Mid-Year Wrap-Up!

Hello!

A looong post for you today. June has crept up on me – how are we halfway through 2021 already? I’m going to be getting emails about Christmas stock soon at work (which feels even weirder as we missed Easter this year). Even with being back at work, time still feels very much out of sync and I’m sat here in June going…huh?

It’s been a challenging year. Lockdown #2 was far harder to endure than the first one, and I was climbing the walls far more than I care to admit, and I have never been so happy to be back at work (although it was a massive shock to the system). However, all that time at home has meant that I’ve done a huge amount of reading and I am currently sat on 130 / 200 for my GR reading goal (although I am still behind on reviews, as reading is often easier than the writing so I’m actually a dozen or so ahead of that but I haven’t added them yet). I’ve also had the opportunity to do some new bookish things this year. I’m a panelist for the BBNYA 2021, and just finished my round one reading and feedback. I’ve also had the chance to do some beta reading which has been fantastic, and I am hopefully going to be helping out with Norsevember later this year.

The Indie Fantasy Addicts Summer Challenge is also just around the corner, and I am busy building a TBR for that and trying to clear my backlog of netgalley and reviews so I can focus on this challenge – and I have some super titles that I’m really looking forward to diving into.

Currently Reading:

Continue reading “Mid-Year Wrap-Up!”

February/March Wrap-Up and April TBR

Hello!

Today I am here with a double wrap-up for February and March. February was a very bad month for me, not in terms of books read – I escaped into books more than usual – but I was very deep in lockdown blues and had no motivation to write reviews, or do much of anything and at the time I didn’t want to wrap-up what had felt like a dismal month. March has been much better, especially since I got confirmation of when I will be back at work (19 days and counting… yes I am keen to go back to work), and that has brought renewed motivation and a feeling that things are finally moving in the right direction.

Outside of books, D&D continues to be the highlight of my weeks (albeit stressful at times) and I am slowly getting back into the saddle with DMing too – something my squishy party might be regretting as they got blown up at the end of last session (they forgot to check for traps). While renewed motivation is helping on the writing front as well as I stalled quite a lot in February with the general feeling of meh that was prevailing at the time. I’m also trying to set myself the goal of talking about my book at least once a week somewhere on the blog or twitter, because I am terrible at self-promo (and it is the part I am dreading the most of releasing it into the world) so I figure I should try and build it up, so we will see how that goes.

Continue reading “February/March Wrap-Up and April TBR”

January Wrap-up and February TBR

Hello!

Well 2021 has been off to a fairly bumpy start, and I very tired of furlough and lockdown and that has translated into a general lack of motivation. However, that said there have been some bright spots this month. One has been D&D which I’m now playing twice a week, bouncing between a Dragonborn Cleric, a Drow Rogue and Tiefling Sorlock, and from next week I will be running a text-based version with another group and I can’t wait (it’s also given me an excuse to play with world-building and maps which always cheers me up).

I also got to read an e-Arc of Oh, That Shotgun Sky the new novella by Sarah Chorn that comes out in February, which has left me with a book hangover that has lasted weeks and is certainly one of my favourite books for 2021.

Then there has been TBRcon organised by David across at FanFiAddict, which was both a delightful break from the monotony of lockdown, but has also quadrupled my TBR and introduced me to some new authors, and it has also kicked me into action and I’ve got back to my editing and been playing with some new scenes (and worked out some kinks in the plot). The panels were fantastic, and I will be rewatching quite a few of them.

Continue reading “January Wrap-up and February TBR”

December Wrap-up, January TBR and a Peek Beyond

Hello!

We did it, we survived 2020. I have to admit that 2021 doesn’t look so different at the moment, especially with what else happened last night at 11PM, but while we face an upward hike – I’m currently stuck at home and furloughed once more – I am optimistic. Life is too short to be any other way. And while 2020 was a hell year, it wasn’t without bright spots.

I started this blog and it has grown and gone much further than I ever imagined when I first started, I’ve made lots of friends through blogging, read lots of fantastic books and spent lots of wonderful hours under imaginary skies.

Continue reading “December Wrap-up, January TBR and a Peek Beyond”

November Wrap-Up and What’s On for December

Close-up Photography of Snowflake

Hello!

Well November has come and gone and we’re now in Christmas Month (I work in retail so it is definitely a month long event lol). November was both a productive and unproductive month, as I read A LOT, but fell behind on reviews due to pain making it hard to focus – alas reviews don’t transport me to other worlds in the way books do, so I am now playing catch up so I will have a lot of Posts between now in Christmas.

This also had a knock-on effect on Nanowrimo and I came nowhere close to the 50K on the YA project I was supposed to be working on in between editing, on the other hand, editing is progressing – slower than I would like but progress is being made, and it will be off to an editor sooner rather than later, and I now have dozens of random scenes for the follow up book because I turned into a bit of a mood writer this month which is both good (because yay, words were written) but also a pain, as I can’t use them for a while.

That said, I had a fantastic time participating in Norsevember (even if nearly all my reviews were crammed into a single post right at the end), and while I fell off the wagon with the Sci-Fi Month challenge, I have started on Dune so I am not counting it as a complete loss.

I have also caught up with Critical Role, reread the Godblind trilogy (in Audiobook form, as I adore both the books and narrator), and I am currently working on a large A2 map for a friend. While in DnD, my Disaster Tiefling Niamh is currently stuck in frog-form courtesy of her Archfey Patron (to be remedied this weekend when she is going to try and escape) and no longer has any memories of her friends in the party (the cost of casting the Wish Spell via a magical flower to yeet a Kraken to save the party and the Water plane).

I love DnD XD.

Oh, and I also finally got confirmation that my university had fixed the issue with one of my modules and that I have (somehow) completed my Postgraduate Diploma in Coastal and Maritime Societies and Cultures – something which I am more relieved than excited about, but still a good thing in 2020.

Continue reading “November Wrap-Up and What’s On for December”

October Wrap-Up and What’s On for November

Hello!

So October has come and gone, in a somewhat different way than I had planned as I ended up spending two weeks in quarantine after coming into contact with colleagues who tested positive for covid. I didn’t have it or at least had no symptoms, I was just very bored for two weeks – and read a lot more because of it. I also had my birthday and was blessed with some lovely books and Final Fantasy VII remake which I have wanted for ages, and is currently driving me up the wall as I am stuck on a battle.

(Birthday books)

October also saw a little bit of rebranding, because as my blog nears it’s first birthday I decided a revamp was needed. So I changed up the background and created a new banner:

I also decided that come the New Year, I will be doing away with the star-rating system (apart from on netgalley and goodreads etc where it is required) and I will be replacing it with badges. I am still working on the design and details of these, so watch this space, but they are coming.

Continue reading “October Wrap-Up and What’s On for November”

It’s Halloween! Okay, it’s October…

Bunch of Yellow Leaves



Hello!
So, October has arrived and with it dark evenings and mornings (perfect for snuggling up with a book, not so good for work) and a chill in the air.

September was a mixed month for me, between work and *gestures at everything* I’ve been more stressed and tired than usual, which makes my dyslexia worse than usual. I’m lucky in that it doesn’t effect my reading too much, but the writing of reviews? Yeah, that slowed down completely and I am still fighting with a few, but I have a week’s holiday coming up and as we have more volunteers coming on board at work things will hopefully ease up.
However, it wasn’t all bad by any means. It was Self-Published Fantasy month which was a fantastic event, and while I wasn’t able to contribute as much as planned I have loved seeing all the interviews, reviews and other posts (not sure my TBR agrees). I love indie books and I want to continue the spirit of this month, so as much as possible going forward I will be dedicating Sundays to a review of an indie book (there will be more reviews that that – I have so many I want to read – but Sunday will be the dedicated slot).

Continue reading “It’s Halloween! Okay, it’s October…”

August Wrap-up and September Plans

Hello!
Since we’re on the brink of September (and when did that happen?) I thought that I would do a wrap up post for August, before plunging into September where I will be participating in Self-Published Fantasy Month. You can find my TBR for that event here, I have added some to the list since then, but keeping them unofficial so that if I don’t get to them I won’t feel as bad.

Continue reading “August Wrap-up and September Plans”

May Wrap-Up and What’s next

Hello!

Today, marks the end of Wyrd & Wonder which has been wonderful month of all things fantasy! I have loved the chance to find more blogs, talk fantasy and find more books to add to the towering TBR.  In terms of my May TBR for this challenge I finished 3/5 books, I am currently reading ‘The Bone Ships’ by RJ Barker and I decided to leave ‘Blade’s Edge’ by Virginia McClain until June as part of another challenge.

May, in general has been a very bookish month (hello Lockdown), and I have posted more here than in the previous months (something I want to keep up even when I do eventually get to go back to work). I have checked off a load more squares of #armedwithabingo and I am currently sat on 73/200 for my Goodreads challenge (9 behind apparently, although I know I have a couple more to add).

Continue reading “May Wrap-Up and What’s next”

January Wrap-Up

Hello!

We’re in February already, when did that happen? We have Valentines’ hearts in the window at work, and Easter Eggs on the shelves and this year seems to already be passing quickly. It’s been a rather eventful week since my last post – Brexit happened (joy), I started a Patreon for some of my writing projects, had a run-in with a reposter who turned out to be nothing more than (I hope) a teenager looking for a fight who didn’t have a leg to stand on, and finally got through a scene in my novella that has been giving me no end of grief. I also spent a good ten minutes tangling with the word ‘them’ which I had written as ‘theb’ (got to love dyslexia and muddling letters), wherein I kept deleting the ‘b’ and then promptly typing it back in again – brain, why?

As such reading took a little bit of a back seat, plus I was still processing ‘The Wolf of Oren-Yaro’ by K.S. Villoso (Review here). I did, however, read ‘West’ by Carys Davies and ‘The Honjin Murders’ by Seishi Yokomizo – both of which I gave *** (3-stars) on Goodreads because while they were enjoyable enough reads and quick ones, they didn’t grasp me as fully as I would like. I also started ‘To Kill a Kingdom’ by Alexandra Christo, while I have decided for the time being to set aside ‘The Final Empire’ by Brandon Sanderson. I’m hoping that if I come back to it when I am in the right mindset, I will enjoy it more than I am at the moment, as it is one that has been highly recommended to me by several friends, and I have seen it on all the big ‘lists’, and I at least want to finish book one. But, not right now.

I also did some book therapy, I got these ones from work, hoping to expand a bit more beyond my fantasy reading (although I will always come back there)

 

Jan

Continue reading “January Wrap-Up”