2020 Wrap-Up: In Which I Outdo Myself

Hello my beauties!

Welcome to my last post of the year, where I will wrap my 2020 up. This was, of course, another year of scheduling, both my reads and my posts. I set up my usual goal of one post a week, though I secretly hoped to replicate my 2019 record of 64 posts. Lo and behold, due to a series of circumstances (and to my stubbornness), I was able to surpass my own record and to reach numbers I could only dream of before. That's very unlikely to happen again, and I don't want to push myself further and risk blogging burnout, but heck, it was nice to get there for once. And the best thing is, I'm proud of all the posts I've brought forth. No filler or lukewarm stuff in sight. So hear the story of my most productive blogging year ever (...and no, I'm not bragging, especially since there are bloggers who write the same amount of posts I did this year in three months...I'm just happy).

Pt. 1: This Year in Blogging

As of today, I've been blogging for 8 years and a couple of months 😃.

This is what happened on Offbeat YA during the year, broken down by number of posts, events I took part in, books I reviewed, authors I interacted with and discussion posts I wrote...plus an off-blog, real-life section!

Tell Me Something Tuesday: What's Your Blogging Routine?

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Heidi at Rainy Day Ramblings in order to discuss a wide range of topics from books to blogging (and some slightly more personal matters thrown in for good measure). While Heidi is on an extended hiatus, there are five of us who are hosting it and providing the questions. The current team is composed of Berls at Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life, Jen at That's What I'm Talking About, Karen at For What It's Worth, Linda at Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell and Roberta at Offbeat YA. This week's question is...

WHAT'S YOUR BLOGGING ROUTINE?

Before tackling my actual blogging routine, I'm going to talk about some blogging-adjacent activities, because well, we all know that this thing we do involves a lot more than reading books, brainstorming ideas and producing posts...

Since I work the afternoons Monday to Friday, my blogging activity takes place in the couple of hours between dinner and bedtime and in the weekends. But the first thing I do after breakfast is have a look at my emails, Blogger comments, reading list (that is, new posts from friends), Goodreads, Twitter, NetGalley and Edelweiss accounts. (Plus, eh, the news headlines). If I see something that I need to interact with, I bookmark it for later (but I try to respond to my comments right away). This may take from 30 to 45 minutes, and it's not good for my chores, but I can't start my day unless I know what's going on everywhere LOL 🤷‍♀️. I check on Twitter from work too (because it's quick), but rarely on the other sites - unless my boss is away (I've written whole blog posts at work, but only when he was on vacation or absent for the day).

Seanan McGuire: "Juice Like Wounds"

Title: Juice Like Wounds [on Goodreads]
Series: Wayward Children (Note: This is a short story set in the same world as In an Absent Dream - more precisely, a "side-quest" that is only mentioned in the eponymous book - and you can read it for free here. Chronologically book 4.5 in the series)
Author: Seanan McGuire [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural (technically it would be Portal Fantasy, but since I don't have a Fantasy Room in my blog, I decided to shelf this one as Supernatural - that's the closest I could get)
Year: 2020
Age: 14+
Stars: 3.5/5
Pros: An imaginative look-in-reverse at one of the most common fantasy tropes. Fills in a blank from In an Absent Dream. Gives the reader a different perspective on the Market and its rules.
Cons: Introduces a character we already know we'll lose, and too briefly for her death to have a huge impact.
WARNING! Graphic deaths/gore with children as perpetrators and victims.
Will appeal to: Fans of the Wayward Children series...past and future 😉.

Blurb: In the course of every great adventure there are multiple side-quests. All too often these go unreported, but occasionally we get another window into our heroes' world. In Juice Like Wounds we once again get to meet Lundy, and some of her companions. Lundy's main adventure is detailed in In an Absent Dream, and you should definitely read that. Before or after this tale is up to you. (Goodreads excerpt)

Review: You may ask - what's the point in reviewing a short story that also happens to be a free read? It's not like one has to decide if it's worth one's money or not. But since I'm reviewing the whole series, it just didn't seem right to leave this one out. Also, sorry for going all McGuire on you...again. But at least now I've caught up with reviewing all her book I've read so far bar one!

Tell Me Something Tuesday: What Are Your Favourite Posts to Write?

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Heidi at Rainy Day Ramblings in order to discuss a wide range of topics from books to blogging (and some slightly more personal matters thrown in for good measure). While Heidi is on an extended hiatus, there are five of us who are hosting it and providing the questions. The current team is composed of Berls at Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life, Jen at That's What I'm Talking About, Karen at For What It's Worth, Linda at Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell and Roberta at Offbeat YA. This week's question is...

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE POSTS TO WRITE?

My yearly wrap-ups for sure. I get to recap all the most poignant moments of the year and...I don't know...that makes me feel like I did accomplish something? I like to draw a balance? I'm not sure what it is, but I love them! Reviews, instead, are my favourite posts to have written LOL. Sometimes I procrastinate writing them because they feel like a burden for some reason (even if, of course, I opened my blog EXACTLY with the intent of shoving books down people's throats by means of reviews 😂). Sometimes I can't find the right words to start. But when I HAVE written a review, I usually love it to pieces, because I worked hard to make it the best thing I could come up with, and because I poured my heart and soul into recommending a good book (if it was such).

Taste the Books: Review Morsels #20 Danielle Stinson, Kate A. Boorman, Seanan McGuire

Intro

Hello beauties!

Welcome again to my own brand of mini reviews! I never thought I'd do minis, until I recapped a few of my long reviews in some digest post in 2014, and then guest-posted some shorties for a blogging event in 2015. And Karen from For What It's Worth started praising my short recs/recaps 😊. Just to be clear,  I'm NOT taking a break from writing long reviews - no such luck LOL. But while I'm making up my mind about a new book I've read, I might as well give you the short version 😉. Just be warned - this feature will be VERY random!

Note: all the mini blurbs (in italics) are of my own creation.

Tell Me Something Tuesday: How Do You Organise Your Goodreads Shelves?

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Heidi at Rainy Day Ramblings in order to discuss a wide range of topics from books to blogging (and some slightly more personal matters thrown in for good measure). While Heidi is on an extended hiatus, there are five of us who are hosting it and providing the questions. The current team is composed of Berls at Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life, Jen at That's What I'm Talking About, Karen at For What It's Worth, Linda at Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell and Roberta at Offbeat YA. This week's question is...

HOW DO YOU ORGANIZE YOUR GOODREADS SHELVES?

Nothing fancy here. Apart from your usual Read, Currently Reading and Want to Read main categories, I set up a Not Sure one for books that I need more info about before I commit to buying them. As for the tags proper, I use the same ones as I do on my blog. I see them as a way for other readers to get info about the books, not a way for me to keep track of them. So, they vary from those age-related, to those genre-related, to those about the type of POV or MC (that is, if the lead is female, male, etc.), to those about the hobbies/activities depicted in the story, and more. These are my GR tags/labels if you're curious (in alphabetical order)...