Hello friends, I have resurfaced from the world of books (and work, I guess) to bring you a mini monthly update!
If you’ve noticed, I’ve not had many of the planned “themed” posts because they’ve not been written! I did have a few posts here and there (and the review of the smoked Japanese teas is finally posted!!) but I think you should be expecting to hear from me very intermittently for July as well. Well… unless I start posting more food reviews and I’m not quite sure if I want to go down that route.
What I’m Reading
I mentioned that I was reading along themes last month and… well it’s still happening! I’m also slowly diversifying because my TBR stack is really too much to handle right now and I’d like to start going back to it.
But even though I’ve been reading quite a bit (I counted 15 books last month, though admittedly three are very short MG books!), I haven’t been able to write that many reviews. I think I’m still trying to process what I learnt and think about how I want to express it and well… I’m not sure if it will be a book review or if it will just be internalised. I suppose we shall see.
But I do want to add that a highlight of last month’s reading was discovering the works of Makoto Fujimura. He’s an artist that writes about culture and faith and his books have really made an impact on me. The Art + Faith one is perhaps a bit more relevant right now but his work on Endo Shusaku’s Silence was eye-opening and beautiful, given that Silence has made such a great impact on my life.
Crochet Stuff
My life is pretty much crochet and books right now. I’ve been working on the same tote bag for a month and it’s still not done (also, it’s not the right size and I am running out of one yarn colour). In desperation, I did a smaller project and made… an AirPods holder in the shape of a whale!
I got this from an online kit but was very disappointed that they didn’t give me enough white yarn, which is needed for the belly of the world. Thankfully the friend I’m making this for isn’t very picky and was fine with a whale with a slightly blue belly. And also that it has no zipper but a crochet clasp.
I’m actually quite tempted to do a post on how I’m learning crochet via taobao because there seems to be a very wide variety in terms of the quality of kits! A friend once mentioned that it’s best to think of taobao as a neutral platform and I’m finding it very true – there are great quality (and original) stuff out there, and there are also shops copying others and it’s really about how you sift through it.
Other Thoughts
This month, I learnt about the concepts of POSSE (Publish to Own Site Syndicate Elsewhere) and PESOS (Publish Everywhere, Syndicate to Own Site) and the fact that IG is training their AI on user posts and it got me thinking. I have been off bookstagram for over a year, but I have to admit that I miss the Singapore book community, which seems to be mostly on bookstagram!
So while I have been considering my return to IG (which I probably will do), I’ve also been thinking about what this blog is for. Is it a book and tea blog or is it my home on the internet? If it it’s the latter, then I should be a lot more comfortable with non-book and non-tea posts (food, I mean food posts, I think). I do like the idea of POSSE and I do something like that whenever I post on IG, but I just do a terrible job linking back to the blog.
Which just means that now that I’m in a bit of a review drought, you might see a bit more non-book and non-tea related posts.
The POSSE and PESOS concepts are interesting. Thanks for sharing those articles. I think I’ve been doing POSSE just by default — at least, I used to; I’ve really cut back on social media by a lot over the last couple years and most of my social media stuff these days doesn’t have a lot of content overlap with my book-focused blog. Maybe it’s time to reconsider that.
“[…] I’ve also been thinking about what this blog is for. Is it a book and tea blog or is it my home on the internet?” As a super casual blog reader with the attention span + memory of a goldfish, I will say that the blogs that really stick in my brain and that I’m most likely to remember to revisit are the ones where the author just clearly has a passion for / a lot of fun with whatever topic(s) they’re covering and regardless of how often they post, and the posts don’t feel like they were written as a chore, if that makes sense? Like, a blog can be wonderful whether it’s super topic-focused or more of a general life thing. This is just a long-winded way of saying that I’m sure you’ll be able to find the right balance for you here, whichever direction you decide to take it.
Thanks so much for the encouragement! And yes, I found POSSE and PESOS very interesting – I would like to be mostly off social media but I can’t deny that most people are on a platform of some sort and it would be hard to have a local, interested-based community without it (for friends, I can message them directly. But for the person whose reviews I read? Not so much, sadly)
I too wouldn’t have minded a more blue whale if it’s that cute hahah I hope you’ll continue to do the things you love and quickly forget to worry about what you’re not doing! Have a great month of July! 😀
Thank you! Have a great July as well!
Ditto what Lashaan said. Also I also like the idea behind POSSE. I guess that’s what I tried at first when I decided to link my IG to my blog… I’ve considered creating a separate IG for my blog, but I’m so lazy with the IG acct I already have that that probably wouldn’t be a good idea.
Yup same! Now I’m just thinking if I want my social media to be very focused and niche or a bit more broad hahaha.
Crochet looks like so much fun and I’m having to resist getting into it cause I don’t need another hobby! Haha, I wouldn’t mind a blue tummy either on the whale!
It is very fun! And oddly addictive, I think it’s something about being able to see what you make that makes me keep going “one row more” hahaha. Haha thanks, I hope my friend will also enjoy the whale when she gets it!
The whale is so cute! You are super talented!
I think whatever you decide to do with the blog will be great! I really enjoy your writing, so whether it’s books or tea or food or crochet–it will all be interesting!
I admit I don’t do too much with the social media side of things. It seems like a lot of people are taking their discussions there now instead of the blog, though? Like they might read a post but then discuss it on Twitter/X. But I see them as separate entities. I think some people might only interact with us on social media and never visit our blog at all. I don’t know that we get much traffic from linking to the blog from there.
Thank you! Yeah, I ended up going back to IG because all the discussions are there and people don’t seem to move between platforms. People who read the blog are on the blog, people on IG are on IG, and so on and rarely does someone follow on multiple platforms.
It’s a bit of a pity because I’d much rather have this blog be my main internet place!
I love your whale! And I always enjoy everything you write on your blog, so whatever you do, I’ll be here 😀
Thank you!! It’s nice to know I’ll still see you around!! I really enjoy your posts too (: