#34 Keep calm and power through

On the end of the year rush, a non-exhaustive list of worries, and Pepper the Cat.

Photo by Jasmin Sessler on Unsplash

December is looming on the horizon. 35 days until the end of 2021. Inside, I am like this piece of toilet paper somehow still glued to the cardboard tube, but essentially hanging by a thread. On the outside, I keep it cool. I’ve got this, obvs!?

(But do I really?)

A list of current worries you may or may not relate to:

1. Postponing my *almost* quarter-life crisis until I find the time for a breakdown; ⏳

2. Ditching everything and everyone and buying a one-way flight ticket to *insert dream destination*; ✈️

3. Spending my savings on NARS makeup and skincare products instead of buying Christmas presents for family and friends; 💆‍♀️ 💄

4. Admitting I was too ambitious when I set my initial annual reading challenge on Goodreads (or sneakily adjusting it to a more realistic number just so I feel better that I’ve ‘completed’ it); 📚

5. Going freelance in the new year so I can dedicate more time to growing my little worm (but also because I don’t have a job lined up… unless you want to hire me? In which case, let’s chat!); 👩‍💻

6. How to get eight hours of sleep in three hours…. or getting used to 4am shifts in central London; 🧟

7. I’ve just become a cat mum. (Help?!) Pepper has showed up out of nowhere on Monday and since then, it was love at the first tin of salmon. 🥲

The first day for Pepper in his new home

In fairness, you don’t care about this. Not that you should. But something tells me I am not the only one feeling a tad overwhelmed. Let’s normalise feeling “meh.”

As always, I strive for consistency. I might have waffled for too long (if you’re still reading, you’re a star!) or sent this issue to you waaaay later than I normally would, but I’m trying to stay calm and pull myself together.

35 days left. Let’s make them count. Even though it’s going to be chaotic, messy, last-minute. Keep powering through. Something good is around the corner, waiting for you. You’ll find your Pepper, I know you will.

---

---

📣 Coming up:

News on the Costa Book Awards, Sally Rooney (again!), the JRR Token crypto-currency, and more. Plus, why you need to be careful when you’re leaving a review online; the not-so-radical approach to make the internet safer, and … Santa Claus!

Until next Friday …

Happy reading, happy learning,

Teodora x

---

🥁 📚 The latest in the literary world

• Congratulations to the 20 writers who have made the shortlist for the 2021 Costa Book Awards! 👏 Originally established in 1971, the Costas recognise the year’s “most enjoyable” books across five categories – First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry, and Children’s Book. This year alone, there were 934 entries overall! 😮

• A crypto-currency called J.R.R Token was blocked by Tolkien’s estate after going on sale to “organise the people towards a common goal of making JRR Token ‘The One Token That Rules Them All’”. Intellectual property rights are no joke, kids. 🚫

• Rudyard Kipling’s original handwritten manuscript of “The Jungle Book” is reproduced in book form for the first time. It includes Kipling’s exclusive sketches on Mowgli, Baloo, and Bagheera, the characters that enchanted (and will continue to do so) generations of readers! 🙌

• A planned monument of the prolific English novelist Virginia Woolf has been criticised by a local conservation group for being “insensitive.” 🙄 Originally, the placement would have overlooked the River Thames, which raised concerns given Woolf’s tragic ending. (She took her own life by drowning in the River Ouse near Lewes in East Sussex) 😬 🙈

• Deborah Levy’s “Real Estate” has been named Hay Festival Book of the Year 2021, after hundreds of readers nominated the “compulsively readable narrative” online as their favourite pick. 👏

• The Sally Rooney drama continues: 70 writers have signed an open letter to back Rooney’s decision not to publish her new novel, “Beautiful World Where Are You,” in Israel. ✉️

---

🎧 📰 👀 My media diet this week

• No cool features or podcasts as I’ve had my head buried in news about the maritime migration disaster on the English Channel, the “worst ever” Covid variant, or the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Working in journalism can become draining sometimes. 😔

---

📌 Random news in brief

• When too much is too much: Lush Cosmetics have decided to deactivate their social media accounts in a bid to make the internet safer. 😱 I don’t know what their marketing team will be doing now, but the initiative sounds noble.

• A grandmother and her six-year-old granddaughter were kicked out of their hotel room in Georgia after leaving a three-star review. (If there were similar consequences for all the three-star book reviews I rated on Goodreads, I’d be in serious trouble…) ⭐⭐⭐

• The battle for the word of the year started last week when Cambridge Dictionary declared “perseverance” as its 2021 word of the year. For Collins Dictionary, “NFT” was the winner, followed closely by “cheugy,” “climate anxiety,” and “metaverse.” (Why don’t you check out my issue on non-fungible tokens, crypto art, and digital assets to stay in the know?) 👀

• Santa Claus is making up with another man in this year’s Norwegian postal service Christmas advert. 🎅🎄🎅Weird? Do we need Santa to have a boyfriend? You can’t say it ain’t original…

---

Before we say goodbye… 🥺

If you liked this issue of the newsletter, please click on the 💜 button, so I know I’m doing a good job. There’s always the option to leave a comment with your feedback. I promise I’ll always reply!

💡 Knowledge is no power. Sharing it, that’s power. Why not post about this on social media or forward this email to a pal?