The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received.
Don’t forget to look at my giveaways on the right sidebar. There’s just today left for The Voodoo Killings by Kristi Charish. There’s a new giveaway for an ARC of Summoned to the Thirteenth Grave by Darynda Jones. Friday, I have a discussion post on the Holiday Blog Tour & Giveaway with a prize of 8 audiobooks! Next Saturday will be Series on Saturday with its giveaway. AND in a few weeks will be my blogaversary with more giveaways.
This week was a blur of work, medical appointments and chores. I’m working today and after today – I have just 2 days left! I’ve felt tired since they scheduled me nearly full time these past two weeks. I’m really excited to get to some of the things I haven’t had time to do. Sadly, I had some Internet issues which ate up some time Saturday. They are coming out to install a new router Thursday. I just couldn’t add another thing to the next 4 days.
I wanted so much to work on my list of things to do and plan more on our schedule but there just wasn’t any time. I planned to do my COYER post. I wanted to look at possible college classes with my daughter for January. I wanted to look at Healthcare options since open enrollment has started. Pretty much it will all wait until Thursday. There’s also a long list of questions running in my head to solve related to Gmail, WordPress, as well as other little things dangling which I never focus on long enough to solve.
I’m trying something new which is working better on developing a habit of being able to get around to more blogs. I read 8-10 a day which seems to make it easier than doing 70 in one sitting. Obviously. It takes practice to ingrain a habit so I’m working on it. It worked, sort of, but I still didn’t manage to get to as many as I wanted.
The Blog Ahead challenge ended on Wednesday. I finished 6 more posts for a total of 26 posts ahead. I’m really very pleased. I developed some habits which will allow me to blog ahead more often.
So I finally decided on my Read A Series in a Month Challenge. I do really appreciate all your input. I won’t start much until November 8 when I am finished working and then the HoHoHoRAT starts on November 9th. So I may not start much until November 18th when this ends. I do have only one audio for HoHoHoRAT so I can start sooner probably on audio. I need to pick the Deathstalker series since it is an ARC and I want to post the reviews in December. They are Loooooong audiobooks about 20 hours each. If I manage to read a series also, I will be reading The Associates by Carolyn Crane, since I own them all.
Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews and Reading Reality. These are the exciting ARCs I received this week:
None this week
O’Connor Family by Katie Reus Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell
A Gathering of Shadows by VE Schwab Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness
I like Katie Reus and although I had the first book as a freebie this deal gave me the other three and they are Christmas books! HoHoHoRat here I come. Then She Was Gone was an Audible Daily Deal. The last two were part of the “Halloween” sale Audible had.
Now the really scary one. This is all the Kindle and Audible freebies I grabbed this past week. You can see why I need to do Thrifty Thursday to be sure I read a few at least one each month.
I really meant to cut back on freebies BUT they are free so I guess that won’t be happening.
I’m not including things like reviews posted or upcoming as they are always in the right sidebar. And, my challenge status is also there.
If you like this and want to see me do the Sunday post, as often as I can manage, leave me a comment and let me know. I work odd hours with no access to phone or Internet so sometimes I’m not around to approve comments right away. I am at work today.
Anne
I need to develop better habits for visiting blogs. With moving house, I’ve been so behind on visits it’s awful. Now we have internet back, I spent all of yesterday (and several hours this morning) trying to catch up on all I’ve missed and I’m at a point where I think I have to draw a line and just be better going forward.
I like your idea of visiting 8-10 a day and calling it good. I may try that. 🙂
Good luck catching up on all the things you’ve to do Anne!
Thanks Nicci! yes, by 8-10 a day I am talking the Sunday post linkups not the ones I subscribe to. Those I try to get to as they arrive or within a couple days. I’m about 3 days behind at the moment. Sometimes if the 8-10 go well I do n extra group but some days I just can’t get to it. Tomorrow will be like that with a medical appointment in the morning and then I work 1-9. So I know it won’t . Tuesday is 2 medical appts and then probably 1 errand. So I may not be home until late afternoon, so I might get to it. But I work the earliest shift on Wednesday so maybe not. After that it should be better as I won’t be working.
Whew, yeah, you need a break after all that. Glad you only have two days left of work so you can get to that long to-do list. You got a lot done and much to be proud of even if it didn’t feel that way.
I like your visiting idea. I can’t get to all the blogs in one day that I follow so I do something similar. I’ll be with you on Series in a month and HoHoHoRAT and COYER. Good choice to get the long review audios out of the way.
Hopefully this week will be a little less stressful. 🙂
Thanks Sophia! It will be better. Friday at work was actually pretty good. Today was worse, just me and someone brand new, which left me with more of the work. IT’s busy until Thursday but at least Tuesday is just 2 medical appts so I will get to sit more than I do at work.
I’m so excited to get things organized and planned. I need to make some lists on things to buy black Friday (Smas gifts too) I realize I can’t always follow my list exactly each week but if I think it through in advance I know what I want to accomplish and even when sometimes. It really helps. I can group errands by location, that sort of thing.
Whoa, you have been busy. Just 2 more days. Yeah! I try hard to visit lots of blogs but it sure is a struggle with full time work. Luckily, I like to watch shows while visiting so it makes it fun. I can take small breaks and then go on. I’m sure we are all in the same boat about this and just need to find what works best. Happy a lovely Sunday.
Thank you! I will be trying lots of things to make sure I do better. We will see what works best over the next month or so. Have a great week!
Good luck with your series reads! I read the first book in The Associates and really liked it. I also picked up the audio version of Then She Was Gone as a few of my friends raved about it.
Have a great week!
Thanks. Since I couldn’t narrow it down hardly I figured one audio and one ebook series would be best. I love Carolyn Crane and I’ve read one of her other series. It’s embarrassing I haven’t read these yet. So I can’t wait.
I think we all have commenting issues and have to come up with a system, otherwise, I think I would spend ALL day on email. lol
I have to give myself a time limit or I could also spend all day on email, Blogs, Goodreads, etc. Thanks for visiting!
Wow it sounds like you had a busy week. Hopeful you can get some of the things you where meaning too done this week. It’s hard to visit all the blogs. That’s good you are trying out visiting a few a day. Have a great week and happy reading!
Well I mostly get to the ones I subscribe to even if it takes a couple days. Then there are the ones linked up to the Sunday post which is the ones I am trying to do 8-10 a day. It will get easier once I am not working. I am coming up with a schedule but the first week I plan to sleep, read and catch up on email / blog stuff.
You are in the home stretch with work. I know you have a lot to catch up on once it is all over. Enjoy all of your new books! I hope you have a great week!
Thanks Carole! I think I’ll start by sleeping a few days and reading. Then I’m excited to get planning things and solidifying our schedule. Of course, there’s lots of cleanup on things I let fall apart the past month.
I hope you have a great week. Anne – Books of My Heart
Goodness, that sounds so frantically busy for you at the moment. I hope you can get yourself some quality me time soon?
I’m trying to find a system that works for commenting too. I love going around and reading all the other posts, but then I find I’ve spent so long that my own post schedule is up the spout and I still haven’t caught up with commenting!
I am trying to plan by either going around to x number of posts per day or allowing myself x amount of time on a particular day. I will try different strategies until I figure it out. Thanks for visiting.
I enjoyed Then She Was Gone…and everything by this author.
Lots of tempting books. Enjoy your week, and thanks for visiting my blog.
It looked great and they didn’t have the audio version at the library. I always check. It will be my first try of the author so that is fun.
Thank you! I hope your week is the best.
Wow, you really have had a busy time. That makes it even more impressive that you were able to get 26 posts ready to go. That’s definitely something I need to get better at.
I am working to develop good habits for it. I am trying to setup the shells with everything but the review when I get the ARC, so all I have to do is plunk in the actual review.
I had already setup the shells for Best of 2018 posts, and year end challenge result posts, but that would be a do ahead candidate as well. I love this kind of thing. I’m very organized or I wouldn’t survive a crap 2 weeks like I have just had and really it has been a whirlwind since August.
Get ready for some big changes! How exciting (and a bit scary?)
So I have a question… when you blog ahead, are you completely finishing a blog post and it’s scheduled and ready to go? Or do you set it all up, but still have to put the review into the post? I can do the first, but many times, I’m not finished with a review book but a week or two (max) before it’s scheduled for review. So there is no way I could schedule full posts more than a week ahead.
In this case, I had them totally ready to go. I did some reviews ahead for November / December- 10. I did 3 series on Saturday posts ( which aren’t reviews) I did a discussion post. And the big 12 are the ICYMI which is reblogging one post a month of the reviews I did at Yummy Men and Kick Ass Chicks. If you don’t count those it was 14 posts ahead because not everyone has that sort of thing.
But I also did what I call review setups or shells, which is everything but the review and did not count those in my total. I try to do those shells as soon as I get the ARC, then all I have to do is the review after I read it. I didn’t count any of Melanie or Robin or KC’s reviews I setup or scheduled either.
Wow Anne you are so busy and I’m envious that you are able to blog ahead. I’m horrible with that. I just need to devote more time to blogging instead of goofing around on the internet when I do make it on. I also like your idea of visiting a certain number of blogs daily. I tend to visit in the morning while having coffee, but I do like that you set a limit. I think that will also be very helpful for me as well. Have a wonderful day Anne.
Thank you for visiting! I am only able to do things ahead by being very organized. The commenting habits will require some trial and error to get it figured out for me.