Hello!
*looks at date of my last post*
Well... This is awkward.
If it was not entirely noticeable, by my complete lack of posts last year, I took a little break from the book community last year. It wasn't intentional until about October when I tried to write comprehensible reviews for two books I had adored and just couldn't do it. I had somehow lost my love for sharing my thoughts about the stories I was reading; Book Twitter (where I predominately lurk) has felt less and less about reading and more about the drama, the 'tea'. And while sometimes things need calling out it's the same three topics that keep coming back up. I just couldn't take it anymore. So I put my Twitter into semi-hiatus mode, ignored as much as I could, and just let myself read when I felt like it or play video games.`
It did me a world of good! In 2020, I picked up a crochet hook for the first time since I was 15. I didn't think I could still do it, but within moments of getting the hook and wool home, I had the starts of a granny square blanket. I've since made a cardigan, a few octopuses, completed a commission for Dragon Egg Dice Bags and I would love to maybe do some ivy and forget-me-not garlands for my shelves.
Just at the end of the second lockdown, I began to cross stitch for the first time ever! Currently, I am working on some silhouette pieces of Geralt of Rivia, Yennefer, and Ciri (pictured below). I've always wanted to learn to embroider and I'm slowly making my way there. I think I'm going to try blackwork next and then start practicing harder stitches.
I am loving it as something to do while I watch something on the TV or chat with friends over discord. Oh, Discord, my salvation when I needed to socialize outside close circles and talk books, music, and crafting. To all the new servers I joined in 2020: thank you for adopting me into the pride with great warmth and love.
So what next?
Well, I don't know. I've missed this. Writing about stories... writing stories. I want to take it easy in 2021, even though I may have signed up for Susan Dennard's Story a Month challenge on top of everything else. I might share what I write ... probably not though. We will see.
My two biggest goal for 2021 is posting once a week. Sometimes it'll be a review, sometimes a blog tour, sometimes a few thoughts, sometimes something else completely. The second is something I've always aimed for, but am yet to achieve: reaching that "owned TBR zero". I woke up one morning in November, and just took one look at my shelves, and began piling books into an unhaul bag. ARCs that I felt if I really wanted to read them, I could rebuy them, or I'd owned for years and lost all interest. Tastes change and my shelves weren't reflecting the types of books I love anymore. I'm now under 90 books and considering I read 100 last year, it's entirely possible to at least half that. If I reach that then I've succeeded.
When I started blogging, you feel like you have to have these grand shelves and unbroken spines. Or at least when I first started. But at the end of the day, all that matters is that I've bought the books, or have been gifted to read and do what I want with (ARCs excluded - stop overpricing books to sell ARCs Ms. Alsberg) so in short: fuck it.
For now, though, I'm off to reread The Bone Season series for the fourth time in preparation for The Mask Falling to come out at the end of January.
Come find me on my socials, Twitter, and Instagram.
Until the next time, stay safe.
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