Monthly Rewind: February 2025

Monthly Rewind: February 2025

A R T

So not much art this month! I’ve been working on some stuff for my work newsletter so that has been taking up a lot of my art time. But a big thing I’m working on is practising the Arcane art style! I’ve been obsessed with show for a while and with the ending of season 2, I’ve been obsessed with practising the style for fun. The character I’ve drawn is one of my OCs, if you watch me over on Twitch, then you’ll have seen her a lot as I use a PNG model of her for streaming!

B O O K S

In February, I read 10 books and 1 graphic novel. I am on a book reading sweep at the moment! Aside from one book this month – I’ve really enjoyed all the books I’ve read this month.

For transparency, books marked with an asterisk (*) signify books I received through work at PRH.

Continue reading “Monthly Rewind: February 2025”

Monthly Rewind: November 2024

Monthly Rewind: November 2024

Hi, so there was a lot of books this month that I wanted to ramble about so this month’s post is purely on the books I’ve read!

B O O K S

For transparency, books marked with an asterisk (*) signify books I received through work at PRH.

A small boy washes up on the shores of a Scottish fishing village, he bears a striking resemblance to Dorothy’s son who went missing years ago. With the village snowed in for the winter, Dorothy agrees to look after the child until he can be returned home. Soon buried secrets come to light and Dorothy finds herself face to face with the reclusive fisherman that she had once loved long ago.

This book made me a MESS. I heard of this book through work and I thought this would be a nice read for my train journey home. Boy was I so, so wrong…. The Fisherman’s Gift is a book seeped in sadness, each page turn bringing more misfortunes than the chapter before. I reached half way and was thinking surely this can’t get anymore sadder? It is beautifully written and heart-breaking. I would say it’s even deceptive in the way it’s described as a love story when the romance is briefly touched upon, and the depth of the story really comes from the community. Dorothy I would fight the entire village for the way they treated you!

Orbital follows the lives of six fictional astronauts over 24 hours on a space station as they collect data, conduct experiments and ponder on the lives of those below them. I had the pleasure of getting to celebrate its Booker Prize win in the office and it was such a lovely moment with everyone cheering for Samantha Harvey who dropped by briefly! I really enjoyed this, managed to read it all in my two hour train journey home. It’s definitely a dividing book and if you’re looking for a plot, you’ll be sorely disappointed. I read this at the same time I finished playing Mouthwashing and it has definitely set me on a space reading kick now.

Continue reading “Monthly Rewind: November 2024”

Monthly Rewind: October 2024

Monthly Rewind: October 2024

L I F E

Hi, this is a very delayed month rewind post because my wifi went out for a few days in early November, so enjoy a late post! Not much for October this year! I did attend the October MCM Comic Con, which was chaotic and fun! I will not be looking at my bank account for the next few days to see the devastating impact of Artist Alley. I also completely forgot to take pictures, so here is the one picture I have of a Wukong cosplayer!

I was hoping someone would cosplay as him, and I was not disappointed. It was hilarious that we spotted the top of his outfit before seeing him in the crowds. I know it’s hotly contested on whether Black Myth: Wu Kong is a soulslike game or not, but after watching my brother play parts of the game, I’m not so sure if someone like me – who has the reaction speed of a snail – would even be able to get 30 minutes into the game so I just stuck to watching a playthrough.😂

A R T

Consider this the corner of shame. I didn’t have time to work on any art this month. 😭😭😭😭

B O O K S

Continue reading “Monthly Rewind: October 2024”

Monthly Rewind: September 2024

Monthly Rewind: September 2024

L I F E

I mentioned in the last rewind post that I was waiting for some good news, and now I can finally share that I have extended my job contract at Penguin Random House! Initially, my contract was expected to end this December, but I was offered a year-long extension on my role as a Bibliographic Metadata Assistant. I was really anxious when I applied for this job in February, partly because I was deeply burned out from a long period of unemployment. I ALMOST didn’t apply for the role because I wasn’t sure if I would even understand the role. This role has really taught me so much about publishing. It is such an exciting position from within the company as I often interact with people who work in Editorial, Marketing and Production – three areas where I initially focused my attention when applying to publishing jobs.

I’m also slowly trying to return to the world of book blogging and bookish social media. I recently revamped my old art account into an art/bookstagram type account where I can post about streaming and books, which are two things that basically take up my life these days.

A R T

One day, I swear I will finish an art piece I start….

My current WIP is a new PNG model for streaming based on Blaidd from Elden Ring as part of a viewer’s Channel Point redemption.

B O O K S

Continue reading “Monthly Rewind: September 2024”

Monthly Rewind: June 2024

Monthly Rewind: June 2024

L I F E

Aside from settling into my new job (still new two months in?), I haven’t been doing much aside from trying to find a nice schedule to keep streaming while also working full-time. I began streaming on Twitch in 2022, just as I left my previous job – so my schedule was pretty much open to stream whenever I wanted. Now I stream usually in the evening and I’m still live most evenings as it’s a fun de-stressor for me since I like to yap about anything while playing anything on stream. Funny enough, the audience between this blog and Twitch is as different as day and night. Sometimes, people find it a surprise that most of my internet history has been well documented here before I showed up on Twitch. But I still love being able to talk about my recent reads on stream, so feel free to drop by! Shameless twitch plug here.

B O O K S

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Monthly Rewind: May 2024 (long time no see…)

Monthly Rewind: May 2024 (long time no see…)

Uh, hi? Long time no see. It has been almost 7 months since my last blog post, and it feels so weird to be writing again. But I’m SO excited to return to blogging now that I feel like I’m in a better headspace to do so. So where have I been? If you remember from my previous posts, I was unemployed from September 2022 onwards. Since then, I have been actively job searching for roles both in publishing and in my hometown, where the roles I was applying for were mainly admin-based. To have such a long span of unemployment and face constant rejection from SO many jobs was extremely demotivating. Blogging has always been a hobby, and while job-searching, I found it extremely difficult to even finish a book because that looming fear of the job-searching process was always in the back of my mind, which led to me abandoning this site.

But that didn’t mean I disappeared off the internet. Musk might have basically made Twitter close to unusable for me, but most days you’ll find me on Twitch. I started streaming when I left my previous job as a way to improve my public speaking and it has become such a great creative output for me. I’ve improved a lot in terms of art because of Twitch and I even designed two V-tube models as a result of it. If you’re a fan of games like Genshin Impact, Phasmophobia and Elden Ring. Come hang out on Twitch while I play games badly and talk about my current reads.

May was the first MCM Comic Con for the year here in the UK and I had an absolute BLAST. Sadly, no cosplay this time but I do want to cosplay Stelle from Honkai: Star Rail for October. I had the chance to meet Sean Chiplock who voices some of my favourite characters including Revali from BOTW and Diluc from Genshin Impact. And there was a great talk with some of the voice actors from Baldur’s Gate 3, mainly the Tavs and other characters. (Sorry not sorry to everyone who watched me on Twitch go through the bear scene live – you all enjoyed it really.)

Before I go on a tangent about Baldur’s Gate3, I can now announce after a long, long job searching period, I now have a job! (in publishing!) I am currently working in an assistant role for bibliographic metadata! Metadata has always been one of those things that I thought I knew what it was but it wasn’t until I came across this job listing that there was a whole lot more than I ever imagined. I’m really enjoying my time so far in the role. I knew this was an industry I wanted to work in since I was 16 years old, so it’s safe to say it’s been a long time coming. You would think with a full-time job, it would be difficult to get back into reading but I found it so easy to return to my TBR. (I am utilising those 2-hour commute times to the fullest.) And with that, we can finally get to the monthly wrap-up, as I managed to read nine books this month. Reviews are to come for most of these titles.

B O O K S

Continue reading “Monthly Rewind: May 2024 (long time no see…)”