Nirupama P.R.V.'s Blog: Catty Opinions of a Book Loving Couch Potato, page 17

Year in Review : 2019

Howdy everyone!

Half a month has passed already! Time flies quickly, right?

I posted last week about how I fared on the Reading Challenge front. This week is a review of this blog itself- how I fared, insights and lessons from my blogging journey in 2019.

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Apart from those basic statistics, here are some relative statistics.

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I am delighted that my blog did much better than 2018.

It’s evident though that my views were a lot lower than 2017 although visitors were roughly the same number.

The reason for low retention is not hard to decipher when I looked at my posting frequency.

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Barring three weeks, I added my photo post every Monday. My regular posts however were only about each fortnight. Clearly, people came but they rarely could linger long because of the dominance of photo posts. That is a major insight .

It’s also borne out by the fact that my top posts shows as below:

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Weekly Wisdom, Read Aloud were posts from this year that people read and then moved onto posts from ‘Related Reading’ to posts from before such as The Confidence Effect. And of course, all the posts on my About Me Page are always visited as well. It is also not surprising as I did have my second child in Fall last year and like the first time around, sleepiness was my major symptom while carrying the LO. But all good, ‘coz I hope to rock it this year with all our adventures with double the fun!

[image error]Top Audiences Locations (cutoff at 6)

USA and India have been always the top audiences on this blog and that did not quite change in 2019 either. Considering the nature of this blog and content, the rest on that top 5 list is not surprising either.

So, what have I learned overall?

Continue with the Monday Motivation posts and the Monthly Reading Challenge Updates.Add reviews of books read and not the short snippets.Include the family fun, kid-friendly travel posts.Ensure that length of posts is medium and not too short. Keep content frequency of photo posts and text posts balanced to improve engagement.

Fine insights, and great lessons learned. I hope to review this list at the end of the year and see how I fared. You, dear blogging community keep me accountable. Thanks!

And as I end this post, I’d like to ask you: do you review you year? Do you try ti understand and analyze your blogging habits and results? Answer in the comments below.

Monday Motivation

Work is Worship.

Reading Challenge- 2019 Review

Today’s post is a review of how I fared on my Goodreads Reading Challenge 2019.

I love to see what my year looked like on the site. It’s always interesting. (You can see yours in your account too!)

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My challenge was to read 35 books in the year. I read 39! Yahoo!

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The average number of pages per book was 206. (When I saw this all I could think of was – that’s the number of bones in an adult human body) sigh! The irrelevant trivia I have in my head. No wonder I have no space in my brain for stuff like appointments, grocery lists and hav to rely on my trusty iPhone list for those!

Anyway, I was delighted to see what were my longest and shortest reads.

Of course, what else but Michelle Obama’s bestseller Becoming?

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It also is the most popular book among all the books I devoured this year.

The shortest book is definitely the most useful career advice I read this year.

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And don’t take my word for it being so splendid- even Goodreads informed me that this book by Ann Rajaram was the highest rated read of my year!

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Obviously, ratings and reviews go hand in hand.

I’ve reviewed quite a few books this year – so, seeing the first and last was a nice walk down the memory lane.

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It’s always amazing to look back at all I read. It’s fun. I recall all the great ideas and prose I came across.

And it serves as a good boost to read even more in the coming year. Confession: my target is less this year. I figured since my second child will be turning into an active crawler and walker , I’ll spend more time keeping an eagle eye on her than on my hobbies.

What do your goals look like this year? Do you reflect on your reading? What is your process?

Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

About Me – 2020

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A new year, a new decade.

What better way to start my first posts of the year than to reflect on my blogging journey? And how better than to refresh my About Me page.

If you have been following this blog, firstly thanks! Secondly, you will know that I update my About Me page every year. If you do not, now you know. I love to ponder on the year that passed and how little or how much my life and thus, my writing journey has changed. Do check out the page for the latest version. I link to my past pages there- so check those out as well.

Latest updates and plans in life and blogging:

The family grew by one with the addition of our second child – another gorgeous daughter!
We moved from good old Chicago to a small town in North Carolina .
Definitely posts were missing but the massive changes in life and routine behind it is soooo worth it. I foresee loads of posts in this year.
I anticipate plenty of mommying posts with an unsurprising uptick in activities and travel. T is a pro traveler now (touch wood) and I hope to inspire a similar spirit in LO. I will admit: she was a trooper on two road trips already. Combine that with her elder sis being a fabulous role model and helper, I envisage more fun times ahead.
My Goodreads challenge is always a blast since I am accountable to all you folks. 2020 will be no different- thank you for all your support and recommendations.
As ever, I’ll be posting twice a week. The photo posts for Monday Motivation and the weekly posts with book reviews, travel diaries, activity updates. Keep reading and keep sharing your suggestions and feedback.

And above all, have a happy, healthy and superb year ahead!

About Me- 2018 and 2019

Welcome to my blog!

This is my space to write about everyday adventures, travels and opinions on a host of everyday topics! This blog serves as a record of my musings and growth as I try to tackle life as a curious thirty-ish mom and published author!

So, what can you find on this blog?

Reading & Writing: Every year, I add my Reading Goals on GoodReads, and add my own take-aways on this blog as ‘Book Reviews’ category. It’s a great way of recording the insights one finds useful. Example here. I love to add things I learnt from Blogging and the occasional fiction piece.
Life and Lessons: I love to write my observations of life and everyday experiences with a good dose of cattiness and cheerfulness. Whether it is an afternoon adventure of making a Peppa family dollhouse with the kiddo or musing about why my li’l angel loves India (my native country), I blog weekly about the funny and the profound in the mundane.
Travel: I like going out and visiting places. Travel with our daughter means exploring the world and suburban Chicago where we live with a child like curiosity. Read about our family trips under Travel category in posts like this or this and delightful observations like this.
Photos: I also like to add photo posts like this one and motivational posts for inspirational Mondays such as this.

Blogging has been a great channel for me to gain new perspectives, find inspiration, learn many lessons, and capture my thoughts. (and yes, inflict my many opinions too!)

So, why do you blog? Do let me know in the comments below and many thanks for stopping by!

Monday Motivation

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Castle or Heart? It’s all in the perspective!

Turkish Delight- Cazbar

Last week we had the opportunity to dine at Cazbar- a Turkish restaurant in Columbia, MD.

How did we land there?

Thanks to the Christmas holidays, we had a lovely mini vacation with close family. It was an adorable cuddle fest with two little babies and the six year old.

What’s life without adventure? So , of course off we went to dine outside with said two babies and the six year old. While the latter is good as gold at restaurants (after all fries and dessert!) , the little ones cooperated as well for their nascent outings. And so, we enjoyed the delights of Turkish fare.

We started with Turkish coffee- sweet. You can ask for semi sweet or strong.

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Hubby went for a sweeter lighter concoction.

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We then went for a platter of appetizer dips. We asked for garlic bread and veggies and finally ended up with another order of the same. I have to say, celery has never been this enjoyable.

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Our starter was vegan manti. I tried it with tomato sauce. The BIL tried the cheesy version. Both were lip smackingly delicious.

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I really wanted to take more pictures of the place but seriously the food and service is so amazing that the settings; fabulous as they were, just faded away.

I only took the photo below as the babies in our group were enchanted by the colors as they gazed from their infant seats.

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Have you tried Cazbar? In Columbia? We would definitely recommend especially to vegetarians. Even if not and you are simply trying to amp up on the veggies, do visit as it shows exactly how appetizing those dishes can be. Vegan lovers, they have a separate section, so rejoice!

Monday Motivation

The best time

for new beginnings is

NOW!

What’s Cooking in the Library?

Hello everyone. I’d like to begin this post with a disclaimer. This post is about a not so recent visit to our local library. While the props and other learning devices have changed to the new month’s theme ; it was still so much fun and so educational that I really want to share. Plus, with the holiday mood in full swing, the theme of cooking is perfectly apt.

Housed in our local but amazing Arlington Heights Memorial library, the first collection that greeted everyone was this. Strategically placed at the intersection of the various entrances on level 1, was this gorgeous display of cooking appliances from the times of yore.

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Placed to the side was this tablet with a bunch of videos that the patrons could listen to. Headphones were handily available in adult and kids sizes. The height and angle were such that height was not an issue. (Seen here is the kiddo viewing the video)

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I am always fascinated by the amount of thought and insights that go into window dressings and exhibit displays. Being a library, I can imagine how difficult it is to grab the attention of young and old. Placements like these cater to the littlest of people too. (Seen in the shadows is a little friend of the kiddo who is stepping away from her prize winning book to gleefully observe “carrots cooking” )

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These instruments were doubtless advanced for their time. But I am happy for our modern and quick contraptions. Especially after gazing at the picture of the lady (bottom left) : cranking that engine does not look easy or enjoyable.

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I am happy to say that I have actually seen a similar model in Springfield – in a tour of Abraham Lincoln’s house – and the historical museum in Springfield. When I hinted to the kiddo, I was happy to note that she recollected the warm kitchen we had visited there. (I love giving the first grader these hints so she can make the associations herself)

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There were a few other excellent models of cooking appliances that we feasted our eyes on making our trip to the library exciting and educational.

Of course, no trip is complete without reading and fun at the marvelous kiddie corner. Seen here is T reading to a friend after a game of imaginative play and a round of building magnets.

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This visit also got me thinking happily how transformative libraries have become. In the age of short attention spans and clickable conveniences, libraries such as AHML are providing fascinating family friendly experiences- thus, keeping patrons/ customers like me engaged and eager to come back time and again- a valuable retention tactic even companies would do well to follow.

How does your library entice you to visit? Share your experiences in the comments below.

Reading Challenge- November Updates

The last month of the year is here. Between all the festivities and caring for the newborn (the big kiddo is trained thank God), Reading is falling by the wayside.

But since I did not want to lose my momentum, I have simply read fiction from my favorite authors. And who better that Julia Quinn with her witty characters and delightful romances.

Needless to say- she dominated my reading this month. She also has a new book coming up- Hurrah!

Here’s what my reading list looks like:

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I also reread Agatha Christie’s Three Blind Mice And Other Stories. The titular story was one I have never read – I can’t believe I never got around to doing this before!

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Once again, I have to reiterate the benefits of steady tackling of goals . While I finished my Goodreads Challenge last month, I did not want to stop the streak of reading at least 3 books in a month that I did accomplish all year along. I knew I lacked time , so I found ways to still make it work so when December rolls around, I can share my progress with all my readers . (Thank you for keeping me accountable)

How do you make time for reading? How do you keep going on your goals?

Let me know in the comments below.