Changes

The slump I've been in this month- the same one a lot of us bloggers seem to have been hit with- has not yet fully left but it's hopefully on the way out the door. I haven't been too reading productive this month but I think a big part of that is how tied down I ended up getting with my forum books. I knew 3 a week would be challenging but when I made the forum, I was cranking out the books at 4+ a week. Then a slump hit, and I am barely making it through the 3.

On top of that, my forum just isn't taking off like I had hoped it would. Honestly, I figured a lot of people would hop on, be active, talk, etc- a place for us bloggers to get together because despite being bookworms, we're still social. But that isn't happening and thus, I am making changes.

First off, I am opening it to everything with the only restriction being boards cannot be made for a book until it is released. No ARC discussions allowed because that one is straight up not fair. Yep, as a 24 year old woman I am pulling the No Fair! Card. But, really, it isn't- once a book hits shelves, anyone can get it but before that, things are limited. Thus... if you finish reading a book and are dying to talk about it, jump on the boards, open a discussion section and get to talking! You don't have to read a specific book by a specific date- just as you finish it and what not.

Second, I am still going to feature one book a week just because I like the idea of having one book that everyone can have read at the same time. Thinking about it, I know exactly what I want those books to be: 2010 Debut Authors. They are already getting some promotion from the Debut Author Challenge and I also know a ton of bloggers are participating in that one which makes this the perfect one. It promotes these authors, its common to us, and it still helps me hold on to at least some of what I wanted originally for my forum.

I still plan to host author chats on the forum- my chats with Chloe Neill and Shelena Shorts were both successful and I had a fantastic time with them. This Tuesday, I have Dia Reeves, author of Bleeding Violet, set up for a chat at 8 CST on the forum and I am in the process of contacting several authors now about setting one up.

Hopefully these changes will also help pull me from my blogging slump because as you can tell, some of my usual posts haven't been happening as much on top of the slow reviews flowing through. I also really hope this draws more people onto the forum and yes, I know, I sound really whiny and I apologize for that but we already know I say what's on my mind and this be it at the moment.

Moral of the story: This is the last week I will have 3 books on the forum and starting next week, it will be open to all books once they are released with a book featured each week from a 2010 Debut Author. Another moral: Join! Talk! Make friends!

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.... with hopefully more reviews to start showing back up. Let's call this my detox period before I hit my book drug hard again. I also blame my WIP because I am still spending time on that though really, not as much as I would like. Revisions are great- they still keep my mind running rampant as much as writing the first draft did- they just take longer and I find I need more breaks. Unfortunately, I'm not using those breaks to read which is making my slump worse. Thus, let's get together and throw this slump out on it's ass!