The Sunday Mix (23)

As I type this in the wee hours of Saturday morning, the snow is beginning to fall outside, the beginnings of the snowstorm that is supposed to hit us this weekend. It's nice and cozy here at home, and I'm comfortably nested among my pillows with a cup of tea on the table by my side. It's bound to be a bookish weekend, where I binge read books (which I'm quite excited about) and work on blogging things (or at least hope to). I hope wherever you are, you're safe and warm and having a lovely weekend and doing fun things! 

(By the way, you may have noticed that the book haul portion of this post has currently disappeared. I've decided to start filming my book hauls on a monthly basis, so that will be going up sometime next month. If you haven't already, why not go and check out my YouTube channel? If you still want to see photos of my haul though, give a shoutout in the comments and maybe I'll bring it back.)

• Julie Eshbaugh has started a new series on Publishing Crawl about the building blocks of novels. I'm particularly enamored with her thoughts on words, the simplest, smallest building blocks. I definitely agree that changing just one could change the way an entire sentence, an entire novel reads.
• Cristina muses about considering her cultural heritage when reading novels. I honestly know I could make more of an effort to seek out writers who share my cultural background (Filipino-American, in case you're wondering), and I hope to read a few new-to-me titles this year. 
• Gillian preaches the gospel of Phryne Fisher. I started watching this show on Netflix thanks to Gillian & Gaby, and I'm obsessed. First of all, I just think that the time period is fascinating, particularly in terms of the rules and costumes. Second of all, I want to be as cool and talented as Phryne. Third of all, I love that I'm constantly yelling at Phryne to kiss a certain detective inspector. It's a great show, and I hope you guys check it out!
• Rebecca shares tips on how to make your weekdays productive. I'm particularly keen to try out writing in the morning for an hour the way she does, as I've been finding it hard to really focus on writing after work (since I'm either tired or preoccupied with other things). Here's to hoping that changing up my schedule helps me finish this WIP!
• Jessica gives us eight reasons that e-readers are amazing. Honestly, I agree with a lot of what she says! While I will always prefer my print books, I do think that e-readers offer their own benefits and will happily read e-books on them without complaint. (I have a Kindle Touch, in case you were wondering.)
• Josephine talks about re-reading books she loved. I used to be a big re-reader, then I stopped re-reading for a few years. But in the last two years, I've really made an effort to re-read books I loved - and it's been wonderful. (P.S. You can still sign up for the Re-Read Challenge!)
• I am definitely working on making my TBR smaller (25 books seems light years away at the moment) this year. But I loved Cait's post about why it's okay to have an enormous TBR, as she lists incredibly excellent reasons for collecting a bajillion books.
• Ashley reminds everyone that you shouldn't be stressed over book blogging, as it should be something you have fun doing! I definitely agree. I've always tried to make sure to enjoy my blog, which sometimes involve taking breaks and being innovative.
• The team over at Epic Reads created a guide to some yoga poses for us book nerds. These are all pretty darn awesome, but my favorites are Shelf Motivation and Book Hangover. What are your favorites?
• Josephine has kicked off her Bookstagram 101 posts by writing all about the equipment you use when you get involved in the Instagram community. I've always used my iPhone to snap and share my photos on Instagram, but I've started thinking about upgrading to a point and shoot camera with wifi capability so I can share photos straightaway. 
• Alexandra shares her thoughts on making money from blogging. It's interesting to think about how bloggers in other areas - lifestyle, travel, fashion, fitness - can get paid to blog and not really encounter too much opposition. I feel like there's a balance between getting your due and getting paid to say or do certain things, and I also believe that we can find that balance.
• Rachel talks about blogging your own way. I think it's important to strive to be authentically you on your blog. Write your posts the way you want to. Share the kind of content you feel like sharing. Of course, be respectful and definitely be original, but that can be done in tandem with being you.
• Gillian talks about being patient when it comes to series. I generally am willing to give the second book in series a chance to impress me (given I even finish the first one), so I'd say I'm pretty patient. I know that's not the case for everyone, so I'm curious - where do you stand? 
• What's your #booknip? Lindsey tells us what books automatically make her want to pick up a book, or pique her interest enough to be added to her TBR. I definitely have a few words (which I said in my comment) that make me want to pick up books.
• Cait wonders if it's possible to read too much. (Personally, I don't think so.) But you should definitely read her thoughts! (I particularly love this quote: "I think the fact of the day, though is: read however much you possibly want. Because if it makes you happy, you should jolly well DO IT.")