Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!!
You might be a bit confused by how my #WyrdAndWonder24 posts are arriving on Jorie Loves A Story this year – as generally speaking, I usually have my bookish blog kicked into high gear before and during Wyrd And Wonder! However, this year in particular, I’ve had a hard restart to my blog – I’ve been fighting for both the mental space to focus on it and the time required to write the posts for it. Both my jobs tax my energies and my stamina, as I have two jobs I work five days a week (ie. one is days, one is nights) but blessedly, recently, I spoke to my boss at my day job and requested a schedule change: one that would allow me to have a full day off and/or two full days off (from both jobs) and that has been making a marked difference! Both in my health and my outlook overall, as it would oft-times feel as if I’m working more than I am living outside of both jobs! Oyy.
This year, I knew I wanted to pair down what I wanted to commit to reading, which is why via #bookstagram when we launched our feeds for Mount TBR this Seventh Year, I revealled a short stack of books I wanted to focus on. I knew in my heart, that I’d love to spend HOURS doing nothing but reading or listening to fantastical audiobooks, but in reality, I don’t have that many hours to spare on such things anymore due to my work life. Ergo, I decided to hone in on what was speaking to me this month to read or explore via audiobook and that became my passage into Wyrd And Wonder. Some of the stories I was earmarking didn’t make the photo as their still a work-in-progress and others, will be revealled as the month shifts forward. Overall, I wanted to keep this year’s event a bit stressfree for me but also inspiring to realise I could focus on certain stories and authors and still find enjoyment out of the event, even if my downtime is more limited than in years’ past.
Also, new this year for me will be my #bookstagram feeds via @joriestory3 where I will be posting more content (especially the bookish variety!) throughout the month! I’ve been a bit stalled in exploring my feeds on there and have only had a few scant update posts instead! Oy. All good things come to those who are patient and my patience has been a bit thin of late since most of my ideas go sideways. I’m still hopeful for what I can do on there this May as well as continue the legacy of joy I’ve had in presenting content and images for our main @WyrdAndWonder Insta feeds, too.
As previously disclosed last year: One series in particular I’ve tried to read and dive inside is Night’s Edge by Julie E. Cznerneda. For those who have been following my blog throughout the years – you might remember how wicked happy I was to be on the latter novels blog tours for her Science Fiction Space Opera series #theclanchronicles and the journey I took inside that particular series (as I read and reviewed the series by order of the Clan).
I received the first two novels in her Night’s Edge series closer to the time I was concluding my visit within The Clan Chronicles. However, as I was soul-attached inside the other series, I found my transitions into her Fantasy world a bit difficult. I no longer have those issues with transitioning series but as I attempted to dive back into this last year (2023) without success, I’ve decided to break it down a bit easier on myself this year and focus on chapter readings and then, moving into longer spurts of reads within the novel in order to find a rhythm of the story rather than focusing on the fact its a lovely HUGE read which generally I would devour in a few sittings rather than over the course of a month or two like I believe it might take me now.
Part of why I have wanted to focus on this particular series because I knew there was a third novel in the series that would be announced as some point, too. Blessedly, that year has finally arrived and the new novel is called: A Change of Place and will be released in September, 2024.
→ I’ve been hard at work sorting out books to borrow from my library this week, as I wanted to include books I haven’t yet read and stories I’ve been murmuring a curiosity about to read as well. I’ve found inspiration from the challenge prompts this year – as certain topics spoke to me moreso than others and I’ll be hosting those prompts via our main Wyrd And Wonder feeds. For those who might be eager to know which topics I’m focusing on ahead of time, they are as follows:
- Swept Away Straits : which featured The Tales of Tarya by Rachel Nightingale – you might recollect my review for Harlequin’s Riddle.
- Hero’s Journey : featuring Quest Fantasy novels : 12th May
- Cosy Cottage : featuring the cosier slice of life fantastical novels : 14 May
- Standalone Isle : one-off Fantasy novels : 16th May
- Dragon’s Pass : all sorts of stories of Dragons! : 18th May
- The Waters of the Past : Historical Fantasy novels and stories : 27th May
- The Hidden University : magic schools and their environs : 28th May
Which of these prompts inspires you as well as reader!? Do you have any books or authors you’d like to recommend to me? I have been enjoying the discovery process as much as I’ve been enjoying re-finding the stories which befit the prompts, too.
→ One BIG change this year is that I am NO LONGER on Twitter and sharing my bookish life on that platform, so I won’t be hosting chats with authors and chattering via tweets anymore. I left my feeds where they were of course, and if things ever change for the better on there I might reconsider being active again (as I was one of the last hold-outs of my circle) – but for now, its my blog and Insta as well as whenever I sort out BlueSky, too! Laughs.
May has always held a special joy for me as a book blogger and social reader. I am wicked thankful that our community of Wyrd And Wonder continues to grow and encompass so many different routes of exploring the genre of Fantasy and celebrating what gives us such a fantastical presence in our lives. From books to films to games to music and everything else inbetween.
Are you ready to start the fantastical celebration?
What do you want to do this Wyrd And Wonder? And, will you join us?!
Fantasy truly is much more than a genre – it is an exploration of hidden worlds & themes which are universally appealling to a wide audience – crossing through all boundaries and uniting everyone together who finds a niche of Fantasy their jam. This is why we wanted to create a happy space to celebrate this wicked wonderful section of Speculative Fiction – to find the joy in what others are finding for themselves & uniting together to highlight every which way to Sunday Fantasy gives us a burst of #randomJOY and lifts our souls!
