Closing out spooky season…          

And returning to SFF books.

I’m still working through some of my spooky season stack, but soon I plan to return to the library to grab the last of the books I selected back in January for my 24 in 2024 challenge. As a writer, it’s important to stay on top of what’s new in SFF—especially when querying, so I have recent comp titles to help pitch my book. I selected 24 adult SFF books published in the last five years, and I have several left on the list to finish before 2025 begins.

I’ve enjoyed lots of ARCs, audiobooks and other anticipated reads this year, but while trying to also stay on top of my ebook purchases, I ended up not going to the library as often as I usually did, so now I have to hurry up and finish this challenge!

Last year, I set a goal for myself to clean up my backlog of ebooks, some purchased and some freebies. I keep all this straight with Goodreads lists and a colorful excel spreadsheet, and I did a great job getting through most the backlog. I caught up everything except a huge download around Valentine’s Day of free fantasy romance books from new-to-me authors. I decided to let those sit a while longer and switch my focus back to my physical TBR and library borrows. I promised to stay on top of my new ebook purchases this year and I have done pretty well on that so far.

I still have most of those old freebies on my TBR list—and I joined BookBub this year and received emails about free books every single day, so of course I have increased my freebie backlog—but I hope to start prioritizing titles from that list in the near future. It’s really nice to try some new-to-me authors, and if they aren’t for me, I can easily quit and move on to the next selection.

After several mysteries/thrillers, I’m excited to discover new magical worlds and hopefully some new-to-me authors!