It’s not reading, but it’s something.

Bleak House, by Ravensblight

I am still mired in the world’s longest and most desolate reading slump, but something in my brain has clicked, and I’m now in the midst of a slightly manic crafting/making spree.

I am simultaneously making a library diorama in a ridiculously small scale (it fits inside an Altoids tin, to give you an idea), and a 1:12 scale acoustic guitar, for two different people, while building a doll’s house doll house (also known as 1:144 scale). I am also planning the end of year tokens for my co-workers–which obviously didn’t happen last year because pandemic, working from home, and general exhaustion.

Interestingly, what jumpstarted this most welcome return to doing something other than obsessively reading twitter or doing puzzles online was watching a video on youtube of someone making paper houses. I don’t know why or how printing a paper model and putting it together as an impulse flicked the switch in my brain, but it did, and I’m so very grateful.

Now, if I could only start reading new stuff consistently…

Making lists, checking them twice.

This post has existed in draft form for…well, yikes, almost two full years. Something came to light yesterday, that made me come back to it. And you, lucky readers, get to read my thoughts.

As I’ve mentioned before here and elsewhere, I do have a list of authors who, in my opinion, behave badly.¹  And, since my time, emotional labor, energy, and money, are limited, I quite simply refuse to even try their work. It’s still, at least in this small area, a free country.

By the same token, I have a much, much, much longer list of incredible people who are authors who will always get my support.

DNF – or will I?

This post started back in July 2014 as a reply to KristieJ’s DNF review of Sarah Mayberry’s Her Kind of Trouble. As you can see, it’s pretty long for a reply, but the actual reason it ended up as a post in my own blog is that, before I was done rambling, my internet crashed and I lost the whole damn thing.

Ah well, c’est la vie, shit happens, etc., so I started blathering over here until I lost steam and ended up saving the draft instead.

Then, a week or so ago, the inimitable SuperLibrarian Wendy posted one of her DNF roundups, which made me think about the topic once again.

Thinking time – why I blog, why I review

Today is the third anniversary of Her Hands, My Hands.

(Lest some readers be confused, all posts predating January 3rd, 2012 come from elsewhere.¹)

At different times since 2008, when I first started reviewing, I have written my thoughts on what reviews mean and who they are written for. Like many other bloggers, I’ve struggled with whether or not to accept ARCs and commit to post reviews on specific dates.²

2014 was a very challenging year for book bloggers, and many of them have either closed their doors or quietly gone private. Their voices will be missed, but honestly, who can blame them?