Hey, everyone!
Long time, no blog. I wish I had a better excuse than “the world is being particularly soul-sucking and it’s difficult to concentrate on fun things like reading & writing blogs when with every Twitter refresh the globe slips more and more into chaos and fascism” but such is the life in which we live.
:: nervous laughter::
I can tell you a little bit about what I’ve been up to in the last few months, though!
I started a TPT store!
Teachers Pay Teachers is a website where teachers and teacher-authors can sell the curriculum, worksheets, activities, presentations, lessons, class decorations, clip art, and whatever else they make for the classroom. Since I’ve been helping my mom, a 7th Grade Civics Teacher, out with her lessons the last couple years, I decided to start selling some of the products I’ve been making — and it’s going really well! Right now, I’m focusing on getting a full year of Civics curriculum up on my store (Happy Teacher Resources), but I hope to branch out into more American History, Literature, and Creative Writing resources soon!
If you have a Teachers Pay Teachers account, give me a follow! You should also follow my @HappyTeacherTPT Instagram — I post lots of pictures of the new products on here!
Here are a couple of my favorite products I’ve made over the last semester:
I’ve also been doing a lot of reading!
My 2020 GoodReads Reading Challenge is going stronger than ever — I set a goal of 80 books for the year (I usually barely read 50, so I’m really pushing myself), and have already hit 19!
I know everyone has tips for how to read more books / how to read more often, but the things that have really helped me so far this year:
- Reading ebooks on my phone and iPad! I use Libby to download ebooks from the library, then read them using the Kindle app on my phone and iPad. Any time I find myself mindlessly scrolling Instagram or refreshing Twitter for one more shot of dopamine, I make myself stop, open the Kindle app, and read for at least five minutes. It’s made me use my screen time way more efficiently.
- Reading while watching TV! I usually stare at my phone and read Twitter while I watch TV anyway, so why not stare at a book instead?
- Constantly changing genres. I tend to mood read and fall into sequences where I read a lot of books that are very similar to each other in a row — like, getting on a thriller kick or a nonfiction true crime kick, or reading a lot of books that involve terrible pandemics and dystopian futures (wow, I need to read more uplifting books…). The upshot is, after a week or two, I’m so sick of reading the same stuff that it kills my momentum and motivation altogether. So, I’m trying to remind myself to shuffle genres frequently, to move from nonfiction to a classic to a thriller to a YA novel without getting stuck in the mire of a single genre for too long.
- Change up my formats, too! From graphic novels to audiobooks, from ebooks to physical copies, I’m trying to explore a variety of mediums, so I don’t get too bored with any one experience.
I’ll do a post about my favorite books I’ve read so far this year soon! I’d like to start doing monthly wrap-ups and TBRs again, really lean into book blogging more. Stay tuned! (Until then, my personal Instagram @chuffwrites has a lot of bookish content for your perusal!)
I’m writing … sort of. A little bit.
::nervous sweat, this time::
I have to admit, I’m not doing as well on the writing front as I could be. A lot of other things (mainly the TPT store) have taken priority, and I’m slogging through edits I really should’ve finished months and months ago. But, I’m trying to get back into a writing routine that works for me! … Once I figure out what that is, I’ll report back.
That’s it for updates … for now!
I’m going to make a genuine effort to keep up with this blog this year, so stay tuned for more updates from me! I hope to expand into some book reviews, more writing tips of course, and general updates about my life. Maybe I’ll post more in-depth about some of my favorite TPT resources I’ve been making!! Whatever the case, I’ll be back soon. <3
Happy Writing,
Christina
