That’s it! A book blog!

I think I’ve found my niche! Until this year, I didn’t even know a “book blog” was a thing and here I am a crushing it. Ok, well maybe “crushing” isn’t the right word, but I’m definitely onto something important. An impending empty nest feeling has been making me uncomfortable enough to seek out some new endeavors.

How can I combine my love of reading with my obsession for making lists? Can I use my curiosity and my love of written communication to convey my crazy thoughts about the books I read and the world around me? Sure! Why not?!

This is year four of keeping track of the books I read, and I have to say this year’s numbers were a little bit disappointing. I thought I spent way more time with my face in a book that the previous year, but I guess I was wrong. Of course, this doesn’t include time I spent in magazines and online articles, so maybe that’s what I was feeling.

2017		2018		2019	2020
31 books		49 books		71 books	71 books
376.24 hours		432.05 hours		694.95 hours	652.13 hours
10,133 pages		14,309 pages		23,948 pages	22,087 pages
1.03 hours per day		1.84 hours per day		1.9 hours per day	1.79 hours per day
12.14 hours per book		8.82 hours per book		9.79 hours per book	9.18 hours per book

To put a positive spin on things, I may have spent slightly less time reading but I did increase my writing and posting time, so I’m not too upset. Writing more consistently was another goal of mine for 2020 and I did improve my stats there. Maybe I should start keeping a journal about that!

In the final months of the year, I finally found a good rhythm of reading, writing, and posting and it has continued into this year. It’s exciting to see slow and steady improvement and I’m looking forward to seeing grown over the coming months.

Unlike last year, I didn’t spend New Year’s gathering up the books I read and making a big pile. I planned on it. I told my husband I would. “I’ll gather them, count them, and lay among them reminiscing about the past” is what I told him. He looked at me so strangely. I showed last year’s post and my notebook to a friend and explained to him how fun it was hunting all those books down. He was confused and maybe a little frightened as well.

But it wasn’t the fear of being strange that stopped my egg hunt this New Year’s but the insistence that we do something normal for the holiday. For the first time in many years, we had a gathering of sorts. Booze was consumed. Pool was played. Food was eaten. And much to my disbelief, we made it past midnight! It was…DECENT in all the worst ways.

I guess we had a little too much fun because we’re already a third into January and I’m finally getting to one of my favorite posts of the year. Yesterday, I spent a few hours thumbing through my journals, making lists, and smiling at old posts.

Yes, I know there are apps for this but what fun would that be?! I’ve tried it before and found that I only obsess and get stressed out when I watch my average in real time, or notice that others on the app are “doing better” than I am. I read at my own pace. It’s not a race but a daily habit, a personal journey. My stats are just for me to reflect on…and show you so you know how truly weird I am. Besides, I love paper and intend to keep using it!

Something about the tactile holding of bound paper, the pen in my fingers, the smooth glide of a great pencil on paper…HOT!

Here’s this year’s breakdown by genre…

Fiction: 33	Non-Fiction: 39
Sci-Fi: 3	Essays:1
YA Novel: 4	History: 5
Romance: 1	Politics: 1
Novel: 11	Memoir/Biography:6
Thriller: 2	Writing/Reading:7
Historical Fiction: 1	Science (Philo.,Sociol.,Psycho.): 8
Plays: 1	Mythology/Religion: 3
DNF (Did Not Finish): 2	Self-Help: 7

Personal Observation: I’m all over the place in genre! I’d say I’d change that in the coming year and focus, but…not going to happen. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I read what I like, what interests me at the moment. Following rabbit holes is my style and I’m not giving it up!

Besides that, take a look at my 2021 TBR pile! It’s overflowing!

For years I have had a running wish list on Amazon, books I’m planning on reading someday. I’m thinking about changing that this year. The wish list is long, and I find myself losing track of things, which books are related to what and how they got to my list. I need a better system, preferably one that involves a physical notebook…of course!

In the past, I have allowed myself only one shelf of TBR books. My unread books lay flat on that shelf to remind me of their unread status. If that shelf is full, I can’t buy more books. It keeps me honest. I’m not a book collector, I’m a book READER!

This year, amazingly enough, something changed. A friend planned on selling and donating her library while she got ready to move out of state, but her house sold more quickly than she had anticipated, so she called me to help. I have never felt so honored in my life. Name a child after me? A town? Give me the keys to the city? Means nothing to me. Tell me that you trust that I’ll take care of getting an enormous pile of books into the right hands? I had to sit down and take minute to collect myself.

Two truckloads of books found themselves on my front porch. It was glorious. The possibilities! Of course, I combed through them all, putting them in piles, shaking them out and organizing them into boxes by genre. I found over eighty books to keep for myself, many of which were already on my wish list, were by authors I already love, or about subjects I am currently interested in. Those are the books you see in the pictures. Since I only read about 70 books a year, 2021’s reading dance card is full.

What I will do with the rest is still being debated. They are safe for now. Some have already found homes, but the majority are still homeless as we speak. I have some ideas floating around about what I can do with them. That’s part of the fun!

So…what’s in store for 2021? More reading. More writing. Less worrying. Less fussing over details. My youngest child leaves the nest in a few weeks, for university in another state. I’ll have even more time to sit around and cry…I mean, read and write! You’ll see! It’s going to be an epic year!

Each month I send out a newsletter highlighting my immediate after-thoughts about the books I read the previous month. You can sign up for that awesome email by hopping over to my Autobibliography page. Once you opt-in, you’ll receive a special edition only available to my email followers…mmm…so exclusive!