Well hi there!
It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog post (what else is new?), and there is actually a good reason for that! Between the end of the school year, some general life craziness, and preparations for the launch of my debut novel (check this link out!), things have been pretty busy. Honestly, I haven’t had as much time to read as I normally like, and time for writing book reviews has been few and far between.
With that out of the way, let’s get to the meat of things. First things first: I do still plan to write book reviews. They may not come out with the same consistency as before (what consistency, you may ask), but I do still plan on continuing to write them, both because I’ve really enjoyed this activity and because I think it helps me as a writer to break down what I like/dislike about other stories. That being said, I do intend to make a pretty significant change with these reviews.
If I don’t like a book, I won’t write a review of it.
There’s a couple of reasons for this. One: there’s enough negativity in the world, especially online, and I would rather my blog not be a source of such things (at least when it comes to books. With regards to education…no promises).
Secondly: I’m a published author now (boy is that weird to finally say). And while I am, for the time being, planning on going the self-published route, there’s a chance I might try the traditional publishing route, too. As such, other writers, especially of young adult or middle-grade stories, will effectively be my colleagues. To me, it just seems in bad taste to write negative reviews of fellow authors’ works.
So if I read a book and I really don’t like it, I simply won’t write the review of it. If there are just a few parts I didn’t like, but as a whole I still enjoyed the story, I’ll write a review and post it. I also won’t be taking down any negative reviews I’ve already written at this point. But in the future, my reviews will be for books that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading. And with this teacher now in summer, you’d best believe I’ll be doing a good bit of reading (and writing!).
Here’s to summer!
Jacob Ryckman 