Back to School Again...

....although, that was always kind of a bad thing for most (unless you were sad like me and secretly loved school), and my return to blogging after a few weeks off is definitely a good thing all round. Time to get the grey matter working again and to talk about what I've been reading whilst I've been away! I've got some real humdingers coming up for Book Quote Fridays and for review.

Taking a break was definitely the right thing to do though. Work has been crazy lately (I've just got a new job) and much of that is writing, which meant at the end of the day, come blog post time, my brain had already been wrung dry of any drops of creativity normally therein. There was also a bit of a crossover with the job before, which meant for a few weeks, I was working in the region of 7 days a week. Good for career progression? Yes. Good for having the time and mindset to write? Not so much.

I just wasn't, you know, feeling it, but it was heartening to find that I wasn't the only one. This post, for example, from My Friend Amy pretty much encapsulates my feelings also, only without all the exciting blogging events. She really is a busy lady. I also kinda came to the conclusion though that I was due a rest because...

*drumroll please*

....on the 16th August, this blog was a year old! It had its blogaversary, if you will. Ah, how far we've come together, from that lowly first post back in the days when I had a tonne of creativity and didn't know what to do with it, to today, when I have a tonne of creativity but occasionally worry that there's not enough to go round. The brain is a muscle though, and the more I've blogged, the more I've loved blogging, and hopefully in the years to come I will feel just the same. Sigh. Thanks to all my readers by the way (and there are some!) for making it feel like I'm not just sending messages into space.

So, to the future. You'll notice the new design and the new labels (under 'Features') that hopefully mean everything is catergorised in a slightly more effective way. I'm also intending to introduce a new blogging meme (partly because it's a great idea, partly because I was the only blogger in the world not using at least one): In My Mailbox! On the first Monday of the month, I will give all the books in my inbox some airtime, so they get a showing even if I don't write about them again. The idea is the brainchild of The Story Siren, although I first saw it on Confessions of a Book Lush. Book Lush is a particularly great blog, by the way, if you have a moment or two to spare (naturally, after visiting me). Anyway, I'm really excited to give it a try.

See you on Monday for the first In My Mailbox post.