Went to the beach to photograph the boats but ended up more fascinated by the birds
In My Life
Back Home
My vacation with the family was splendid. We spent most of the time resting, though we did go out for fresh air too. I loved having practically no plans. The best part was being able to get up whenever I felt like it in the mornings early afternoons.
Photography
Last week was also a good week to spend with my cameras. I experimented with my DSLR and revived the SLR I inherited from my grandfather. I can’t wait to get the film developed to find out if the SLR is still in full working condition.
Actually I received the film camera when I was much younger but back then I had no idea how photography worked. That’s why I was too afraid to mess it all up and didn’t want to waste money on film. After a few years of hanging in my closet, I gave the camera to my father. Then last year, he decided I should have it again because I developed my love for photography in recent years.
New Blog: Life Revel
Over the past week I also started a more personal blog, Life Revel. I had been toying around with that idea for months but I wasn’t sure if I should convert Word Revel or if I should start another blogging project. To be safe, I registered the domain mid-2014 but I only recently made up my mind fully. I like Word Revel for what it is right now, so I didn’t want to disturb that. Thus I plunged into the new blog.
Life Revel is a space that I see more as a creative outlet. I want to document some of my photography, note down baking experiments and also share other general musings. Hence the name, Life Revel. It really is about things that matter to me in life beyond books. You’re welcome to check it out and it would be wonderful if I get to connect with people who might share some of my other interests.
Some Changes
Blog Theme
Several of you have noticed that I changed my blog theme. It wasn’t exactly by choice. My previous theme had some problems with JavaScript. I don’t know JavaScript and I don’t have time at the moment to figure it out either. As a result, I had to either live without the benefits of JavaScript or change my theme, at least temporarily. I decided to change it for now. I plan was to change it back but since the responses to the new look have been positive, maybe I’ll stick to it.
Retrospect
Last year I made sure to link up all the discussion posts that particularly caught my eye. Doing that takes up a fair bit of time, so I decided that this year I will link to the top few posts that grabbed my attention the most. That way I can use the freed up time to comment more on other blogs. If you are looking for comprehensive link-up posts, I encourage you to check out Christina Reads YA and Oh, the Books!.
Featured Elsewhere
The (secretly) lovely Sandra featured Word Revel as one of her favourite bookstagrams of 2014. I loved that she featured two of my favourite bookstagrammers too! They were Sana (@artsymusings) and Hazel (@hazelstaybookish).
Hawwa (@paper.circus) surprised me by also featuring @wordrevel as one of her favourite bookstagrams of 2014. She was inspired by Sandra’s post and she too featured me alongside one of my favourite bookstagrammers, Elaine (@ofdustandstarlight).
On the Blog
Book Reviews
I had the pleasure of reviewing my absolute favourite book of 2014, A Blind Spot for Boys by Justina Chen. It was the last book review of the year, so it was great to wrap up the year with that book.
Blog Posts
Since this week marked the beginning of 2015, I got into the New Year’s frenzy with a series of related blog posts. I started off with my reflection on 2014, then I weighed the pros and cons of reading challenges. In the end, I decided I couldn’t resist good challenges, so I outlined my 2015 resolutions the reading challenges I’m participating in.
Around the Blogosphere
- Sandra @ Tea Between Books reflects on writing content you are proud of. I think this is something important bloggers need to remember. While frequency is important too to keep readers engaged, of primary importance should be that you post content that you can be proud of. When filler posts take over, maybe it’s time to reassess one’s reasons for blogging.
- Ceilidhann @ Bibliodaze maintains that books are real books. I’ve said this many times before myself and I will repeat it many times more.
- Cait @ Paper Fury considers chapter samplers. Personally, I only read them if I’m undecided about buying a book that has already been published. Otherwise, I don’t want to start a book and be forced to wait months before the books finally is available for sale.
Yess, having no plans can be quite lovely. I’m so glad I made the decision to not extend my contract with Orion into this year but to just enjoy my last month here with no obligations. I still wake up around 7am every morning (I’m an early bird, I can’t help it), but it’s nice to have the freedom from responsibilities and time to catch up on things that make me happy, like blogging!
Yay for Life Revel! It’s sort of funny to see how many of us lately are seeking an extra outlet for blogging. Many bloggers I follow have either created separate blogs or are starting to work other non-bookish posts into their book blogs. I like it. Your new blog looks so professional too, I can see it drawing in a crowd (whereas mine is completely self-absorbed lol).
For Word Revel, I like either theme so I’d leave that up to you to decide between. If I had to choose, I’d probably go with the old theme but that’s only because I liked the content took center focus, whereas with this one the sidebar is so dark it sort of grabs your eye. But really, they’re both beautiful and better than anything I could do so whatever makes you happy! :)
Oh, and thanks for linking to Oh, the Books! I actually think your plan of only pointing out your favorite posts in a week is a good one. During our last survey, a majority of readers said our recaps are one of their favorite posts, but we got a few comments saying that they were too long and that there’s no way a reader could get through them all. It sort of made me wonder if maybe we’re too over the top with links and should change it up, but we decided to keep it as is. If we were going to change it though it would be to highlight our top favs – so go you for being on it already ;)
I’m super glad that you had a good week and vacation! I need one asap! I’m also stoked that you’ve brought Life Revel to life and I’m definitely following you over there!