Weekly Highlights; The London Book Fair Edition!
Weekly Highlights is a new feature here at A Daydreamer’s Thoughts and will be a post highlighting things that happened on and off the blog. It is inspired by The Story Sirens In My Mailbox, Books, Biscuit and Tea’s Showcase Sunday, Kimba Caffeinated’s Sunday Post, and the British Letterbox Love.
In the feature I won’t mention everything I received, nor every post I wrote during the week but will simply feature a selection of things I wish to spotlight a second time around.
Post Highlights
So I had lots of posts planned for this week but then I didn’t really pencil in the fact that I was going to be incredibly busy throughout the week. One post I wrote in the middle of the fair on my phone and the second had been scheduled two weeks ago. But, no worries, I’m sure next week will go down better!
On Tuesday I wrote a list of the top ten books on my Spring TBR pile! Have a look at what I hope to read by clicking here.
If you haven’t heard I’ve been GUSHING about the AMAZING Brigid Kemmerer recently as she is an incredible author who makes me feel very inadequate because she makes me fall in love with EVERY single character in her series. Anyway. Go here to read my latest review of her newest novella, Breathless which is being released at the end of the month!
I Started a Vlog!
What? What was that?
Yes. You heard me correctly. I decided to branch out from the blog and start my own vlogging channel!
Don’t worry, I’m not going to stop blogging, nor will I blog any less – I hope – but I just wanted to try something new and thought this was a great way to do it!
So… why not check out my very first video for A Daydreamer’s Ramblings!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Rmw3jlAm3s&w=600]
London Book Festival!
So as mentioned before, I went to the London Book Fair this week! It started on the monday and went on until the end of Wednesday and in all honesty I had NO IDEA what to expect but I am really, REALLY, glad that I went, even if there wasn’t really THAT much to do as a blogger.
The first thing to note is that LBF is NOT like BEA. I have not been to BEA but from what I’ve heard and seen about it, it is completely different. The London Book Festival is for businesses and for trades people and is a lot more about the inside of the industry than the part of the industry that we bloggers deal with. So going up and talking to the publishers was pretty much a big no-no unless you had already met or spoken to the publicists and publishing houses beforehand.
But, what LBF was good for were really interesting seminars. I have a lot of material for interesting topics for the blog in the next few weeks that I’m really looking forward to sharing with all of you. So if you’re thinking about going to LBF next year, I would advice looking into the seminars beforehand before you pay so you know that you will have something to do and experience.
What did I get out of the fair?
First up I met some really great bloggers for the first time. Such as Vicky, Celine, Ellie, Katie, Sanne and Leena.
Secondly, seeing bloggers I haven’t seen for a while. Such as Stacey, and Jo.
Thirdly, having a good chat with some publicists such as Hannah Love from Walker Books and Lauren Bennett from Random House Childrens.
Fourthly, I got to go to some really interesting seminars where I learnt some of the best ways to get into the publishing industry, some interesting theories about genre fiction within children and young adult fiction, an interesting look at new adult novels, an idea behind giving young adult fiction ratings, a look at the blogging community, and how to get an agent.
For me, personally, it was worth every single penny that I spent and if the talks are as interesting and informative as they were this year next year, then I’ll definitely be heading back again. But, it definitely isn’t for everyone. If you don’t have something to do with the industry or a personal interest in the industry then you may not wish to go. It’s definitely not aimed at bloggers specifically.
Around the Blogosphere
Just like last week, I haven’t had much chance to see many posts that have been posted this week, but here’s just a few that I did read and really enjoy.
Celine, Ellie, and Vicky all did write-ups of the London Book Fair as well! You can find these here, here, and here. They’re write-ups are better than mine!
Also I really liked Michelle’s post on book adaptations this week. She has listed all the books that she wishes would be adapted in to films! To check out her list and to add your own input, head over here.
Gaby gets personal this week and shares her worst memory involving books. I think that high school can be tough enough as it is without horrible people making days worse but sometimes even the worst things have a positive outcome. Check out the lesson Gaby learned from her experience by here
Chrissi this week has spoken about novellas between series. Are they good or bad? Check out what she has to say and have your say by going here!
Letterbox Love
Call Down Thunder by Daniel Finn; This was a book swap with Vicky. I hadn’t heard of it until I saw it in her pile but I thought it sounded really interesting and now cannot wait to read it either.
The Shadow Lantern by Teresa Flavin; This was a review copy sent from Templar Publishing so a thank you goes out to them. I now have the full trilogy and can’t wait to read them all back to back.
Edit!
This week Anya has borrowed my feature! Check out her Weekly Highlights by here. And Jo has also done something similar here.
If you wish to borrow the feature, please feel free to but please also credit! If you let me know about it, I’ll even add your link in the post each week.
And there you have it, my Weekly Highlights!
I hope to visit all posts of this manner, so feel free to link to your own IMMs, Sunday Showcase, Sunday Posts, Letterbox Loves or whatever it is you do below!
what did you get this week? what cool blog posts did you stumble upon? what are you waiting to happen this week?
12 Comments
Anya
The London Book Fair sounds awesome! Oh, and here’s a link to my Weekly Highlights: http://anawfullotofreading.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/weekly-highlights-first.html Thanks again for letting me use it :)
Faye (Daydreaming_Star)
No worries at all! I forgot to mention it before but I’ll edit that in soon :-)
Lucy @ Queen of Contemporary
It sounds like you had a really good time in London! I’m looking forward to seeing more of your vlogs. It’s something that I’d love to be able to do but I’d be useless at editing the videos and I tend to talk really quietly, too.
I haven’t read any of the books that you received this book or know much about them so I’m looking forward to seeing your reviews.
Great post! :)
Faye (Daydreaming_Star)
Thanks, it was definitely something that has helped me in more ways then one. :)
Awwh, thanks, I used to be incredibly camera shy, I NEVER would have had the guts to do that video if it hadn’t been for being forced into vlogging for the competition, but with practice I’ve gotten better.
Editing can be hard! I’m just using Windows Movie Maker for now which is prone to crashing but stopping it before I UM and AH is very difficult but it’s quite fun too :D Maybe one day you’ll give it a try, but until then, definitely watch lots of them for inspiration :)
Thanks Lucy :)
Jo
Great post, Faye! I love the idea behind Weekly Highlights! I am a HUGE fan of Brigid Kemmerer, so I’ll definitely be checking out your review of Spirit!
That’s a great write-up of LBF, I look forward to your more detailed posts :) Thanks for mentioning me! Was great seeing you too! Will be checking out some of the other write-ups you linked to.
Great haul! I’ve not heard of any of those books I don’t think, but I look forward to your reviews! :)
Will be watching your vlog once it’s a bit more quieter around here, but it’s so awesome you started one. Unsurprisingly, it’s something I’ve never felt confident enough to do. Lol.
Love the whole idea of highlighting your own blog posts throughout the week, so I hope you don’t mind, but I decided to start doing that too, and use the “Weekly Highlights” title – but I’ve credited you! Hope this is ok? If not, let me know and I’ll stop.
First Class Post & Weekly Highlights.
Faye (Daydreaming_Star)
Thanks Jo! :-)
Oh she’s so amazing isn’t she? I am continuously in awe of her talent to make you fall in love with EVERY single one of her characters <3
Thanks, I hope that they’ll be interesting! I think a few I may even vlog about :D hehe. Just to keep things fresh :D
Not sure how quickly I’ll get to reading them, thanks to my wonderful TBR pile but I hope I get to share my thoughts on them soon :)
Ahh, yeah, it took a long time to build the confidence for it! I NEVER would have even thought about doing something like it before university, but sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith – I think. Eeee.
Totally don’t mind at all! Glad that you like the feature so much :)
Thanks for commenting!
Faye
Chrissi Reads
Wow, The London Book Fair sounds fabulous. I’m glad you had such a good time. Thank you so much for featuring my post in your highlights! It means a lot!
Faye (Daydreaming_Star)
It was definitely an experience! :)
No worries, I’ll be coming over to comment soon :)
Michelle (@MuchLovedBooks)
Great haul Faye, I’m glad you had fun at LBF. Good haul this week and I hope you enjoy them all.
Check out my haul
Debbie @ Snuggling on the Sofa
Yay vlogging! I don’t really follow many vloggers, aside from bloggers who do the occasional video, but I do think it would be much easier for some posts! But you talk really naturally, so you should definitely do more :)
It would be very nice if it was like BEA! I looked into the LBF at the end of last year, and completely forgot about it until about 2 weeks before, and unfortunately I’d already booked time off for the Thursday and Friday, and couldn’t take any more :( So I will have to make sure I schedule it in early next year! The seminars sound really good, especially the blogging one. Glad you had a good time!
Clover
Yay for your new vlogging stuff! I’ve subscribed to your channel :) (I’ve always wanted to be involved with a vlog collab group. But it’s never happened.)
Thanks for sharing the link to my film adaptation post as well!
Pingback: