Hi there! Welcome to Tea Reads: a blog about reading, writing, and drinking unholy amounts of tea. As this is the inaugural post and I, quite frankly, am quaking in my metaphorical boots, I’ll do my best to keep it short and sweet. 

My name is Cyndy and this is my first blog. Here’s the part where you look around my webpage, admiring the colors, fonts, photos, and say, “Oh yes, very nice for a first go, how quaint.” When you’re done politely admiring the interior decorating, you’ll then look for the content and realize it’s mostly going to be words. Then you might say, “Oh my, daring today, aren’t we?” and cluck your tongue against the roof of your mouth while I hurriedly shove all my rough drafts behind my back while sweating. That’s how I’ve imagined this, anyway. You could say I’m a bit nervous. 

See, I’ve been writing since I was little. Comics at first, then stories in spiral math notebooks, then teaching myself to type on a hand-me-down laptop that ran Windows 95. The only programs installed were Word, Paint, and Solitaire. I had a few games (Physical CDs that had to be in the disk drive for you to play them! The barbarism!) but I spent a majority of my time click-clacking away in Word, writing the stories I’d imagined when playing with my Hot Wheels or Dragon Legos. For all those years of writing, there was one thing I never did: Share it publicly. 

Okay, that’s partially a lie. I shared my writing, sure, but under usernames no one would recognize. One of the first accounts I ever made (this is going to date me) was Fanfiction.net around age twelve. Then a Tumblr. And an AO3. But I never showed anything original except to a few close friends and family. So publishing a real blog, with my real name, and real opinions? That terrifies me. 

That’s the point, though. I want to write. Professionally. And it’s a bit hard to get published if you query an agent and say, “Hey, here’s my work, please don’t read it and actually, never mind, delete this e-mail, you’ve never heard of me,” while running to the nearest courthouse to change your legal name. 

This blog is a challenge to myself: To write every week about the things I’m passionate about; to expand my horizons with new genres and new books I’ve never heard of; to learn and grow and share it with all of you. In doing this challenge I hope to see myself grow more confident and, if I’m lucky, maybe even build a small community. There’s nothing I’d love more than to gush about books and rave about tea with some like-minded people. 

The posting schedule is going to go a little like this- 4 posts a month, once a week on Sundays. The schedule will be as follows:

• Week 1: Introduction for our Book of the Month- Every month I’ll pick a book to read and post it on the “Book of the Month” tab at the top of the blog. On the first Sunday of the month, I’ll post a short intro post about the book. 

• Week 2: Tea Time- Here is my blank check to give you all some facts about tea. I am constantly learning and teaching myself about tea, and I’d like to bring you on the journey with me!

• Week 3: The Craft- This will be my monthly post about writing. It may touch on actual writing elements (grammar, plot, theme, etc) or it may be musing about writing advice, the writing world, or the written world in general. 

• Week 4: Book of the Month Reflection- I hesitate to call these “reviews” because I’m mostly picking books that are lauded by critics, but aren’t books that have ever been on my radar. Instead, I’ll take the time to reflect on the book, what I liked and didn’t, and what I think can be gained from reading it. I encourage everyone to chime in! I’d love to hear other perspectives. 

“But Cyndy,” I hear you cry, “Did you forget that some months have five weeks?” Good news- I didn’t forget about them. You just don’t get an extra post those months between Week 2 and Week 3. I’m sure you’re all devastated. 

All posts will be cross-posted to my Instagram (tea__reads), which you can follow if you’d like some pretty pictures and sneak peeks at my weekly posts. There will also be a newsletter you can sign up for if you’d like to get some advanced notice for the Book of the Month, some extra tea recommendations and brewing tips, and whatever else might boil forth as the newsletter progresses (yes, the pun was intentional. Get ready folks). Check below this post for a prompt to submit your e-mail to sign up. I may end up making a TikTok as well but I’m an Old so that may take a bit longer than the other tie-ins.

Now with all that in your noggin, I hope you’ll join me on this journey so that we can learn, grow, and chat about books and tea together. Get ready for tomorrow’s Book of the Month intro post- I’m so pumped to talk to you all about this one. You can get a headstart by clicking the Book of the Month tab up top. See you all tomorrow!