so, it’s been a year and here we are || hi again!

a year ago, earlier this month, sometime around the quite hour of 3 a.m. i had started this blog on a book drunken haze. and here we are. damn, i sound like some sort of one toothed old man reminiscing about the past. i don’t have any special post or competition prepared and i am not a gifted poet. so, this post is basically going to be me rambling on. i wasn’t sure i wanted to make this post, but i wanted to have something to look back on. so, yay! happy blog-anniversary to me and The Fictional Journal.

before i get into anything else, i just want to mention these two lovely amazing gorgeous human beings, who have been my anchors these past year – nehal @quirky pages and pannaga @state of craze. i know i am not the best texter and i disappear a lot. but thank you so much for sticking around. despite your weird-ass pranks, you guys mean a lot to me. <33

i would love to give you guys a life update, but it’s all the same. we are still under lockdown and it’s been 18 months now. finals for high school, looking for colleges, recommendation letters – it’s like too much happening all at once. not to mention that our official all-india examination starts from november and we still don’t know how it’s going to be conducted. and one of these days, i swear to god i am going to kidnap a child. ’cause people be like, “oh! this is so easy. even a child can do this.” i mean~ yeah, let me just hop on and bring in a kid and hand him a graph and some inverse calculus shit.

on a more positive note, i have been reading. and it’s been fun. for a while, i was just so burdened with all the arcs and this weird constant pressure of keeping up with new releases ever since i started blogging, it was hard to focus. i am so grateful for the amount of traffic and support that i received from you guys, but it was so overwhelming. especially for someone like me who is terrified of people. it was like, i had to make sure that each of my posts outperformed the last one and i had to constantly come up with new ideas, interesting things to talk about, or click baits maybe. lol.

basically, what i am trying to say is that it’s a silly advice when people say don’t bother yourself with statistics because admit it. more often than not, it does become a major part of your motivation. and hey, wanting to grow is NOT a bad thing. lmao, i sound like i am re-assuring myself.

*this post is so all over the place*

as you can see, i am totally out of ideas right now. and yeah motivation. so, i am just going to “fare e well” and take off.

but before i go, i would like to share this one quote. this one line which keeps me going and i cannot even start to explain how much it has changed my outlook. but here it is:-

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

i am sorry for not being able to acknowledge everyone who has helped me get to this point. i just want to thank you for every read, every like, and every comment. it never fails to bring a smile on my face. and on a parting note, please somebody send some motivation my way. ’cause i have negatives.

what is the one type of post that you would like to see more of (from me)?

have a great day!

~ ashmita