Fandom Fridays and Changing Things UP

Originally, I intended Fridays to be Spec Fic Fridays with informational posts about fantasy creatures, sci-fi and fantasy tropes, and such. I changed my mind. It happens. I don’t mean to be frustrating to follow, but I realized I had bitten off too many different things at once with my grandiose plans to post on my website four times a week with four different things.

Sundays will be dedicated to faith posts, but these may happen only twice a month.

Mondays will still be dedicated to writing craft book reviews, but these may happen 3-4 times a month, not guaranteed on the first Mondays of the month.

Wednesdays will still be dedicated to Word and Story Hunter posts.

Fridays will be all about fandom – books I’ve read, shows I’ve watched, games I’ve played, movies I’ve seen, etc.

This week, since it’s the first Friday of 2023 (how weird is that?), I am dedicating this post to my Reading Goals of 2023, which are (drum roll):

1. Reading 150 new books of various genres and age categories, to be explained more fully in the following goals:
2. I will read at least 12 books of poetry.
3. I will read at least 24 books of MG fiction. (1/24)
4. I will read at least 24 books of YA/Teen fiction. (1/24)
5. I will read at least 24 titles of scif-fi/fantasy, speculative fiction, or paranormal. (2/24)
6. I will read at least 12 diverse books, either from cultural groups not my own, or translated works (also cultures not my own).
7. I will read 24 graphic novels. (1/24)
8. I will read at least 24 non-fiction books, and at least 5 of these will not be about writing or writing craft.
9. I will read genres outside of my usual favorites, like romance, mystery, suspense, thriller, contemporary, and classic. (1)
10. I will listen to 12 audio books.
11. I will read at least 12 professional essays (in addition to student essays I read) and 50 professional short stories.
12. I will read 24 Indie or Small Press published books.
13. I will read four devotionals/Bible study guides.
14. I will read the New Testament again, and probably read pieces of the OT to go with it.
15. In reading the various types of books above, some of these will fill more than one category at a time. For example: Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson is a graphic novel, a contemporary novel, and a MG novel.
16. I will also reread books.

What I’ve read so far in 2023:

1. Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson: This wonderful, heartwarming graphic novel caught my attention from the start with sympathetic characters, a great storyline which builds on the tension between two friends whose interests are beginning to separate them and includes some rocking roller derby scenes. This is a great coming of age, young teen graphic novel.  And good for those of us who are young at heart, too. 🙂 I plan to read it again. Finished January 2.

2. Blade Breaker by Victoria Aveyard picks up where the first book ended, ramps up the tension, and takes the characters on a wild ride deeper into danger, intrigue, and action-packed, heartbreaking moments. Finished January 3.
3. 25 Impossible Tales of Survivors, Flawed Heroes, and Annoyed Villains. It’s my book and I’m proud of the stories in it, proud of finishing it. I’m glad for it and celebrating it. Finished January 1 (on the 25th read-through to attempt to catch wild typos.) 

4. Homebound by John David Anderson. Brilliant, swashbuckling, action-packed adventure in space with excellent characters and some of the best pop culture references I’ve ever read in a MG book. I don’t want to give anything away, for either the first or the second in this series, but I will say I think the aliens are interesting, the alien worlds even more so, and the characters have depth in the first book, and it gets even better in the second. Highly recommended. Finished January 5.

Books on my shelf: 40 Days Through the Bible (study), The Blue Bar by Damyanti Biswas, Your Writing Matters by Colleen M. Story, Felicity (poetry) by Mary Oliver, Wonderbook by Jason Vandemeer, and from my library: Upstream (essays) by Mary Oliver, all three books in The Aurora Trilogy by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, and a few more (not going to name them all yet because sometimes I don’t finish library books – shh).

Book count so far: 4/150