Chuyển đến nội dung chính

review: rooftops of tehran

book info: on sale: now copy from: public library pages: 348 review written: 21.12.17 originally published: 2009 edition read: Penguin NAL 2009 title: Rooftops of Tehran author: Mahbod Seraji In a middle-class neighborhood of Iran's sprawling capital city, 17-year-old Pasha Shahed spends the summer of 1973 on his rooftop with his best friend Ahmed, joking around one minute and asking burning questions about life the next. He also hides a secret love for his beautiful neighbor Zari, who has been betrothed since birth to another man. But the bliss of Pasha and Zari's stolen time together is shattered when Pasha unwittingly acts as a beacon for the Shah's secret police. The violent consequences awaken him to the reality of living under a powerful despot, and lead Zari to make a shocking choice... my thoughts: This book was first published in 2009 and I remember adding it to my list around that time but never actually reading it since I preferred checking out library books to ...

The Secret

armchair BEA: beyond the blog

Tips that will help you move your blog forward or perhaps your own personal goals of writing and making an income from what you love to do.


I am a writer. I truly enjoy writing, and I'll had nearly twenty Chapter 1's for many brilliant ideas I've gotten. But of course, it's so hard to shoot off from there. Hopefully, I do get published. But I want to get published just so other readers can read my writing and enjoy it, not for the money aspect. But if I did earn any money, it'd go straight to my parents. Like you may have noticed, we're in a tough financial situation and they're kind enough to support my blogging and pay shipping for my giveaways. I should tone down on them, come to think of it. Yeah....

I'm inexperienced in publishing and making money in that sense, so I don't think I should try to give false advice. However, I've got tips on moving one's blog forward (based off of experience with mine)

Tips On Moving One's Blog Forward

1. Be patient! Getting five hundred followers isn't going to happen over night
2. Host a couple of giveaways to get possible followers interested, but don't just rely on them. Readers deserve good content as well.
3. Comment on other blogs. It's both interactive and courtesy. You get to meet new people and they'll be aware of you, plus it's just nice to be active in the community. It's a way to put your blog out there and make people know it exists
4. Have a good blog design. I know it sounds like a very superficial thing to say, and some blogs are popular even with normal minimal blogger templates, but it's still good to have a decent design. A blog's design is something a reader will see for the first time: it's that first impression and it should be something that reflects you and your blog's content.
5. Book blogs: post frequent book reviews. It's the reason people follow (I think?) But stay true to what your blog is about. If it's YA fiction, than don't post cooking recipes, or adult fiction all the time.

Personal Goals on Writing

1. Finish a good majourity of the rough draft by the end of this summer (since I'll barely have time once school starts)
2. Edit. Edit Edit. But don't overdue it
3. Finish rough draft by end of this year
4. Next year: start editing like mental
5. Then, work on selling it.
 These sound like terrible goals! I'm so sorry, I'm not used to setting them. Therein lies my problem with never getting  anywhere with these half-baked novels I've written. This is a good start! And thank you all for stopping by today! I've said this thousands of times, but if you haven't entered my armchair BEA giveaway, you should enter. I've simplified the process, without all the extra entry stuff.

Anyway. I look forward to your tips to blogging and goals of writing! I hope they inspire me :) Feel free to send me the link to your post, I'd love to read!

Nhận xét

Bài đăng phổ biến từ blog này

Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff

Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff Series:   The Lotus War #1 Source:  gifted hardcover Publisher:  Thomas Dunne Books Publication Date: Sep 18, 2012 Age Group: Young Adult A DYING LAND The Shima Imperium verges on the brink of environmental collapse; an island nation once rich in tradition and myth, now decimated by clockwork industrialization and the machine-worshipers of the Lotus Guild. The skies are red as blood, the land is choked with toxic pollution, and the great spirit animals that once roamed its wilds have departed forever. AN IMPOSSIBLE QUEST The hunters of Shima’s imperial court are charged by their Shōgun to capture a thunder tiger – a legendary creature, half-eagle, half-tiger. But any fool knows the beasts have been extinct for more than a century, and the price of failing the Shōgun is death. A HIDDEN GIFT Yukiko is a child of the Fox clan, possessed of a talent that if discovered, would see her executed by the Lotus Guild. Accompanying her father on the Shōgun...

topic: nasty or noble?

source: tumblr " And he understood human nature so deeply, not just our great capacity for virtue and for goodness, and for love, but our capacity for pain and destruction and anger." Tom Hiddleston on Shakespeare There's something about the way Mr Hiddleston (Mr Hiddleston, haha, why am I so formal? I don't know him personally, so I don't feel like I'm privileged to address him on first name basis) says things, about the characters he plays or on human nature itself, but whenever he says something like this, I get very inspired. Mind you, I haven't taken psychology or studies on human nature at all, so I don't speak from professional knowledge.  "I believe we are born clean slates, and we all have a capacity to be nasty or noble" Nasty or Noble? They're two halves of a whole, I think, and we have to embrace both parts in ourselves. A person that is completely nice, completely passive and serene, is empty. He that never yells, or spea...

topic: happy books or sad books?

This blog post is prompted by a discussion I had at lunch on Friday with my table of friends. We're all book lovers, so it became a passionate discussion. I make myself happy, even when I'm not. If someone were to ask me "Are you happy?" I wouldn't know what to respond. I think because I'm quite bubbly at school, people automatically assume that I'm just always happy all the time. I'd beg to differ: I'm not a very cheery person when I get home. It's because of my introverted-ness. I know you're thinking "What? Then why is she bubbly at school?" Because I like being friendly, but school usually drains out all my social-ness and I recover over the weekend by staying in room all by myself and doing things alone. Back on topic. We asked a question: "Which do you prefer, sad books or happy books?" I said, "I like sad books" And that fired off into passionate "argument". A friend (let's call her C) told...

Free $100