I’m Baaaaack!!

Hello everyone! This is just a short message to tell you all It’s All About Books and me are now officially back from the Europe trip hiatus and back in action! Those who follow me on Twitter or Goodreads might have already seen it, but we actually came back from Europe a few days ago and the trip was absolutely fantastic. I promise I’ll give more details soon in a couple of Europe-related posts I’m planning to write. And yes, those include a physical copies book haul post and a lot of photos in general. 😉

In the mean time, please bear with me while I’m trying to get back on track, get everything organized, posts scheduled, reviews written etc etc. It might be a little longer before I can answer comments/emails, but I promise I’ll try to do so soon!

For now, it feels great to be back again. I’ve missed you all!! ❤ ❤ ❤

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You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram.  Facebook. Bloglovin’.

European Wanderlust

In a way I thought the day would never arrive, but time has also been going way too fast. It’s April 23rd today, which means as of today It’s All About Books will be going on a Europe trip hiatus! But not before I finish this ‘European wanderlust’ inspired bookish/movie post. Oh yes, what better way to prepare for a trip than looking up books and/or movies set in the countries we are going to visit?

So, below you can find my google map of the countries/cities we’ll be going to visit in the next month and also the countries we will be visiting in this post. It will be one intense trip with lots of different countries and cities in a limited amount of time (fact: there are so many amazing sounding places to visit in Europe, and it’s SO hard to limit them down!!), but hopefully this plan won’t be too crazy. *fingers crossed*

In short, we’ll be visiting The Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia, Poland, Czech Republic and Germany. They will be visited in a counterclock-wise movement, starting with The Netherlands, then Belgium etc etc. Why? Let’s just say we started looking up things that way and it kind of worked out. Or maybe I’ve been craving those Belgium waffles and chocolate way too much and wanted to go there first. Who knows? 😉 Either way, that’s the way our bookish/movie travels will go today as well.

Ready to start?!

Before we go to the different countries, I’m going to explain a little my choices below. I’ve decided to only name books I’ve actually read and movies I’ve actually seen. Otherwise it would kind of be cheating right? Also, I was surprised just how hard it was to find titles for some countries! I really thought it would be easier… But one country ended up with less than the three book/movie titles in total I wanted to mention and did’nt have a single book (Belgium, I’m looking at you!). I need to step up my international setting game!! xD

Upcoming Eurotrip Hiatus

Oh yes, it’s now official… We are going on a month-long backpacking trip through (Northern) Europe! I’m over the moon to be country hopping again along with my favorite human being A.K.A. my hubby. ❤ ❤ ❤

NOTE: It does mean It’s All About Books will go on an Eurotrip hiatus from April 23rd to June 1st and I won’t be accepting new requests until after that date. 

Slump Monster A.K.A. Why I Disappeared

No, It’s All About Books didn’t close for business and I’m still alive… I’m sad to admit that I’m still fighting a very VERY stubborn reading and blogging slump I can’t seem to get rid of. I first mentioned back in July that I was close to a burn out and wasn’t sure how to remedy it. I even made a 5 step plan soon after to help me beat that slump and it seemed to be working for a while, but it turns out I was fighting a bigger monster than I thought. I never had to do this before for reasons other than a vacation break, but in October I was left with no other choice than announcing an unplanned hiatus. I thought it would be a short one and that I would be back before Halloween, but here we are with Christmas around the corner and I only managed to write one meager book review. Oh yes, the slump monster is real and waaaay bigger than I thought. Think Godzilla, think Sauron In LOTR, think Demogorgon/Shadow Monster in Stranger Things, think… Well, you get the idea. Even sitting down and writing down this post took me WEEKS, that’s how bad especially the blogging slump is. I did get back to reading, although I read a lot less books than before, and managed to finish a dozen books or so including IT since October. But the blogging slump is a true unbeatable monster. I guess it didn’t help either that as I slowly started finishing books again, pending reviews started piling up as well as ARC deadlines and other blogging responsabilities. Adding more and more pressure to get started again and only feeding the monster instead of defeating it.

Trust me, it isn’t that I don’t miss blogging and the lovely blogging community. You guys seriously rock and I miss you dearly! ❤ Basically it’s the only reason you can still find me lurking in the background on Twitter and Instagram… But I really miss being around more actively.

So here is me saying sorry if I haven’t visited your blog, answered your comment or mail or simply haven’t been around. Sorry for all those missed deadlines and not reading books in time. It wasn’t me, it was the slump monster… I’m hoping to write a couple of posts on what I’ve been reading and a few other things in the next week or so, and start slowly with those pending reviews and deadlines afterwards. Please bear with me while I do so and slowly catch up with everything! Looking forward to be back. ❤

P.S. Here’s some pet spam to start making up for having disappeared on you all. Our cats Lila and Jasmine and dog Paco say hello!

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You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Bloglovin’.

Unplanned Hiatus

Some might have noticed I have been quite absent lately… I haven’t disappeared, but I realized I’m in desperate need of a break. Sure part of the disappearance act was due to the fact I was out of town during the last couple of days, but it also has to do with my headstrong blogging slump that doesn’t seem to go away. Not only that, but I also haven’t finished one single book yet this month; something that hasn’t happened in a loooooong time. Reading slump? A new crochet addiction? I’m not sure, but I just haven’t been feeling like reading or blogging much this month and while I feel sad to admit this, I really need a break and focus on my personal life right now. So I’ve decided to go on an unplanned hiatus until I feel like blogging and reading again… You might see me on Twitter sometimes, but I’m putting my Instagram/Litsy accounts on hold as well as my blog for now. I might post a review or two since I have a few ARC deadlines coming up, but otherwise It’s All About Books will go on a very needed vacation. Hopefully I’ll be back before Halloween!

I’ll miss you all until then. ❤

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You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Bloglovin’.

Beat That Slump! My 5 Step Plan To Get My Mojo Back

First of all a huge thank you for the overwhelming response to my post this Monday! You guys have truly shown and reconfirmed just how awesome our bookish community really is. ❤ ❤ ❤ And it’s one of the reasons I would never be able to quit book blogging completely. So to all of you out there:

So many people have left their kind words and tips and advice and I’m still feeling warm and fuzzy inside whenever I think about it. Thank you all for being so awesome! ❤ ❤ ❤ To be honest, just writing that post has been a form of therapy already, but I’ve decided to use the feedback to make my own plan to get back on track. This is mostly my personal view on ‘getting my mojo’ back and I by no means claim this is the perfect or right way of beating a slump… But I’m just putting it out there in case it will be useful to someone else suffering from something similar.

So here we go… My 5 Step Plan to get my mojo back and beat that slump!

​DANGER DANGER: ARC Overload & Possible Blogging Slump

To be honest, I’ve been seeing it coming for a while now… I thought I was able to control it and finish my ARC pile on time, but it seems like last week the bomb finally imploded. Because… *insert Jaws theme here* I think I’m now officially in a blogging and maybe even a reading slump. 😣 

Let’s talk about ARCs first. Advanced Review Copies; the dream of every bookworm and aspiring bookblogger right? It’s a true honor to be able to receive one of those and I was always stoked whenever I was offered one. But… Things have slowly grown out of control ever since I signed up for Netgalley last year. While it on one hand has been one of the most positive experiences during my time as a blogger and has helped me introduce my blog to social media and reach a bigger audience, it also has a darker side. 100% my fault, but I’ve learned the hard way (like many others I’m suspecting) that it’s VERY hard to resist all those pretty titles and request buttons and things can spin out of control quickly. Don’t get me wrong, I would never change or give up my Netgalley experience, but I do feel I need to change my own habits urgently. Why? Let’s just say I have earned the shiny 100 NG reviews badge already and it has been only a year since I signed up… And more concretely, out of the 120 books I’ve read so far a whopping 75% were ARCs. As much as I’ve enjoyed reading most of them and quite a few made it to my favorites list, it also means I had to neglect my other books and those poor titles have been piling up and gathering dust ever since. Again, don’t get me wrong, I love my ARCs, but lately I’m having the feeling it has become a fulltime job keeping up with them and it has taken the fun out of reading. Conclusion: I’m suffering from an ARC overload. 

Now I wonder: what to do about it? Put those ARCs on hold and just read my own titles in my own pace? What about the upcoming deadlines? Should I compromise? Answer: I really don’t know right now. But I do know I need to do SOMETHING before it’s too late. 

And that’s where the second part comes in: the blogging slump. This is mostly related to the previously mentioned ARC overload and the fact that I feel blogging has become more of a job instead of a fun hobby. It has taken me a lot of willpower and the help of the magical existence of scheduling posts and weekly memes to keep up the new posts on my blog… Because if I have to be honest I have been having mixed feelings about blogging for a while now. Trust me, it isn’t the blogging community; love you all! ❤ But somehow I’m not having as much fun with it all as before. Too much ARC pressure? Should I slow down with social media? Stop posting every day? Make some drastic changes? Take a break? I’m not sure. But again I’m feeling the need to do SOMETHING, because I realised during the weekend (in which I barely had time to read let alone blog) that I have been neglecting my personal life to keep up with my blog.

So I’m reaching out to all of you with the questions: has this ever happened to you before? And what did you do to improve things and make blogging work for you? I’m getting pretty desperate here! 😅