Bout of Books, 8.0: the Wrap-Up!

Wrapping up my experience with Bout of Books, 8.0!

Honestly, if I were to look back in time, to when Bout 8.0 began, I would not believe it were possible that I would be met with such a unique set of derailments that left me wanton and desirous of more hours than the days could allow to be drawn forward! I earnestly attempted to visit each blog that I had scouted out in the hours leading up to the Bout, but due to massive technical difficulties in accessing them due to issues I only learnt the full extent of over Labour Day weekend [I needed to switch out my browser! Twiceover!], I fell drastically behind, and I am sure, most of the Bout’ers might have doubted my sincerity in returning to their lovely blogs! Its my intent through this wrap-up post to not only make amends and give my full attention back to their blogs + the experiences they triumphed through during the Bout, but to give a measure of grace back to myself knowing that due to the circumstances I accomplished quite a heap more than I originally felt I had!

Whilst I was composing my first [& unfortunately last] Austen in August post, I came to realise how inter-connected all the blogosphere events have been thus far! Therefore, forgive the [future] redundancy [in reading this twice!] but I am going to cross-post what I exclaimed on my forthcoming post on Pride and Prejudice, as a method of a starting block of how to recognise the hours as they shifted forward and how unlikely it became that I could continue with the Bout!

Whilst I launched JLAS, I undertook Austen in August, declared my intent to read Books of Eyre, contributed a piece to The Clockwork Carnival, settled into Bout of Books, 8.0, participated in the first Blog Pen Pal Exchange, encountered an illness, a 4-day migraine, technical difficulties during the Bout & afterwards [more than half the Bout’er blogs wouldn’t load – who knew I needed to switch browsers!? I *love!* SeaMonkey now!], waylaid by fierce lightning and thunderstorms, AND just when I was thrilled to bits about all the lovelies I am reading, the hours ticked off the clock and I arrived at September before I could make a backwards glance and wonder, “Where did dear August go off too!?” I even found time to sort out which weekly memes I want to contribute too: Sunday Showcase (#1, #2) and Library Loot being two I felt best to start on, prior to finding WWW Wednesdays! September started with a surge of excitement, as I participated in my first Book Cover Reveal [Love at First Slight by J. Marie Croft] and my first Blog Book Tour Stop [The Prayer Box by Lisa Wingate]!! All the while attempting to make headway on the list of books I had garnished to read throughout the month! In the end, I learnt a hard lesson: there are only so many hours by which you have to find the balance to accomplish everything you set out to do!

I decided that I would take a step back in September, arranging my goals into my day planner journal, and giving myself the freedom to have a bit more flexibility to truly enjoy the blogosphere events as they alight in my life! I feel like I couldn’t give as much of my heart to Austen in August, nor could I complete the Bout properly either! I need to compose my Wrap-Up Posts to where I can put it all in a better light and scope! Having said that, I would have been better to focus on a single read-a-long and a reading challenge, to where I wouldn’t have felt spread so thin! There is, of course, the addition of wanting to get back to my pen, ferret off dearly owed letters and correspondences to the most patient friends a girl could ever hope to know, and knit my UFOs into finished objects I can be proud of!

What the Bout enabled me to do, is to pull away from the inability to sink into the books that have been sitting on my shelf awaiting my attention for several years! I was able to sit in my comfy chair, sink into their narratives [and find that quite a few things have changed in the cosy mystery genre since my youth!], and drink in the beauty of the words that the authors created for me to fully realise their inner worlds of imagination! As a last best effort to make an enroad towards my last goal of ‘reading a bit of each book’, I read the first 20 pages of each book save The Lady in the Attic and The Crimson Petal and the White. I am at this point in time uncertain what to do with the latter book, but will be saving the former for Bout, 9.0 come January [2014!] as I embark on a new adventure: Reading Annie’s Attic series! :) I decided to go full-on cosy for the next one!!

Insofar as my current goals, I have already updated my intent to carry-on reading the rest of my Bout books clear through New Year’s, which correlates with my goals with Septemb-Eyre, Books of Eyre, and Classics Re-Told! Over the weekend shortly rising into view, I will have to set time aside to sort out how to incorporate my other reading challenge, which is my personal 70 Authors Challenge! I am sure most have seen the authors in the sidebar and were curious why they could not find a posting about it! It is one of those posts that was scheduled to go live before the end of the Bout, and never materialised!

I want to thank the creators of the Bout of Books Read-A-Thon Challenge for inspiring all of us to set up our own personal goals and motivations, finding our own path to embark down and for giving us the leeway to block out time to READ! :) There are times like these that I notice that collective reading truly has a gift for lending a reader the ability to break through a reading rut and dig back into books before the spell of enchantment is fully extinguished! :) In this way, I will always be grateful!

The 108 Bout’er Blogs that I Selected to Visit during Bout of Books, 8.0:

[To view my first impressions of their respective blogs you need to go here!]

1. Coffee Bean Bookshelf
2. Sarah Reads Too Much
3. Hopeful Happiness
4. Bookish Comforts
5. I am Sam Tule
6. My Readers Block
7. Doing Dewey
8. Afternoon Book Party
9. Books are Portable Magic
10. A Blog of Books
11. Lit Nerd
12. Bookish Geek
13. The Tale Archives
14. A Cup of Coffee And a Book
15. Snuggling on the Sofa
16. Little Lovely Books
17. A Geek’s Bookshelf
18. Estella’s Revenge
19. Paradise of Pages
20. Sophicated Dorkiness
21. Potterhead Reviews
22. Book Pairing
23. Book, Food, & Other Things
24. Books & Blockbusters
25. Read & Reviewed
26. Leeswammes’ Blog
27. Under A Gray Sky
28. Ink Scratchers
29. The Little Reader Library 
30. The Book Lover’s Chronicles
31. You Book Me All Night Long
32. Smiling Shelves
33. Curiosity Killed the Bookworm
34. The Temporary Escape
35. Mom’s Small Victories
36. It’s A Nerdy Thing
37. A Bookaholic Blog
38. Stacks & Shelves
39. Everything to do with Books
40. A Book Lover’s Ramblings 
41. Sharlene Says
42. Book Nerds Book Blog
43. Of Sunsets & Valleys
44. Snowdrops Dreams of Books
45. Student Spyglass | Geeky Zoo Girl (reincarnated)
46. Other Women’s Stories
47. Paperback Daydreamer
48. Curled Up with a Good Book & a Cup of Tea
49. I Blog for Books
50. The Book Sphere
51. The Book Barn
52. Just Another Book Lovin’ Girl 
53. A Blighted One
54. The Attic 
55. Undead Unicorn 
56. Christian Bookshelf Reviews
57. The Writerly Reader
58. GaGa Over Books
59. The Geeky Blogger’s Book Blog
60. Simply Dazee: Tea & a Book
61. My Seryniti
62. Book Beats
63. Stitch, Read, Cook
64. The Oaken Bookcase
65. Reading in Winter
66. The Girl & Her Books
67. The Cozy Armchair
68. My Not So Real Life 
69. Love YA Books
70. The Skeptical Reader
71. Pearl the Book Girl
72. Escape Through the Pages
73. Let Me Dream, Let Me Stay
74. The Writeables
75. Miles from Ordinary 
76. In Libris Veritas
77. Bemused Bookworm
78. Jane’s Book Blog
79. Beyond Strange New Worlds 
80. Teenage Years of a Teen
81. Always with a Book
82. Little Bird Reads
83. Booked on a Feeling
84. Pen in Her Hand
85. Vicky Thinks
86. Heather Hearts Books
87. Quinn’s Booknook
88. Pretty Pug
89. Must Read Faster
90. Bookworm in Barrie
91. Bookeater/Booklover
92. Life: Merging
93. Miss Reader’s Reading Adventures
94. The Polished Page-Turner
95. Listful Booking
96. Read. Run. Study.
97. Library of Mallory
98. Divergent Gryffinder
99. The Paige Turner
100. Devouring Texts
101. Of Nowhere Land
102. Paper Riot
103. Losing Myself in a Good Book
104. bookgoonie
105. Books Speak Volumes
106. Auggie Talk
107. Chels & a Book
108. Reading Extensively

My daily updates as they posted:

• Declaration of Participation
• Personal Goals and Motivations [archive post of Bout 8.0!]
• Oh, Monday, sweet Monday! [Day One]
• The Ghosts have Arrived! [Day Two]
• Flight of Freedom from the Reign of Terror [Day Three]
• Marching Forward with a Grin on my Face [Day Four]
• Murder Most Cosy [Day Five]
• In Walks the Reader, Tride & True! [Day Six]
• What is a Girl to do? Except Continue Onward [WWW Wednesday on Bout 8.0]
• Bout of Books, 8.0: the Wrap-Up! [final day: 5 September 2013]
• [day all of the above posts were finalised into their final draft: ? September 2013]

My Favourite Daily Challenges were the Book Spine Poetry + the New Bout’er Blogs,
of which are recorded here as well as on their respective pages!

Thyme [time] of death, haunted the forest lover,
[who was en route between] Lark Rise to Candleford.
The lady in the attic [was] murder(ed) on monday;
[her homicide was suspected of] death by darjeeling!
The secret papers of Madame Olivetti [was an attempt of pacifying the] bluebird,
or the invention of happiness!
[The key to all of it was] the crimson petal and the white!

I selected 5 out of 108 blogs randomly:

[Focusing on each of the bookish bloggers’ blogs for what I appreciated on their blogs!]

#20: Sophicated Dorkiness

#63: Stitch, Read, Cook

#25: Read & Reviewed

#10: A Blog of Books

#44: Snowdrops Dreams of Books

Then, there were some blogs that I decided I wanted to keep tabs on after the Bout:

The blogs that I am following (officially):

The blogs that I am returning back to every so often to see what is new:

Moreover, I am thankful to have had the opportunity to discover ALL 108 blogs! during the Bout, and look forward to seeing who is going to return for Bout, 9.0!! Perhaps, we will have quite a few conjoined events in our futures ahead of its arrival, and perhaps, some of us will know each other a bit better ahead of 9.0 beginning! :) I noted that some of you, gave me a nod on your own blogs, whether as part of the ‘New Bout’er’ Blog Challenge OR simply as a daily reference of a new blog you had visited and enjoyed!! I thank each of you for giving me a shout-out, as it warmed my heart to know you enjoyed the posts I was able to compose whilst the Bout was in-progress! May our paths continue to intersect!

My final thoughts on Bout of Books, 8.0:

The wickedest moment for me, was waking up and realising on Day ? that Squeesome Designs had created a completely new set of bookish + library love badges off an idle suggestion of mine! In the days that would follow, coffee love + foodie love badges would magically appear forthwith! I cannot THANK them enough for their generous support of bookish bloggers!!

{SOURCES: Bout of Books Badge created by Jorie in Canva to give readers & visitors who come to her blog a way to know of its existence and therefore increasing the mystery & lore surrounding it!! This is one of three badges Bout of Books uses for promotion. Seriously wicked bookish badges {entirely FREE!} provided by Squeesome Designs!}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2013.

This post is currently a work-in-progress due to various technical difficulties with three browsers, I haven’t had the chance to fulfill my goals to make this post complete. However, the linky closes soon for wrap-up posts and I decided to link this officially and hopefully before or by Sunday I will have everything the way I wanted it to be! Thank you for our patience, and please continue to drop back to see how everything changes!