It’s happening again. 2019 is almost over so I thought it might be nice to catch up with what happened during this year and share with you some plans I have for The Literature Empire and my new year’s resolutions as well.
2019 Wrap-Up
I know I haven’t been very active on the blog this year and it’s mainly because of how busy I was. One of the significant moments of this year was that I finished my BA degree at the University of Derby, and I graduated with distinction grade! Also, my graduation was the first time my parents managed to visit me in the UK, and I could finally show them where I live, what Derby looks like and I also took them to few other cities in the UK like Nottingham, Sheffield and London. I really hoped they loved spending time with me there just as much as I did and have only good memories for the trip.
After finishing my degree, I tried to find a job, but then I decided to try to study for Master’s as well. I asked around, and then I applied for MA Publishing (at the University of Derby again), and I got in! We learn everything we could possibly need while working in the publishing industry. That basically means that we learn how to edit text, some basics of law that publishers need and more. We also have lots of guest speakers, and that’s a great opportunity for us to network and gain some new contacts. And next semester we’ll have a bit more practical module, marketing and I’ll be working on my final project!
To get on a bit more personal side, 2019 changed my life, and I met my amazing boyfriend. I began to put myself together again and began to watch and adore the world around me, go to the church more (it’s always so peaceful!), read, write, nourish relationships with people I love, and I also began to care about my physical and mental health by going to the gym and caring about what I eat. And I met Markus Zusak and went to his talk about his work! Oh and I’m learning how to knit! Honestly? I haven’t felt this good for the last two or three years, and I’m thrilled that things began to turn to good again.
2020 Vision
And what are my plans for 2020? Well, if I take it from a personal point of view, I want to keep being happy and make other people happy. I want my family to see that I’m always there when they need me even though we’re thousands of kilometres apart. I want to move a relationship with my boyfriend to another level and work on the future we both want. I want to show people in my life that they are appreciated. I’d love to become more employable in the publishing industry and find related work experience. I want to travel, read, write, dance carelessly to some random playlist on Spotify, love and just see more what’s around me. And I want to go back to the roots and read again stories that formed me before. Kerouac, Lee, Krakauer, Austen, Nicholls, Brontë! Are you ready to go with me through the stories that were formed by your beautiful and brilliant minds once again?
It would also probably be good to tell you what plans I have for this blog. Well, I don’t really have any. Yet. All I know is that I want to write, publish and talk to other bookworms, bloggers and my readers way more often than I do now. My aim has always been to popularise literature and show to people who don’t really enjoy reading, that it’s in most cases just about finding the right story. And I succeeded in the past, I had in my life few people who didn’t like reading, but after having me in their lives for some time, they began coming to me and asking for advice or just to discuss a book. Any book. Or any story. And I think it’s magical. People keep living their stereotypical lives. Every day looks the same, they do the same things every day, and they keep meeting the same people. But once you sit down and dive into the story, you can explore life beyond this world. So how about we think of some fun ways of how to show people that reading isn’t boring?
Oh wow, I got carried away again, didn’t I? Anyway, I’d like to at least try to formulate my vision for the blog in 2020. I’d love to start working with publishers, authors and you, readers, to deliver more quality content. I’ll start writing more reviews, I have ideas for some fun articles, and I thought that it might be great to talk about some current issues in the world of literature and the publishing industry as well. I would also love to include interviews with some professionals from the industry and authors as well, but that will take some time for me to build this website to the place I’d like it to be. Place where bookworms, authors and people from the publishing industry discuss openly and without prejudice. I will sometimes also post photo diaries with pictures from my travels, and it would be fun to include short reflection essays about anything from my life or current issues in the world of culture.
And this is it! I really hope that you’re excited about the new year and decade to come just like me. Also, I hear people talking about bringing roaring 20s back, but to be honest, I’d be really happy if we had a come and joyful time ahead of us.
Be creative, keep watching the world around you, love each other and keep reading!
Hope you have the most amazing year 2020 and that the new decade will bring you only joy.
Eva
The Literature Empire 