I am so glad this week has come to an end because I wasn’t feeling productive at all and I want a restart or a new beginning. That is what this Sunday is all about.
To be fair, I had so many things to do this week and I ended up not doing anything at all. Does anyone else feel this way – a minute ago everything seemed good and then nothing, not a drastic slump, no high or low but just a lull? I hope that ended with last week and I am back to the charming ol’ self!
Remember I keep talking about the Emirates Lit Fest 2019 and how I am gonna be volunteering there? I attended the Volunteer Manager briefing session this week and I loved meeting old and new friends.
Guess what, many of them were book lovers like us and we discussed about the authors who were attending the event and books we loved (obviously!). I can’t wait to go to the event (happening between March 1st to 9th).
What I read:
I finished reading the Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde for the Penguin Classics challenge 2019 and I loved it.
Do you believe when they say ‘a good book finds you at the right time‘? I am not sure if I would have appreciated it as much had I read this any time earlier.
One thing I am happy about this week is that I blog hopped a bit and I almost visited everyone’s blog this week. So here are my favorite picks of the week.
I know I have been MIA for the past two weeks but lets not dwell on that because I am back. And I come bearing good news. And let us call it my January Wrap up!
I am gonna have to start off with the cliched how is it already February and one month into the new year, but seriously how!? But I think my January seemed good enough, I guess.
Quick update
1. I read FIVE books people, which is 5 more than what I would have read a few months ago.
3. I attended a book event hosted by the Australian Consulate and Starmark where I met Markus Zusak, author of the Book Thief, and even got a signed copy of his book.
4. I met these amazing huge gang of bookstagrammers and book bloggers, with whom I had a blast even after the event.
5. On other news, I have been confirmed as a volunteer for the Emirates Literature Festival 2019, which I have been looking forward to since the last year’s event.
And guess what? The stories are all native to Middle east and the illustrations are soo good.
And: I might be meeting the author at the Emirates LitFest. I am so excited about the whole deal.
On my blog
During my visit to India, real life interfered with my blogging schedule. My WordPress bungled and my scheduled posts were not posted. So after almost a two-week absence I have just two posts this week.
While I understand my absence in the blogosphere was inevitable, I am still surly about that. Anyway I am back and I am trying to catch up on all your blogs.
Here are some awesome posts that I found and loved this week.
Little Red Reviewer post on Evelinah’s space made us question ourselves if we book bloggers are being too organized. Again my answer: Organized? Me? Ha ha. I am not even gonna say anything further.
It is a new day, new week and a new month. And I am feelin’ good. Just like this one from MUSE. I am always excited for a new month, all the more for it is April – my birth month (is there such a thing anyway?)
In India we had our school closing up for the summer holidays by mid of April and the whole of May and that used to make April extra special. And did I say my birth day falls on the 12th of April?
And also March was not kind to me at all (Or did it?) and I am happy to get that over with.
So here is a quick recap of what I did during the month.
You might have heard all about it earlier, I got to meet some of the authors and poets.
And I finally got back to visiting my dearests’ blogs. I have to say I missed the blog hopping and seeing the wonderful posts others have made.
So here are the ones I enjoyed:
1) If you are into BuJo and are looking for ways to track your reading and blog stats, you should take a leaf out of the Always Opinionated Girl’s post here
2) I found the freaking hilarious advertisement for a backpack and haven’t take my mind off it. I think you will like it as well.
3) Don’t we all hate card board cut characters? The Temperamental Writer shares her list of characters that were far far from being one of those. I had to add few those to my TBR right after reading her post here.
5) Elizabeth from Redgal Musings made a guest post on Book Dragon 247 about extroverted bookworms (like me) broke the myth of stereotyping every book worm as introverts. I loved it.
Hello people, I come bearing good news. I at last got my system got working again and had to completely reformat the hard drive. So I will have to catch up with all your posts and comments and I will get to that right away.
I have been hinting during the past few (or more) weeks about me attending the Dubai literature festival and I finally attended it. It was fantastic to say the least. I saw several of those awesome writers and authors.
I saw likes of Joe Hill, Anthony Horowitz, Sashi Tharoor et al and I also renewed my interest in poetry. Maybe I will write a post on them in a few days. Well, I found my new favorite spoken word artist Afra Atik and she is something.
But most of all I found my tribe of people. YES Bookworms! I loved meeting and chatting away about books and writing to many of them. One of them even found me a library that is affordable and considerably closer to my house. Yay to that!
Another thing that I loved about the festival was the number of children and teens who attended and flocked to see their favorite authors. I was kinda feeling emotional and tad overwhelmed by all their love for books. It reminded me of myself when I was kid who couldn’t wait to go home after schools just to open my books.
And all these have got the bookworm in me pumped up and I finished two books just the last week. And I promise to churn out more of those blog posts and comments hereon. And I am back on track (hopefully).
I am so so far behind on my comment365 challenge – I have visited about 28 blogs and we are on 76th day today. *ducks shamefully*
What I read
I finished two books in the last two weeks. And that makes a total of 8 books on my A – Z challenge for 2018. Check it out here
And for this month’s Flyaway Friday I am not travelling far from my place but you are for sure. Yes we are gonna talk about United Arab Emirates, yay the place where I am currently put up. And I got a book worm who is an Emirati to post more about the country. So keep up guys.
Are you guys mad at me? Did you miss me at all? Please please say yes. I love you all loads. How do you guys catch up with all the pending stuff. Let’s chat.
One of the drawbacks of being a blogger who is not living in the USA/UK is that we do not get to do many of the book related things like meeting an author, attending a reading or even getting a signed copy. And that is why I have been on the cloud nine since week.
Ready for it?
I will be attending a literature festival next month right where I live (Dubai). And not only that, I will be an “insider”!! Okay I am exaggerating, but I will be an official volunteer for Emirates Literature Festival that will be happening from 1 to 10th March 2018 at Dubai.
About 175 authors will be participating in the event and I am so excited that I will get to see the likes of Shashi Tharoor, William Dalrymple, Anthony Horoatiz and Joe Hill (yes the Locke and Key fame and the son of STEPHEN KING).
I will keep updating you guys as and when I know more about the events. If you are from this side of the globe and planning to attend any of the sessions, do let me know.
2) Evelina published another awesome post in her newblogger series on blogging calendar and schedules. I am sure I will be taking some of her pointers and I think you should check it out too.
3) Have you ever tried having bookish conversation with a chat bot? Bookstormgirl tried it for us and the result is freakishly hilarious. She even shared the result with us.
5) Laura from Boats against the current post an interesting article on how to follow other blogs. Do you love discovering and following new blogs as much as I do then you should sign up for Bloggers’ Comment Junction here.
6) Can you tell me what is your favorite book? I am sure you need a minute or 60 to choose one. Chloe from Book Dragons attempts to reason out our behavior in her post.
8) Austine from Novel Knight came out with this fantabulous resource with The Book Community Media Dashboard. Go ahead add yours and find other lovely bloggers from the list.
Have you attended any literature fests? Let me know what to expect. Do you have any interesting links for me to share? Then drop it in a comment or DM me through any of my social accounts. Let’s talk.