Category: Challenge Related

Oh How I Love Advent Calendars – Blogmas 2025

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

I have always loved Advent Calendars. From the beautiful one that has always graced my family’s wall each year to the newer ones bought each year, I have come to appreciate them.

This year, I’m doing several. Some that are advertised as Advent calendars, and others that… well, okay, it’s more like a series. But it counts!

Lego Star Wars 2025 Advent Calendar

For the past few years, I have made it a point to do a Lego Advent calendar. In 2023, it was the Lego City calendar, and last year was the Lego Star Wars one (mostly because it included a minikit! I couldn’t pass that up!)

This year I had been planning on returning to the Lego City calendar, but it has been sold out since mid October, I swear. So, instead, I’m “settling” with the Lego Star Wars one, as the other themes don’t do it for me and I’m too lazy to come up with something for myself, at least like this.

Each day comes with either a Minifigure to put together or a little set that is Star Wars themed. They are very adorable to look at and the Christmas theme, while not exactly Star Wars appropriate (as besides several Lego Star Wars movies, Christmas doesn’t exist in Star Wars to my knowledge…).

A Heart For Christmas by Sophie Jomain (A Advent Romance)

Thanks to the magic of random internet browsing, I happened upon a novel designed to be read as a chapter a day. Of course, being myself, I didn’t bother to read the reviews (not exactly great…) and instead just bought it and have been impatiently waiting to read it.

From the first chapter, I’ve met the main female character of this romantic (apparently young-adult) story, who is eighteen and spending the Christmas holidays in the Alps with her father, two years after a heart attack left her with a donor heart. I’m curious to see if the story takes off into unexpected directions or if I’ll be reading the same old tale again… We shall see.

Disney’s Twisted Tales Advent

Ever since I saw the first book in Disney’s Twisted Tales series, I’ve been wanting to get into them and enjoy all that is within the pages. Of course, every time I think “this is it”, something comes up and I never crack open that book.

This summer, I happened upon an official Advent Calendar for the Twisted Tales, originally released in 2023. I scooped it up… and then promptly forgot about it until yesterday, when I was starting to set up for Christmas and found it again. So I decided I would do a tale a day… until discovering that there were only ten actual short stories, and the rest were diaries, coloring pages, and other random things. And THEN (I promise this will be the last one, I swear), I found out that a second Twisted Tales Advent was released in the UK in October. So that will get here when it gets here, and until then I’m doing two. The short stories are spread out enough to accomidate that, or so I hope.

This might be the only one that I’m behind on come the end of December.

A Manga a Day…

And finally, my own kind of Advent calendar, based entirely on my feelings for that day.

Over the past few years, my manga collect has massively expanded. I’m reading series that I would have never though to touch before (including a horror series, and I hate horror! And I love that series!). There’s long ongoing series, short ones that I have collected complete, a few that I’m in the middle of because of printing issues (In/Spectre, why are volumes 5 and 6 still the only ones out of print?!)… All over the map at this point.

Because I have so many unread volumes due to life and other obligations, I decided that each day in December, I’m going to read at least a volume a day. It doesn’t have to be from the same series (for example, on December first I finished Aria the Masterpiece and then volume 13 of Otherside Picnic, two wildly different manga). My reason for this is two-fold. I have so much left to read… and I desperately want to pad my Goodreads total for personal reasons. Yeah, that’s happening.

And Of Course, The Classic

The final Advent calendar is the one that hasn’t actually been put up yet, because this year we’re behind in our decorating.

Many years ago, I think before I was born or the year that it happened, my parents were gifted a beautiful Advent calendar from my aunt. Yes, I think it was from a catalogue, and yes, it’s old, but we hang it every year and fight where to place all but a few of the pieces (certain ones have their own special place, because I said so).

No matter what happens, no matter if we have ten Advent calendars or one, this will always be that one. And that’s what makes it all that more special.

Once the month draws to a close, I’ll rate and discuss which one were worth the money, and which ones weren’t (hint, it’s probably the book, based on the reviews alone, from people I trust, haha).

Until then!

Reading Goals for 2023 – Blogmas 2022

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

I’ll be the first to admit that my reading goal for 2022 was a little… unobtainable, especially once my luck with the job market happened.

It wasn’t the total amount of books that was the problem. No, I’ve done that before and more. It was the fact that I was reading the same type of book over and over again. It just got… tiresome? I guess? You could also say exhausting. Or just… very one note. Basically, reading only one type of book made me not want to read, because if I wasn’t reading a book from my challenge, then I felt like I wasn’t reading the right thing.

For 2023, I’m going to try to broaden my palette, as it were. I still have my “reading challenge,” but I have a few others that will let me read basically anything I want. Let me explain.

Owlcrate’s 2023 Reading Planner Goals

Every year, my favorite book box Owlcrate sends out a reading planner with their November box. This year, the planner included a small list of 14 prompts as a way to encourage people to read something they wouldn’t normally.

For example, one of the prompts is to “read a collection of poetry or short stories.” Another is “an epistolary novel.” There’s also a prompt for “a book set in a library or a bookstore.” Two personal favorites of mine are “a book from a country that you’d love to visit this year” and “a recommendation from a friend with reading tastes different to yours.”

I’ve already come up with a few books that might fit some of these prompts, though I won’t start actually reading until January 1st. But I’m okay with that. Mentally planning is important.

The Nest’s 3 Degrees of Difficulty Annual Reading Challenge

Hilariously, this is also Owlcrate. They just launched The Nest, which is an app to connect with other booklovers in a safe and welcoming space (#notasponser). One of the things I like is that they are hosting their own reading challenge, with three levels. To make it slightly more challenging, each level features 25 prompts.

Level one is pretty simple. It has the normal prompts, such as “YA Historical Fiction,” “A Library Book,” or “A Classic High Fantasy.” Pretty much every prompt is one that can be found on another list someone else. It’s meant to be an easy list to fill.

Level two gets a bit more difficult. There are some more specific prompts, such as “set in the 1920s.” “More than 500 pages” sticks out because most prompt lists don’t have a prompt like that. “Portal Fantasy” is something I’ve never heard of as of writing this post. There’s also a “contemporary duology” and a “super serious sci-fi,” which means I’ll be scouring the internet for those and others.

I’ll admit, Level three is the one I’m not sure I’ll finish. Most of the prompts are ones that I wouldn’t normally pick up, and even if I did, I probably wouldn’t enjoy it. “African Magical Realism” is something I’ve never even thought of (though I am intrigued). “Healthcare Worker POV?” No offense, but I avoided that line of work for a reason, I’m not looking forward to that one. And I’ll be honest, unless I get lucky, I’m probably to have trouble with the “2022 Hugo Nominee” as I’m usually not a fan of their choices… Oh wait, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir? Okay, that one might be okay.

But Wait! What About Your Reading Challenge?

I’m still going to do it! I’m midway through the Trials of Apollo, which is the last major pentalogy in the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles. I still have the two spinoff trilogies (The Kane Chronicles and Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard) as well as the companion books.

I also would love to work my way through The Keeper of the Lost Cities series by Shannon Messenger, which was already in the challenge. Considering the size difference between KotLC and the other complete series in the challenge (The Shadowhunter Chronicles by Cassandra Clare), the former is at least obtainable.

One important things is that this challenge won’t be my main goal. I’d love to complete more than just the CHBC portion (which will get done next year if I have anything to say about it). I’m just going to prioritize reading for the other challenges more than just this. It will probably help with my anxiety as well.

Wrap Up

I’m hoping that having what amounts to nearly 100 prompts, I’ll get a lot of reading done on my offtimes. I do have some grand plans for reading, some ideas I’ve already jotted down, though of course nothing is set in stone just yet. We shall see what 2023 shall bring in the form of reading!

Until next time!

Whumptober 2022 Wrap-Up – Blogmas 2022

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

For my final challenge of the year, I decided to do things a little bit differently.

Since I was going to be working on Whumptober while also trying to fix up some other things, prep for Nanowrimo, and also work my stressful job, I decided to allow myself the ability to do something a bit different. I gave myself permission to write drabbles. If you don’t know what a drabble is, it is a piece of writing that is exactly 100 words. I ended up writing several double and triple drabbles (or 200/300 words) to some of the prompts, which was both a challenge and a test, and I think some of those fics ended up being some of my favorites.

As with my other challenge write ups, I’ll be following my Whumptober 2021 Wrap Up set up, to break down the event in a few different ways. I’ll be touching on some of my favorite fics, as well as the ones that did amazing.

Challenge Overview

Before we get into the major breakdown, let’s go over the full challenge.

Over the course of the challenge, I wrote 31 fics between October 2nd and December 5th, 2022.

My total word count for the event was 25,163 words, focused on 9-1-1, 9-1-1 Lone Star, The Old Guard, and The School of Good and Evil, with minor crossovers and mentions of CSI:NY and Criminal Minds.

As it’s been a bit over a month since the end of the challenge, I’ll be putting up the top three for each section below. However, since there are some that are more popular than others, I’ll be noting the ones that repeat and then including the next ones until I have three fics per section.

Most Popular by Hits

I’m not really sure what inspired “Overlooking the Head,” but I’m glad that I wrote it. In a way, it was a subtle way of telling the people who had been attacking me that I actually did like Chimney Han, I just didn’t like him in one specific storyline (shock of all shocks). This is something I’d been thinking about for a while, so I’m glad I got it down and posted.

“A Different Kind of Heat” is my ode to the differences of climates. I’m someone who really doesn’t do well in humidity, especially in Texas, where I was one of the people who nearly collapsed that year. I just don’t like the heat. Yes, TK would know better, but it worked for the story, so I’m happy about it.

I think I have a thing for dropping Buck down staircases, as seen in “Staircase Tumbling.” Why Buck? Because it’s Buck, and if the writers won’t give us what we want, it’s up to fic writers to do it for them. I really enjoyed coming up with this one, which was written while I was at my writer’s club at my library. I enjoyed it a little too much, haha.

Most Popular by Kudos

I already have talked about “Staircase Tumbling.”

I was alwasy going to write a sequel to “BuckBookTok” and thus “BuckLifeTok” was born. I very much enjoyed bringing this to life, especially since I got to once again play with the tsunami and what damage it left behind to LA and the 118. I have a final fic in this trilogy in the works, it should be posted soon.

“Family Crashes” was very much inspired by the frankly ridiculous amount of traffic I could see from my office window when I have to go into LA for my in office day. The Buckley parents appearing just kinda forced themselves into the show, even though I didn’t plan on them. It worked in my opinion.

“Avoiding a Family Fight” was written not because I didn’t like the Buckley parents, but instead to get my temper down about being forced to do things because “family”. I very much enjoyed bringing this fic to life, even if certain people didn’t understand or get my full intentions at the time.

Most Popular by Comments

I already have talked about “Staircase Tumbling,” “Family Crashes,” and “Avoiding a Family Fight”

I decided early on to include Lou Ransone at least twice during this challenge, with “Gun to Temple” being his first appearance during the month. I think I really enjoyed this one, to the point that I would love to keep going with this fic if I so chose. Maybe one day I’ll do something else along these lines. (No, Remy, no getting more ideas, you have too much to work on right now as is!)

“Long Shift Surprises” was born from one of my Buck and Audie fics getting nominated for a fanfiction awards thing, but because I had two fics nominated in the same category, I had to choose one or the other. Since I went with the other, I wrote another Audie fic to balance it out. Sleepy Buck and Audie for the win!

The thing about “Potentially Scarring Questions” is that it was born out of people asking invasive questions about others. That’s it, that’s the inspiration. For men, that’s always bothered me, so this came to be. I enjoyed bringing this one to light and I’m very happy with my results.

Most Popular by Bookmarks

I already have talked about “Staircase Tumbling,” “Family Crashes,” “Avoiding a Family Fight,” “Potentially Scarring Questions,” “Overlooking the Head,” “Gun to Temple,” and “BuckLikeTok.”

“Stuck” is another Lou Ransone fic, but it was also brought upon thanks to so many people deciding what was and wasn’t going to be in Seasons five and six (and being so wrong about it). I’m also very happy with how this one came out.

I came up with “An Atypical Effect to a Head Injury” simply because of how many times it seems like Buck has been hit on the head. No, seriously, that’s what did it. This got a lot of love for being so short and I’m happy with that. Plus, injured and surly Buck is always fun.

I’m not surprised that “Taken Away” has been bookmarked a good amount of times. It’s one of my incomplete fics that I really need to get back to by the end of the year (see yesterday’s post). I just have to find my notes first and I’ll be able to really knock it out…

Length

I already have talked about “BuckLikeTok,” “Family Crashes,” “Staircase Tumbling,” “Avoiding a Family Fight,” “Potentially Scarring Questions,” “Overlooking the Head,” “Gun to Temple,” and

Considering they are best paired together, I’ll be talking about them together. “Firestarter” and “Only Embers Left Behind” are both part of my “Immortal Genius” series, with Buck taking the forefront for five total fics. Here, Buck is dealing with an arsonist and ends up being in the wrong place at the wrong time… but his immortality keeps him alive. For me, I wrote it to show that Buck was finally starting to accept his lot in life, leading into the finale of his arc. They aren’t the most popular, but I’m okay with that. I write what I love, damn it.

“Crutch Time” was just good clean fun. I hated being on crutches when I sprained my foot and I’m still salty about it, and that was in like 2008 (I can hold a grudge). It’s another Audie fic, one that I absolutely had a great time writing since it practically wrote itself.

My Favorites That Didn’t Get a Mention

I had a great deal of fun with working on “Almost Dead on My Feet,” only because it presented me with the challenge of remembering how to timeline. Something that I’ve struggled with this year. I enjoyed it a lot and I’m glad that it came out alright, even if it didn’t get a majorly great reception (my 9-1-1 Lone Star fics rarely do).

“An Unlikely Friendship” was the final Ransone fic of Whumptober, this time dealing with the aftermath of his attack in 5×02. I tried to make it clear that he and Buck were friends that might become more, though I’m not sure how much of that came through. I did like it, and I enjoyed the challenge I gave myself with it.

Wrap Up

While I wasn’t successful in completing Whumptober in October, I do think I am hapy with the quality of many of the fics that I posted. Several of them are fics that I very much enjoy and I’m happy to see that they have gotten love over the past few months.

If you want to read any of them, they are all up on my AO3 account! Just look for any that are part of the “Remy’s Whumptober 2022” series. They are all in prompt order.

Until next time!

My 2022 Reading Challenge – Update – Blogmas 2022

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Back in March of 2022, I made a series of bad “bets” on a few different TV shows, basically on what was going to be shown on screen or during the marketing of different episodes. And when I say I made some “bad bets,” I mean I kept on getting it blatantly wrong. Since a few of my (former) friends and I were pseudo-gambling on it, I had to set my own, for the lack of a better term, punishment for getting things wrong.

So I set out to do what I named “Remy’s Reading Challenge.”

The challenge was deceptively simple. I was to read every book in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series by Shannon Messenger, every book in the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles series by Rick Riordan, and every book in the Shadowhunter Chronicles series by Cassandra Clare. To save you the math, the grand total is 46 novels, 60 short stories, 1 novella, and 1 online novel.

I set out to do this challenge with a bit of a gusto, as I really did want to read all of these books. It was something that, in February and March, was completely obtainable. And then it wasn’t.

April 1st, I got hired with my job, and cut off from the majority of my family. May 4th, I left the friend group that had been my support for over a year at that point, and in the process lost the “friends” that had helped set these challenges. End of June? I was knee deep in training and had my entire fandom life implode around me, which also almost resulted in the loss of my job. July through Septempber was simply trying to build myself back up, October was a low point, November was a disaster, and December? Well, at least 2023 is right around a corner. And on top of this, medical issues. Just… medical issues.

That’s a very long-winded way of saying that I am nowhere near completing the challenge in any way.

As of today, December 11th, I have read the first ten Camp Half-Blood Chronicles novels and one companion novel (which held two of the short stories, if I remember correctly, have to check that). No, you’re not reading that wrong, that’s it. That’s all. I never touched The Shadowhunter Chronicles or The Keeper of the Lost Cities, even though I did get Book 9, Stellarlune, for my birthday.

With everything going on, I’m honestly surprised I got this far. I really did want to read more of them, but I never was either in the mood or I didn’t have the time when I did want to read. It’s been a challenge all the way. It’s the same reason I don’t really think I’m going to do a reading wrap up this year, because I really haven’t read all that much.

Depression sucks, y’all.

While I’ll be doing a few reading challenges in the new year (hilariously all hosted by Owlcrate in various forms, I’ll talk about those later this month), I also am hoping to get through with at least part of this challenge by the end of 2023. I’m not making any promises.

But for now, I’m going back to The Hidden Oracle, since that’s where I left off and I’m just over halfway through… I will get done with Apollo’s books. One day, anyway.

Until next time.

Writer’s Month 2022 (Delayed) Wrap-up! – Blogmas 2022

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Well, my first attempt at Writer’s Month went… well… I at least completed the challenge. Two months late. It’s a whole thing. But I really did enjoy the different prompts, so I will probably give this one another try next year, when I can dedicate more time to it while not stressing myself out.

As with my other challenge write ups, I’ll be following my Whumptober Wrap Up set up, to break down the event in a few different ways. I’ll be touching on some of my favorite fics, as well as the ones that did amazing.

Challenge Overview

Before we get into the major breakdown, let’s go over the full challenge.

Over the course of the challenge, I wrote 31 fics between August 2nd and November 14th, 2022.

My total word count for the event was 29,703 words, focused on 9-1-1, 9-1-1 Lone Star, The Old Guard, and Fusionfall with brief mentions or crossovers with Hawaii Five-O, SWAT, and Teen Wolf.

As it’s been over a month since the end of the challenge, I’ll be putting up the top three for each section below. However, since there are some that are more popular than others, I’ll be noting the ones that repeat and then including the next ones until I have three fics per section.

Most Popular by Hits

By far one of my most popular fics this year thus far, Far Reaching Friends was born out of wanting to have some sort of crossover between 9-1-1 Season 5 and 9-1-1 Lone Star Season 3. I remember knocking this one out in no time at all and really loving bringing this to life. I actually wrote a sequel to during Whumptober 2022 and I think I want to play in this world one more time.

I ended up coming up with Late Night Knocks on a whim, but it also became a tribute to one of my favorite One Chicago characters, Jay Halstead, who was (horribly) written out this season. This is another idea that came up out of the blue that I enjoy and I’m happy to see that others have enjoyed it as well. I have one more planned for this mini series.

So, confession. I have an irrational fear of earthquakes. Home Shakes popped into my head while I was pacing my room trying to come up with something. I joking said that this fic’s secondary theme was “writer’s block due to annoyance.” This one ended up being a good quick little writing exercise that I enjoyed knocking out.

Most Popular by Kudos

I already have talked about “Far Reaching Friends” and “Late Night Knocks.”

The amount of times I rewrote Cards from the Heart is frankly embarrassing. I could not decide what to do, then I had an idea and backtracked, and finally I just ran with what I posted. It’s probably one of my favorites just because it’s cute, and that’s what matters.

And Now, To Tomorrow is the sequel to one of my favorite fics I’ve written this year, mostly because it’s the crossover I was never supposed to write, and yet I did. This sequel was difficult to write only because I knew what I wanted to say, but I wasn’t sure how to say it. But I’m happy with how it came out, and the third fic should be completed before the end of the year if all goes well.

Fat Lip came out of wanting to write about the catfish incident but in the current day, and give Hen a voice to the situation since she didn’t really get one during Season 1. I really enjoyed working on this one, especially sarcastic Buck coming out. Surprisingly I wasn’t in the best of places mentally when writing this, as well as suffering from food poisoning during the majority of that week.

Most Popular by Comments

I already have talked about “And Now, To Tomorrow.”

I got “in trouble” because of the joke behind Teaching Knots. Yes, it’s a BDSM joke, no, it’s completely clean, and yes, I had way too much fun with setting that bullshit up. I’m happy with it, even if I got some funny pseudo-pissed off messages.

Pain Day was born out of the thought that Buck’s injury might not have healed as perfectly as the show implied. So I decided to explore that. I’ll be totally honest, I was looking for a prompt that would fit this plot, instead of the other way around. This one worked well, and I love it.

Held Back (What a Detriment) holds the distinction of being the first fic I’ve ever posted with the wrong title (I misspelled detriment). I also marked this fic as incomplete, as I’m still not sure if I’m going to come back to it or not. I’m just not into writing about shifters, but I way decide to do so in the future. Only time will tell.

Most Popular by Bookmarks

I already have talked about “Pain Day,” “Far Reaching Friends,” “Home Shakes,” “Fat Lip,” “Cards from the Heart,” “And Now, To Tomorrow,” “Teaching Knots,” and “Held Back (What a Detriment).”

I unintentionally sat on Rainbow of Thanks for awhile. This was a fic that I had a barebones idea for, but I ended up enjoying what I ended up writing for it. Hell, I love any fic that makes Christopher special, because I love that kid.

I also got in trouble for Next in Line. ANd by “in trouble,” I mean I pissed off a lot of people because Buck didn’t get to go to Chicago. I had everything planned out, but no one believed me. (Late Night Knocks” is the sequel to this fic, and there is a third tentatively planned.)

My literal only speculation for Season 6. Worrying Away from Home was born simply to prove that I could write a speculation fic, even though I don’t like speculation fics. Also, it totally turned into an anti-Buckley parent’s fic because why the heck not. Worth it.

Length

I already have talked about “And Now, To Tomorrow,” “Late Night Knocks,” and “Far Reaching Friends.”

I spontaneously decided to write a Fusionfall fic, and Three Days On Fire is the result. I pulled it out of nowhere just because I could. I really enjoyed playing around in that world again, so much so that I want to do it again just because.

What is Silk Nights? I still don’t know. I just pulled it out of nowhere. I can’t explain it, nor will I. It’s… a thing. Just go with it.

King of the Lego Castle was written as a tribute to Lego’s 90th birthday. No, seriously, that’s the whole inspiration. But it was fun and I’m happy about it. That’s about all I have to say on the subject.

My Favorites That Didn’t Get a Mention (aka All the 9-1-1 Lone Star fics)

I came up with Music From a Former Life thanks to listening to Ronen Rubinstein’s music. It was a fun little fic that I really feel like deserved more love.

I still have a love for my Buck and Audie fics, and I wrote one from Audie’s POV. It’s Hard Being Popular ended up not being popular, but it was a fun little experiment. Can I help it? Audie is a sassy pup.

I don’t normally write future fics, but there was something about writing a fic from an adult Christopher Diaz’s point of view. The Story of Our Lives is a fun little fic that almost made the cut on several categories for this wrap up, missing by only one point here or there.

Did I really write a fic about TK and Paul going to where TK almsot froze to death? Yes, yes I did. And no, I don’t have a problem with that. It’s therapy. It’s called This is Where I (Nearly) Died and it didn’t get nearly enough love, damn it.

And finally, something that I’m mildly hoping for 9-1-1 Lone Star for Season Four is some Carlos!Whump, so I wrote some myself. Role reversals are fun sometimes. I called this pain Waiting for the Wake Up, and no, I have no regrets.

Wrap Up

I really enjoyed this challenge, only because the prompts are different’ then ones I’m used to. I’m happy that I have it a shot even if I didn’t get to complete it in August. It was worth the attempt. I may or may not take part in it next year, depending on life circumstances, but I have no real complaints. Heck, one of my favorite things is that they give a seven day grace period on posting! No one else does!

All in all, it was a good challenge and I’m happy to move onto other things.

If you want to read any of them, they are all up on my AO3 account! Just look for any that are part of the “Writer’s Month 2022” series. They are all in prompt order.

Until next time!

31 Books in 31 Days?! – Blogtober 2022

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Well, kinda.

I have a lot of books. So many that they can’t fit on my shelves anymore. So many that I’ve forgotten which ones I own and which ones are still on my list. It’s just slightly a problem that needs fixing.

In the interest of freeing up space (my birthday and Christmas are right around the corner and I usually get some books), I’m trying something to free up at least a few spaces.

Every day during October, I’m picking a random book of my shelf. My options are ones I haven’t read yet that aren’t part of a collection (Owlcrate or Barnes and Nobel’s YA Book Club). That means that a good thirty to forty percent of my current library is up for grabs. Right now I’m letting Mom pick for the first few days, after that I’m putting titles in a hat and picking that way. (I may have forgotten to prep for this thanks to Whumptober and Writer’s Month colliding, on top of some other things, whoops!)

With each book, my goal is to read either 50 pages (novel) or 100 pages (graphic novel). If by that point I’m at least enjoying it, or it hasn’t done anything to be particularly egregious, the book will stay (with the goal to revisit it in November and finish it if I don’t already do that on the day). If there is anything about the book I’m not happy with (art style, writing style, plot, character), I’m donating it.

Yes, that means I’m somewhat judging books by their cover. I’m also going to be very picky. Yep. I’m probably going to be donating more than planned (I have twenty or so books already earmarked to be donated already for various reasons, these will be added to that list).

But I think it’s worth it.

Now, a few caveats. None of these are going to be added to Goodreads this month, unless I finish the book that day (like the graphic novel that was picked for day one, I’m publicly withholding my thoughts until the end of this). I’m also still reading through the Heroes of Olympus series right now (I’m on the last book!). I might end up skipping a day or two due to work related reasons (Monday’s are in office days and the drive sucks).

My goal is to get at least ten books marked for donation. No, I’m not going in with a negative mindset, I just think that ten is a good number to donate. If it’s more or less, I’m okay with that.

So that’s the project. 31 books to be tested out in 31 days. Can I do it? We will have to see what happens. I will do a full write up with titles and brief thoughts when the whole thing is over with.

Until next time!

(I’m adding this to my Reading Challenge tag for a couple reasons. It is a reading challenge by defination. But also, I will not be making my goal this year by a lot, so I’m going to use this tag for any sort of reading challenge that I’m taking part in that is reading related.)

The 2022 Mid Year Book Freak Out!

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

It’s that time of the year, and this year I’m not wanting to scream because I’m behind!

The Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag was created for Booktubers so long ago that the original video has been privated. Just from a quick search, it looked like at least ten years ago. Since I’m not really doing on camera stuff this year, baring streaming (if my internet is ever stable again, but that’s a rant for another day), it’s always better for me to do this via my blog.

There are 13 questions in the tag that I am again using for this year. I’ve actually read more this year than I though, so there shouldn’t be much doubling up! I’ll also try to keep this spoiler free, or at least spoiler light, but no promises.

Let’s jump into it.

1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2021.

There are two books that have stood out to me this year. One is a book that I reread (because of my reading challenge) and the other is a novella. The Lightning Thief remains one of my favorite middlegrade books of all time, and wow it holds up really well, even after all of these years. Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire is the latest installment in the Wayward Children series series, and I truly do think it’s a great addition to the series.

2. Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2021.

This will have to go to Heartstopper Vol 2-4. I ended up blasting through them last month, since I have it in my head that I can’t watch an adaptation until I’ve read the source material. (I may have not watched the show yet. I’m going to, I promise! Like, next weekend or so!) I just love Alice Oseman’s art style, though I still have some trouble reading the text, but if that’s my only complaint, am I really complaining?

3. New release you haven’t read yet, but want to.

It’s not exactly new, but Alice Oseman’s Loveless has been sitting on my shelf since May, and I really want to crack into it. It was the existence of this book as a Barnes and Noble YA Book Club choice for April that even alerted me to Heartstopper being so blatantly popular. So popular, in fact, that when I went to order the Book Club edition of the book, they’d sold out of it entirely, and it won’t be restocked. When I find a break in my reading schedule, that’s next on the list.

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year.

Because of my reading goal, I have to give this to Stellarlune by Shannon Messenger. It’s the penultimate book in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, and I’m actually curious about it. Well, only mildly, since I’ve only ever read book one, and this is book nine (technically ten, since there was a book 8.5…)

5. Biggest disappointment.

I didn’t think something could make me scream as badly as Blood & Honey did last year. But As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson managed it. The first half of the book felt like a normal Good Girl’s Guide to Murder book, but with protagonist Pip making mistakes and being more paranoid than normal. But the back half? It’s like this other character possessed her and the entire cast and wow, it made no sense. I almost threw it across the parking lot I was sitting in when I finished it. The amount of four letter words was… telling.

6. Biggest surprise.

We Were Dreamers by Simu Liu. It’s his first autobiography, telling his story. His life has been insane, and his voice came right out of the page. I read it on a whim and I absolutely loved every second of it.

7. Favorite new author. (Debut or new to you)

So here’s the problem. Everyone on my list I’ve either read, or they just wrote a one off, or they aren’t an author I’d probably pick up again, because I didn’t really enjoy their book. I haven’t read anyone new to me this year (yet, I do have a few books I’m planning on cracking into very soon).

8. Newest fictional crush.

Look, everything I’ve read this year has basically featured exclusively under-18 characters. There isn’t a way I can answer this without it being creepy.

… Simu Liu. There. I’m gonna go rewatch Shang-Chi now.

9. Newest fictional character.

Jason from The Heroes of Olympus series. While I do like all the new characters, I think Jason has had the most potential in this series (I’ve only read through three, no spoilers over books that have been out for years!). There’s something about an amnesiac character trying his best through no fault of his own, but still succeeding on his quest, that just does it for me.

10. Book that made you cry.

There’s a specific scene in The Last Olympian that downright made me sob, and I read it while I was at work (luckily, work from home that day). I won’t say what, but it more than earned it’s 5-star rating that day.

11. Book that made you happy.

(I did this last year and I’m stealing it again.) Sarcastic answer incoming: Watch Over Me by Nina LaCour. I downright one of her previous novels, We Are Okay, which came out in 2017. But Watch Over Me just did not do it for me in any way. I sped read that book just to get it over with, and I was happy to do so, since I was bored.

12. Most beautiful book you’ve bought so far this year (or received).

Every. Single. Owlcrate. Book. Released. This. Year. No serious, google them. For the most part they are either entirely redesigned, or the coloring is much different. I’ve really enjoyed seeing how Owlcrate works with the publishers for most books since one of my favorites years ago (Eliza and her Monsters, highly recommended!). Nine times out of ten, I love them more.

13. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

… Well. I guess this is when I give an update on my lovely “Remy’s Reading Challenge!” Let me get my calculator. Well, basically… 39 novels and a bunch of short stories. Yeah, I’m way behind. (Technically since I’m no longer apart of that friend group, I don’t have to do that challenge, and damn that reminds me of a joke for another day, but I’m doing the challenge anyway.) Beyond that, there’s a bunch of other books I want to jump into, it’s just that I have it in my head that I can’t step away from a series until I reach a natural stopping point (end of that specific book series, like The Heroes of Olympus for example). I’m going to try to get through more by the end of the year. It just depends on how busy I get with work, since that has to be my priority.

And that’s the tag! I’ve done this for a few years now, and it’s always fun to see how my answers change. I really do enjoy doing things like this, so let me know if you want me to look for some other book tags across Youtube/Tiktok. I’ll look for them!

Until next time!

Febuwhump 2022 Wrap Up

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

February has come and gone, and with it was Febuwhump! This was my second time participating in Febuwhump, and I had a blast with it (even if I lost steam for a bit due to job search related shenanigans). I’m really happy with how everything came out. Please enjoy this quick little write up about the entire event!

As with my other challenge write ups, I’ll be following my Whumptober Wrap Up set up, to break down the event in a few different ways. I’ll be touching on some of my favorite fics, as well as the ones that did amazing.

Challenge Overview

Before we get into the major breakdown, let’s go over the full challenge.

Over the course of the challenge, I wrote 29 fics between February 1st and March 1st, 2022.

My total word count for the event was 35,376 words, focused on 9-1-1 and 9-1-1 Lone Star, with brief crossovers with The Old Guard, Criminal Minds and CSI:NY.

As it’s been a bit over a month since the end of the challenge, I’ll be putting up the top three for each section below. However, since there are some that are more popular than others, I’ll be noting the ones that repeat and then including the next ones until I have three fics per section.

Most Popular by Hits

To my upmost surprise, “Hidden Bruises” has been a fic that consistently gets hits and kudos every day. I was having a very hard time with the prompt for this one, if I remember right. I’m glad that people enjoy it, as it’s my requisite “Buck pushed himself too much #2” fic. 

Though the theme of the entire challenge is “whump”, I really wanted to do some lighthearted fics as well. “Accident Prone” is one of them, taking place in a nebulous time after Lone Star 3×04. Just having Carlos both worry over and tease TK was a balm my heart needed.

“Stumbling Out” was a little fic that I came up with at the last moment, as I had just had some bad work-related news. I don’t really remember what was my inspiration behind this, but it worked. I think it got popular simply because it was pretty current to the season.

Most Popular by Kudos

I already have talked about “Hidden Bruises” and “Accident Prone.”

I personally love “His (Head’s) Own Worst Enemy.” It’s probably one of my favorite fics I wrote during February, and I got to make a crack at the lack of care Buck let’s himself get during 5×06. Writing characters that can’t outright describe where they are due to injury is something I love doing, and writing Buck with a head wound is always fun.

All I can really say about “Please Don’t Go” is this. It’s very personal to me, because it’s some of the same thoughts I had when my father died. It was a dark time for me, and wow did it come out on paper for this.

Something I planned early on for Febuwhump was to have a fic with a character in a fever. I decided to place “Fever Guardians” early in Season One, simply because I was doing my rewatch at the time, and wow Buck has had some character growth.

Most Popular by Comments

“How Long? (Check the Clock)” was an absolute blast to write. I’d wanted to do a 5+1 for a while, and this just made it possible. It also helped with me getting over my issues with Chimney this season, and wow am I happy with how this came out. This is one of the best fics I wrote in 2022.

“Kidnapped Away” was an indulgence fic. I’d been quietly planning to write a 9-1-1 Lone Star / CSINY fic for a while now. This is the the beginning to a much larger fic that I really want to work on this year, once I get out of my writing funk. It got a good reception.

“Separated at Birth” is based on a fan theory that popped up right after the character Lucy Donato was announced, and I absolutely ran with it. I’m still happy with it, though the second chapter isn’t as good as I wanted it to be, due to the fact that I ended up rushing it. But it’s a fun non-canon fic.

Most Popular by Bookmarks

I already have talked about “Hidden Bruises,” “His (Head’s) Worst Enemy,” “Accident Prone,” “How Long? (Check the Clock),” “Kidnapped Away” and “Fever Guardians.”

Something I’d already planned on doing during the first part of 2022 was write the second chapter to “Rude Wake Up Call”. Chapter 2, called “After” was one that slowly came into being and just happened to work for this challenge. I’m happy with how it came out, and that it has hopefully set up a satisfying conclusion. At some point, anyway.

There’s a lot about Buck’s past that we have only touched upon, and “Cold Shoulder to Thanks” was a story that just poked at one of those times. (Seriously, it’s one of my only peeves with Buck Begins, as it’s more of a Maddie origin story compared to a Buck origin story…). I always figured there were reasons that Buck never stayed anywhere long until joining the LAFD. Here’s a fun answer as to why.

I have no real idea why I made “Misunderstanding on an Epic Scale” as crazy as it ended up being. I did go to Target that day, and I did have an argument with someone in the book section (but it was about me still wearing my mask, which apparently was infringing on this guy’s rights or some other nonsense…). But my brain got weird and this popped out. Go brain?

Length

I already have talked about “How Long? (Check the Clock).”

“Gettin’ Taken for a Hike” is the sequel to one of my favorite fics from Whumptober. I had a lot of fun with this, mostly because I really really wanted to do a sequel to the first fic. It’s somewhat annoying that it didn’t get as much love as I feel like it deserves, but fine, people are lame.

“Learning Boundaries” ended up being the latest in my Criminal Minds/Old Guard/9-1-1 series. I always gave fun adding new stories to it. This one was actually attempt number two, as I ended up having to set aside my first attempt because I completely messed up the timeline. I really enjoyed touching on some of the highlights of Season 3, but adding an immortal twist.

I absolutely wanted to do at least one Bob Evans fic, and “Falling on the Highway” was one of them. I was in a pretty angsty mood when I wrote this, but it’s one of my favorites. I really took the time with every part (and made a fun reference to my county while I did it!). I also put a lot of love in it, and I’m glad that people have read it.

My Favorites That Didn’t Get a Mention

Though I flat out will say that this fic is a bit of a mess, I still loved working on “All the Scars We Cannot See.” And dammit, I’m in love with the title, and I will fight people because of it. It’s a good fic about the consequences of words. (And, fun fact, it was always the fourth fic on each of the categories for above, once the already mentioned fics were removed per category.)

I absolutely had to write a crack fic, and “It’s a Pasta Hostage Situation” is absolutely that. It’s just fun, and I had a good time working on it. Oh, and I got Thin Mints for writing this, so it was absolutely worth it.

One of my other favorite pairings is 4 Alarm Fire, and thus “Burning Hot and Cold” was born. The title is a pun, but wow did I like writing this one. It was supposed to be a text fic that I quickly lost interest in formatting as such, so instead it because a full fic and I think it worked out better like that.

My other Bob Evans fic was “Untriggered Breakdown.” There was a joke running around the Discord was on that everyone was writing breakdowns for Buck and Eddie. So, this was my contribution. I also didn’t plan to write Bob Evans, but I’m glad it kinda happened all on its own.

And finally? “Clowns in School” was the additional prompt, affectionately titled FebuClown. I absolutely had fun writing this, because I got to bitch about Pennywise the Clown. I don’t like clowns, I actively avoid them, and wow was this fic therapeutic. 

Wrap Up

Febuwhump was a good show of my writing skills, working with prompts that I normally wouldn’t touch, pairings that aren’t well known or well liked in the fandom. For the most part, everything was very well received and it was a real confidence boost when I needed it. I’m taking a bit of a break from writing right now, for a few reasons. If things work well in April, I’ll probably get back to writing in a few days. (Provided that Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga stops sucking my soul in.)

If you want to read any of them, they are all up on my AO3 account! Just look for any that are part of the “Remy’s Febuwhump 2022” series. They are all in prompt order.

Until next time!

Advent Wrap Up

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

August 2022 Edit

Hey everyone, before you read this post, I just want to give a quick disclaimer. I was a member of the 118 Discord up until May 2022, when I left due to a… difference of opinion on something that happened in the 9-1-1 fandom and how people might handle it, as well as seeing that the mods had become people I was no longer comfortable with supporting in any way. It’s my personal belief that the 118 Discord is have become a dangerous place and probably will never be a safe place in fandom again, unless you cast aside your ability to have an opinion and only follow their personal opinions and beliefs about this fandom. You can make your own opinions. I won’t be removing the references to that discord from this post, as that would be disingenuous (unlike their handling of many things in fandom), but I want it clear that I do not represent or support them in any way. These fics mentioned here were written before this all came to light. All reference to the discord have been removed from the fics, both tags and author notes. As a added point of clarity, this post has remain unedited beyond this note, a brief note at the end of the post, and the links to the stories. My comments written here do not reflect how I currently feel about the discord or any named members.

Thank you so much for your understanding.

I’ll be the first to admit that I am beyond behind getting these challenge wrap ups done (I have three total, this is the first). But there is a reason for that.

For context, “Advent” was a holiday-themed challenge hosted by the 118 Discord. I had a blast doing the entire event – to the point that I think I was one of only two people to finish it. I technically was a few days late, but it’s totally cool.

I’ll be following my Whumptober Wrap Up set up, to break down the event in a few different ways. I’ll be touching on some of my favorite fics, as well as the ones that did amazing.

Challenge Overview

Before we get into the major breakdown, let’s go over the full challenge.

Over the course of Advent, I wrote 25 fics between December 1st and December 31st.

My total word count for the event was 32,684 words, focused primarily on 9-1-1 and 9-1-1 Lone Star, with one crossover with Digimon.

As it’s been three months since the end of the challenge, I’ll be putting up the top three for each section below. However, since there are five that are very popular, I’ll be noting the ones that repeat and then including the next ones until I have three fics per section.

Most Popular by Hits

“A Time to Celebrate” has consistently remained one of the most popular fics I’ve written. It’s a sequel to a fic I wrote for the 9-1-1 Bingo, so I won’t go into too much detail. What I will say is that I wrote this after the 5A finale, though I didn’t mention a few details that came up during that episode. I remember having a time with this fic, as I knew what I wanted to write, but I got lost in my plans and didn’t get to the expected end point. It’s on my list to continue one of these days.

“Buck the Dad Dog” was something I was working on before the Advent challenge, and it just happened to fit the prompt perfectly. I love the idea of Buck having a therapy dog, and Audie wrote herself. This one didn’t give me too much trouble… considering it wouldn’t end. But that’s okay, because it inspired me to write more in this ‘verse.

I can’t explain “The Mistletoe Incident”. I just can’t. It’s one of those fics I think I wrote quickly with no idea what my plan was when I got started. However, I did get a kick out of rereading it so that I could write up this little blurb. I know why it got a lot of views, anyway. Most Buddie fics do.

Most Popular by Kudos

I’ve already talked about “Buck the Dad Dog,” “A Time to Celebrate,” and “The Mistletoe Incident.”

“Surprise Santa Meetings” was one of my first “Chim screwed up and is still blaming Buck” fics. I actually forgot about it, which is hilarious, considering I’m constantly getting kudos for it. I also included my own personal headcanon for where Maddie is, though 5×12 is going to completely destroy it. Whoops. But it’s a good fic in my opinion.

When I started “A Letter to St. Nick.”, I never expected to be writing a fic touching on Buck’s life with his parents, comparing it to how he was helping raise Christopher with Eddie. It ended up being angsty, but I really liked it (and rereading it for the first time in over four months).

“The Results of Snap Decisions” was my attempt to feel better after the downer that was 5×10. (Wow, did I not know what the future held for us.) It’s a good little fic that I really wish the showrunners would have looked at, as it deals with what happens when you make a quick decision without taking into account all the factors. It’s one of the better fics I wrote during December.

Most Popular by Comments

I’ve already talked about “Buck the Dad Dog,” “A Time to Celebrate,” and “Surprise Santa Meetings.”

One of my goals during Advent was to write fics with pairings I normally wouldn’t. “Ornamental Traditions” was one of my first, featuring the pairing of May Grant and Ravi Panikkar, two characters that I think would have some great chemistry. I had a lot of fun with this one actually, which is always good, and the whole point of Advent.

“Audie’s First Christmas” was a continuation of “Buck the Dad Dog”, because I fell in love with having a dog character that was adorable and somewhat sassy. I also wanted to write an actual Christmas dinner with the rest of the characters, similar to 3×10. It’s just a fun, feel good piece, with a dog.

“Cookie Based Distractions” was my first attempt at writing one of the other rare pairs that I fell in love with in this fandom. Bob Evans is the pairing of Buck and Bobby, and it was a blast to give it a go, even if I did have to deal with an idiot trying to “mansplain” why it was wrong. I’ve done a couple more with this pairing (most notably during Febuwhump, post coming soon). And cookies! Cookies are a major feature.

Most Popular by Bookmarks

I’ve already talked about “Buck the Dad Dog,” “A Time to Celebrate,” “The Mistletoe Incident,” “The Results of Snap Decisions,” “Surprise Santa Meetings,” “A Letter to St. Nick,” and “Audie’s First Christmas.”

“Return to Big Bear” was one that I’d had in the back of my head long before Advent. I wanted to see how Buck would react if he had to go back to Big Bear, as the last time he was there was when he was saving Maddie (or, rather, just bringing Maddie home, since she saved herself). This was self-indulgence, but it worked, and I got to write a panic attack and everything.

So… “Stargazing for Christmas Dinner” was one where I saw the prompt and promptly swore. The prompt was “Christmas Dinner”, but I’d written three Christmas dinners by this point (and was well on my way to burnout). I wanted no part in doing another, so I decided to have a bit more fun with it, by featuring something that I really miss doing – stargazing. The problem with living in a highly populated area is that you don’t really get to see the stars…

“Christmas Eve Floods” was a little fic where I was totally burned out, but I really wanted to write sad!Buck. And thus, I flooded his apartment and didn’t edit the fic. It was a good little fic, but it never really got looked at surprisingly.

Length

I’ve already talked about “A Time to Celebrate,” “Buck the Dad Dog,” and “A Letter to St. Nick.” Seeing a pattern yet?

I really wanted to do a 4Alarm fic, so “Announced via Ugly Sweater” was born. I also have never understood why ugly sweaters are a thing, so that absolutely came through in the prose. But it was fun to write, since trying to really get four characters at the same time is somewhat difficult. But I really enjoyed it (and I wish others had as well).

“A History Defined by Christmas Crackers” was a fun one, since I actually managed to throw in a bit of the cooking lessons I was being taught. I’ve never really been able to get my hands onto real Christmas crackers, so most everything I used was from Google or Harry Potter fanfiction. But it was still a lot of fun.

With “Yule Log Apology Cakes,” I wanted to write a possible reason for Chimney to have been suck a dick to Buck, both in canon and in the previous fic to this one. I really liked how this one came out, and in a way helped me get over my issues with Chimney (or at least, began to).

My Favorites That Didn’t Get a Mention

I’m still kinda mad that this one has been mostly overlooked. “The Well Worn Path to Together” is a Tuck fic, that being the pairing of TK and Buck. It’s all soft and wonderful and I spent a good deal of time learning about Hanukkah for this one. I really enjoyed how well this came out, even if it is still the only (or maybe one of the few) fics that didn’t even get a single comment.

“Digi Christmas Morning” is the third of my 9-1-1/Digimon series that I’ve been doing. It’s the required Christmas fic, along with the required engagement fic. I liked this one because it was a great way to end Advent without being too heavy. And it’s Digimon, so nothing can go wrong there.

Wrap Up

Advent was a process. Like I said at the top, I was only one of two people to finish the full thing, which was fine because the point was to at least do one prompt. I took a few extra days to complete everything. But I will say this: while I’m happy with what I came up with, I was honestly really glad when it was over. I felt so drained by the end.

It also didn’t help that I went directly from that into finishing the bingo and then into Febuwhump… but those are posts for the next few days.

If you want to read any of them, they are all up on my AO3 account! Just look for any that were posted in December 2021. They are all in prompt order.

Until next time!

My 2022 Reading Challenge

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

So, I don’t always make the best guesses at stuff. I’ll be the first to admit that. And honestly, I really should stop making statements that start with “I bet…”

Anyway, for the past several weeks, some online friends and I have been making joking gambles on different things regarding 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Lone Star. Mostly they were regarding different things we would see in episodes, or marketing decisions. And I… I kept getting them wrong.

I won’t say what I did get wrong, but it happened three times in quick succession. And since I was so positive and sure about what I was betting on, the consequences would be large. And since we set our own “punishments”, it was something that I knew I could do, but wow was I embarrassed to admit it.

My challenge is to read every book in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series by Shannon Messenger, every book in the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles series by Rick Riorden, and every book in the Shadowhunter Chronicles series by Cassandra Clare.

At this point, just saying that makes me wince, because I know what’s coming. That’s a lot of books. And that’s not everything. Because I was a glutton of punishment, and I got called out on it, I basically have to read everything. Novels and short stories. So, more than I thought originally.

The Challenge:

The Camp Half Blood Chronicles series is comprised of fifteen main novels, five in each of the following series: Percy Jackson & the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, and The Trials of Apollo. There are also a series of short stories released in a few different books or collections (for a total of 17, if I did my math correctly). And because my friends are pretty evil, I also have to include the Kane Chronicles trilogy (as well as the three crossover short stories, already counted) and Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard trilogy and short stories (9 total short stories).

If you’re keeping track, that’s 21 novels and 26 short stories. The only really good thing is that this series is already complete, so this number isn’t subject to change. I hope.

Then there’s the easiest series to count. The Keeper of the Lost Cities series currently has nine novels with one on the way and four short stories. The only trouble is that three of the four short stories are a part of exclusive releases of her books, so I may have to do a search over at Barnes and Noble when I get to it.

Count check: 30 novels, 30 short stories. What a nice, even number.

And finally, we have the Shadowhunter Chronicles. This is a lot. There are sixteen novels with another on the way, 30 short stories, a serialized novel (available online) and a novella. It’s technically longer than anything else I have to read, due to the fact that the books are all at least 450 pages long, with a few coming in at about 600. It’s a lot. Also, the online novel is still updating through August.

Total count: 46 novels, 60 short stories, 1 novella, and 1 online novel.

The Timeline:

Technically, all three have their own rend requirements. For the Camp Half Blood Chronicles, I have until the end of 2022. For the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, the next book, Stellarlune, is due to release on November 8, 2022, which means I must be done with the series by then. For the Shadowhunter Chronicles, the final book of “The Last Hours” trilogy, Chain of Thorns, is scheduled to be released on November 1, 2022. I must be caught up by this point.

The Plan:

I’m doing this in stages. So I’m a bit of a mood reader, at least that’s how I’ve grown to be in the last several years. It’s hard to get myself to read something that I’m just not in the mood for. So my plan is actually to see where my mood takes me. Right now, I’m knee deep into the Percy Jackson series, with the goal to be done with the first five books by the end of March (because I have a few other things going on). From there, I really want to get started with the first “Mortal Instruments” trilogy.

Is this sustainable? Jury’s out. I’m not going to push myself to read something that I’m just not into right now. The thing is, all of the books are fantasy. There are times that I will want to read something that is more contemporary. I’m totally willing to take a few days to read something else, like American Royalty  by Katherine McGee or Your Life Has Been Delayed by Michelle I. Mason, two books firmly on my to-read list.

Also, I know for a fact that my time will be cut short as soon as my job search comes to an end (I have like 50 applications out right now, and no that’s not a joke). 

How I Am Reading Everything:

I actually own a vast majority of the books I need to read, barring some of the short stories. I have all but one of the Shadowhunter Chronicles, most of the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, and about half of the Camp Half Blood Chronicles. Most of the books are available at my local library, or I can access them through the library’s ebook catalogs (cloudLibrary and Hoopla).

I don’t have a firm preference on how I will read everything, as I’m fine with both physical and ebook media.

How Far Am I Already?

Well… Behind. So, I got nailed with this around February 21st, after my last guess was proven wrong. And I even announced it on Tiktok around the same time. And as of the writing of this post, I’ve read one and a half books. To be fair, I did start to read City of Bones, but my old copy literally tried to fall apart in my hand, and my library no longer has the ebook, so…

I will be reviewing each book as I go (though the review for the first book won’t go up until Thursday or Saturday, since I’m still playing catchup with everything I was behind posting). Once I am caught up, unless there is something else pressing to be posted, I will have the review up by the next day at noon.

I am also planning on keeping track by making a shelf on GoodReads, though that will be after I’ve read a good amount of books. I’m also tempted to keep a running list of what I have read and what’s coming on this blog as a separate page, but that isn’t set in stone yet. So, no promises on that.

So, that’s my reading life for 2022. And you know the hilarious thing? If I read everything? I should just make my 2022 reading goal of 52 books. I think that’s kinda funny.

Until next time!