State of the Blog: Monday June 12th 2021

Scroll down for: What Happened and What’s Coming

I’ve been dancing around having a website built and working with something or other. I built a version of Mentally? A Magpie pre COVID. Had some reviews up, then left it for a more “streamlined” idea I had. Have an “identity” and an “aesthetic”, I thought. You’ll be more successful in getting what you want to get out, out. 

I wanted to help give a mirror to people like me, and I finally figured out Magpie is the way to do it.

As I was giving thought to this, Great Pods highlighted an old review of mine from the original Magpie. They reached out to me, asking if I wanted to be a part of an ecosystem of reviewers. I said why not? They set me up with a preview of Murder in Illinois to get a review up first thing. I got to work.

I brought this all up to a best friend, who happens to be my main brain buddy. Furthermore: he’s a tech wizard. I didn’t want him to because I wasn’t committed yet but he put together the bare bones to the new Mentally? A Magpie. He told me what I would need his help with- and he let me go. I’ve been bouncing ideas off of him, and he’s been giving me ideas based on my ideas. Thank you to Tristan.  

While I did reach my small goal: I did not anticipate this all being as difficult as it was. I recognize that I work better with more to do, however this was not really the best type of busy week to build and launch a blog on short notice. Not only are my boyfriend and I working pretty much full time, but we took the holiday weekend to drive his cat six hours from Pennsylvania to our home in Jersey. I managed to review Murder in Illinois, build the website, adjust a cat in a new home, take care of said home, and work. All of this while also being a human and you know, eating and sleeping. Thank you to my boyfriend for his support as I try my best to achieve dreams that have more of a general idea than a clear target. 

While I know there’s outlines of “how to blog” all over the internet, I think the fact is the journey and the method is incredibly personal. I need to figure out how to do this my way. Who knows what that will be? I’m just glad for anyone to join me in sharing the joy of curiosity. The train is built out of reviews for now, but we might just build other cars to take us on our journey. 

Things That Happened Last Week: 

Murder in Illinois debuted! Brought to us by iHeart. Hosted by Lauren Bright Pacheco, the one who brought us Murder In Oregon. Murder in Illinois examines the 2007 murder of the Vaughn family and the circumstances around the conviction of Christopher Vaughn. Is he guilty or is he not guilty? Read my full review here!

Things Coming Up This Week: 

GreatPods set me up with another preview of a new podcast coming out July 14th. An audio drama by iHeart. My review will be up that morning so stay around to check it out! 

Hopefully a review of Greg Jenner’s Dead Famous, An Unexpected History of Celebrity. I don’t want all of my books to be related to podcasts, but Mr. Jenner’s work is worth it. Also, I just got a copy of Sabaa Tahir’s A Thief Among the Trees (with Nichole Andelfinger and Sonia Liao). I am beyond excited to step back into that heartbreaking world.