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!
Oof, December wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. It did follow through with 2021 being one of the shittiest years of my life, so that’s fantastic. From my family catching COVID and thus not getting to see them during the holidays, to my partner’s late night ER visit and general depression making even the daily stuff difficult; well, let’s just say that I’m glad to see 2021 good and gone.
Let’s check in and see how I did creatively this month.
Reading Breakdown
What I Read
HA, wow, way to end my reading year on a note of reading nothing. 😭
Reading Challenges Update
What: A yearly challenge tracked via StoryGraph of how many books I want to read this year.
Goal: 50 Books
Status: 30/50 Books
(not pictured: the books I read for my poetry graduate class and my craft books)
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 Posts (Chatty Kathy Level)
Status: 20/24 Posts
Posts:
- Let’s Talk Bookish: Blogging Insecurity
- Let’s Talk Bookish: Posting Process
- Social Media: Or, the Lack of Boundaries, Safety and Nuance
- Let’s Talk Bookish: Content Ratings
- Let’s Talk Bookish: Cover Versus Plot
- Let’s Talk Bookish: Book Blogger Appreciation
- Let’s Talk Bookish: Creating Bookish Content
- Book Changes I Want to See
- Let’s Talk Bookish: Reading Affecting Mental Health
- Let’s Talk Bookish: How To Make Me Read Your Book
- Let’s Talk Bookish: Diversity in Publishing (And What Book Bloggers Can Do About It)
- Let’s Talk Bookish: Diversity in Books
- Let’s Talk Bookish: Why BookTube Isn’t For Me
- Let’s Talk Bookish: How Book Blogging Changed My Relationship with Reading
- Genres: The Avoided, The Committed and The Obsessed
- Let’s Talk Bookish: Romance as a Subplot
- Let’s Talk Bookish: Protagonists and Gender
- Let’s Talk Bookish: Book Blogging Masterminds
- Let’s Talk Bookish: “Failed” Posts
- Let’s Talk Bookish: The Hobby Balancing Act
What: A personal challenge I’ve put upon myself to read at least one ARC a month (or, 12 a year), to attempt to keep my ARC pile under a bit of control.
Goal: 12 Books
Status: 10/12 Books
What: A personal challenge where I read a book a month (or, 12 total) that I currently own that I haven’t a) purchased this year and b) aren’t ARCs.
Goal: 12 Books
Status: 4/12 Books
What: A personal challenge where I want to do a better job that of reading books written by and featuring protagonist 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 read this year that break away from that “standard” than books that do.
Status: 13 of 28
(not pictured: books read for poetry class)
Blogging Breakdown
What I Posted
I kinda fell off the blogging bit for the past three months, December certainly included. It doesn’t look like it, since I added quite a few posts this week. But wow, do I miss routine and blogging regularly.
Posts Published November 2021
- Processing Not Writing: trying to figure out what not writing has meant
- Allyship Check-In No 21: final monthly allyship wrap-up of the year
- 2021 Intentions Reflections: looking at my intentions for the year
- 2021 Statistics: a fun look at some stats!
Read Around the Blogosphere
I FINALLY BLOG HOPPED. After like three months (and that’s not an exaggeration). Someone praise me. 😅 (But, for real: I really missed reading all of your content!!! If there was a post you were really proud of that I might have missed, hit me up in the comments.)
Other Posts I Loved
- Kal @ Reader Voracious posted the 2022 Book Blogger Spreadsheet and, as always, I am in love. Also, her post on why book blogs are relevant and valuable marketing tools was *chef’s kiss*
- I’m always trash for Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books‘ content, but I particularly loved these posts: What I Learned from Not Getting Into Pitch Wars, Blogging Versus Social Media and How to Take Better Care of Your Mental Health as a Content Creator / Blogger.
- Alicia @ A Kernel of Nonsense shares ten reasons why you’re not a bad book blogger and friends, it was the callout I didn’t know I wanted.
- If you’re wanting to learn Notion, let me recommend some fantastic guides from some fantastic bloggers, such as:
- Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane‘s how I use Notion for blogging
- Fadwa @ Word Wonders‘ how I incorporate Notion into my routine
- Your Tita Kate‘s refreshed Notion templates and Google spreadsheets
- Amber @ The Literary Phoenix writes a very important piece about why we need to be reading about the Jim Crow era that you all should read.
- CW, Joce and Skye @ The Quiet Pond are hosting The Pondathon II and WHY IS THIS THE COOLEST THING EVER!?
- Speaking of reading challenges, Sumedha @ The Wordy Habitat shares 10 different reading challenge ideas to help shake up and stretch your reading habits! Also, her post on social media for bloggers is pretty fantastic!
- Fadwa @ Word Wonders shares fantastic tips on how to blog on a busy schedule that we all could prolly benefit from, honestly.
- Mackenzie @ Colour Me Read shares a really awesome discussion on sci-fi genres.
- Over at the Paper Procrastinators, Malka shares the benefits of unhauling books.
- Joyce @ The Writes of Passages shares eight things she’s learned from being published again after eight years and it’s so enlightening!
- Sabrina and Vera @ Wordy and Whimsical share what the book blogging community means to them and their guest writers.
- Gabriele @ QueerBookdom shares two fantastic lists of upcoming queer books (list one and list two) and I am just!! So excite!!
Intentions Breakdown
I’m one of those people who loves to write out intentions at the beginning of each year. I’m also one of those people who doesn’t do the best job of keeping them. Here, I check in each month and see how I’m doing!
Intentions:
- Develop a writing routine
- Edit and query BLOOD PRICE
- Write first draft of UNTITLED adult fantasy romance
Past Month:
Intentions:
- Develop a reading routine
- Read one-two books a week
Past Month:
Oh 2022, I hope you’re kinder to me.
Intentions:
- Work with at least one client each month
- Continue to self study and level up my editing skills
- Get better at marketing these services
- Work with a romance client!?
Past Month:
This has faltered in the past few months, but I’m excited to do a better job promoting this moving forward!
Intentions:
- Reach 1,000 followers
- Start: 878
- Update all older posts with new feature images
Past Month:
I didn’t get to stick to as much of a routine as I wanted, but I did set up a lot of prep for January, which has been invigorating!
Intentions:
- Find movement I enjoy and make a routine
- Read and learn about body positivity
- Continue therapy
Past Month:
Depression has been my ruler this year, but I’m planning to usurp her. I’ve had enough.
Intentions:
- Learn more about the systemic racism in America
- Learn how to better have difficult conversations to help combat systemic racism, racial injustice, and fight for LGBTQIA+ rights
- Continue to move away from performative to actual allyship
Past Month:
Excited to explore how I can do better and do more in this area.
List of smaller intentions I’d love to complete:
- Work on home projects
- Take better care of my hair and learn new ways to style it
- Lessen my social media intake
- Stay connected to friends better
- Write more letters and have penpals again!
- Adopt a more sustainable lifestyle
- Survive another year of grad school
- Pay off some debt?
- Explore our local nature spot more
- Visit friends in America (pandemic pending)
- New tattoo(s)?
- Get more nerdy clothes
- Cook more new recipes
- Manage my finances better
- Complete some day job work projects for my students
- Learn how to be a wonderful auntie to my new niece
Past Month:
- SURVIVED, and for now, that’s enough
Looking Forward
I can’t say or stress this enough: 2021 was not my year. I’m over it. And while I know a new calendar doesn’t magically fix or change anything, I do hope 2022 will be better. I have to hope.
![Hello, writers, wordsmiths and storytellers!
Thanks for the BooksforMaui fundraiser, I was able to work with three winners after I donated my most popular querying package: the 1st Impressions Package.
It was so wonderful to work with those writers that I want to work with more who want to prepare for the querying trenches. So much so, I'm offering 50% off for anyone who books during the month of October! 🎃
Full details below.
THE PACKAGE:
This is a combo package for writers who are preparing to query, but want to make sure their querying materials are going to make the right first impression to agents.
You get an single edit of your query letter, synopsis AND your 1st 50 pages, along with notes and an email summary.
COST:
Traditionally $200, this sale for $100 is good from October 1st - October 31st! Payment plans are available by request and always welcome.
TIMELINE:
Please note you just need to book in October to secure this pricing. If you need more time to prepare your materials, we can actually plan to work on your materials anytime in the next year ($50 will be required to secure booking).
Right now, I am doing 1-2 week turnaround time for this package.
Interested? Please reach out on my website (linked in bio) and let's get you ready for the trenches!
Please share widely, as word of mouth is how freelancers find clients!
[ID in alt text]
#writing #writinghelp #editing #amediting #amrevising #edits #freelanceeditor #SFFWriters #fantasywriters #writingcommunity #writing #querying #amquerying #writersofinstagram #writersofig #WIP #editorial #1stImpressionsPackage](https://thoughtsstainedwithink.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)
I totally feel you on not blog hopping for months and then making a sudden return to read ALL THE POSTS! This year school really took any chance of blog hopping from me, so now that I’m on vacation I feel as though I’m making up for lost time. Thank you so much for mentioning my post amidst the many other lovely posts you mentioned!
As for all your goals and intentions and such, 2021 was a hard year, and I’m sorry that it hit your mental health so hard. I really do hope that 2022 is a much better year for you, and please feel free to start up a random conversation with me over on Instagram if you ever need to just get out of your head or talk to someone! 💕
Right? Usually, I do a much better job of actually blog hopping (and responding to comments in a “timely” manner), but 2021 was not the year for that for me, apparently. I hope school calms down for you soon (if you’re still in it; I can’t remember if you recently graduated or not, my apologies!).
Thank you so, so much, Malka! I appreciate your kind words and even kinder offer so much! The same goes to you, absolutely! I’m DMs are always open to you!
2021 was a hard year and you shouldn’t be disappointed about not hitting your goals or blogging as often. As you mentioned in one place, you survived even after all that 2021 threw at you, so you did great! Hope you have a great 2022 and that the universe is kinder to you <3
P. S. thanks for linking my posts amongst great company!
Aww, thank you so, so much, Sumedha! I hope you have a wonderful 2022!