Offbeat Offline: February 2022

Welcome to Offbeat Offline, where I bring you up-to-date with what went on in my life during the month just gone, give you a sneak peek of my next shenanigans, and share my favourite posts of late!

What happened last month to yours truly? Job-hunting, but barely, because I didn't even have time for that. MIL still in the hospital for her broken femur (see Offbeat Offline: January 2022), then in rehabilitation, then home again. Because the universe is NEVER finished with me and the people around me. Catch a breath? What's that?

(Anyhow, I managed to take a week off work from Feb. 28th, so things have been slightly less hectic these latest days...).

📚 BOOKS AND BUMPS. February was a hard month for me. I was overwhelmed by life stuff (see below), so my reading was a series of stop-and-go. I managed to finish Alien: Echo by Mira Grant and to start The Shadow Glass by Josh Winning - both buddy reads with Carrie - but I had to excuse myself multiple times for not being able to read the allotted number of pages per day, and I kept postponing our reading goals...it was like "the dog ate my homework" minus the dog 😂 😭. Carrie's been nothing but patient, lucky me...still, ugh.

In this bleak and weary month, a ray of light came in the form of two giveaways I won! Tânia hosted hers on Twitter, while Lissa did the same on her own blog. For the first, I chose Magic for Nothing, Book 6 in the InCryptid series by Seanan McGuire, which I'm trying to catch up with; for the second, I requested a physical copy of Deadgirl: Goneward by B.C. Johnson, which I had received for review in PDF form when it came out.

I also got approved on NetGalley for The Revelry by Katherine Webber (thank you Walker Books!), and the same publisher granted me my first auto-approval! Which is when I found out that NetGalley.com and NetGalley UK are two separated sites (at least when it comes to the books they offer), and I can see my auto-approval by Walker Books only on NG UK. For a few days I thought their approval was a mistake and they had withdrawn it, since I couldn't see it anymore LOL. It turned out that I was on the wrong site...

Lastly, I had to simplify my schedule, since life kept getting in the way, so my blogging month will be very basic. Here's what I have in store for the rest of March: I'm going to post my full reviews for The Shadow Glass by Josh Winning and The Revelry by Katherine Webber in the second half of the month (...do I still know how to write a full review? The last one was at the beginning of January...👀).

Reviews aside, I'll participate in a Tell Me Something Tuesday round on the 15th (question: Would You Like to Be Paid to Blog/Write Reviews?). It's a prompt that I submitted, and about that...I meant to reply to my fellow hosts' questions as well (at least to some of them), but as I said, life's been hectic and unforgiving, so I can barely keep up with my own (as a matter of fact, I'm skipping/will skip some of those too). I hope to be more present in the future...it's either post or blog-hop these days, or better, it's either post/blog-hop or scramble after life, so... 

😟 TOUGH JOB. Time is ticking out...I'll be unemployed in less than 2 months...and I'm still running around in circles. I placed a few phone calls to no avail. I handed a few copies of my curriculum around and mailed some more. The fact is, for health and family reasons, I can only handle an office or a store job, and those are super-hard to find, especially now - and especially if you don't have the right qualifications/experience in the field, or if you don't drive (I've never once considered getting a licence because the very idea of driving scares me). For some reason, everyone here seems to require that their future employees have a car, even if the job is in their hometown and it doesn't involve any kind of business travel...I also asked the local pharmacies if they needed a warehouse worker (which is something I could manage, even with my health issues, because the pharmacies here are rather small and so are the articles they sell), but at the moment, they don't.

What with my being out of options, I've been reconsidering my old plan to try the public examinations (yeah, there are more than one ahead, apparently) for an administrative assistant position at my town hall. We're talking 6 job opportunities in 3 years, though I don't know in what capacity yet (like, if there's finance or stuff like that involved, it's out of the question). When I am out of work, I SHOULD have the time to come up with a study plan and bring it to fruition 👀...I mean, what other choices do I have? From May 1st I'll have the chance to apply for unemployment benefit, but it will only last 2 years. Plus, I need REAL MONEY.

🦵GOOD MOVE. My MIL was discharged from hospital on Feb. 4th and spent the following three weeks in a rehab center, then she was sent home on the 24th. She's doing nice, all things considered (for the record, she's 85). Of course I've had to go and help her a couple of times since (thank goodness she has a much younger brother who can lend her a hand...also because she lives in a different municipality). She's trying her best in order to be self-sufficient and go out again soon, so let's hope things keep improving with her...but eh...she's still 85.

PUBLISHING NEWS/TIPS

• The Shadow Glass by Josh Winning has an Apple Books Preview (BTW, I don't know why they listed it under "Crime and Thrillers", but I can assure you it's contemporary/retro fantasy LOL).
• To celebrate the release of the seventh novella in the series, Where the Drowned Girls Go, Seanan McGuire leads us through Wayward Children’s magical world.
• Amber put together a list of 2022 adult fantasy romance book releases (and it's HUGE!).

THINK-PIECES, DISCUSSIONS, ORIGINAL FICTION

• Evelina shares the greatest book blogging myths she's encountered (a.k.a. "Some Confessions and Thoughts on What We Think Blogging Is and What It Actually Is").
• Lissa asks if word counts matter when it comes to blogging (my posts are always on the long side, so, uh, I hope not? 😅).
• Emily wants to know how you read comics/graphic novels (peculiar discussion!).
• Cee Arr posted a short story called Girl, Alone that, in my opinion, belongs in an anthology.

REVIEWS/RECOMMENDATIONS

• Carrie and Karen share their favourite books written by Black authors or featuring Black characters under the Tell Me Something Tuesday meme umbrella.
• In a similar vein, CW recommends books by Black authors about friendship, family and community to read during Black History Month...and beyond.
• Staying on topic, Kate shares her 6 favourite backlist books by Black authors (great move, because backlist books need all our support always!).
• And still in honour of Black History Month, Jen lists a number of mysteries and thrillers by Black women authors. 
• Finally, for a change of pace, Vera shares ten of her favourite audiobooks (which definitely count as reading, in case someone's still wondering...).

OTHER

• Louise shares 8 things she's learnt from library work (spoiler: "old ladies read some hardcore stuff" 😆).

That's it for now! My next post will be up on Tue. 15th, and it will be the TMST one about paid blogging (see above).

So, what were your highs/lows in the past month?