Ohh fellow WordPress friends, I feel like it has been far too long. That may sound strange since I posted a review just the other day and have been managing to keep up with Quoting the Quill but I have been struggling to find the time to fit in blogging…. or socialising….or reading…or sleep.
Anything remotely fun or essential basically.
Although I have churned out a few posts this month, my reviews of Picture Me Gone and The Lovely Bones had actually been sitting around in my draft sections for almost two months! I felt they were in need of a bit of finessing (being a perfectionist and all) and each only needed a mere 20 minutes of my attention to finish them off, yet every time I went to do so I was either too knackered or not in the mood. Consequently it has been a loooooong time since I have had the pleasure of sitting down at my laptop a writing a proper blog post, and I miss it. I guess this post is an attempt to rectify that.
Content Warning: From this point onwards this blog will contain rambling, complaining and a lack of writing quality of any kind as I attempt to update you on the general goings on in my life. If you are of frail disposition when it comes to moan-ey students and bookworms, I suggest you don’t read on. 😉
This month has been an absolute soul sucker, I have never felt so stressed in all my life and believe it or not, that is no understatement. Essentially, my psychology course thought it would be funny to put important deadlines on every week in March right through to the 4th April. That’s not even including the general homework and additional reading! The problem with psychology is that it takes so much time. Each piece of work has to have 20ish sources from journals. Each journal is generally 15-23 pages and full of confusing big words and scientific terminology, so it takes forever to read! I am one of those rare students that actually starts their assignments in advance but even I have found myself frantically finishing off work an hour before it’s due in. My average day this month has generally consisted of waking up at 9.30am, staring at journals and word documents until falling into bed at 2am. Wake up, repeat. Wake up, repeat! Eugh. The repetitiveness and stress of it all slowly wore me down. I have never felt so tired! On one day I walked up to lecturers and I felt like a drunk because I couldn’t walk in a straight line I was so sleepy, LOL. I’ve rarely had time to read either which of course made me cranky. Who dares to take my fictional characters away from me?!?
(This about sums it up. Except, where’s the bit about blogging? Oh right, no self-respecting student sleeps, has a social life, gets good grades AND blogs. That would be ludicrous. 😉 )
However, I am glad to say that things are slowly winding down and March is nearly over, HUZZAR. While I still have plenty of work it won’t be as intense. Goodbye March, I hope April hits you on the way out!
March was also the month I turned 20. (I know, bad timing in between all that lot right?!) This is something that is still confusing me muchly. I went to write down my age on a form yesterday and I put 19, only to realise it was totally wrong. How can I NOT be a teen anymore? I will freely admit that the prospect of turning 20 was weirding me out a bit. Being a teen has been such a strong part of my identity for so long and it’s discombobulating to think that I no longer belong in that bracket. 20 is so OLD (I know, so many of you are laughing at this right now because 20 is NOT old) but when I mean old I mean ADULT. Like, I have to deal with the real world now, and be grown up and stuff. I can’t excuse any of my actions by saying oh I’m only a teenager. Like say, my compete lack of cooking skills or my bizarre aversion to talking to strangers on the phone. Granted so far 20 is no different from being 19 but it’s strange to think that when I was younger 20 seemed so grown up and mature. By that point I’ll have everything figured out, I thought. Now I’m here and I want to laugh at how completely wrong my child self was!
Some of you may have noticed a random post which popped into your inbox saying *Testing* that either led you to a weird link or nothing at all. Well, that was me setting up a Bloglovin account! This is something I have wanted to do for a while because I know a lot of people prefer this way of following blogs and I thought it may make some people’s lives a little easier, as well as making my blog more easily accessible. So there is now a little button at the top of my homepage for following via Bloglovin. Also, if anyone has any tips on how to use this thing I would be eternally grateful. I think I get the general gist but I always find anything new and techie quite confusing!
The biggest and probably most exciting thing that has happened lately is that earlier this week I was contacted on Twitter by a PR person for Orbit Books (my fave publisher for all things fantasy and science fiction). I was unsure what it was about at first but it turned out she wanted to offer me an advanced reader copy of Trudi Cananvan’s latest book!
*CUE NON-STOP SQEELING AND UNCONTROLLABLE SMILING*.
Once finding out a little more information about the terms and conditions and checking it was all legit, I said yes. When I left the house early the next morning the book had already arrived! I GET TO READ TRUDI CANAVAN’S NEW NOVEL BEFORE THE MAJORITY OF THE REST OF THE WORLD. EEEEEP. Could they have picked a better person?!?! Trudi is my gal. 😀 I have to say after the month I’ve had this is probably the most awesome reward I could ever have received for getting myself through it!
This will be my first intrepid adventure into the world of ARCs. Although I have been aware of their existence for quite some time and the fact that I could probably apply for them, I have held back. Partly because I was concerned it would make blogging feel like a chore but mainly because I already have so many books on my to-read pile, and I knew that if I jumped head first into the ARC world I really would have been drowning in books! It was definitely something I had considered looking into for the future but it seems fate has already forced my hand. I am so honoured and excited to have been chosen to review The Thief’s Magic as a long-term Canavan fan!
And that about sums up my March 2014! I hope you guys didn’t find it too ramble-ley but I felt the need to do a general life update. I added in the pretty headers in an attempt to make it look somewhat more structured and logical although I’m not sure it worked, lol! How was your March 2014? Have you been up to anything interesting? Read anything good? Any tips for navigating Bloglovin? 🙂
Image Sources:
Sleep, social life, bad grades: http://slowrobot.com/i/37497
The rest are my own images. Please do not reuse.
Blogs-Of-A-Bookaholic 
Venting is healthy and that’s what friends are for – to listen to you vent :). So, I am here for you! It sounds like March was about as nasty to you schoolwise as March was to me weatherwise, and I am ecstatic to see it go!! Now we can breathe a sigh of relief and for you start the countdown to the end of this uni year because you know it’s not that long now. For me, I am starting my countdown to Paris, London, and Scotland. Wahooooo!
I totally understand your excitement over receiving an ARC to read because I felt the same way recently when I got to be a beta reader for an author where I got to read his manuscript and check for errors. Now my name will be mentioned in the thank you’s at the front of the book. Ooh and guess what? I am probably going to see Kelley Armstrong again this weekend. Yayyy!! She has a new YA series she is promoting, and the weather is improving so I shouldn’t be snowed in. You see, things are looking up for both of us!!
Oh, and Happy Birthday Book Buddy, and don’t worry about getting older. At every stage as you get older, you can always find something to blame your actions on LOL!
It sure is! I definitely needed to write this blog post and get these things off my mind to explain where I am at for the moment. Writing can be so therapeutic. Thank you Cindy, you are wonderful! I am so thankful to have come across you on here. 🙂
Nasty is a pretty accurate word. We all go through those stages in life that are overly hectic that test our will power and March was sure one of those times for me. Oh no, so sorry to hear you have had bad weather again! I honestly can’t believe how dramatic the weather in Canada can be, it sure keeps you on your toes. I hope April will bring you more sunshine so that you can relax and read outside. Ohh yes, I am definitely counting down the weeks until the end of this uni year now, I can almost taste it! Bring on summer reading!!!
I don’t know how you can keep the excitement so contained about your trip, I would be absolutely ecstatic I just know you guys are going to have a truly amazing time! I would love to do some serious travelling after university as cliche as it is. There are so many amazing things to see in this world and it really gives you a sense of perspective. 🙂
Your name is going to be mentioned in a book?! EEEEEEP!!! That is so exciting, congratulations! I think that would be on my literary bucket list if I had one. 😀 Your seeing Kelley again? Woohooo! I hope you have a fabulous time, I didn’t realise she had been working on a new YA series. I’m determined to read Omens over the summer months. 😉
Thank you! LOL, that is comforting to know!
Good news! It was sunny today and above 0C, so I actually went for a walk at lunch :). It was wonderful! I can feel our summer days of reading getting closer and closer. As for my trip, we received our Paris Passes in the mail last week, and holding them in my hands it became totally real. I can’t wait!! By the way, I’ll say hi to Kelley for you :). Enjoy your ARC – what a truly awesome cover!!
Ohh wow that’s brilliant, and also weirdly coincidental. Yesterday was the first time I was able to sit outside so I grabbed my work and did it out on the patio, it was bliss! Yes, it is so close I can almost taste it!
Ohh wow that’s awesome. And yay, thank you I much appreciate it!
I’m so glad you like the cover, I can’t stop staring it. 🙂
That sounds heavenly – sitting outside in the fresh air doing your work. Well, maybe not the work part LOL! And I don’t blame you for staring at the cover over and over. I would do the same thing :).
I foolishly told a couple of bloggers I’d do limericks of their books, so that’s what I’ll be reading next.
Happy birthday!!!! Sounds like you got the best possible present!
Ohhh wow, that sounds so cool! If I had a book, I would totes want you to do a limerick for it. I bet you will do a fantastic job.
Thank you! I sure did and it was a surprise too. 😀
That picture about the no sleep one, is going to be me very soon as I’ll be entering my final year in high school. I’m somehow trying to catch up on all my soon-to-be-lost sleep in this mere one month I get before I begin the most tiresome yet important year of my life 😦
Oh and Happy Birthday!! 😀
Ohh no, not you too! Best of luck to you in your last year. I still remember how difficult and stressful it was going through that and you should be so proud of yourself after you finish. I think you should definitely reward yourself by buying a tonne of books, but you didn’t hear it from me. 😉
Enjoy your sleep while you can and just remember, you are totally capable of doing this and you will rock that last year!
Thank you. 😀
Haha! I’m planning to do just that. As soon as I finish my year, I’m gonna run off to all my nearest book stores and buy loads of books. My parents can’t say no this time 😉
Thank you for the best wishes and the encouragement. I needed that 🙂
Sounds like the perfect plan!
No problem. 🙂
Vent away! If it clears your head, we won’t mind providing a virtual shoulder to lean on. I’m sure I’m not the only one wishing you well.
You WILL get through Uni, and one day, all this will be 10 years ago…of course, by then you’ll be 30. 🙂
How cool to bag Trudi’s latest!
Thanks, Tony! *Does a soldier solute with hand*. It’s been a real tough couple of months but I am so thankful to have you all providing a virtual shoulder (I love that phrase, nice one!) It definitely helps to write – or in this case type it down.
Hehee, thank you for the vote of confidence! Sometimes it seems as if I will never complete this degree but you are of course right. One day I probably look back at this when a lot of the stress has faded from my mind and miss it. Ohh god. 30. I’m so not ready to think about that one yet! LOL. 😛
I know! I didn’t even ask for it, it just fell in to my lap. That has to be fate. 🙂
Congrats on your first ARC! I just got my first one too (although mine was won through goodreads) and I’m excited to explore this new aspect of book blogging!
Thank you so much! How exciting that we have both received our first ones in such a similar time frame. Good luck, I hope you enjoy the book you were given. 🙂 Lets brave this fearsome new book world together!
Happy Birthday, Becky. You’re so young and wise beyond your years. I see a big writing career in your future. Don’t forget us when you make it big. 🙂
Hope you get to relax next month and take a well-deserved break.
Ohh wow thank you so much, Emma, that really does mean a lot to me that you think that. :’) I hope you’re right! Ohh of course I would never forget you guys, how could I? I would invite you all to the party!!! How could I celebrate bookish things without my bookish people? 😉
Me too, I can’t wait for summer and relaxing in the sun with a book.
Ahh I know exactly how you feel! I hardly blogged during my last year of uni, and during some of my bigger projects I remember doing the exact same thing: up, work, eat, sleep, repeat! haha. And now I’ve recently got myself a job the last thing I want to do when I come home is more work, I just wanna sit and relax!
Congrats on turning 20 :)…and don’t worry I still have an irrational aversion to talking to strangers on the phone (and I’m nearly 23!) hmm looks like both of our childhood selves were wrong then 😉 and even bigger congrats on being offered the ARC! Hope you enjoy it, and I hope things calm down soon 🙂
High five girl!
I definitely noticed your lack of activity on the blogosphere around that time and I missed you so! But as a fellow student I also completely understood. I’m absolutely dreading third year if second year is anything to go by. I might even have to (dare I say it) take a blogging break if things get tough next year. I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one who got into the crazy strict soldier routine of fuel and work. 😛 It’s such a struggle when you’re doing it but it is for something important. Will power will win, mwuhuhuu.
Ohh wow congratulations on the job Sophie, that’s amazing! Is it music related? I hope everything goes okay, make sure to update me. 🙂
Thank you. Ohh good, phew. Those phone things are scary man. Who knows who could be on the other end? Sometimes when I get a call from someone ‘unknown’ or ‘private’ I just think of that scene at the start of the first Scream movie. *Shudder*. Thank goodness for caller ID.
High-five indeed 🙂 Aww well aren’t you sweet, thank you! hmm 3rd year is a lot of work but as long as you do it and don’t leave it until the last minute it’s alright, though weird as it sounds I really enjoyed my dissertation because I really liked my subject matter (I’m pretty sure I’m the only person to ever say I enjoyed my dissertation! haha.) Well if needs must, the blog will always be here 🙂 Yeah when you know you’re working towards something and you care about it, it makes you even more determined to want to do well.
Thanks very much! I’m really happy with it, it’s going really well at the moment. It’s not strictly music related no, but it is arts related so I guess it counts haha. Of course 🙂
Hmm they are indeed, haha! I’ve never seen Scream (thank god) but it’s just nerve-wracking, a lot of times whenever I see ‘private’ or ‘unknown’ I just won’t answer it, I used to and it’s usually always something sales-y, and ain’t no body got time for that! 🙂
Hahaa, no problem! I’m definitely not one to leave things to the last minute so hopefully I should be okay. I’m just worried about picking the topic for my dissertation, I think that might even be the hardest bit. There are so many choices and I can be so indecisive about these sorts of things. Phaa, you are definitely the first person I have heard say that! I hope I can feel the same. 🙂
Ohh that’s great!
Haha, maybe it’s best that you don’t, and I completely agree agree. 🙂
That is SO exciting about your first ARC Becky, and how rightly it is to be by one of your favorite authors! It was definitely meant to be! School and life just loves to get in the way of blogging, doesn’t it? But I must say that you did a good job at still maintaining a firm presence in the world of the internet and for that, I say “Bravo”!
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on that ARC! 🙂
Thanks Lindsey! It did seem like some weird twist of fate that I was sought out to read a Trudi Canavan ARC. It really couldn’t have been any more perfect. 🙂
It sure does love getting in the way you’re right, but it has to come first. Awwh thank you, that means a lot. I do try, even when life gets hectic!
Yay, I hope I won’t disappoint.
So jealous about the arc! I really look forward to your review, though, and hope you enjoy it! 🙂
Hehhee, sorry to make you get your green eyes out Niki! Thanks, I hope like the review when I get round to writing it. Fingers crossed that the book is excellent. 🙂
First of all, I love rambles, so I was excited to read this, el oh el 😀 Happy belated birthday!
I feel like I haven’t picked up a book in a long while (save the books I read for my studies), but it’s probably only been a few days.
I recently created a Bloglovin’, too, and I tried doing the post where it gave you that link thing, but it didn’t work. *shrugs* I’ll be sure to follow you, though!
Ahhh! I’ve never had an ARC before! That’s awesome that you have one 😀 I hope you enjoy it 🙂
Ohh yay, I’m so glad you like rambles because this post sure fit that criteria! Thank you for the birthday wishes. 🙂
I know exactly what you mean, reading is such an important part of my life that if I don’t get to read much even for the duration of one week I feel as if it has been an eon since I read!
Ohh thanks so much, I just found you and followed you back. 🙂
Eeeep, yep it is sure exciting. I hope you get some ARCs of your own one day!
… have you finished exploding yet? I agree that it’s very cathartic but putting yourself back together afterwards is really annoying. Just ask the Iron Man.
Happy birthday though. I remember feeling weird at 20, less so at 25, and then more so again at 30. I’ll be having my less so turn at 35 in a few weeks time…
Haha, yes I have. Loving the Iron Man reference.
Thank Michael. 🙂 Ohh yay, looks like I have that to look forward to! I think I would definitely feel weird about turning 30 as well, any of the big milestones really. Each time a decade passes it’s a little weird. Happy birthday in advance for turning 35! I hope you have a good day.
Congrats on your first ARC, that is the best feeling ever! 20 was definitely a weird time for everyone, definitely again at 25 when you look back at your life and where you want to be. Enjoy it I say. I’m not sure where your bloglovin link but I’d definitely follow you there – it’s my favourite way to follow.
Thank you Jeann, it really is!
Ohh I’m so glad that you felt weird turning 20 too, I didn’t know if I was being silly. It definitely promotes a lot of reflection about your life thus far and I can imagine 25 could cause that reaction even more. I hope I will enjoy it. 🙂
Ohh, my bloglovin link is on my widget sidebar on my blog homepage, but you can also just click this link: https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/5207067 😀 I think I could end up really liking Bloglovin.
Oh mate! So glad that you could write this post. I know how much uni stress you’ve been under but once you’re out the other side, the freedom will be glorious!
You’re right; 20 feels very adult. No longer in the teenage years and expected to get a move on with this thing called life. I’m 25 and I still have no clue about anything. Yay for twenties! *eye roll*
I also have Bloglovin’ and I have no idea what I’m doing but I like it. I might follow you. Maybe.
I’m excited and a little jealous of your ARC. I know how much you love the author and you totally deserve it because your reviews are wonderful. Fingers crossed you like it.
Chin up and remember that it’s nearly the easter holidays! Summer is a-comin…
Thank you Charl, it felt good to write! University has definitely been the epitome of stress lately, but it has to even out at some point right? I think that has finally happened this week. After Friday I have a little lull in assignments before the final push for deadlines and exams etc. Nearly there, woohoo!
Haha, I love the way you phrased that. It definitely felt weird hitting the 20 mark, but hopefully there will be positive things in store *fingers crossed*. Eck, I know, the 20s are a lot more complicated than younger me perceived them to be. Too. Many. Life. Decisions. Eeep.
Ohh well I am grateful to be considered a potential follower by such a prestigious blogger. 😉
Hehee, it was an exciting shock and awwhh thank you so much, that really means a lot! *Blushes*. I hope I like it too!
EASTER. HUZZAR. Same to you Charl, we’re nearly there!
First of all, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with big, rant-y posts like this – they’re so healthy and I love reading them! It’s nice to know your March was as stressful as mine with Uni deadlines. I’ve already moved on to revision for my exams in May – have you got many? My brother’s a second year too, but he’s studying Music and has no exams and I hate him for it. (Joking…kind of!)
Also, congrats on your first ARC! I’m very jealous but also really excited for you. Especially as the book is from one of your favourites! Can’t wait to hear what you think about it.
I hope April is treating you better than March did, so far! 🙂
Hehee, thank you Emma, sometimes I worry that I will annoy people with my moaning, but at the same time I think a rant now and again is healthy! Ohh no, sorry to hear you were subjected to the March madness too. Eugh, don’t talk to me about revision, LOL. I’m trying to remain blissfully ignorant. 🙂 I have two exams so it’s not too bad but I still have a lot of work to do. Awwh man, I’m totally jealous of your brother!
Thank you! It is an exciting time and as you say it’s so surreal that my first one is by a favourite author of mine.. 😀
Hehee, it’s much better than March so far, I hope the same for you too!