C.J. Milbrandt's Blog, page 8

Deuce Update

My ongoing serial, a Galleries of Stone prequel about how Aurelius & Ulrica meet, has updated over on my Patreon account. Ideally, this story updates every other week or so. Chapters are short, so they’re swift as Ulrica’s blades … but worth their weight in Harrow gold.

Become a patron!

#BookADayMay

Daily! I’ve used many strategies over the past few years in order to accomplish reading a book every day in May. Picking lower middle-grade titles (which are short) certainly helps. For instance, one year I read through the Junie B. Jones series. Most years, I lean into my graphic novel collection. I can usually finish one in a sitting, so I save up a pile especially for May consumption.

This year? I’m going to mix some of my challenge reads (I’m doing the Ranger’s Apprentice series ...

BINGO!

Wrapping Up March/April BINGO. Building a new habit can be hard. I always *want* to read more books, but making time for it …? I mean, hey. I have writing to do, too. On the flipside, I needed to increase how much exercise I was getting, but making time for it …? It takes time, too.

This year’s bumper crop of finished books is largely due to an increase in my daily step count. I can read while I walk because I listen to my e-books. And I sneak in more reading time whenever I have housework (o...

Wrapping Up February

BINGO All-Cover. Having two months to complete a BINGO board really works well for me. I was able to get an all-cover for Jan/Feb 2024. Already looking forward to seeing what the squares are for #MGCarousel’s Mar/Apr board!

Mid-Month

Bingo Update. I’ve found some really good books to fit the BINGO squares. Here’s progress:

#amreading

Reading Challenges

I Love a Challenge! As it happens, I run a couple of the reading challenges over at Great Middle Grade Reads, a Goodreads group that Elza and I run together. As per usual, I’m participating in the A to Z Reading Challenge, which means finding a MG book to read for every letter of the alphabet. And we also have a Series Challenge, which gives a gentle push to readers who’ve been *meaning* to finish that trilogy, quartet, quintet, or epic series.

This year, Elza has added a Read the Rainbow Ch...

Jan/Feb BINGO

The new BINGO board has been posted to #MGCarousel, and I’m already sifting through my To Read pile to find titles that fit the squares. It’s a fun challenge. Join in?

Grab your own BINGO board at Middle Grade Carousel >>

Top Ten

Picking and Choosing. I read lots of books last year, and most were pretty good, really good, and even crazy good. These count as highlights:

Are you following me on Goodreads? Please do! That way you’ll know what I’ve been reading & what I’ve been writing. CJ on Goodreads >>

Wrapping up 2023

I love books. Buying them. Shelving them. Reading them. Writing them. For last year, I squeaked through with exactly 100 books, which was my reading goal. Here’s my BINGO board from Nov/Dec:

Not too shabby! I’m already a handful of books into the new year, with reading challenges aplenty to spur me on. More about those in future posts. ~CJ