Happy New Year & 2016 Resolutions!

Happy New Year to all family, friends, fans, writers, poets, bloggers, supporters. Happy New Year to all!

The year 2015 was an eventful year, and I welcome and embrace 2016 with open arms and an open heart. I plan to make some serious changes this year, to myself and my life, with God's help of course.

While I did not carry out most of the resolutions I had planned for 2015 (some because I am to blame and some circumstances were just out of my hand), 2016 is a new start and a new page, one in which I plan to make each day count.

I have new goals this year, and I'm setting smaller ones than I did in 2015. If I finish them all, then well and good, if not, then may be 2017 will see those goals accomplished.

The past couple of years have been hectic and full of downs and pressures. I feel I'm suffering a burn-out and need to slow down and rejuvenate. That's why I am taking some time in 2016 to work on self-development, as a person, a professional and as a writer. I am making 2016 MY Year.

Resolutions for 2016:

1.      Be happy and strive to be happy even when things aren't going too smooth.

2.     Read. Read. Read. – I love reading and 2015 has taken a decent chunk of my reading time away from me.

3.   Write. Write. Write. I plan to write every day in 2016, if not every day then I have a target of 365 pieces by the end of the year. If I skip a day's writing, the next day needs to have two pieces written. These may include chapters to stories or blog posts or anything I can come up with. I won't set a number of words, pieces can be 100 words or 1000 or anything below, above or in between. The goal is to write.

4.     Search for publication opportunities.

5.     Read at least 6 Arabic books (any format).

6.    Read at least 6 paperback/hardcover books (any language).

7.   Revise and study German (I plan to do this on my own for a time, until I'm ready to restart classes instead of starting from Zero).

8.     Continue with Takhayyal, book reviewing and focus more on the blog and making it better.

9.     Support other authors, writers, and students interested in writing. I had this plan in 2015 to read more blog posts and comment more. Although, I didn't do the great job I had in mind, I plan to keep it up this year and hopefully get in touch with more blogs and writing.
All writers need support, whether in being told that they're doing good, redirecting them, or telling them the ups and downs of their pieces. Commenting on a post or simply sharing it anywhere on social media is great help to writers.

10. Stay away from negativity and negative people. If you're one of those people who emit negative energy, don't be upset if I argue with you or leave you alone altogether. This is my life and I plan to make it a happy one.

11.   Market my blog and writing more and learn how to professionally market them. (So, if you have any tips or suggestions, please don't hesitate to leave them in the comments below or in a quick email! J )

12.  Keep on blogging. Guest posts and features are always welcome.

13.  While I plan to keep on with the book reviewing, I will not let it overwhelm me as it did in 2015 and in late 2014.

2016 is MY Year! I hope it will be a good one.

14.  Be happy J

I wish you all a Happy New Year. Make it YOUR Year and make every day, and every moment of it count. Stay positive, love always, be happy and seize the day! 
Carpe diem!

Launching Takhayyal and other events in February

February looks like a fairly busy month for me with lots to read and review. It is also gives me GREAT pleasure *drum roll* to announce that Takhayyal will launch on Thursday, 5 February, 2015.

I'm already in the process of scheduling the first five or so posts, so there wouldn't be any delays.

I'm still accepting artwork and photography to be featured for a week. Please bear in mind that the pictures you send will be used to spark others' imaginations and writing.

In case you haven't seen my Top Books of 2014, check them out here.

General February events:

·        The annual Cairo Book Fair started on 28 January and will end on 12 February. (Don't you wish it were longer?!) I hear they're doing a better job this year with an archive to see if the book(s) you want will be available in the fair.

·        Thursday, 5 February – First post in Takhayyal (I'm so excited!)

·        Tuesday, 10 February – I'll be taking part in a Blog Tour for Kate Avery Allison's Of Sea and Stone (Itlantis #1)

I also found this quote on Goodreads, and thought I'd share because it's just beautiful:

“Books are the carriers of civilization...They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind. Books are humanity in print.” ― Barbara W. Tuchman

Happy Reading and Writing Everyone!

2015 blog plans & 2014 recap

2014 ends in a day, and I hope 2015 will be a more fruitful year for everyone.

I'm not going to recount all that happened this year, simply because I don't remember much but I did, however, write some 26 reviews, give or take, though I haven't posted all of them on the blog but I think I posted around 20.

I did not complete my reading target, due to several changes this year, but I realised I had set one too big for me. I originally planned to read 50 books, and was progressing well till June. I cut my target to 40, but I practically finished around 36.

I started a reading challenge that even I couldn't commit to till June; but I have better plans for 2015.

I saw two poems published this year; one in Scripting Change's new volume Beyond the Words, and also in Paragram's anthology Remember.

I have been mulling this over and over; I want to start a weekly writing prompt – something similar to VisDare, five-sentence fiction and Flash Friday, only like the first two it will not be contest but a simple picture to prompt me and others to write.

This prompt will be open to all, English and Arabic writers, whether poetry, flash fiction or just artistic prose. More details to be posted when I have jotted them down better. But I must say, artists are welcome to send me their work to be featured as the weekly prompt.

I will need your help for publicity, tweets and retweets, and of course writing.

I'll be taking part in blog tours in January and February.

I will be posting a massive giveaway in January as well, so stay tuned.

Another blog highlight? I passed 25K views! Thanks to all!

Have you written your New Year's resolutions? I'm finalising mine and will post them soon.

Until then, Merry Christmas, to those who celebrate on 25 December and to my friends who celebrate on 7 January, and Happy New Year to all!

October recap, November to come

October is over – in case you haven't already noticed!

I was able to commit to my bi-weekly posts of Friday and Tuesday, though not entirely according to the schedule I set.

I did however learn that I should at least have a rough draft of the posts that I need to do every month and a couple of back up posts for those that don't make it on time, especially when it comes to book reviews.

October marked the two-year anniversary of Nadaness In Motion and it also had my 26^th birthday.

In October 2014, I took part in my first EVER blog tour, by posting a book review of Aoife Marie Sheridan's newly-published novel Hunters.

There are other blog tours to come, one in November and possibly another in December.

I'm lagging behind with my reading, however, but have no fear, reviews will be there soon!

Book reviews posted in October:

A Fistful of Evil

Writing About Magic

The Colour of Dishonour (short story collection)

Lost haven (novella)

Hunters

Paulie – A short story(review)

I also posted a humourous short story of mine titled "The Wizard's Apprentice". Comments are highly appreciated. How's my sense of humour?

I also did an interview with Rebecca Chastain, the author of A Fistful of Evil. Check it out here.

I was planning on reviewing Bram Stoker's Dracula for Halloween but did not make it. Also my alternative post, a review of Darren Gallagher's Strings (a collection of 33 horror short stories) was not successful, however, I am halfway through the book and I hope to post it this Friday.

I have a rough draft of my posts for November, or at least for the book reviews:

Strings by Darren Gallagher

Hand of Fire by Judith Starkston

Krymzyn by BC Powell

Bound by Duty by Stormy Smith

The Duality Principle by Rebecca Grace Allen (Blog Tour, 28 November)

And of course there is more to come!