Meandering Topics

I have found myself not as motivated here on my blog the last couple of weeks.

My grandfather passed away just over two weeks ago. We were not close and never have been, but I have fond memories of him and time we spent together when I was growing up. I haven't seen him much since leaving home, and only once in the last ten years.

Still, I'll miss him. His beard, funny-colored socks, unconventional musical instruments, love of Rice Krispies, and dislike of flying so he and his wife drove all over the country when they traveled. Not everybody liked him, and he had his faults, but I think in general he had many good qualities and was a much-loved man.

Rest in peace, Grandpa.

That contributed to my silence over the last two weeks, but that's not all of it. There are a lot of reasons—me rereading books I've already reviewed, not reading as much in general, and not crafting as much. 

Many of my book reviews over the last six months were of books I read earlier in the year, though I was still reading two to four books a week, mostly ebooks from my library. Now that I've caught up, which happened in December, I don't have as many book reviews to post. That means no more four or five book reviews per week. Probably only one or two. Provided I quit reading the same books over and over. I'm especially guilty of that when I first discover books I love, and the ones I keep rereading are newer finds, all discovered last year and reviewed in the last six months.

There have been many hits on my past book reviews over the last few of months especially. Thank you to those who like my reviews enough to explore those in past years. My reviews have changed dramatically over time, and I like to think they've gotten better. I have many where I want to reread the books and redo the review.

Another source of my lessened enthusiasm is the three-month manic episode I just came down off of. During that episode, I was very excited about the blog and would write posts for hours at a time and have them scheduled out two or three weeks in advance. That's not happening now because I'm not getting so hyper-focused and because I've run out of previously read books to review. It's also the reason I'm not reading as much. I'm sleeping more which means I have less time for other things, more like a normal person instead of a manic person. When you're only sleeping three to five nights a week, it frees up a lot of time, and not in a good way.

One thing I've been doing more of over the last month or two is critiquing. I've been doing a few a week which has been nice. I'm having two different books critiqued at the moment, both projects very special to me. It's been exciting to see what other people think of my novels and how I can improve them. Editing can be a nightmare, but editing from critiques can be enjoyable. I like getting the feedback, and finding a critique partner who fits with me seamlessly is a wonderful feeling. I just found one that seems to be one of them.

Now that I've rambled on about several subjects, I will go dive back into the next book I hope to critique, another Blacktop Cowboys novel.

Photo Credit Nokhoog Buchachon via freedigitalphotos.net