Five on Friday displays the the top five things that have been on my mind this week! It could be book-related, but it may be music, movies, TV, personal life, food, etc.
Snow Sucks
Yeah, I hate the snow. I really do. (Despite my smiling face in the photo… It’s Black Friday for Panthers fans, so I had to tweet this dumb picture of myself in my black clothes and Panthers hat)… Driving to work this morning was fairly miserable and I hate how other people act in inclement weather. I know that we should drive slower, obviously, but there are some instances where people act a bit too cautious and make things even worse. FYI, slamming on your breaks suddenly can make you spin out and be even worse than just maintaining your speed in the snow. I am mostly frustrated because my boss lives literally less than a mile away from the office. I’m always the first one into the office because apparently I’m expected to be. So today, in the snow, I had to drive in to make sure I got there in time. I don’t get why my boss can’t just come in to open the office and answer phones while I work from home – even just until driving conditions are safe. That’s all I ask!
Bout of Books
I know that the point of Bout of Books is to just motivate you to read, even just a little more than you usually would. For some reason that’s just not working on me this time. In the last bout of books I read 6 books in 7 days. I stupidly thought I’d be able to do that again. The only reason I was able to do that in August was because I had two vacation days where I sprawled on the beach with my books. This week I just have not been motivated to read any more than usual. That’s okay, though, because I have a feeling this weekend will give me a bit more reading time. I am enjoying the books I’m reading (even thought I am definitely straying from my initial TBR), but I just can’t motivate myself to sit down and read. I did, however, cheat and read a short story that I counted as half of a book towards my goal of 7. I also feel like a cheater because it counted towards my Goodreads goal. Oh well.
Stacy Jay and the Kickstarter Controversy
Sigh. Was the book blogging community always this volatile? I feel like there have been some major shakeups in the last few months. Between #HaleNo and this recent issue with Kickstarter, I don’t know what’s going on. I’ve had Princess of Thorns on my TBR for a while because every blogger seemed to really love it. I bought the Kindle book a week or two ago. When I saw people sharing a link to support a Kickstarter campaign to support a sequel to the book, I thought it was a great idea. I didn’t even read the first book yet and I wanted to help her write it. None of the information in the Kickstarter seemed weird to me. I even pledged $20 so I could get an advanced copy of the book. The next day, I saw some tweets about how she cancelled the campaign and abandoned social media. I was confused at first. Apparently people were upset that she was planning on using some of the money to support living expenses during the timeframe. I can see how people may have an issue with that, but I didn’t. Her family needs something to survive on while she spends three months writing a book! It’s not like we were pledging money to keep her going and THEN would have to purchase the book as well. Supporting her with even $10 would pay for our copy of the book. You’re basically preording something. Who cares where the money goes? This is just my opinion. If you don’t want to support something, don’t support it. I’m very sad she had to abandon her plans and the internet. For a more coherent view of this topic, check here. And for more information from Stacy Jay, check here.
Accountability
This topic applies both to my personal life and my book blogging life. At work, blame is constantly shifted between everyone when something goes wrong. If my boss forgets to call a client on Friday about my candidate, she’ll complain on Monday that we need to keep in contact with them and make it seem like it’s my fault for not keeping up with her. Excuse me, be accountable for your actions! Realize when you say you’re going to do something and then don’t do it. Don’t try to pretend its someone else’s fault. Own up to it! This has become a major issue around my workplace and I’m sick of it. I just want people to be accountable for the things they promise and the things they do. Don’t blame others when you make a mistake. Sometimes it can be little things and sometimes it can be big things, but they’re all important. Now this also kind of happens in the book blogging world. I don’t want to sound picky or presumptuous (I realize that beggers can’t be choosers) but sometimes it can be a bit frustrating. I don’t want to point fingers so I’ll keep this VERY basic. I fully understand that life can get in the way. Things can come up that prevent you from doing something, sending something, or working on something in time. It happens! I really get that and try to give people the benefit of the doubt. However, sometimes it can be frustrating when you’re trying to work on other things or plan out a TBR and things are not ready or delivered when you expect them. I was told multiple times that a certain thing was going to be delivered to me in a certain timeframe and it happened much later. Again, this was a free thing, and I’m GRATEFUL I have the chance to even have it, but I build my schedule around certain things and hate when something doesn’t come to be when I think it is. Just having a little warning about something being held up is fine! Just tell me! I don’t expect things to be handed to me immediately when I want them, but if there are some delays or hiccups I just want to be kept in the loop. Accountability, man. (Maybe I sound like a brat, but hopefully you get what I mean!)
End of Year and Beginning of Year Book Things
I’m stalking alllll of your end-of-year surveys people. And I’m stalking your charts about reading stats. And your “best of” lists. I feel like I haven’t added much to my TBR lately and I NEED MORE. (I should not say this. It’s not true. I have too many as it is.) I love reading all of these wrap-ups that keep coming out! More importantly, I’m stalking your challenge sign-ups. And your goals for 2015. And your plans. And your pacts to buy less books and be more picky. I LOVE IT ALL. GIMME MORE. If you’re interested in stalking my end-of-year things, check my end-of-year book survey or my statstics survey. If you wanna creep on the million challenges I signed up for for 2015, you can do that too.
I was enjoying my pad thai and Siege and Storm until my coworker came in to yap my ear off, as usual. OPEN BOOK = CLOSED MOUTH
— Lauren (@bookmarklit) January 8, 2015
I definitely try to stay far away from the drama. I don’t comment on it, although I do look into it when it pops up. The Hale thing… wasn’t that the author who showed up at the bloggers house to confront her? If so, then that I could see the uproar over. It’s pretty creepy to think that a disgruntled author would track you down, even if you were being extremely obnoxious online. The Kickstarter thing I semi-agree on. I’m one of those people who, if you don’t support something, then just keep your mouth shut. I could see where people would get a weird vibe since she was asking for a lot of money to put the book into production, in which case… don’t donate your money. My question though is, did you get your money back when the kickstarter campaign was pulled?
Oh god I know. The Hale drama was well-deserved, in my opinion. I’d hate to think that any author out there would track me down and yell at me about my thoughts on their book!
Yes! The good thing with Kickstarter is that you “pledge” a certain amount, so it actually isn’t billed UNTIL the Kickstarter meets its goal. In other words, if she didn’t make all the money, or in this case – if she stopped the campaign, my money would never be taken. I can see how people could definitely feel weird about where the money was going. The one thing I can’t stop thinking (that actually goes against what I said here) is that what if ALL authors tried things like this? If we had to buy all books in that way? That wouldn’t be ideal. I can see where it’s helpful, but also can see many drawbacks.
Major HELL YES to your accountability point – I face this in work constantly due to an old culture that was allowed to develop over YEARS, and part of my job is to change that culture. It’s tough! I’ve approached it with a whole new attitude this year, and I’m hoping it pays off! R x
Yes! I had a training seminar at a previous company about accountability. They were trying really hard to change the culture and I thought it was really informative. It’s such an important thing to use EVERYWHERE in your life!
<3
I agree with you 100% on the kickstarter thing. No one was forcing anyone to donate if they didn’t want to. The whole thing made me sad. I still plan to read The Princess of Thorns. It has gotten a lot of great reviews.
Your tweet = the truth. Closed book = closed mouth
HAHA Exactly!! I think I may read Princess of Thorns sometime really soon. I’ve been in the mood for it and think she deserves more POSITIVE attention. So many great reviews for it
I decided to sit out Bout of Books this round. Good thing, too. I’ve been reading the same book all week. It’s a middle grade book (so not that long) and I like so I don’t know why it’s taking me so long to finish it.
The Stacey Jay Kickstarter made me uncomfortable (but I generally feel that way about most Kickstarter projects that I’ve seen — the Veronica Mars movie made me very uncomfortable too, for example) but I just didn’t contribute and went on my merry way. Fortunately, not too many people on my timeline were posting about it. In fact, I saw more complaining about the negativity (which was *also* annoying because HELLO I AM TRYING TO IGNORE IT) than I did about the Kickstarter itself.
So true! One of the articles I posted on here actually relates it to the Veronica Mars movie. The part that truly makes me uncomfortable is, what if all authors tried something like this? I don’t want to have to “preorder” every book before it’s even written. There are a few issues with it and I totally see how it would bug some people.
a lot of people misinterpreted her campaign, they must have took it the wrong way when she mentioned her living expenses. HAHA I kinda understand why the bloggers would be so furious about having to pay for living expenses of their fave author HAHA it’s a bit weird. But they had no right to backlash the author, it was downright uncouth.
Exactly!!
Haha, I like how much you admit you’re a stalker in that last point. But you’re right, end of year surveys are a great way to add more books to your list. If a book has appeared on multiple “best of” lists, I can’t help but be interested!
And aw, I don’t think snow sucks that bad. For me, it’s the people! Whether they drive too fast and are reckless just because they have a big SUV or drive too slow and cautious because they worry too much, it just brings out the most annoying traits in other drivers! 😛 Living in the UK this past year I haven’t had to deal with it, but I’m sure when I head home at the end of the month I’ll get reunited with the annoyingness of snow. Fun fun 😛
The people are definitely the worst when it comes to snow! Driving in it is not fun.
Yeah I heard about the Stacey Jay KS thing as well. It’s really sad that she ended up cancelling it–I just wish the entire thing was handled better! I definitely don’t see the problem with her asking for a little more for the 3 months that she had to write the book. It also really sickens me that someone sent her aerial pictures of her house, ugh. Way to make someone feel safe.
I know! It’s one thing to disagree with someone but it’s a completely different thing to threaten them. It’s not fair or reasonable.
Whaat?? I LOVE SNOW. I’m a bit impartial to the cold, but I really love snow. There are lots of trees in my area so when the snow falls and collects on the ground and trees it just has the prettiest landscapes ever! I really wish I were doing Bout of Books, but I don’t have time 🙁 I feel so bad for Stacey Jay, especially after reading that blog post you published today :0 I think it just got blown out of proportions.
I think snow is so pretty… when I don’t have to drive in it 😛 I love looking at it but hate having to BE in it.
I pretty much don’t have time for Bout of Books either so I shouldn’t have signed up… oh well.
I feel REALLY bad for her too. Definitely got blown out of proportions.
Yes yes yes to accountability! Even if something does come up (which things do) I appreciate it 10x more when someone reaches out to me about needing more time, to change a date, etc! It shows that they’re being considerate of my time. I hope you have a better week this upcoming week!
Me too! Haha thanks 🙂