What can I say some months you just end up with everything going wrong. May was like that for me, first I sprained my wrist so I couldn’t type up anything here, and I was sick already and lacking energy. Now only to add to my troubles I’ve got COVID, no one worry, it’s a very mild case, but I will be slowly transitioning back into blogging this June mostly for Marvelathon go Team Scarlet Witch. I do have another book from this month to write a review about and a few features I’d like to get back to but like I said SLOWLY back into blogging so I don’t overwhelm myself.
Anyway that is the update around here, here’s to hoping my troubles turn around soon!
My plans for April are going to be a little different than most months of the year. I’m hosting and a Chopped mini Readathon with The Blind Scribe, this one is a Seek and Find based on an Easter Egg hunt, we’ll have prizes and sweets and fun galore. We’ll be back for the full length readathon in July, whose theme we will reveal sometime between now and then.
Also post may be a little later in the day for the first week of March and the beginning of April, I have realized I needed glasses and went to the eye doctor yesterday so my glasses are being made, but until I get them, I’ll have to limit my screen time to avoid headaches.
1) Plans for Readathons
So I’m doing at least two other readathons besides my own. I also think I saw another readathon I wanted to do last evening but can’t remember so far I’m doing Magical Readathon and Realm A Thon along with our own readathon so of course some books will be cross used.
2)Getting back to my reading goal
Since I’ve gotten to the root of why I haven’t been reading as much now I can read more through audio books and printed books until my glasses arrive then get back to reading on my devices once they do.
3) Books on Vacation
I’m going to a slightly bigger city to see a production of the travelling cast of the Broadway Show of Frozen. Slightly bigger city equals more book shops so I’m probably going to come home with goodness knows how many books. I will have so many pictures to post from this vacation I can’t wait.
4) More plans on my novel
I’ve been doing some solid work on my novel, but I make plans to need to do more research. But that has been a priority this past month I’d like to continue to make it a priority in April and get more scenes done.
March was a pretty creative month, I didn’t work on other readathons as much as I liked because the Blind Scribe and I have got a plan for an April one in the works and there has been much planning and lots of cackling, all from me.
1) Read Everyday
I may not have read as much I would have liked in March but I did enjoy what I read. I’ve also got things requested that I want to read, I’m focusing less on numbers and more on just enjoying my reads
2) Write Everyday
I’ve finally found my place with writing in March and have started to write important scenes for my novel. I have figured out plot point that had me stumped. I’ve figured out villain motivation and some things that will collect the tears of my readers. I don’t know if its right but I started at the end and am working forward to the beginning.
3) Post Everyday
Except for a few days when I was chronic fatigued I’ve posted to the blog pretty much every day, and I’ve done pretty good to keep my posts in advance for the case that I’m tired or chronic fatigued.
4) Participate in Readathons
Well I worked on my own Readathon, does that count. I’m saying it does indeed. The Blind Scribe and I have been working away on a little Easter/Ostra adventure for all of our Chopped fan readers from last time and to all the new faces we hope to see for April. The surprises will arrive at the beginning of April leaving you plenty of time to plan for your books for the readathon the week of Easter, April 10th-17th. While this is a mini readathon don’t worry were coming back with a whole month of fun in July.
I’m doing the challenge for the Vegetable Garden with Cuddle which encourages you to read more women of color. I really hope I can participate in this challenge since I missed the last two due to working on my readathon and medical appointments.
To complete this quest and receive the quest reward, complete the following objective(s):
Read a book by a woman (including non-binary women and femme) author of colour during Women’s History Month. OR Read a book by a Black author for Black History Month.
This quest is repeatable. (Repeating this quest is optional.)
Those who complete the quest may choose their quest reward. However, colours of the reward are random.
Bonus: Read at least three books of the above objectives to earn the Vege Buddies badge for your character card!
Secret Achievement: Read a book by a Black woman/non-binary woman/femme author.
Looks like we have some great rewards here are some of the books I plan to read
Operation Sisterhood
Bo and her mom always had their own rhythm. But ever since they moved to Harlem, Bo’s world has fallen out of sync. She and Mum are now living with Mum’s boyfriend Bill, his daughter Sunday, the twins, Lili and Lee, the twins’ parents…along with a dog, two cats, a bearded dragon, a turtle, and chickens. All in one brownstone! With so many people squished together, Bo isn’t so sure there is room for her.
Set against the bursting energy of a New York City summer, award-winning author Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich delivers a joyful novel about a new family that hits all the right notes!
Amazon: Operation Sisterhood
Across a Field of Starlight
When they were kids, Fassen’s fighter spaceship crash-landed on a planet that Lu’s survey force was exploring. It was a forbidden meeting between a kid from a war-focused resistance movement and a kid whose community and planet are dedicated to peace and secrecy.
Lu and Fassen are from different worlds and separate solar systems. But their friendship keeps them in each other’s orbit as they grow up. They stay in contact in secret as their communities are increasingly threatened by the omnipresent, ever-expanding empire.
As the empire begins a new attack against Fassen’s people–and discovers Lu’s in the process–the two of them have the chance to reunite at last. They finally are able to be together…but at what cost?
Ophelia also likes to grow things but she has a rose garden instead of vegetable garden. Ophelia Rojas knows what she likes: her best friends, Cuban food, rose-gardening, and boys – way too many boys. Her friends and parents make fun of her endless stream of crushes, but Ophelia is a romantic at heart. She couldn’t change, even if she wanted to.
So when she finds herself thinking more about cute, quiet Talia Sanchez than the loss of a perfect prom with her ex-boyfriend, seeds of doubt take root in Ophelia’s firm image of herself. Add to that the impending end of high school and the fracturing of her once-solid friend group, and things are spiraling a little out of control.
But the course of love—and sexuality—never did run smooth. As her secrets begin to unravel, Ophelia must make a choice between clinging to the fantasy version of herself she’s always imagined or upending everyone’s expectations to rediscover who she really is, after all.
I just finished another book by a black author You Truly Assumed yesterday morning and got one of the secret achievements I’m going to update my vegetable garden today and post it on here later in the week. I can’t wait to see how some of my new rewards look in my garden.
Are you all looking forward to the spring or more winter people like I am wishing it would stay cold? Either way warmer temperatures are coming along with lots of new spring releases and I for one can’t to catch some of the new books.
1) Read Everyday
I’ve been so focused on goals I’ve gotten away from just looking at a book at enjoying the habit of reading every day. I’m going to get back to that in March and not worry so much about goals. I’ll have them, but I’m also just going to try to pick up a book every day just for fun.
2) Write Everyday
My novel has been sitting on the backburner for too long and it needs some real attention and while I acknologde I might not be able to write EVERY day that why this is a goal. I need to work on outlining and the rules of my fantasy world and character background. Then I want to get into the fun part, writing.
3) Post Everyday
I’ve been doing pretty good about this and I want to keep it up. It makes the blog number good and I just feel a sense of accomplishment posting consistently. I’ve got a lot of posts coming up that I think everyone is going to like but I won’t have time till the weekend to work on them.
4) Particpate in Readathons
I’ve got a couple readathons I’m doing in March and I may add more. I really enjoy these particular readathons to I’m going to try and take part in the social aspect of the readathons as well since that was something I didn’t do last time.
I think these are four pretty good goals for March I don’t want to be too ambitious but I want to challenge myself and I think this set of goals does that. I’m looking forward to March to work on theses.
Since we’re getting close to the end of the month I thought I’d do an overview of how I’d done for the month. See how everything went so far for this month.
Try and read at least 10 books in February
This is the same goal for every month. However I was extremely naïve to think I would hit it on a month where I was running a readathon. The readathon took the energy right out of me. I think I read two books this month. I plan to read more next month which I’ll get to in my March Goals especially since I’m participating in two readathons the Orillium Gear Up and the Trope-ical Readathon. Hopefully that will get my reading numbers back where they need to be for the year.
Work on the Readathon
I did tons of work on the readathon, I now know how much I have to learn and will be studying Google Forms and several other things before our new round of the readathon in July. This round was very educational and I hope everyone had fun and is still reading and getting in those last books.
Start doing research and rough drafting for my novel
The readathon eclipsed all other work, though hopefully I’ll have time for this in March. I really want to start getting my ideas organized and at least do some outlining. I have all my characters voices very strong in my head so I really should write them down.
Keep posting every day
I’ve done very well with posting nearly every single day in February. I only missed a few days here and there due to fatigue or pain, which I think is an acceptable reason to miss a day of posting besides sometimes you just need a break. But I’m going to keep my regular posting into March because it continues to make my stats look great.
So on the overview I think I did pretty well with my goals for this month, there are things I need to work on but I focused my energy on the thing that was most important to me and made sure content was up every day.
Check out what me and my co-host The Blind Scribe have done with the Chopped Readathon at here
You’ve already heard my goals for the year at large. But now I’m going to focus on my January goals.
Read 10 books in January
I’ve been having pretty bad migraines so not sure if I’m going to get this one done but I’m going to try it will keep me on track to read 125 for the year.
Keep Posting Regularly
I’ve been doing well with this so far, so I hoping I can keep it up.
Work on things for my readathon
Start planning for the Chopped Readathon I’m hosting in February. I need to start dropping clues and decide on the prompts with my co-host. Then at the end of the month I’ll put up sign ups.
Spend January planning out my readathons for the year.
I know I want to do plenty of readathons this year but I want to get a handle on when they are so I can get a handle on how busy each month will be. I think this will help me plan what I’m reading for the year and see if I need to order any books in advance.
Organize and clean out the categories on my blog
I’ve haven’t really updated some of the categories and tags in awhile so I want to get the blog better organized. Some of the tags don’t apply anymore, same with some of the categories and there are some tags and categories that I need to add, so it’s mostly a clean up job but I really just didn’t feel like tackling it last year, this year I’m going to take it in small pieces.
So what are your January goals? Have anything in mind for this month you’ve been putting off? The last two items are ones I’ve really needed to do for awhile but just haven’t had the mental space for.
So how did I do goal wise for December? What was the takeaway? Did I learn anything new I can apply in the new year? Let’s take a look and see.
Try to finish 100 books
I turned into a book goblin and read 13 book so far in December so that’s only two for the last week, which is totally doable. I might even get in more than 100 so that a nice bonus.
Post Regularly
I’ve been posting almost ever day every day except for a few days around Christmas I took off to spend with my family. I think one takeaway from this month is posting regularly, as in everyday really pushes my blog numbers to where I want them to be. That’s going to take stamina to maintain but I think it will be worth it in term of followers and hopefully ARC opportunities over the next year.
Work on my readathons
My own readathon kind of fell through due to me having to be on some strong medicine in early December, but I’ve almost completed the Reindeer Readathon I’ve only got two prompts lefts.
Start making plans for the new year
So I’ve spent December about what readathons I want to do next year, the first one is going to be Pondathon 2, a year long readthon where you can add items to your garden it’s very cute and sweet and you can find more information here.
I know I’ll be doing lots of follow ups to readthons I did in the fall that promised to have second parts in the spring such as Orillium. Now as for number of books I’m going to try for, I think I can do 125 I did 100 this year and that was with 3ish months cut out for recovery for a broken ankle. I think back at semi full strength all year long I can read the required number of books it would take to do 125.
Of course the eventual goal is to be reading 200 a year but I figure you do that incrementally, so I’ll do 150 next year and so on. Any super readers out there with tips on reading more per month?
I’ve also done Bookmas pretty well and enjoyed it. So I’d say December was pretty successful.
I’m trying to hit 100, I’m at 78 as of the writing of the writing of this post. So that’s 22 books for December. I’ve read 9 books this month, so I don’t think I’m going to make it, however I have to try. Plus I have my 12 Days of Christmas Readathon plus the Reindeer readathon to direct my reading, plus some other readathons will probably pop up that I will join as well. So maybe? Hopefully? If I turn into a book goblin.
Post Regularly
I’ve been good about posting later in the month, but the the first part of the month I tend to neglect. I need to do better about this not only because I have content to post, but because it will help my website numbers. Maybe I should do more posting in advance at the end of the month. For example this November I’m going to try and post of the beginning on December.
Work on my readathons
I’d like to at least finish my readathon and maybe the Reindeer Readathon. I’m probably going to try and somewhat participate in a few others but those two will be my main focus.
Start making plans for the new year
I’m going to spend December thinking about what I what Readathons I want to do in the new year and my reading goals for next year. I’m thinking 100 books next year but could I go 125, can I be one of those people in a few years who reads 200-250 books a year. Can I be a super reader? Does anyone read that much and have tips.
I’m also thinking about Booktube, I’m still not sure if anyone would be interested though, or whether I should wait until I have a better set up for books. I want to get back on Instagram in the new year when I move and have a better set up.
Overall those are my goals for the end of the year, I’m really looking forward to December as it is one of my favorite months of the year and I can’t wait to see what I end up reading.
I’m excited for November, firstly because its Native American People’s Month and I plan to read/watch/listen to as much OwnVoices Native Content as I can find. Secondly and much less importantly my ankle is finally getting stronger, was weak weak after I broke it.
And has been weak in the months since but at 9 1/2 months recovery I’m starting to feel like I could stand long enough to bake again. November being the perfect time with fall and winter being literal the only time where I live where you can bake without needing a fan. Finally there are so many great fall and winter releases I can’t wait for. Now for my goals.
1) Read Down My NetGalley TBR
I like many people love NetGalley. I also like many people let my list build up too high. I want to work on reading and reviewing some of the books I’ve let build up on my list and try to whittle it down to get my percentage up so I can get more books and do the same thing again. Oh well, but ARCs.
2) Try and Post 3 Times a Week in November
I think I’m in a better space to posting more plus I want to get my metrics up so I’m going to try to be consistent and be on here a good deal. I’m also going to try and find more creative ways to post tags, readathons etc.
3) Engage on Twitter More in November
Last week was my two year Twitter Anniversary, but I realize I’m not engaging as much with the platform as I’d like. I’d like to start preplanning my tweets, which I know, how am I not doing that already but I just never got around to it. I mean I’ll still hop on and make fun Tweets but I want to engage with my followers/get more followers.
4) Bake More
Though not specifically blog related I’ve been wanting to do it for months but haven’t been able to just because I haven’t been recovering long enough but now that it’s cooler and my recovery is further along I should be able to go back to doing a little of the hobby that I love done.
Stay tuned for my Halloween/Samhain surprise this weekend! And enjoy your weekend.
