Blog Ahead! October 2016

I'm participating in Blog Ahead this year!! I did not do a good job with this last year but... baby steps.
I finished a book this week so that is already a win :)

What is Blog Ahead?
Blog Ahead is an annual event hosted by Herding Cats and Burning Soup where you schedule 30 posts throughout the month so on October 31 I will have 30 posts schedule. It's an awesome way to prep for the busy holiday season.

Help me!! 
Leave a comment below of things you'd like to see on Becoming Books besides reviews. I'm currently in brain storming mode so I will take all the help I can get!

Check back here on November 1
My accomplishments from Blog Ahead will begin rolling out on November 1 so yay!!
Come back and join me then. October will be dedicated to come blog housekeeping and planning.

How am I (personally) doing?
On a personal level a lot better. These last 18ish months have been hard. Lots of adulting took place. Some of it necessary and some I could have done without. I've switch gears a bit professionally. I'm now teaching high school!! This has been unexpected but so rewarding. I am building in time to read which is nice and also rewarding... not a chore. It felt like that for a while. Now lets see if we can make blogging fun again :) 

Blog Ahead Mini-Challenge

I did blog ahead back in November and rocked that sucker! I had posts scheduled through January and then as some of you may know I ran out of steam, esteem, and all the goodness. While I'm still trying to get back into reading, I really miss blogging. So here goes anything! 

My goal is to schedule 30 posts, 15 here at Becoming Books and 15 for my new lifestyle blog launch, Beauty Not Broke. 

Types of posts I'll be working on: 

• MORE discussions... this is a must! 
• Different review styles - I've really come to dislike writing traditional reviews. 
• I want to vlog... we'll see how this goes. :p
• Reactions to stuff... 
• Top Ten Tuesday meme
• Recruiting more guest reviewers! > I just cannot keep up with ALL THE READS! If you're interested in being a guest reviewer let me know ;) There are free ARCs in it for you. 

So tell me... What are your favorite types of posts to read and/or write?

Wish me luck!

Stacking the Shelves #38 + Challenge Updates!

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews

I'm going to kick this off with some quick 2015 Challenge Updates!
Be sure to check out the challenge page to see what books were read :)

COYER (Clean Out Your eReads Challenge)
5 out of 22 read!

Prequels and Sequels Challenge
Perfect Couple by Jennifer Echols (Superlatives #2) - 2 pts.
Never Never by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher (Never Never #1) - 0 pts.
Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter #1) - 0 pts.

Audio Book Challenge
4/20 listened!

Discussion Challenge (Bookish Blabber)
4/36 posts

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click cover photos for Goodreads

In the Mail

 

I received an ARC copy of The Vanishing Season via ARCycling/ Rachel @ The NerdHerd Reads, thanks Rachel! Received a finished copy of Mark of The Beast from Tor/Forge Books, thanks!

ARC copy from Montana from The Book Belles via ARCycling, Thanks!

From the Store

I've been trading in (culling) a bunch of books into the store for credit so... I picked up City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare. I own book one and three so continuing this series is at a standstill no more! I also stopped by Barnes and Noble because I had a coupon so I picked up Red Rising by the gorgeous Pierce Brown.

For Review

 

What have you added to the shelves lately?

[Bookish Blabber #2] Year in Review, Resolutions and Goals

To kick off my year in review I'm going to complete the Stats Survey from The Book Addict's Guide. I also did The End of Year Book Survey from The Perpetual Page-Turner in December.

Statistics Survey 2014
from The Book Addict's Guide and Andi's ABCs

Number Of...

1. Number of books under 250 pages (not including novellas): 21
2. Number of books read between 400 – 449 pages: 5
3. Number of books read between 450 – 449 pages: 3
4. Number of books read over 500 pages: 1
5. Number of books read over 1000 pages: NONE
6. Number of novellas read: 4
7. Number of books that made you cry: 8
8. Number of books from female POV: 56
9. Number of books from male POV: 18
10. Number of books with alternating POVs: 16
11. Number of DNFs (did not finish): 7
12. Number of five star reads: 6
13. Number of one/two star reads: 4
14. Number of authors met in 2014: unknown, I've attended some really large events BEA, YALLFest among others. So tons!
15. Number of book events attended in 2014: about a dozen including BEA, YALLFest and others
16. Number of books you read in one day: 2
17. Number of audiobooks: 8
18. Number of 2015 books you have on pre-order: none as of yet... trying to practice selective buying :p
19. Number of re-reads: 0

By the Books

1. Book with the highest rating on Goodreads: The Fault In Our Stars, 4.42 avg. rating
2. Book with the lowest rating on Goodreads: Little Blue Lies, 2.99 avg. rating
3. Book read furthest away from home (vacation reads?): Either Belzhar or Black Ice, both were read in Cali (I live in NC)
4. Book that took you the longest to read: Afterworlds, it was the longest and took me FOREVER! (maybe six weeks?)
5. Book that you personally connected with the most: Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando
6. Book that made you love the villain: Jackal from Immortal Rules
7. Book you said you’d come back to but still haven’t picked up again: Brutal Youth and Grasshopper Jungle
8. Book you read waaaay before it’s publication date: I just began blogging this year so this didn't really happen.
9. Book you read on your birthday: Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer
10. Book with a character who shares your name: Meg from I Was Here by Gayle Forman
11. Book you weren’t entirely truthful about when rating (Fluff up any ratings? Rated even though you didn’t finish?): I wouldn't say I was untruthful when rating it but it was only my second review ever, Fire & Flood is probably not a 5-star read.
12. Book you read in 2014 but already want to re-read: The Winner's Curse
13. Book you borrowed from a friend a long time ago and still have: Outlander, borrowed 2+ years ago *hangs head in shame*
14. Book by a foreign author/originally published in another country: none
15. Book you which you could go back and read for the first time again: A Thousand Pieces of You 
16. Most books read by one author this year: Gayle Forman

This and That

1. Happiest and saddest: Better Off Friends; The Fault in Our Stars
2. Longest and shortest: Afterworlds; Just One Night
3. Best and worst: A Thousand Pieces of You; The Silent Wife
4. First and last reads of 2014: That Was Then, This Is Now; The Darkest Part of the Forest
5. First and last books on your bookcase (1st book on the top left and last book on the bottom right): Hunger Games; Winterspell
6. The most disappointing and the biggest pleasant surprise: Love and Other Theories; Belzhar
7. Bandwagon/fandom you joined and one you abandoned: I don't really think in terms of fandoms but I definitely solidified my love for Rainbow Rowell this year and have lost interest in finishing the Mortal Instruments Series.
8. Most lenient and harshest ratings: Fire and Flood; A Hole In My Heart 
9. Most hyped and furthest under the radar that you read: The Fault In Our Stars; Keeper

Grab Bag

1. Book you read that is red: We Should Hang Out Sometime
2. Book you read that starts with M: Madame Tussaud's Apprentice
3. Book you read that you may have hugged when you finished it: My True Love Gave To Me
4. Book you read that you may have wanted to throw across a room: Broken Hearts, Fences and Other Things To Mend
5. Book that has the letters Q, X, or Z in the title (bonus for one of the words in the title beginning with those!): All Unquiet Things
6. Book that suffered some damage this year (food? water? ripped pages/cover? Ouch!): ARC of No Place To Fall may have had an incident :/
7. Food you craved while/after reading a certain book: Crepes after read Anna and the French Kiss
8. First book you read in 2015: Perfect Couple by Jennifer Echols
9. Number of books read that end with a 6 in the page count: 13

Blogging Life

1. Number of posts in 2014: 308
2. Number of reviews posted this year: 95
3. First post of 2014: Launching March 2014! 
4. First review of 2014: Little Blue Lies by Chris Lynch
5. Last post of 2014: Waiting on Wednesday: The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows
6. Last review of 2014: The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds
7. Least coherent review: Uhh... not sure *shrugs*
8. Review with the most views (regardless of post date): Unremembered by Jessica Brody
9. Post with the most comments: Mortal Gods by Kendare Blake
10. Post you wish you could re-write: Too many to count! This was my first year blogging so there's been a lot of growth and much more to come ;)
11. Most popular post this year (that was posted in 2014): Review of Unremembered by Jessica Brody

Goals and Resolutions!

I'm not sure how much I believe in resolutions... however, I do love me some good old fashion goals. I like goal setting and working towards something. With that said check out my previous posts on my Top Ten Goals for 2014 and Reading Challenges. 

I really tried to only choose challenges that fit with my overall reading goals and habits. I would like to successfully meet the goals by pushing myself a little but nor rearranging my whole life around them.

I've also added the following challenges to my list :) 

31 Days to Better Blogging, hosted by Parajunkee < January 2015

2015 Audiobook Challenge, hosted by The Book Nympho and Hot Listens

Thanks for stopping by and a really awesome 2014!!!! 

Share your goals and/or resolutions :)

[Top Ten Tuesday] Goals For 2015 – bookish, blogging or otherwise!

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. 

Top 10 Goals for 2015

Books and Blogging

1. Goodreads Challenge - Let's up the ante!

I started blogging in 2014 so I never had any real motivation to read besides the Goodreads Challenge. In 2015 I'm going to aim for 120 books read.

2. Comment and Reply to Comments.

I admit this is probably my weakest quality as a blogger. I have got to get it together! I read them all but I really need to reply to all the amazing readers (you) and leave comment love for my favorite bloggers.

3. Reading and Blog Challenges

I wrote about this a few days ago and you can check it out here. Basically, I want to complete these challenges with the goals I've set out. One challenge tackles all my eARCs, the other is blog organization, another looks a creating discussion posts, and the other is the reading of series (sequels and prequels).

4. Schedule Posts and Read Ahead

Since this was my first year blogging I feel like I spent a lot of time "catching up". In November I did the Blog Ahead challenge and it was AMAZING!!! It has made December a very pleasant and stress free blogging month. I've also taken on fewer ARCs that came out in November/December and have been able to read ahead. It's my goal to continue this trend :)

5. Create a New Feature

I really want to create a new feature for the blog so I can still have a post everyday and fewer memes. So far I have the Comic Sunday feature but I want something that looks more at the culture of reading and influence of books.

Personal

I am human and do other things other than blogging and reading, and reading and blogging. 

6. Find a New Job

I've been in my current position for 4.5 years and it's time to move on. Keep your fingers crossed for me and send warm fuzzies. Thanks :)

7. Sign-up and Train For a New Race

The last half-marathon I did was in April 2014 and I didn't train for it, it was horrible. I haven't run since. I miss it. Time to pick a new race and train for it. I'm ready.

8. Financial Planning

Yeah, it's not super exciting but I'm 30 now and I should probably have my -ish together. Just sayin'. I did make some big moves this year and I'm ready to take it a step further with my retirement plans and business investments.

9. Show More Appreciation and Gratitude.

If you know me  then you know I have a minor (Major!) obsession with thank you notecards. I really need to use these more often. I want to get in a better habit of sending thank you notes to show my appreciation and gratitude. Recognition is important and everyone wants to feel like they matter.

10. Keep Traveling!

Traveling is a big part of who I am. I love to go places, get lost, find something new and learn. I save a lot of pennies to go places. This goal is to just keep it going... in 2014 I went to: New York City (BEA), Costa Rica, San Francisco, Charleston (YALLFest), Florida, and Texas. So far in 2015 I have three trips planned: Chicago (ALA Midwinter), NYC (BEA), and Europe (Dublin, London, Amsterdam and Berlin).

What are some of your goals this year? 

[Bookish Blabber #1] 2015 Blog/Book Challenges!

So I've been wanting to get some items done and now have found some challenges to keep my blogging behind in gear! However doing challenges, read-a-thons and the like make me sooooo anxious!!! Does this happen to anyone else? I feel an immense amount of pressure and either do excellent at the task while ignoring all other aspects of my life or fail miserably. :/

I really want to have a positive experience so this time I thought about some things I want to accomplish and then found the challenge to fit my goals. This way I'm not trying to rearrange my goals to fit the challenges. :)

Check out the ones I've signed up for below along with a listing of other challenges I know about but cannot to commit to. 

COYER (Clean Out Your E-Reads Challenge) hosted by Fantasy Is More Fun and Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life

Sign-Up Ends: January 25, 2015

Dates: December 20, 2014 – March 6, 2015

The Deal: Read all those free or nearly free e-reads and audiobooks!

My Goals: I've got a couple audio books sitting in my audibles unread and a WHOLE bunch of e-arcs that need to be read via Edelweiss and Netgalley. I plan to read/review two per week. Participate in at least one read-a-thon and one Twitter party.

Book Blogger Organization Challenge hosted by The Book Addict's Guide

Dates: January 1 – June 30, 2015

The Deal: Get organized!!! Check out the main post to see the focus for each month.

My Goal: Complete at least one of the sub-points for each month.

2015 Discussion Challenge hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts at Midnight

Sign-Up Ends: December 31, 2015 at 11:59 p.m.

Dates: January 1 – December 31, 2015

The Deal: Post more discussion posts, link up and giveaways!

My Goal: 25-36 discussion posts = Chatty Kathy level! I'm really wanting to do discussion posts regularly. I have a whole list of topics but just haven't committed to it. Hopefully this will help :)

Look for my second ;) Bookish Blabber discussion post on Jan. 1.

Prequel and Sequel Challenge hosted by Novel Heartbeat and Writer Grrl Reads

Sign-Up Ends: December 1, 2015

Dates: January 1 – December 31, 2015

The Deal: Read the sequels and prequels to finish up those series, earn points for each read/review and enter into giveaways for participants.

My Goal: To complete 10 series. Let's do this!!!!!!!

Look out for my Top Ten Tuesday post on Jan. 20 for a list of the series.

Do you plan to participate in a challenge? Have you already signed up for a few? Tell me your feelings about challenges!

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Other Book/Blog Challenges

Check out The Book Vixen's Pinterest Board for a listing of over 75 different reading challenges!

Bout of Books 12 Read-a-thon, sign-ups open until Jan. 6. Hosted by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal

The Re-Read Challenge, sign-ups open until Jan. 30. Hosted by So Obsessed With

Alphabet Reading Challenge Hosted by Escape with Dollycas Into a Good Book

Mythology Reading Challenge hosted by Lili Lost in a Book

Mount TBR Reading Challenge, sign-ups open until Nov. 4, 2015. hosted by My Reader's Block

The Official 2015 TBR Pile Challenge, sign-ups open until Jan. 15, 2015. hosted by Roof Beam Reader

You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2015 hosted by Book Dragon's Lair 

2015 Series Enders Reading Challenge, sign-ups open until Dec. 15, 2015. Hosted by Somewhere Only We Know...

8th Annual Graphic Novel/Magna Challenge hosted by Nicola

Blog Ahead! (NaNoWriMo bloggy style) 30 days w/ 30+ preschedules

A bloggery version of NaNoWriMo!

November 1 – 30, 2014

The Goal

The basic goal is to get "ahead" in your blog posts. – At the end of the month of November you'll have 30 additional pre-schedules than when you started the month. 

If you Start with 5 pre-schedules > End with 35 pre-schedules

Start with 10 pre-schedules > End with 40 pre-schedules

Who Can Join?

Any blogger. New, seasoned, Blogger, Wordpress

Any heat level, genre or theme, etc

Types of Posts

Anything you want :)

meme, review, guest post, interview, discussion, etc. 

It doesn't have to be book related

My Goals for Becoming Books:

I'm shooting to have 32 posts scheduled for Dec. 1 and on. A breakdown is below. Wish me luck!!!!

Top Ten Tuesday meme through Jan. 20 (8)

Waiting on Wednesday meme through Jan. 28 (9)

Comic Sunday feature through Dec. 31 (4)

Release week reviews through Dec. 31 (4)

Special Posts (3)

#WeNeedDiverseBooks Spotlight (4)

32

Bloggiesta Wrap-Up!

So we're done with Bloggiesta!!!!! I really enjoyed this and needed it after a rough week to get back on track. I feel like I'm ready for the fall push now. :)

My To-Do List:

Re-organize/structure my to-review list. 
DONE! This was massive and took a few hours. I created a new spreadsheet and event split it in two. I now have a separate list for "to-reviews" past the publish date. I even found this awesome template over at Book Riot.

Put some ARCs up for guest review. 

DONE! With the reworking of the "to-review" list I think I have a handle on how much I can read per week. With reality in place there's just some ARCs I'm never going to get to. So instead of them going to waste I've added them on the blog for people who would like to be guest reviewers.

Update reviews on archive page, goodreads, netgalley, edelweiss, amazon, and pinterest.
DONE! I think I got everything in all the places.

Write two reviews.
SORT OF. Review of Messenger of Fear is up! I DNF'd a book and do not review DNFs, so...

Complete one mini-challenge.

DONE! I ended up doing the Riffle challenge. It's a cool mix between Pinterest and Goodreads, we'll see if it takes off. You can check out my Fall 2014 YA Must Reads list!

I attempted the anchor tag challenge but it was NOT working for Blogger. Blogger would change the html after I entered it. Anyone have any suggestions?

Participate in one Twitter chat.
SORT OF? I was a total lurker during the wrap-up Twitter chat and faved a bunch of good stuff. That's got to count for something, right!! ;)

Challenges:
I've chosen one mini-challenge for Bloggiesta but have * other challenges I may explore in the future.

• Amanda Shofner has a challenge giving us even more lessons on Google+. She’s calling it Google+201. For last Bloggiesta’s first Google+ challenge, check out Google+101 here.(@amshofner)
• Wesley from Library Educated brings us a tutorial on MailChimp. (@whoffs)
• *Allison from The Book Wheel teaches us how to make anchor links. (@TheBookWheel)
• April from The Steadfast Reader gives some hints about writing a negative review. (@steadfastreader)
• Come and learn about browser extensions from Brianna at The Book Vixen.(@TheBookVixen)
• Berls from Fantasy is More Fun brings us a challenge all about Flickr! (@BerlsS)
• Katie from Doing Dewey teaches us all about Riffle. (@DoingDewey) This is the one I did!
• *Stephanie from Cover 2 Cover shares her book organization tips with us. (@GoreLenore)
• Becca from I’m Lost in Books has many Instagram tips for us. (@imlostinbooks)
• *Aloi from Guiltless Reading encourages us to make a book map! (@guiltlessreader)
• Stacy from The Novel Life teaches us how to work with a blog designer. (@thenovellife)