Tag: State of the Blog Page 1 of 3

The Irresponsible Reader in 2023: Thoughts, Thanks, and Stats

Programming Note: As is my custom, over the next week I’ll be looking back over the year that was—but I’ll try to come up with some new material, too. Many/most others have already done their best-of/year-end wrap-up posts, but I’m a stickler—I can’t start doing this kind of thing ’til the year is over. My brain doesn’t allow me to work that way (I just hate projecting things in general—and some years ago when I just read irresponsibly but hadn’t adopted the name, the last novel of the year was so far beyond the rest that I can’t start looking back until 12/31 at the earliest).

As we kick off 2024, I wanted to take a glance back at 2023—304 books finished (plus comics, picture books, short stories, and the like that I don’t know how to count)—my mind is thoroughly boggled! I exceeded my goal (nothing like exceeding an arbitrary number to boost the ol’ ego), too; finishing over 82,481 pages (too many audio-only things, to get an accurate count); with an average rating of 3.68 Stars (exactly the same as last year…how’s that for consistency).

On the blog front, I put up 626 postsan all-time high for me!! Thanks have to be given for all the contributors I had to a couple of series of posts this year that made that possible (I’ll get to this below). I had another year of strong gains in trafficviews and visitorsI’m not big-time (never going to be), but those numbers consistently weird me out (which is why I only look every 6-12 months). My follower count (here and on social media sites) is encouraging and humbling, I really feel like I ought to do more to earn them. Maybe there’s a book on how to be more interesting as a person that I should grab.

This was a year for series for me (which is partially why I’m so far behind on my To-Write-About pile). I (yet again) didn’t get back to my Classic Spenser series (which is grating), and I got too caught up in other stuff and abandoned my monthly Highlights: Lines Worth Repeating series (it’ll be back soon). But on the positive side, my Literary Locals series really took off and I launched my Grandpappy’s Corner, a true labor of love. My contribution to Self-Published Author Appreciation Week, The Inside Scoop—Self-Published Authors Talk About Self-Publishing turned out to be far bigger than I expected—and far better than I hoped. Lastly, there was the Top 5 All-Time Desert Island Books series of guest posts, which I particularly enjoyed.

I, like many readers, am an introvert. But this year, I went out of my way to attend some in-person events, and hope to do some more of that. There were a couple of individual signings and readings, some other events at Rediscovered Books, the Nampa Library’s Treasure Valley Indie Book Fair, the Boise Library’s Comic Arts Fest and their Book Faire, and a meeting of IdaHope. It was great to interact with fellow readers and some authors apart from the screen. I started to list the authors I met, and then realized I’d forget at least one and would feel horrible. So…you know who you are, if you’re reading this, I really enjoyed interacting with you. I should probably list recording an episode of Let Me Tell You a Story as meeting an author (and her husband), but that was for Internet consumption, so it feels strange including it with all this offline stuff (but oh man…such a fun thing to do!).

As is my habit, here’s my breakdown of books by genre—I tweaked the table a bit, so it actually fits on the screen (or should). Genre labeling continues to be more difficult as I’m reading a lot of hybrids (most of us are, they’re being produced more), but I tend to go with the overarching genre. Once again, for someone who doesn’t plan too thoroughly, the percentages stay remarkably consistent from year to yearmy tastes (and the series I follow) apparently stay the same. I was surprised by the Mystery/Suspense/Thriller drop, and am bothered by the Theology drop (although a lot of those took enough work/time that it I can assuage my conscience). I expected the increase in Children’s lit—but those are so short that I can’t attribute any changes between it and the other moves.

Genre 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2012-16
Children’s 25 (8%) 5 (2%) 2 (1%) 5 (2%) 7 (3%) 11 (4%) 7 (3%) 5 (.5%)
Fantasy 34 (11%) 32 (10%) 20 (7%) 35 (13%) 28 (10%) 30 (11%) 7 (3%) 86 (8.6%)
General Fiction/ Literature 26 (9%) 24 (8%) 22 (7%) 16 (7%) 21 (8%) 22 (8%) 29 (10%) 111 (11%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller 90 (30%) 114 (37%) 117 (38%) 90 (34%) 105 (38%) 107 (38%) 102 (37%) 323 (32%)
Non-Fiction 22 (7%) 29 (9%) 22 (7%) 28 (10%) 25 (9%) 22 (8%) 10 (4%) 36 (3.6%)
Science Fiction 34 (11%) 28 (9%) 20 (7%) 20 (8%) 30 (11%) 25 (9%) 27 (10%) 95 (9.5%)
Theology/ Christian Living 30 (10%) 45 (15%) 38 (13%) 23 (8%) 34 (12%) 25 (9%) 30 (11%) 164 (16.4%)
Urban Fantasy 33 (11%) 34 (11%) 49 (16%) 42 (16%) 25 (9%) 29 (10%) 45 (16%) 149 (14.9%)
“Other” (Horror/ Humor/
Steampunk/ Western)
9 (3%) 2 (1%) 12 (4%) 4 (2%) 6 (2%) 7 (3%) 2 (1%) 32 (3%)

Thanks to the nifty spreadsheet made by the Voracious Reader, a few more stats were prepped for me (if I did better at using the tool, I could have more). I find them interesting, and maybe you will, too.
Re-Read Chart Huh…that’s a 2% drop in re-reads. I’d have guessed I went up by 5-10%.Source of my Books
Thanks to a comment from Allyson Johnson last year, I broke things down a bit to differentiate between borrowed (from a person) and borrowed from a Library. Combined, that number went down, which would trouble me a bit, but the percentage of review copies went up to almost balance it out.
Format of the BookThe percentage of eBooks went up as did paperbacks (oddly). Hardcovers took the hit there. There’s probably a link between that and the review copies mentioned above.

Enough about me. Now we get to my favorite partI want to talk about you, who keep me going and show an interest in what I’m doing here, and give some thanks to people for their impact on The Irresponsible Reader (the blog and the person) in 2023:

Have a great 2024, hope you find plenty of good things to read!

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself. -Neil Gaiman

Turning the Odometer

I don’t know if your parents did this–or if this is still a thing that people do–but when the odometer in one of our family cars was getting close to a big round number–like 80,000 for example–my dad would make a big deal about it, count down a little bit and we’d all have to watch the numbers scroll to the string of zeroes. This is about as close to that as I get–which says more about me than the other did my father. Yesterday, my NetGalley reviews hit a landmark of sorts.

I feel like I’ve been spending more time on NetGalley over the last year or so than I have been before–that’s just an impression, when I think about it, I know I’ve actually been showing restraint lately. Either way, last night, I hit:
200 Book Reviews

I didn’t even realize I was that close to it, but I saw that out of the corner of my eye when I checked my Feedback Ratio to make sure I’m near my target. I’m at 97% currently, not to brag, but I actually think that’s more impressive than the 200.

Driven by curiosity, I checked and it took me 3 years, 3 months, and 29 days from posting my first NetGalley book to my 100th, and 4 years, 1 month, and 5 days after that to get to my 200th. Yeah, I am slowing down. Guess I’ll hit 300 in late 2028/early 2029.

I can’t believe I made jokes using those two dates.
Where are the flying Cars? I was promised flying cars! I don't see any Flying Cars!! Why? Why?! Why?!?!

Irresponsible Reader Pilcrow Icon

They Asked, so I Answer (just about) Anything for My 10th Blogiversary


As has been noted previously, today marks 10 years since I started putting things up on teh IntraWebs as The Irresponsible Reader. inspired by A Literary Escape (and some others that I forgot to note), I decided to do a little AMA to go along with that. I had a great time doing this—and hope at least one other person enjoys reading this 1/8th as much as I enjoyed the questions.

Thank you to JCM Berne, Kyle, Paul Nydegger, Noelle Holten, Lashaan Balasingam, Celeste, Jodie, Bob Germaux, and (a different) Noelle for these questions.

I should have realized that my good friend Paul, who is convinced (and is correct) that I don’t make fast enough progress through certain series/authors’ works, would take this opportunity to publically nag me. Well played, Paul, well played.

I realize now that I maybe should’ve split this up into a few posts, because I get to rambling here. But…eh…no one says you have to read it all at once. Come back and finish it up.

What are your beard care secrets? (You have a very handsome beard)
asked by: JCM Berne, http://jcmberne.com
When I initially asked for questions for this, I said “I’d prefer the questions to be about books, reading, the blog—that sort of thing.” But did leave the door open for anything. It took precisely…zero questions for someone to walk through that door. I asked for it. But I do think this will give me a chance to display my superpower.
The Facial Hair Handbook
First, thanks for the compliment. The key to my beard care is minimalism. I’m too lazy to shave regularly, hence the beard. I’m lousy at trimming it, hence the length. Wash it 2-3 times a week with a beard soap/shampoo. Pat dry—don’t let the towel do much damage. Use a good beard oil or balm (I prefer the latter). Don’t use vinyl or plastic combs/brushes (the whole static thing might be an Old Wives’ Tale, but why take chances?), I use wooden combs, boar’s hair brushes, or a metal pick. I haven’t found Biotin or any of the vitamins frequently recommended to be that helpful. What I have found is that as your own health goes, so goes the health of your beard.

Here’s the superpower bit, I can take any conversation and work in a recommendation for a book. I usually realize I did it after the fact, but occasionally I do it with forethought. Like here. This comes from Jack Passion’s book, The Facial Hair Handbook, and a couple of barbers who have guided my pogonotrophy.


Have you ever dabbled in writing fiction?
asked by: Kyle (who has a website, but apparently doesn’t want publicity)
I have dabbled in Fiction. Like anyone obsessed with books as I have been for most of my life, I’ve often thought about writing my own work. In college, I had a double-major—and Creative Writing was one of those. I didn’t end up getting that degree, because it would’ve required another semester just to get 4 credits, and that was too much money for me at the time. I’ve taken a couple of courses in writing since then, too, and tried one local workshop that wasn’t a fit. One thing that I learned from my time in my Creative Writing classes is that I was surrounded by writers that far outclassed me. But I did produce a few short stories that I liked (and a few that I’m iffy about)—and several humorous essays that I really liked.

I’ve completed NaNoWriMo a few times in the recent past—one book that’s sort of a Werewolf/Lad Lit combo—the kind of thing that Mike Chen would do (but this was years before I read him). Then I tried what can best be described as a reboot of the 80s show Voyagers (a reference very few readers are going to get), but in a Riordan-esque MG way—a Father-Son Time Travel team fixing problems in the timeline. The third book I completed the word count on, but was nowhere near finished—a reverse portal-fantasy where a band of Fantasy adventurers find themselves in the Pacific Northwest. The Werewolf novel is the one I’d really like to get back to one day to see if I can beat it into a decent shape. The Fantasy novel is beyond my abilities. And the Time Travel book would take too much research, so forget it.

For now, it’s all about time and dedication. Or, as Angela Duckworth would put it, grit. And I find myself lacking that when it comes to my own work.


Why are you so slow with Slow Horses?
asked by: Paul Nydegger
I have no earthly idea. It makes no sense to me at all. You’ll be happy to know that within 24 hours of this posting, I will have started the next in the series. At the rate I’m going, I’ll catch up by….

2029 (unless he writes a new book between now and then).

I’d better pick up the pace.


If you could meet any author (dead or alive) who would it be and why?

Happy 10yrs!
asked by: Noelle Holten, https://www.crimebookjunkie.co.uk
Thanks, Noelle!!

This is the easiest question in this post! Obviously, the only correct answer is the best-selling author of the DC Maggie Jamieson series and 6 Ripley Avenue, Noelle Holton!

Seriously…to answer that with one name of a living author is just impossible. A dead one would be equally difficult. But okay, I’ll play the game—Rex Stout. I’ve been fascinated with him for decades, have read his biography a couple of times, and numerous short pieces by people who knew him. His life before he got into novel writing is the stuff of fiction—and then when he got into fiction…it’s truly something special.

I’m not just saying this to be nice—it’d be great to meet just about every author I’ve featured here in the last 10 years (there are a few exceptions, but I won’t name names). If I named the ones I’d particularly enjoy spending time with, this post would get too long (and I’d probably forget someone and be haunted by it). But if any author reading this finds themselves in the Boise area—the first round of drinks (of whatever kind) is on me! Probably the second and third, too.

That goes double for Noelle Holten.


Based on your 10-year experience (congrats, by the way!!), what do you recommend to all bloggers if they would like to sustain a healthy blogging routine?
asked by: Lashaan Balasingam, https://roarsandechoes.com/
Thanks!

Lashaan, my friend, I read these questions to my daughter a few days back. When I read this one, she just laughed and said tell him to do everything you don’t. Healthy routines and I are passing acquaintances at best.

So this is (largely) from the “Not What I Do” file.
Find a pattern that works for you—one that allows you to spend time with your friends, family, and loved ones. One, very importantly, that allows you adequate sleep and exercise. Then you need to read (and in your case, there’s also watching and playing stuff). The blogging gets some of the rest of the time—oh, you probably need to work.

Follow that up with being flexible—what pattern works for you now, may not in 3 months. So, adjust. Try new things. Listen to your body when it comes to energy, look for the signs of mental wear and tear, and do something to shake things up to prevent it.

Lastly, and most importantly, no matter what routine you settle on—be gracious with yourself. If your routine falters, or if you fail to stick with it. Shake it off (as Ms. Swift would instruct) and move on. Remember this is a hobby (unless you become one of those people that starts paying their bills with that—at which point, I figure you have to forget about health and just dive in whole-heartedly) and that it should be fun. Don’t lose sight of that.

Just before posting this I thought of another point. It’s small, but it helped tremendously. A couple of years ago, I made a reference to loving the subheadings some blogger was using in her reviews (can’t remember who, but am pretty sure it was a she, and she was clever), and how I wished I had thought of doing something like that. Bookstooge said something like, “well, just start doing it yourself.” And I did—I actually don’t think I would have, if he hadn’t said that.

This tweak to my writing routine helped me tremendously. I have an outline for every post going in (one that I can play with, I’m not beholden to it), so I don’t have to think of how I’m going to structure things. It makes it easier for me to write in sections and not have to worry about the flow of the posts—and it helps the reader (I assume) navigate what they want to read. It was a tiny thing, but it has proved to be a game changer. Again, flexibility.

It’s laughable to me that you’d ask me anything about blogging—your sites and posts are visually my favorites out there, and your content is top-notch. From my vantage point, you’ve got it figured out. That’s likely not true (who among us has?), but it looks that way. Keep doing what you’re doing…


Who or what introduced you to reading and were you always an avid reader?
asked by: Celeste, https://aliteraryescape.com
First, thanks for the idea behind this post. It’s been a blast.

My Mom introduced me to reading me a lot. I’m not saying my Dad didn’t read to me, but I have no memories of it (not that I have a lot of memories of being read to by my Mom, either, but she’s talked about it). Once I got into school and started reading independently, she was diligent in taking me to the local Library until I could get there by the power of my own two feet (Burley Public Library and Payette Public Library—I feel safe saying those words because neither city can be used to get at my passwords)—and believe me, that diligence was not easy (stupid 3 books at a time limit), because, yeah, I was always an avid reader.

I’ve told this story before, but the privilege of age means I get to tell it again. The first time I realized (and likely my parents realized, too) just how avid a reader I was/would be came the summer after second grade. My family was on a forever-long road trip (Eastern Idaho to Southern California) and I was bored, so I demanded my parents buy me something to read. Clearly, I wasn’t a pleasure to be stuck in a station wagon with, because at the next town, they did. I got two books, Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective and Sugar Creek Gang Screams in the Night. I read them both several times before we got back to Idaho (I don’t think I demanded or received another book on the trip). That was the last time I went somewhere over 40 minutes away from my home without at least one book.


What genre, if any, do you find yourself not reading a lot of?
asked by: Celeste, https://aliteraryescape.com
Westerns, Romance, and Horror. I have nothing against the idea of them—and have read good books in all of them—but I never think of looking for anything in those genres, and most books I come across in those genres don’t sound that interesting. Zombie novels aren’t really a genre (and fit into a handful of them, anyway)—I’m on the record of saying I don’t like them, but the number of them that I’ve read in the last 10 years suggests I might not be as against them as I think I am.

Although, as I write this, I realize I might be in the middle of a Horror novel that I thought was something else. But I’m pretty sure that’s my fault for not doing a better job of reading the synopsis—I read the first half and was sold. I think I like it (although I think I’d have liked it better if it was what I thought it was going to be).


What is one of your favorite reading related memories?

Happy upcoming blogiversary!!!
asked by: Jodie, https://wittyandsarcasticbookclub.home.blog/
Thank you, Jodie!

Ooooh…that’s a good one. I probably shouldn’t use that California trip story again, eh?

A lot of my memories are tied to a particular book, so I’d have to think about a book to come up with one, you know? But let’s see what I can come up with.

I remember loaning Dragons of Winter Night to a friend in the 8th grade—and her almost getting the book confiscated by our Science Teacher for reading during a lecture. I clearly didn’t learn anything from that because I then loaned her Dragons of Spring Dawning, which she also almost had confiscated when she broke down crying when the first major character death in that book occurred—this time in Math Class. Okay, I probably learned a lesson the first time—but there was no way my 13-year-old self could’ve said no to a pretty girl who could smile at me like that. It didn’t help my romantic cause any, but…

There was the time I had to dash off to my bedroom one Saturday afternoon to finish Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog so my (then) very young kids didn’t see their father bawling (my wife had finished the book a couple of days earlier, so knew what was going on and kept them distracted). That’s not a favorite, really, but it’s very vivid.

I remember my 9-year-old son (now father of the Grandcritter) who got so invested in the Skullduggery Pleasant series (and who can blame him?) that he and his mom designed a costume for it—and how devastated he was that the Borders staff didn’t realize that’s what he was during their store costume contest. I’m guessing if we’d been better about supporting our Indie Bookstore at the time, someone would’ve recognized it. Not a particularly happy memory, but man…he was so invested in that book that it made my heart grow 3 sizes.

When his sister was 9, she decided that she was old enough to read The Help, and we let her give it a shot. I don’t think she understood everything, but she got enough of it to justify the time she spent. That’s another memory I’m going to keep for forever—it also would be cause enough for many people to vote against me for Library or School Boards, I realize.

Oh, here’s a favorite (just needed to free associate for a bit): Reading The Godfather in the first week of 7th grade was impressive enough to the High Schoolers on the School Bus that they decided I got a pass from the hazing/bullying they had intended for us new riders. It was a fantastic read, too—but the part I remember most was the hint of respect in their voice as they talked about me reading it.

I’m not sure that I actually answered your question, but it took up a lot of space. 🙂


I wanted to share some exciting news with you about a powerful tool that
can revolutionize the way you create content for your business.

Introducing..Ai Pal

See why this may be the last AI app you ever need…
asked by: Shawn Whatmore
I cut this off because no one wants to read it. But I’m sharing this much so people can see what a lousy marketer you really are. Seriously—take a moment to read the form you went to the trouble of filling out. Alex Trebek would be quick to point out that this was not in the form of a question, and anyone can tell it has nothing to do with the subject at hand. If this was the work of an AI/AI-wannabe-bot, your software clearly isn’t worth anyone throwing money at it, either.


Do you sleep with one eye open in case Fiona [Griffiths] finds out you haven’t read all of her books?
asked by: Paul Nydegger
Ha! I finally finished that series last Summer. You can’t beat me up for the inexplicably long time I took on that one, buddy boy.


When you did a Q&A with me some time ago, H.C., you asked about my routine when writing my books, so I’ll turn that around on you now. Do you work on the blog at a certain time each day, or just whenever you find time? Does the routine vary over the weekends? Is there an average number of hours that you spend on the blog each day? And do you prefer working during the day or at night (perhaps when the house is quieter)? Inquiring minds want to know the answers to these questions. Oh, and congrats on the blogiversary. Very cool word.
asked by: Bob Germaux (another writer with a website they don’t want promoted)
Back when I started this thing, I worked graveyard—and my bosses didn’t care much what we did to stay awake to do our duties as long as what we did didn’t keep us from our duties. So I got into the habit of blogging between 4-6 a.m. Thankfully, those days are behind me and I can actually sleep during those hours—the only sensible thing to do with them.

Typically, I work on the blog between 10-12 at night on weekdays, maybe a little on either side. Occasionally, I’ll get up extra-early to finish something (typically for a Blog Tour or something), or maybe during my lunch hour. It’s not so much that the house is quieter that time of day—although, it is, now that I think about it—it’s that my wife has gone to bed so I don’t have to worry about inadvertently—or intentionally—ignoring her. Saturdays, when I’m not doing something with my wife/kids, is for emails, Q&As, bigger projects, things like this post, and whatnot.


Is there a Kleenex shortage in your town, is that why you haven’t read all of Fredrik Backman’s incredible works?
asked by: Paul Nydegger
Um…yeah. That’s the ticket! A Kleenex shortage. A Kleenex shortage caused by Morgan Fairchild (whom I’ve met)…yeah, yeah, that’s the ticket!

Seriously, I have no idea why I’ve only read two of Backman’s books. I’d say that I was planning on fixing that tout de suite, but I wouldn’t believe me any more than you would. I’ve been saying it since 2015.


If a character representing you could be written into a book in any genre but you would become that character and could only live that storyline, what life would you want to live?
asked by: Noelle, http://perrydogpublishing.com/
That’s a head-scratcher. I’ve had fun playing with this idea since you sent it in. Here are my thoughts as of this moment:
I’d die in a New York minute were I a character in a Fantasy or SFF (unless it was a cozy, and even then, I don’t like my chances). Are there cozy Westerns? Same answer—also lack of plumbing is a no-go (another reason to avoid being put into a Fantasy novel). I’m just not smart enough, really, to be a protagonist in a Mystery or Urban Fantasy—maybe I could be the best friend/sidekick, or possibly comic relief.

I guess, ultimately, some sort of Lad Lit/Rom Com/Commercial Women’s Fiction kind of thing is my best bet at living past retirement age and living a decent storyline. Preferably one of those where the character gets serious about their health/fitness, because I need that. Also, those characters seem like they find okay and fulfilling ways to live on the whole.

That’s at least my second reference to my health in this post. I think my subconscious is trying to tell me something.


I’m going to close with this email for 2 reasons…it’s the last thing that was submitted, and it’s the perfect closer (but I’ll take it down a font size for the sake of your eyes).

Ok, not a question, but my feelings about you and your blog. Growing up, I had a less-than-nurturing childhood. The one safe constant for me was the Library that was across the street. I use to go over there almost daily. The librarians would have me do chores and they would give me treats and let me check out extra books (I know, I know, letting me check out extra books when I lived across the street was a naïve bonus that I didn’t realize how those old biddies manipulated me until over 50 years later!!). I was a voracious reader. I started down a path of addiction when I was 12 years old. My reading slowly grounded to a halt. I read maybe one or two books a year (usually to impress a girl 🙂 ). By the time I was in my twenties, I was fully immersed in The Darkness. I would choose to live in The Darkness for nearly three decades. In February of 2006, when I was at my absolute end, God did for me what I could not do for myself. I was arrested on Felony drug charges and forced into treatment. After completing my Court-mandated treatment program, I found a new purpose for my life. I wanted to become a counselor myself for the treatment program that saved my life. Our paths crossed shortly after my graduation in 2007. You first introduced me to an incredible world of Film and TV (disclaimer: still pissed about how long you held out on me with Breaking Bad…yes, your intentions were noble and good, I probably wasn’t ready at first, but you held out for at least an extra year…just saying!). And through this you started suggesting books. And then more books. And then more books. And now, reading is the foundation of my self-care. I have been a counselor for that Court treatment program for….you guessed it, the past 10 years (October 22, 2012 anniversary date). The current climate with addiction is very frightening and I hear and deal with so much death. Two last week. The only way I can decompress, suit up and show up the next day, is by unplugging each night and plugging into a book. I know you know how much your friendship means to me. But I don’t think I’ve ever told you how your passion reignited my passion which has become my anchor. Thank you. Here’s to the next 10 years!!!
not asked, but written, by: Paul Nydegger

I don’t know how to respond…I’ve read this half a dozen or more times and still don’t.

That’s Some Streak!

730 Day Streak
I tried to work in a Ray Stevens joke, but I think most of my readers are too young for it. And even if you aren’t too young, do you really want to get that song stuck in your head? (oh, I did that already? Whoops.)

For most of the life of this blog, I’ve struggled to get 4-6 posts up a week. The goal was always 6, but sometimes I’d have to settle for two. Sure, I’d occasionally get 8 or 9 days in a row, but that was about it.

Then in 2021, I got a notification that I’d posted something here for like 50 days in a row—without trying or noticing. That seemed pretty cool, so I thought I’d see if I could go for 100 days in a row. And then I’d take a couple of days off. But then I got the 100-day notification and decided to go for 200, I was liking this challenge.

Once I hit 200, I didn’t even bother shooting for 300—I had to go for a year. And then once I got there (actually, it was a couple of days afterward—I don’t think I saw the year mark), I figured it could be fun to go for two years—or 730 days. Yesterday’s repost about Hard Rain was enough for me to achieve that personal record. I’d hoped to get 2 other posts up yesterday (maybe 3), just to make the day more of an event, but things happen (I do have 1.2 of them written, I want to note).

Sure, not every one of those days resulted in something I’m proud to have posted—once it became a goal and not something I stumbled into, I’d stress about getting something up and would have to settle for a repost of something just to qualify. But I did work on something every day, whether I got it in decent shape to post or not. I’m enjoying the discipline

I haven’t decided if I’m going to try for three straight years (1,095 days) or if I’ll let myself have a day or two off. For now, I’m just going to enjoy the accomplishment. We’ll see what happens next.

Announcing Grandpappy’s Corner—A New Regular Feature

I’m very excited to announce a new regular feature that I’m calling Grandpappy’s Corner.
Grandpappy's Corner Logo
I’ve always gladly accepted requests from Children’s and Picture Book Authors to talk about their books–and I’ve even bought a few for that sole purpose (although those tend to skew towards Picture Books for the Adult Audience). But in the coming weeks (for reasons that should be self-evident), I’m going to start buying* and reading many more of them on a pretty regular basis. So, if I’m going to be paying attention to them more, I’m going to be blogging about them more.

* Okay, the purchasing has already started. What’s your point?

So why bother coming up with a new name for these posts, come up with a logo, etc.? Well, I’m going to be thinking of them a little differently, I think. I’ve always sort of tried to think about how it’d be to read them to a kid, how a kid might react, etc. But I’m going to focus on that a lot more. I want to talk about the art from the POV of the Reader (read: me) and the Read-To (read: the GrandCritter). I want to talk about what I experience as I read it aloud, what I think of the book, as well as what the Critter does, how they react, etc. (once they get to the point where I can notice a reaction). So to focus on that sort of thing, I want to change how I write about these books.

Also, it’ll make it easier for me to find them/point readers to them.

My first post along these lines should go up tomorrow–and maybe one more this week. I’m not going to flood the page with them, but they will appear frequently.

I can’t close out this post without calling attention to Idaho’s own Jeremy Billups, children’s book author/illustrator, (check out his website, and here’s every time he’s come up on the blog) who drew my Grandpappy Pilcrow figure. I love him.

Grandpappy Icon

The Irresponsible Reader in 2022: Thoughts, Thanks, and Stats

Programming Note: As is my custom, over the next week I’ll be looking back over the year that was—but I’ll try to come up with some new material, too. Many/most others have already done their best-of/year-end wrap-up posts, but I’m a stickler—I can’t start doing this kind of thing ’til the year is over. My brain doesn’t allow me to work that way (I just hate projecting things in general—and some years ago when I just read irresponsibly, but hadn’t adopted the name, the last novel of the year was so far beyond the rest that I can’t start looking back until 12/31 at the earliest).

As we kick off 2023, I wanted to take a glance back at 2022—like the two years before it, I don’t think anyone imagined half of what happened (globally, nationally, or personally). I’m ready for something predictable (Oh, no! Am I becoming Danny Tanner? “The milkman, the paperboy, evening TV”). 314 books finished (plus comics, picture books, short stories, and the like that I don’t know how to count)—my mind is thoroughly boggled! I exceeded my goal (nothing like exceeding an arbitrary number to boost the ol’ ego), too; finishing over 87,480 pages; with an average rating of 3.68 Stars (a dip of .01 from last year, alors! How shall I go on?). I don’t think I DNF’d anything this year, there were a couple of things I probably should have, though.

On the blog front, I put up 625 postsan all-time high for me59 more than last year!! I had another year of strong gains in trafficviews and visitorsI’m not big-time (never going to be), but those numbers consistently weird me out (which is why I only look every 6-12 months). I had two months this year where my visitor count almost doubled my previous high!! (really wish I knew what happened in those months, so I could duplicate it). My mind is going to be reeling from those numbers for a minute. My follower count (here and on social media sites) is encouraging and humbling, I really feel like I ought to do more to earn them. Maybe there’s a book on how to be more interesting as a person that I should grab.

I didn’t do anything too major as far as projects this year—but I did start the Literary Locals series in the last month or so—and have a few things ready to go for that starting next week. I also want to get back to my Classic Spenser series…that one is bugging me (although I did say that last year, too…but I don’t want to let it go). I don’t think I have anything else too major in mind for 2023, but we’ll see. Well, I do have a new feature planned, come to think of it. It’s going to kick off this Spring (probably, maybe sooner) and will end up staying around in one form or another for the foreseeable future. Is that vague enough? Stick around.

As is my habit, here’s my breakdown of books by genre—I tweaked the table a bit, so it actually fits on the screen (or should). Genre labeling continues to be more difficult as I’m reading a lot of hybrids (most of us are, they’re being produced more), but I tend to go with the overarching genre. Once again, for someone who doesn’t plan too thoroughly, the percentages stay remarkably consistent from year to yearmy tastes (and series I follow) apparently stay the same. I do think of myself as someone who reads Crime and Urban Fantasy—with some other things thrown in. The numbers are forcing me to reconsider that. I still want to get the General Fiction and Non-Fiction percentages higher—as I’ve said for the last few years, we’ll see if I actually put that into action.

Genre 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2012-16
Children’s 5 (2%) 2 (1%) 5 (2%) 7 (3%) 11 (4%) 7 (3%) 5 (.5%)
Fantasy 32 (10%) 20 (7%) 35 (13%) 28 (10%) 30 (11%) 7 (3%) 86 (8.6%)
General Fiction/ Literature 24 (8%) 22 (7%) 16 (7%) 21 (8%) 22 (8%) 29 (10%) 111 (11%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller 114 (37%) 117 (38%) 90 (34%) 105 (38%) 107 (38%) 102 (37%) 323 (32%)
Non-Fiction 29 (9%) 22 (7%) 28 (10%) 25 (9%) 22 (8%) 10 (4%) 36 (3.6%)
Science Fiction 28 (9%) 20 (7%) 20 (8%) 30 (11%) 25 (9%) 27 (10%) 95 (9.5%)
Theology/ Christian Living 45 (15%) 38 (13%) 23 (8%) 34 (12%) 25 (9%) 30 (11%) 164 (16.4%)
Urban Fantasy 34 (11%) 49 (16%) 42 (16%) 25 (9%) 29 (10%) 45 (16%) 149 (14.9%)
“Other” (Horror/ Humor/
Steampunk/ Western)
2 (1%) 12 (4%) 4 (2%) 6 (2%) 7 (3%) 2 (1%) 32 (3%)

Thanks to the nifty spreadsheet made by the Voracious Reader, a few more stats were prepped for me (if I did better at using the tool, I could have more). I find them interesting, maybe you will, too.
Re-Read Chart Source of my Books
That’s a 6% drop in books that I bought. Hopefully Mrs. Irresponsible Reader notes that bit of belt tightening.
Format of the Book
That Audiobook number changed by .1%, how’s that for consistency? My Hardcover percentage went up noticably (Mrs. Irresponsible Reader should focus more on the previous chart if she starts thinking about what I’m spending)

Enough about me. Now we get to my favorite partI want to talk about you, who keep me going and show an interest in what I’m doing here and give some thanks to people for their impact on The Irresponsible Reader (the blog and the person) in 2021:

for their contributions (that I will be posting soon!)

  • My son Owen provided a lot of the technical support I needed this year. Owen’s my best editor (sadly, it’s all after I post something…), too, and he’s saved me from looking stupid on more than one occasion.
  • All my kids have acted as sounding boards this year—helping with some graphics, jokes, themes, etc. They (and Owen) do a solid job of pretending to care about what I’m saying about books, reading, and whatnot. A hat tip to Calvin, Katrina, Carleigh, and Machen, too.
  • Micah Burke, who handles the tech stuff that Owen can’t, provided great graphics, and is a great sounding board. I can’t thank you enough. The instant I make a dime on this thing, you’ll get the first nickel!
  • A special thanks to my wife. Without your support, indulgence, and patience this thing wouldn’t existand I’d read a lot less (the horror!). Thank you. I love you.
  • And thank you all for reading. This may feel obligatory and insincere. It is not. Honestly, each time I get a notification of a comment, or a like, or a share, or a follow, etc. it makes my day. To know that someone took a couple of seconds or more out of their day to glance at this? It means the world to me. Thanks.

 

Have a great 2023, hope you find plenty of good things to read!

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself. -Neil Gaiman

The Irresponsible Reader in 2021: Thoughts, Thanks, and Stats

Programming Note: Over the next few days, I’ll be looking back over 2021—but I’ll try to come up with some new material, too. Many/most others have already done their best-of/year-end wrap-up posts, but I’m a stickler—I can’t start doing this kind of thing ’til the year is over. My brain doesn’t allow me to work that way (I just hate projecting things in general—and some years ago when I just read irresponsibly, but hadn’t adopted the name, the last novel of the year was so far beyond the rest that I can’t start looking back until 12/31 at the earliest).

As we kick off 2022, as is my custom, I wanted to take a glance back at 2021 (may it soon be a distant memory). 307 books finished (plus comics, picture books, short stories, and the like that I don’t know how to count)—my mind is thoroughly boggled! I exceeded my goal (nothing like exceeding an arbitrary number to boost the ol’ ego), too; finishing around 86,000 pages; with an average rating of 3.69 Stars. I only DNF’d one book, which is nice (or could I have enjoyed myself more if I’d done more?).

On the blog front, I put up 562 postsan all-time high for me82 more than last year!! I had another year of strong gains in trafficviews and visitorsI’m not big-time (never going to be), but those numbers consistently weird me out (which is why I only look every 6-12 months). My follower count (here and on social media sites) is encouraging and humbling, I really feel like I ought to do more to earn them.

I didn’t have any big blog projects for the year this yearI did finish my trip through The History of Tom Jones, but the follow-ups I thought about never materialized, but may in 2022. I also want to get back to my Classic Spenser series…that one is bugging me. I’ll talk about some other plans soonmaybe, maybe I’ll just put them in place instead.

As is my habit, here’s my breakdown of books by genre (and I’m going to have to change things soon, this chart doesn’t show up well anymore, I just like showing the trends). Genre labeling continues to be more difficult as I’m reading a lot of hybrids (most of us are, they’re being produced more), but I tend to go with the overarching genre. Basically, everything’s the same, with just a percent or two of adjustment. It’s been forever since I’ve read a Western or a Horror noveland “humor” is pretty useless as a category, as a lot of things I read could be considered that. Once again, for someone who doesn’t plan too thoroughly, the percentages stay remarkably consistent from year to yeartastes (and series I follow) apparently stay the same. I need to devote a Saturday afternoon some time to doing the math to make this chart more useful/attractive. I didn’t expect both Fantasy and Non-Fiction to dip the way they did this yearnot at all surprisingly Mystery/Thriller/Crime picked up those percentage points, though.

Genre 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012
Children’s 2 (1%) 5 (2%) 7 (3%) 11 (4%) 7 (3%) 5 (2%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Fantasy 20 (7%) 35 (13%) 28 (10%) 30 (11%) 7 (3%) 31 (13%) 17 (9%) 11 (7%) 15 (8%) 12 (6%)
General Fiction/ Literature 22 (7%) 16 (7%) 21 (8%) 22 (8%) 29 (10%) 27 (11%) 17 (9%) 7 (4%) 30 (16%) 30 (14%)
Horror 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (.4%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Humor 9 (3%) 2 (1%) 4 (1%) 3 (1%) 1 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (1%) 3 (2%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller 117 (38%) 90 (34%) 105 (38%) 107 (38%) 102 (37%) 61 (25%) 64 (34%) 62 (37%) 63 (33%) 73 (35%)
Non-Fiction 22 (7%) 28 (10%) 25 (9%) 22 (8%) 10 (4%) 11 (5%) 8 (4%) 4 (2%) 2 (1%) 11 (5%)
Poetry 2 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Science Fiction 20 (7%) 20 (8%) 30 (11%) 25 (9%) 27 (10%) 37 (15%) 16 (8%) 17 (10%) 14 (7%) 11 (5%)
Steampunk 1 (0%) 2 (1%) 1 (0%) 3 (1%) 1 (0%) 2 (1%) 7 (4%) 3 (2%) 3 (2%) 11 (5%)
Theology/ Christian Living 38 (13%) 23 (8%) 34 (12%) 25 (9%) 30 (11%) 33 (14%) 42 (22%) 42 (25%) 37 (19%) 10 (5%)
Urban Fantasy 49 (16%) 42 (16%) 25 (9%) 29 (10%) 45 (16%) 36 (15%) 19 (10%) 20 (12%) 26 (14%) 48 (23%)
Western 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (0%)

Thanks to the nifty spreadsheet made by the Voracious Reader, I was able to get a few more stats. I find them interesting, maybe you will, too.

I honestly thought that re-read percentage was going to be higherit dropped by 2% from last year. I expected it to be in the high 20s/low 30s.


Audiobooks also dropped a little this year, as that’s the majority of my re-reads lately, I guess that explains the drop there. Still, that’s another surprise decrease.

Enough about me. Now we get to my favorite partI want to talk about you, who keep me going and show an interest in what I’m doing here and give some thanks to people for their impact on The Irresponsible Reader (the blog and the person) in 2021:

 

Have a great 2022, hope you find plenty of good things to read!

Commenting on The Irresponsible Reader

My comments section has never been the most happening of places–but I love every single one, and try to reply to them all. But once I stopped paying for the WordPress site and went to another host, it’s apparently been a bit harder to comment—and for days it became impossible. But it got better, mostly.

For one regular commenter—historically, the most prolific and reliable—it’s become a real hassle. For the rest of you who comment regularly/frequently/ever–do you find it to be cumbersome? Is there a way that you’ve found to have the blog/WP/something to retain your information so it doesn’t have to be entered every time?  I want to facilitate conversation, not throw up roadblocks. I don’t want to have to spend a chunk of time every day to kill spam comments, either. I need some middle ground.

I’ve tried to test it a little myself, but shockingly, I can’t get my site to not recognize me.

For other people who self-host—what do you use for comments?

As Close as I get to a “Review Policy”

Thanks to BookerTalk for saying something today, I’d been intending on revisiting my “Read My Book” page, because I’m uncomfortable with the notion of “Review Policy.” It turns out that it’s been 14 months to the day since I did that. I think it’s a little better now, even if it seems a bit wordier than I’d prefer.

Below is what I currently have on that submission form—authors, is this helpful? Do you have any feedback? Book Bloggers—same questions: is this helpful? Do you have comments/suggestions?


You’ve written a book? Congrats! You want me to read it? First—thanks, I’m flattered. Second, I’m probably game*—if there’s a date you want it done by? Well…we’ll see what we can work out. Otherwise, it’s FIFO as I work it in with other things I have committed to/want to read.

I prefer Kindle-friendly books (well, I prefer hardcopy, but I know that’s a lot to ask, so we’ll go with Kindle-friendly). I can handle ePub. If you ask nicely, I might read a PDF (I don’t like the way they look on my e-Readers and have to spend time resizing every page so it doesn’t hurt my eyes—that’s time I’d rather spend reading), but I probably won’t. I’d very much appreciate it if you’d send a cover image with your book.

If you’re an agent, a publicist, a publisher and you want me to consider someone’s book—same rules.

I talk about this more on my About page, but, briefly, as far as genres go, with Fiction:
bullet I’m a Mystery/Thriller/Crime Fiction junkie
bullet I love Urban Fantasy
bullet I enjoy good Science Fiction or Fantasy
bullet I’ve even dabbled in Chick Lit (‘tho, honestly, I’m more comfortable in “Lad Lit”)
bullet I’ll take a decent Western.

On the Non-Fiction side, I admit I’m a bit more limited—if it catches my eye, though, I’ll read anything.
bullet I typically end up with Biography/Autobiography/Memoir
bullet Something with a “Soft Science” bent (I’m not opposed to a “Hard Science,” but this is a hobby, not homework)
bullet I’m also a Theology Nerd, of the Reformed Protestant variety—I’ll read some things outside that, but I won’t read any Non-Fiction attacking Christianity/Reformed theology (if you can do it in an interesting novel, I’ll read it).

If you make me laugh or chuckle in any of the above, that’s as good as “Up, Up, Down, Down” to get me on your side.

But I’m open to reading just about anything as far as genre goes (you’ll have to sell me hard on a Zombie book, Romance or Self-Help), just:
bullet make your pitch interesting
bullet try not to let your form’s grammar/spelling make me question your writing ability (I don’t care how cool the book is, it won’t “peak” my interest—and yes, I’ve been told that multiple times)
bullet answer the questions I ask (“when” and “what” mean very different things)
bullet you should come across like someone nice to work with.
bullet If I say, “yes,” don’t hit me with a list of demands, you make me dislike myself for agreeing to read your book—resulting in a miserable experience for me (which makes it difficult for me to say nice things about your book).
bullet After a couple of problems in 2019 (one un-named author in particular) I’ve decided that if you start demanding things from me after I say yes, I’m going to not read/stop reading your book (even if I’m loving it at the 90% mark). It’s petty, but it’s my blog and I’m tired of not enjoying it. I’ve almost walked away from this entire thing because of rude authors, and I won’t put up with it anymore.

I do go out of my way to be fair and reasonable in what I say about a book—but I do give less than rave reviews frequently. I know many book bloggers won’t post negative—or even “meh”—reviews. I’m not one of them. There are two reasons for this: any review (I’m assured) on Goodreads, Amazon, or anywhere else helps your metrics no matter what it says; moreover if I spend the time reading your book, I’m getting a post out of it. I do prefer to like things, so you’re going to get a lot of slack from me.

Unless you specify otherwise, a few hours after posting here, I’ll cross-post to Amazon, Goodreads, LibraryThing, StoryGraph (and other places you might want me to).

The Irresponsible Reader in 2020: Thoughts, Thanks and Stats

Programming Note: Over the next few days, I’ll be looking back over 2020—but I’ll trying to come up with some new material, too. Many/most others have already done their best-of/year-end wrap up posts, but I’m a stickler—I can’t start doing this kind of thing ’til the year is over—a few years ago, pre-blog, the last thing I read (finished on 12/31, as I recall) just blew me away and was easily the best thing I read that year. Ever since then, I just can’t start to think about it until January 1.

As we kick off 2021, as is my custom, I wanted to take a glance back at 2020. 263 books finished (plus comics, picture books, short stories, and the like that I don’t know how to count)—and that’s with pretty much taking one month off! I exceeded my goal (nothing like exceeding an arbitrary number to boost the ol’ ego), too; around 80,000 pages; with an average rating of 3.77 Stars. I only DNF’d one book, which is nice (and man, it was bad).

On the blog front, I put up 480 posts128 more than last year!! (and again, that’s with some time off). I had some strong gains in trafficviews and visitorsactually, strong gains doesn’t quite cut it. Consider my mind boggled. I’m also seeing good growth in followers here and on various social media fronts, which is encouraging as all get outnot just growth in numbers, but the level of and amount of interaction is up to the point that my socially awkward self doesn’t really understand it.

I didn’t finish two of my projects for the yearmy trip through The History of Tom Jones and my survey of the first twelve Spenser novels. I’m getting back to both of those in the coming days (and I might lengthen the Classic Spenser series by three or four, we’ll see).

In addition to the changes in lifestyle brought on by the global pandemic (perhaps you heard of it), I moved my blog to a self-hosting platform. That created more headaches than I want to think of (comments went down at least 3 times, for example). But I think it’ll be worth it in the long-run. And not just because I can save some money. And then, my family had to move, which was a lot more disruptive than I expected. I know I’ve talked too much about it already, just a little more…in the first decade or so that my wife and I were married, we lived in 6 different places, moving was just a thing that happened. In the next 13 years, we lived in one place and planned on at least two more years there. That’s a lot of inertia to overcomebut we’re almost settled, most of my books have a place to be, and I’ll soon shut up about it all.

As is my habit, here’s my breakdown of books by genre (and I’m going to have to change things soon, this chart doesn’t show up well anymore, I just like showing the trends). Genre labeling is more difficult lately as I’m reading a lot of hybrids (most of us are, they’re being produced more), but I tend to go with the overarching genre. Basically, everything’s the same, with just a percent or two of adjustment. It’s been forever since I’ve read a Western or a Horror noveland “humor” is pretty useless, as a lot of things I read could be considered that. Once again, for someone who doesn’t plan too thoroughly, the percentages stay remarkably consistent from year to yeartastes (and series I follow) apparently stay the same.

Genre 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012
Children’s 5 (2%) 7 (3%) 11 (4%) 7 (3%) 5 (2%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Fantasy 35 (13%) 28 (10%) 30 (11%) 7 (3%) 31 (13%) 17 (9%) 11 (7%) 15 (8%) 12 (6%)
General Fiction/ Literature 16 (7%) 21 (8%) 22 (8%) 29 (10%) 27 (11%) 17 (9%) 7 (4%) 30 (16%) 30 (14%)
Horror 0 (0%) 1 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (.4%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Humor 2 (1%) 4 (1%) 3 (1%) 1 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (1%) 3 (2%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller 90 (34%) 105 (38%) 107 (38%) 102 (37%) 61 (25%) 64 (34%) 62 (37%) 63 (33%) 73 (35%)
Non-Fiction 28 (10%) 25 (9%) 22 (8%) 10 (4%) 11 (5%) 8 (4%) 4 (2%) 2 (1%) 11 (5%)
Poetry 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Science Fiction 20 (8%) 30 (11%) 25 (9%) 27 (10%) 37 (15%) 16 (8%) 17 (10%) 14 (7%) 11 (5%)
Steampunk 2 (1%) 1 (0%) 3 (1%) 1 (0%) 2 (1%) 7 (4%) 3 (2%) 3 (2%) 11 (5%)
Theology/ Christian Living 23 (8%) 34 (12%) 25 (9%) 30 (11%) 33 (14%) 42 (22%) 42 (25%) 37 (19%) 10 (5%)
Urban Fantasy 42 (16%) 25 (9%) 29 (10%) 45 (16%) 36 (15%) 19 (10%) 20 (12%) 26 (14%) 48 (23%)
Western 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (0%)

Thanks to the nifty spreadsheet made by the Voracious Reader, I was able to get a few more stats. I find them interesting, maybe you will to.

I keep saying I want to re-read more, I’m doing okay on that front, but want that to get higher.


I knew I was listening to more audiobooks this year (just the nature of my work enables me to do a lot of these, plus gym timebefore March, anyway), but that it’s the majority of what I “read” in 2020 is pretty surprising. A lot of the “Borrowed” and re-read slices above are tied to that.

Enough about me. I want to talk about you, who keep me going and show an interest in what I’m doing here and give some thanks to people for their impact on The Irresponsible Reader (the blog and the person) in 2019:

 

Have a great 2021, hope you find plenty of good things to read!

Page 1 of 3

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén