Personal-Planner Review!

Hi there, today’s blog post is a review for a product that I think you’ll find interesting!

I would like to talk to you about a company I was turned on to by Creative Pixie called personal-planner. This is a website that allows you to custom make a diary! As soon as I saw Jean’s review, I jumped over to the website and ordered myself one.

I should say, this idea completely appealed to me for several reasons. One reason is that after I finished University,  I struggled to find a diary that would fit my needs. Most diaries have pages in them that I find useless, for example, in the academic diaries there are class timetables. I couldn’t even write my rota in that because I haven’t got a consistent rota. I never work the same shifts each week. Another reason is that I could never find a diary layout that was perfect for me. I like to have enough space to write a few notes, but I don’t need a full page, and so sometimes I couldn’t find a good sized diary in a design that I liked.

Personal-planner offers a ‘design it yourself’ element so that you choose the most intricate details of your diary.

Here are a list of things that I customised:

• The front cover – I was able to either choose from a set of pre-designed images available on the site, or, I could upload any image that I liked and used that for my cover. I absolutely love this! For me, I know that my diary will be complete unique because it has a picture of my lovely bookcases as my front cover! Plus you can add text in any colour of choice. I chose to add my blog name, intothebookcase, and then book blog planner.

• The back cover – I could have again uploaded an image or choose from images already available, but for the back of my diary I chose to have a solid colour instead. I chose a beautiful light green for the back of my diary.

• The elastic fastener – I was allowed to change the colour of the elastic that keeps the diary closed. This shows you really can customise the smallest of details. I chose purple to go with the light green on the back.

• The details page – This section is ideal for any contact information or even a quote that you live by. You can type in anything your heart desire on this inside page. I decided to put my blog address, my blog email address and my twitter handle.

• The page layout – This is the aspect that I appreciated the most! I loved being able to choose how I wanted my diary set out, so that it fits my needs. I chose a layout that had plenty of space to write the things I needed, and meant I could see the whole week clearly.

• The back pages –   Now this is where this site is fantastic, not only have I got a personalised, beautifully made diary but I got to choose what I wanted to have in the pages after the diary has ended. This ranged from lined, or squared pages to suduko or pages to colour in! I adored this idea, what a fantastic thing to add in. I chose to add the ‘colouring book’ for a bit of fun.

Other additional elements:

• Add important dates (anniversary, birthdays)
• Add to-do lists, or notes etc
• Choose colours for nearly everything
• Choose start month
• Plastic wallet to store things in

I was absolutely thrilled when my diary arrived and I cannot recommend the site enough. They really supply a fantastic product, and I’ll definitely be a repeat customer. This would also be a perfect gift for those in your life that love organisation, or may find this is inspiration to be more organised. I’d completely recommend this to my fellow book bloggers that are looking for a great way to keep track of blog posts and tours etc.

Don’t hesistate, go and check out the personal-planner website: Here!

#ITBCdiscussions: Book Bloggers – Behind The Scenes

Hi everyone, welcome back to another #ITBCdiscussions!

This instalment is all about book bloggers: behind the scenes. I thought this would make for an interesting post, because I find it fascinating hearing about how other book bloggers organise their blogs. I’m always looking for different ways to keep myself up to date and on track, because I like to keep uploading content for you all on a regular basis.

At the moment, I’m reading books and then eventually writing the review, and doing it this way I’ve found I’m trying to remember what I wanted to say and what I thought of it. Once I even had to pick up the book to check the name of the main character. I hate thinking I’m going to miss telling you something important about the book.

As ever, I like to include as many of you as possible so I asked the following question on twitter:

Here are the responses I received:

This had mixed responses, a lot of you saying you make notes as you go along, or just after you’ve just finished the book. I think in future I might make notes as I go along, I’m always worried that I’m missing how I felt at certain times, for example, if I’ve read a book that I initially didn’t like, but ended up enjoying, it might be helpful to encourage people to persevere after a certain chapter or page. I still fill in my Book Lovers Journal but I find the space too small to write everything I would like, so I bullet point things, or write a couple of sentences, and then when I refer to it, often I can’t remember what I meant.

If you’d like to see my review of this product, please click here

The second question I asked you all was:

I was really eager to hear your responses to this question because this is something that worries me. I want to be able to upload content consistently for you all, because I think that’s important. I like knowing when to expect posts on other people’s blogs, so I assumed others would to. This was a recent struggle for me, as you were supposed to be reading this post last Friday, but alas, it wasn’t written in time and I had nothing to upload that day.

Here are the responses I received:

Some great responses here! Scheduling and consistency seems important to other bloggers too. I’m glad I’m not the only one. I know I can really struggle making sure everything is really organised and scheduled, because I work a lot and at very different times. One minute I can be working from 6am ’til 4pm, and the next 4pm ’til midnight, so my working life is all over the place. I found myself wanting to work really hard to ensure my blog didn’t reflect my chaotic work life.

At first, I just had a word document with my schedule on, and I’d plan my posts as far in advance as possible and then highlight when the posts have been scheduled. This worked brilliantly for a while, but I would quickly get frustrated that I couldn’t check the document outside of the house, or I’d have to open my laptop to see it. So, I wanted to have a little diary that I could write my planned uploads in. This way I could have it to hand at all times, and plan when I’m on my break at work, for example.

The final question I asked you all was:

I thought this would be a really interesting thing to ask you all. My lovely sister-in-law, Jackie has recently started her own book blog, you can find her at The Reader’s Roost, and it got me thinking about what I would do differently if I had the chance to start over. As I’m a newbie blogger myself, it’s always nice to have tips from experienced bloggers. Also, at times I’m still finding my self struggling, and I was wondering what you all, if anything, struggle with.

Here are the responses I received for the final question:

I loved the responses for this question, as it made me realise that a lot of the things I struggle with are the same as you all. The main thing that I struggle with is finding time to read a lot. Sometimes I’ll find I’m in a reading slump, which if I was uploading everyday, could result in lack of material to review. Or, as I mentioned earlier I work full time, and if I get home late in the day, sometimes I’m not in the mood to pick up a book. (I know!). To prevent my blog from being empty, I decided back in April to upload on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday’s, which I’ve found a good amount for me. I know there are a lot of bloggers that can upload something every day, but it’s simply not achievable for me. I also vary up my content as much as possible, because I’ve found it helps. Also, I think I’d get bored if I only ever did book reviews.

My advice for new bloggers would be to not jump into it straight away. Set up your blog and have a few weeks worth of content before you officially open your blog. I wish I had done that. Also, allow yourself a ‘blog holiday’, when I’m off work for a week, I use that opportunity to plan more content and get ahead again. I like this, because I don’t like feeling overwhelmed by deadlines, and this is my hobby so I want to enjoy it!

Hope you find this post helpful, and I’d love for you to add your thoughts in the comments. Please follow everybody that was featured in this post, they’re a lovely bunch. If you have any topic requests – tweet me at @intothebookcase or leave it in a comment, and if you want to join in with the next discussion, watch out for the hashtag #ITBCdiscussions

Have a great day!