Where I’ve Been & What I’ve Been Reading

Dear reader,

I hope you are well and that 2020 has been nice to you. It’s been a while since I last wrote on here and wow does it feel weird to finally be doing so again. For months now, really since I graduated in July, I have had such a lack of motivation, besides the obvious freak out of trying to find a job in publishing & London. It’s been hard. I’m overwhelmed by the fact that I don’t know what I’m doing and I still feel discouraged every time I receive a rejection. To quote William Whewell, ‘Every failure is a step to success’ but gosh does it not feel like it most days.

Getting into the publishing industry is hard, like really hard. Now add on the fact that I’m an American requiring a visa to live in London and then add on my lack of work experience while living in a place where I can’t get more… I’m really going against the odds! Therefore, I’ve been reflecting a lot lately on ways in which I can change things.

• Should I go for a different career and possibly get another degree?
• Should I just keep applying to jobs and in the meantime become a freelance creator? Do I even have the training to do that successfully?
• Should I move somewhere new and just work in retail for a while?

I’m not sure what the correct answer is right now. I’ve always know what I wanted to do and how I could achieve it, but during this past year reality has smacked me in the face… hard.

So in the meantime, until the publishing gods make something magical happen or until I have a major self-realization at 2am one night, I’m going to start pushing myself to be more creative. Start writing that book. Get back into blogging. Pick up a brush and finish that painting. Give journaling a go. I need to use this free time to do some self-discovery while still managing to keep my dreams afloat. Who knows, maybe something really great is lying ahead of me.

Now onto what I’ve been reading! I’m currently one book ahead of my 2020 reading goal – 35 books – which I’m proud of. Each month I am aiming to read a least 4 books, which I achieved in January but failed in February. I blame Little Women… and yes I wrote a review to share with you and yes I ranted a bit. Maybe more than a bit.

Overall, I enjoyed all of the books in some aspect and found some new favourites. If you are currently in the mood to go pick up a new book, PLEASE choose Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. I feel like I cannot truly express how much I love that book but just know that I would happily scream from a rooftop “GO BUY *THIS* BOOK” if I could.

That is all from me for now. I do plan on getting back into blogging again and actually have a few posts already written that just need to be reviewed before showing up in your inbox. Until then, I hope this weekend brings you lots of joy and I hope you enjoy whatever books you read in the meantime.

If you would like to follow what I’ve been reading – since I’m terrible at remembering to write reviews before moving on to another story – be sure to follow me on Goodreads and Instagram. Thank you so much for sticking around – it truly means a lot – and I will speak to you again shortly.