Friday, October 29, 2021

Quick Sips 10/29/2021

2021 didn’t really go to plan. I feel like that’s probably the case for a lot of people, but for me I was hoping that it would be a year to recharge and refocus. I was going to cut back on my reviews, and I was going to get more written. That…really didn’t shake out. Instead, while my individual reviews got shorter, I added so many stories to what I was covering that it was more or less a wash. 200,000 words in reviews isn’t exactly cutting back, not in any meaningful way, and while I’m incredibly proud of what I’ve accomplished in this seventh year of short SFF coverage at Quick Sip Reviews, it’s not at all what I wanted it to be.

So, some guidance going forward, and a sense of what’s to come. I hope to close out 2021 as I’ve been doing it. Which is to say, change is coming, but I’ll probably still work myself into the ground until the new year, just to have that clean breaking point. I do this in part out of sheer stubborn pride, because I don’t want to be the reviewer that just walks away without any sense of closure or plan. 

After that? Currently my plan is to pretty much stop with most of my reviewing work on QSR. I will still be running my weekly Sip of the Week reviews/recommendations. I will still be collecting up stories for my monthly Some Queer Short SFF lists. I will still be reading as widely as I can for We’re Here. And I’ll probably keep blogging on QSR, moving my work to broader coverage of short SFF and maybe including more links to releases, other people’s reviews, and short SFF news like open submission calls. We’ll see. As of now I’m giving myself permission to do basically whatever I need to in order to take care of myself, as I’m absolutely terrible at that and 2021 has been the opposite of successful in that regard.

As I move into areas other than dedicated short SFF reviewing, I do want to take the time to thank everyone for their support not only now but since I started Quick Sip Reviews. I wouldn’t have been able to do what I’ve done without a lot of people, and I’m incredibly honored by the recognition and love I’ve seen for this weird little project that began and continues to be me just throwing my opinions on stories at the internet.

And thank you all for your patience as I try to figure out what will work for me going forward. It’s a strange, scary path for me, because some days it feels like not doing Way Too Much is letting people down, and that’s just a head space I need to move out of…somehow. Meanwhile, I’m doing what I can. My week off was interesting, though more stressful than I would have liked because of home repairs/roof work going on that ate far too much time and energy. So I didn’t get any of the reviewing done I wanted to. Luckily, I had worked ahead some, so am not in a terrible place. But yeah, I’m trying. 

In other media, I watched some shows, finished up what was there of Shetland (meh, though the co-parent slash is strong and I’m here for the Jimmy/Duncan). Watched the two new Vera episodes and loved them. Watched all of McDonald & Dodds, which was mostly fun, though somewhat strange, especially because it actually acknowledges covid. And now we’re rewatching Wallander, which is fairly meh as well but maybe that’s just the first few episodes. At least it’s got Loki? But yeah, it goes. Just…hanging in there. And I’ll be back next week with more reviews, so cheers!

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