follow the convo: #wyrdandwonder
[via Instagram & Twitter]
If I had to speculate how I would feel on the 1st of June after co-hosting my first blogosphere event #WyrdAndWonder with the lovely bookish spirits who’ve become dear friends: Lisa & Imyril – I am unsure if I could have envisioned it. There is something about finding a niche of joy in being able to celebrate the STORIES which enrich your life with such enlightened JOY. The worlds within the Speculative world have been a dear part of my readerly life for so very long, it’s hard to know when they weren’t co-companions of my everyday adventures!
I have pitched hit for #RRSciFiMonth (@SciFiMonth) and hosted Twitter chats for the Sci-Fi November event as much as helping Lisa & Imyril as they co-hosted the event whilst helping out Rinn when she wasn’t able to host herself. #WyrdAndWonder is the first time I’ve become a partner in charge of an event from the ground-up – as I originally had an idea myself about hosting a #FantasyMonth – but I knew back then (by a few years) I would need some back-up! Hosting and coordinating an event like this across social channels and the book blogosphere takes a lot of organisation and planning.
I can truly say, I am humbled and honoured to be part of a team of three – each of us connected to #WyrdAndWonder had equal say in everything we’ve been assembling for those participants who took up the challenge this inaugural year to make #wyrdandwonder an actual bonefide event rather than a mere figment of a dream of bringing all of us Fantasy enthusiasts together! We had each others’ back – we helped each other and the best bit of all was our sisterhood friendship – where I knew I could turn to them (behind-the-scenes) and find a hug of support. They not only encouraged me, they helped me push through a rather adverse May and re-seek the JOY I had in wanting to be the third partner in this lovely event! (smiles) My gratitude to Lisa & Imyril is limitless – they are truly the best huckleberry mates a girl could hope to have found!
The beauty of #wyrdandwonder has been having the ability to reach out through the twitterverse* and the book blogosphere – seeking fellow like-minded souls who have an equal admiration for the fantastical – where we like to dip inside the vision of where #SpecLit authors are taking us! From the depths of their world-building to the incredibly layered and realistic grounding of their characters – these are the stories which give us something Science Fiction cannot (and vice versa!) whilst keeping our hearts & imaginations aflame with WONDER.
*Admittedly, I was unable to join everyone on Instagram, as it’s a platform I attempted to use and decided to withdraw before I ever made my first post. Sadly, even the commentary I once shared was deleted but for a short spell, I knew why everyone loves adding to the #bookstagram community for I saw it as a ‘visitor’. I still seek out pages on Instagram to follow from the outside looking in and was wicked delighted by the creativity & the dedication of our #wyrdandwonder posters who were championing our event to the rest of the #bookstagram community!
I’ll be the first to admit – this past May was a cluttered disaster of sorts – having come out of a seriously intense bout of health woes plaguing me (March & April), just to be in a position where my head didn’t feel crushed in pain (ie. seriously high frequency of migraines this year) and my overall wellness (extreme pollen allergies notwithstanding!) felt like it was finally re-stablising to where I could a) read again and b) feel I could communicate through blogging & tweeting again – a blessing in of itself! As I get the kind of debilitating migraines where you can’t push through them OR distract yourself through them – if the meds I take are not working, your reduced to taking extra rests in a darkened room, devoid of light and noise. Re-emerging out of these ‘supernova’ migraines are tricky beasts as sometimes I can ‘shift forward’ to where I can read again without an discomfort – this Spring?! I wasn’t so fortunate – hence why the most I was able to ‘read’ previously had been through ‘audiobooks’ by way of the Kay Hunter series by Rachel Amphlett – you’ll find me gushing about this Crime Drama over the serial reviews I shared for books one through five!
I had a lot of ‘down-time’ after my migraines – I even had approx. a week where my connectivity was chaotically out of control – yet, I kept believing I could output more for #wyrdandwonder, even if as the days started to erase off the calendar, I became less convinced I’d have time enough to read or blog or even tweet enough to feel I had pulled my weight with my partners and helped shape #wyrdandwonder into a collaboratively communicative event where everyone felt heard and a co-pilot of guiding this event forward through their own participation. Read More
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- #WyrdAndWonder