Instagram Review

Instagram is one of those sites that everyone is always talking about to the point that it feels like not having an IG account is social suicide.

Still, I managed to resist until recently.

It's honestly not a social network I thought I would be for me. I'm not really into photography. Obviously I take some photos for my blog, but other than that I rarely do.

I'm definitely not a selfie queen. In my whole life I have taken the grand total of one selfie. That was only because a blog I was guest posting on required a photo of the writer and there was no else around to take a picture.

I hate having my photo taken altogether, and I am yet to see a photo of myself I like. I am that person who always gets caught blinking, or moving or looking a bit demented!

Aside from that, I quite like the idea of having photographic memories, I just always kind of forget to take the photos. I have seen me go on holiday and come back and I haven't had the camera out of my bag - I carry it around but just never think to use it.

I like the idea of seeing other people's pictures, but before blogging, when it would have just been an account for personal use, it seemed pointless because everyone I know who has IG has it set up to post their photos from IG onto Facebook anyway.

Anyway, since starting blogging, every blogger I've spoke to has been shocked when I say I don't have an IG account. After some debate I finally bit the bullet and joined.

Things I like:

1. Although I'm not into taking pictures, I do enjoy looking at other people's (nosey much!)
2. If used correctly, it can really show what your brand/blog is all about. I don't use it correctly! It's something I'm working on, and recently I have read a fab series about this by Nikki at The View From In Here. Check it out, it really is a fantastic IG guide.

Things I don't like:

1. I hate the fact everything has to be done on my phone. A lot of the images I want on there are ones I have designed on my laptop - its such a mess about sending them to my phone to post instead of doing it direct.
2. Not being able to add clickable links to each photo. I have the main blog link in my bio, but who actually goes and clicks on it? If it's there, people are much more likely to click through.

Top tip for bloggers:

If your IG account is your personal one, I understand why you might have it private. If it's your blog account, don't do that. You are more likely to get followers if your account isn't private. Partly because people can see some examples of your photos and get a sense of whether your account is of interest to them. Mainly though, if your account is private, people will assume you don't want strangers following you. If I come across a private account, I only request to follow them if its someone I have already connected with on their blog/other social media. I find it quite unwelcoming.

Love it or hate it?

As a fun network, I love it. I enjoy taking a little glimpse into other people's lives. As a blog promotion, I don't think it's all that great though to be honest. Having said that, I haven't focused much attention on it. I think I might up my game a bit, try to post more regularly and see how it goes!

What do you think? Are you an IG lover or hater? Let me know in the comments and if you are on IG, feel free to leave your links in the comments and follow each other :)

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Book Review: Magnus Chase And The Sword Of Summer By Rick Riordan

A while back, I asked for some new YA recommendations. One of them (from The Mama from Poop Rainbows) was for the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. I added it to my reading wish list, but before I got around to acquiring it, I was approached to review the new Rick Riordan book! I was very excited about this - it must be fate!

My review of Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan

 

 

 

Blurb from the back cover

 

The first book in the incredible new series from the author of Percy Jackson, the Kane Chronicles and Heroes of Olympus.
My name is Magnus Chase. I'm orphaned and living rough on the streets of Boston. And things are about to get much worse.
My day started out normally enough. I was sleeping under a bridge when some guy kicked me awake and said, 'They're after you.' Next thing I know, I'm reunited with my obnoxious uncle, who casually informs me that my long-lost father is a Norse god.
Nothing normal about that. And it turns out the gods of Asgard are preparing for war. Apparently, if I can't find the sword my father lost two thousand years ago, there will be doom. Doomsday, to be precise.
A fire giant attacking the city?
Immortal warriors hacking each other to pieces?
Unkillable wolves with glowing eyes?
It's all coming up.
But first I'm going to die. This is the story of how my life goes downhill from there...

My thoughts on the book

 

I think I have just found my new favourite YA author! Magnus Chase is a character everyone will love. He is a normal teenager who finds himself in this bizarre situation. I love the way Magnus is quite sarcastic and the way he adapts quickly and just kind of accepts everything that happens around him (and that is a lot of stuff!). I don't want to spoil the story, but the book follows the story of Magnus Chase, a teenager who finds out his father was actually a Norse god. Upon being killed, he finds himself in Valhalla and is thrown into the midst of Odin's army as the gods prepare for war.

Magnus goes on a quest to find the Sword of Summer, and is joined by some fellow misfits in his travels.

All the characters are well written and stay in character.

 

Conclusion and rating

 

This book grabbed me almost immediately and I'm still waiting for it to let go, two days after I finished it. At times witty, and at times utterly touching, this is the story of honour, bravery and friendship. I can't wait for the next one! 5/5

 

Available now on Amazon. Click here for more information and to buy!

 

Picture courtesy of Amazon

 

Still not convinced? Watch the video trailer below to see Magnus Chase's story brought to life!

 



 



 

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I was gifted this book in return for my review, but all opinions are my own. As an avid reader, I would never recommend a book I didn't really enjoy





Anything Goes Linky Week 17

 

Welcome to the Anything Goes linky, week 17! This linky is for any type of posts on any subject. Literally Anything Goes! It will run from 12.05am Monday to 11.55pm the following Sunday, so there is plenty time to link up. And if you link up early, feel free to pop back and check out some of the later link ups - you never know when you will find your new favourite blog!

I will be adding pinnable images to my #AnythingGoes Pinterest board, check it out here.

If you are new to linkys, Becky at Cuddle Fairy has written a fantastic guide on how to link your posts, which you can read here.

There seems to be some confusion about the "name" part of the linking up process. This is the name of the post (or the name you want displaying) rather than your name.

I would just like to say a big thank you to each and every one of you who link up. Whether you have been here from the beginning, linking up each week, or if this is your first time here (and everything in between), thank you for helping make this linky a success!

How it works

 

1. Link up to 3 posts, old or new, per week

 

2. Please add my badge to any linked up posts - copy and paste the code below into the HTML section of your post.

3 Please read and comment on at least 2 other posts, but feel free to do as many as you want to! The more you share the love, the more love you will get back!

4. To keep up to date with what's happening when, feel free to follow me on Twitter @randommusings29

 5. Share your post's URL on Twitter using #AnythingGoes and tag me @randommusings29 and I will retweet (as many times as you want to!).

I look forward to reading all your posts! Everyone welcome :)

You can find me here: Twitter Bloglovin Pinterest and Instagram Please do stop by and say hi!

 

 

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<a href="http://myrandommusings.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page_9.html" title="My Random Musings"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrP1K8WQ-TeV6jEYE3LinjjiafF89jOv40MseLzysG51MwWIt4iJyuCOI4TTm3J5zuEhdQK3dH1E5heF9NpnDv0iNHlpyYDJDzZPG5R1phIPT0FbhXEgssXfReigWzUbWyd5xuYhjEnSw/s1600/Anything+Goes+linky+badge.jpg" alt="My Random Musings" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Thought Of The Day - Week 21

Welcome to this week's thought of the day round up!

 

Monday

 

 

So much can change in a day, so enjoy the highs, forget the lows and trust everything will work out in the end!

 

Tuesday

 

 

Dance to your own tune - the fact its different to everyone else's is what makes it special

 

Wednesday

 

 

Face your fears!

 

Thursday

 

 

Its amazing what you can do if you put your mind to it!

 

Friday

 

 

Don't hold grudges, everything happens for a reason, and just because you can't see it yet doesn't mean it's not there!

 

Saturday

 

 

Sometimes all you can do is laugh and accept the crazy around you

 

Sunday

 

 

Stop saying, start doing!

 

Which one is you favourite? Let me know in the comments :)

 

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Blogging Bucket List

Firstly I would like to thank Mrs Tubbs from Someplace Strange for the tag. This tag made me realise I have no real goals in place for my blog and has pushed me into setting some. Here they are:

By the end of this year:

Reach 100,000 page views
Reach 1000 Twitter followers
Be self hosted
Start actively seeking out brands I would like to work with in the future
Finish my first novel
Finish a book of short stories
Work out how to self publish them
Buy and start using a decent camera instead of just my phone
Do some guest posting for other bloggers (if anyone wants to offer me a guest post opportunity that would be great!)
Learn enough about web building to redesign my site
Redesign blog button and header
Learn CSS and a bit more about HTML

I think the first thing I will have to do is buy some sort of time stopping device so I can fit all of this in!

I would love to get all this done by the end of the year but to be honest if it runs over a month or two I will be ok with that.

I now nominate the following to share their bucket lists:

Katie from Growing Up Kater Tot
Becky from Cuddle Fairy
Trista from Domesticated Momster
Janet from Rambles, Rants and Writings
Sarah from Run, Jump, Scrap
The Mama from Poop Rainbows
Silly Mummy from R is for Hoppit
Mrs McPartlin from The Real Military Housewife
Angela from Days in Bed
Lisa from Mumma Scribbles

If you aren't on the list and want to write your bucket list, consider yourself tagged :)

Thanks again to Mrs Tubbs!

You can find me here: Twitter Bloglovin Pinterest and Instagram Please do stop by and say hi!

Everything You Need To Know About Internet Trolls - A Rather Sarcastic Guide!

Remember back in the good old days when a troll was something that lived under a bridge bothering goats, or a Norwegian good luck ornament, or even a cute toy we collected? If you are too young to remember those days, seriously look up the cute toys!

These days, when we say troll we are mostly referring to those key board warriors who seemingly have a lot of spare time which they choose to dedicate to leaving needlessly inflammatory comments on other people's things on the internet.

There is a difference between a troll and someone who disagrees with you

 



Firstly, I would like to point out that if someone disagrees with you, that doesn't make them a troll. I've been lucky in that so far, I haven't encountered any trolls on my blog, but I have had people disagree with me. I'm fine with that, in fact I think it can keep things interesting, life would be pretty dull if we all thought the same things.

For a silly example, say you post a review of a movie you just watched. You loved it and its now in your all time top ten movies. You write a review raving about how great it was, how it changed your life etc. You get a comment saying "I wasn't keen on the movie, because of XYZ". That's someone disagreeing. You get a comment saying "You're an idiot, the movie was rubbish, you're rubbish". that's probably a troll.

I say a silly example because generally trolls like to pounce on pieces where you give an opinion about something that people feel strongly about like breast vs bottle for example. After all, there's no point in being a troll if you still don't get noticed right!

Pity the trolls

 



I know a lot of bloggers seem to get quite upset about trolls. Try to turn it around and think of it as a compliment: trolls crave attention, therefore they obviously think your post is going to get a lot of views!

Try to also remember that these trolls deserve our pity rather than our hatred:

Imagine living a life so empty you have literally nothing better to do than scour the internet for hours at a time looking for something you can criticise.

Imagine being uncreative to the point where you can't think of a way to fill an hour or two, without resorting to this. Seriously, get a Netflix account or something!

Imagine being so bitter and lonely that you fill your time trying to bring others down to your level.

When I think of a troll, they always fall into one of two categories:

1. The social reject

Usually a teenager, although not always, this person is shunned by society and exacts the ultimate revenge by leaving unoriginal insults on other people's websites in the hope it will make them popular.

2. The bitter old-timer

This person is a 50 something virgin that is jealous of anyone that has the tiniest spark of life in them, rejected by the opposite (or same) sex, they somehow feel that spreading their empty messages will make them seem intelligent.

Disclaimer: For anyone who doesn't understand sarcasm I am in no way suggesting everyone who falls into the above categories is a troll or a sad case!

Let's take a moment to feel sorry for these pathetic creatures. Maybe someone should set up a support group or something!

Types of trolls

 

1. The Obvious Troll

Social media, particularly Facebook is their hunting ground. These trolls generally have no profile picture and no friends. They stand out like a sore thumb. They are often someone known to the prey and are use a fake account to say the things they daren't say under their own name.

 

2. The I-Just-Want-To-Argue Troll

These trolls hang out anywhere they suspect there will be an opinion - blogs, social media, news sites etc. They will often comment on multiple posts, sometimes on different sides. They have no real opinion, they just like to argue. The subject matter is of little relevance and these are the trolls that often resort to personal insults.

 

3. The Stealth Troll

This troll is my own personal favourite type of troll, at least they put a little imagination into their trolling. Their MO could be either of the above, but they put in a little work. They make a seemingly innocent comment with a reasonable disagreement. Momentarily, you think they might engage in intelligent debate. You respond and BANG, the troll in them comes out. These guys take their trolling very seriously, and actively search out places that they expect a response.

A brief message to trolls

 

Go outside, talk to people, soak up the sunshine and live a little!

Find something useful to do with your trolling time - volunteer for a charity, write a novel or your own blog, do a bit of gardening or baking. Literally anything will be more fulfilling than this!

If you must insist on this behaviour, at least make your comments original or funny. I appreciate this is difficult - if you were either original or funny you wouldn't have to resort to trolling to get attention. At least steer away from the clichés:

"You spelt something wrong/used a comma wrong/used the wrong there" Ouch I'm hurt, and now bow down to your obvious superiority.

"You're stupid" Thanks for that, I didn't know!

"You are a terrible writer" I didn't realise you were a top level literature critic. Oh that's right, you're not!

Remember that Mean Girls quote?
"Calling someone fat doesn't make you skinnier; calling someone stupid doesn't make you smarter" I wonder if the writer had been trolled the day they wrote that part, as it is essentially good advice to trolls!

Image courtesy of Google Images

So trolls, go back under your bridge where you belong (maybe leave the goats alone though, that sounds like a jail sentence waiting to happen!)

The big debate: To feed or not to feed!

 

It is, I think, inevitable that at some point every blogger will be trolled. When it happens, do you delete the comment? Ignore it? Or play with the troll?

 



On one hand, feeding trolls is kind of playing into their hands - they crave the validation of a response. Plus it's kind of hard to win an argument with a troll as they are happy to contradict themselves and jump sides at the drop of a hat, as they often don't really care about the debate or the topic, they merely want to disagree with everything you say.

On the other hand, it can actually work in your favour. it can be quite entertaining watching an online troll get taken down, and you may find people start sharing your post. Even if it is for the comments rather than the post, it's still increased visibility and the chance that some people who see the thread may enjoy your blog and come back.

If you do choose to respond, don't resort to name calling and end up down to their level. Keep your cool! Although it may feel like a personal attack, trolls aren't overly selective and they aren't personally attacking you. This is their underwhelming way of raging against the machine!

Have you been trolled? How did you deal with it? Have you ever trolled someone? If so, why (that's a genuine question, I would love to know what trolls actually get out of it!)?

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Keep Calm and Carry On Linking Sunday

Life Lessons From Social Media

It's funny how often we see people presenting themselves on social media in a way that isn't necessarily the same as they present themselves in real life. A lot of social media is exaggerated (or toned down) to fit a certain mould, and often it is down right fake.

However, it is also apparent how often social media perfectly mirrors life, and demonstrates perfectly some valuable life lessons.

Here's some of those life lessons that we can learn from social media:

 

 

 

 Instagram

One size, one shape fits all – In life, sometimes we can’t see the big picture and need to concentrate on the little details.

Twitter

140 characters limit – Sometimes we just need to cut the crap and waffle and get to the point!

Facebook

People's picture perfect lives – Sometimes, what we present to the outside world isn’t what we really feel or have going on, but we don’t want the world to see the bad bits, only the good. And sometimes, all we want is someone to "like" us!

LinkedIn

LinkedIn always reminds me of that saying that is so clichéd but oh so true – It’s not what you know, it’s who you know (and who’s ass you are willing to kiss!)

Klout

Sometimes your influence just needs a boost. You can do it the long, honest way, or if you know how to manipulate the system, it’s usually readily available!

Pinterest

Being pretty helps get you noticed, but being quirky is what gets you talked about. And having something good under the pretty picture will keep you popular for a lot longer!

Stumble Upon

We often find the things that are of the most interest to us when we aren't specifically looking for them!

You Tube

It doesn't matter how funny or interesting you are, a cat falling off something will almost always be more popular than you!

 

Obviously some of these are a little tongue in cheek but I think they all have a ring of truth to them as well.

 

What do you think? Do you have any to add? Let me know in the comments :)

 

You can find me here: Twitter Bloglovin Pinterest and Instagram Please do stop by and say hi!

 

Keep Calm and Carry On Linking Sunday