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Goodreads 2020

Dec 29, 2020
5 min

Goodreads 2020

I did it! I surpassed my reading challenge for this year! If I am honest, I didn't expect to. But with all the chaos of this year, and all the study, I surpassed my goal! It was 15 and I managed 17! Wooop! Okay. Okay. Let me confess something. Frequently, I deliberately selected a book I knew to be short. But hey, needs must when you are a reader like me—slow and forever falling asleep after a few pages. I think I have now associated reading with bedtime that my brain going i

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Are Idle Moments Crucial for Creativity?

Oct 7, 2020
2 min

Are Idle Moments Crucial for Creativity?

Do you ever disconnect from Wifi and let your mind empty? I’ve realised that I don’t. Not really. In the few minutes I have to spare, I am reaching for my phone to pass time with a game, add items to my online grocery cart, jot down ideas or items on my to do list. Rarely do I sit with a cup of tea or coffee and just gaze out the window or at the bug-splattered walls of my house. As soon as I wake up, the first thing I do is checking my messages, pop the kettle on, and spend

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The Pros and Cons of Goodreads Reading Challenges

Sep 8, 2020
3 min

The Pros and Cons of Goodreads Reading Challenges

“A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.” – Bruce Lee Last November, I confessed to you all that I am a slow reader. The blog post is here for anyone who wants to revisit it. My habit is still the same one year later. I go to bed with my book and usually fall asleep reading it. However, I have been trying to read on my sofa more than before now that I am teaching less. In 2018, I set my Goodreads target to ten and read all of e

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The Inspiration Behind the Aronia Series

Aug 5, 2020
3 min

The Inspiration Behind the Aronia Series

One of the most common questions people ask authors is regarding their inspiration. I can’t fully pinpoint every aspect that inspires me. Inspiration comes from everywhere. I’ve been inspired by movies, books, TV shows, stories of actual people, folktales, fairy tales, nature, brainstorming with fellow authors... inspiration is all around us if we pay attention to it. When I was in my early twenties, I moved to a town called Dalbeattie. It is deep in the heart of Dumfries and

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Life Doesn't Come With Warnings. Should Books?

Jun 30, 2020
4 min

Life Doesn't Come With Warnings. Should Books?

I am a fan of Sarah J. Maas. She knows exactly how to hook readers in. But when adding House of Earth and Blood to my TBR pile, I browsed through reviews and noticed recurring warnings from readers that it is not for the YA audience—it is a new adult book and contains cursing and sex. I personally don’t like to read stories that contain too much profanity or sex, but each to their own, right? As an author of YA, I am also a reader of YA to see what’s trending and because the

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How Do You Influence Others?

Mar 4, 2020
2 min

How Do You Influence Others?

The idea for this blog came to me while I was back home visiting friends and family. I met an old manager of mine and in passing she mentioned that thought she stayed in her job longer than she should have. I responded that had she left early, she and I may never have met. She thanked me for my kind words, and I hope she went away feeling better over her decision. For you see, our meeting shaped the decisions I made in the year that followed. She planted the seed in my mind

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How Many Books Can You Read a Year?

Nov 3, 2019
4 min

How Many Books Can You Read a Year?

I have a confession. I am a slow reader. My reading habit is to go to bed with the book, by which point I am falling asleep from a full day of writing, marketing and teaching and can barely finish a chapter. Occasionally, I have some time on the weekends to sit on my sofa with a book, but more often than not, I am just busy meeting friends or working on my projects. If I remember rightly, I did not meet my Goodreads challenge of 2018. I managed eight books out of my target of

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Oct 6, 2019
4 min

We are Mortals

Some of you might know the turning point that brought me to Korea. Some of you don’t. But now is the time to share that with you. I need to start off with some history. I grew up in Greenock, Scotland. I moved to Dumfries and Galloway in my early twenties and took on a part-time job as a barista. There, I met two people who had a greater influence on my life than they realise. One was my manager. She was studying an English as a Second Language course and later moved to Thail

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GUEST POST by ELIZABETH JADE

May 10, 2019
3 min

GUEST POST by ELIZABETH JADE

My name is Elizabeth Jade, and I’m a children’s author and animal lover. I was born in the UK in 1998. My early schooling didn’t go well, and I was home-schooled from the age of seven. I stumbled into writing at fourteen when I struggled increasingly with depression and anxiety, but it wasn’t until I was eighteen that I discovered my struggles in school were due to Aspergers—an autistic spectrum disorder. I always knew I had a unique take on life. People have never made se

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