2015 went by in a flash but it was a pretty tumultuous year here on A Page of Heaven too. We’ve barely had time to post with all the schoolwork we had to juggle and much to my dismay, it also meant less time to read (glares at my Goodreads Challenge).
Jing is laughing sadly at her 2015 Goodreads Challenge.
Aside from our battle with time, we were also facing a rather confusing moment where we lost our purpose for book blogging. Everything was so rigid as we aimed to post as much as possible without giving much thought to what exactly was being posted.
And so we’ve sat down and rethought why we love to read and what we wanted our book blog to be like – no longer wanting to follow the norm in the blogosphere like we’ve been doing for ages.
At this point, you might be thinking: Oh no! Are they going to start throwing in non-bookish stuff and it starts overwhelming the bookish stuff and becomes more of a personal blog?
No, we won’t be abandoning books at all (HOORAY!). And no, we’re not heading down the beauty/fashion/lifestyle blogging route that chucks our love for books in the corner to collect dust. We love our books way too much to do that.
With that came the decision to ditch all features that worked like a series and instead have most of our posts be able to stand on their on (not unlike Buzzfeed’s style). We’ve also decided to make our reviews more frank, which would probably result in them being shorter.
But since we ourselves usually don’t have the patience nor attention span to read absurdly long reviews (thinks guiltily of my reviews of the Throne of Glass series), we didn’t want to subject our readers to them.
Not that long reviews are a bad thing, just no longer a thing you’ll see much around here.
Also, here are some other things to expect:
- Nothing. Yes, don’t expect anything because we’re really making a 180˚ change.
New tagline, new purpose, new rating system (if you’ve been observant, you might have caught the changes we made in the descriptors), basically a BRAND NEW US.
Hello, it’s me. No, this is not about Adele the singer’s album, it’s about me, Adelena/Adele, turning 19. I know, hilarious. Anyway, I can’t believe it’s my last teen because it feels like just yesterday when I turned 16.
Disturbing fact: I am now older than many YA book protagonists.
(Jing: If you pause and really take it in, it’s actually very disturbing)
Fact to make myself feel better: said protagonists usually act older than their age anyway.
While it is a little daunting growing up (Mom: Please start considering the males around you before they are all snatched up), I’m also thrilled because it means another year closer to going onto the mission field! Since it’s the year before I reach my next decade checkpoint, I decided to do that “what I would tell my future/past self” thing. Lets set the age difference at 5 years.
Message to 14-year-old me (which will probably never get to me/her/something):
Stop. Being. So. Mean. But good job on not giving up when it came to befriending Jing. Yes, she was so antisocial despite your best efforts in being amicable but believe it or not, she’ll become like a sister from a different mother and also a sister in Jesus’s cray cray family.
Yes, and speaking of Jesus, you’ll finally get to know Him (and not just hear Dad talking about Him). Don’t be so shocked when you find out He has a wicked sense of humour and loves to shower you with blessings. Oh, and that God’s so much cooler than you could ever imagine. ;)
Message to 24-year-old me (I really hope I’ll remember to read this in 5 years):
Hi! You’re (I am/will be?!) probably on the mission field now (well, you better be because if you backslid, I WILL come hunt you down via time travel machine). I can’t imagine what wonders and miracles you would’ve witnessed already and all I can say is I’m insanely thrilled to live out the next 5 years and find out for myself!
I’m going to sound like mommy right now (but I’m genuinely curious), have you met your (my? Our? WHAT?!) significant other yet? Gosh, it’ll be weird if he’s reading this over your shoulder as you’re looking at this. Anyway, all I hope is that he’s as crazy for God as you are and that he looks like Nikolai Lantsov/Chaol Westfall/Theo James/Henry Cavill/Chris Evans with a sense of humour like Chris Pratt’s.
Just kidding. (Psst. But it wouldn’t hurt if he really does!)
Adele
2016… I see it as the year where “the rest of my life” begins (Jing and I categorised everything after this semester as “the rest of our lives” because starting next semester, we’ll be able to specialise in writing at school). 2015 was crazy and amazing but I have no doubt 2016 would be more so. And well… I have nothing more to say about a year that has barely begun but I do hope I’ll get to read a lot more books and better balance my time between bookstagram and book blogging!
As some of you know, our last post was about bookstagram stealing our attention, after which we totally disappeared for a few months. What can I say? It made me realise how much I actually enjoy photography! Anyway, here’s wishing everyone of you a happy new year!
Jing Zhi
You know how with new years and beginnings, people treat it as this Big Step towards a Brand New Me? Well, 2016 is the first year where I didn’t get that feeling. January simply feels like an extension of December, and I wasn’t caught up with the whole new year hype. It’s not that I’ve become a jaded teen in the time I’ve disappeared from this blog, but rather, I found myself stepping into a “new year/age/era” sometime in December. I came to terms with things that I’ve refused to face/have been lingering at the back of my mind for the past year. And I can safely say that I think I am finally clean – cause I’ve finally found my way out of the woods.
(Yes, those Taylor references were totally necessary.)
Like Adele, I really hope to be able to read more books this year – I’ve set my Goodreads Challenge at 15 books after failing miserably last year. I finished reading Six Of Crows recently and I’m going to implode soon if I don’t tell you guys about my beautiful new ships.
I’m so excited for the changes to come in APH – we’ve lined up so much I can hardly sit still thinking about them! And for the year ahead (I can already smell the craziness charging at the both of us) and well, the rest of our lives.
Here’s to new beginnings!
A Page of Heaven 