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?

Pondering the Nut’s identity (EC v DA)

I’ve said before, repeatedly, that I believe that Tina Engler/Jaid Black is behind the Nut aka egg of toxic logic. Earlier, Deidre Saoirse Moen caught a writing tick that supports the notion. However, the Nut does vary the way it expresses itself enough for other observers to be less sure than I am.

So interesting (EC v DA related)

I have been vocal here and elsewhere about my opinion (protected speech, yo!) that the twitter Nut and Tina Engler/Jaid Black are one and the same. Deirdre Saoirse Moen has reached the same conclusion, based on some writing ticks I wasn’t aware of, never having read anything that TE/JB or any of her aliases have ever written.

I confess that Deidre makes a compelling argument there, but my reasons for believing that Tina and the Nut are one and the same person are based more on what the Nut says than on how it says it.

When will it stop?

I have written here before about gun control.

Like other things I feel passionately about, violence involving guns is not something I have experienced first hand.

Today, however, it came ever closer.

Yet another long standing blog shuts down

I am very, very sad.

For those who don’t know, Romance Reader at Heart, which opened its virtual doors in 2001, has a massive database of reviews, an extensive database of authors and books, many, many, many book lists, timelines, a message board and more.

Something, however, was missing, and just over seven years ago, Romance Reader at Heart opened its blog, Novel Thoughts. The lovely Mad (aka Fatin) rand the blog, mostly by herself. I helped her out for a brief period of time, and latter on lillie did as well.

Yesterday, Mad and lillie announced that Novel Thoughts is shut down immediately.

I will not speculate to their reasons to do so, but it’s always sad to see such a long standing romance blog just…be done, gone. I for one, am going to miss it, because while in lately I haven’t commented much, that doesn’t mean I don’t visit often.

Here’s to you, ladies, with thanks for all the joy and best wishes for the present and future.