Hello! *waves*
It's been a while since I've written anything here, so I thought I'd jot down a few words to let you know I'm back.
Back to blogging that is.
I never stopped visiting bookshops, I have a wealth of photos on my phone and books on my shelves that all testify to this. However work got to the point that even though I'd visited lots of lovely bookshops and had lots of things to say about them, the thought of sitting at a computer in the evening after all day at one was simply too much. I also found myself a boyfriend to join in my bookshopping travels, and I quite liked spending my evenings with him.
So I visited the bookshops, I bought the books, and I enjoyed the experience. I just didn't tell you all about it – unless you were lucky enough to cross my path in person, in which case I've not held back telling people why the most recent bookshop I visited was the greatest experience of all time. Repeatedly. Until I visit the next bookshop and witter on about that instead.
Now the world has changed: bookshops are thriving (hurrah) and I've gone freelance* – which means there are even more bookshops than ever for me to visit and my time is more my own to write about them. Fortunately for me, one thing that hasn't changed is the boyfriend. He's still here and enjoying visiting the bookshops with me. It's The Boy who deserves credit for suggesting I come out of retirement.
Anyway, back to this blog. The intention is to follow a similar plan to the one I committed to back in August 2013: this blog is to continue to be a celebration of bookshops. I'll try to post weekly, but reality tells me I'll probably be more random, especially when I'm focusing on bigger freelance projects, because we all need to pay the bills. I also don't want to blog at the expense of my lovely local, which briefly brought me out of retirement in 2024 and is somewhere I adore and visit as often as possible.
This time my blogs will be balancing recent visits – I've been to two excellent bookshops in the last week – with those from any time during my hiatus, which means I already have lots to tell you and can't wait to start writing.
I hope you enjoy sharing my bookshopping adventures, past and present.
Thanks for reading,
Erica
* If you're reading this blog considering if I'm any good as a freelance copy editor, please look away now. Everyone knows editing your own words is the hardest thing, so typos will creep in, grammar will occasionally wobble, and I'll use whatever punctuation I feel like. Please consider this site to be a relaxed conversation with anyone who cares to dive in. It is definitely not a perfectly crafted piece of writing.
