Check out the communities posts:

Danielle Warman (Blooming special)
Charlotte Kathleen G
Laura Campbell (The Floral Elephant)

Read my other posts from #CBloggers17

Introduce Yo' Self: Day 1
My Hand Lettering Process: Day 2
Facing Imposter Syndrome: Day 3

Want to join in? Get all the details in the link up! blog post.

Image created using this image downloaded via Pexels

So for the 3rd topic of #CBloggers17 it's all about the Creative Industries! I left the topic totally wide open with this as I felt it would make for some interesting conversations and perspectives among people and I mean there is a lot to be said. 

Going down the route of speaking about issues within the Creative Industries, there are so many to choose from. With issues around 'free' work, unpaid internships, lack of representation of WOC/other minorities within high roles, how creativity is still not seen as a skill among some, as well as a whole heap of other problems and issues. I've spoken about some other issues before on this blog before including misconceptions of studying graphic design, how my high school expierence killed my creativity and I've also spoken several times about how I feel lucky to have had supportive family that push me to follow my dreams of working in the creative industries.

For me thought I thought I would talk about an issue that largely lies with yourself and no-one else, and that is self doubt and imposter syndrome.

I won't lie these are things I have experienced a lot and I know a lot of people who go through it too, it's something in the creative waters. But when you deal with imposter syndrome it doesn't affect anyone else, just you and your work largely. It can paralyse you from producing or developing work. It can stop you from taking on new experiences or opportunities. And it can stall your growth not just as a creative but as a person too.

And today I wanted to speak about how I've tried to overcome it each time.

Give yourself perspective
What is it that makes you feel like you can't do this or you shouldn't? If you are looking at other peoples work and feeling that you'll never amount to their level, stop. Your skills and journey are unique to you and will shape your future to be what it should be, not what you think it should be because of what everyone else is doing. Look at your old work, the stuff you did when you started out. You'll see from then how far you have progressed and how much you've learnt.

Talk to people
Literally every creative I know has gone through this before and I'm sure it'll be the same for you too. If you open up to the people you are close with or speak to a mentor or even an educational tutor, they can help on the last point and open your mind to see how far you've come and give you feedback on what you can do to progress further.

Don't worry about failure and don't stress about success
These two words, "failure" and "success", seem to take of a lot of people's lives but you have to try and not let them. Failure will happen. You are never going to sail through life and have everything work out exactly as you think it should be. And don't worry that your successes will come falling down. Whatever you've been successful at, as long as you've done it honestly, is yours to take and you should go celebrate it. In fact, go celebrate both your wins and looses, there's things to learn from both.

Be aware
Realise that if, at the moment, you are scared to jump into a new opportunity that it isn't likely you're scared because you won't be able to do it. But be aware that the reason you can feel uneasy is that it's a huge step and what can come next will be enormous for you. As they say, if you're not scared then your dreams aren't big enough.

and lastly...

Remember to find enjoyment in just creating
It can often be a burden that accidentally falls on our shoulders as creatives nowadays when we think we need to constantly be sharing things on social media. From clients we work with, to projects we do and works in progress, amongst having a #flawless life it's just crazy. No person is crazy so stop worrying about portraying yourself in a certain way on line and remember that what you share online is down to you and no person, not even yourself, will completely know who you are as you are always growing and changing. So experiment! Do batshit crazy things. And if you share them with the world or not, just enjoy the process of being free.

What's some of your ways to combat imposter syndrome? Let me know below!

And if you fancy reading some more thoughts on the creative industries, check the link ups below:

It's Day 2!! So for today's topic it's all about Creative Process. For my take on today's topic, I thought I would delve into my process for creating hand lettering designs. It seems to be the main thing I get asked about, both by people on Instagram and even in job interviews. So I thought I'd dedicate this post to how I do this, from planning a piece, developing the style then working into it digitally and lastly uploading it to socials! 

Step 1: Planning & Sketching

For me step 1 always involves coming up with what it is I want to create a design about or for. This can vary from lettering things into objects, an editorial design or something else for like a poster or merch. 

Once I've decided or know what it's for I write out the words to get an idea about the letters fit amongst each other and to also quickly experiment with the layout of the letters. From this point I'll start working on a medium sized scale in my leuchtturm1917 (usually about a quarter of the page) to define the letter forms a bit more. From here I will occasionally draw it up bigger if I want to add more flourishes and details at that point or it's onto the digital portion of it!

Step 2: Developing the style & digitising 

When it comes to developing the style, as I said it can be developed while sketching or by doing it on the digital side. More and more lately, with my ProCreate app on my iPad I have been developing the design on that. Using the app it allows me to be more experimental with the styling and it also means I don't have to use lots of tracing or sketching paper in order to work out the best way to represent the phrase, word or editorial use. 

Digitising can some times be the longest part of the process, as I will refine the letters and make the size and shape of the letters concise in relation to each other. Although it is also at this point I can realise that once the forms are worked out the way I want them to be, they might not work for the piece on a whole and so it means I need to re-sketch a new layout. After I've refined the design and perfected the colour palette I then save it.

Step 3: Posting to socials

Making the designs on ProCreate it makes the whole uploading to Instagram simple! There are options to share directly to IG but I prefer to save the image and process video instead. However, the app also makes it super simple to take into Adobe products which is great but hasn't been something I've particularly used so far. 

Is there something I've missed out here that you'd like to know about? Leave any Q's below or feel free to tweet me directly too!

Also sorry for the images being a total mix of designs! I planned to have the one design and show the entire process from start to end but then realised I didn't have videos for the ones that would show the best process! Learn for next time right?

Check out the communities posts:

Danielle Warman (Blooming special) - Working for free

Charlotte Kathleen G
Laura Campbell (The Floral Elephant)

Read my other posts from #CBloggers17

Introduce Yo' Self: Day 1
Facing Imposter Syndrome: Day 3

Want to join in? Get all the details in the link up! blog post.

Helloooo! It’s Day 1 of the #CBloggers17 link up and I am so excited! I’ve participated in link ups and the like with other creatives but never one specifically as part of the #CBloggers community.

So because it’s Day 1, prompts wise I thought what’s better than people sharing introductions about ourselves?

For me I’ve decided to do something that I have wanted to do for a while and I seen loooaaaddddsss of people doing ages ago and that is a lil illustration about me but, as standard, with some typographic bits involved too!

Ironically I uploaded this post late, largely due to the fact that I hadn't planned really much of anything before jetting off to Berlin. But I'm back now so I'll just need to get ahead in the next few days! But also, let that show that if you still want to join in, feel free too! You don't need to let the specifics of the days stop you from joining in. 

Check out the communities posts:

Aumsome Blog

Danielle Warman (Blooming special)

Charlotte Kathleen G
Laura Campbell (The Floral Elephant)

Read my other posts from #CBloggers17
My Hand Lettering Process: Day 2
Facing Imposter Syndrome: Day 3

Want to join in? Get all the details in the link up! blog post.

Hellooooo! I'm doing super great with this more September uploading, aren't I? Anyway, never mind! Today I want to speak about the thing that has actually driven me to wanting to post more in September, which is *drum roll* a #CBloggers link up!!!! 

So the link up officially starts on Friday, the 22nd of September, which means it overlaps the Anniversary date (the 25th, so Day 4) and finishes on the anniversary chat date (the 28th). The link up comes with prompts for each day which would be great to people to use and then some tips and ideas to think about if you're stuck with what to write for that particular prompt. 

And on that note here are the day by day prompts... 

So there's all the prompts. If you fancy getting involved, I'll be sending out emails with each of these graphics so sign up with your details using this google from: Sign Up!

Also I'll say now, you can use these prompts in any way on any media you like! If you want to do it as an Instagram challenge, go for it! If you want to discuss the topics as a YouTube video, awesome! If you want to do a classic blog post, brilliant! Something else, cool! Whatever way you produce and share your content is fine, just make sure you use the #CBloggers17 hashtag so it's easily found as I'll be going back to my own blog posts on each day and linking to everyone who's getting involved! 

And the last thing I wanted to touch on is the graphics themselves! I obviously haven't posted much of anything in regards to the #CBloggers branding but the styling of these graphics are the direction I thought I was going to go in with the identity so I wanted to play around with it just now for the graphics! Let me know what you think of them too. 

But that's all for now! I can't wait to see and read all the posts that come from this!

Oh and let me know if you're getting involved and it would be amazing that if you do get involved that you spread word a bit too! So feel free to save/share the graphics above! 

Hello! Today I have a new review on the blog and as it has been lately, it's gonna get a bit murderous! I've honestly been loving my murder, crime and thriller books this year so I'm just going to keep rolling with it. So today, I have the review of Deadly Burial by Jon Richter...

When DI Chris Sigurdsson is assigned a grisly murder case on remote Salvation

Island, he knows that it might be his strangest yet.

A forgotten wrestling star of the 1980s has been poisoned whilst in the ring, and

amidst the slippery lies of his dangerous opponents, unravelling the victim’s murky

past is almost impossible.

And as a storm threatens to cut Salvation Island off from the mainland, the race is on

for Sigurdsson to find the ruthless killer before he strikes again…

Now getting into this book I had a bit of a tough time but once I picked up the pace with it, especially after I had hit the two-thirds mark I was completely hooked! At the start of the book, it is simply an investigation as to whether a murder has been committed, if it was suicide or an accidental death. But by the end, it's flipped on it's head and it's a full-fledged thriller! I won't lie, I've read quite a few thriller and murder mystery books lately but this one took the cake. 

The book is written in a very quite unique and intriguing style, with chapters alternating between the on-going investigation into Vic Valiant’s death and sharing extracts of Valiant’s own autobiography it gives an interesting perspective into the life he led as a wrestler. It was initially this pull of wrestling that caused me to have a slow start with this book as it's not an area I'm well versed in but Richter's does a tremendous job in being able to pull in a reader who doesn't know about the wrestling world. 

One of the best things about this book is definitely the main characters. As I've said I have read a lot more crime murder/thrillers this year and this book most definitely has the most relatable characters. The only other author/series I can think of that has done as great relatable characters would be Jo Nesbo with his character Harry Hole. But within Deadly Burial, Richter manages to pull the reader in with two characters who are not perfect but are trying their hardest to do the job perfect. With Sigurdsson battling anxiety and panic attacks it hits home a bit but it's because of this that it gives him a more human side. And then with Mason, she is trying to do her best after having her baby and battling post-natal depression, I loved how the issue of depression was explored since it is something many new mothers face. 

For the rest of the book, it's definitely and interesting read and one to pick up if you like your crime thrillers or have an interest in wrestling! As Richer's debut novel it comes as a lovely surprise and I'm excited to see what else comes from him. There's a lot of what happened in this book that makes me feel a sequel will be brilliant as you can learn more about Sigurdsson and his role as a DI! 

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Yep hello, let’s skip the usual formalities of it’s been ages and just jump straight into.

So it’s September! And for this month what I thought might be good for me to do, just to try and get me back into a better writing habit was to challenge myself to consistently upload throughout the month. And the way I’m planning on doing this is to hopefully upload something everyday. Although I know my month is busy with a trip to Berlin so I’m not going to worry too much if i I miss some days but I’d ideally like to at least upload within half of the month.

But yeah, what else? So also to be done along side this blog spree I'll be running a #cbloggers link up too! I'm going to run it from the 22nd to 28th September as it means it ends on the anniversary chat date and I'm not away for the mamas majority of it too. I'll be sharing more details of that next week though, with the topics that & themes so keep an eye out for that!

And then lastly I guess the last thing I have to mention is that I'm going to be opening up freelance graphic design and hand lettering opportunities too! I'm trying to work on more client projects so if you have a blog header needing done, a poster made or some editorial bits for your online or printed mag give me a shout! And I'm also hoping to get some designs and stuff done to sell soon but I think I will be waiting till after Berlin to purchase them as I'd be better to keep cash till after!

Anyway that's all from me just now, I'll catch you in my next post! But let me know what you've been up to in the past few months and feel free to give some suggestions as to what topics/themes I should include in the #Cbloggers link up!

'ello and welcome back to the blog! Today I've got another book review for you to have a mooch over! This one I'm excited to share as it kept me on the edge of my bed like how I was with the Those Who Lie book that I reviewed a few months ago! Anyway on to the book, this time I've got the book Did you whisper back? by Kate Rigby. 

Set in the nineteen-seventies, Did You Whisper Back? begins with Amanda Court's longing to bereunited with her estranged twin sister Jo. Following a false lead, Amanda leaves her Merseyside home and family and goes to Devon to work as a chambermaid where she believes Jo now lives. Amanda's new life begins to encroach on her personal space and time, and her search for Jo is put on hold until Amanda feels Jo calling her back to Liverpool.

Gradually it emerges that Jo is, seemingly, just a figment of Amanda's imagination arising from distorted childhood memories. She experiences a series of strange and sometimes frightening experiences, including lamps talking and the endless ringing of telephones, until the desperation of her family reaches breaking point.

Did You Whisper Back? is a psychological novel about family secrets and a disturbing portrayal of the fragility of the mind.

The main thing that drew me to reading this book was that it was another psychological novel filled with suspense and that it covered the issues of mental health. Within the blurb you are given an insight to this from being told that Amanda has gone on a quest to find her long lost twin but it is really just a figment of her imagination.

I have to tip my hat too Kate as she did a fabulous job of depicting schizophrenia and the downward spiral that someone can face when they begin having a breakdown. From hallucinations to nightmares to an aura of haziness it is all laid out in front of you within the story. Because of this though, I would like to state here that if you do suffer from a mental health issue this book may be a trigger warning for you but it is important to note that Kate shows the seriousness of the issue and takes great care in describing it. 

Throughout the book, it really is the writing style that does the story justice. Kate manages to explore the seriousness of the issues while keeping you question what is going on and learn to care for Amanda. You result in being angry at characters while also longing to be able to help Amanda through everything she is experiencing which is why I felt this book was so wonderfully written. 

The way everything is described within the book as well and how the story progresses is especially brilliant. From start to end it is intense and incredibly detailed but also makes sure to give an overall full picture view while comparing 'real' life to the world inside Amanda’s head. It's this way of levelheaded writing that gives you everything you need to understand the scale of what is going on. You really are able to understand each piece of the story by being taken into it rather than just reading the words on a page. 

I really do applaud Kate for what she has achieved with this book and will definitely be making sure to check out more by her! Obviously the subject matter doesn't make for an enjoyable or easy read but it definitely will provoke you emotionally and give you some really meaningful insight to mental illness. So if you enjoy a suspense then you should get a read of it as I'm sure you will find it just as brilliant as I did.

If you fancy winning a copy of two of Kate's previous books then check out the rafflecopter form below for the chance to win! (UK entries only.)

More information

Kate Rigby's Website

Kate's blog

Buy the book on Amazon

Buy it on iTunes

Find out more about Neverland Blog Tours

*Disclaimer: I was sent this book free of charge in connection with the Neverland blog tours promotion of this book. This does not in any way affect my opinions. All views and thoughts are my own.

So uh it's been a while again hasn't it? Woops! Nevermind though. Today I wanted to come back and just share some updates with you all regarding a few different things. And also because it's my birthday today I kinda felt I needed to get something done today that unleashed me creatively a bit. So onto the update... 

It's been just over two months since I last posted anything and even then it was a simply a book review with no details of what I was up too. And before that, the last things I shared was my blog entries on my time in Cornwall for my internship. 

Since then I've been keeping up with applying for jobs and so far had some luck with getting interviews but nothing concrete as of yet but still holding on! I've also been taking on some more freelance projects including one exciting thing but I'll get on to that later. And lastly I've also been doing #the100DayProject (my tag is #100daysofohhaylettering), albeit I have slipped massively behind now but I'm doing bits and pieces for it when I can. 

Recently I've also booked with Darren to go away to Berlin for a few days in September and when we come back we're going to see Mayday Parade again too! I've also been looking into going to this years GDFS since I loved it so much last year. (If you're going let me know!) So I've got myself booked up with a few exciting things in the next few months anyway. 

And lastly, the biggest thing I'm currently working on. If you follow me on twitter or keep up with the #cbloggers community (either on Twitter or Facebook) you'll know I'm in the midst of branding it. It is something I have wanted to get on and get done for years but it has honestly just been something that has always slipped to the bottom of my list. But in saying that, because just now I'm still looking for jobs I thought it would be great to do a really big branding project of some kind. And instead of reaching out to business or do something fictional, why not do it for something I know the in's and out's of already? It's still early stages of the project and I'll maybe go into more detail in another post, but atm I have put out the brand doc this week so if you want to have a read and look at the document you can see it here: #Cbloggers Community Identity doc. 

But I think that's it from me and this update for now! I have a few other things, including getting my prints on Etsy to do over the next few weeks so stay tuned for that and I'll try make sure I don't leave it another 2 months for a new post. 

*Also I want to give a shout out to both Kelly, Polly and Fern as there photo stylings for photos has inspired me to do a bit of digital collage!  I fancied trying something a bit different especially as I don't really have any photos to share from the past few months.

Hello again! Today I have another book review (I promise I'll get to my Cornwall updates soon)! This times book is another pick from Neverland Blog Tour's, here is my review of Hot Shade by Tamara Lush...

In the tropical Florida heat, a man with deadly secrets falls for a lovely, inquisitive reporter...

After Luca Rossi lost everything to the Italian mafia, he used all his skills to write a stunning expose, and managed to put a key don on trial for his life. But now Luca must hide out on the Florida coast until justice is served in Italy. All is well, until he meets a lovely young American reporter who won’t stop asking questions about who he is. Soon he’s fighting the urge to hush her with a kiss ... and much, much more.

Skylar Shaw took a job with a small Florida paper determined to make her mark on the journalistic world. She may spend her days writing up alligator scares and human interest stories, but when she meets a handsome mystery man on the beach, she’s not afraid to dig into his past, and the danger stalking him from across the seas. There’s just one problem ... will her efforts help Luca, or bring danger straight to him?

Luca knows all too well the journalistic drive to keep digging. Can he trust his lovely Skylar to keep his secrets, or must he push her away to save both their lives?

When on the run from the mafia and hiding out in his Uncles Florida holiday home, Luca is hoping not to get into any more trouble. Then after a plane crashes and he is deemed a 'good Samaritan', the attention this brings from a journalist named Skylar starts throwing him off and worries him about how safe it is to continue speaking to her, let alone a relationship.

If I'm honest, this isn't the usual sort of book I would tend to go for. It was quite romantic and about the angle of a relationship being formed. However, what did pull me into this book and made me enjoy it was the mystery aspect to everything going on. The mistrust between Skylar and Luca because they had both had experiences that caused them to be more questionable of a relationship.

Within the book itself though, it was this character development and growing relationship between them that definitely gave the book some intrigue. This development didn't just sit with the two main characters (Skylar and Luca) either it carried through onto supporting ones too which I found made the book a lot more of an enjoyable read.

Overall I enjoyed the book and although at times it seemed rushed each avenue and point given throughout the story was developed enough to understand what was going on. I'd recommend this book to someone who is wanting a sizzling hot read for the Summer or just fancies a unique take on the standard boy meets girl story. 

More information

Tamara Lush's Website
Twitter: @tamaralush
Facebook

Universal Buy link

Get more information on Goodreads

Find out more about Neverland Blog Tours

*Disclaimer: I was sent this book free of charge in connection with the Neverland blog tours promotion of this book. This does not in any way affect my opinions. All views and thoughts are my own.

Welcome back to the blog! Today I have one of my favourite type of posts to write and that is a book review! Mainly these are one of my favourites because I get to read some fantastic books, and today's book is no exception. Again with a debut offering from Neverland Blog Tour's, here is my review of Those Who Lie by Diane Jeffrey...

Emily Klein doesn’t know she has killed her husband until the day of his funeral. 

At first, signs point to a tragic accident. Yet, as Emily pieces together the events before his death – events which led to her own memory loss – she begins to suspect that her husband’s death may have been the result of more than a terrible twist of fate… But the accident is only the beginning. Because while Emily’s physical scars will heal, the trauma of the accident has awakened old ghosts. She hears strange sounds, catches things that can’t possibly be there in the corner of her eye. Before long, everywhere she looks, she seems to see her husband.

And suddenly, Emily finds herself asking the most dangerous question of all.

Can she really trust herself?

As I said before, this is Diane's debut psychological thriller and let me tell you what a job she did with it! The book follows Emily, who is recently widowed after her husband dies in the car accident she believes to have caused, and details how this traumatic even affects her mental health and brings up old wounds she has tried to keep closed. 

I really intrigued to get read this book when I first read about it! I have been loving reading, watching and listening to things about true and non-fiction crime (including everything from binge listening Serial and In The Dark podcasts to watching Criminal Minds non-stop). So when I heard this was about a women who couldn't remember murdering her husband, I was hooked! 

During this book, it is set in a way that shares how Emily is feeling and everything she is experiencing in the presence, whilst it flashes back through periods of her life that have are significant to the things going on now. With the changes within the storyline it really shows how disjointed Emily's current mental state is- especially when she starts questioning the intentions of her own friends. 

It is within this stagnant period of time that you are really exposed to the horrible experiences Emily faces, from being stalked and harassed to her house being broken into- it's pretty terrifying. Going through these sections of the book you are constantly thrown between who is doing all this nasty things to her or if she is really just doing it to herself. It's because of this suspense and needing to know what was going on that caused me to read this book within the space of about 5 hours- and I have to say I was pretty accurate in knowing what was going on. 

Overall, I have to say I really did love this book and the story as I think it touched on some important issues regarding mental illness in a very understanding and open way as it explored how the people around you really do affect it in subtle ways. I also really appreciate the writing style of this book as it did keep you guessing about what was going on and for someone like me who loves a good investigation it kept me on my toes, even if I was right in the end! 

I'd really recommend checking this out if you're into your crime or thriller books as I have no doubts you'll be hooked too! If you do fancy reading it, then why not check out the giveaway below and you could even win it for yourself! Overall there's three prizes to win, the 1st prize including the book, but who doesn't love a teddy or chocolates too? 

1st prize: eBook of Those Who Lie

2nd prize: Teddy and chocolates

3rd prize: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland notebook & chocolates

More information

Diane Jeffrey's Website

Buy the book on Amazon

Get more information on Goodreads

Find out more about Neverland Blog Tours

*Disclaimer: I was sent this book free of charge in connection with the Neverland blog tours promotion of this book. This does not in any way affect my opinions. All views and thoughts are my own.