Blog Page Update: A Slump

It’s been about 17 days or so since I last posted something here on the blog. It’s been ten days or so since I’ve read a book. It’s official folks…I’m in a slump.

I’m not sure what happened but all of a sudden a couple weeks ago it hit me and hit me hard. I’d started a new review (for a book I really liked) and just had no desire to finish it. I was in the middle of reading another book (which I was really enjoying) and just had no desire to sit and read at night. Hell, it’s all I can do right now just keep up the desire to finish this post.

Month In Review: June 2019

Well June is at an end and it’s time for another review post. I didn’t do one for May so this will actually be a combined two-month in review post.

Let me start by saying things have been going a little slow here at Off The TBR. I kinda fell into a reading slump and I’m not sure why. It isn’t that I haven’t been wanting to read as much, I just have been reading at a slower pace. Some of that may be due to my son’s baseball schedule and being tired from work, but I don’t think those are big reasons. It really started in April just before the D.C. field trip with my youngest and I just slowed down after that. Can’t really explain it. Instead of my goal of reading and reviewing one book a week (roughly four a month), I’ve been closer to two reviews a month the last couple months.

Month In Review: April 2019

Well March has come and gone and I don’t have much to show for it. I kinda slacked off this month. Well…that isn’t really fair. I was busy all month, just busy doing other things. In the end I didn’t do nearly as much reading and blogging as I’d planned. Which is OK I suppose, only now my whole reading schedule is thrown off and I need to rework it. That’s just how it goes sometimes.

Here’s a quick overview of what I’d planned to read and review in March:

• Seven Blades In Black, by Sam Sykes (I was actually reading this as February ended and March began)
• Legends of The Exiles, by Jesse Teller
• SWORLD: The Chronicles of Malick, by William Harris
• Up To The Throne, by T.A. Frost
• Holy Sister, by Mark Lawrence

Here’s what I actually read:

• Seven Blades In Black (reviewed this one)
• Legends of The Exiles (didn’t review this one yet)

So what happened? Well I’ll tell you…

Month In Review: March 2019

March has come and gone here at Off The TBR! Spring has come (sort of) and with it the year is kicking into gear. This is the point where I start to get a sense for how busy things are gonna get from now through summer now that baseball season and spring ballet season has arrived (my kids extra-curricular activities). All in all March was a good month here on the blog. I did pretty good with my reading and I can’t complain about the number of reviews I posted. I did have one off weekend but that couldn’t be helped. I also managed to read some really good books. So without further ado here’s what happened…

Month In Review: February 2019

Well February is pretty much in the books, time for another month in review post. If I’m being honest with myself I’m a little disappointed in my output this month. I’d hoped to have at least one more if not two more reviews posted but that just didn’t happen. For some reason my reading pace slowed down this month so I didn’t read everything I’d planned, and I kinda blew off one whole weekend when I’d normally have finished a review. I think in part I was just tired, and in part I wanted to do some family stuff. There was also that week where 3 of the 5 staff in my department at work had the flu which meant I was really worn out that week. I did however do some maintenance on the blog which wasn’t something I’d planned…so maybe I’ll call it a draw. Anyway, here’s what happened this month on Off The TBR.

Month In Review: January 2019

January has drawn to a close and with it another month on ye olde blog. This month went a lot better than I’d hoped, mainly because I had a lot less going on with work than in the past oh six months or so. I was able to read and post more which was a nice change of pace.

I started the month off with some 2019 Reading And Blogging Goals as well as some Monthly Reading Goals.

And sure enough I changed things up. I’d planned to read the following books:

• Red Sister by Mark Lawrence
• Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton
• A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
• Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

And I read exactly half of those. Here’s what I actually read in order:

• Red Sister by Mark Lawrence
• Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
• Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse
• Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton
• Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen (currently reading)

So yeah…that reading plan was blown out of the water kinda like I thought it would be knowing me. I came across our old copy of Treasure Island before we took our trip to Jamaica and decided it would be great to read to get me in the mood for the Caribbean.

Month In Review: July 2018

Well another month has come and gone!

Things are looking up here at Off The TBR. The really crazy hectic period at work came and went, and we hired another person in our department to help pick up some of the load which means I should be working less on the weekends which means MORE TIME FOR BLOGGING! This has already played out this month just in terms of reviews. I went from no reviews at all in June to posting two in July, and if it weren’t for a weekend long power outage across practically the whole city I might have posted a third.

So here’s what happened this month…

Month In Review: June 2018

Wow is it already July? Half the year has already gone by. That just feels crazy. Well, it’s time for another Month In Review And A Look Ahead, and this one is pretty interesting. To me at least.

June was a pretty spectacular month at Off The TBR and at the same time not much happened. I didn’t post a single book review and I had the best month ever in terms of traffic on the blog along with the single most viewed post I’ve ever had. Now, that isn’t saying much since this little ole blog has only been around since November 2017, but I’m kinda excited about it. Ok…here’s what happened…

May 2018 Month In Review

Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve done one of these…

If you follow this blog even superficially you’ve noticed my output has been down the last few months. As I’ve mentioned before I’ve been swamped at work – working late, working weekends, and I’ve had a lot of family commitments with kids in ballet, and baseball practice, and just needing to spend what little free time I’ve had with the wife and kids. That’s all meant my blogging has taken a hit. I even had to stop accepting review requests. I’ve still been reading but the reviews have been slow in coming. Things may not change much until July but hopefully I’m seeing some light at the end of the tunnel.

That being said, I did manage to get a couple of reviews out (if you go back to the end of April) and I posted my first Waiting On Wednesday post. So here it is, my May 2018 (and end of April) month in review:

Month In Review: Nov 2017

I started this blog almost a month ago (Nov 5th). So far it’s been pretty fun. When I published my first post I was really just trying to get the thing up and running and hadn’t spent much time figuring out anything beyond a basic layout. I’m still brainstorming ideas for the blog in terms of posts other than the basic book review and I’ve got a few things in mind. One idea that may or may not continue is this post, a monthly review of what’s gone on, and a preview perhaps of what’s to come.