the mid-year book freak-out tag :)

when through the woods

Well met, travelers, and welcome to the woods, where your [aspirationally] gracious hostess is nearly always absent and there is no uniformity of theme or style to her posts.

How have you all been?

Last time, I posted a long ramble about death and academia. Today I’m here to tell you about the books I’ve read this year. Niche? Heh. Who cares about niche when you could be writing what you want to write.

I did this tag in 2019, 2020, and 2021 on my other blog, and it is really fun to compare my stats from previous years to this year!

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stats

At the time of this writing (June 23) I have read 49 books, which means I’m well on my way to meeting my goal of 100! I read at least 100 books every year until last year, when I read 63. I know I can’t…

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hiatus announcement :)

Hey friends!

As is probably obvious, I’m not posting on here right now. I have been, however, slightly more active on my other blog, when through the woods; follow me there if you want to keep getting updates! I may return to blogging here someday, but for right now I’m saying goodbye.

Until we meet again,

the stories are true

Cathedral book launch!

I’m several days late on this, but at long last I am here to tell you all about my book and its entrance into the world!

Cathedral is a book of poetry and creative prose about beauty in the midst of grief and joy in the face of great sorrow. I wrote the pieces in it over the past five years (the earliest poem is from 2016, while I wrote the very first poem in the book in August 2021). They chronicle my own personal journey through darkness and desperation; they are also arranged in a particular order so that the book itself is a journey from death into life.

buy Cathedral now (:

add Cathedral on Goodreads

2021 reading wrap-up ⟡ feat. stats & a tag :)

Hello hello!

I read 63 books in 2021 and I’m going to talk about them, because I like talking about books.

I hope you like reading about books. (:

First, if you want to see all the books I read, you can check out my 2021 Goodreads stats page. (You don’t need a Goodreads account to view it.)

On to a tag!

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I’m confused about the name of this tag, because it’s not the end of the new year, but the beginning… however it looks like great fun! Thanks to Emily for this tag! Check out her original post for all the details, rules, etc.

How many books did you read this year?

I read 63! I originally wanted to read 100, then 75. Clearly, I did not accurately estimate the amount of reading I would be able to do during college.

What were your top five books of the year?

New-to-me:

1. Thorn by Intisar Khanani
2. Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson
3. Hillsdale College Western Heritage Reader
4. Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
5. Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

Know the Novel Part 1: Introduction ⟡ a writer’s linkup

Friends.

FRIENDS!!

I have missed you so!

I am so happy to be writing a blog post again. It is, admittedly, not the ideal time to do so. I am currently sitting in my college library where I originally came to work on school. I have papers due on Friday and Monday, a group presentation and a test in two days, and copious amounts of reading and translation for all my classes.

But. How could I not do Christine’s linkup? I’ve been doing this Know the Novel thing for two years now and I didn’t want to miss it. It is a very helpful excuse to get back into blogging, too. In fact, I want to (tentatively) announce that I am returning to blogging! If you’ve been around here you’ll know that I tend to blog sporadically anyway, so there will certainly not be any sort of consistent schedule in my posting, but I thoroughly hope and intend to post again in the next month or so. And again. And again.

I’ve missed this a great deal.

All right, on to the NaNo stuff.

mid-year book freak out tag + hiatus announcement

Hello and welcome! Today I’m super excited to do the mid-year book freak out tag. I have no idea where this tag originated so sadly, I cannot credit anyone, but it’s something a lot of book bloggers do in late June and is a fun way to talk about the books you’ve read that year. (You can read my 2019 post here and my 2020 one here… they’re very cringy but that’s okay, it’s fun to look back and see how far I’ve come.)

Before we get to that, though, a quick announcement (which is literally in the title of the post): I’m taking a hiatus from blogging.

Actually, I kind of have been for most of the past few months anyway 🤷🏽‍♀️ I’ve been writing, and reading, and working, and prepping for college, and I haven’t had the time or motivation to blog. And, unfortunately, I don’t see myself finding either in the near future.

I don’t know how long I’ll be gone — I could return to blogging consistently this fall, or maybe it won’t be until January, or even next summer. HOWEVER. This does not mean I’m completely disappearing! I’m still going to be reading other people’s posts, and I will likely pop in here from time to time.

Basically, I’m just officially explaining what’s already going on 😌 I’ll be blogging randomly, so don’t expect to hear from me much on WordPress, but I’m not leaving and I still love it.

If you want more consistent content/updates from me, you have two options:

• my email list! I send out monthly life/reading/writing updates. It’s a ton of fun and I’d love to see you there!
• my Instagram! I just joined this platform and am still not sure what, exactly, I am doing, but expect occasional bookish/authorly posts and also very random stories.

email list

instagram

Onward to the blog post!

2-year blogging anniversary

Hello, friends! It’s been about a month since I last blogged, and I’m afraid I must warn you not to expect any kind of consistency from me for a while yet. I’m busy with school, work, college prep, and all kinds of graduation-related things. Then, of course, I will actually start college.

So my blogging may be somewhat inconsistent this summer/fall; but don’t worry, I have no intention of stopping. I love it too much to consider that.

Anyway, as you can probably tell, the point of this post is that I’ve been blogging for two years! (Well, really six years, but two on a public site.) I published my first “official” blog post on this blog on April 22, 2019. I was a shy sixteen-year-old and very much a newbie when it came to online interaction, but I am so glad I took the step to make my blog public — I’ve made so many friends, found like-minded creators and readers, and had a great deal of fun over the past two years. And I’m no longer a stranger to talking online (though I may still be a little shy sometimes ;)).

All right, on to the actual post…

⟡ stats ⟡

• My most viewed post of all time is announcing the Hope in Disaster short story contest! I really enjoyed hosting and judging this contest last year with my friends Charis and Kiki. If you’re interested, you can read the winning stories here.
• I’ve had 27,617 views, 2,785 likes, and 1,723 comments.
• I currently have 333 followers, which is a nice symmetrical number and also makes me very thankful. Obviously, followers aren’t the most important part of blogging, and I’d far rather have ten loyal readers than a thousand who don’t care about me (and, to be clear, I’m certain that less than half of those 333 people actually read/comment on my blog). But. It’s still pretty incredible to know that hundreds of people are interested in my content and writing. So thank you.

⟡ Q & A ⟡

Thanks to everyone who asked questions! I hope you enjoy learning more about me. Let the interrogation commence!

ask me questions! ⟡ a Q&A to celebrate 2 years of blogging

Hello and welcome! I think the title of this posts pretty much sums it up… I’ve been blogging for (almost) 2 years, so to celebrate, I’m asking you all to ask me questions!

I’ve never done a Q&A before, mainly because I find them to be overdone (generally) among bloggers I follow, and it gets repetitive if people keep asking the same questions. But since I’ve never done one before, there’s no way for it to be overdone or repetitive, eh? 😉

I’d love questions about literally anything (though, you know, I’m not going to give out personal info). So throw all your burning questions at me — the things you’ve wanted to know for the past couple of years but never dared to ask! (Mundane things are fine too. My favorite color is probably blue, if you were wondering. Or rose gold.)

You can also, if you wish, make assumptions about me. (I think that’s kind of the same thing as a questionnaire, only it’s framed differently. So… do either/both!)

Type out all your questions/assumptions/random thoughts in the comments, and I’ll answer ’em all in another post soon.

Tally ho!

the stories are true,

~ m a y a ~

P.S. I’m going to be gone on vacation next week, so even though my “official” blogging anniversary is April 22, the actual post will be later. (If you want a good laugh, search through my archives and find the post from April 22, 2019. It’s… something.)

I need your help! // take my reader survey

Hello and welcome, friends!

As the title of my post says, I need your help today. I’ve created a survey for all my blog and email list readers: a collection of questions about my theme, brand, and writing style.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why I write and what audience I’m writing for, and I think this will help me figure that out even more. And I’m really excited to see your answers to questions like “which of my WIPs are you most excited about?” and “which font best encapsulates my brand?” 😀

The survey should take 10-15 minutes to fill out, depending on how fast you type and how detailed your answers are. (You can even finish it in 5 if you don’t want to leave long responses!) Afterwards (if you check this option), I’ll send you an email with charts and screenshots breaking down all the answers and talking about what I’m going to do next.

Thank you in advance for your time and I hope you have fun taking this!

click here to take the survey

Have a lovely day, friends.

~ the stories are true ~

meet the book blogger tag

Hey friends! I’m back!

I’ve been lacking motivation to post lately, but hey, it helps when you get tagged/find good tags multiple times in a week 😂 In order not to fall massively behind on all these tags, I’ve decided to do one. (And yes, I do enjoy them. I’m not doing it because I “have” to — tags are honestly quite fun.)

Thank you to Jan @ The Doodlecrafter, who (sort of) tagged me for the Meet the Book Blogger Tag! (That is, I found it on her blog, and she tagged anyone who was interested.) This tag was created by the Bibliomavens.

who is your all-time favorite book character?

Picking one favorite character is like picking a favorite book! Which is to say… I do have an answer (as I also have an answer for the “favorite book” question):