tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post6565073774890787898..comments2012-01-21T06:40:57.910-05:00Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13958940283330319507noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-50268377880252864292012-01-21T06:06:55.941-05:002012-01-21T06:06:55.941-05:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Olgun sohbet Odalarıhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09424971288103278728noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-5629356945827707622012-01-20T15:25:08.557-05:002012-01-20T15:25:08.557-05:00Great post, Karen!!<br /><br />I took most of the past two months off as well. Pretty much due to the holidays from Thanksgiving up to just last week, I really didn&#39;t have time or energy. I wrote a few reviews that were prescheduled and did a meme if i had time.<br /><br />I&#39;m starting to say No a lot more often too! I don&#39;t like it either, but it really has to be done! I&#39;m really trying to narrow my focus back down to the genres I really love Historical Romance and YA.<br /><br />I think i&#39;m lucky on the &#39;next big thing&#39; hype b/c dystopian ya is the next big thing and i don&#39;t like that genre! so yay! no next big thing books for me LOL. I never get requests to review the super hyped books anyway lol.Carrie at In the Hammock Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01496016097652195216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-62230218000102885862012-01-17T19:38:24.395-05:002012-01-17T19:38:24.395-05:00Great question....I am not going to answer just now...lots of things going on....mainly RETIREMENT. :) Hopefully after that I can join in.<br /><br />OLD FOLLOWER...Stopping by from the Blog Hop.<br /><br />If you need another book, try my giveaway. :)<br /><br />Book Giveaway on my blog….THE WICKED WIVES. It is more a mystery than anything, and it is true.<br /><br />Stop by and complete the entry form if you like.<br /><br />http://silversolara.blogspot.com/2012/01/give-away-of-wicked-wives.htmlElizabethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01522861943931628690noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-16798858900780688312012-01-17T15:15:23.927-05:002012-01-17T15:15:23.927-05:00What a fun question! (and so relevant to me right now) I tried to linky but I don&#39;t know if it worked so here&#39;s a link to my response:<br />http://karensaddictions.blogspot.com/2012/01/book-blogger-confessions.htmlKarenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03924954221982414958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-40244286939454343822012-01-16T19:07:40.675-05:002012-01-16T19:07:40.675-05:00Missie, I love your blog &amp; you because that is always the feeling I get from both - that you&#39;re having fun!<br />I took a few months off and I actually feel great about blogging right now. I&#39;m refreshed!Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13958940283330319507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-9315529579063345672012-01-16T17:22:04.580-05:002012-01-16T17:22:04.580-05:00I&#39;ve never been one to go out and try to pick up a lot of review books, only because the pressure to read and review on a schedule takes the fun out of reading. So I definitely agree about with the really great points about that. I definitely have the it&#39;s a hobby not a job point embedded in me, but its easy to lose sight of that from time to time, that is why I take weekends off from blogging. It always make me feel excited to come back to it on Mondays. :)<br /><br />Thanks for sharing so much, Karen. You&#39;re awesome!Missie, The Unread Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548256640926555361noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-28404858834188131502012-01-16T17:02:42.698-05:002012-01-16T17:02:42.698-05:00Great post! I wish I had 100 ARCs to read, but I can definitely understand how you wouldn&#39;t eve know where to start. I have about 50 or so books that I have bought over the past two months and I still can&#39;t figure out what order I want to read them in. <br /><br />As for the blogging, I actually have two blogs and I have seriously been debating trying to merge the two. However, I just don&#39;t know if that is the right decision. They are so drastically different. One if my book blog and the other is my life blog. I blog about whatever I want really. I don&#39;t know. <br /><br />Again, great post. I love your honesty. And I love the honesty of this meme! I&#39;m so glad you started this.Ashley Princehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08115261998919469180noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-68965440394782711932012-01-16T16:15:42.956-05:002012-01-16T16:15:42.956-05:00This is such a good post and very articulate. I&#39;m like that with Hype too, I haven&#39;t read a lot of books that &quot;everyone else&quot; has read.Midnyte Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10411332857885069319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-86368860564007770722012-01-16T14:27:04.478-05:002012-01-16T14:27:04.478-05:00*high-fives* The hype machine shall not win! If everyone loves it, I&#39;m still not going to try it unless one of my &quot; secret recommender circle&quot; says it&#39;s good. Or unless an author I&#39;m in love with says it&#39;s good--normally an excellent author has a reliable opinion about which hypey books are actually worthwhile.<br /><br />I&#39;m very proud of you for working through your slumps, because I know the weight and pressure of all those reviews and all those waiting books can be a killer. You rock! Blogging only when you have something to say sounds like a good plan. Otherwise, we&#39;re forcing the words and are /unhappy bloggers/. Which must not occur! :-DTiger Hollandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17140835320864680932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-59808315689013981622012-01-16T13:00:15.806-05:002012-01-16T13:00:15.806-05:00Isn&#39;t it great to see that not all bloggers are perfect reading and blogging machines ;-) - it&#39;s certainly made me feel better to know I&#39;m not the only one who feels overwhelmed, stressed or just generally uninspired by everything.<br /><br />I&#39;ve never been one to buy into &#39;hype&#39; much (it&#39;s the rebel in me!), but I can certainly see how it would be easy to get completely caught up in it. Reading those unknown books is fantastic - it&#39;s so exciting to discover something amazing that no one else has read, or even heard about!Kat Balcombehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14312515005865122767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-10610934537408429652012-01-16T12:20:26.097-05:002012-01-16T12:20:26.097-05:00Meme&#39;s were an issue for me for awhile. I felt like I had to have a WoW pick for some reason. I don&#39;t worry about them now - if I have something to say then great -if not it&#39;s ok.<br />I think we all succumb to numbers pressure - whether we admit it or not. I don&#39;t look at my stats very often anymore so it&#39;s not my guiding force for blogging. It&#39;s gotta be fun or it isn&#39;t worth doing!Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13958940283330319507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-73582008084830515002012-01-16T12:13:25.558-05:002012-01-16T12:13:25.558-05:00It was really interesting to read your response to this! I&#39;ve had a blogging slump too a year ago, and I had to stop blogging for a few months because of it. Blogging and reading are supposed to be fun. I like your tips, I&#39;ll have to keep those in mind myself!Celinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06565673201893791906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-15565666987018407292012-01-16T12:11:55.572-05:002012-01-16T12:11:55.572-05:00I want to be more like you! lolKarenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13958940283330319507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-17041372057907319522012-01-16T12:11:27.938-05:002012-01-16T12:11:27.938-05:00I love your answer. I know it&#39;s long perhaps, but it&#39;s informative and enjoyable to read. If I was to respond to everything I wanted to, I&#39;d have a whole new blog post down here! I&#39;ll put my answers up some point today but it won&#39;t be too long (I&#39;m having a rather depressing kind of day) but you&#39;ll see where I agree, I hope.<br /><br />The one thing that really stuck out as well was the fact that you can&#39;t blog if you&#39;re not reading! This something I really feel, and something I&#39;m constantly at odds with. Do I blog for me, for authors or for readers?Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15530490398283237371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-15667514752344131162012-01-16T12:09:39.124-05:002012-01-16T12:09:39.124-05:00It&#39;s hard to let that one book go. I almost always end up not liking it so I&#39;m trying to learn to say goodbye lol<br /><br />Saying no to review requests has been hard for me. I feel horrible because I want every book to have a chance.Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13958940283330319507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-76438133301672804652012-01-16T12:08:05.260-05:002012-01-16T12:08:05.260-05:00I don&#39;t look at my shelves anymore. They look pretty and neatly organized but I try to approach it as a book store and I go shopping for a book not as &quot;oh my god - all these books NEED to be read now!!&quot;Karenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13958940283330319507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-423232992343378922012-01-16T10:37:58.217-05:002012-01-16T10:37:58.217-05:00I also get into slumps from having too much to read - which feels totally backwards - but I do feel guilty when there&#39;s books that are sitting on my shelf that I haven&#39;t read and I feel like I need to get through those, whether they are what I want to read or not. Sometimes I have to sit and just think - ok what do I want to read right now - and I have to do it without looking at my shelves or else I feel flooded. <br />Great post, great topic. Thanks so much for hosting!Hannah Lorrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14014515926118261304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-29884139349850260712012-01-16T10:33:42.438-05:002012-01-16T10:33:42.438-05:00Hi! It was great to read your post --- I totally feel better about the stress I start to feel sometimes about reading and blogging. I was nodding my head when I read what you wrote about feeling possessive about the ARCs.... I sometimes have that happen too. Actually, reminds me of how I felt about one of my ex-boyfriends.... I didn&#39;t want him, but I didn&#39;t want him with anyone else, either. But I got over that feeling. :)<br /><br />You have some good ideas here, and I&#39;m in agreement with not feeling like I have to review every book I read, and also, feeling like it&#39;s ok to turn down review requests. <br /><br />Thanks for hosting this --- I&#39;m looking forward to seeing what other bloggers have to say.Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03456689516505172959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-9593589998819351542012-01-16T09:19:49.812-05:002012-01-16T09:19:49.812-05:00I love that this was the topic this week. It really goes hand in hand with last weeks topic. I find mnyself getting into slumps when I am overscheduled (either in real life, or my reading/blogging life). It leads to a lot of pressure and extra stress that causes me to just shut down. This year I am accepting fewer review books and focusing on my TBR pile.<br /><br />I&#39;m glad you came back to blogging! I would have missed you! &lt;3<br /><br />Bonnie @ Hands and Home www.handsandhome.caBonniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02877660195065702097noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-72216081165995308242012-01-16T09:18:40.881-05:002012-01-16T09:18:40.881-05:00I think I might be getting out of a reading slump right now. I completed my first book in almost a month last week and then I completed another though I still don&#39;t have that urge to pick up another book and I am taking a break this month from blogging to hopefully get reenergized because my reading slump led to a blogging slump which make blogging feel like a chore. Also I know what you mean about scheduling I can&#39;t do it, except for manga which I talk about on Mondays (usually) and covers which I talk about on Saturdays (again usually) and of course memes which are easy. But normal reviews are posted whenever.<br /><br />I can&#39;t completely hide away from blogging though so my link is leading to my friend&#39;s blog which I am a co-contributor of :).<br /><br />SandySandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15842315793902005771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-58294611247478652132012-01-16T09:15:13.846-05:002012-01-16T09:15:13.846-05:00Yes, yes, and yes. I can&#39;t possibly imagine how overwhelmed you felt w/over 100 ARCs. I have 10-12 on my shelf, and i feel like a bad boyfriend b/c I&#39;m ignoring them and won&#39;t look them in the eye. ;-) <br />It&#39;s easy to get swept up jn the next &quot;it&quot; book. I love discovering those little unnoticed &quot;gems&quot;, also.<br />As far as scheduling goes, I&#39;m one if the nerds. I know what&#39;s going on my blog for months. But it&#39;s about maintaining some sort of control. Once I&#39;m caught up, I<br />plan to relax.<br />Good luck on your goals!Andrea @The Bookish Babeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08355438390442316391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-37526050106781862272012-01-16T08:04:59.765-05:002012-01-16T08:04:59.765-05:00The whole time I was reading your post, I was nodding my head like those chinese cats bobbing their head and hands up and down. It&#39;s been my dream to attend BEA even once in my life and the thought of having so many free arcs is just like a dream come true for me although I&#39;d probably have the same problem as you with all the pressure and all. Plus, I absolutely understand the possesiveness monster, I had one like that too. And I know it&#39;s incredibly selfish so I&#39;m learning to manage it now. And I do hate hypes, although I do not always read books based on the popularity factor, it did affect the next book pick and I sometimes don&#39;t like it as much as I thought I would because expectations suck big time. Also your blogging problems, oh my I think you summarized what I haven&#39;t included on mine. I was getting nearer on the dreaded burn-out and I just started blogging last Nov. Go figure! I was this OCD person, everything has to be perfect, tenses smoothed out, i have to reread every single thing I have written so no mistakes can ever be posted on the watchful eye of my beloved followers. That my friend, I guessed was the sole cause of my reviewing fears. Failures and typos. I could say that I&#39;m trying to tone down the OCD attack a bit and it made all the difference. I realize that this is my hobby and not my job. And I just need to go with the flow, have fun and made new friends along the way. Goodness, your post is way better than mine it feels like this is the extension of my brief and not-so well thought out answer. And instead of going back and editing mine, I just let it be. I think I&#39;m getting better at controlling my anxiousness at having to be perfect all the time. I so love this weekly blog meme!Sarahbotbonkershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13123294587189819129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-90011578101628798262012-01-16T07:34:51.365-05:002012-01-16T07:34:51.365-05:00I need to get better about not feeling like I need to review every book I read. I just completed a readathon last week that I finished 5 books in. So now I am 8 reviews behind, and it is all so overwhelming that I don&#39;t want to write a single review at all right now!Annabellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06384703643588276561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-46609201822421660312012-01-16T06:35:28.919-05:002012-01-16T06:35:28.919-05:00Great post :) And I sure why that amount of ARCS would make you crazy. Too many books, and then more books come along.<br /><br />And I guess what has saved me from serious slumps is that I take blogging seriously and at the same time not seriously at all. I am lazy, I write reviews in 20 minutes and I let my mind drift. And then I got schedules when to read books, lolBlodeueddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03435479623560871881noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7047843651411739466.post-44393529458242286602012-01-16T03:22:14.904-05:002012-01-16T03:22:14.904-05:00more questions-- writing that negative review or author behaving badly ...Julie@My5monkeyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17861113387434481518noreply@blogger.com