February 3, 2023 – Life and Other Disasters

January Wrap-Up

I don’t know about you, but January seemed to take forever. I took the month to focus on getting back into things I used to love and semi-succeeded with it. At least in terms of reading, I’m happy to report that I’ve finished 5 books (well, 3 books, 1 novella and 1 short story). It might not have seemed like it, because I’ve not reviewed much of what I’ve read, but I truly had a fantastic time getting back into reading.

For the Wolf by Hannah F. Whitten (3.75 stars)
While in theory, this book should have been everything to me, I didn’t find myself as invested as I would have liked to be. I’m not sure I will pick up the sequel, but I’m happy to see Red and the Wolf making it.
The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alix E. Harrow (5 stars)
The Deep by Rivers Solomon (4.5 stars)
Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison (4.25 stars)
I have the rest of the series already ready to go on my eReader and I plan to review the whole series once I’m done.
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (5 stars)
I 100% understand why this is a classic, it was so well written and gripped you from the first sentence. I’m looking forward to reviewing after I’ve watched the TV adaptation. I miss doing comparison posts, so it seems fitting to examine those two versions.

As per usual, click on the covers to get re-directed to Goodreads, where you are always welcome to add me as a reading buddy! OR find me on StoryGraph, which I adore more and more as an alternative. My own reviews you’re able to find by clicking on the titles in the list above, if there are posts for them.

I think a big part of my success reading so much (at least in comparison to how much I usually tend to read in a month) in January was due to me participating in StoryGraph’s January Pages Challenge. In an attempt to get people to read at least one page per day (or listen to one minute of an audiobook per day), they set up their own reading challenge and sweetened the deal with possible prizes. While I didn’t win any of the challenge prizes, I feel like it set me up with a great habit for the year to come. Here’s a graph of how much I’ve been reading last month:

A graph showing that I completed the StoryGraph January Pages Reading Challenge

In Other News

Usually, I have a bunch of posts set up for January to really kick blogging off right, but I didn’t have the best of starts to the year and generally felt pretty exhausted. I wanted to prioritize things that actually brought me joy and while I consider blogging to be a vital part of myself, I’d much rather focus on other things when I’m tired. Like, there’s no point in churning out mid-posts just because, when I’m not feeling it. So, I started the year with re-evaluating my priorities.

There’s Only So Much Time in Day

I want to read, write, watch TV, catch up with the people I care about, work out and on top of that I still need to do my job and rest as well. I can’t do it all, no one can, and it has been a challenge to not get frustrated by that. I’ve slowly gotten back into working out more regularly – mostly I’ve just walked a lot – but it’s really the creative outlets I’m missing most in my life. I seem to have zero energy for them. I’d like to change that this year and deliberately make more time for creative tasks, which brings me to my next point.

**I MISS writing SO MUCH**

I’ve checked out some of my old, unfinished WIPs and … I hated my writing in all of them. There’s part of my brain that knows that I’m not terrible at everything. My narrative ideas are solid, even when the execution is lacking. I haven’t posted on my secret fan fic account (sorry, I just can’t reveal that one) for close to a year now and I still got a message saying “please come back!!!” the other day. The thing is, I WANT TO. I want to write and create and draw my own characters and really dive deep into these worlds. There’s not just a lack of motivation, but I think also confidence. I’ve read some fantastic books these past years and my brain just says that I could never do that. I need to do some soul searching to find my voice and point of view.

Nick Miller from New Girl sitting in front of his laptop and saying "I got nothing" as he attempts to write his novel.

Basking in all the good TV

TV, as so often, has been my escape in January. There’s just been so much good content out there again and I’m glad I kicked off the year with such fantastic shows. On the one hand, we have the return of The Legend of Vox Machina, which is getting released in batches of three episodes per week – offering the perfect mix between binging and a weekly schedule. I just keep falling in love with everyone at Critical Role all over again, the fact that we’re now also getting the Mighty Nein and a movie (*fingers crossed it’s a Calamity movie*) almost had me in tears.

Speaking of tears, basically the whole world is bawling their eyes out at the masterpiece that is The Last of Us! As someone who hasn’t played the game, but still knows a fair bit about it, I am in awe of this show. It’s so good and I love that Pedro Pascal just doesn’t miss with his roles. Having said that, episode 3 “Long, Long Time” will stay in my heart forever.

me (and the entire world) watching #TheLastOfUs pic.twitter.com/pd1eC8WBu5

— Kat(ja) 🔮🌙✨ (@Kat_Impossible) January 30, 2023

I Played Another Game – Rakuen

I don’t even know how I stumbled upon Rakuen, but it was a delight to play. The game mechanics are fairly simple, so are the graphics, but they are SO FREAKING CUTE. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some terrifying stuff and it will rip your heart out of your chest, but I like the balance with the sweet stuff.

I’ve found that “short” games with a good storyline are my jam and Rakuen definitely fits that category. It’s about a boy at a hospital, who escapes to a magical world – on the one hand, to escape his own life, but also to help the people around him. By the end, I was just a puddle of tears. Not sure it has a lot of replayability, but I had a good time!