Category: A Few Updates

A Few Updates, Bonus Content

I Haven’t Posted Since April… Here’s What I’ve Been Doing!

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Hello, bookish friends! Long time, no see! I know that I’ve dedicated this blog to all things books, but since I haven’t posted in so long, I wanted to update you all on what I’ve been getting into. I’m also writing this piece just kind of for myself as a way to reflect on all that I have managed to accomplish over the past few months. Sometimes, we all get the feeling that maybe we aren’t doing as much as we could be until we really think back on what we actually have done, so in a way, this little post is going to serve as some good ol’ fashioned therapy. Here goes nothin’!

1) Survived My Final Semester of College

I honestly thought everyone was joking about Senioritis being a thing, but let me tell you: It is the real deal, and my final semester of college, I felt it hardcore. In addition to continuing to adjust to pandemic life, I was trying to stay on top of my studies, work three jobs, and start prepping for post-graduation life. There were days during this time when I honestly couldn’t wait for college to end enough, and I took the biggest sigh of relief when final grades were entered and I was officially home free.

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2) Graduated – YAYY!

It wasn’t until I finally walked across that stage on May 29th of this year that I felt this great sense of pride wash over me. Four years, three jobs, a truckload of memories, and so much more is what came out of my time at Roanoke, and to see that chapter close was both a huge relief and a little sad. I am so proud to be an alum of Roanoke College, and though it was a crazy busy four years I couldn’t be happier with the outcome of all that hard work.

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3) Participated in New York University’s Summer Publishing Institute

For the month of June, I had the opportunity to attend the Summer Publishing Institute (virutally!) through New York University. This intensive was three weeks long, and during that time, we got to hear from tons of amazing publishing professionals about a variety of topics surrounding magazine publishing, digital media, and book publishing. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will never forget, and I learned so much about the industry. I will be posting a recap of my experience in the very near future, so please do stay tuned for that in the coming weeks!

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4) Started Reading for Fun Again

During my final year of college, I was so swamped with schoolwork that I really didn’t have much time to sit down and read books for fun, much less create content for my bookstagram and blog. But, as soon as I turned in my final projects in May, I’ve been reading as much as I can for enjoyment. I don’t think I realized that I had kind of fallen out of love with reading until I got to pick up a book from my very own bookshelves, sit back, and just soak it in without an assignment being attached to it. Needless to say that while I’ve made a small dent in my TBR, it keeps on growing as more amazing books are released this year

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5) Jumped Back Into Blog Post Writing (A Tiny Bit!)

Last but not least, my creative juices are finally flowing back again and I have begun creating new blog content – YAYY! It has been a slow process, but I hope to get back on my normal, twice a week posting schedule shortly. I have already read so many amazing books that I can’t wait to review for all of you, plus began creating some super fun bonus content posts!

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Thank you all so much for giving this post a read! I’m so excited to be getting closer to posting on a regular schedule again, and I can’t wait for you all to see what is in store.

<3,

Sarah

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A Few Updates, Bonus Content

Bookish Goals for 2021

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If you’re reading this, we have officially made it through the wackiness of 2020 – woohoo! Obviously last year was one for the books (yes, pun totally intended!), and I am hopeful that 2021 will be slightly less eventful and much more fun than 2020. I couldn’t think of a better way to ring in the new year than with a post all about some of the bookish goals I have for myself this year. My track record for “new year’s resolutions” has not been great – anytime I’ve made them and called them that, I’ve epically failed at achieving them, ughh. But, I do love having a list of things to strive for in life, so I thought it would be fun to carry that over into my bookish life, too! Without further ado, here are some of my book/reading-related goals for 2021:

Reading Goals

I always assign myself a certain amount of books I’d like to read in a year’s time. In 2020, that goal was 35 books (I cut myself a break and included fun books and those I had to read for school), which actually ended up being a lot to accomplish given by work and course loads. For 2021, I have yet again decided to push myself and set my goal at 42 books for the year. I only have three classes this last semester of college, and while they won’t be cake walks, I do think that not having four to five classes this go round will give me a little extra time to do some reading!

While I enjoy reading super long series, I would love for some of my 42 books to be standalone novels. Specifically, I am talking about standalones that are not contemporaries, as I think there is a lot to be said for authors who manage to do such magnificent worldbuilding and who can create developed and dynamic characters in only one book’s time. Don’t worry, though: I can assure you that I will definitely be hittin’ the contemporary sauce this year – still one of my favorite genres ever!!!

My last reading goal is to do some re-reading so that I can finish off series I started and loved, but just haven’t completed yet. This list isn’t super extensive, but there are a couple of series that I started years ago sitting on my shelves that would have started collecting dust if I didn’t dust my bookshelves frequently. Since it typically takes around a year for the next book in a series to be published, I just haven’t made the time to give the first couple of books in some series a re-read and complete the tales. Rest assured that I will be sharing a list of these “started but not finished” series with you very soon in another post, so stay tuned for that – some of my answers may flabbergast you!

Blog Goals

Given that I am still relatively new to blogging, I have found that I do have quite a few goals I’d like to start working towards in 2021 in this department. The first is that I want to find a balance of taking the time to create quality content and setting a realistic posting schedule for said content. Overall, my plan as of now is to post twice a week. One post will be a review of either a book or a book series (Mondays), and the other will be some type of bonus content post (Fridays). As far as creating content goes, I thought it would be pretty cool if I could devote 20-30 minutes each day to doing a little blog post writing. That way, content continues to be created, slow and steady, which allows me to have a little bank of things to post for you all on designated days!

I have a lot of plans circulating right now regarding introducing some new content that I haven’t had on the blog before. Some of these include giveaways, inviting some fellow bloggers to guest blog, creating some of my own original book tags, and so much more! I think these types of things will allow me to get to know more of you in the bookish community, and I could not be more excited about sharing these with you in the near future!

The final goal I have for the blog is something I have already (mostly!) completed if you are here, reading this post today. This goal was to revamp my blog’s design, some of the set-up, and overall, just make it a little more user friendly for everyone. I hope you all have been enjoying these new changes so far, and I look forward to continuing to work on the site as time goes on to make your experience here even more pleasurable!

Bookstagram Goals

My main goal for my bookstagram is to become more consistent with posting. I have set goals in the past, but for one reason or another, they have fallen apart. This year, I am going to try to create a posting schedule that I feel is realistic for me and what I feel I can feasibly do given all the other factors I have to contend with (everything always has to come back to “adulting,” doesn’t it? Blahh). A more detailed idea of this schedule will be shared with you when I figure it out myself lol!

I really like the content I have put out in the past, so I don’t think too much will change in that regard. However, I would like to create more interactive posts so I can communicate with more of you!

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Dang… I think I have some lofty goals, but you know what the great thing about goals is? You just have to try to meet them and use them as motivation to help you be more productive – you don’t have to necessarily complete them all! I can’t wait to see what I manage to accomplish this year! Do you have any life/bookish goals you’d like to share? Leave me a comment below and we can totally chat about them. I love seeing what everyone else is motivated to work on in this new year!

I am so excited to see what 2021 has to offer each and every one of you. Wishing you all a year full of love, laughter, prosperity, and of course all of the fantastic reads you can get your hands on!

–Sarah

A Few Updates, Bonus Content

I’m Coming Back, I Swear: Blogging Hiatus Update

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Hi bookish friends! It’s been awhile, huh? Though I wish I could say that this is my “return” to the blog, I have some more things I need/want to take care of before I make my true comeback – a few of which I am thrilled to be sharing with you today!

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen my update on my personal/bookish life where I shared that between my three jobs, school, and just the craziness of life these days, I just haven’t had time to create content that I’m proud of. I’m all about quality over quantity, and I want you all to be able to see that in my posts each week, which I knew would not be the case if I kept my current blogging pace in the midst of what I literally had to get done each day.

Though I am not one who often experiences reading slumps, I found myself getting so bogged down with reading and homework for school that I just haven’t wanted to pick up a single “fun read” in MONTHS. Since I haven’t been reading as much as I’d like to lately (or at all, really), I’ve lost a lot of my inspiration for my posts. As you can probably surmise, the struggle to write quality reviews is REAL when you’ve basically shunned all reading that wasn’t required for school for a solid four months.

Now that you’ve read my little soap box that I am sure so many of you can relate to, let me get to the fun stuff: what’s to come in the next few months! The biggest news I have to share is that I am currently taking this long break from college to overhaul my website (new design, creating a fabulous new logo, and much more!) to make it both more user friendly and more warm and welcoming for you guys. I have also been brainstorming and writing brand new content that I am so looking forward to sharing in the new year. Not sure if any of you are into giveaways, but if you are, keep your eyes open 🙂

Lastly, I wanted to thank those of you who have been following this blog since day one and those that have recently discovered this “passion project” of mine. I absolutely adore being a part of this wonderfully bookish community, and I hope that you all will be willing to stick around for this next adventure.

May the rest of your year be filled with some fabulous reads that make the end of such a wild year merry and bright! See you soon, friends!

–Sarah

A Few Updates, Bonus Content

Why I Started Blogging

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Literally my favorite shirt ever! Purchased the JLA Lux/Origin box and this shirt was included.

I know you guys have been used to recommendations and/or tips going up each week as bonus content, but I wanted to try something different this go round. For this week’s post, I’ve decided to go for a more discussion-like vibe where I tell you all a little bit more about me, beginning with why I decided to start my own book blog in the first place.

There are honestly tons of reasons why I made the decision to start this blog, but the main reason is that I wanted to create a space where readers could feel at home and have a convenient, welcoming place to go when looking for recommendations, reviews, and other bookish content. I have my bookstagram and Goodreads accounts that I love dearly, but having this blog as my own platform has allowed me to not only continue sharing my love of reading, but has also given me the chance to put out additional content for fellow readers they may find helpful outside my normal review and photo scope.

When all of my schooling is complete, I would love to either become a literary agent or work in a managing editorial capacity at a book publishing house. What this has to do with blogging, you ask? Well, for one, it keeps me writing. While I don’t necessarily want to write a novel myself, I think it’s important to keep honing crafts you may need down the line, and this blog has given me the opportunity to write about one of my biggest passions: literature! Having my own platform also gives me some professional credibility. Regardless of how many people read my blog posts each week, employers and other book publishing industry professionals can tell how much I love books and reading by just glancing at my posts, as well as get a sense of who I am through my writing style and the kinds of content I put out into the world.

Trust me when I say that I have had my fair share of days where I’ve had no idea what exactly to write about and post for the week. But what I’ve learned from this experience thus far it it’s okay not to always know exactly what you’re going to post. All that matters is that I put together quality content that I know will be of assistance to someone out there, and knowing that this platform has the power to do that has made the experience that much more rewarding!

QOTD: Have you started your own blog, or maybe you follow some pretty rad ones? Leave me links below! I’d love to check out what others are writing about. 🙂