Don’t fall into the same trap
‘She’s a nutter’
‘What a nerd’
‘Poor girl, she has no life’
‘Are you working again?’
‘I can’t be around you when you work, it makes me feel awful’
Here’s a selection of what people have said about me throughout my entire life. And, in most cases, they were right. From the moment I stepped foot in an education environment, I was the A* student in everything I did. All my school records are flawless. And I always maintained high standards easily, as if it was an innate skill. I never understood why my classmates struggled. I never understood why…
How to support our publication
We’ve recently set up a donations page on our website, to give our readers a chance to support our journalism, if they wish to do so.
We are a growing team and, as the editor-in-chief, I’m very determined to offer paid commissions to the writers who so resiliently pour their heart and soul into creating content for Coffee Time Reviews out of pure love for books.
This donations page is the first step in our monetisation journey. As Coffee Time Reviews grows steadily by the day, my plans to create more exciting content for our readers are growing all the…
Having a pile next to my bed keeps me motivated to keep reading — here’s why it can help you too
I never thought my impatience and indecision would prove so useful to my reading habits. A few years ago, picking up book after book in fruitless attempts to find one to commit to would only cause me frustration and make me ultimately want to give up.
This was because of my completely wrong mindset. I used to claw — quite literally claw — my way through books I hated because I wouldn’t allow myself to start different ones until I finished my current read. …
Or any other capital city
London is overrated. So is probably any other capital city in the world, unless you have a lot of money to make sure you can live comfortably. I learned about the ugliest aspects of my London dream, turned nightmare, at the worst possible time of my life. But, in retrospect, it was better to find out earlier than later why London was not for me.
Almost four years ago I made what would become the most disastrous decision of my life. And thank God I managed to undo it. I was 19 when I moved to London from across Europe…
Writer, journalist, library mouse trapped in a human body. I love words in any shape and form, both to read and work with.
I got inspired by Violet Daniels to adopt this format, so I thought it would be a good idea to try it out for myself.
Bio
A library mouse is the Romanian version of bookworm. And it’s probably one of the best phrases to describe me. I love words. Everything I do has to do with words. I am a published poet, soon-to-be qualified journalist, freelance writer and an award winning library mouse, which means I read a lot, and books are one of my favourite things to write about.
I am originally from the south-east of Romania, where I lived…
Trust me, I got rid of 15k words in my first manuscript
I am a poet and a journalist. These two aren’t exactly prose assets, as they both rely on brevity. But the good news is, at my very core, I am a writer, regardless of what I’m writing. Which means I never want to shut up. Combine the two and you get a great recipe for good writing if you have the heart to let them balance each other. By ‘having the heart’, I mean often the poet in me doesn't understand why I detail so much in my writing and wants me to stop. …
My life just changed and it’s like I’m learning how to walk again
I have officially finished my formal education and it feels terrifying. I realise this is normal for any graduate out there, but I’m a special case. From the age of 4, I have indulged in the standard, cyclical, and safe routine of being in formal education. For 9 months a year, Monday to Friday, I’d pack my books and go to school. I did this for 15 years, without stopping unless I was on summer break.
University followed, where for four years, I spent ten months in lectures for a few days a week, two months at home, enjoying the…
An identity poem
the fog has lifted long ago
it’s halfway between you and the circle
the silence’s force attracts them, you’re their center now
the world has drawn a line with its heel
to mark the boundaries
obliged to align at once where you belong or disappear
like a chained dog that cannot reach further than the ditch it dug in the soil
heartily scratching the ceiling hoping they’ll release you
there’s no one to chase away, nor break
in the place where you can think unhindered
you might yell in any direction but
it’s quiet
welcome, sit comfortably
here the voices won’t ever shut up
I’m…
Don’t treat it like an identity crisis
I’ve always loved reading but only recently became what is widely known and accepted as a bookworm. This means until the age of about 19; I didn’t read many books at all. I used to read bits and pieces of whatever interested me at the time. And I would go ahead with the occasional recommendation from my friends. A lot of my best friends from school and high school were reading dozens of books per year. I only read a handful.
This is a little embarrassing to admit, seeing as now, only 5 years since I started being a ‘serious’…
This craft is more useful than you think
I started doing embroidery when I was 13 years old and I never imagined that 10 years later it would still be a major part of my life. I was at the beach, looking for something to read with my mum when we found a crafts magazine called “Handmade” and I was instantly drawn to it. My mum is a very skilled seamstress, knitter, and she also does a lot of crochet work. …
