NEW Sparkling Letters: Revamping the Blog with New Concept

Hi all, long time no see.

It feels like I always start my blog post with similar sentence — it’s either “long time no see” or “it’s been several months since I last posted” or it’s been a while…”. I don’t think I’d ever get back to regular blogging like I used to back in 2016-2018.

The truth is, I don’t think I can continue book blogging. I don’t read as much now, I don’t keep up with the latest updates in the book industry, I lost track of latest releases, especially from the new authors. I just recently got back into regular reading since last year and now I mostly just read for fun — no more over analyzing every single aspects like I did before 😦 so it’s safe to say, I ran out of things to write even if I want to continue book blogging.

So last year, I started a new blog (it’s been a few times actually) where I can talk about random things about life, my parenting / working journey, and occasionally talk about books. I like having that new blog, I can pour my thoughts into writing and do what I love again. But I HATE the new wordpress set up 😦 I can customize the layout the way I wanted to. Everything is paid now and not just 1-time payment but it has to be a year long, expensive subscription and even after I upgraded my wordpress account, there’s still limited option and I hate how basic my blog looks like.

You can visit my new blog : https://bookabookooid.wordpress.com/

Meanwhile…. look at this blog!! It’s definitely not the best blog design out there, but I love it so much. It’s clean and small and the color is ME. It looks lovely to me. I considered using this blog with the new content but I was kinda worried. This blog has had a lot of subscribers who are mostly fellow book bloggers, I feel like I will disappoint all of you if I started changing the content of this book.

I thought about this for a long time but the truth is, I’m not doing anything with this blog either. It just sits here gathering dust, with its lovely layout. So here we are… I will officially continue to use this blog, but with the new concept.

Introducing NEW SPARKLING LETTERS ❤ ❤ ❤

With this new branding, I will focus more on random personal thoughts on life, parenting, and (to keep this from straying far) I will keep talking about books & reading. Not just adult & YA books, but I also talk about children books because now I have a little reader whose book collections will surpass mine in a few years. I will also migrate some posts from my previous blog — and some of the posts are written in Bahasa Indonesia or mixed between Bahasa & English.

I understand if this might not be your niche anymore, as most of you are following me because of the book contents so please feel free if you want to unsubscribe. BUT I will be very happy if you decide to stick around ❤

Now I want to hear your thoughts!!

Those of you who have been blogging for years, what have changed? How did you manage to tackle on life challenges? Please share your experience with me too 🙂

Reviewing on Goodreads and on the Blog: is There Any Difference?

Hello everyone! ♥

Welcome back to another discussion post 😀 today we’ll talking about reviewing books on different platforms and if there’s any difference between them. A few weeks ago I stumbled across a blogging tip post that talks about the difference between reviewing books on goodreads and on our blog and the blogger said that it should be different. It surprised me a little because I’m that kind of reviewer who practically copies-and-pastes my goodreads reviews to my blog 😁

Figuring Out Your Perfect Blogging Schedule

Hello everyone! ♥

Today we’ll be talking about blogging schedule. I know a lot of you must have had your own schedules, but when I talked about it on my wrap up post last month, a lot of bloggers said that they still haven’t figured out their own schedule and they really want to change that. So here I am, sharing what I learned so far about things to consider when you want to create a blogging schedule 😀 

Before we start, let me make it clear that there is no one right way to blog. You can post whenever you feel like it. Any schedule (or no schedule at all) could work, as long as you’re happy with it. But if you’re a super organized, perfectionist bean like me, here are some suggestions that might help ♥

Sparkling Letters 1st Blogversary : A Statistical Analysis & Lessons Learned

Hello everyone! ♥

Last week Sparkling Letters just celebrated its first year blogversary on March 2. YAYYY!!! However, I had no idea how to celebrate and was swamped with work, hence the late celebration. Plus I already had an ARC review scheduled for March 2 🙈

I know everyone says this on every blogversary post of ever but I never thought I’d be here for a while. Blogging has always been my hobby since I was 14 (I’m 22 now) but I did it sporadically. I thought this time would be no different. I thought it was gonna be just another phase that I’d outgrow soon. But last week I hit another big milestone : 1st year blogversary. I mean, IT’S HUGE! A lot of things had happened in a year and I’m proud of myself and my achievements.

Blog Hopping: For Fun or Necessity?

Hello everyone! ♥

Welcome back to another discussion post! Today we’ll be talking about a topic that has been on my mind for a while but haven’t really talked about to anyone, blog hopping. Since the second half of December, I feel like I haven’t been able to properly blog hop. Sometimes I blame time and my hectic schedules but really, most of the times I’m just not in the mood for. I’m simply lazy, and I feel bad for it 😦

Before we discuss it further, let’s define blog hopping.

My 2017 Resolutions + I’m Introducing My Novel!

Hello everyone! ♥

New year is always the perfect time to make a resolution, right? Well… I almost never do, which is weird because I’m an insanely organized person who keeps a journal & to-do-list for everything I do in my life  However, since Fadwa tagged me for This Time Next Year tag, I thought I’ll make a general list of things I want to achieve this year. Here you go! ♣

6 Reasons WHY You Should Write Discussion Posts + Tips & Tricks to Nail Them

Hello, everyone! ♥

Today’s discussion is about writing a discussion post, so it’s gonna be like a meta-discussion? 😛 Anyway, DISCLAIMER : I’m not trying to be an expert blogger/writer (though I wish to) but I have an 8-months-worth of experience on writing discussion posts, so I thought I’d share them with you and convince you to write (or keep writing) discussion posts as well ♦ ♦ ♦

Discussion posts are my favorite of all kinds of posts. These are 6 reasons WHY you should 1) start writing discussions if you haven’t already, and 2) write more discussion posts than you already do 😛

Should I Freak Out When Real Life Friends Read My Blog?

Question.

Do you freak out every time your real life friends/acquaintances read your blog? BECAUSE I AM! :’) This is the topic that I’ve been thinking about a lot but never thought to create an actual post. I’ve been blogging for over 8 months and I’m never trying to be secretive about it, YET I STILL FEEL WEIRD EVERY TIME SOMEONE SAYS HE/SHE READS MY BLOG :’)

Sparkling Letters Monthly Recap: October 2016

Can you believe we’re already at the end of October??? Time is flying unbelievably fast this year! I can’t believe we’ll reach 2017 soon! ♦♦♦ This month has been very productive yet unproductive at the same times. Like I did a lot of super absurd and useless things but I also did a lot of productive things? 😛 Without further ado, let’s see what I’ve been up to this month ♥

How Book Blogging Changed the Way I Read

I’ve been remotely following the bookish community ever since I signed up on goodreads. It was way back in 2011. I kept track of the books being released, tracked my own reading, reviewed books, and read other people reviews. But being on goodreads isn’t the same as actually being in the book blogging community.

As of November 2, I would have been blogging for 8 months ♦ I have always loved reading, but I never actually thought I’d be a book blogger. I mean, I didn’t even think I would be this dedicated to my blog, I thought it was just a temporary thing 😛 Having been on the book blogging community had changed a lot of things in me, but most importantly, it had changed the way I read.