- I got the most awesome The Princess Bride-themed birthday present from my older sister who just knows me so well.
- I'm participating in the 3rd round of #otspsecretsister. It's my first time, but I'm really excited about my sister because I've been mildly acquainted with her almost since I started blogging, I think, but now I'll have a chance to really get to know her. =)
- I taught my older sis how to use Instagram after she begged me to. And then she was like, "That's it?" :P She doesn't really get the appeal, and she asked it all I ever did was post pics of books. Ha!
- I had the best dream about Celaena Sardothien as a badass superhero fighting alongside a Batman who had real bat wings and it was fucking awesome. Of course, anything that involves Celaena is fucking awesome.
- ETA: OMG, I can't believe I almost forgot to mention seeing a Joseph Gordon-Levitt look-alike at the restaurant I was eating at in Austin on Saturday night. He was such an adorable suspender-wearing cutie, and I just wanted to beg him to lip-sync for me. Of course, he was there with some chick who had NO clue how lucky she was.
But I digress. I just haven't felt any kind of inspiration to blog lately, not in any kind of formal way, at least. Like, reviews schmeviews, for reals. It's sooooo much easier for me to just word vomit like this than to actually think of something intelligent and eloquent to say about a book when it feels like I'm just repeating myself in all of my reviews. The heroine was badass. The story kept me turning the pages. The supporting cast of characters was well-drawn. Blah blah blah. So, I think I'm going to go all unprofesh on you guys and just gush away from now on. It's easier, and honestly, I don't even really think people are reading reviews on blogs that much anymore. I know I'm not. When I really want to check out reviews, I look up the book on Goodreads and peruse those before deciding whether to pick up the book or not...and even then I might just be looking at star ratings and nothing else. As long as I'm promoting the books I receive for review, it doesn't matter how I review them, does it? Or when, right...'cause I'm seriously tired of pushing back books I'm really excited about because of my "TBR schedule". So, yeah, I'm seriously going to go back to being just a book lover who gushes about the books she loves. It feels right.
And in the meantime, I hope to do some real writing. I've got an itch to write all of a sudden. I used to write all the time when I was younger, but I'm such a perfectionist that I re-read all of my stories later and threw them all away. I know. Except for some stupid essays that I wrote in high school and college, I threw everything in the garbage, except for some really, really bad poetry that should have been trashed. I don't know what I was thinking. But I think part of the reason I've been feelings so down and put-out lately is because I used to get out all my feelings on paper, whether it be in a journal or short story or really crappy poem. But it helps to have that outlet...and even if nothing comes of it, it'll still be time well-spent because maybe it'll help keep me sane. Writing is just so cathartic for me…at least when the words are flowing.
Reading would be ideal because I'm SO far behind on my TBR. Hah! Only in my dreams, lol. I thought I'd get a crap ton of reading done over vacation, but as it turns out, I only read one book in full. Pretty lame, right? But I did spend some quality time with Katie and I got to see my sis, whom I haven't seen since our last vacation to Universal Studios. It always comes back to Harry Potter, doesn't it? :0)
So, that's where I'm at right now. I know I had more to say, but that'll have to wait for another day. Or when I'm not getting ready to leave the office for the day. :P But I'm back, and I'll be around, lurking as usual. :D
Sometimes, writing is like drawing blood from an unopened skin. It just doesn't happen instantaneously, yanno? I know I write the foulest when I'm forcing myself. Lol. Write on, Jen. Write on.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of you reading what you want and just gushing about books. Be a book lover again!!!! :) You won't regret it. It's so liberating. I've only been reading what I want for months now and it's been awesome.
ReplyDeletebtw, I have to email you. <3
I feel you with the lack of inspiration on the blog. I've been feeling the same way, and reviews? They've been hit the hardest. I am behind on SO MANY. But the problem is that if I try to just churn them out, I'm afraid they'll sound to people like I just don't care about it. And like I'm writing the same thing over and over again. So right now, I'm just going with the flow. Reviewing when I want to (I did this with the Shatter Me series this last week, and taking off the critical hat and just gushing about books made me feel so much better than if I had stuck with being analytical) has been so helpful. So I hope it works for you, that going back to being just a book lover who loves gushing (or ranting) will inspire you again. I'm very much about the "if you don't wanna write the post, don't write it" philosophy. I know it doesn't work for everyone, but it's worked for me, even if I hate that my blog goes bare for days at a time. So I say do what you need to do. :)
ReplyDeleteAlso it's awesome that you've been hit with writing inspiration! I hope that helps. Writing for fun is definitely better feeling like you HAVE to for the blog.
I'm glad you had a good vacation, BUT I'm sorry that you are struggling with work. I definitely know the feeling...and I'm going to give you some unsolicited advice (as a friend...because we are kind of friends, right?)...if you are that unhappy with work and it is affecting the rest of your life, you have to (ok, you don't HAVE to) look for something that will make you happy. I'm sure just the commitment you've put into your company will translate into a different profession, like your BIL said. I hope you feel better about it all soon.
ReplyDeleteAs far as blogging is concerned: SO with you. I thought that I would be posting shit every day (well, probably not every day since I've never done that) this summer since I'm off, but I've really only been putting up my normal WoW and weekend posts. Occasionally I'll post a movie review or a "I hate this cover change" post, but I really haven't wanted to write book reviews lately. I actually just posted a book review today--but it's only my second book review this summer--and summer's almost over. I'm with you, too (I love how much we have in common), however, that I do want to write stuff because I LOVE writing. When I get in the rhythm, I can sit and write for hours. So the question then becomes, how can I turn my blog into something more? Something that I actually want to work on?
As far as reading is concerned: I've always believed in just picking up whatever book I feel like reading whenever I feel like reading it.
And YES to Harry Potter. Harry Potter all day.
Do what feels right! Glad to read that you had an awesome vacation. My vacay is rouding the corner to finishing up, with nearly a week and a half left until I start prepping for school to start up again. You are a swell writer, I think you should certainly scratch that itch :)
ReplyDelete- Krys
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