March Madness! (but not a good kind)

Hey, friends!

Some of you may be wondering where the heck I've been. Sure, I've posted in the past few days, but I did two cover reveals and two memes, and I completely skipped a few days. Well, there are a few reasons that have contributed into a ginormous snowball from Hell of "Mary doesn't want to blog right now."

Reason 1: This is the biggest contributor to my March blahs, but I have been utterly uninspired this month. There are three novels I've been reading for weeks, but I haven't finished any of them because I just couldn't get into them entirely. I haven't felt like reading. I haven't felt like writing. Basically, I haven't felt like doing blog-type work at all this month because my tank has been pretty low. This wouldn't have been a problem if I'd maintained my posts for Event Recap Month, but....

Reason 2: I cancelled Event Recap Month. This reason itself is the effect of some less-than-pleasant factors, but it boils down to the fact that Event Recap Month ended up not being as awesome as I had hoped it would be. It just wasn't working how I wanted it to so I unscheduled all the posts I had planned. This left me with very little scheduled content and none of it original. As reason 1 points out, I was out of creative juice this month. I could have scrambled to punch out some reviews, but I feared they wouldn't be quality posts. I once read blog advice that said you should put out something rather than nothing, just to get views or whatever, but I don't like that advice. I want my readers, you guys, to have quality material to peruse. I'd rather take a few mental health days of silence rahter than post meaningless drivel.

Reason 3: Hulu Plus. Since I was having a really hard time reading, I got hooked on a few shows. I watched all of Brooklyn Nine Nine in a week and am now all caught up on Star-Crossed. I think it was good that I cleansed my palate with some tv because it left me hungry for new books!

Reason 4: Real life got in the way. You know how it is. 

BUT there is some good news on the horizon!

Good news 1: I just read two great books in a row! Seriously, I'm feeling better already about upcoming reviews because I have things to say!

Good news 2: I'm finally ready to launch my new features! I announced Mary's Minute and Audio Adventures way back at the beginning of February, but with all the traveling I did, it wasn't a good time to launch them. March obviously wasn't good either, but it's finally the right time. Guys, I am so excited about these two additions to the blog! I enjoy memes, but these will be regular features that are all mine!

Good news 3: TLA 2014 is coming up in a week and a half! If you weren't around last year, TLA 2013 is what really kicked me into gear to be a better blogger. The first four months were pretty rough, but TLA opened my eyes to so many possibilities! It was absolutely the best experience, and I can't wait to attend this year!

Good news 4: I can FINALLY share my most awesome news with you guys! I've had to sit on this news for a while so it feels weird to put out publicly, but here goes! The Dark Days of Summer tour is coming to Dallas, and I get to moderate the panel!

So even though March has been pretty meh, I've got a lot of things to look forward to, and I hope you guys are just as excited as I am! Thank you so much for all your support and for hanging in here with me during all the blah days. I can't promise it won't happen again, but I'm going to do my best to...well, do my best! Blogging is a lot harder than I ever imagined it would be. There are so many things I never considered when I started. At times, I just want to pack it in and be done, but I'm glad that I have been able to keep with it, and I wouldn't have been able to if I didn't have you guys backing me up. So, really, truly, thank you.

Love,

Mary

Big News Part 2: Recap Month!

Lately, I've been talking about "big news" I've been keeping secret for the blog, and yesterday, I got to share the first part of it, my Find Me Readalong! Although due to an unfortunate blog scheduling error (meaning my poor overworked brain made a booboo) that caused this post to be published Friday night and allowing some of you to see this early, today I'm officially spilling my second piece of news: I'm declaring March to be Event Recap Month! March marks my birthday, which fell on a Tuesday last year. It gave me an excuse to give away some new releases that shared the special day with me. This year, I'm just going to celebrate all month long giving out a bunch of signed books instead. Any complaints? Didn't think so.

You guys know I love attending various bookish events in my community (or even events that are actually kind of far away), and I also love to recap those events. Well, last fall, I started to fall behind in all my recap posts. I was busy with work or it just never seemed to be a good time to post or I had a bunch of giveaways running or whatever. Well, in the past few weeks, I've been going to a LOT of signings and launches, and it's left me with a surplus of recap posts and a surplus of books. TLA is coming up in one month, and I really need to get some books cleared off my shelves for the new ones that will hopefully come in during the conference. More than than, I want to share all the stories and q&a sessions with everyone who hasn't been able to attend all the events I have.

So get ready, readers. Expect some awesome recaps (and corresponding giveaways) reeeeeally soon!

Love, 

Mary

Find Me Readalong

I've been giving some hints on Twitter lately talking about some big news, and I can finally share some! I'm so excited to announce my first-ever readalong here at Mary Had a Little Book Blog! From March 16-22, I'll be hosting the official readalong for Romily Bernard's Find Me, the first book in the Find Me series.

This will actually be my first time reading Find Me so feel free to jump in if you haven't read it yet either, but please also join for a reread if you loved it and you want to freshen up on Wick's story before book 2, Remember Me, releases. We're still hammering out a few behind-the-scenes details, but I can tell you there will be at least one giveaway with some pretty cool prizes and there will be a Twitter party at 8 pm cst on Wednesday, March 19. You definitely don't want to miss out! There's a sign up link at the bottom of this post; you can use either a blog or Twitter account. We'll be using hashtag #ReadFindMe for this event, and feel free to tag me (@knoxdiver) on Twitter or hit me up if you've got any questions.

Find Me

Find Me #1.1 
by Romily Bernard

September 24, 2013

Harper Teen

 

Summary:

“Find Me.”

These are the words written on Tessa Waye’s diary. The diary that ends up with Wick Tate. But Tessa’s just been found . . . dead.

Wick has the right computer-hacking skills for the job, but little interest in this perverse game of hide-and-seek. Until her sister Lily is the next target.

Then Griff, trailer-park boy next door and fellow hacker, shows up, intent on helping Wick. Is a happy ending possible with the threat of Wick’s deadbeat dad returning, the detective hunting him sniffing around Wick instead, and a killer taunting her at every step?

Foster child. Daughter of a felon. Loner hacker girl. Wick has a bad attitude and sarcasm to spare.

But she’s going to find this killer no matter what.

Because it just got personal.

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