A Quick Life Update and Some Future Plans

Hello, loyal friends and readers. 🙂

My hiatus went on for a bit longer than planned but I’m told that was to be expected upon having a child. I’m happy to report that I had a healthy baby boy in September, we’ve been adjusting to life as a little family, and things are altogether going well. The sleep deprivation is no joke and the amount of times I’ve been spit or peed on is staggering. But, as they say, it’s all worth it.

I’ve also found my way back into reading. Those long walks with baby are perfect for listening to audiobooks, and the hours he spends sleeping on top of me lend themselves to a bit of reading on the old Kobo. The blog, alas, has suffered, because sitting down and concentrating enough to actually put words on the screen is on a whole different level (right now he’s out with daddy so I’m grabbing that precious hour to type this).

But in my perceived absence I have continued reading what my favorite blogger friends had to say but the state of the SFF world and I couldn’t be more grateful for you guys and your blogs. You kept me in the loop and made me feel like I’m still part of this community. ❤

What Have I Missed

Soooo, the Hugo Awards have come and gone and while I have capital F Feelings about some categories (Lodestar, I’m looking at you), my heart wasn’t really in it this year and my reaction to most categories’s winners was “Okay, that’s nice I guess”. But I’m already doing my best to read 2022 publications to fill my nominating ballot for next year.

Here are some of my top reads:

• R. F. Kuang – Babel
• Sequoia Nagamtsu – How High We Go in the Dark
• Becky Chambers – A Prayer for the Crown-Shy
• Rob Wilkins – Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes (oh, how I cried!)
• Travis Baldree – Legends & Lattes
• Megan Bannen – The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy

The latter two I definitely read because I needed that cozy, romance-y vibe and I was hoping for light reads that don’t require too much brain power. Turns out, they are both lovely books with more to offer than one might expect.

Also shoutout to my two favorite podcasts this year, Sword & Laser and SFF Yeah! – they went on walks with me and baby quite a lot as well and have kept me entertained for hours on end.

In other news that I’ve missed commenting on, Sandman has been renewed for a second season on Netflix (yay!), The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater will be adapted as a Graphic Novel series (also yay!), the new Willow sequel series is streaming on Disney+ (I haven’t yet been able to watch but I am SO excited), and I spent way too much money on a Subterranean Press Cat Valente book ( I regret nothing).

What Happens Next

The truth is I have no idea when or how much time I’ll have in the next months to devote to this blog but I’ve missed it dearly and I hope to get back to some kind of routine in 2023. No pressure though.

I am currently participating in the fun little Holiday readathon Lightfall, set in the world of Aeldia invented by the amazing G who runs the YouTube channel Book Roast. It is very low pressure (basically none at all) and the community is so warm and welcoming that it’s a joy just to be part of it, even if I only manage to read one book.

My other plans are mostly to nominated and vote in the Hugo Awards again and hopefully post my collected thoughts about some of the categories, as I used to do for the past few years. This one didn’t quite work out but I did get a baby out of it, so there’s that. 🙂

With that, I’ll curl up on the couch as long as my fiancé and baby are still out and get a bit of reading done. In case I don’t get to post before it’s time, I wish you all Happy Holidays and the Happiest of New Years.