Wednesday, December 29, 2010

2011


In a few short days, it will no longer be 2010. I have to say that the year absolutely flew by for me. With the upcoming celebration of New Year's, I always feel this insatiable need to make a list of things that I would like to accomplish to make myself better each year. No resolutions. Why? Resolutions are meant to be broken and I do always break them. So, I do like I do everything else in my life ... I make a list. For 2011, I'd like to accomplish a few things.

  1. Be more socially active. This goes for the blogging world and in my day-to-day life. I am all about staying home and being by myself because I'm just a naturally shy person. I have been all of my life. When I first graduated from high school, I literally blossomed into a social butterfly - I was out all the time, enjoying my life. I need more of this in my life because I'm starting to feel like a hermit. I don't want as much as before because I just don't have that type of time free anymore, but I can be more social than I am now. I also need to do the same with blogging. I read a lot of posts, but my comments to posts ratio is very pathetic right now.
  2. Schedule my life better. I have a ton of books that I review, plus I'm in charge of not only my house chores, but also bills and anything unexpected that may come up. Sometimes, I flutter from one thing to another, just doing what I need to do to get by and that's it. That needs to change. I need a more concrete schedule where I put aside a certain amount of time for chores, for bills, for reading and for blog posts. Ugh, blog posts definitely need to be written ahead of time so I'll have more free time for other things that may come up.
  3. Write my reviews right after I read a book. Or at least jot down some notes so I don't go completely insane when I write reviews. I'm actually doing better on this. I'm more efficient with my book journal BUT I still have moments where I'm writing my reviews and drawing blanks. So, I'm obviously not doing something right. This shall be refined in 2011.
  4. Exercise and eat right! I had this down for last year too and I did do better, it's just not as good as I'd like it to be. I need to exercise more regularly and find things to eat that are not only delicious, but healthy as well. I don't want to be a health nut in the least - I love my southern foods entirely too much for that. I just want to find a happy medium where I can enjoy food without (a) overindulging, and (b) gaining even more weight. Ew.
  5. Make more time for cooking and crafting. Nick and I ate out entirely too much this year and I missed cooking all the time. Actually, I think that I'm losing my cooking touch... and that is NOT acceptable. So, I need to start putting those 30+ cookbooks to use. I also have a ton of crafts that I've been wanting to work on. I am going to work on it. Darn it.
  6. Read more. I read a nice amount of books last year, but not as much as I'd like. On a decent night, I can finish a 400+ page book before I go to bed. I want to do this on as many nights as possible so I can not only get through my review books quicker, but other books that I have that I haven't been able to get to.
Those are the things that I'd like to improve in 2011. I'm pretty confident that all of these things will be achieved. So, here's to a better 2011! :)

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

The Poll Results!

All the numbers are in and everything is counted - which I have to admit took much longer than I anticipated because there were so many participants/entrants. I want to say thank you guys so much for participating! You have no idea how much this helps me out and how much it means to me that you would help me out so very much!!

Now, without further ado ... here are the results!!

Best YA Reads of 2010

Top 3

1 - Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins
2 - Last Sacrifice, by Richelle Mead
3 - Paranormalcy, by Kiersten White

Honorable Mentions

1 - Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver
2 - Clockwork Angel, by Cassandra Clare
3 - The Iron King, by Jula Kagawa

Most Anticipated YA Reads of 2011

Top 3

1 - City of Fallen Angels, by Cassandra Clare
2 - Delirium, by Lauren Oliver
3 - Across The Universe, by Beth Revis

Honorable Mentions

1 - Wither, by Lauren Destefano
2 - The Iron Queen, by Julie Kagawa
3 - Bloodlines, by Richelle Mead


I have to say that I was very surprised that some other novels weren't on here as Beat Read though I've heard so many good things about them. What do you think? Happy with the results?

Statistics: There were over 300 individual participants in this poll/giveaway, along with almost 150 extra entries to tally. In total, there were 42 Best Read titles entered as well as 49 Most Anticipated novel titles given. The Top 3 winners each received over 15 points, with Mockingjay and City of Fallen Angels each receiving over a whopping 50 votes each!

Monday, December 27, 2010

2011 Guest Posts

2011 is full of new and wonderful possibilities for not only myself, but for this blog as well. As you know, I have some wonderful new features that will be making their debut the upcoming year. I'm extremely excited about this! I don't think it's enough, though. I not only want to feature new books and authors, but I'd also like to get my fellow book bloggers and followers in on the fun as well.

A good percentage of the blogs that I follow came from referrals one way or another, mostly through guests posts and interviews that I read. So, I think this is what I want to do here. I'm taking it one step further and adding guest reviews as well. Exciting, right? Okay, maybe I'm just really excited about it.


There is one very simple rule to being hosted on my blog: you must have your own blog to link back to! The purpose of this is to generate more traffic to your own blog through mine, as well as me just showing off some of my favorite bloggers to my other followers.

To be hosted, please fill out the form below with all of the appropriate information. I will contact you via e-mail as soon as I can and we will figure out a time to schedule your post on here.


Edit: If you don't have a blog, but write well-written reviews on Goodreads and would like more publicity, you may also fill out the form. When filling out the form, just put your Goodreads profile link as your Blog URL.


Thanks, guys!


Fill Out Form Here

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