If there’s one thing I innately love, I think it would be the rain. The half-hearted drizzle, as much as it appears pathetic, even to me, I find it reassuring in a subtle way. The wind behind it pushes me forwards, hurrying my day so that I meet the next significant person in my life – someone who would have passed me by otherwise. An unsteady smile exchanged as a peace treaty after our umbrellas battle and shake their tears into our eyes.

Lazy but steady rain is often despised by others. It gently tramples our conservatory windows, rooves, and skylights in some sort of aggressive ballet. The dancers don’t stop for hours and stay on their toes all night until finally, they tire out, and only the strongest ballerinas continue to perform. It takes a few hours more before they discard their shoes at last and the noise stops.

My favourite type of rain, though – the one that trumps them all – is the type of rain that blinds. At least, surrounds you with a showery wall so you can only see 2or 3 feet in front of you. I love the rain that drenches me through, sticks my hair to my ever-glowing face and leaves me beaming as brightly as I ever could. That’s my favourite rain:

The dancing in the street rain. The splash in puddles like you’re Gene Kelly rain. The snuggle up by the fire with a cup of tea and chick flick rain. The cat clawing at the door rain. The deafening rows of the gods up above as they pound the Earth in their overwhelming rage.

If there’s one thing I innately love its’ the rain. The grey days with the windows open, listening to the patter-patter-pat outside

First of all: Happy 2017! I feel honoured to be the first TOE to post this year and I hope you enjoy our new content.

For the past year or so, I’ve been doing Monthly Wrap Ups on my blog Another Ranting Reader  – one of my favourite things to post, as a matter of fact – and in those posts, I discuss what music I’ve been loving that particular month. Now that it’s the end of my first full year of Monthly Wrap Ups, I thought it would be fun to look back through and create a playlist for my 2016, with a few extras added in here and there.

1. I Feel Fine (cover) – Dodie Clark

2. Lavender’s Blue – Cinderella 2015

3. How Long Will I Love You – Jon Boden,

4. Rumble – West Side Story

5. America – West Side Story

6. Somewhere – West Side Story

7. Us – Regina Spektor

8. Bluebird- Christina Perri

9. Samson – Regina Spektor

10. Five Colours in her Hair - McFly

11. Fidelity – Regina Spektor

12. Ballad of Paul K - McFly

13. Concentration Music – Found on YouTube

14. An Unsolved Mystery – Melanie Baker

15. Down – Dodie Clark

16. She Falls Asleep - McFly

17. Intertwined – Dodie Clark

18. Broccoli - McFly

19. Regina Spektor – Laughing With

20. Dancing Queen – ABBA

21. Go Your Own Way – Fleetwood

22. Waterloo – ABBA

23. Our Last Summer –ABBA

24. The Day Before You Came – ABBA

25. Songbird – Fleetwood Mac

26. Second Hand News – Fleetwood Mac

27. Pull Shapes- The Pipettes

28. Angeleyes – ABBA

29. Mr. Medicine – Eliza Doolittle

30. Dance With Me Tonight – Olly Murs

31. Honey Honey - ABBA

32. Shout Out to My Ex – Little Mix

33. Tourist – Jon Cozart

34. A non-love song- Dodie Clark

35. Ours- Taylor Swift

36. Defying Gravity – Wicked

37. Back to December - Ours

38. Dear Happy – Dodie Clark

39. Mean – Taylor Swift

40. When – Dodie Clark

41. When You’re an Addams – Addams Family Musical

42. Alexander Hamilton – Hamilton Musical

43. All I Want for Christmas – Mariah Carey

44. Fairytale of New York – The Pogues and  Kirsty MacColl

45.Last Christmas – WHAM!

46. Popular – Wicked

47. Mr. Brightside – The Killers

What did your 2016 sound like?

Happiness is oven-baked pizza

and family nights in.

Happiness is comparing your friends

to whacky film characters and

throwing popcorn into their target teeth.

Happiness is concerts,

shouting over the din.

Happiness is cold nights out

and nostalgia drinks.

Happiness is finishing a project,

but still knowing there’s a long way to go.

Happiness is Christmas lights

and local parades.

Happiness is fluffy socks

and baggy jumpers.

Happiness is my dad’s bad jokes,

my mum’s freshly made risotto

and my brother’s cotton pyjamas

as we say goodnight.

Happiness is tea and biscuits,

crossed off to-do lists

and laughing with the people

you miss.

I love poetry. I’d maybe go so far to say that I’m a bit of an addict right now. And I have written lots of poems, with a new one or two appearing each day. If you’re like me and love poetry but want to write more of it, here are 5 tips I have for you.

Or a notebook, whichever works best for you.

I always get little ideas or lines popping into my head at the most random of moments, and I know that if I don’t write it down somewhere I’ll forget it and that line or idea could have the potential to continue on to something really great! So I make sure to write it down whenever I can. I can then come back and work on it. Obviously, I don’t write down all of my ideas but the majority I manage to salvage by doing this.

2. Read LOTS of other people’s work

By reading lots of poetry, you are adding to your vocabulary and learning about your craft. The more poems you consume, the better your poems will become. You can adopt different styles and get inspired by poets who will quickly become your favourites. This is a way to get inspired and want to write more. The will to write has to be acted upon in order for you to actually write. If you’re writing poetry, you need to read poetry. Simple as that.

3. Got a spare thought? A feeling you can’t properly express? Write a poem about it.

The subject of your poems can be anything. Literally anything. Most take inspiration from their feelings, and that could be about any feeling you experience. There’s nothing dictating what you can write about nor how you write, so make up your own rules.

4. Make writing part of your day-to-day routine

When I first started getting into poetry, I’d sit down before I went to bed and try to write something. It wasn’t any good really, but it was something and I was only just starting so it was never going to be any good. I don’t even know if my poems are any good now but this post isn’t about the quality of my poetry. I digress… The point is that I now write a poem nearly every day before I go to bed. Admittedly, not every day I do nor do I always start a new one every day, but I at least edit one or read something. It’s all in the routine.

5. Put pen to paper/fingers to keyboard and WRITE!

It’s the only real way to get more written.

Over the past few years, something has come to my attention that, in all honesty, alarms me every time I hear someone say it. I know it shouldn’t and I should just roll my eyes and get on with my explanation and set things right (I think I am also rolling my eyes but that’s beside the point). The thing is, I’ve heard people joking about feminism and mocking it.

Credit

 Since starting college I’ve heard people laughing about the absurd so-called “feminazis” and how ridiculous they are. After standing up to this and mentioning that I’m a feminist, I’ve visibly seen someone’s opinion of my lower. Or, at least, that’s what it felt like. I tried explaining to them that feminism is not women or men in any way shape or form, that that is misandry, and feminism is the equality of the sexes and all genders- not just the social advancement of women.

I’ve also talked to people who wanted to understand feminism but had been so used to the popular belief that feminism is inherently evil and only ‘for angry lesbians’ that they felt a bit confused.

I want to rectify this. Well, as much as I can in a small blog post that’s unlikely to get many views and probably a few disgusted comments.

The definition of feminism (kindly given to us by the dictionary of Google) is ‘the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes’ and genders. And according to the gods at H&M: ‘the radical notion that women are people’.

It’s really as simple as that. Feminism does not mean women over men. That’s what misandry is, just as misogyny is men over women. Feminism means equality for everyone. Yes, it’s the same thing as an equalist, a humanist and an egalitarian. However, I prefer to use the term feminist as it acknowledges the historic gender bias against women and the problems that still face many of us today, particularly in parts of the world that are not considered ‘Western’.

When I see women online saying they are against feminism, I see women who are denouncing and belittling our predecessors, who fought and suffered in order for us to get the rights and privileges we now have today.

So, to recap: call yourself whatever, just don’t be a dickhead; everyone is equal, men aren’t better than women, women aren’t better than men; be kind to everyone and always eat strawberries with Nutella.

If only the world

Could imagine

Like John Lennon,

Demand respect

Like Aretha,

As eloquently

As Austen

And as flamboyantly

As ABBA.

Why can’t we be less caring?

Sing folk songs with flowers

In our french-plaited hair,

Around a campfire that

Dusts the night air.

Fill the guns with roses,

Offer a bitten-nailed hand

To people in another land

Give food and omit the lies –

Live life in earnest honesty

With a good book

And a mug of builder’s tea.

May you watch reality TV

And Great British Bake Off –

The good and the all round crap.

Listen to classical music

And punk rock,

Banging beats and

Disney.

Wear stripes and red lipstick

With flowers in your hair

And glitter everywhere

You can.

Keep journals:

Poetry books and diaries,

Somewhere to pour out

Your stretched little soul.

Have at least 2 stuffed animals

And a pile of old DVDs standing

Tall somewhere,

Listen to audiobooks and

Be a student forever.

Keep learning and learning

Forever. Listen

To those who aren’t

Listened to

And sing at the top of your voice.

Sing ABBA and classic pop.

Imagine like John Lennon.

Demand respect like Aretha

And be as witty as Austen.

I watched some great films in September and I know some of you would love them too! Hopefully, you all approve of my recommendations.

If you’ve been watching my Twitter feed, know me in real life or have even read some of my previous blog posts, it’s likely that you’ll already know that I saw Bridget Jones’s Baby the day after its initial UK release. I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting to see an amazing film – I thought it’d be a cheesy classic romcom, but nothing special, you know? Well, obviously I don’t know! I could go on for ages about how much I loved this film. I’m a massive fan of Bridget Jones anyway, but I found this film hilarious, romantic and brilliant in all aspects.

I’d seen this film being referenced loads before watching this and it had been on my to-watch list for what feels like years. Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles, starring as the lead couple, were great in this. I laughed so much and loved Kat’s sassy attitude. It’s an adaption of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, so I really need to get round to reading the original play.

Everyone needs to see this film, in my opinion. It was captivating and eye-opening. It really makes you think about what the privileges many of us now have because of people of the past. I especially liked the fact that Emmeline Pankhurst wasn’t the main character in the story, and how it focused more on the more ordinary people and the effect their beliefs and actions had on them and their families. Carey Mulligan and all the other actors in this were absolutely incredible.

When I first started blogging, the word that I saw everywhere was ‘niche’. After discovering what a niche was, I felt extremely pressured into finding my own one. One and a half years later, I still haven’t found it!

So, 'what is a niche?' I hear you ask. Well, your niche is essentially your category. As a blogger, someone is always trying to categorise you. You could be a fashion blogger, a book blogger, a beauty blogger, a food blogger… And to be fair, there are some bloggers who only blog about one specific topic (I think the most common of those would be fashion bloggers and book bloggers). However, most of us won’t be able to stick to just one topic.

In my own personal blog, I have 2 blogging niches next to the name: Writing and Life. And I think that’s a pretty fair representation of the nature of my posts. I post a lot of my creative writing, including poems and short pieces, and as that was the main reason why I started blogging, I thought I needed to show that in my blog’s title.

But I don’t just post creative writing on my blog. I also write about books and films and the future and all the opinions I have and want to express and I’ve written posts about makeup. I want to post more fashion posts, as I found the one I did the other week so much fun to do. To cover all of these bases, I and many other bloggers, put our blogs under the category of lifestyle. By calling ourselves ‘lifestyle bloggers’ we aren’t limiting ourselves at all. In fact, I’d say we’re opening ourselves up to more blogging opportunities.

Because I conform to the blogging community’s standards by having the rough niche of ‘lifestyle,’ I can blog about whatever I want and not getting criticised if it doesn’t fit my usual style of content.

But that’s just my relationship with niches. I know there are some people who click really quickly and easily with a certain niche and start blogging with that specific niche in mind. And they do it so well!

What do you think? Have you had similar problems as I have? Have you decidedon a niche for your blog?