In60Learning reached out to me to ask if I'd like to review one of their books. I think that the premise of their company is really interesting, but I'll admit that I was dubious, which is why I agreed to do this review.
In60Learning provides non-fiction books that it claims can be read within 60 minutes. Quite the claim right? Well, they're absolutely telling the truth. I requested their biography of Marilyn Monroe, sat down, and set my phone to time how long it took me to finish. My time was just over 20 minutes (I'm a fairly quick reader.)
The other thing I was a little concerned about was how much information can they really fit into such short books? Admittedly, there isn't as much info as you'd get from a full-length book, but that just wouldn't be realistic for them. From reading the biography of Marilyn Monroe I felt I got a good amount of information, and they really provide a great timeline of events. I also really liked the short paragraph at the start of the book that gave a brief profile of Marilyn before diving into her biography. Obviously, these books wouldn't work for say, someone who wants an in-depth knowledge of a person or event, but they are good for those who have little time or even students who only need to know the basics. In fact, I can see these books being absolutely perfect for students especially if they expand into things like theory, I'd have killed for books like this on literary theory when I was a student.
One thing I would have liked to see in the book would be an extended bibliography at the back, to recommend further reading. But of course, there's nothing stopping anyone from just doing their own research and just using these books as a jumping off point which they're absolutely perfect for.
If you'd like to know more about In60Learning, you can receive promos and updates on new releases by signing up for their Learning List here.
*All opinions in this post are my own, and in no way influenced by the publisher.*
Thursday, 1 March 2018
Tuesday, 27 February 2018
Work Placements - All About Balance.
After a slightly stressful week, I found myself way behind on deadlines for my voluntary placement, and all the planned posts I had were put on hold because I just couldn't find the time or the motivation.
I made plenty of excuses for why I wasn't getting on with things. My partner's dog was ill, and I was staying over at his house to help take care of him. But in reality, I spent a lot of time just sat on the sofa watching TV. I had my iPad and all my work notes, but I just had no motivation and felt that my excuse was a good reason to not do anything. Of course, it wasn't a good reason. At the end of the day regardless of how lazy I felt I had a job to do and other people were relying on me to do it.
After that week, and the night I spent desperately trawling the internet for information on the band I was writing a profile for, I realised I had to start balancing my life properly. Instead of burning myself out doing all my work in one day it makes more sense for me to do it over a course of days. I work from home, I go for meetings fortnightly or monthly depending on projects, I have no reason to be so stressed.
Obviously, I'm not the only person my age who feels like this. Juggling my placement, a part-time job, my relationship, and trying to have a social life isn't easy. Add in other things like hobbies, this blog, self-care, and it makes things quite difficult. It isn't impossible though, and it does just all come down to routine and making sacrifices sometimes. I know that eventually, it'll get better and I won't have to make (admittedly very tiny) sacrifices anymore.
If you're feeling like you've spread yourself too thin, there are two rules for myself that I've put into place in the last week that have me feeling much more level-headed and motivated. Hopefully, they'll help you as well:
1. Plan accordingly - If you have a set routine like I do then this is much easier. I work retail on the weekends, so I don't do anything else on those days except self-care and what I deem low-impact hobbies such as reading. I also stay at my partner's house twice a week, so on those days I try not to do anything except spend time with him, but if we want to do separate things then I'll do research or planning for projects.
2. Self-care - Please, please, please don't skimp on self-care. If you are constantly working and creating it can feel amazing but eventually, it does become too much and can negatively impact your mental health. You produce much better work when you're happy, and healthy in body and mind.
I'd love to hear from other people on work placements, and how they balance everything out. Or, what is your favourite act of self-care, even if you aren't on a work placement?
I made plenty of excuses for why I wasn't getting on with things. My partner's dog was ill, and I was staying over at his house to help take care of him. But in reality, I spent a lot of time just sat on the sofa watching TV. I had my iPad and all my work notes, but I just had no motivation and felt that my excuse was a good reason to not do anything. Of course, it wasn't a good reason. At the end of the day regardless of how lazy I felt I had a job to do and other people were relying on me to do it.
After that week, and the night I spent desperately trawling the internet for information on the band I was writing a profile for, I realised I had to start balancing my life properly. Instead of burning myself out doing all my work in one day it makes more sense for me to do it over a course of days. I work from home, I go for meetings fortnightly or monthly depending on projects, I have no reason to be so stressed.
Obviously, I'm not the only person my age who feels like this. Juggling my placement, a part-time job, my relationship, and trying to have a social life isn't easy. Add in other things like hobbies, this blog, self-care, and it makes things quite difficult. It isn't impossible though, and it does just all come down to routine and making sacrifices sometimes. I know that eventually, it'll get better and I won't have to make (admittedly very tiny) sacrifices anymore.
If you're feeling like you've spread yourself too thin, there are two rules for myself that I've put into place in the last week that have me feeling much more level-headed and motivated. Hopefully, they'll help you as well:
1. Plan accordingly - If you have a set routine like I do then this is much easier. I work retail on the weekends, so I don't do anything else on those days except self-care and what I deem low-impact hobbies such as reading. I also stay at my partner's house twice a week, so on those days I try not to do anything except spend time with him, but if we want to do separate things then I'll do research or planning for projects.
2. Self-care - Please, please, please don't skimp on self-care. If you are constantly working and creating it can feel amazing but eventually, it does become too much and can negatively impact your mental health. You produce much better work when you're happy, and healthy in body and mind.
I'd love to hear from other people on work placements, and how they balance everything out. Or, what is your favourite act of self-care, even if you aren't on a work placement?
Sunday, 18 February 2018
Unhauling Books
It's that time of year again. The time I decide I desperately need to declutter my whole life, and then inevitably give up and accept that I am a slave to capitalism and materialism.
My first step to do this is always to declutter my bookcases. I buy books a lot quicker than I read them, and I also do a lot of my reading on my Kindle, so my bookcases can start to get crazy really quickly. At the minute my main bookcase has books crammed in wherever they'll fit, haphazardly stacked on the edge of the shelves, and it's making me stressed out just looking at it. I love books, I do, but at some point I have to admit that I'll never read half the books on that case and just get rid of them.
But how does one decide what stays and goes? This is something I struggled with a lot the first time I needed to declutter, or unhaul, my books, so I'm going to put my process down here so that maybe it'll help someone else.
1. Completely empty your bookcases:
If you have more than one bookcase I'd recommend doing this one at a time, or else you'll have no space to sort through your books. This is a good way of seeing what you're actually working with (sometimes the amount of books is enough of a shock to motivate you) and it also gives you a chance to give your shelves a good clean and dust.
2. Stack your books by genre:
Go through your books and make separate piles for each genre that you have. For me these are usually Non-Fiction, Memoirs, YA, Adult fiction, and reference/textbooks. Having the big pile of books separated into smaller piles will make the job easier because you'll be focusing on a small task rather than a huge one.
3. Sort through each pile:
Now sit with each pile, pick up a book, and just decide if you want to read it or if it's just not for you anymore. If you need to, flick through the first few pages. If you don't feel drawn in then it's time to get rid, but don't use this time to force yourself to read, sometimes things just aren't meant to be.
4. Put away and reconsider:
When you're putting the books back on their shelves, take time with each book again to make sure you're sure you want to keep it. Are you definitely going to read it? To make it easier next time, I like to designate my top shelf to "Books I'm going to read". If I haven't picked a book up from this shelf between declutters then I know it's time to let go, I'm just not that into it.
An important thing to note here is, once you've put a book in the donation/give away pile, it stays there. This is a top rule. If you have purposefully placed it there, it's gone, it no longer belongs to you. Be ruthless.
I hope this does help someone else to declutter their books. I'll be posting updates about the rest of my effort, but this is the one I most struggled with the first time around so I wanted to go more in depth to ease that for someone else.
Remember, a book won't be hurt if you give it away. Someone else might find happiness in it's pages.
Friday, 2 February 2018
Reading for Improvement? 2018 Reading List
One of my minor goals this year is to "read better." The last few days I've been wondering what exactly that means. Whether I'll be reading world renowned classics, maybe self help books, maybe I'll read all of the Booker Prize winners? These, admittedly, were genuine things that crossed my mind, and as someone who still, aged 23, reads a LOT of YA fiction I was intimidated.
But after pondering, I realised that I don't have to read those books, and chances are if I tried I'd be utterly miserable doing it. I'm not the type of person who wants to read those for fun, though I wish I was because you who can are absolute fierce babes.
Instead, I'm going to read books that make me think, and that motivate me to do better. Here are some of the books that I've picked for this year, I might not complete them all, but I'm certainly going to try.
1. #Girlboss by Sophia Amoruso
2. Female Chauvinist Pigs: Woman and the Rise of Raunch Culture by Ariel Levy
3. The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley
4. I Call Myself a Feminist by Victoria Pepe
5. Unspeakable Things: Sex, Lies and Revolution by Laurie Penny
6. Men Explain Things to Me: And Other Essays by Rebecca Solnit
But after pondering, I realised that I don't have to read those books, and chances are if I tried I'd be utterly miserable doing it. I'm not the type of person who wants to read those for fun, though I wish I was because you who can are absolute fierce babes.
Instead, I'm going to read books that make me think, and that motivate me to do better. Here are some of the books that I've picked for this year, I might not complete them all, but I'm certainly going to try.
1. #Girlboss by Sophia Amoruso
2. Female Chauvinist Pigs: Woman and the Rise of Raunch Culture by Ariel Levy
3. The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley
4. I Call Myself a Feminist by Victoria Pepe
5. Unspeakable Things: Sex, Lies and Revolution by Laurie Penny
6. Men Explain Things to Me: And Other Essays by Rebecca Solnit
Thursday, 1 February 2018
How I Somehow Became A Publicist
So, a funny thing has happened. On the advice of my careers adviser I went ham and applied for several volunteering positions, mainly admin related because that was one of the things publishers look for apparently.
On a whim, I applied for one that read simply "publicist and journalist." I am qualified for neither of these things, I am the first to admit it. I thought though that I had nothing to lose, and that the worst that could happen would be I would be ignored based on my lack of experience, which I fully expected to happen. How wrong I was. The following day I received an email from the gentleman who posted the vacancy, asking how I would prefer to proceed. I said I'd be happy to come for an interview, and a date was set.
I got my train that morning fully expecting an interview, I was utterly terrified. About two and a half hours later, said gentleman asks me "so do you think you'd be interested in doing this then?" To say I was gobsmacked is a bit of an understatement. Obviously I grabbed this chance with both hands and said I'd love to do it, this is invaluable experience for me, oh my goodness yes sir.
Now here I am, not two days later, creating profiles for several bands who will be performing at a folk festival that I will almost solely be promoting. I also have to begin work on a monthly column that I'll be writing, to go live in a local magazine, and begin looking for places to send press releases to. This is all a bit of a whirlwind, and I can't help feeling that this is some sort of fever dream and eventually I'll wake up back in Kansas (well, Middlesbrough, but you get the idea) and be back where I started.
I suppose that this is my first post with a moral. If you just take a mad chance, it might pay off. I got immensely lucky with this, and I'm not the sort of person this happens to frequently, but all of a sudden doors have opened for me. Try, and something wonderful might happen.
On a whim, I applied for one that read simply "publicist and journalist." I am qualified for neither of these things, I am the first to admit it. I thought though that I had nothing to lose, and that the worst that could happen would be I would be ignored based on my lack of experience, which I fully expected to happen. How wrong I was. The following day I received an email from the gentleman who posted the vacancy, asking how I would prefer to proceed. I said I'd be happy to come for an interview, and a date was set.
I got my train that morning fully expecting an interview, I was utterly terrified. About two and a half hours later, said gentleman asks me "so do you think you'd be interested in doing this then?" To say I was gobsmacked is a bit of an understatement. Obviously I grabbed this chance with both hands and said I'd love to do it, this is invaluable experience for me, oh my goodness yes sir.
Now here I am, not two days later, creating profiles for several bands who will be performing at a folk festival that I will almost solely be promoting. I also have to begin work on a monthly column that I'll be writing, to go live in a local magazine, and begin looking for places to send press releases to. This is all a bit of a whirlwind, and I can't help feeling that this is some sort of fever dream and eventually I'll wake up back in Kansas (well, Middlesbrough, but you get the idea) and be back where I started.
I suppose that this is my first post with a moral. If you just take a mad chance, it might pay off. I got immensely lucky with this, and I'm not the sort of person this happens to frequently, but all of a sudden doors have opened for me. Try, and something wonderful might happen.
Monday, 15 January 2018
2018 Goals
Happy New Year!
I try not to make resolutions. I know that I'm not going to keep to them, I'm not that type of person. But goals work for me, they're a thing I can visualise and something I can say "yes, I definitely did this thing!" and that is very motivating.
2018 is a big year for me. This is the year that I will graduate for the final time, and the year that, because of that, I'll become a real adult (hopefully). So I feel like this year, I need to either get my shit together, or have some great adventures and get my shit together next year instead. So here are my goals and some of what I'll do to achieve them.
1. I want to donate to charity. I've done a lot of thinking on this and the charity that best aligns with some other plans this year is the Little Princess Trust. They create wigs for children using human hair. As someone who's hair is sort of a comfort blanket, the idea of little girls losing theirs is upsetting to me. So this year, I'm going to get a split end trim, then spend a few months pampering my hair and growing it, before finally cutting it off and donating it. I'm also going to fund raise while I do this, so hopefully I'll be able to donate a decent amount of money by the time I'm done.
2. I want to have a big makeover. This is partially why my chosen charity was the Little Princess Trust. I've had long hair my whole life, this year I want to cut a sizable chunk of it off and knowing that I'm going to be helping someone by doing that is a great incentive to make sure I won't fanny out.
3. I want to get my first internship. This is something I'm going to write about in a future post (it's drafted and scheduled, stay tuned!) so I'm not going to go into detail here.
4. I want to have adventures. This year I'm going camping for the first time, and staying in a lodge in the Lake District. Me and my partner have planned a "penny adventure" to have this summer. We're visiting places with penny press machines, and collecting pennies. I'm so excited. We're also hoping to visit Hay-on-Wye, the book town situated on the border of England and Wales, which has been my dream destination for so long. Hopefully we'll have more adventures between too.
5. I want to redecorate my bedroom. I've never done this myself before, my mam has always done it for me. So this year I want to plan everything myself, have her show me how to wallpaper, and build my new furniture all by myself.
So those are this years goals. I can't wait to see how they go. I've never felt so optimistic about a new year before and I'm hopeful that it's a sign of good things to come.
I try not to make resolutions. I know that I'm not going to keep to them, I'm not that type of person. But goals work for me, they're a thing I can visualise and something I can say "yes, I definitely did this thing!" and that is very motivating.
2018 is a big year for me. This is the year that I will graduate for the final time, and the year that, because of that, I'll become a real adult (hopefully). So I feel like this year, I need to either get my shit together, or have some great adventures and get my shit together next year instead. So here are my goals and some of what I'll do to achieve them.
1. I want to donate to charity. I've done a lot of thinking on this and the charity that best aligns with some other plans this year is the Little Princess Trust. They create wigs for children using human hair. As someone who's hair is sort of a comfort blanket, the idea of little girls losing theirs is upsetting to me. So this year, I'm going to get a split end trim, then spend a few months pampering my hair and growing it, before finally cutting it off and donating it. I'm also going to fund raise while I do this, so hopefully I'll be able to donate a decent amount of money by the time I'm done.
2. I want to have a big makeover. This is partially why my chosen charity was the Little Princess Trust. I've had long hair my whole life, this year I want to cut a sizable chunk of it off and knowing that I'm going to be helping someone by doing that is a great incentive to make sure I won't fanny out.
3. I want to get my first internship. This is something I'm going to write about in a future post (it's drafted and scheduled, stay tuned!) so I'm not going to go into detail here.
4. I want to have adventures. This year I'm going camping for the first time, and staying in a lodge in the Lake District. Me and my partner have planned a "penny adventure" to have this summer. We're visiting places with penny press machines, and collecting pennies. I'm so excited. We're also hoping to visit Hay-on-Wye, the book town situated on the border of England and Wales, which has been my dream destination for so long. Hopefully we'll have more adventures between too.
5. I want to redecorate my bedroom. I've never done this myself before, my mam has always done it for me. So this year I want to plan everything myself, have her show me how to wallpaper, and build my new furniture all by myself.
So those are this years goals. I can't wait to see how they go. I've never felt so optimistic about a new year before and I'm hopeful that it's a sign of good things to come.
Monday, 1 January 2018
2017 in Review
2017 was not my best year. I would go so far as to say that it was one of the worst years I've ever actually had. It took a turn for the better towards the end, but I was still very glad to see the back of it.
January - Sadly, on January 3rd, my dog passed away. He was 6 years old and had had respiratory issues for a while that he was on daily medication for. He went peacefully in his sleep, with his best friend, our other dog, at his side. This did not dull the grief, but now I am grateful that his death was peaceful and he was in his home. Also in January I lost the job I had worked at for two seasons, and was unemployed for unforeseeable future for the first time in two years.
February - February 11th marked the 10 year anniversary of my Grandad's death. This was a hard day, as it always is, but in 2017 I decided that it was okay to allow myself this one day a year to grief, and allow myself to feel sad. This is one of the biggest acts of self care I have ever done. February 25th was the first time I have ever felt immense pride for a partner. I watched my ex boyfriend and his band perform at a small festival, and for the first time was able to see how incredibly talented he is. The feeling of watching strangers compliment his achievements still warms my soul.
March - Throughout March I helped organise, and took part in, my graduate conference. This was a pretty stressful task, between creating my own presentation and speech, and helping organise and set up the conference, I barely found time to breathe. On the day, I had to navigate a barely familiar town, and then present my dissertation research for the rest of my course mates. This day was one of the worst for me, but reflecting on the train home I felt like I'd accomplished something huge. Sadly I failed the conference module of my degree (*facepalm*) but in hindsight I am still proud of myself.
April - On April 6th my relationship ended. It was sudden, and though the relationship was short, it threw me. Today me and my ex are best friends, and we talk every day. This is the first time I realised, and accepted, that sometimes people are better just as friends.
May - I got a new puppy! His name is Kane, and he is a giant boy. At the date of writing this I think he is 10 months old, and already he swamps our older dog. He has so much energy, which isn't always a good thing, but he also has so much (sometimes too much) love.
June/July - These months were quiet, for the most part. For the first time in my life I remained single for more than a few weeks, and focused on things other than a relationship. This is when the largest amount of research was done for my dissertation, so I spent most days in the library surrounds by articles and books, but still desperately searching for more. Around this time, a terrible thing happened, that while I'm not ready to speak about it I'm finally moving on from.
August - I met my new partner. We walked his dog and I appreciated the beauty of taking things slow for once.
September - I handed in my dissertation in September, and for the first time in my academic life the end was in sight. I was utterly terrified, like beyond belief. But my hand in day was one of the best I've ever had, for the first time in my life I felt like I had accomplished something big, and holding my finished dissertation was a little bit emotional, if I'm being honest.
October - Unbeknown to me on October 31st the ever ominous Board decided that I was indeed, a Master of the Arts. I have no idea who is on this board, but I imagine them all as being some kind of omniscient and benevolent beings who decide who is and isn't worthy of their degree. Luckily, they deemed me worthy.
November/December - Apart from the obvious festivities these months were also quiet. New Years Eve became a turning point for me, the first in years that I hadn't spent upset, and it's filled me with optimism. My partner and I made a lot of plans for the new year, and we're both excited about carrying them out and having lots of adventures.
I am happy.
January - Sadly, on January 3rd, my dog passed away. He was 6 years old and had had respiratory issues for a while that he was on daily medication for. He went peacefully in his sleep, with his best friend, our other dog, at his side. This did not dull the grief, but now I am grateful that his death was peaceful and he was in his home. Also in January I lost the job I had worked at for two seasons, and was unemployed for unforeseeable future for the first time in two years.
February - February 11th marked the 10 year anniversary of my Grandad's death. This was a hard day, as it always is, but in 2017 I decided that it was okay to allow myself this one day a year to grief, and allow myself to feel sad. This is one of the biggest acts of self care I have ever done. February 25th was the first time I have ever felt immense pride for a partner. I watched my ex boyfriend and his band perform at a small festival, and for the first time was able to see how incredibly talented he is. The feeling of watching strangers compliment his achievements still warms my soul.
March - Throughout March I helped organise, and took part in, my graduate conference. This was a pretty stressful task, between creating my own presentation and speech, and helping organise and set up the conference, I barely found time to breathe. On the day, I had to navigate a barely familiar town, and then present my dissertation research for the rest of my course mates. This day was one of the worst for me, but reflecting on the train home I felt like I'd accomplished something huge. Sadly I failed the conference module of my degree (*facepalm*) but in hindsight I am still proud of myself.
April - On April 6th my relationship ended. It was sudden, and though the relationship was short, it threw me. Today me and my ex are best friends, and we talk every day. This is the first time I realised, and accepted, that sometimes people are better just as friends.
May - I got a new puppy! His name is Kane, and he is a giant boy. At the date of writing this I think he is 10 months old, and already he swamps our older dog. He has so much energy, which isn't always a good thing, but he also has so much (sometimes too much) love.
June/July - These months were quiet, for the most part. For the first time in my life I remained single for more than a few weeks, and focused on things other than a relationship. This is when the largest amount of research was done for my dissertation, so I spent most days in the library surrounds by articles and books, but still desperately searching for more. Around this time, a terrible thing happened, that while I'm not ready to speak about it I'm finally moving on from.
August - I met my new partner. We walked his dog and I appreciated the beauty of taking things slow for once.
September - I handed in my dissertation in September, and for the first time in my academic life the end was in sight. I was utterly terrified, like beyond belief. But my hand in day was one of the best I've ever had, for the first time in my life I felt like I had accomplished something big, and holding my finished dissertation was a little bit emotional, if I'm being honest.
October - Unbeknown to me on October 31st the ever ominous Board decided that I was indeed, a Master of the Arts. I have no idea who is on this board, but I imagine them all as being some kind of omniscient and benevolent beings who decide who is and isn't worthy of their degree. Luckily, they deemed me worthy.
November/December - Apart from the obvious festivities these months were also quiet. New Years Eve became a turning point for me, the first in years that I hadn't spent upset, and it's filled me with optimism. My partner and I made a lot of plans for the new year, and we're both excited about carrying them out and having lots of adventures.
I am happy.
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