Bookmarked! March Edition

Image courtesy of Instagram @jennifer.garner

Yet another eventful month! As this is the last post of March, I am bringing to you another round up of books and communications related news from the far corners of the web. You might have noticed a slight change to the name of the previously titled "Stories we Loved" series. I decided to get clever and rename our beloved series 'Bookmarked!'.

What do you think? The name is a lot less cumbersome and seeing as this is a book blog and all...(oh, never mind!)
I'll stop waffling. Here are some of the items that caught my eye this month

The Skills You Need to Make It as a Badass Blogger!

I am sitting here wondering whether Spring will actually make an appearance or if it plans to be fraudulent until Summer. Anyhoo, a couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about how I became a copywriter, which generated a lot of interest, so I thought I'd expand the gift of my knowledge to blogging and give you some advice on how to be a badass blogger!

I have previously mentioned that I have been on/off blogging for around ten years, and although I have progressed hugely, I made some mistakes on the way. But most importantly, I've learnt loads.

If you want to become a professional blogger, there are a number of essential skills you will need. It is never as simple as merely signing up to a website development platform such as Blogger or WordPress and then typing up your thoughts. There is a lot more that goes into it than this! With that in mind, read on to discover the essential skills you need to have if you want to make it as a professional blogger this year.

Book Review: Confessions of a Frustrated Millenial

Ladies, have you ever read a book that spoke to your soul with such clarity? Well, I have never identified with a book so closely in a long time as I did with Confessions of a Frustrated Millenial. I started the book whilst waiting for my flight from Los Angeles to London, and was almost done by the time my flight was due to land. That's how unputdownable it is! 

Confessions of a Frustrated Millenial focuses on the lives of three women of colour from Chicago, who are in their late twenties are plagued with the real struggles of being a millennial. All three graduated from different colleges ('university' to my UK peeps) with big career dreams which eventually morphe into desperate situations of unfulfillment and disillusionment. 

Dashed Dreams and Renewed Hope: Why I got into Copywriting

As a child, my mother would always tell me "pay now, play later". This simply meant that if I committed my childhood to books, if I slaved away behind the desk in the first section of my life, I would definitely enjoy the promise of a successful career with no ceilings to smash through. Doors would just swing open and life would be a lavish cocktail of designer suits, dinner parties and holidays. Sure enough, I clung to my mother's words and worked my proverbial butt off. At primary school, night time reading was always complete and homework was always done.

Even at secondary school my coursework was always attacked with the knowledge of my dream job waiting at the other end. This continued through sixth form and university (bar a tiny, crazy period of  raving and missed deadlines in my first year of university!)

"Life is Pure Adventure..."

"...and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art."
-Maya Angelou, author.

Having said that, I am on one such adventure! I've decided to take a mini break. I am currently 'adventuring' in LA, California so there is no Sunday blog post this week. But I'll be back on Thursday.

Ghana Independence, International Women's Day & Ama Ata Aidoo (A Review)

Oooh, March really is a busy month! Today is International Women's Day, two days ago it was Ghana Independence, and on Sunday it's Mother's day in the UK! I couldn't possibly choose what to base this blog post on, so I thought I'd go combine two of this month's themes and focus on a woman writer from Ghana.

Please allow me to introduce you to Ama Ata Aidoo (whose birthday is also in the month of March). If you are a regular frequenter of this blog, you'd know I constantly rave about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who is a Nigerian author. But when it comes to Ghanaian authors, Ama Ata Aidoo definitely deserves all the accolades.

Spring is Here and Five Ways to Spring Clean your Blog!

Finally, spring is here! And whilst the weather might not quite be playing ball yet, I would like to reassure you that warmer days are yet to come. Don't believe me?  Just peep out of the window at seven in the morning and you'll see that the world is becoming a brighter place.

The arrival of spring ushers in the need to spruce up our homes. Many people will be clearing clutter and cleaning away the cobwebs. But, if this is not you please rest in the knowledge that I am not judging you :) But what I will insist on is that you dust off the cobwebs from your blog. I mean, how long have you been blogging? Months? Years? Are you still sure that all your information is up to date?

Don't worry if not. I am about to guide you through how to spring clean your blog. Go back as far back as you want to. It can be in the past twelve months, or even since your first post and do the following: