Advice | Thoughts By J

How to request a physical review book from major publishers

Advice, Discussion, Personal Experiences

Hi guys, Merry Christmas Eve! Yes I realise this is one day late, but I was super busy wrapping gifts and doing last minute Christmas stuff that I totally forgot to write the final Christmas #BloggersGivingBack post for 2014! And because I’m not a huge fan of scheduling (must rectify that), I’m scrambling to write this one last minute. Heh. Please forgive me. 😛

This post is a part of Thoughts By J’s #BloggersGivingBack Christmas gift, where we share tips regarding books, blogging and the publishing industry. Make sure you don’t miss out on the Christmas Giveaway! There’s only a few hours left to enter.

How to read multiple books at once AND remember everything

Advice, Discussion, Personal Experiences

This post is a part of Thoughts By J’s #BloggersGivingBack Christmas gift, where we share tips regarding books, blogging and the publishing industry. Make sure you don’t miss out on the Christmas Giveaway!

Do you have trouble keeping up with all the amazing books you want to read? Are you struggling to finish a book you’ve put down AGES ago and just CAN’T remember what on earth is happening?

Today’s your lucky day!! Super Alana is here to save the day…just kidding (I might NOT actually have super powers *sadface*). But, I can read multiple books at once and can remember exactly where I was up to in every one! Even if I put one down for a few weeks or months.

Maybe I’m special… Maybe I’m not… (most likely not). But I’ve found it’s a really good skill to have, especially since I’ve taken up book blogging. I know sometimes it’s difficult keeping up with reading, or even managing reading with the other responsibilities that we have to unfortunately prioritise over our love of books.

So I thought I’d share my (limited) wisdom with everyone.

Where can you publish and read stories online for free?

Advice, Discussion, Personal Experiences

This post is a part of Thoughts By J’s #BloggersGivingBack Christmas gift, where we share tips regarding books, blogging and the publishing industry. Make sure you don’t miss out on the Christmas Giveaway!

Don’t have the cash for multiple books each week? Do you want to publish your writing and gain feedback through untraditional methods? Well guess what? I’ve been there, done that. I was once in that very same situation when I was younger (although I’m still young ok), where I just didn’t have the money to buy books each week. I was also an ambitious writer, even though I’ve never finished a WIP. Yeah, I know I know…I couldn’t stick it out till the end.

Well today is your lucky day because I’m going to share with you the ways I got around the money and publishing problem when I was younger. Legally, of course.

How to land your dream internship at a publishing house!

Advice, Discussion, Personal Experiences

This post is a part of Thoughts By J’s #BloggersGivingBack Christmas gift, where we share tips regarding books, blogging and the publishing industry. Make sure you don’t miss out on the Christmas Giveaway!

Do you have a longing to work in the publishing industry? Well have no fear; we’re here to give you the deets on how you can score yourself a kick ass internship at your favourite book publisher.

You’re probably sitting here asking… well how do they know all this stuff about internships? How can I trust them? (We’re trustworthy! Promise!)

Both of us have been fortunate enough to score multiple internships in this industry… and we’re super keen to share some of our first-hand knowledge for all those future interns out there! (And hopefully future employees)

What to consider when you’re thinking about starting a book blog

Advice, Discussion, Giveaways

Hi guys, welcome to the first day of Thoughts By J’s #BloggersGivingBack Christmas post. In the spirit of giving, Alana and I will be posting some useful tips in regards of blogging and the publishing industry all the way up to Christmas. We’re by no means professionals, but let’s just pretend we’re wise and all that shizz. Because we are. Sometimes. Just go with it ok?

There will be a post every second day all the way up to the 25th. We hope they’ll be helpful to a wide range of people, and feedback is very much welcome!

Also, we’re currently running a Christmas giveaway for a books of your choice up to AUD$20. So hurry over to it before it closes!

GIVEAWAY

Book Review: Men & You by Rikki Markson & Jayde Kelly

2014 Releases, Advice, Book Reviews, Romance

Title: Men & You

Author: Rikki Markson & Jayde Kelly

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Genre: Non-fiction, Romance

Format Read: Paperback, 238 pages

Publication Date: 1st October 2014 by Harlequin Mira Australia

Synopsis: “Why do smart, attractive women stay with men who treat them badly?
Why do women who date musicians always end up with a broken heart and a huge bar tab to pay off?
And why do surgeons have the worst chat-up lines?

Intrepid authors Rikki Markson and Jayde Kelly decided to test the theory that you can tell a lot about a man by his career choices. They watched men in their natural habitat, gained their trust, stole their secrets and seldom returned their phone calls, and Men and You was born.

Full of humour, fascinating insights and sexy detail, Men and You offers you a smorgasbord of menfolk, from artists to investment bankers, and tells you where to find them, what to do with them when you do, and how good they are in bed.

An exploration into the inner workings of romantic relationships, Men and You takes on the big questions such as ‘Is he gay or just perfect? and ‘How do you catch a liar?’ with a mixture of analysis, quizzes and profiles. It offers advice on essentials, such as sexy disrobing, fast-tracking intimacy and 12 things men wish you knew.

Gorgeously illustrated and designed, Men and You speaks to a generation of girls who know their worth. You can’t change a man but you CAN steer clear of musicians, and you may just find your Prince Charming — or failing that, a charming encounter.” (Taken from Goodreads)

How I dealt with my unfair tutor.

Advice, Daily Observations, Personal Experiences, Rants

I’ve had to deal with a lot of insecurities this past week, mainly surrounding my own writing. For a media student to be told by their tutor continuously throughout the semester that their writing is only of a pass standard, but with no justifications, is a little upsetting. I’m not bragging, but I am at least credit average. Having transferred to B Media (PR & Advertising) just this year, I was able to take three courses in semester one as a lot of my credit points were transferred from my completed courses in 2011. Having one less subject to worry about meant I had a lot more free time to invest into each of my assessments. Which I did. And you could tell by my marks that I do put a lot of effort into each of my assignments … well at least for two of my courses.

When I’m getting no lower than a mark of 80 (Distinction) in my ARTS1090 and MGMT2718 course assignments, but continuously getting a 55 (Pass) in MDIA1002, then the first thing I will think is that writing news articles has to be very different to writing essays … hence the low marks for MDIA1002. I did believe it was my inability to comprehend the methods of writing a perfect news article at first, so I sought help from my tutor through emails and during her consultation times. I took all her ‘advice’ into consideration and learnt from them. I don’t believe I made the same mistake twice. However, in our final assessment worth 40% of our grade, I was yet again given a final mark of 55 (raw mark 61 with 6 marks deducted for ‘presentation errors’). I must note here that I am a VERY thorough reader. I always catch mistakes when I’m reading books, so it was a given that I would catch mistakes in the comments my tutor left on my assignment. Now I’m not saying that I don’t ever make mistakes of my own because that would just be ridiculous. I’m only human, and sometimes I will overlook something, and I accept the fact that my tutor did rightfully deduct marks for some of these presentation errors. However, there were marks that she deducted wrongfully as well.

Having read over her comments thoroughly and made notes on many points I didn’t agree with, I decided it was only fair to send her an email seeking further clarification. I wanted some extra feedback for the reasons she had given me a mark so low, as her comments were just not justified properly at all. I have included the email I sent my tutor below (**names have been changed**). It took me three hours to write it, but I believe I backed up my arguments thoroughly and had researched my facts properly.

Three things required for a successful relationship.

Advice, Daily Observations, Musings., Personal Experiences

There are times when I honestly have no idea what to blog about, so I don’t. My muse is all over the place, so sometimes my thoughts never get written down. Like a lot of people, I have my most mind-opening thoughts when I’m taking a shower. I don’t know what it is about the shower, but whenever I’m there, standing under the steaming water, I feel like a genius. I even talk to myself sometimes (but let’s not go into that).

Now that I’m on holidays, I’m forcing myself to blog more. I want to come back to this website in two years time, and compare my writing as a 20-year-old and 22-year-old, and see if I’ve improved. I want to know whether my personality will change over the next two years, and whether I will hold the same views on life as I do now. But in order to compare, I need to start writing more. Perhaps once or twice a week. Whenever I feel inspired I guess.

I really had no idea what I wanted to blog about when I sat down to write this. Two paragraphs down, and I’m still a little rocky on the whole idea for this entry. But as my username states, this blog exists to express my thoughts and ponderings. My everyday life and the experiences I’ve been through. So what better way to kick off my new blogging routine than to start with the freshest experience on my mind as of right now? My love life.

I know no one wants to read about my love life. Honestly, it’s not that exciting. Things are actually going pretty well with my boyfriend, so I haven’t found the need to rant or punch my pillow in anger. But I’m not saying the past six months have been full of rainbows and unicorns either. There’s been ups and downs, but I think we’ve been able to work through them due to a number of reasons. And I’m going to list them down here. I believe these next few points really do encompass the idea of how a good and healthy relationship should work, and how to make sure you don’t rip each others’ throats out due to a disagreement. By no means am I an expert in this field, but I’ve found that it’s working for me, and they are just pointers you may want to consider for your relationship or when you get into one.