Carrie Slager

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Lazy Sundays: Looking Ahead

I’m not one to get sentimental very often but looking at back at where I was in the beginning of 2015, I can’t believe how much has changed.  I’ve moved to a city hours away from the only place I’ve ever lived.  I’ve made friends my own age that share some of my interests for the first time in over a decade.  And I’ve realized that no matter how bad things get, there is always a silver lining even if that silver lining is that the bad thing will (usually) eventually go away.  It’s been an nteresting year and I can’t believe the optimism with which I’m looking at 2016.

I’ve made some blogging New Year’s resolutions but I have also made some personal ones.  One of the things I want to do is go to the gym at least twice a week.  It’s not that I necessarily want to lose weight but right now my back pain is being managed better than it has been since it began five years ago.  If I build up my muscles again while I’m feeling good I can stabilize some of the vertebrae in my back and thus provide a lasting solution to my pain (hopefully).  And even if that doesn’t happen, at least I’ll be exercising, which comes with its own separate health benefits.

Another thing I want to do is date.  Back home my options were comically limited but now I feel like I have so many more opportunities on the romantic front.  It’s been years since I’ve dated so things should be interesting but fun as well.  We’ll see how things go, I guess!

I think these are both fairly achievable goals and I hope they’ll make 2016 a much better year than 2015, 2014 and the last ten or so years.

The 2015 Annual WordPress Report

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

Madison Square Garden can seat 20,000 people for a concert. This blog was viewed about 62,000 times in 2015. If it were a concert at Madison Square Garden, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

My 2016 Blogging Goals

I’m not a big fan of the whole New Year’s resolution tradition but I feel like setting measurable, achievable goals here on The Mad Reviewer is actually a productive exercise.  So I’m going to do it yet again this year.

1. Migrate over to WordPress.org.

Yes, this is the year I finally transition from a free blog to a paid blog where I have more control over my content and WordPress won’t arbitrarily take down my site again.  It will mean becoming a lot more tech-savvy but I think I can handle that if I keep up some regular maintenance.  I’ve already purchased a domain name and a hosting package with Bluehost so I’m just about ready to get moving.  But don’t worry!  I’m going to migrate all of my followers over to my new address and I’ll put a link redirect here under the old domain name so you guys have plenty of time to switch over if you so wish.  I’m hoping to fully switch over by my 4th blog anniversary on January 13th.

2. Get a total of 1,500 followers.

Last year my goal of 2,000 followers was a little too ambitious so this year I’m aiming for 1,500 in total after I migrate over to WordPress.org.  I’m currently sitting at 1,300 and I’ll be posting much more regularly so this should not be too terribly difficult.  I just need to get back on the self-promotion bandwagon again.

3.  Write more in-depth analysis articles.

After I write that Jon Snow article I’ve been promising for months, something I want to work on in 2016 is writing more in-depth articles about specific books or series.  I’d love to do a better analysis of the similarities between the entire Hunger Games trilogy and the Roman Empire.  Or try to compare some of the events in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire Series to their various historical inspirations, particularly the Wars of the Roses.  I love history and I absolutely love books so this is the best of both worlds.

You know what?  Instead of five goals this year I’m going to keep it down to a manageable 3 goals.  Of course I’m going to strive to post every day and clear my review backlog but those are things I should be doing anyway.  My official goals are a little something more to strive for and will require going a little above what I consider regular blog maintenance.  And still, I think they’re achievable.

So what are your blogging goals for 2016?  What do you think of these goals?

 

Have you finished The Mad Reviewer Reading & Reviewing Challenge for 2015? Let me know!

The Mad Reviewer Reading Challenge 2015

I’m getting at this a little later than I usually do because of unforeseen family circumstances, but that certainly doesn’t mean I’m not going to keep up with my 2015 reading challenge.  If you have finished the challenge, let me know either here on this post in the comments, via my contact page or even on Twitter.  When I’ve confirmed your entry, I’ll add you to a list of people who completed the challenge.  I am not chasing anyone down this year so it’s all your job to contact me with your links to confirm the challenge.

Because I’m getting at this late this year, everyone has until 11:59 pm CST on January 15, 2016 to submit their links.  The winners of the draw will be announced on that Sunday at 11:59 pm.  There will be one winner and three runners up.  I haven’t decided exactly what the prizes will be this year but I’ve got a pretty good idea and I’ll be announcing it next week.

As a reminder, here are the levels:

1.  Mad Reviewer: 104 books in one year. (2 books a week all year.)

2.  Crazy Reviewer: 52 books in one year. (1 book a week all year.)

3.  Slightly Sane Reviewer: 26 books in one year. (1 book every fortnight all year.)

4.  Sane Reviewer: 12 books in one year.  (1 book every month all year.)

 

Here are the people that have already confirmed their entries (including myself):

  1. Chelsea of To Each Their Own Reviews: Mad Reviewer
  2. Sadie of See Sadie Read: Mad Reviewer
  3. Carrie of The Mad Reviewer: Crazy Reviewer
  4. Elena of Elena Square Eyes: Crazy Reviewer
  5.  Lorn of pakwanstripes: Slightly Sane Reviewer
  6. Diantha of DJ’s Book Corner: Slightly Sane Reviewer
  7. Kristelle of Amiabooklover: Slightly Sane Reviewer
  8. The Daily Opine: Sane Reviewer

Lazy Sundays: Audiobooks

There are many people that love audibooks, some that hate them and many that haven’t ever really tried them.  I fall into the third category.  Although Marc Secchia was kind enough to gift me an audiobook copy of Aranya, I never really had the time to listen to it.  But lately while I’ve been doing housework or even just working out I’ve been giving it a try.  The narrator is articulate and amusing and of course the sheer beauty of Marc Secchia’s writing style lends itself to being read aloud well.  But I still wasn’t sold on audiobooks until I listened to an audiobook of The Carnelian Legacy, which was gifted to me by Cheryl Koevoet a few days ago as a way of thanking me for helping out with the cover reveal.  This one combined with Aranya has me sold on audiobooks: they’re a great way to absorb a story while not having to physically sit down and read.  And some of them are quite elaborate, with sound effects and their own theme music.

I don’t think I’ll ever really buy an audiobook in place of a physical copy or ebook but who knows?  I never thought I’d really read ebooks either.

So what do you guys think of audiobooks?  Do you love ’em, hate ’em or haven’t ever tried ’em?