Author Requests: Reviews on Demand (Blogiversary Musings)

Technically, I’ve been blogging since 2008, but there were a few years of starts and stops. But not only is October the month of my first blog post but it’s also my favorite month, so there you go. Sometimes arbitrary isn’t so arbitrary. Of course, usually it is.

Anyhooo… For the rest of October I'm posting about some stuff I’ve been thinking about over the past year as a reader and as a blogger. Feel free to weigh in with your thoughts if you want.

Author Requests: Reviews on Demand

I’ve read several books over the past year that were for “requested reviews.” For the most part, it worked out fine and I enjoyed the book and my subsequent interactions with the authors. Notable in these precious people experiences have been Terry Maggert (@TerryMaggert) and Rin Oliver (@koliver_writes). And I loved Santa Muerta by Lucina Stona. Really, the problem hasn’t been the books (though there are some exceptions to that, of course) the problem has been feeling like I HAVE to read the damn thing. And then feeling obligated to like it or say nice things about it and or to write anything at all. AND THEN! An author told me that my thoughts about a book were wrong, which honestly kinda pissed me off since she asked me to read the stupid thing in the first place and I didn’t even like it that much. 

Blogging is something I do just for fun and any element of AND NOW YOU MUST DO THIS annoys me, which sets up a bad vibe for the book from the jump. So, I’ve been thinking of just refusing books from now on. So what’s the problem with that, right? Well, all the books I’ve read by request are either books by underrepresented groups or are small press/ self pubbed. These are stories that need to be amplified because they might not be mainstream candy. I’m still working this out in my head, but I might set up some boundaries for myself so that I can at least feel differently about this whole experience.

I am looking forward to the last request I have agreed to, though. 

Do you have a way to keep “jobs” fun and interesting? Do you feel like you have to be different in your reviews that authors asked you to do?

Related Posts:

  

I’m Not Worried about Your Kool Aid (Blogiversary Musings)

Technically, I’ve been blogging since 2008, but there were a few years of starts and stops. But not only is October the month of my first blog post but it’s also my favorite month, so there you go. Sometimes arbitrary isn’t so arbitrary. Of course, usually it is.

Anyhooo… For the rest of my blogiversary month, I’m posting about some stuff I’ve been thinking about over the past year. Feel free to weigh in with your thoughts if you want.

I’m Not Worried about Your Kool Aid:

You know what it means to be up in someone’s Kool Aid? It means you are minding their business, worried about what flavor they are drinking instead of paying attention to your own stuff. Well, there are a LOT of book bloggers on the internet and some of them do this for a living or at least for fame and free books. They post almost every day. They run giveaways and blog tours and all kinds of stuff. I have some goals but they are loose and just to keep me motivated and meeting people. I try not to get caught up in the Book Blogger Business, but chill out over here with my little blog and books and just do my own thing. (Did you know that in Old English, the connotation for the word “business” was anxiety. I’m not sure that that is no longer the case. No Thanks.)

Link: Goals I set for myself this year

Have your blog goals changed over time?

How do you decide on your blog goals?

Related Posts:

  

Who Tells Whose Story? #WNDB (Blogiversary Musings)

Technically, I’ve been blogging since 2008, but there were a few years of starts and stops. But not only is October the month of my first blog post but it’s also my favorite month, so there you go. Sometimes arbitrary isn’t so arbitrary. Of course, usually it is.

Anyhooo… For the rest of my blogiversary month, I’m posting about some stuff I’ve been thinking about over the past year. Feel free to weigh in with your thoughts if you want.

who tells whose story?

I’ve written about this a couple of time. There are some books that are clearly #WNDB books. Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older and The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds, for example: racially diverse characters, POC authors, story lines set in diverse places with stories blending the rich cultural aspects of real people. Or The Great American Whatever by Tim Federle: gay author, a wonderful portrayal of gay main character that doesn’t feel contrived or stupid coming of age in a real- feeling world.

And look at these pictures? Am I crazy or are authors just more attractive than other people!

But what about stories of diverse characters in bland otherwise colorless worlds? Or written by non-marginalized (i.e., white, cis, male) authors. These can be great stories, too. I’m currently reading a Japanese story written by a white author that I’m really enjoying (The Monster on the Road is Me by J.P. Romney), or think about Soundless by Richelle Mead or The Girl with the Ghost Eyes by M.H. Boroson. I use these as examples because they are great books. I think the decision is easier if the authors are assholes about their subject matter. But these books show detail and consideration only achieved by research and experience. But do they count as diverse? They certainly aren't #ownvoice books.

And what about “diverse” authors that write white characters like Danielle Paige, who wrote the excellent Dorothy Must Die series? ... is that half a #WNDB sticker? ::sigh: Comment below on this because I love to hear other people’s thoughts on this. Here are a couple of my other related posts.

Link: What Makes a Diverse Book 

Link: My Diverse (but not too diverse?) Little Free Library  

Related Posts:

  

All pictures obtained from Google Search. I don't own anything!

Book Blogger Blind Date

The Idea:

Book Blogger Blind Date is a feature hosted by Jillian over at Rant and Rave about Books. The basic concept is pretty simple. Jill got a bunch of people to sign up and then she paired us up to get to know each other and post about each other! Done!

The Blog:

My blind date is with Cindy at My Book File. Cindy does book reviews and has a cute feature called Double Reviews, where she and Anne from Inked Brownies review a book together. I LOVE THIS IDEA and if I ever got my shit together enough to coordinate schedules with a whole other person, I would totally steal it!

So, Cindy and I decided to exchange brief little blurbs about ourselves and then do questions and answers. Here's Cindy's intro:

I like books (fantasy and historical fiction are my favorite genres), history (not 20th century history, though), writing, photography and medieval languages (Germanic languages mostly). Dutch is my mother language. I speak English, German and have some knowledge of French, Spanish and Norwegian.

Since some time ago, I stopped doing sports, but I really want to try something new in the future, the last 12 years I did horseback riding. 

I'm really addicted to coffee [WELL, WHO ISN’T, CINDY!?] and chocolate, olives with garlic are really close to the top as well :')

Cindy lives in the Netherlands which I'm pretty sure, that for the majority of my life, I thought was where Peter Pan lived. But lookie here, it's an actual place!! She lives where the red thingy is. She's about half my age (ahem) and is an English student. 

We were only going to ask a certain number of questions but each of the questions I wrote was like a bunch all in one, so I failed the first task of the whole assignment!! During the little intro, I learned that Cindy has pets which is pretty much all you need to know about a person.

 

Anyway, here’s

I'm kicking butt! (2016 Blog Challenges and Goals update)

Yep. It’s still almost July. Which is basically crazy.

My blog goals for 2016 were focused on increasing the consistency of my posting and getting more involved with other bloggers and bookish peeps. And really, feeling more connected with the book blog community has been awesome!

Here's my mid- year goal update: 

A Place to Start: What I Blog About

I post about a lot of different things. Below is just a way to organize in my head the kinds of things I post about. If I knew how to, these headings would probably be the tabs across the top of the page (updated: I think I figured that out! but am still not doing it) that lead you to different things around my blog. But I don't... or I do... but that seems like more work than this... so, here ya go!

#DayZero: The 101 Things in 1001 Days Challenge

The Challenge:

Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:

Tasks must be specific (i.e., no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (i.e., represent some amount of work on your part).

Why 1001 Days?

Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple challenges such as New Year's resolutions or a 'Bucket List'. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organizing and timing some tasks such as overseas trips, study semesters, or outdoor activities. source: about day zero project

* * * * * * * * * *

I saw one blogger who split her goals up into categories. I’m stealing that idea.

Coming up with 101 things to do is hard! I’m not really into traveling and I do most things I want to do… not to sound bitchy. I’m an impulsive shopper; hence the financial category of this list.

Bookish- Blogger Blog Post Topics: Gimme Ideas!

I'm still working this whole blogger thing out. I love reading books and posting book reviews. But I also enjoy posting about other things... though, everything tends to be book related. It seems like blogging only reviews would also be boring for people who read blogs regularly, too.

What's my point? My point is, I sometimes have a hard time coming up with post ideas separate from book reviews... I actually think about ideas I really like when I'm doing something else (e.g., driving a car, falling to sleep, taking a shower) and then totally lose the thread when it's time to post! I know other's experience this. I'm not just OLD!

So, this post is really a place for me to put ideas for topics. It will be updated as I think of other things. 

1. Three blogs I follow/ love
2. What are important things to consider when reviewing a book
3. Book club structure and book picking procedure (I'm into Book Clubs!)
4. Updates on current reading challenges
5. Recaps or summaries of completed reading challenges
6. How much do The Feels matter in my book rating
7. Favorite book- related device apps
8. Response to an interesting blog post someone else posted
9. What characters do I really connect with in books?
10. What tropes do I love/ hate? For example, I both love and hate the "hot broken boy next door."
11. What's a popular reader opinion I agree/ disagree with?
12. How do I think that book to movie adaptation is?
13. Recommend some books to specific people (who ask, or who don't!)
14. Review bookish- activities/ events?
15. Talk about how to share a love of books locally
16. What it's like to reread a book at a different point in my life (BACK FIRE WARNING)
17. Top 5 books/ characters/ settings of all time
18. What have been my favorite posts that I've written?
19. Do a book picture challenge on Tumblr
20. Thoughts about local library tour
    

Please feel free to add your ideas in the comments... and also: where do you get your non- book review blog post ideas from?

My Reading Challenges for 2016

Book challenges are kind of a new thing for me. I'm not totally sure how I feel about them, yet, but I know that they do help me read a book or two outside of my usual go-to genres. I guess that's important? Of course, I tend to join book challenges that fit with my usual go-to genres but let us pretend that I'm making sense, shall we. It does work, sometimes. I never would have read the Stiff micro-history if it wasn't for the Read Harder Challenge this year. That turned out to be one of my top books of the year. YAY, book challenges! 

For 2015, I didn't really have a Reading Challenge plan at the beginning of the year. For 2016, I've decided to pick a few things ahead of time. We will see how it goes. I'm pretty good at doing that thing where you sign up for everything but then get too bogged down to really do anything. I also don't want reading to start feeling like a chore. If it starts to be a pain in the butt, then I will totally just abandon ship on the whole idea. 

Meet the Boss (2015)

Updated: June 2018 -- go there

I've noticed that most of the blogs that I visit have an About Me page other than the lame one offered through the host site. Technically, I didn't really notice it, myself. I was actually reading someone else's blog that pointed out that most blogs have one... and THEN I noticed. And who am I to shuck a tradition in blogging?

I'm Kenya. I'm a "30 - something" mother of two teens who lives in a suburb of Rochester, NY. I guess 30- something is generous... I'm more like "late- 30's." My 18 year old just moved out to stay with her grandparents in Dallas for while. I miss her like hell but know that she needed some grown-up space for herself. My 15 year old is a smart- alecky book nerd who is getting more active at school and drives me bat shit crazy. I don't know what I'd do without her to keep me humble.

I both love and hate Rochester. I love my job. I hate the weather. We're no where near extended family... which is a pro and a con. My life is actually pretty awesome. I spend most of my days doing things that I really like doing with people I really like. I drink too much coffee, I rarely exercise and I don't sleep enough. What's not to love! 

I've always been a reader but have really been able to become an extreme reader and maybe just "a little over the top bookish" over the last couple of years, since my kids are older and my career has settled down a bit. My partner recently told me that he thinks I'll be "over my book thing" soon, but I don't see it happening. 

I tend to read a lot of Young Adult books. This is probably because I have the attention span of a teenager and YA books tend to move quickly and have more action. But I enjoy a wide range of books, really. I decided to start blogging because it seems like fun. Writing about the books I read also helps me remember the books for longer. I kind of get book amnesia and source confusion BIG TIME about a month after reading a book.

I tend to blog my reviews for books that I liked, rather than those I didn't care as much for, though I am trying to get better about at least leaving a few thoughts on the Goodreads review for all books. For small press books, I also try to remember to post a review on one vendor site, usually Amazon.com. Please feel free to contact me through this blog, my Twitter, or my Goodreads accounts with review requests. 

I've been off from work following a surgery from the end of November 2015 until the first week of January, which means I've been able to spend more time with the blog than I would have otherwise. I'm hoping I keep up some momentum when I go back to work. But life happens. Here's a post about what I'm doing when I'm not reading.  

That Blog Life: From NaBloPoMo to Regular Posting

I'm trying to work out my "blog life." I mean, I know that I like blogging but I need to add some structure into the task for it to GET DONE. I just looked at the stats for this blog and it looks like I didn't post at all between 2011 and 2014. Of course, I was moving a couple of times, buying a house, starting a practice, increasing my time at my job blah blah blah, but I probably could have posted if I had really wanted to. But things come up, you know? When I was doing NaBloPoMo, it was helpful to think about how I was going to get the task done. That was an intense but short- term goal. Now it's time to think about how to sustain the "blog life." 

I'm actually a fan of structured problem solving and goal setting, because it's what I help people do for my living, probably... but it never hurts to reflect on what the hell you're doing. Right? If you don't know where you're going, you can't really know if you are on the right track. Or if you need to make a change. That reminds me of something:

Here are some questions I have for myself:

1.  Is your blog only going to be about books and bookish things?

a.   Mostly. But I think that there will be some posts that are more current thought/ event based. Primarily, I like doing the reviews but don't like the idea of only having review posts. I think that would be boring. My last few book posts have incorporated thoughts about the book along with some related real- life thing. I'm going to try to keep that up for review posts.

2.   Who are you writing to/for? Is this a Dear Diary sort of a thing or more of an open letter to an unknown reader sort of thing?

a.   I'm still working on that. When I blog, I think about "talking" to someone who knows me pretty well so the posts are pretty casual. It book review posts are partially to provide some information about the book to those who might be interested, but also to me, because I forget stories pretty quickly. 

3.   How often are you going to post? Or are you going to just post when the mood strikes?

a.   Aye. There's the question. I posted a twitter poll for bloggers and it seems like a common goal is to post about once per week/ at least several times per month. I actually have two blogs, one of which is super dead. My goal will be to post to each of them once per week. The other one is here, if you want to see it come back to life.

4.   What do you NEED: Space, materials, time, hardware?

o   I have a lap top but I don't really like my set up at home. For NaBloPoMo, I went to the library pretty often because I like their computers better. This is something to think about. 

Related prompt:

Name the five biggest distractions from your writing. I have posted about the things I do when I'm not posted. It boils down to:

1. Family
2. Facebook
3. Twitter
4. Work and Paperwork from my actual job
5. Extracurricular/ Volunteer work 

Links for blog posts ideas: 

http://selfpublishingteam.com/105-author-blog-prompts/

http://www.literaryrambles.com/2009/03/new-blog-topics-for-writers-blog.html

Writers Write: Sticking to my #NaBloPoMo goal

When setting goals it is best to set them in such a way that does not depend on your mood. You see, people think about what they want to accomplish and get all gung-ho about everything and excited. Then, some time later, their mood changes and they just don't feel like doing The Thing any more. Maybe they're tired, or busy, or just feeling unmotivated.

But (effectively) setting a goal means that you give yourself a structure and, hopefully, a reminder about doing The Thing even when you don't feel like doing The Thing. Even if you're tired or busy or unmotivated, if you have set a goal to jog three days per week, then you get up and do it. If you were just going to depend on your mood, your perceived motivation, and your flexibility, you're not really working toward your goal, you're just doing what you feel like doing, when you feel like doing it. Do you see the different? It's an important one and one I have to talk to parents about ALL THE TIME. Your rules and goals should not mood- dependent. This is usually how I fail at 30-day challenges. Once the going gets tough, or inconvenient, I'm out.

I say all this because I don't really feel like blogging today. I'm tired. I'm in the middle of a good book and I want to finish it TODAY. It's The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen, by the way. Don't you hate when someone references a book they like and then don't tell you the stinking name!! TELL ME WHAT BOOK IT IS... 

But I digress.

So, even though I'm tired, I'm posting this blog. Because that's what I said I was going to do for National Blog Posting Month. And Writer's Write.

Workshops about Writing: Training to get on my own nerves?

A couple of weeks ago, I started a workshop about creative journaling. It was kind of interesting. It's a small group of women (shocking). We did a couple of those "make a poem about yourself using the following prompt" kind of exercises. A little lame, but what can you expect. They're meant to EXPAND YOUR COMFORT ZONE, or whatever.

On some level though, I'm a little worried about learning too much about the "techniques" of writing, because I don't want it to ruin the free- for- all of my reading. I mean, Hubbo colors comic books for a living and he is all the time ruining things by talking about the usage of colors and shadowing and blah blah blah. I'm crazy enough without getting too stuck the the technical aspects of writing.... so why sign up for a workshop, you might ask..

Actually, it's mostly because I like getting together with people and talking about stuff that I like, like books and writing and what not. But also, I'm trying to make a larger space for writing in my life... hence this blog... hence this workshop.

I missed the second week, by the way. Because my kid was sick and "needed" me. Cute, right? She's 18.

Some notes about: starting a journal and the workshop to come back and pick up later:

1. sticking with it - yet another journal with two completed pages
2. getting in touch - feelings, time, a craft
3. collecting ideas -
4. the use of paper over a device - mixed feelings
5. making fun of people - can be done in all formats!
6. In every group of women there is always that one lady that should use the time for therapy
   

I don’t really have trouble complaining in any other situation…

But for some reason I have a hard time complaining about books. Not really in real life, but in writing, like on my Goodreads, for example, or via Twitter. Twitter is especially hard. Everytime I rate another not-very-interesting book I think about this. I’ve come up with a few reasons why I can’t seem to rate books below 3 stars.

1. It seems like it’s a really big deal to write a whole book. I mean, I’ve never done it! So, should an author get at least an average score just for trying. A 3 is like: “Go you! You did it! You put all those words in there!” Now, I know this is ridiculous. I actually frown upon the “We all get a prize” approach to feedback. But, maybe, and don’t tell anyone else I said this, but maybe I also feel bad about hurting THE BOOK’s feelings.  

[Can you believe there's very few images that come up when I google "when books feel sad?" I can't be the only one who thinks this is a thing. Can I? Never mind]

2. I can usually find SOMETHING I like in most books enough to “Like it” which corresponds with a 3 according to GoodRead’s scale. Of the 778 books I have marked as read, only 50 of them are rated with a 2 or lower. That’s 6%. And I assure you, I’ve read way more than 50 crappy books. But, shhhhh, they’ll hear you. 

3. Which brings me to my third problem: What if the author sees my review!? Granted, there is not a single author who cares about my rated stars more than anyone else’s stars. I know that, you know that, even my anthropomorphized books know that. But, especially since I’ve been interacting with authors via Twitter, I hate to think that they went through all that trouble (see point 1, above) to write a book and that I couldn’t even appreciate it enough to like it! This is a particular problem if my Tweet about reading the book was favorited or retweeted by the author! Again, this is counter to almost every other interaction I have in my life, where I tell people straight up what hot messes they are.  

I’ve been making an effort to rate things more candidly about what I do and don’t like about books. I don’t actually think it’s a bad thing to find positive things in the midst of bad books. Plus, thinking about the values placed on the stars (i.e., didn’t like it to Loved it) has actually helped a lot. It’s also helped that none of the books have cried.

How do you use the rating scale for books?

None of the things I should be doing (2010, Updated 2016)

This post was originally posted in September 2010. And it was awful. Updates [the commentary in brackets] and graphics were added 2/26/2016].

None of the things I should be doing are getting done. In fact, many of them are things that I sat down to do. Even propped up the old getting work done pillows. Put up my getting work done lap table thingy. Settled the computer mouse onto its comfy mouse pad. Ahhh... What!!?? Where did two hours go? The internet is a trap or the Lotus Hotel.

The Lotus Hotel is a Percy Jackson reference. If you haven't read it... Just Do It! Especially if you are into Young Adult fiction. But even if you really aren't. [But whatever you do, do not, under any circumstances, see the movie. Just do not do it.]

Anyhoo. As is typical for me when I become motivated toward a new hobby, I have begun reading the blogs of others. Partly to inspire me about things to write about. Partly to kill time while I avoid other, more mandatory work. One conclusion that I have come to is that blogs are best done by people who have way too much damn time on their hands. But then, I guess that time and "doing things well" tend to go hand in hand. Perhaps one of my problems is that I engage in too many activities. So, then, I never have enough time to do any of them exceptionally. Is exceptional a goal? It seems that good enough has always been... well, good enough.

Speaking of hobbies. My book reading seems to have waned. [My goal for that year was to read 100 books, I only got to 96! So close, yet so far. Close only counts in horse grenades.] Which is disappointing because I have about 6 books checked out from the library that I actually want to read. I've started 3 of them.

The first is "The Things They Carried." Excellently written book about soldiers during the Vietnam War. I originally picked it up because its the Rochester Big Read book and there are several book groups reading it. But I'm pretty sure that all the groups I planned to attend are meeting on evenings where I'm booked for some child-related activity. Which really diminished my motivation to finish it. And it IS really good.

 

My second book likely to be abandoned is World War Z. A book recounting a Zombie war that threatened to wipe out mankind. I'm on page two. I really like it though or at least feel that I could really like it. [Update: I did actually abandon this book, which made me want to shoot myself after a while. I did not like the "oral history" account thing. I might actually see the movie, that's how much I didn't like the book. Serious.]

 

The 3rd book is Water for Elephants. I think I must have started it when the other two books were out of reach or something. I'm lazy enough to override my rule about starting more than one book at a time, apparently. The author has sucked me in. I really want to know what happens and how it ends. [Update: LOVED it, which obviously makes the movie OFF LIMITS. And is that Robert Pattenson. Urgh. No thanks.]

It would be awesome if the stories could just fly into my head. And speaking of fantasy, it would be great if that work would get done.


[book cover photos were taken from amazon pages. All other photos were found through general google search and may link to their sources.]

Writing a Blog- Part I

The thought that has consumed me for the last two days is this: what the hell am I going to write in that damn blog? Should I write about things that have happened in my life? Present happenings? That would be a blog filled with nonsensical ramblings related to patients, children, and reading. Classes start next week so I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunities to make fun of my new students. Past happenings? I got nothing. Should I write about things that other people want to read? What do other people want to read about, anyway?

I asked Bobby about this... he was as much help as you would imagine. He sits around the house working and learning about all kinds of current events that happen in other countries from TV and podcasts. He's right when he says that if he gives me things to talk about, I won't know diddly about them. Mostly, I feel that I get enough real life current events leaving the house every day. I don't need to hear about the hell other people suffer from broadcast news. My blog is more Avoidance Art, anyway.

I read one blog on Sparkpeople.com that got him and me talking... I'll spare the details here, given that I don't think anyone will be reading this anyway... the end result is that we have been thinking of things that people (read: men) should wait until AFTER they have slept with a woman to tell her. Of course, people (read: women) will think they are things to know PRIOR to the big reveal. Bobby and I keep thinking of things that should go on the list. Here it is so far:

1. I usually prefer thinner women but don't really feel comfortable approaching them. (This was actually the thing posted in the blog I read.)

2. You're sister really is the hot one.

3. Hmmm, maybe I'm actually gay.

4. Episode One was a work of genius.

5. You'd be more attractive if you...  [lost weight, fixed your nose].

6. My ex-boyfriend is a little psycho... just don't look over there.

7. I'm a Republican. (or a Tory if you listen to a bunch of British crap like Bobby does)

8. I guess it wasn't the pants that made you look fat.

9.  My pet roaches are very nice if you just leave them alone. Wanna meet them?

10. I don't read. I'm not a fan of words.

11. I was lying about being... [rich, a lawyer, a movie producer]. But I AM a stockroom manager at... [Blockbuster, McDonalds, any pizza chain].

12. I'm still waiting for the test results to come back.

13. That's the blood bed. We can't have sex on that. (actual lines from a Kevin Smith podcast)

14. I make comics for a living.

15. I find Sesame Street to be a bit challenging, intellectually.

Bobby actually came up with the majority of these pretty quickly... I wonder what he's not telling me!?