Words of March || Wrap-up

March was a month of the new life.

It's officially the beginning of summer and while I'm not looking forward to the unrelenting heat, I wouldn't mind more of such days. March was a month of living in balance and trying out new routines.

Grab a cup of your favourite drink and settle down, I have a lot to catch you up on ☕️

books

I finished 6 books in March which is pretty good considering all the other things I was doing. 2 were paperbacks and the rest were ebooks. 2 were rereads. 1 was an ARC.

My first book of the month, and in a good while, was An Eye for an Eye by Jeffrey Archer. I've liked many of his older works and haven't read any of his new ones in the last few years so I decided to try them. Unfortunately, I didn't like this one. Although it was just as fast-paced and filled with interwoven politics as I expected, it simply wasn't as interesting as I remember his books being. I don't think I'll read any other books from this series but I might try rereading The Clifton Chronicles sometime which I loved in high school.

Us Against the Likes by Marie Voinson. Firstly, it was absolutely amazing to buy a book that was written by a blogger that I've admired for years. The book was as good as I expected it to be. I loved the insight into influencer life, the stress of wanting to make a parent proud, the sibling bond (which I can't relate to but wish I did), and living with anxiety. Abby's anxiety was written so well that just reading it made me tensed many times. I loved the character growth and what Abby learnt along the way. Highly recommend it!

Love Below Zero by Bianca Blake. Another book by a blogger that I've followed for a while! This is a hate-to-love romance with forced proximity featuring two nerdy characters. I loved how real the main character felt with her health struggles. I really liked the slow burn romance, it felt real and natural. Read my full review of Love Below Zero here!

Chikkamma Tours (Pvt) Ltd by Unmana. I was missing Bangalore so I decided to read this. It's a bibliomystery set in Bangalore. I loved reading a story set in my city. Reading about the famous bookstores, the full-of-life Church Street, the historical Majestic, and the aesthetic Jayanagar was so nice. I really liked that the book features many openly queer characters in a way as if it's really normal in society. Unfortunately, I wasn't impressed with the actual story or the main character. I want to read more books set in my city.

Then, I reread Fourth Wing and Iron Flame before starting Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros. I was actually considering reading it later when the fourth book is out but I’m unable to ignore the book. I’m not on social media and still the book is everywhere. Since I remembered the first two books only vaguely, I reread them first. I’m about 20% into Onyx Storm currently and I’m not enjoying it for some reason. Mainly because this one thing happened that is sooo plot driven and was unnecessary. I’ll share my thoughts on the full book next month.

I also partly listened to Immortal by Sue Lyn Tan. I started it in January but it's very slow going because I don't have many chances to listen to audiobooks after I quit my last job. I'm listening to it in bits sometimes while doing chores. I'm about 85% through and I hope to finish it soon.

blogging

I got back to regular blogging! I have a big smile on my face as I write this. Listen, I have been consistently blogging since the beginning of 2024 but I haven't forgotten what it was like to be in a slump. With the move and new job, I didn't want blogging to get lost.

It's one of my big passions. It's the main thing that I do outside of my work. It's how I create. Writing about my silly little books and Kdramas and random might seem silly to a lot of people but it's so fun. I love sharing my random thoughts and reading those of others. I've been blogging for over 9 years and I still love it. I love it differently but I'm still here and I don't want to let it go.

Kudos to me for posting regularly even with all the life changes. Yes, I am going to pat my back because I deserve it. I wasn't as good with responding to comments or reading others' blog posts but I published a new post every 8 days.

In fact, I'm two posts ahead. That's a bit surreal but I am. The planning and advance blogging that I did before my move came in clutch. I wrote whenever and I could and I'm still ahead of the schedule.

You might be thinking that I'm a bit too worried about posting regularly and being ahead. As I said, it's passion. And secondly, planning ahead is what gives me freedom and space to create. I know that I want to post 4 times a month. If I'm writing a post that has to be up soon, I worry about writing it and it becomes a chore.

Instead, if I plan, I have a vague idea of the different posts I want to write and I can write whenever the mood strikes. For example, I'm actually writing this paragraph a whole week in advance. Tomorrow, if I feel like writing something else, I'll pause this and write that instead. Being ahead means that I also take small breaks from blogging without even thinking about it.

One more thing that I started loving is forgetting what I wrote. I'm usually not so ahead in my posts and remember what's supposed to go up and when. I also fairly remember what I wrote. But now, since I'm a couple of weeks ahead and I'm trying to not be a perfectionist by not thinking about a post after it's scheduled, I forget which of my posts is going up on what day and what I wrote in it.

I realized that my Margins of the Week post, which is something new that I tried, went up only the next day. It had a couple of comments and I was actually a bit lost so I read my post to remember what it has. I read my own post as if I wasn't the person who wrote it and enjoyed it.

Similarly, I forgot what I wrote in my Things I Learnt on my First Job post. It was another "new" post that I tried. I had written it 3 weeks before it went up. Reading it was like reading a letter from a very recent me. Forgetting lets me actually enjoy what I write without picking apart the mistakes in it and also think about what I could try next.

Anyway. The above is a long-winded way of saying that I love writing, I'm glad to be back to writing regularly, and I love seeing what you have to say in response. I might write a post on my current blogging process sometime because I really like where I'm at right now. It's devoid of expectations and filled with ideas and excitement. We'll see. I have two other posts in mind that I'd like to write soon too. I don't know which will be up first since I'm writing purely based on my mood now. (My "A Year Without Social Media" post will probably be "Two years without social media" considering how long it's taking to get the mood to write it 😂)

I'm also writing on Substack! Not as often but I'm writing newsletters. I read so many good posts on Substack in March—thoughtful essays that made me want to quote lines in my journal—that I had a small impostor syndrome moment. Some people write so well and I don't feel like my posts are that good. I journalled about that feeling and worked through it. I'm doing my own thing which makes me unique and the only thing that matters is that I like writing on that platform.

My newsletters are just reassuring letters to myself which I post online but I love writing them. In March, I wrote It doesn't have to be perfect and One step at a time.

The blog stats picked up a bit in March, which I didn't expect. I was expecting a downward line because that's the trend I've seen in previous years. The difference wasn't much, it was barely more than the numbers in February. But there was an uptick.

Two of my older posts started getting more traffic, which is why the stats went up. The 30 Best Romance Novels for Adults and 30 Best Kindle Unlimited Romance Books posts. I was surprised because they were published in 2021 and had a good run till 2022. Their stats were basically declining for 2+ years so the fact that it's up again is surprising. I guess there are people who are suddenly reading more romance?

content consumed

Blog Posts

• Line shared new-to-me authors she read in 2024 and whether she'd read their works again.
• Michelle wrote about her perfect writing afternoon.
• Hayley shared Chinese and Korean dramas with a focus on female friendships.
• 24hryabookblog wrote a great discussion post on What makes “Young Adult” Book YA & Why are Fantasy Books Often Mislabeled?

Substack

Remember how I said earlier that I read a lot of great posts?

• The cost of becoming yourself.
• My Mother was Right (But Don't Tell Her)
• what a quiet life means to me
• Please don't ask me for a life update; I don't have one.
• On writing as a garden
• "we are the people in the world to whom we tell things"
• i quit job hunting (for now)
• I want to see more women giving 60%
• The Young Girl Who Married A Monster And Inspired A Disney Fairy Tale
• My brief encounter with an 80-year-old bookstore in Bengaluru
• things i learned from spending too much time in coffee shops
• The ultimate Indian dream? To leave the country
• where did my accent go?
• Did you think about this first?
• Why my English doesn’t sound French

TV Shows

• I tried watching When Life Gives Tangerines and gave up about 15 minutes into the 9th episode. I (thought I )understood the point in the beginning and I was engaged by the adventures the characters were having. But once the timeline started jumping around often without any pattern, I started losing attention. The point of the drama changed so many times. I understand the commentary on urbanization and the change in life between generations and how parents give everything for their kids, but the main plotline has to have substance too. I got bored and stopped.

life

We moved into the new place at the beginning of the month, finally ending my worries about moving. It was a huge load off my mind. We're still not fully settled in the new place but it's fine, we're slowly getting there. I got to be an adult and buy electrical appliances, curtains, etc. We got a smart TV for the first time! I bought pink curtains for my room! It's a new experience, great except when I see my monthly expense statement 😂

While there's much to be tried and done, I've started making small routines to make my days exciting. I've been making matcha lattes every weekend morning, reading in my tiny balcony in the mornings, and setting aside my outfits the night before instead of scrambling in the morning.

We had a few team outings at work which were fun. I'm slowly getting to know more people and feel comfortable at work. I have my standard coffee order in the morning and I know different places to work at if I'm bored at my desk. We went out for dinner once and I was surprised by how unimpressed I was with the food even though it was a great place, mostly because we get basically the same quality and variety of food at work every day. It's a privilege to work at Google.

I worked 11-8 at my previous job so moving to 8:30-5:30 is nice. I have so much more time in the evenings and go to bed early. I like journalling right after coming home because I don't want to look at screens again immediately. Later, I blog or watch something on TV. I read in bed before sleeping. It's a nice routine.

I'm yet to incorporate regular exercise into the routine because my blood blister from my barefoot Zumba attempt (which I spoke more about here) still hasn't healed. It seems to be taking its sweet time. I'm enjoying longer evenings in the meantime.

As I don't have friends to hang out with in the weekends here yet, I'm being a homebody which I've missed. It's so nice to do things based on my mood and alternate between hobbies and chores throughout the day. I want to check out a few cafés that I've seen nearby but haven't had the mood to yet. I might try to in April. I have a 2-wheeler which I've barely used so far, should get used to driving it here 😂

We had a long weekend at the end of the month so I spent a few days back in my city, tying up ends and meeting friends. I had a great time spending two days with my favourite people. I met a bunch of my college friends for lunch during which we talked a lot of random nonsense and laughed and had fun. Then, I had a “sleepover” with friends from my old office when we basically stayed up all night playing games and chatting and having coffee at 4 am. The next morning, I left them early and went to meet my reader friends for brunch. It was so nice to be with them after two months, I felt sad to leave again. I almost teared up when I hugged my reader friends goodbye.

I hope to visit my city often and catch up with them. Until I find make friends in the new city, quick weekend visits will be my only quality social time. I don’t know how people manage when they move to another country, I’m glad I’m in a nearby city so that I can travel often.

chat with me!

What did you do in March? What did you read or watch? What do you like about your routine(s)?