I have had a heart-to-heart with my lovely (and brutally honest) writing partner and come to an alarming realization: my book reviewing is keeping me from writing!
Of course, this had occurred to me previously, but the examples she pointed out made it too obvious to ignore.
When I started reviewing, the purpose was clear. I wanted to be well-read within the children’s and young adult genres. I wanted to help promote books and authors that I loved. I wanted to be able to break down plots and identify what I loved and what I disliked about certain books and storylines. I knew this would help me in my own writing. I was right.
But, for the past several months, my reviewing has dropped off significantly, and my guilt over that has kept me from writing (ie: I can’t justify writing anything new right now, when I’m so far behind with promised reviews). Sure, I have the obvious excuse of having a brand new baby. Pregnancy and newborn care are time consuming, energy draining, and downright exhausting! But, I have also been fighting with this review vs. writing balance that shouldn’t even exist.
So, I’m planning to finish reading the books I’m working on and the ones that I feel committed to reading and/or reviewing (I always agree to read the books sent to me, I do not agree to review them, although I try), and then I’ll retire from reviewing. I still intend to do casual and periodic reviews on my blog when I feel compelled and on the YABC and TRT sites if Kim and Jen will let me. I will also continue my author interviews for Teacher-Librarian Magazine and other forums (blog tour stops for YABC and here on LJ), as I think they help me stay connected in the kidlitosphere. That is very important to me.
Basically, I no longer intend to pressure myself or to feel guilty about not getting to certain reviews that I “should” do. I refuse to “should all over myself” any longer!
It’s time to get busy writing and stop making excuses for not following my dream!
If you have any questions about my news, please fire away via e-mail: [email protected]
Otherwise, I’ll still be around, so please stop by and say hi!
Add a Comment