Awards | But I Smile Anyway...

Leibster Award – The Shelley Wilson Edition!

24 Jul 2017 65 Comments

by Ritu in Awards, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Award, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Get To Know Me, Leibster Award, Shelley Wilson

This morning I was reading posts, and after leisurely perusing, I came upon a post by the lovely Shelley Wilson, author extraordinaire! (She wrote the brilliant Guardians Trilogy, read my review here!)

In it, she accepted the Leibster Award and answered all the questions brilliantly! Then as I scrolled down, I realised that she had nominated me!!!

I have accepted this one several times before, and usually do a reblog of the original post, but seeing as I am on holiday, I thought I would at least answer the questions!

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The Rules:

Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog – Thank you SOOOOO much for thinking of me Shelley!
Answer the 11 questions the person asked you – I’m about to!
Nominate 11 people (comment on their blog to let them know) – I nominate all of you who read this post!
Ask the people you have nominated 11 questions – Answer Shelley’s questions please, they are great!

Shelley’s Questions:

1 Have you met any of your internet friends in real life? I was lucky enough to attend the Annual Blogger’s Bash for the last two years and there I have met many of my blogging heroes and those I consider my Blogily! (Shelley Included!)
2 What’s your favourite TV show? What character would you be from that show? I love too many TV shows to choose one! But if I had to choose a character, it would be Dot Cotton… isn’t she just an institution!
3 What’s your favourite kind of blog post to write? (Book review, personal post, fiction, etc.) Now that’s a really hard one! Because I write a bit of everything! I love to write creatively, but I think sometimes my personal posts are what actually hit a nerve, and help others.
4 What are your most and least favourite things about blogging? I love the interaction, and freedom to write what I want, but I hate the fact I don’t have enough hours in the day to do more!
5 Is there a genre you wouldn’t read? Why? I used to be very much a chick lit reader, with family sagas thrown in, (and some of that saucy stuff too)! But recently, I have realised that I can’t totally write off a genre without trying it, as after tasting Shelley’s YA books, I realised that I really enjoy a genre I would never have contemplated reading before!
6 Which of your own blog posts is your personal favourite? Why? Man, Shelley! You ask some really tough questions! I don’t think I have a personal favourite post, to be honest. There are so many things I write about that it is hard to pinpoint one post I feel particularly special about. Most of my posts about my family are from the heart though and really make me sentimental when I reread them!
7 Do you have any pets? If so, what are they and do they help/hinder your blogging/writing? If no, what would be your ideal pet? I have my darling cat, Sonu Singh, who has been in our life for 3 years now! He can be a hindrance, in that when he decides to come and sit with me, I want to snuggle with him, rather than write, but equally, he has been an inspiration too!

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8 What’s your favourite type of takeaway food? I try not to eat much takeaway but if I am ordering, I choose a chicken kebab! It’s a healthy option! Though pizza, Chinese, an Indian, Maccy D’s, KFC… among others, can be rather yummy too!
9 What would be your ideal career? Why? I’d love to be a professional story teller! There is no greater joy for me, than reading stories to my class. I love it so much and I enjoy using accents and different voices, as well as props, to make a story come to life. Imagine doing that all day, every day! (There’s my Drama major coming out!)
10 Which author do you like to recommend the most? I don’t think I really recommend an author specifically (though Shelley Wilson is a most amazing writer ;P ) I am more likely to recommend specific books.
11 Who’s your go to band/artist when you can’t decide on something to listen to? I have a selection of compilation albums which I ‘go to’ if a specific song doesn’t come to mind. I have 90’s R’n’B, or Disco, or failing that, several Bollywood or Bhangra discs that I will play. Yes, CDs. I can’t get the hang of downloading music, no playlists here, compilation CDs all the way!

So, there you have it, a little more about Ritu, laid bare!

And as I mentioned earlier, I nominate ALL OF YOU! Yes, I am a rule breaker!!!!!

Emma Edit’s Blogger Survey

18 Jul 2017 28 Comments

by Ritu in Tags, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogger Survey, Blogging, help A Blogger, The Emma Edit

Emma, over at The Emma Edit has a survey she is looking for answers to, as she changes things in her blog.

I decided to take the survey, and invite you all to do the same, pinging back to her so she gets the results she needs – click here to get to the original post!

The questions are:

On average, how many hours a day do you spend on your blog during the week? (including anything blog related like social media)
On average, how many hours a day do you spend on your blog at the weekend? (including anything blog related like social media)
Daily, how much time do you spend reading other people’s blogs?
How often do you leave comments on other people’s posts?
How many blogs do you follow?
How often do you post on your blog?
What social media accounts do you have to go alongside your blog?
Do you have a posting schedule? How do you plan out your posts?
What do you use to take pictures: phone camera? basic point-and-shoot camera? DSLR camera?
How do you promote your blog?

And here are my answers… I promise to be truthful! Even if I horrify myself!

I think it can be, cumulatively, 2-3 hours a day, as I check my notifications and reader whenever I have a free moment, and if inspiration hits, I will write and schedule a post or 2.
I think the weekend depends on whether we are doing anything else, but it can be, again cumulatively 3-4 hours every day, with the added time if I want to write anything out of my usual posts!
See above, it is all part of my browsing and keeping up! It can be an hour of that time, or longer depending on how much my favourite bloggers have posted!
I will always comment when I feel I have something to add to the post content! I don’t put a limit or a target on this, it depends on my time, and if a post resonates with me.
At the last count, I follow 803 blogs, but I am not able to physically read EVERY post from those 800+ blogs! I have set my following so that I get emails for the blogs I NEVER want to miss! And I browse the reader when I can to keep up with the others.
At the moment, I seem to have posted every day for whatever reason. But I don’t have a strict schedule, apart from my Friday healthy eating post and my Sunday Serene Sunday post. But the challenges I like to take part in mean that I will probably have something come up every day!
Social media… I have FB, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads, Flipboard, StumbleUpon, Bloglovin’ and Tumblr…phew! They are all connected in some way to my Blog.
I find writing by schedule is something I can’t do! I write from the heart to be honest, so when the fancy takes me, I will just write. I don’t spend ages planning my post, I just let the verbal diahorrea take hold, to be honest, then I reread and edit if I need to!
I wish I had a dedicated camera to take fantastic photos, but to be honest, usually it’s my camera phone that provides the photos to my posts! Failing that, Pixabay!
I think my blog has grown by word of mouth. I haven’t actively pushed it out there, but it has kind of grown by itself. I trust that means that people pop over, like what they read then decide to stay! Over 5000 followers, and just shy of 4000 of them are WP followers!

There you have it, my blogging heart on a plate in front of you! If you want to help Emma with her research, and are prepared to say what an addict you are to your blog, please, go ahead and visit her post at https://the-emma-edit.com/2017/07/17/blogger-survey-i-need-your-input/

Thank you in advance! And if you fancy finding me at any of my Social Media places, the links are below!

Website: http://www.butismileanyway.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhantomGiggler
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phantom_giggler/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/butismileanyway/
Pinterest: https://uk.pinterest.com/bhathalpadhaal/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/56854412-ritu-bhathal
Flipboard: https://flipboard.com/@Phantom_Giggler
Stumbleupon: http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/ritubhathal75
Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/ritusmiles
Bloglovin: https://www.bloglovin.com/@ritubhathalpadhaal

What a WINNER Of A Day! #BloggersBash2017 #ThrowbackThursday

11 Jun 2017 189 Comments

by Ritu in Awards, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #BloggersBash2017, ABBA's, annual bloggers bash, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Bloggers, Blogging, London, The Grange Wellington, Winner

Well, as you all know, it was the Annual Bloggers Bash Awards today.

What an amazing day!!!!!!

The start for me was trying to carry two bulging bags of cakes to the venue, via train and tube! You’d think that would be a conversation starter, wouldn’t you?

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I got a comment from one of the employees at the tube station when he clocked them, and then as I was sat on the Tube, the man opposite looked at the contents of the bag, and gave me a smile… no mate, you ain’t getting none! These are for my Blogily!

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I arrived, in typical Ritu fashion, an hour early, and settled in the lobby of the venue, ready to catch up on blog posts and comments, when I heard a squeal as the committee arrlved… Sacha , His Geoffleship , Ali and Huggable Hugh!

And so the day began!

The function room, and cake station!

Over the day there were incredibly informative presentations from Suzie about how to monetize your blog and from Elena about how to harness and use Pinterest to drive traffic to your blog… I feel educated now!!! (Scrambles to find pinnable images for use on Canva!)

Suzie

And there was a great panel discussion with Suzie, Elena and Christoph, where questions were fired at them (worry not, no one got hurt!) and plenty of informative answers were thrown back at us! It provided an opportunity for those of us in the audience to participate in discussions too, including “Lucy Mitchell – BlondeWriteMore“!

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Then there was ample time in between the official slots, for mingling and chatting, which inevitably ran over the allotted time, because, did you know, bloggers talk as much as they write!!!

And then there was the all important presenting of awards! Four were announced earlier in the proceedings, and then five at the end…

Much hilarity ensued as His Geoffleship attempted to be a mic stand for Huggable Hugh!

Presentations were made by all the committee and previous winners, Suzie, Lucy and Shelley, and last minute guest committee member Allie Potts!

And my category came up.

Best Overall Blog.

Runner up –Sue Vincent -Someone I look up to in awe!

2nd Place – Chris Graham – Again one of my blogging idols!

My heart was pounding. If a microphone had been held up close to my chest there would have been no need for a drum roll! I was shaking with nerves…

And then the unbelievable happened….

Sacha only went and said But I Smile Anyway!!!!

Seriously?! I had won!!??!!

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I was almost speechless… almost. I said a few short words before I was convinced to sing a quick line from We Are Blogily! (Doesn’t take much to get me singing… who said bloggers were introverts!)

But seriously, WOW!!!!

I am gobsmacked…

Congratulations to all the bloggers who were either Runner Up, 2nd Place or Winners in their respective categories. See a full list of the Winners by clicking here!

We ended the day with a couple of hours of mingling in the hotel bar – where, interestingly enough, the Bar Manager was unaware what a wine spritzer was?! Here was me, the minimal alcohol drinker, educating a Bar Manager on how to make a drink?

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I did take my selfie stick, but never got to use it…I look forward to Sacha’s posting of the big group shot!!

I didn’t get photos with everyone, was so happy to meet so many names I was familiar with via the Blogosphere!!! Shout out to Willow, Graeme, Marje, Sheila, Noelle, Sherrie, Helen, Mary, Eloise, Jools, Steve, Ellen, Lance, Sally, Icy, Matt, Susie, Adam, Ruth and Jo. If I missed anyone who I spoke to, I apologise, but it was great to meet you too!!!!!

Thank you all so much for voting.

I wouldn’t have received this accolade if it wasn’t for you all pressing that Vote button!

I had the most amazing day meeting old friends, consolidating friendships, and meeting new friends. The award was just the icing on the cake!

I hope you enjoyed my recount of a most amazing day!

Put the date in your diary for next year too Peeps!

9th June 2018 is going to be the Annual Bloggers Bash 2018!

And another important bit of news from the committee… they are looking to grow… so if you want to help arrange the event next year… you are prepared to not be nominated or to vote… you can deal with a monthly Google Hangouts call with your fellow committee members… you can offer support in organisation, admin, fund-raising, budgeting, promotion, marketing, fresh ideas etc. Contact Sacha!!!!!!