out there that in order to stand out, Roman mythology was my only alternative. It never even occurred to me that perhaps Indian mythology, something I had grown up with, something so intrinsically tied to my culture and identity, was something I could write. Seems a little sad to think about, doesn’t it? Maybe that’s why despite having entire character arcs and plots planned, I could never write more than disconnected…
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The Author Avengers Initiative
You might have me mention this new initiative on social media. But if you have not – I’ve joined a brand new initiative on Ko‑fi between a number of us writers using the platform to showcase and advertise our works. Author Avengers is a network of authors who will be hyping each other up every month. It is a way to encourage each other and our followers to find new creators to engage with on the platform. Because what better way to show love for the medium we all use than by writing about other writers, right? This initiative is the brainchild of Lou Yardley, who wanted to find a…
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If You Like This Song, You Will Like…: THE BOLLYWOOD EDITION
Back when I was filming BookTube videos (which I miss doing, I will admit), I had the bright idea to do a book recommendations video based on Bollywood songs I was enjoying at the time. Now, the books are a little on the older side since it’s been a few years, and the songs even more so, but maybe I’ll revisit this series and do more editions as I get back into reading. I have a long TBR that keeps growing, after all, and a very extensive Spotify playing. In the meantime, most of these books are still on my ‘I HIGHLY recommend these’ lists to anybody who asks. All…
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Some Of My Favourite Things: Book-To-Screen Adaptations
I recently (finally) finished watching the first season of The Wheel Of Time. As I eagerly wait for season 2, I began to think about adaptations and how they are received by fans of the original source material. It is safe to say no adaptation is above criticism. There is always someone who will find some flaw, some thing to nitpick and complain about. I know I have done the same. Even then, fans always want to see their favourite books translated onto the screen. There have been so many adaptations over the years. As long as movies and shows have been made, there has been someone interested in taking…
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Of Retellings & Reimaginings
I think it comes as no surprise to anyone who has been a visitor to my blog that I am fond of retellings and reimaginings of well-known tales. Fairytales, myths, even popular movies or books – if there’s a retelling, I’d like to hear about it. But over the years I’ll admit to being more selective when it comes to reading them. There has to be a draw to them, and for a while I couldn’t figure out what it was. These books are diverse and chockful of well-written representation, I would think. They’re playing with tropes I enjoy, they’re making the original story more fleshed out. Still, they would…
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CONTENT CREATION EPILOGUE: The Consistency Conundrum
I’ve written a little about spreading oneself too thin, across multiple platforms, and trying to keep active on all of them at a regular – and fast-paced – schedule. What works for me personally seems to be the opposite of what multiple blogs I’ve read advise. CONTENT CREATION 101: Commit To What You CreateCONTENT CREATION 102: Find Your Own “Write Drunk, Edit Sober”CONTENT CREATION 103: The First Draft Is For YouCONTENT CREATION INTERLUDE: The Procrastination ProblemCONTENT CREATION 201: Believe In Your MessageCONTENT CREATION 202: Compare Only To YourselfCONTENT CREATION 203: ‘One Size Fits All’ Does Not ApplyCONTENT CREATION INTERLUDE: Imposter SyndromeCONTENT CREATION 301: Burnout HappensCONTENT CREATION 302: Know Your AudienceCONTENT…
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CONTENT CREATION 303: The Thing About Social Media
No matter which platform you create content on, in this time and age having a social media presence is necessary. This is an unfortunate effect of the way things are – of the fact that you are a personality, a brand, and you need to market yourself online in order to bring in your audience. CONTENT CREATION 101: Commit To What You CreateCONTENT CREATION 102: Find Your Own “Write Drunk, Edit Sober”CONTENT CREATION 103: The First Draft Is For YouCONTENT CREATION INTERLUDE: The Procrastination ProblemCONTENT CREATION 201: Believe In Your MessageCONTENT CREATION 202: Compare Only To YourselfCONTENT CREATION 203: ‘One Size Fits All’ Does Not ApplyCONTENT CREATION INTERLUDE: Imposter SyndromeCONTENT…