Long time no see! It’s been *checks calendar* way over a year since I last wrote something, and I can’t express how sad that makes me. The evil combo of exhaustion and shitty life events became this epic burnout that ended up with me ghosting my own blog. This place was a labor of love and yearning for connection with a community that’s given me a lot throughout the years, and a deep wish to give something of myself to the genre that changed my life. And now eight years have gone by and not only have I made the connections I craved, but they have surpassed every expectation and wild hope I had. So it was really hard to come to the realization that I no longer could, or even wanted to, keep up with the blog, even if I still saw myself as a blogger/reviewer. But I also love the genre and love talking about all the books, and I’m proud of the way this blog made me a better reader, so when I had this sudden idea that I could start fresh and change the dynamic and talk about books again, I felt the same excitement and joy I had all those years ago when I first started to blog.
There’s been a lot of talk about the state of traditional blogging and reviewing. I don’t have the answers to the issues nor do I want to get into it now, but we all want to talk about books, we all want to discuss the genre, and we all want to maintain that sense of community, which is why I believe that blogs are (still) viable resources and places to gather and connect. And also, I want to do this for myself, because I really love it. So I’m going for it and instead of picking back up where I left, I’m moving on to a new blog that will have a similar essence, but with some pointed differences. I will only feature books that are at least one year old, so no new releases. I will write reviews, kind of, but they won’t be as structured as what I used to do, more like musings about the genre and the way each book fits within it. I want to experiment a bit, see if there’s an audience for a blog that won’t cover anticipated releases (please, let there be an audience for it!). I want to look back a bit, maybe revisit old favorites, or do whatever! I could’ve done that here, and it’s incredibly bittersweet to say goodbye to Romance Around the Corner, but I really like the idea of starting from scratch and see how the experience I’ve gathered these past few years shapes this new site. And mostly, I just want to know what it feels like to have a blog whose name isn’t a mouthful! The Romance Backlist won’t be a prolific blog, simply because I can’t keep up. I haven’t flexed this muscle in a while, and I had forgotten what it takes to write a blog post, but I want it to be consistent, so my initial goal is to write one post each month, which doesn’t sound like much, but at this point it’s the only realistic commitment I can make. We’ll see how it goes. If you go there now, I have a post up giving more details about the blog and the plans I have for it.
As for Romance Around the Corner, well, it will stay up for as long as Blogger allows it, but I’m saying goodbye for now. I’m thankful for every person who read, commented, subscribed, and emailed. I have met so many amazing readers and authors that I still can’t believe my luck. Even better, I get to talk about romance novels every day, and that’s all because of this blog and the community that welcomed me. It’s been an absolute blast, and I can’t wait to see what the new blog brings. I hope you join me! (*threatening voice* you better join me)
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