I’m linking this post up to Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer’s Sunday Blog Share. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.
This week’s been another up-and-down week in my real life. I’m still struggling with a combination of increased pain and the side-effects from my increased painkillers. This has meant that I’m having days where I haven’t managed to read anything at all, and on the days where I can read I’m only managing to read in short periods, which is very frustrating when you have TBR as big as mine but hopefully things will being to settle soon.
On the plus side this week I finally decided to go ahead and get some voice activation/dictation software. I’ve used Dragon software in the past but found it really difficult to train, which is why I’ve been unsure whether it was worth trying again now. Anyway, I got this new software a few days ago fully expecting it to take ages to train so I was stunned when, after just running through the setup and then opening a pages document to see how well it worked, that it actually didn’t need any further training! Only an hour after opening the box I was able to dictate an entire review and found that the few tiny mistakes it made were easy enough to correct. I’m definitely converted to Dragon!
Thanks to everyone who gave me advice on finding better life balance last week. Things have come together in quite a serendipitous way this week. Firstly, the Dragon software is allowing me to dictate all of my blog posts which means no more typing so my pain levels aren’t being quite so aggravated by my blogging. Secondly, I discovered how to schedule blog posts that haven’t yet been published, and I found some software that I can then use schedule my links to post to my social media accounts at set intervals during the day. All of this means that I can now schedule in a regular time during the week where I can work on my blog schedule a few blog posts at time, then on my bad days I don’t have to stress about it. It’s early days yet but I think this compromise will work really well for me and I’m really grateful everyone who suggested that I consider scheduling posts in advance rather than doing it on a day-to-day basis. My blog is very important to me and gives me such a sense of fulfilment so I don’t want to compromise on the number of posts I write but at least this new way will allow me to work on my blog in blocks of time, meaning I can give myself time away from it too.
This week I’ve managed to read four books (actually one novel, one novella and two short stories):
The Boy on the Bus by Katey Lovell (Meet Cute series)
The Boy With the Boxes by Katey Lovell (Meet Cute series)
Dear Dad by Giselle Green
The Summer I Met You by Victoria Walters
I’ve blogged six times this week:
Sunday: Weekly Wrap-up Post
Tuesday: Review and Giveaway: The One-in-a-Million Boy by Monica Ward. This giveaway is for a brand-new hardback copy of the book and it’s open internationally so everyone can enter. The giveaway closes on Wednesday so you still have time!
Wednesday: WWW Wednesday Post
Thursday: Review: The Swimming Pool by Louise Candlish
Friday: Review: The Good Mother by A. L. Bird
Saturday: Stacking the Shelves Post
Coming up on my blog this week:
Monday: Author interview with Sherry Mayes (Stop the World)
Tuesday: Book Review or guest post/author Q&A
Wednesday: WWW Wednesday Post
Thursday: Book Review or guest post/author Q&A
Friday: Book Review or guest post/author Q&A
Saturday: Stacking the Shelves Post
Sunday: Weekly Wrap-Up Post
This is what I’m currently reading:
In The Light of What We See by Sarah Painter
Wonder Cruise by Ursula Bloom
Shtum by Jem Lester
Shame by Jasvinder Sanghera
The Second Love of My Life by Victoria Walters
Truth, Lies and O-Rings by Alan J MacDonald and James R Hansen
What have you been reading this week? Please feel free to link to your weekly wrap-up post, or if you don’t have a blog please share in the comments below! I love to hear what you’re all reading. 
RatherTooFondofBooks 
Well done on finding some solutions that work for you! Onwards and upwards!
Thank you! Things seemed to come together this week to make blogging easier so I’m really pleased.
Glad things are going well this week. I remember when I discovered how to schedule posts, it made my life so much easier. Hopefully between that and the talk/type software blogging can continue to be fun and not a pain or a chore.
In the Light of What We See has a beautiful cover! I will have to check it out based on that alone.
Have a great week! My Weekly Wrap-Up
Thank you. I feel so much better knowing I can schedule my posts, I wish I’d bothered to find out how to do it before now but better late than never. It’ll be easier to plan my time if I can write a couple of posts at once and schedule them.
It’s a beautiful cover, isn’t it? The novel is really good so far, I’m hoping to read more of it today.
Hope you have a great week too.
I’m glad the scheduling suggestion helped 🙂 Sounds like this week is going better!
Thanks again for your advice. Things have all come together nicely this week to make blogging easier for me so I feel much less stressed about it now. 🙂
Glad you’ve found something to help you cope when you’re not feeling too good. It sounds a practical solution to balancing your situation but letting you keep control. Hope this week is a good one.
Thank you. It’s making such a difference already just being able to dictate everything instead of typing. My posts are getting written faster as I was typing one handed before so I’m catching up on reviews at last. I hope you have a great week too. 🙂
I hope you’ll manage to find balance when it comes to your pain medication and pain levels, too, Hayley! It must be very tiring to get used to new meds, and still feel pain at times 😦 *hugs*
I’m glad you’ve found tools to help you with blogging! The dictating software sounds fantastic. And scheduling posts is definitely a plus 🙂 It makes everything easier.
Have a wonderful week ahead and happy reading.
Thank you so much. It’s been great being able to dictate my posts and schedule in advance the last couple of days – I would have been so upset if I’d had to give up on blogging for a while so I’m very happy that it’s worked out. Hope you have a great week too. 🙂
Very interesting about Dragon. You almost make me want to try it, but I guess I need to go google it and find out the cost!
The dragon software I got is brilliant, I still can’t believe that it pretty much worked straight out of the box without needed hours of training. It does make some mistakes but only tiny ones that are easy to correct. The software I got was £120 so it’s not cheap but if it would make a difference to your life then it’s worth it.
Sorry to hear about your increased pain and the sideeffects from the painkillers but I’m glad Dragon software is making your blogging easier. I think I want to try it so thanks for sharing! Now off to read your review of The Good Mother 🙂
Thank you. The Dragon software is brilliant, I’d definitely recommend it. I still can’t believe that once I’d got through the set up that it didn’t need further training. It does make a few small mistakes but that’s easy to correct. It’s not cheap (the software I got was £120) but it’s worth it if it makes a difference to you life. Thanks for commenting and for going to read my review of The Good Mother. 🙂
So glad to hear the dragon worked right out of the box. I have always wondered about it, since typing can be painful. I do hope the adjustments to meds soon fine you at a tolerable pain level.
I’ve used Dragon in the past and had to give up as it was near impossible to train but this is so different from how it was then. You have to read a couple of stories to it as part of the set up so it can adjust volume etc, then once that was done it just worked fine. I was so surprised but am very happy with it. It makes a few tiny mistakes but they’re easy enough to correct. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who had problems with typing. Thank you so much.
I’m so glad you were able to find some balance and that’s awesome about how well Dragon works. I’ll have to keep that in mind. I can’t read when I’m on pain meds or sick so I fully sympathize with you. Hopefully the changes you’ve made will have you back to reading soon. Have a great week!
Thank you, I’d definitely recommend the software to anyone who has problems typing. Yeah it’s hard to concentrate when the pain is bad and I really miss escaping into a good book. I’ve managed to read for a little while today so hopefully this will be a better week. The changes I’ve made with blogging should help too. Hope you have a great week too. 🙂
Glad this was a good week and yay for Dragon! That’s great. I remember when I did posts day by day and scheduling was like a new thing- I was like really I can do that lol? Definitely helps. 🙂
Thank you. I love blogging but it’s hard work when my health’s not good so I feel like a weight’s been lifted off me now I can dictate my posts and schedule in advance. 🙂
I love that you’re taking control of things – getting the voice activated software and making the changes you need to make.
I hope you’re able to get the medications sorted soon.
Thank you so much.
I hate when I can’t physically read because of something health wise. 😦 I hope you can get that dealt with better for your own sanity! It does sound like you’re working hard on all that though. Have a great week!
Check out my Sunday Post
Thank you, I’ll go read your post now.
Glad the Dragon works so well! I’ve used an older version in the past and had a lot of trouble getting it to work with my not very broad Scottish accent, but they’re improving these things all the time – sounds like they’ve finally got there. 🙂
I had the same trouble with Dragon in the past because I have a strong accent too. I really have been surprised about how well it’s working. It makes some mistakes but only small ones that are easy to correct.
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