Four Saturdays ago tomorrow, I launched a compliment tweetchat to coincide with my blog feature #ChocLitSaturdays! I kept the name intact, as it is through my readings of ChocLitUK novels I was inspired to create the weekly Saturday chat in the first place! I wanted to have this wickedly open forum for talking about Romance as a genre and as an enjoyable branch of literature in which we (those of us who enter the chat) can celebrate! I wanted it to start as a discussion based on the thematic inside a ChocLit novel but expand out & away from ChocLit novels at the same time so that it organically flows and sustains itself on its own merits. I believe I have accomplished this in the short time I have been hosting! I also am celebrating the moments where we talk about tea & chocolate as well, as those are two dear components to me! Even if of late I am consuming copious amounts of coffee! Laughs with mirth!
I wanted to take a proper moment to make an Announcement about tomorrow’s chat as much as explain what to expect in forthcoming weeks for #ChocLitSaturdays!
On Saturday, 17th of May, 2014 in recognition that nearly every ChocLit author who adores dropping in on #ChocLitSaturdays (the chat!), is happily attending the #RT2014 Book Convention in New Orleans,… I am not going to feature any particular ChocLit novel as I had previously scheduled the following sequence of novels to be discussed & featured:
- 3 May, 2014 – Flight to Coorah Creek by Janet Gover
- 10 May, 2014 – The Silent Touch of Shadows by Christina Courtenay
- 17 May, 2014 – The Road Back by Liz Harris
- 24 May, 2014 – Romancing the Soul by Sarah Tranter
- 31 May, 2014 – The Secret Kiss of Darkness by Christina Courtenay
As you may have already surmised and noticed, my schedule has been off-kilter since May started, and despite all my best intentions I have not been able to properly ‘catch’ myself up on reviewing the books ahead of the weekly chat threaded through Twubs. Each week I make steady progress, but as I had booked blog tours in-between the Saturdays, and with a limited time to read my readings were growing thin to accomplish everything I had originally set out to do! My only blessing, as my guilt on failing to publish the reviews has been quite intense is that I have the ability to schedule the book reviews as they are able to be written on my own time-clock. For this I am thankful to ChocLit for giving their reviewers flexibility for when their personal lives take center-stage and their blogging life takes a backseat!
April by far was a difficult month for my family and I to shift through, and by the time May arrived I was still finding my attention less on books and blogging than I had hoped. In fact, I was taking longer absences from weekly tweetchats and from posting to Twitter. I longed to get back into the groove with my readings and with my blog posts, but sometimes, when life intercedes you have to realise not only what is more important but even the best intentions have to be altered if time does not allow you the option to make up the time you lost. Therefore, this Saturday is going to be an open chat option for everyone who attends. I will get the ball rolling and look forward to seeing where our chat takes us! And, as far as my ChocLit novel book reviews!? They are already in-progress!
I was happily a quarter of the way through The Silent Touch of Shadows before I had to put the book down, and the review of it is happily being written whilst I read its engaging chapters,.. whereas Flight to Coorah Creek sadly has not had as much attention given to it as I simply have been trying to accomplish everything ‘at once’ rather than remembering to take it one book at a time! My new goal is to post both of these lovely reviews by the 24th of May! Thereby giving myself the breathing space to enjoy savouring the reading experience as much as giving my whole heart to the reviews I love to compose! It will also allow the ChocLit authors who are travelling and conversing with each other extra time to resume picking up their everyday lives once they return home from New Orleans!
I am projecting that my next official ChocLit book review will début on: 31st May, 2014 which is the last day of #ArmChairBEA (coincidentally!) in which I am going to be a #bookcheerleader! The selection is my next in line: The Road Back by Liz Harris! Extending into June will be Romancing the Soul by Sarah Tranter on 7th June, 2014 and The Secret Kiss of Darkness by Christina Courtenay on 21st of June, 2014!! You will notice that Flag Day, 2014 is being skipped over and I am so happy you noticed!
#ChocLitSaturdays the blog feature & the chat will be officially on *hiatus!* as I will be celebrating my thirty-fifth birthday! Therefore, please remember to mark your calendars that Jorie will NOT be online or reachable by Twitter on that particular Saturday!
I have been wanting to update everyone who has come to love #ChocLitSaturdays for a long while now about where my posts were and why my readings have not arrived on Jorie Loves A Story with the same frequency as they had previously. Please know that as your living through your life as it arrives at your door, you can only give so much and I was truthfully trying to become caught up before my absence in this regard was noticed overall. I truly love reading and reviewing ChocLit novels, as much as I feel blessed by the response to the #ChocLitSaturdays chat on Twitter! My heart has been filled with pure joy by seeing writers and readers coming together to discuss Romance novels and the themes contained within them! My spirits have been uplifted on a weekly basis and I am forever in gratitude for the happy joy everyone has tweeted me about what they are experiencing simply by being a part of #ChocLitSaturdays! The chat was my way of giving back the joy reading ChocLit novels has given me as much as sharing my love of Romance novels in general! Thank you for equally blessing the hostess in return with your candor, humour, and thought-provoking conversations!
Part of what I am looking ahead for June is composing supplemental features to compliment the forthcoming reviews as I have a few ideas in mind which I want to firm together. I enjoy hosting ChocLit authors after I read their novels, and I look forward to continuing to do so as their schedules allow.
One aspect of #ChocLitSaturdays (the chat!) I have not been able to implement as of yet, is an After-Chat Wrap-Up on Jorie Loves A Story! I will keep a bit mum about the details as I want it to be a surprise for those who attend the chat, but let us just say that it will not only compliment the memory of the chat but be a lovely quick reference for what was discussed! Whoopsie! Was that a spoiler?! Ooh, dear what would my Whovian friends say!? Laughs with mirth!
Being able to archive #ChocLitSaturdays through my blog has been a wonderful blessing as well, as I personally notice that even though I am reading the tweets as they alight through Twubs & Twitter (I actually go between three screens to keep the flow intact: Twubs interface, regular Twitter hashtag search, and my Notifications screen) there are moments where I have missed a reply OR a mention on a subject that was keenly being conversed upon! By going through the chat feeds to archive the experience I am enjoying the re-appreciation of what was said! And, I hope you all are as well!
In order to keep everyone in the loop on #ChocLitSaturdays (the chat!), I am curating a list first of who attends the chat regularly or semi-regularly (as you know by now that I am an easy-going hostess!) but I am going to be curating a new list of “whom to tweet” on Fridays or in the days leading up to the next chat! If you would like me to include your Twitter handle on that new list, (as only a few of you have expressed an interest thus far) please leave me a note in the comment threads! I will be happy to do so! At the moment I have been randomly tweeting those I know who appreciate the chat and/or expressed an interest in the chat. I never want to bother anyone, so I felt it best to create the list officially! Likewise, I did send a link of the archives to those I knew enjoyed one of the previous chats if they had not attended the last one. Everyone who does attend a chat will automatically receive the link to my blog posts as a courtesy and thank you for their contributions.
of Jorie Loves A Story
I want to thank everyone who has supported me in this new venture as tweetchat Hostess and I look forward to continuing to converse with each of you as the weeks progress! If you ever want to suggest a topic or thematic to be broached during #ChocLitSaturdays, I am only a blog comment & tweet away! Simply pull up the latest #ChocLitSaturdays blog post by using my Menu tab for “Features” and clicking on “ChocLitSaturdays” on top of Jorie Loves A Story! You will find that each Menu tab directs to a ‘page’ and each ‘hover-over’ drop-down menu option goes either to a threaded & indexed category on Jorie Loves A Story or to a page in which it is dedicated. Likewise, if you hover-over and down “Stories” you will find genre categories threaded throughout my blog!
And, I want to extend a warm note of gratitude to ChocLitUK for giving me the opportunity to host book reviews and guest author content to compliment the stories I am reading! I am savouring the experience and cherishing each author of whose book alights in my hand to read next! The journey has been one that I feel blessed to have undertaken and I am always a happy reader seeing a book parcel arrive on behalf of their distributor! Their authors are warm and engaging spirits of joyous blissitudes and I am forever grateful that my path has crossed theirs as this point in time! I do hope as time allows in the future, that I can meet-up with them at future book conventions or in the cities in which the conventions are taking place in case a book blogger or reader cannot gain entry! One of my long-term goals for Jorie Loves A Story is attending live events which is why it is included in my mantra for the blog!
This post is part of:
{Sources: #ChocLitSaturdays collage was created by Jorie in PicMonkey. Book Covers for ChocLit novels provided by ChocLitUK and used with permission. Jorie Loves A Story badge created by Ravven, with edits by Jorie in Fotoflexer. #ChocLitSaturdays Twitter Chat Badge created by Jorie in PicMonkey. }
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.
Saturday nights are variable for me (I only see my OH at weekends)and we’re in the midst of Birthday Season here at Lovering Mansions, but I have such a blast on Choc Lit Saturdays when I can drop in that I love sneaking away to see what everyone is talking about! It’s like the best gossip loop in the world! Anyway, if you can include me, I am @JaneLovering…
Good evening, Ms. Lovering,
I would be delighted to include you! :) Especially after receiving such a warm compliment on behalf of #ChocLitSaturdays! Bless you for saying that about our group! I have become fond of everyone who likes to drop-in myself, and it is lovely to receive your feedback! Including how despite having a full schedule at Lovering Masnsions, you are still elated to nip away and spend a bit of the hour with us! Warms my heart, truly to realise how important #ChocLitSaturdays has become to others, and how we all feel genuinely connected to the meet-up as well as each other! :) I will add you to the Alerts!
Many blessings to you & your family!
And, thank you for helping make #ChocLitSaturdays such a warm family of bookish friends!