So, you might have noticed it looks a little different around here lately…
With the-virus-that-shall-not-be-named-because-we like-revenue still at large, I thought I’d spruce the site up a little bit. Not that I really had the time for it with my current stressful workload (more on that in a bit), but your fave first class literature nerd wanted this ol’ blog to have more of a sleeker look as I enter – what feels like – a new chapter in my life with so many crazy writing/career stuff happening! Considering how the blog looked in its early conception back in 2015 when my only readers were my mum, dad and everyone who bullied me in school looking for further material to mock me with, we’ve come a long way, pal.
Before I dive any further into my jubilation, I want to thank the extremely patient team at Kualo for getting me through the tedious seven hours it took to redesign this hellhole. Believe me when I say I annoy them to no end with questions and they’re always so helpful even though they’re probably sick to death of me!
I know we’re very much still in the heat of this pandemic and it feels like a weird time to be happy about anything, but I’ve exhausted talking about how stressful things have been thanks to Miss Rona both on here and for other publications. Quite frankly, I’d go insane if I continued to indulge the doom and gloom more than I already do.
So, what are we celebrating? Well, for a start, I didn’t fail exams. This would’ve been a post solely about discovering that poetry was my friend all along, but that news sort of pales in comparison to all the other big things that have been going on.
Your girl has been flexing her fingers and penning another article for Metro as we approach the one year publication anniversary of the first one! The upcoming piece is a huge departure from what you’ve probably come to expect from me and my writing. For better or worse, I’ve made my name and built my career through Tinder and horrifying exes – and I’m thrilled to say that I’m close to completing the first draft of a little secret manuscript about both of those things! But my exes can breathe a sigh of relief that I at least won’t be roasting them in the press this time round – maybe in book and other visual media formats, though – as I’ll be tackling something more serious and sombre for Metro’s new features section.
I won’t go into too much detail on what the article’s specifically about, but it’s on something that is an important rising issue that we need to delve into and discuss. I’ve quite enjoyed the opportunity to don a detective hat and get my investigative journalist on for this one 🕵🏽. It’s certainly not cheery, it will be a tough and heavy read. I’ll make another blog post going into detail about it and the writing process when it’s finally up and published so do keep your eyes peeled out for it!
Things are also looking incredibly promising for a fiction piece I’ve been slaving away at for what feels like forever. Again, everything is top secret because I don’t know who will come in and try swoop all my mediocre ideas, but 10-year-old me would be very excited to see that the ‘writing thing’ dream is finally coming to fruition.
We’re also celebrating Ed and the boys getting a #2 album (sorry my girl T-Swift stopped you getting the crown!) and even more pals getting nominated for a Mercury Prize which is insane. I swear that my circle also consists of people who aren’t in indie bands! However, I’d like to take this time to get my angry Asian gal on and say that Rina Sawayama deserved to be on that list too and it’s such an injustice that despite living in the UK for 25 years and having indefinite leave to remain, she was ineligible due to something as trivial as not holding a British passport. Justice for Rina please!
Finally, thanks to anyone who’s stuck with me and supported me on the other socials. It’s not lost on me how fortunate I am that a tiny blog I started one evening in my bedroom back in Wales to review books I’d read has ended up opening up the door to all these career opportunities! Heaven knows I haven’t been the most consistent with posting recently due to mental health etc and I can’t promise that I’ll get any better at keeping to a regular schedule with the workload I have at the minute – but I’ll try my best! Hachette were kind enough to send over some new book proofs in the mail the other week so, if nothing else, there will indeed be some new literature reviews to look forward to.
Until then, you’ll find me in my at-home office guzzling Moët and crying about approaching writing deadlines.
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