Everything “New” in 2019

When I said I would be taking a month off blogging, I certainly didn’t expect just how much I would miss doing it.

A lot of things had happened during the month I was away from my blog, but at the same time, I didn’t feel like anything major had happened at all. Sure, there was my friend, Felicia’s wedding a few weeks ago. But being one of her bridesmaids, the whole event drained me of almost all my energy—to the point where I got bedridden out of pure exhaustion.

But now that I’m officially over my month-long break, I was quite troubled by what kind of blog posts should I be writing. You know, last year was all about my upcoming books, writing tips, and some tidbits about my personal life. But I wanted this year to be different—I don’t want to just be doing the same thing over and over.

So while I had thought of several ways to announce my comeback in this post; I could start off 2019 with a short story, or perhaps a detailed run-through of Felicia’s wedding and how I was brought to tears during the holy matrimony (because who doesn’t get emotional over their best friend’s wedding?), I’ve finally decided on writing this post as simple as I can be.

So I would like to apologize in advance.

There is no heart-wrenching story or sad poems here. You can go to my Instagram account and send me writing prompts during the weekends for that. If you didn’t know what I’m talking about, read this post to learn how I can write something for you.

This post, however, is about everything “new” in this blog in 2019.

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Writing/Reading Spots

One of the things I’ve realized during my month away from blogging was that I wasn’t very selective about where I work.

Sure, I have my personal favorite writing spots, but being the busy bee that I am, I rarely get time off to explore new places, or even frequent my favorite writing spots to get some writing session done. As lame as it sounds, most of my 2018’s blog posts were done either on top of my bed or during lunch breaks at my office.

I’ve really missed just going out and finding a good place to catch up on my TBR, or even get some writing done. Sure, there’s an abundance of cafe reviews on the net already, but I was thinking of showcasing these places from a writer/reader’s perspective.

So instead of focusing on the food quality, I am going to focus more on the ambiance. Instead of the decors, I’m going to focus on whether the place has workable tables and power sockets, free wi-fi, and if they don’t mind having a guest who only orders a cup of coffee, but stays around all day to leech off internet and electricity.

After all, I love finding new places to write. And if I could share the place to fellow writers and bookish people, then all the more reason, right?

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Work/Life Balance

Another thing I’ve been meaning to write about in this blog is how I manage to keep my sanity intact with my crazy work schedule.

Let’s face it, we all have our own responsibilities. I currently work as a project manager in an IT Consultant, which means I don’t really have much free time on my hand to use at my disposal. I sometimes even have to work through the weekend just to get the project going—one of the sad truths about handling an IT project.

At the same time, I do have my hobbies, branching from fiction writing, reading good books, watching anime, and playing video games, among others.

During the past year, I had been researching extensively on ways to improve my work/life balance. This includes finding time to go on a personal retreat, finding my own ikigai, experimenting with how I decompress myself during what little free time I have, and even going the minimalist’s way to let go of the things that don’t “spark joy” anymore like Ms. Marie Kondo says.

While I am not an expert myself, I’m thinking of sharing my journey on achieving this work-life balance here. Do let me know if you guys have your own tips/tricks on this; I would love to try them out if I could.

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Information Chunks

Last but not least, someone told me that my blog posts tend to be too long for most people. I don’t know if this has something to do with the average attention span, or if I’m just writing in a roundabout way, but I’m striving to write in a more concise, short, and efficient way this year.

(In fact, this blog post is under 1,000 words, whereas my previous blog posts could very well exceed 2,000 words per post!)

Do wish me luck, everyone.

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I post new contents here every Saturday. This includes writing tips, reviews on writing/reading spots, short stories, poems, personal essays, and more. Keep yourself updated by following me on Twitter and Instagram!

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Where to find:
Goodreads | Gramedia | Gramedia Digital