Why Is Life Never Simple?

The more observant amongst you will have noticed that my publishing schedule has been rather chaotic for the last couple of weeks and that I am way behind with my commenting. I thought that I should perhaps let you know why I had become so elusive.

Of course, I should have realized that making plans for the year was a futile effort. You would have thought that my experiences last year would have taught me that announcing my plans was a very good way to create disaster. Looking back at my over-ambitious attempts to complete numerous Challenges last year, I decided to reduce my commitments to a minimum. I thought that signing up for two of the Worlds Without End Challenges would allow me to fulfill some of my personal goals whilst be relatively flexible. Twenty-four titles in one year seemed like a sensible goal back then . . .

I knew that I would be joining the Read Along for Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings, which would run into March, but it has taken up far more time than I had expected. The reading itself was an absolute joy and not difficult to accommodate because I enjoyed it so much, but there were so many people taking part and so much to discuss that simply visiting each of their posts once each week would take several hours. Then there were the multiple questions, frustrations and theories to discuss in my own posts, which took on mammoth proportions and were possibly the most difficult read along answers that I have ever attempted. The book is so dense with detail and awesomeness, and Mr Sanderson is so evil with his hints and glimpses of fascinating societies and characters . . . I suspect that whole books could be written trying to analyze just this single title.

So, participating in the Read Along took a huge chunk out of the time that I had set aside for reading and reviewing other books. Then, just like last year, the prospect of employment arose suddenly and unexpectedly. Whilst this was quite welcome, and something that I did not want to refuse, it has rather devastated my blogging over the last couple of weeks. Not only have I lost the actual hours of work, plus travel time, but I have also been exhausted and drained when I get home. I am hoping that this will improve as I adjust to my new schedule, but I realize that I will need to prioritize some aspects of my blogging activity rather than over-reaching myself.

In order to remain true to my original intention of publishing reviews, I have decided to discontinue my Sue’s Saturday Suggestions posts. I was planning to take a break from them during May because I will be in Europe and away from my trusty desktop, so it seems sensible to call a halt now and remove that burden from my workload. I may restart them at a later date, but at the moment I am most concerned about getting my reviewing back on track. Also, I know that there is a Read Along for Mr Sanderson’s Words of Radiance coming at the end of March and I want to be better prepared for the experience!

My apologies to the other Read Along participants who might have thought that I was ignoring their insightful thoughts: I wish I had been able to spend more time discussing the book with you.