Month in review: January + New Feature: Un-Lurking!

Fun fact: I started doing my month in review posts at the end of last January - I really like taking a few minutes to look back at what I did over the last month. I spend so much time moving forward that sometimes I need this little reminder to slow down and reflect!

After my blogging hiccup in October-November, and my pledge to pick the pace back in December, January is the first month I've been blogging really consistently again - down from 5 posts a week to an average of 3. This probably means I'm going to have to re-evaluate my policy of reviewing every book I read, because when I read a book roughly every two days, a huge gap ends up emerging between when I finish a book and when the review is actually posted! Not sure what criteria I'll end up using - because I really don't want to turn into one of those "I only review what I like!" blogs. No judgement for those who choose to review that way, it's just not how I want to run my blog.

January had two major events: the 2011 ALA awards, which people are still talking about, and the latest Bloggiesta! I've already posted my reflections on the Bloggiesta, so I won't re-hash all of it. Summary: tons of fun again, and previous experiences have taught me better blogging habits to make each Bloggiesta easier.

As part of Bloggiesta, I've also started using Goodreads more often. I have my whole TBR list on there, and am trying to write quick and rough reviews up there before I sit down to write a whole blog post. I don't always have time to write a full, coherent blog post if I finish a book during the week, but Goodreads allows me to get my basic thoughts out there so I won't forget anything before I have a chance to write the proper review. I also want to be more social on Goodreads, so please feel free to friend me on there and start recommending books!

In non book blogging news, I've also started a new online project with my husband: we're podcasting now! You can find our show A Couple of Geeks at Geekshow Entertainment. It's basically an hour of my husband and I riffing on anything and everything geeky - because we adhere to the theory that everyone is geeky about something. YA books will be coming up fairly often, as that's my major geek outlet - in our pilot episode, all about zombies, I give shoutouts to Rot and Ruin, The Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Dead-Tossed Waves. Give it a listen and geek out with us!

And finally: I want to try out a new feature here, inspired by some of the other blogging communities I'm part of as well as the annual Comment Challenge. I don't know about you guys, but I tend to be something of a lurker by nature. I'll comment somewhere if I have a burning need to add to the conversation, or if a blog/website looks like it's pretty new and doesn't have a lot of other people hanging around yet. But I hardly ever comment in more established spaces. Don't really know why, and don't feel like psychoanalyzing myself at the moment to figure it out! However, I do know that if I know other new people are going to be showing up, I'll talk more. Thus when other blogs put up periodic de-lurking posts, I'm more likely to poke my head in. Same with the Comment Challenge - I commented exponentially more than usual because I knew lots of other people were putting themselves out there on a limb as well!

I don't get a ton of comments here, but my Google statistics tell me I'm not sitting here talking to myself! So I'm hoping to do a post like this every month - perhaps as a stand alone post, or continue bundling it in with my month in review like I am this time. This is where I encourage you to jump in a take part in the blog! Bloggers live for comments, and I would love to hear from you. Introduce yourself and say hi! Don't know what else to say? Here are a few ideas:

• What are you reading at the moment? What made you pick it up and how do you like it so far?
• What was the last movie you saw?
• Are you currently being snowed in by a blizzard?

Like I said, I know I'm not talking to myself here, and I'd love to get to know my readers! So if you're like me and feel intimidated about jumping into a blog post uninvited...consider this your official invitation to join the party!