Hear ye, hear ye......
I have an announcement to make. After some long, hard debating and back & forth with myself, I have come to a decision:
For right now, I will not be taking anymore review requests. My "for review" stack is getting insurmountable and I fear I can't get to everything in a timely manner. As of this second, I am behind on 4 reviews that I can think of right off the top of my head.
That's not fair to the authors and publishers that so graciously sent me their books to review!
And as many of you know, I started a new job last week (which I am loving btw!), and the kids are all back in the swing of things with school, etc. Well, by yesterday afternoon, and a full week of work under my belt, I was utterly exhausted by 8:00 - on a FRIDAY NIGHT! I guess I'm still adjusting to getting up at 6:00am! I'm still on "summer" time, where everything was laid back and easy... no deadlines, no homework, no "school" nights....
So, needless to say, my reading has totally fallen by the wayside, and that's not how I operate!
I came to this decision yesterday. When I got home from work, and looked around at my disastrous house, I wanted to cry. I hate to have such massive disarray! And when I looked at a stack of books that were precariously balanced on my end table, I thought to myself, "wow, that pile is like ready to fall over". Well, I had to say it, because a second later I stubbed my toe on the table leg, and the whole stack went tumbling to the floor!
That's when I said, "that's it!". I need to get this under control!
So even though I'm not taking a hiatus from blogging itself. I am taking a hiatus on review requests! I'm burying myself here, and I've worked very hard thus far to build a good name for myself with authors and publishers. I don't want them to think I'm going back on my word and not doing the reviews I have signed up for!
Plus, I don't want reviewing to become a "chore". I love doing them, but when it starts feeling like homework... me no likey.
I will still be blogging, and of course... I plan on getting caught up on all the reviews I need to do. But until then, I am making a pledge to not get caught up in the "oooh, I really wanted to read that one!" mentality. Except for one book I have been waiting for for months! But, then.... that's it! Just until I can burrow to the bottom of the "to review" stack! Well, now it's not a stack because they are all over the floor.... more like a "pile". But you get my drift.
Okay, maybe the picture above is a (slight) exaggeration.
But still.
With the cooler weather coming, I'm hoping that I'll be able to hunker down and get some reading done! I've adjusted to my new job, school physicals and open houses, etc... are done, and we've started settling down into a routine. So I'm not running around like a chicken with its head cut off!I will still be participating in the memes I really love, i.e. Cat Thursday, Enquiring Minds, Table Talk Tuesday, etc. I just won't be accepting new books.
There. Thanks for listening.. I really needed to get that off my chest. I feel better now that I've made the decision and put it out there in the open. A huge weight has been lifted off my chest already!
So authors and publishers.... despair not! I will honor my commitments to review your books, and I apologize that some of them have not been done in a timely manner. But I am vowing to change that as of right now. And when I get all caught up, I plan on putting out a big sign that says I'm back in the game!
