Hello, lovelies! Welcome to another Bookish Breakdown post, my monthly wrap-up where I talk about last month’s reading, as well as life musings, blog hopping links and intention updates!
March wasn’t too bad a month. It was definitely a bit of a roller coaster month. I had some high moments, like: writing more than once, celebrating my Mom and brother’s birthdays, seeing my favorite team make it to the men’s basketball Final Four and getting a week off of work for spring break. (I mean, I used vacation to take it, but still.)
There were also lows, like: having really high depressive episodes, anxiety increasing over the pandemic and the removal of mask mandates, and being mentally bogged down and overwhelmed by the cruelty and hatred of the world. But, overall, it was okay and I’m hanging onto that.
So, let’s check in and see how I did creatively this month!

Reading Breakdown
What I Read





This makes it look like I read a lot more than I did. Yet, I also made a lot more progress than I have all year, so I’m certainly celebrating it. I finally finished (saying finally because of my own brain funk, not because of the quality of writing) The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart. Then, I started and finished Assassin’s Gambit by Amy Raby (review to come on Friday). And, just today, I actually finished So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo, which was fucking incredible, especially as my first anti-racism non-fiction read of the year.
For writing research, I am almost down with Viking Age… by Kristen Wolf. I also have wanted to read Hall of Smoke just because it sounded awesome, but then looking more into it, I thought it might be a good potential comp for BLOOD PRICE. I’m only about 30% into it, but it’s definitely the closest comp title I’ve found so far…👀
What I Hauled






Thank you so much to Orbit Books for ARCs of The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah and The Hunger of the Gods by John Gwynne! I am very excited to dive into these.
Otherwise, I got the other three books from my local bookstore thanks to a holiday gift card. Then, I bought The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid because I couldn’t resist (95% due to Fadwa @ Word Wonders glowing recommendation).
Reading Challenges Update
What: A yearly challenge tracked via StoryGraph of how my books I want to read this year.
Goal: 50 Books
Status: 6/50 Books






What: A personal challenge I’ve put upon myself to read at least one antiracist book a month (or 12 a year).
Goal: 12 Books
Status: 1/12 Books

What: A personal challenge where I want to do a better job that of reading books written by (or featuring protagonists) that aren’t the publishing “standard”, i.e, white, male, able-bodied, straight and based on Western cultures or Christian/Catholic religions.
Goal: More books that break away from that “standard” than books that do.
Status: 5/25





What: A yearly challenge hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight where you write and share your bookish discussion posts!
Goal: 24 Discussion Post (Chatty Kathy Level)
Status: 8/24 Posts
Posts:
- Let’s Talk Bookish: 2022 Reading Goals
- Let’s Talk Bookish: Blogger and Audience Relationship
- Let’s Talk Bookish: Changing Book Ratings
- Book Bloggers, Why Aren’t We Kinder to Ourselves?
- Let’s Talk Bookish: Maintaining A Blog Aesthetic
- Let’s Talk Bookish: Updating Old Content
- When A Reader Fights Reading
- Let’s Talk Bookish: Evolution of Book Blogging

Blogging Breakdown
What I Posted
I am very, very thankful that blogging has continued to stay a consistent in my life. Plus, this month had some really fun topics. I covered different aspects of freelance editing (what I love about it and some of the stigmas in the writing community around it); a few discussions post, some challenge updates and even a book review!
I hope you’ve all enjoyed the content this month. If you haven’t check it out, here’s a list of what I wrote this month:
Posts Published March 2022
- Why I Love Freelance Editing
- Let’s Talk Bookish: Maintaining A Blog Aesthetic
- Let’s Talk Bookish: Updating Old Content
- Why You Don’t Need an Editor
- When A Reader Fights Reading
- 10 New to Me Bloggers | Support Book Bloggers Challenge
- 2022 Reading Challenges Quarterly Update: No 1
- Let’s Talk Bookish: Evolution of Book Blogging
- Allyship Check-In No 24
- The Bone Shard Daughter
- Novels and Narrations No 16
Read Around the Blogosphere
Check out some of the fantastic posts from this past month from other bloggers below! I didn’t get to blog hop as much as I wanted (birthdays and basketball messed up that regular routine), but that doesn’t make these posts any less special!
Other Bloggers’ Posts I Loved
- I really enjoyed Kate @ Your Tita Kate’s guide of how to DNF books.
- Malka @ Paper Procastinators writes about what it takes to write a blog post, dealing with inspiration of ideas and inspiration of writing, that is on point!
- Sofia @ Bookish Wanderess discusses the idea of auto-buy authors, which definitely gave me a lot of food for thought!
- Caitlin @ Realms of My Mind has started writing some discussions posts and I am LIVING for them. Check out her latest about mood reading.
- May @ Forever and Everly‘s discussion on the relationship between social media and reading was so spot on!

Intentions Check-In
As you saw from my intentions post, I tried to narrow in my focus this year. I still do want to check-in each month and see how I’m doing, so I don’t lose sight of what I’m hoping to achieve, change and celebrate!
What I feel when I think about how I still don’t have a solid routine:

Do I even try to say this is my goal for April? Who fucking knows at this point.
So, apparently reorganizing the kitchen took it out of us, because we have not organized anything since. 😂 I’m trying to decide if I’d rather focus on reorganizing closest spaces or the garage (which is the second biggest project, aside from the kitchen…or the backyard) for April.
This is definitely an improvement, considering I wrote for 35% of the month (i.e., 11 out of 31 days) and read three books! Still don’t have times specifically dedicated for these tasks, but I’m still proud.
Looking Forward
March and April are the height of my busy season at work, before we get a very brief break in May and then get completely swamped over the summer. I am hoping I don’t become too drained, so I can continue working on what I love: my writing, blogging, reading, freelance editing, Patreon, video games, etc. etc. But, I’m also hoping the weather will continue to improve and get a bit more like spring and be a motivator for happier days and outdoor adventures.
Thanks for reading this month’s Bookish Breakdown. I hope you all are staying safe and healthy. I particularly hope you are able to take care of your mental health right now.

Patreon | Newsletter | Editorial Services | Twitter | Instagram | Kofi
Thanks for the link! I’ve been enjoying writing these discussion posts when they come to me, and I’m glad others are enjoying them as well! Looks like you got some great reading done this month – definitely looking forward to your thoughts on Hall of Smoke!
Absolutely, they’ve been so fun to read!! I am definitely really enjoying Hall of Smoke and can’t wait to review it once I’m done!
Looks like you had a good month — March was super busy for me as well and I feel like college campuses are just starting to like… reawaken? Which is just all around scary but I’ve planned literally 5 events for March-May. CanNOT wait for commencement and a break during the summer!
Ohmygosh, FIVE EVENTS!? I am will be thinking about you and rooting for you to survive all of that! I am *right* there with you (though, we don’t really get a break in a summer, but the chance of pace, at least, will be nice).
Thank you so much for mentioning my post! I’m finally trying to find my way back into the blogosphere after being absent for a while, which is why I didn’t comment sooner!
Never need to worry about that, Malka! I hope your break from the blogosphere was good and you’re doing well.