2021 Wrap-Up: In Which I Keep My Pace (And Deal With Anything Under the Sun)

Hello my beauties!

Welcome to my last post of the year, where I will wrap my 2021 up. This was, it goes without saying, YET another year of scheduling, both my reads and my posts. In my previous yearly wrap-up, I set up my usual goal of one post a week for 2021, since I knew I wouldn't be able to replicate my 2020 success (72 posts!!!) without working for it, and I made a conscious decision not to push myself past my limits. Anyhow, I ultimately managed to squeeze in a few posts more than my goal dictated, and that made me happy (granted, I would have been happy with 52 posts all the same...but it's nice to have a small edge 🙂). 2020 was an anomaly, if a pleasant one - this year I kept my "normal" pace, and to me, it was a great accomplishment.

Pt. 1: This Year in Blogging

As of today, I've been blogging for 9 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!

a) Numbers

So...this is my 58th post this year. That's only 1 post less than my 2018 count, and 5 less than my 2019 one. As I said, I'm not making comparisons with 2020...that one was a mad race.

22 of my 2021 posts were reviews (they were 28 last year, but...see above), 15+1 of which were ARC ones (only 7 last year). I said 15+1 because one of those books was an anthology, so I included it in one of my Review Morsels posts, as per my new review policy. Of my non-ARCs, two were new books that I got a little after their release. Backlist books took a...backseat this year, which pains me, but with all the new ones I was being approved for, I couldn't do better. I also wrote 7 mini-review posts - the books in question are detailed (and linked) in the "Reviews" section below.

b) Events and memes

I'm still involved in Tell Me Something Tuesday (co-hosting, providing questions, participating when I can). I ultimately decided to ditch my Tooting Your Trumpet series, only to recycle it (in a simplified format) into my new Offbeat Offline monthly recap. I still plan on revamping my old A Reader's Quirks series...one day. Especially since Lissa designed an awesome logo for it 😃.

c) Reviews

These are the books I reviewed this year, broken down by genres/Reading Rooms:

Afterlife (2): Goddess of Nod by C.W. Snyder (ARC review) | The Suffering  by Rin Chupeco

Supernatural (2): Dying with Her Cheer Pants On by Seanan McGuire | Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire

Contemporary with a Twist (2): The Life and Deaths of Frankie D. by Colleen Nelson (ARC review) | Rainbow in the Dark by Sean McGinty (ARC review)
Thriller (2): The Midnight Dress by Karen Foxlee | Seven Dirty Secrets by Natalie D. Richards (ARC review)
Adult (14 😮 - twice the ones I reviewed last year!): Dead Space by Kali Wallace (ARC review - sci-fi) | One Day All This Will Be Yours by Adrian Tchaikovsky (ARC review - sci-fi) | Doors of Sleep by Tim Pratt  (ARC review - sci-fi) | Folklorn by Angela Mi Young Hur (ARC review - contemporary with a twist) | Angel of the Overpass by Seanan McGuire (ARC review - afterlife) | The Apocalypse Seven by Gene Doucette (ARC review - sci-fi) | The Between by Ryan Leslie (ARC review - multiverse) | The Hotel at the End of Time by Michael James (non-ARC, but just published - fantasy) | Indexing series by Seanan McGuire (urban fantasy) | The All-Consuming World by Cassandra Khaw (ARC review - sci-fi) | The Well at the Bottom of Everything by Michael James (non-ARC, but just published - fantasy) | The Liar of Red Valley by Walter Goodwater (ARC review - urban fantasy) | Swashbucklers by Dan Hanks (ARC review - urban fantasy) | Exposure by Louis Greenberg (ARC review - thriller, afterlife).

Also, I posted 7 Review Morsels installments: the first featuring Kali Wallace, Adrian Tchaikovsky and Gene Doucette; the second featuring Colleen Nelson, Kali Wallace and Sean McGinty; the third featuring Seanan McGuire by any other name; the fourth featuring Andrea K. Höst, Samantha Mabry and Rory Power; the fifth featuring Anna Reith, Jonathan Friesen and M.R. Carey; the sixth featuring Malcolm Devlin (ARC review), Jennifer Brozek et al. and Elliot Arthur Cross & Joshua Winning; and the seventh featuring Krystal Sutherland, Rebecca Mahoney and April Genevieve Tucholke et al. (please note: Kali Wallace recurs, but of course with different books reviewed).

It's odd...I saw many adult titles (mainly sci-fi ones) that appealed to me this year, and despite my blog being geared to YA, I was approved for nearly all of them...while I got less lucky with my YA requests. That accounts for my adult reviews being almost twice my YA ones. I feel slightly ashamed of betraying my blog's purpose (though, as I said, it wasn't entirely my fault), but for the most part my adult books were great or good, and I regret nothing 🤷‍♀️.

d) Author interactions

(...I found a gif that matches my blog's aesthetic?!?)

REVIEW-WISE

The authors I usually have the privilege to review ARCs from were in writing/subbing/pitching/revising mode this year, so no books for review from them. But one of my most recent beta-reads found a home and will come out in March! Please welcome The Shadow Glass by Josh Winning 🥳.

BETA-READING

Nothing this year. But I've been told that my beta services might be required in the near future 😉 😃. 

e) Discussion posts

I've got nothing 🤷‍♀️. Again, I've been saving my best ideas for TMST - but as I said above, I would love to revamp my ARQ series. I "only" need to think of some discussion prompts that don't fit the TMST mold. Not that I've had the time and inclination lately...that is, in the latest two years...

f) Real life

💉 Author friend Erin Callahan called it my "medical year from hell", and I can't think of anything fitter. Here's a recap of everything I went through (I'm exhausted just by thinking about it, no matter writing it down, and most of you know all about my vicissitudes already, but here goes...I'll try to keep it short):

• Pulmonary embolism (on Dec. 31st 2020), later ascribed to a deep vein thrombosis in my left leg. A series of checkups via doppler ultrasounds (basically every 2/3 months) would follow. But before I got diagnosed, there were bloodworks, CAT scans, EKGs...
• Pain at the front of my right shoulder. I got a few ultrasound therapy sessions in the summer, and the pain receded...but now it's my arm that hurts 😥.
• Trigger finger syndrome in my left thumb. It took me 3 months to get surgery (on Nov. 23rd). Currently recovering. I mean, the surgery site still hurts when I try to bend my thumb all the way, but I guess it's normal?
• Laryngitis (in October) followed by lingering hoarseness. An ENT said it had to be stomach-related, so I caved and booked a gastroscopy (more on that and other exams that are awaiting for me in my next Offbeat Offline installment).
• Worse bloodworks than usual (I have chronic lymphocytic leukemia). My ematologist requested more exams, and depending on the results, I might have to start therapy next year...
• ...and now my tailbone hurts when I stay seated too much.
• Also, I didn't list all the exams and visits and check-ups I went through related to all the above problems. I wanted to, but I lost count 😓.

😱 As most of you know, in July my Twitter account got hacked by some Bitcoin bot and hence suspended, and the powers-that-be refused to listen to my pleas of innocence (and to those that some of my blogger/author friends did in my behalf) and give it back to me. I lost my account of six years, and for a book blogger it's THE PITS. All the relationships I'd forged with every author I ever reviewed, all my followers - gone. The only thing I could do was start anew. I was feeling so isolated without Twitter...plus, the authors and publishers that give me free books to read, and also the ones whose books I buy, deserve a minimum of promotion, even if my original account was small to begin with - no matter the one I have now.

BTW - I think all my blogger friends who were following my old account are now following the new one, but just in case...I'm @OffbeatYABlog. Can you check? Thank you! (Of course I'll follow you back).

😰 Not enough drama? Add to it 3 months of wages guarantee fund, 2 major car problems, perm issues, and a series of renovation jobs (front door and blinds) that tested my patience BIG TIME. Plus a series of other problems that I'd rather keep to myself, and my giving up on the study plan I had formulated for the supposed 2022 public examination at my town hall. I haven't heard anything about it in forever, but even if it's supposed to take place for real...I don't have the time and energy for such a thing. Also, I'm old. No one wants a senior new employee. Who am I fooling? 😥

Pt. 2: Goals for 2021

I don't know...either than try to post at least once a week and survive? 2021 kicked my ass, and I'm not in the best headspace right now...I might even not be anymore. My books, my blog and my online friends keep me sane - that's old news. But it's too little when compared to the giant mess my life has become (for reasons you know about and reasons you don't). The only thing I'm sure of is, I'm going to cling to my books/blog/friends combo even more. There's this Queen song that comes to mind, The Show Must Go On - it was about Freddie Mercury's declining health due to AIDS (though no one knew at the time) and his stage persona, but I'll borrow a quote from it, because heck, it feels so appropriate...

"Inside my heart is breaking

My makeup may be flaking

But my smile still stays on"

Pt. 3: Holidays Hiatus

I'm looking forward to relax a bit over the holidays (...maybe without any last-day-of-the-year surprise - a.k.a. pulmonary embolism - this time 🤨)...except that, as usual I'll probably be drafting MORE posts because I don't have a life, but shhh. I'll be back on January 1st with my December Offbeat Offline installment + birthday/Christmas book-haul post! 

In the end...

(...it's Tom Hiddleston this year, blowing a kiss in front of a Christmas tree and saying "Buckets of love from me. See you in the new year". David Tennant was busy 😉)

...Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 😃

(or Happy Holidays if you don't celebrate)!

See you next year! Take care 😘.