Wanted to do something different, and this is inspired by a note I found in my Notes app regarding my wife from 2014. I am not going to share this note as it is too personal but recently I saw a TikTok trend asking what type of notes do men have on their phone, so it sparked this post. I want to post a few I found and try to see if I can explain them. While looking I have deleted so many notes because I have no idea what they mean.

Megan McDowell
Emma Ramadan
Sophie Hughes
Tina Kover
Hugh Alpin

Natasha Wimmer
Donald Nicolson-Smith
Frank Wynne
Oliver Ready
Deborah Smith

This one is pretty simple, I was working on a list of auto-buy translators. I always see people talk about auto-buy authors and I thought that was too boring, so I wanted to adjust it to suit my needs. I seem to have found five translators that are auto-buys and was brainstorming who else to add before maybe creating a post about this topic. I did also find an auto-buy authors list, but it only contained Mariana Enríquez and Anne Garréta.

conflictatus per aliis libris

Do I need to explain this note? It seems to be my life motto; it is Latin for distracted by other books. I wish I was better at planning my reading habits, I would like to be able to schedule some reading goals, but sadly I know I am a mood reader and am constantly being distracted by other books.

Descriptions of breasts
Love Triangles
First Person Past Tense in Post-Apocalyptic 
Like (comparisons)
Repetitive

I assume this was a list of turn offs in literature, maybe I was planning to write a post about literary bête noires. I have no idea about the first person past tense in a post-apocalyptic one, but it does sound awful, I just cannot think of a single example of when this has happened and why I would put it on this list.

Book adaptations

Norwegian Wood
Belle De Jour
My Brilliant Friend (TV show)
Let The Right One In
Zama

It feels rare to find a note with a title, but I am not sure where I was going with this one. Is it possibly a list of book adaptations worth watching?

#bookhipster

1. 1. You don’t want an ereader because you want other people to know what you’re reading
      You see these people pretending to read paper books all the time. But really they’re glancing around the room, to see who’s noticing them.
   2. You like to take instagram photos of your food…with your book casually in the background of the shot
      Actually, I did this the other day.
   3. You now appreciate the works Stephen King produced in the 80s (but everything he wrote in the 90s was terrible)
      “The Shining is a brilliant interpretation of the American ghost story but Rose Madder was meaningless twaddle.”
   4. You are purposefully rough with your books when you read them so that it looks like you’ve read them several times more than you actually have.
      Not only have I read all the books I own, I’ve read them all at least seven times.
   5. You think you’re Hemingway
      You’re not.
   6. You have personalised book plates that say “from the library of (insert name)”
      You do not have a library. You have a bookshelf.
   7. You have a book bag
      Normal people call them ‘bags’.
   8. You like to hang out in independent book stores, but secretly shop on Amazon.
      You probably make purchases on your phone while you’re in there.
   9. You snort derisively at any book that’s popular without having read it
      *cough* 50 Shades of Grey *cough*
   10. Unlike music hipsters, you need authors to be verified by a major label before you’ll read them.
       Hipsters only like authors that you’ve never heard of…who are published by a major publishing house and who are preferably award winners.

I really have no idea. It doesn’t look like I wrote it but past me did not include a source.

Guilty reads?
How are books a guilty pleasure
Are there books that you are ashamed of some books you read
Don’t want to be judged on what you are reading
Sometimes that are a joy in reading for simply enjoyment
Books you’re afraid to read in public

Sounds like I was brainstorming new ideas for blog posts, this was written in 2012 but they might actually be good ideas.

Because I teach literature at the university level, there is, in fact, no way to avoid commenting on books that most of the time I haven’t even opened. It’s true that this is also the case for the majority of my students, but if even one of them have read the text I’m discussing, there is a risk that at any moment my class will be disrupted and I will find myself humiliated.

Obviously not written by me but I like the quote. I googled it and found out that it is from How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read by Pierre Bayard, translated from the French by Jeffrey Mehlman. Yet another time, I wish past me would have referenced his notes.

Чтобы больше иметь больше производств
Чтобы больше производить надо больше знать

Not sure where this comes from because I clearly do not reference my notes, but it is Russian and it says “To have more, produce more. To produce more you need to know more” I am not sure what I was planning here, it was either a revolution or I just like to collect quotes about gaining knowledge.

1788–year of white settlement, rise of novel, encyclopedia, first dictionaries, newspapers

Yet again, I have no idea what was going on here. I must have thought it was useful to know this information. I know 1788 was when the First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay, so I do understand the year of white settlement part of this, but did all the other things really happen in 1788?

I think this is enjoy of a dive into my Notes app, there is a long description of the Norman conquest of England in 1066 and plenty of random book lists, including the World Literature Today’s 75 Notable Translations of 2020 (thankfully I referenced that one) and the past few longlists for the International Booker Prize, so I can mark off the books I have read. That is an insight into my thought process, I am assuming that most of these were written in the middle of the night because I do not appreciate having no references or titles. Let me know what weird notes are in your Notes app.

Ten years ago, I started this blog, as a was a way to work through my thoughts; the ten lessons I’ve learned from ten years of book blogging. So much has changed with the way I approach blogging and I wanted to share with you what I have learnt and my current mindset. Originally this blog was documenting my journey into philosophy, literature and culture. I had another blog called Literary Exploration that was my book blog, I was a new reader and used the blog to review every book I read. As a literary explorer I approached literature with the intention to find great books in all genres. However, the main motivation for having a book blog was trying to get ARCs (advance reader copies) and interact with the thriving book blogging community. That blog is now gone, and I have merged the two blogs here. While I mainly use this for my book blogging my approach to literature is different now, so I wanted to share my current attitude to blogging.

Blog for yourself and no one else

While researching what others say, I think my advice here is opposite to everyone else’s. I find that it is important to make sure you are writing content that you would want to read. While I do not like much of my older content, there was a time I would create content that I thought would get views, even if it did not interest me. Things like tags and blog hops often bored me but it was useful for getting people to view my blog, however often I got a hit spike on that one post and nothing else.

Do not feel obligated to anyone

As a book blogger, I often have people asking for reviews and publishers sending unsolicited books. For a time, I tried to read anything I was sent, as a literary explorer, I wanted to give everything a chance. However, these people were asking for product endorsements, and while I was getting free books, I had to learn not to put pressure on myself to please others.

Find your niche

After years of being a literary explorer, reading books in all genres, I eventually figured out what I liked and did not like. I think it is an important step to find what you are passionate about and focus on that. While trying something new is a great way to keep things fresh, it can be very difficult if you are changing who you are to suit the readership or the books you have been sent.

Change happens

In the ten years of blogging, my tastes have changed, and this comes from finding your niche, but also being aware that it might not always be your niche. As you grow and develop you start to understand what you like or don’t, but you also develop new interests, that can send you on a completely new path. Be willing to adapt and follow your own interests.

Don’t fixate on the numbers

I think book blogging is very different now than it was when it was in its prime. You might not get the traffic you would like but I think the most important thing is to continue writing content that you like writing. I noticed a big dive in views and comments when Google Reader ended, and over the years people have changed the way they approach content. Comments may be a thing of the past, they can be rare, and if you are writing for the interactions with people, you need to actively go out and interact on their blogs, because that is where you are likely to find those conversations.

You will hate your old content

Part of growing and developing comes with a negative; you will hate all your old content. I constantly fight the urge to delete everything and start again and while I think this might be healthy, I still worry I would regret deleting. If anything, archiving your content is the best option. One of the main reasons I don’t remove the old content is mainly because it shows how much I have changed.

Slumps happen

I feel like I am in a creative slump at the moment and while I feel bad for not writing, I am very aware that this happens. I am confident that this slump will end, and I try to think of my blog as a collection of my writing rather than something that I need to update every few days. This helps me, but it might not work for you, sometimes forcing yourself to create content is the most effective way to get out of slump. I know the more content I make the more I want to keep making.

You don’t have to post everything

When I first started reviewing books, I wrote a review for every book I read, and sometimes I wish I still did that. However, not every book needs a review. Not all books are meant to be criticised or analysed, sometimes a book is just for pleasure and doesn’t have to go any further. Also, there will be times where you write something that you are not sure works, you don’t need to make them public. I have written a lot of content where I am trying to figure out my own thoughts or understand what I feel, most of those get posted because I want a record of my thoughts and my writing, but many of these cases should have been kept off the internet.

People read differently

One of the biggest lessons I have learnt is that no book is read the same way by two different people. Some people find something unique to them and their writing follows that thread. Some people want to write a synopsis and call it a review, while others have some great insights. Finding your confidence in what you have written can be hard, but your thoughts will always be different to everyone else.

There is always someone better

I hate to say it, but there is always a better writer out there than you. This doesn’t mean you should quit; it means you have something to strive for. I know I have a long way to go in my own writing, but I find comfort here. I have to remind myself daily that I will not improve unless I practice. I wish I was as talented as the people I admire; I wish this came easily to me, but I know that without practice I am never getting any better.

Blogging has been a great experience for me, it has been a big part of my literary and personal growth. Without my blog, I feel like my passion would have run out of fuel a long time ago. The blog is a way to express my thoughts and feelings but most importantly it is a place for me to practice my craft and improve. This is the main reason I blog; this is the main reason I keep my old content there. I have learnt so much from the mechanics of blogging that I would probably do things differently if I was to start again, but I think this blog has become a big part of me.