Changes Coming To Bookin' It Reviews

This post is a hard one to write, yet as everyone knows, changes are always hard to make. But once the decision has been made a weight is lifted and from there things begin to look clearer.

It was hard coming but I’ve made the decision to retire from book reviewing for both Night Owl Reviews and BIR and focus more on my writing and my schooling. I’ll still be keeping the blog running with little changes there; however I am opening the doors to guest reviewers and I have my eye on inviting authors to guest spot in a weekly feature offering novice writers some insight into the fascinating and mysterious world of writing we tread through on a daily basis. I will also be writing a weekly post on my progress, offering up tid-bits I’ve picked up or points that might be momentarily holding me back in my writing with the hopes of helping any that might find it interesting or when I’m stuck hearing others thoughts on the topic we might be discussing.

As I stated before this wasn’t an easy decision but one I knew that had to be made.

I created this blog in an attempt to reach out to fellow readers and writers, wanting to share my passion for the written word while trying my hand at writing. In high hopes I opened up a shiny new email and hit the post button on my first blog post. I didn’t have one follower when I hit that button –not one—yet I still had faith in myself that I had something interesting to share with readers and a way to give back to the writing community.

That was two years ago. Now I have so many wonderful readers between all my networks and really only hoped and dreamed of creating the rich environment that has become Bookin’ It Review.

In an attempt to further help the reading community shortly after opening BIR I opened my doors to book reviewing for the fabulous Tammie King of Night Owl Reviews. And that is when things got crazy…a good crazy but nonetheless crazy!  

In these two years I’ve read a little over two hundred books! That is a lot of opinions, words and hours people!

Those reviews have earned me a spot or two on a few book jackets and many many emails of thank yous from not only authors but also readers. This was a surprise, really. I never thought readers would email thanking me for being so professional in my presentation. I thought it was a given. However each and every email is and was appreciated and I loved how I made a difference for readers. One author even emailed to say that because of my enthusiasm for a series I single handedly breathed life back into a favorite series of hers that she feared had died. Moments like those will never fade from my mind and will always bring a smile to my lips.

Everyone in the business knows how powerful the word of mouth is. Proof of that arrives in my inbox every single day. Actually anywhere between ninety to one hundred and fifty daily “proofs” land in my inbox on a daily basis. LoL That is a lot of email to read through and respond to.  With close to a year and a half of this I’ve come to notice just how popular book reviewers are. But more than a book reviewer I am also a writer and find it at times hard to offer up the required time to answer each email. I often find myself sacrificing my writing time in order to answer emails, in fact.

About a month ago I was sitting down at the dining room table when my husband approached me asking why I looked so down. I told him that it bothered me that I couldn’t find the necessary time to write. I have so many good ideas but never enough time to dedicate to writing them. In hindsight I realize now that I knew I needed to makes changes but I didn’t know where to start. His answer was short and I bet you can guess his answer when I voiced this little set back.

Start at the beginning. What matters most and go from there.  

From there I was off! His blunt answer had me really narrowing down my priorities and what could be left behind while keeping in mind that I had something new starting at the end of September—school, not the kiddos but mine. I’ll be heading back to school working on my BA in History. Yeah, I am gluten for punishment but the advancement of knowledge is a powerful thing. J

And after seeing this sign on FB it really hit me that I was on the right path.

Powerful, words huh!

I’ll be making a few changes to the blog, mainly the review pages, but other than that I’ll still be holding giveaways, hosting guest author while enriching the blog further with guest reviewers, my posts on writing and hopefully authors willing to help out on the weekly writing feature. More on that end once I have it all planned out. For now though, after I finish my last review at the end of the month I’ll welcome the new changes, the freed up time for writing and all the new experiences this leg of the journey will bring! There is one thing I am certain of and that is I will become a published author!

I hope this post has helped any of you that might be struggling with taking that step towards making your dreams your priority. It’s hard when you think of possibly letting down those that have come to depend on you for one thing or another. But when you really think about, it when you shun your dreams you’re really hurting yourself in the process.

I’ve met so many wonderful people in the world of reviewing and have talked with author that I never would have dreamed of sharing a word with when not at a RWA convention but I am now ready to take myself to the next level, push myself outside my comfort zone and see what I am capable of with the support of those same friends and authors I’ve met along the way in book reviewing.

Tomorrow I’ll be officially calling all reviewers that would like to guest post here and from there set up a schedule. After that I’ll be posting more on the author/writing idea.

So, how about you? Do you find yourself in a similar situation or have had to make hard decisions in order to make more time for your dreams/career?