Amber’s Rambles (#4) — Breaking Blogging Schedules

Amber’s Rambles

Hey everyone. It’s time for Amber’s Rambles which is my fancy name for a discussion. 🙂

Originally, I wasn’t going to be discussing this, but I’ve been doing it a lot lately and it’s so irritating. This week’s Amber’s Rambles is breaking blogging schedules.

To say I’m ambitious with this blog, could be an overstatement. I have the problem of saying I’ll write this review or that review and they’ll both be out whatever week. Then when the time comes, I either can’t get my words right or life’s just in the way and I don’t feel like writing the review, afterwards I end up not posting it and saying “I’ll do it next week”.

This week so far almost all of my posts have all been late. The Sunday Post came out Monday, Musical Monday actually did come out Monday, Top Ten Tuesday was late, then I didn’t even do Wondrous Covers Wednesdays or Waiting on Wednesday. I barely did this post tonight but I really wanted to.

One of the problems with me is that I’m a huge procrastinator. I always put things off to the last minute regardless of what it is. Apparently that even happens when it’s something  want to do. So this discussion is basically going to be about how you guys deal with breaking your blogging schedule. I don’t know whether it’s worse if you’re schedule is in your head or if you actually post about it in The Sunday Post, like I do, and then end up not getting everything done.

I think there’s more of a self defeated disappointment (if you really hate posting late) if your schedule is only known to you and not to anyone else. Then I think it’s more of a public disappointment when you don’t get something done, because you said you were going to get this thing done on this day.

I know people don’t have to have a schedule, but I like the idea of having certain posts out regularly, such as my features and the memes. I just feel like I kind of let down anyone who regularly follows my blog and then I don’t have a post when it usually is. For instance, Tuesdays and Thursdays have been m review days, but for the past two weeks, they haven’t been out really. I was supposed to have a review out Tuesday and then tonight, but I just haven’t done them. For my Thursday one, I haven’t even finished the book yet.

I think part of my problem is that I want to do too much. I want two reviews out every Tuesday and Thursday, I want to do my Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday features done on THOSE days every time. But then stuff happens and I either can’t do it when I want or I don’t feel like doing them anymore, like I said before.

I’m trying to establish myself as a “real” book blogger with reviews and such every week, but I haven’t been reading very much so my reviews haven’t been going up. Then if I’ve finished a book, I want to review it right then and there sometimes and then others I’m like “Wow, I’m glad it’s only *insert* days and the review doesn’t have to be up until Tuesday/Thursday” depending on what day it is. I think I may be getting blogger burnout, but that’s the last thing I want to happen because I haven’t even had a blog that long. It’s just a little over two months right now and I don’t like the idea of even taking a break, though I’ve thought of it.

So my questions for you guys are: What do you guys do when you break your schedule? How do you deal with it? Do you care or not? Do you post your posts late if they’re a weekly feature or meme.

I know not even having a schedule and posting whenever you want can be a lot more comfortable and less stressful, but I think I need a schedule or I would be like “I’ll post tomorrow”, like I have with past blogs that faded out.

 

Let me know what you guys think, I really want to hear about it. 🙂

Amber’s Rambles (#2) – Book Blurb and Summary Turn Offs

~Amber’s Rambles!~

Hey guys. It’s time for Amber’s Rambles, a weekly feature in which I ramble about various book related topics. You’re all free to chime in and ramble with me or tell me your own thoughts on the subject (I wish you would!). This week’s topic is book blurb and summary turn offs.

 

The first book blurb/summary turn off I have is the dreaded question summary. You all know this kind, the summary that asks the blatantly obvious question you know will be yes in the book.

 

For (fake) example:

“Will Sally and Joe get together?”

“Can their love get them through this?”

“Will/Can Keegan save the world?”

“Does Johnny love Allison?”

“Is Malcolm the key to the puzzle?”

“Is Lily really a vampire/werewolf/angel/mermaid?”

 

From what I can predict the answer is usually a resounding yes, but still it has to be asked. I don’t like questions in summaries because the answer is almost always yes. It is inevitable. I’m immediately turned off because of this. 

 

For an example from a book I have, “But can two people from such different worlds be together despite the odds stacked against them?”.

—This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith  

 

Now this isn’t to say I don’t like any questions asked in book summaries and blurbs, I do. I just like open ended questions. There are of course exceptions for this, I’m sure.

 

I like the other question asked before in This Is What Happy Looks Like’s book blurb/summary though which is “If fate sent you an email, would you answer”? 

 

Other examples are:

“What if you only had one day to live?

What would you do? Who would you kiss?

And how far would you go

to save your own life?”

—Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

 

I like engaging questions that mean something to the plot more than “yes, this will happen”. Questions that make you think about what you would do if you were in the same situation.

 

I like questions like “Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?” from The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith because that’s a question people can relate to, I can relate to.

 

I don’t like questions like

 

“Could the boy from her past be the love of her future?”

—Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

 

and 

 

” Can Anna find love in the City of Lights?”

—Anna and The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

 

because given the title of both these books, the answer is a resounding “yes”. It’s basically a rhetorical question. 

 

I like the question in the summary for Paper Towns by John Green “Who is the real Margo?” because there is something to that question. Who is the Margo in the book? Who is the real one? Do the main characters actually really know Margo? What is she hiding? I can appreciate that question.

---

 

My second book blurb/summary turn off has to do with relationships, love triangles to be exact. If the main character has to choose between the “nice guy” and the “not so nice guy”, it’s annoying to me. 😦 Love triangles are always so complicated and messy and just don’t intrigue me at all. I normally have a set character I want the main character to be with. If a book blurb/summary mentions there being a love triangle, odds are I probably won’t read it.

 

Well, i’m really not that turned by too many things in summaries or blurbs so that’s a good thing. These are my only two turn offs, that I know of right now.

---

 What do you guys think? Do you have any summary/blurb turns offs? Will you refuse to read a book if it has a summary or blurb aspect you don’t like? Let me know.

 

 

Amber’s Rambles: When Books Disappoint

~Amber’s Rambles!~

Welcome to Amber’s Rambles. My name is Amber, I sometimes ramble, this feature was obviously destined to be made. 🙂 This is a weekly feature in which I ramble more or less about bookish topics. It’s basically my version of a “discussion”, with a fancy name, which you are all welcome to talk about with me.

 

My topic for this week came to me last night, “When Books Disappoint”.

 

I’ll be the first to say there is nothing worse than a book that ends up disappointing you, whether that’s because of an unbearable character, a messy or unresolved plot, predictability or instalove. It is just a terrible thing that I honestly believe no one should be subjected to. At least not with books that you’ve been so anticipating on reading.

There’s nothing worse than being excited to read a book only to get to the first fifty pages hating it. You keep the faith though, you hope it gets better. Eventually. So you wait and wait and wait, sure that something is bound to improve, right? Then it doesn’t. Rather than simply pushing the book aside, you push on through it only to realize something was missing.

 

Several things were missing.

 

I’m sure many of you can relate to this pain. Maybe you heard so much good things (hype) about this book, you were like “I have to read it!” only to go “Uh huh, that’s…nice. I’m sure this will get better”, “Oh…Ok, I need a break”, or even worse, you DNF it. You’ve taken breaks in between passages, you read a bit more. You put it away for a day or two, sure that once you picked it up again, it was going to get better. Except it never does. Every page is as worst as the last, you soon just want to finish the book and be done with it.

 

200 pages later you’re finally halfway through the book, “it’s about time”. You pat yourself on the book, only a little more to go and you’re done! You can do it! You tell yourself. You can finish it! Except you can’t. You decide to once again put the book away.

 

That’s how I am with a certain book right now. I’ve been reading it off and on for two weeks. It got so bad I had to actually read a new book before I could go back to it. That did the trick…for a little bit anyway. I read more of the book got exasperated again and put it aside last night. I haven’t gone back to it yet.

 

Maybe it was too hyped up for me. Maybe my expectations were too high. Maybe I’m simply missing something. I’m not sure what it is honestly. I do know that I’m just really disappointed at this point that it’s a chore to finish. It pains me to say that too. *sighs* They can’t all be winners though I suppose.

 

What about you guys? I know I can’t be the only one that has been disappointed with a book before. What do you guys do when you’re trying to read a book and it just starts to irritate you? Come ramble with me. ♥