Happy 2018!

I have not posted on this blog since the beginning of May. Most of my activities, what little there was in the way of reviews and such, were shared on Instagram (new books), Tumblr (running commentaries), and GoodReads (actual reviews). According to GoodReads, I read 196 books in 2017. This is the first time I’ve taken notice of that number, but I know the real number is a bit higher. One hundred ninety-six doesn’t fully account for the comics, webcomics, and manga I’ve read. It doesn’t even include all of the novels I’ve read because I was less than diligent with updating GR with anything I didn’t read via my Kindle app. The real number is probably closer to 240.

Most of what I read was–to no one’s surprise–M/M. Probably an easy 95%. I have serious commitment issues, so I’m not even going to pretend like I have a plan for this year, but I would like to see that percentage drop. Nothing wrong with M/M, of course–it was my gateway back to reading full length prose after struggling with an extremely short attention span for too many years for my liking. However, now that I have surmounted the previously insurmountable, I don’t want to limit myself. I have a very healthy book list tag on Tumblr that should help me along with that, so some of the work is already done.

I’m not making a schedule, but I aim to make a point of reading more female non-romance authors, definitely more authors of the African and Latin diasporas, and I want to see what’s out there as far as works with asexual main characters go. So in addition to my book list, I know I’ll be spending some time wading in a few #ownvoices tags to try to maintain focus. M/M isn’t going away, it’s not really even taking a backseat–especially not when I expect to see a number of book twos and threes and so on drop this year–but it needs to make room for everything else, so maybe more like front passenger?

So, that’s what will likely happen for me and reading in 2018. Reviews and commentary, on the other hand… I don’t know. I’m finally admitting to myself that most of my reviews are really post-print edits in disguise. I enjoy gushing about a good book, bit it’s so much more satisfying for me to deconstruct a story, dig into the mechanics, and figure out what went wrong and how it could be better. And rather than posting on GR or even here, I’d rather sit down with an author before they turn in the manuscript so that they can avoid landing in my gripe pile. Well, I do edit for a handful of folks already, but most of them aren’t writing M/M, so I almost feel like I’m not living up to my full potential.

Anyway, now that I’m mostly settled in the new house, I’ll probably try to indulge in some other forms of media. Like films–I’ve already watched Kingsman: The Secret Service and there’s my DVD collection to consider–and HGTV–Fixer Upper and Flip or Flop Fort Worth and (the new) Flip or Flop Nashville have already claimed me. So I think I’ll have enough to feed my constant need for stimulation for a while yet.

Well, that’s all I’ve got to say for now. I’m looking forward to a bunch of things in this new year of (mostly) reading, what about you?

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