The Asylum where obsession for music and books lives.
March definitely wasn't good for my mental health. I had more downs than ups, and the fact that my wages got dropped for the time being didn't improve things, that's for sure. It was also my blog anniversary month and it honestly didn't go as well as I hoped which by the end of the month left me totally unmotivated toward blogging.
Is it just me or February really just lasted for a blink? I was so occupied with stuff, that halfway through the month I completely forgot that it was my birthday month and didn't have as much fun as I would have liked. That's not saying I didn't have any fun ar that I didn't have a great birthday month, because I did. But I was just too focused on the coming blog anniversary and other things I'm working on behind the scenes. Oops.
January seemed to be endless to some of you, but personally I had more good days than bad (according to my handy mood tracker). I definitely had some ups and downs but I also focused my attention on some new things I'm excited about.
I tried to take things easier this month, so we didnt't have as much content, and I was supposed to have a 2 weeks break, but apparently, I can't stop blogging *shrug*. I hope you all had a nice holiday last week and got all the presents you wanted! But until I get myself together, take a look at what we were up to this past month. We are getting near the end of phase 1 in SPFBO and we are done with slush piling so we'll start announcing our semi-finalists real soon. But we also read some other great books too, and hosted awesome authors. Hoo boy, but November was crazy busy as we got to the end of SPFBO 5's Phase 1 and I tried to catch up to myself after my little time out in October - with some more time out. Oh well. I had some needed down time and I also got offered to work from home, which resulted in a week spent getting both my room and office ready for the switch - meaning I had to clean, sort things, find place for everything and make my desk ready to function as it should, instead of a surface where I could throw clothes and stuff in a heap. Er, yeah, so, a lot happened both in my personal life and on the blog, and now I'll show you what we were up to here at RockStarlit BookAsylum.
October was mostly about catching up, and cram in as many things as possible before I headed to the UK toward the end of the month. I had a great time both in London and Bristol - article coming soon, I promise, unlike the WorldCon one... - and it charged me with energy and good feels. It was awesome to meet old friends and make new ones and I already can't wait for the next BristolCon. But until I get myself together, take a look at what we were up to this past month. We are getting near the end of phase 1 in SPFBO and we are done with slush piling so we'll start announcing our semi-finalists real soon. But we also read some other great books too, and hosted awesome authors. Hoo boy, but November was crazy busy as we got to the end of SPFBO 5's Phase 1 and I tried to catch up to myself after my little time out in October - with some more time out. Oh well. I had some needed down time and I also got offered to work from home, which resulted in a week spent getting both my room and office ready for the switch - meaning I had to clean, sort things, find place for everything and make my desk ready to function as it should, instead of a surface where I could throw clothes and stuff in a heap. Er, yeah, so, a lot happened both in my personal life and on the blog, and now I'll show you what we were up to here at RockStarlit BookAsylum.
October was mostly about catching up, and cram in as many things as possible before I headed to the UK toward the end of the month. I had a great time both in London and Bristol - article coming soon, I promise, unlike the WorldCon one... - and it charged me with energy and good feels. It was awesome to meet old friends and make new ones and I already can't wait for the next BristolCon. But until I get myself together, take a look at what we were up to this past month. We are getting near the end of phase 1 in SPFBO and we are done with slush piling so we'll start announcing our semi-finalists real soon. But we also read some other great books too, and hosted awesome authors. August went away in a blink of an eye and I'm both sad and happy about it. I had some great times, but I also got damned behind on EVERYTHING. September will be about trying to catch up to myself.
Summer is finally over and we are about to have a temperature drop and I'm sooooo ready for not boiling finally. August went away in a blink of an eye and I'm both sad and happy about it. I had some great times, but I also got damned behind on EVERYTHING. September will be about trying to catch up to myself.
Summer is finally over and we are about to have a temperature drop and I'm sooooo ready for not boiling finally. August went away in a blink of an eye and I'm both sad and happy about it. I had some great times, but I also got damned behind on EVERYTHING. September will be about trying to catch up to myself.
July was a bit of a mixed month. I've started my freelancing for real - I had 3 assignments - , I tried to keep up with reviewing (I clearly failed at that), I squeezed in some SPFBO reading and overall managing some related stuff, I also had a bit of holiday, and all the while I somehow tried to find a balance between all of my work, responsibilities and relaxing and doing some crafting. In the end, what had to give was spending time on social media. Of course there were a few other reasons behind my absence than time issues (anxiety, and getting fed up are amongst these), but I'd rather not go into details. Anyway, I'm always available to chat and do look at my messages, but I don't keep track of people's posts/tweets as much and probably miss pretty much everything. If you need me, give a shout, I'm never too far away 🙂
June was a pretty great month all things considered. I was supposed to take this month easier and have a break, but ended up not doing that. Until I was forced to realised that I indeed needed a break and the last few days of the month was all about relaxing and doing anything other than reading. It was nice. It was my first month being only half employed at my workplace and OMG I LOVE working only 4 hours. The first two weeks made wonders to my mental health and I'm so happy I made this decision.
May was an interesting whirlwind of a month. We had my cousin's wedding, I made some life changing desicions, my blog got picked to be one of the judges for SPFBO5 and I got my hands on a lot of awesome ARCs and books. And I finally got caught up with everything!
Whoa, April went by fast, I guess all of that stressing made time fly by or something, lol. It wasn't a boring month that's for sure, and I had a lot of supposed-to-be-relaxing time too. On the other hand I've got an awesome signed copy of Priest of Bones so I really can't complain.
Well, March had been a busy month both for blogging and the fantasy community. The first anniversary of RockStarlit BookAsylum came and went, presenting me with the all time highest stats for March. I'd like to thank everyone who take part in the celebration even if just with checking my posts out, or sharing and liking. I couldn't have done it without you!
My favorite month is over 😦 Though, to be fair, I'm not really sad to sit it go, as this wasn't the best of the months, and didn't really have a happy birthday as I was supposed to do. Oh well, in retrospect, I'm slowly leaving behind the shitty days/weeks I had at the beginning of the year and I'm looking forward to the rest of the year. And let me tell you, I have some really awesome things coming up! But for the sake of this post, let's take a look back for a bit, as I/we had a quite productive month - even if it started a bit slow.
Since I've whined enough how much my personal life sucked in January, this time I'll take mercy on you all. Reading wise it was a productive month, but a very mixed one. And since I'm very behind on reviews, not everything will be featured in this post.
I'm actually happy November is behind us. It was an emotional roller coaster ride from start to finish. Fortunately both starting and ending on a good note - if I want to go with my roller coaster analogy, the cart arrived to the same spot from where it had taken off - so now I can fully concentrate on December and look forward to the coming Christmas. For the first time in many years I'm really excited about the holidays. But more about that in the Sneak Peek post in a few days. Let's see what happened on my blog in November:
I'm actually happy November is behind us. It was an emotional roller coaster ride from start to finish. Fortunately both starting and ending on a good note - if I want to go with my roller coaster analogy, the cart arrived to the same spot from where it had taken off - so now I can fully concentrate on December and look forward to the coming Christmas. For the first time in many years I'm really excited about the holidays. But more about that in the Sneak Peek post in a few days. Let's see what happened on my blog in November:
Wait. What happens with time? Someone speed it up! It can't be November already! Where is my October??? Give me a moment while I panic, will you? *panics* Okay, I'm better now. I'm a bit behind on posts because I had become sick after returning from the UK, so a review and my post about said UK trip will be up later this week, thus they will count as November posts. So, let's see what I had in store for you in October:
September came and went, and we are one month closer to the end of the year. September started off on a really bad note for me, but thankfully things got considerably better in a few days and overall the month was a blast. Aside from personal stuff, I've read quite a few books, hosted a giveaway in celebration of my 6 monthsversary as a blogger and tried to avoid thinking about October. Yay!
With August gone, summer is practically over. September kicked the doors in with a lot of rain over here anyway. August was all kinds of awesome as blogging goes. My stats hit a new high with over 1.100 views. I've got to knew a lot of new people and overall I keep going strong. Hopefully it stays that way. August also brought a brand new design, a new logo and feature images. I also launched a facebook group besides my page where I hope I can interact with you guys more!
