General Update Week of August 9

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This post is a general update for the week, to get some thoughts out of my head an onto a screen so I can make sense of them.

ARC Reviewing

Y’all know I love to read. A few books I’ve read lately have been stellar and I’ve posted my reviews of them. One book I’ve enjoyed very much that I posted a review as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) is The Unlikely Pair by Jax Calder, which is now live on Amazon so you can go pick it up. It’s available on Kindle Unlimited and for purchase. I also adored The Alien Scientist by Eryn Ivers which will be published August 14th!

But…

What to do when I agree to read an ARC of a book and it’s not very good? I want to help authors and give constructive feedback. One day I want to join their ranks and publish my own story. So being honest but forthright is helpful, in my opinion. But what if an author sees my review and gets offended?

But when a book is not very good, I am not sure what to do other than be honest. It’s the neurodivergence in me that is nearly able to override all other social norms, honesty taking precedence over making another person feel right.

This is incidentally how I Know I’m most likely auDHD and not just ADHD. The neuro spicy in me is spicy.

I’m trying to get through one right now that I think needs work. It’s been a struggle to get to where I am in the book but I need to finish it in the next few days. A review will be forthcoming and the Southern moral compass in me and the neurodivergent need to be honest are currently at war with one another on how to tactfully review it.

Plans for the site

You might notice that I have updated the theme once again, now I am using the Kadence theme. I am really liking this theme a lot. It’s modern looking and clean, but not overly simplistic. Each post is displayed with a featured image too, which ups the professional look in my opinion.

I have several things I am planning for the blog. I’ve been working hard to diversify the things I have offered here so people will find value in the posts I make. It’s still a personal blog, that’s why I am writing this post, but I want people to come to my site and say hey, that’s a good site to look around on.

Fanfiction Page

I write fanfiction, and I am working on a page to compile my various stories that I have written. Linking them from my blog seems like a logical thing to do. The work I have created makes me proud and I love the fandom I write in, BTS, almost exclusively Sope (Yoongi and Hoseok).

So, I have a draft page that I’m working on to link my ao3 titles here so people can read their descriptions and click over to ao3 from this site to read my stories. I will not be hosting my stories here, they will remain on ao3.

Google Ads? Not any time soon

Speaking of earning income, Google thinks my site has low value content so I will not be having Google Ads on my site any time soon. Which is so unfortunate, but everything on the Internet is so polished and refined now that a personal blog where I post about various things just doesn’t quite fit in with the sites that Google wants to advertise on. I am disappointed in that, but it is what it is. For certain, I am not going to change my content. Personally I don’t think it is ‘low value’. What I post is authentic, I post what I feel like posting. Sometimes that is a free Google presentation theme I made, while other days it’s a book review. And then some days it’s a plain, old-fashioned blog post.

Work

The first full week of school is about to wrap up for us. That is, if I get off my butt and get ready for work. So I guess I should do that! Happy Friday to all!