The Sunday Post is hosted by the wonderful Kimba, the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news, recap the past week, take a look ahead, and showcase our new treasures – I mean books!
My Week
This wasn’t a good week for me, blogging-wise. Last Sunday evening, I wrote my review for Uprooted, but when I went to save it, WordPress lost the post. The whole thing. I’d spent hours getting the review just right, because the book is so awesome I really wanted to do it justice, and poof! it was gone. I was so upset, I literally started to cry. I had my rough draft, but that was only about half of the total review, and I had made major changes even to that. I tried to recreate what I had written, but I couldn’t.
All the rest of the week, I felt like the air was out of the balloon; I had a hard time summoning any enthusiasm for reviewing or blogging. The current index project has been a bit draining, as well, which is probably why it hit me so hard.
So I gave myself some time off from blogging. I went with just the two posts that were already written, and figured I’d get back on top of things this weekend. And I was all set to write my usual Saturday News & Notes post, when the kitchen faucet failed. Not spectacularly, but emphatically, with a fast and unstoppable leak. So instead of doing News & Notes, we ended up driving into town to Lowes to pick out a new faucet… which ended with buying a new sink as well (which may or may not work with our existing plumbing – you know how it goes.) By the time everything was sorted out and we’d figured out a workaround until the plumber gets here sometime this week – well, it was late enough that there wasn’t much point in putting up News & Notes. I’ll save the links I had and hopefully give you a really good one next week.
I can feel my blogging mojo making a slow comeback – but I have to balance with getting the index finished, doing driver’s ed with Robin, and practicing for the concert she and I are singing in next weekend. So I’ll try to get some posts done this week, but it may take a few more weeks to really get back up to speed.
Last Week on the Blog
- Tues. 5/:26/15: Ten Books I’m Taking on Vacation (Top Ten Tuesday)
- Wed., 5/27/15: From a High Tower by Mercedes Lackey (review)
Next Week on the Blog
- Tues. 6/02/15: Top Ten Books/Series That Should Be Filmed (Top Ten Tuesday)
- Thur. 6/04/15: Owlsight, by Mercedes Lackey (review)
- Sat. 6/06/15: News & Notes – 6/06/15
- Other posts TBD
What I’m Reading/Watching
Because of the index, it wasn’t a great week for reading, either. I did read Robyn Carr’s A New Hope and Stephanie Laurens’ A Match for Marcus Cynster. I’m working my way slowly through Victorian Fairy Tales. Next up (at least for ARCs) are Book Scavenger and Lynn Cahoon’s Dressed to Kill, plus hopefully a few library books. I’m almost finished listening to The Story of Human Language, by John McWhorter, with only one lecture to go. With Robin home, I’ve been watching more videos – we’ve been watching Doctor Who (fourth series – the Tenth Doctor and Donna) and Avatar: The Last Airbender (first season) together. We also watched Big Hero Six on Friday night – I loved it! And I revisited an old favorite: Inspector Alleyn in Death in a White Tie.
New Additions to the Hoard
For Review
Many thanks to DAW and Minotaur (St. Martin’s Press)!
Purchased for Kindle
Bea @Bea's Book Nook
Oy, rough week. I saw your post about your draft for Uprooted. what a miserable experience. And then the sink? Eeep. I’m glad you’re getting your blogging mojo back but don’t push it. Give yourself a break.
I read Book Scavengers and really enjoyed it, well done. I can’t wait to see what you think of it.
Bea @Bea’s Book Nook recently posted…Sunday Book Share #143
Lark_Bookwyrm
Thank you, Bea! I’ll have to take a bit more of a break, because the current index is kicking my… posterior. It’s a really interesting book and I like reading it. But there’s not much space for the index, which means I have to be really ruthless about what I don’t include – and hope the author agrees with me.
I’m reading Book Scavengers and it’s a lot of fun. It’s taking longer than you’d expect, though, because I’m also reading Dreaming Spies (Laurie King) to Robin now that she’s home – it’s our tradition that I read the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes books aloud to her. And because I tend to turn to the familiar when I’m stressed, before I turn out the light at night I’ve been rereading some books I’ve enjoyed in the past. Add in the index, and poor Book Scavengers isn’t getting the attention it should!
Lory @ Emerald City Book Review
I don’t think blogging should ever feel like a chore. If time off is needed, that’s fine! However, using said time off to deal with household breakages is no fun. I hope everything will be up and running soon.
Lory @ Emerald City Book Review recently posted…Month in Review: May 2015
Lark_Bookwyrm
Thank you, Lori! the 9-inch deep sink won’t work, but a shallower sink has been ordered and hopefully all will be installed on Friday. Meanwhile we’re hobbling along with the current sink and controlling the faucet leak by turning off the valves under the sink whenever it’s not needed. (Basically, I turn it on once a day to wash dishes.)
As for my lost review, I will try to rewrite it once this index is done…
Elizabeth
What a bummer about WP losing your review. That’s happened to me several times also. I’ve started writing them in a word document because of it. It also makes it easier to copy and paste into the various places the review has to go, because there’s no formatting.
Glad you’re getting your mojo back, sometimes you just need a break from something.
Elizabeth recently posted…May Wrap Up
Lark_Bookwyrm
I’ve started writing them in Notepad (because no irritating formatting code to get rid of when I copy into WordPress), and I’m also trying to do more frequent manual saves. I don’t ever want to go through that again!
Greg
Oh no- sorry to hear about your post. that’s awful. When you have a reviews you’re happy with and lose it, that’s extremely aggravating…hope this week is agreat one to make up for it! We’ve been watching a bit of Dr. Who- never watched it before, so we’re slowly getting acclimated.
Your Top Ten post reminded me of your vacation- I can’t wait to hear about it, especially the Michigan portion- when you get back. You’ll have to share with us. 🙂
Looks like good mysteries added to the hoard!
Greg recently posted…Sunday Post #93
Lark_Bookwyrm
I’m looking forward to the trip! And yes, I’ll probably do at least one post about it once we get back. I plan to take my “good” camera and take lots of pictures! And there’s time with my brothers- and sisters-in-law and nieces and nephews to look forward to – we’ll talk and laugh, play games, and probably go walking and canoeing and possibly swimming, if the weather’s accommodating and the black flies aren’t too bad.
I’m becoming quite a Doctor Who fan, thanks to coaching and encouragement from Robin. She kept me hanging in there through Nine’s regeneration into Ten – I liked Eccleston and didn’t want to see him leave, but Tennant won me over by the middle of the second series (his first series.)
Deborah
Taking some time off blogging every now and again is probably I good thing I think. I have weeks when my posting is very light-on. I usually blog about stuff other than books as well but am struggling a little with that lately… in terms of how much I want to share.
Deb
Deborah recently posted…Weekly check in
Lark_Bookwyrm
How much to share -that’s always a tricky question, isn’t it? I do write in general terms about my family, my freelance work, and the choruses I direct – but I use nicknames for all three of us for the sake of privacy and avoid specifics about my work. Sometimes I’ve wanted to talk about something personal, but often I’m just too uncomfortable to be that open. I have talked a little in comments about my struggles with anxiety, though, because I think it’s important to raise awareness about mental illness. I think the best “rule of thumb” is not to share anything you don’t feel comfortable sharing, or anything about others that is likely to make them feel uncomfortable.
Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library
I’m exhausted just reading this! Home maintenance can be such a joy especially when it’s something involving water that just can’t be ignored until a more convenient time. That’s awful about your post – especially when it sounds like you were running on fumes as it is. Get some rest and have some fun and hopefully you’ll be feeling better soon!
Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library recently posted…Trust No One – Revew
Lark_Bookwyrm
Well, we’ve got a stop-gap measure for now, and we’re getting the sink and faucet replaced on Friday, assuming all goes well. I still haven’t finished my Uprooted review, but I did write up two or three other books this week, for later in the month – The Religious Body, A New Hope, and A Match for Marcus Cynster. What I need to focus on now is that darned index! 🙂