Stories & Shout Outs #3

Due to visitors, a Yr 12 Graduation, Mr Books birthday and a neighbourly farewell party, Bloggiesta was a bust for me this time around.

The last Bloggiesta gave me Feedly.
I love it.
It's a great way to keep track of my favourite blogs...although it does need a tidy up of categories already....!

I had hoped to tackle that job and join in some twitter chats to get more great tips and new ideas. But it was not to be.

At odd times throughout the weekend though I would catch myself thinking about my blog and what I really wanted from it.

I love reading and reviewing.

I love visiting other blogs to discover new books, new authors and I love joining in discussions about the books we've read.

I also love joining in memes.

Over the years I have created my own as well as joined in others on a semi-regular basis. But the same thing happened with each one. I found myself unable to commit to the same time, same place scenario for very long.
(I also have the same problem with exercise regimes!)

All this pondering eventually led to my weekend ah-ha moment.

I would create my very own personal meme where I can talk books, housekeeping and blogging whenever I want to. A meme that is not tied to any day of the week or schedule.

So goodbye Shout Out Sundays.
Hello Stories and Shout Outs....on any day of the week that suits me.

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After writing the above last weekend, life and blogging have once again got away from me...which only highlights the perfection of my newly created meme!

To focus on reading this month I have joined in Andi's #15in31 challenge.
My plan is to finish all those half-read books by my bed before AusReadingMonth starts in November. So far I have finished two of the books on my list and reviewed one of them.

I also spotted Blog Ahead hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer and Herding Cats & Burning Soup. This is a great way to keep ahead of the blogging game by scheduling posts to be used later.

I need this for two reasons - firstly I used up all my old scheduled posts during the craziness of our recent move. And secondly, I have AusReadingMonth coming up and I would like to prepare for it ahead of time this year.

I'm not going to commit myself to any specific number as anything will be better than the big fat nothing that I currently have in reserve!

Kate @Books are my Favourite and Best recently reviewed A Little Life.
I really liked her discussion on "allowable weaknesses" as I felt this accurately summed up my feelings on the book as well.

Allie @A Literary Odyssey reviewed Liane Moriarty's What Alice Forgot.
I've read Big, Little Lies and The Husband's Secret and had been wondering whether the earlier books would be as good. Turns out they are!

It's a long weekend Monday in NSW today (yay!) It's also HOT, HOT, HOT.
Which means it is time for me to go and finish My Brilliant Friend...poolside!

What have you been up to this lovely long, beginning of daylight savings weekend?