Kimberly Hirsh

🔖 Read The Endless Appetite for Fanfiction by Elizabeth Minkel (Fansplaining).

If you care about fandom, fanfiction, bad actors, and the pull-to-publish pipeline, this is a great read.

Finished reading: Trial of the Sun Queen by Nisha J. Tuli 📚

Like last year, I’m going to share some notes on my reading before popping the full list of all the books I read this year in here.

I read 106 books this year, including 4 picture books/easy readers. As with last year, I overwhelmingly read romance. This is about twice as much as I normally read, which can be attributed to two things: how propulsive so many romance books are, and the fact that I was freelancing and only doing that minimally from January through July. This left a LOT of time for reading. I read two or three books a week in that period. I’ve slowed down to my usual one a week since beginning my part-time school librarian job in August.

I did deep dives into the backlist of Kresley Cole and Sarah MacLean, thanks to the podcast Fated Mates. This podcast has been the greatest influence on my choice of what to read this year. I read a lot of old X-Men comics reading along with the book The Best There Is at What He Does: Examining Chris Claremont’s X-Men. I’m still in the middle of that project, which I started after watching X-Men ‘97. I think I’m going to pick it back up soon.

In just the past couple of months, I have really found my way into fantasy romance. My favorite and the series that really got me here is Milla Vane’s barbarian fantasy romance series, A Gathering of Dragons. It answers the question, “What if grimdark, but romance?” which is not something I thought I would want when I first started this tear of romance reading but actually is exactly the thing I want right now.

Here are all the books I read this year:

Hi Internet friends. I hope your December 25 goes swimmingly!

I’m coining a new aesthetic: Dark Twee. Think Jessica Day meets Lydia Deetz. A goth children’s librarian. More to come.

🎮 Finished The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom last night. Super fun! I love puzzles, I love getting to be Zelda without her having to be disguised, and I love that the world is still making new games I can play now that 3D games seem to give me motion sickness.

Finished reading: A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen 📚

Viking fantasy romance/romantasy. Not exactly a cliffhanger but not NOT a cliffhanger, either. Highly recommend. 🔥🔥🔥🔥

💬📚📝 “Writing is about communicating what’s going on. Now, if you ask me, what’s going on is that we’re all up to here in it, and probably the most important thing is that we not yell at one another.” Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Timeless.

💬📚📝 “…in order to be a writer, you have to be reverent.” Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

I am very resentful of my body’s need for sleep.

I’m planning to make 2025 a Year of Making, for reasons. (The reasons are that making stuff is good for my mental health.)

Finished reading: Bull Moon Rising by Ruby Dixon 📚

I really enjoyed this, mostly for the fantasy and emotional stuff. Love a nerdy heroine and a bull-headed hero (literally, in this case). The uniquely minotaurish monster romance bits were not the main source of its appeal for me. Definitely a very hot 🔥🔥🔥🔥. Not for the faint of heart.

🔖 Read The open social web is the future of the internet. Here’s why I’m excited. by Ben Werdmuller.

This is a great articulation of what’s good.

📚 2024 has been a good year for queer sommelier romances.

I am very behind on Lower Decks and I kinda need to just hide from the Internet until I catch up.

I’ve been writing in 750 Words for a few days. I’m feeling motivated to make notes on our travels from 2023. Eventually, maybe I’ll pull some pearls out of there and polish them up to continue my belated travel blog series.

💬📚📝 “The development of relationship creates plot.” Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

💬📚📝 “All you can give us is what life is about from your point of view. You are not going to be able to give us the plans to the submarine. Life is not a submarine. There are no plans.” Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Finished reading: Swordcrossed by Freya Marske 📚

Lovely! 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Finished reading: A Touch of Stone and Snow by Milla Vane 📚

I might love this even more than A Heart of Blood and Ashes. A mild 🔥🔥🔥🔥.

📺📚📓 Read The Great Experiment: race and authorship in Shonda Rhimes’s Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story by Claudia Calhoun (Adaptation).

This is an eminently readable and beautifully argued journal article.

💬📚 “I’m a student, not a guru.” Derek Sivers, Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur

💬📚 “When you make a business, you get to make a little universe where you control all the laws. This is your utopia.” Derek Sivers, Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur

🍿 I’ve watched still more made-for-TV holiday movies:

• Jingle Bell Run
• Meet Me Next Christmas
• Hot Frosty

Hot Frosty taught me that no matter how built a dude is, no matter how kind he is, if he’s a himbo, I will not find him attractive.

Finished reading: A Heart of Blood and Ashes by Milla Vane 📚

So, so good. I’m so happy to have found my fantasy romance sweet spot. 🔥🔥🔥🔥