January 2019 - a wrap-up

Everyone has, at least once, experienced the January blues, right? Normally I get it pretty much every year. Once Christmas and New Year is gone and the Christmas tree is packed up and the lights are put away, I get that glum ‘what now?’ feeling. Well this year, I don’t actually think I experienced any negativity. Once January started, I resolved to work on my blog, to build up on it, to read more and make the most of cosy evenings in at home through books and art. Filling my time up with worthwhile things has distracted me from developing any dismal thoughts – and although it hasn’t been smiles all the way, January 2019 has been a promising start to 2019.

In this blog post, I’d like to share with you what I’ve achieved and what I’ve been up to, both on the blog and outside. Here's what I got up to:

Books read/completed in January:

• In at The Deep End - Kate Daves  - my rating 4*
• Tell Me a Secret - Jane Fallon - 4*
• Walmart - diary of an associate - 4*
• Gone by Midnight - Candice Fox - 4*
• Can You Keep a Secret? - Sophie Kinsella - 5*
• The Mother-in-Law - Sally Hepworth - 5*

Blog Posts publishing this month:

I managed to publish four blog posts this month (not including this one!) and I am very pleased with the progress so far. Here they are:

• 2019 blogging goals
• Fiction Review: Tell Me a Secret
• Official London Coffee Tour
• Fiction Review: Gone By Midnight

Coffee log:

• The Espresso Room – Covent Garden - YUM -4*
• Ocean Bells - Watford -4*
• Origins - Watford -4*

Other highlights of the month include:

• Started reading Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions – a non-fiction book which is part of my 2019 blogging goals
• Got a few Blogger followers... Lots of comments on my posts (for me anyway!)

Brief plan for February ahead:

• Going to a few publisher/author events
• Going to a literary pub quiz at the end of the month (excited!)
• Aim to start listening to podcasts – any recs?? A uni mate has started her own podcast and I might do a blog post about it.
• I might be doing an author interview for publisher Legend Press
• A blog post with free resources for new bloggers!

What did I learn in January? What do I need to work on?

• Writing reviews of books is difficult especially if you end up forgetting character names. My reviews need to be less chatty and a bit more professional/clean? I need to set up a template perhaps of a structure to use when reviewing/talking about a book.
• I need to post more often - Need to keep writing new content and keep the blog alive!
• Need to stop fiddling about with my blog header and settle on one design! >.<
• I’m learning to look after myself and not let people shout me down just because they are having a hard time. I think this is a work in progress – not quite confident yet. I need to stop being scared all the time and be brave.

Thank you everyone for reading - and thanks for the continued support! I'd love to hear about your achievements and highlights of the year so far, so leave a comment or your links below.

Love,
Lena
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