Happy New Year — Have some updates
Happy New Year! If you're like me, the holidays are probably a stressful and emotionally-draining time for you, so I hope that in the next few days, you'll have time to settle into the new year and catch your breath and dream of nice things. I try not to write too many hodge-podge updates, because they're usually boring. But a few things happened in the last few weeks that veered the direction of my writing and blogging, and I just want let you know what you can expect from me in the early part of this year. (The rest of the year, though? Who knows?)
I initially planned to release Metalmade this month, but after some editor and beta reader feedback, I decided to take a bit more time with it. Some parts of the story needed fleshing out, and I'd rather not rush the changes.
I also have some plans related to my career that will take time and energy away from my writing. If all goes well with what I hope to achieve at my job, I might be able to release Metalmade in February instead.
Themed Reading Challenge and Blog Posts
By the end of last year, I kind of got bored with the format of my monthly book reviews. I especially felt guilty when I was in a reading slump and didn't have anything good to say about the books I was picking up or when I didn't manage to read a book at all.
Instead of doing a reading round-up every month, I will be choosing certain books/series (not one I necessarily read that month), or a topic, and I will write an in-depth post about those. Something like, "Tropes I Like/Dislike in Fantasy" or "Why Everyone Should Read The Queen's Thief Series." I already have a few topics in mind, and I'm eager to get started, which is a feeling I haven't had about my monthly reviews in a while.
Another thing I will be doing this year is that instead of just having a target number of books to read, I will be setting a theme challenge for myself. Even though I've been reading a wider variety of books in the last few years, I want to commit to that habit a little more. So instead of focusing on the overall target number, I will be allocating a few books to certain topics/themes and focusing on hitting those.
Here is my theme challenge:
5 Filipino books written in English
1 Filipino book written in Tagalog
1 non-Filipino cultural nonfiction
1 tech-related nonfiction
3 books I bought that I haven't read before
Do you set themed reading challenges for yourself as well?
