Hello my friends! It has been four years since my last post and since I took my “sabbatical leave” from blogging. The reason behind it is very simple and something all of us do at one time or another. I was burning that proverbial candle from both ends, and in prioritizing my responsibilities, blogging was the casualty. Honestly, it was the easiest decision I ever made.
In May of 2019 I lost my job of four years and I had to concentrate on acquiring a new one, which as luck would have it, I did in June of 2019. And then in February 2020, I thought I would surely loose that job as Covid-19 hit, however the powers that be saw the potential to train me and give me more responsibility as they set me up to work from home.
I have been with this company for almost four years and truly, I’ve never been happier at any of my previous positions, and let me tell you, I had many! I started working at a tender age of 16, and have experience in many fields, from factory worker to retail to hospitality, from warehouse forklift operator to office administrator.
In between my fifty years of working, I’ve had periods of staying home and bringing my kids up and staying in a hospital bed trying to recoup from an autoimmune disease. Those periods influenced my hobbies and offered me opportunities to try other things, such as writing this blog and being a book editor. I enjoyed it all and did my best to do it all.
I started blogging because I thought it would be fun, and it gave me an opportunity to reach out to romance readers and romance community. It was one of my many hobbies and as I continued to blog, for some reason it became less of a hobby and more of a responsibility to compete with other similar blogs and offer worthy content. My TBR shelf exploded as I kept adding more books and looking for reads that would capture my interest. It was very hard to find something that would satisfy my thirst for new and exciting content. All romances started to look and sound the same to me, from their titles to the stories themselves, even from my favorite authors.
As I realized this, I decided to take a break and stop reading and reviewing. That didn’t stop me from listening to some books, mainly some memoirs (We Were Dreamers by Simu Liu is excellent listen!) and some thrillers (The Other Mrs. Miller was awesome!). I also switched from my Turkish watching repertoire (my Turkish isn’t fluent, but I can understand and converse!) to a Korean (and yes, I’ve started learning that language as well!).
Past four years have moved at a steady pace for me, even during the lockdown. I’m not sure if it’s because I am getting older or because I’ve changed my priorities, or maybe I’m just at this stage of my life that I don’t take crap and am doing only what’s making me happy. Surrounding myself with people that are honest and who make me happy to be around them. I’ve had some losses (my father passed and my fur babies too); my son moved from Arizona to Philadelphia and my daughter is living closer to me now; my steady rock is still my husband of 23 married years (27 together!).
The reason for me starting this blog again came from an unexpected source. Someone had read the content and wanted to know if I’d be interested in joining their team. I respectfully declined and shared my reasons as to why I stopped reviewing. They understood and told me that my content is refreshingly honest and to the point, maybe I should get back to it slowly? Make it fun again. With some new content added. Share my new interests and new experiences. See how it goes. No pressure.
This blog will not change its name. It will still have my book reviews (and some book promos of books that I recommend). I will not review books that I didn’t finish or books that I did not like. I don’t want to waste my time or yours. I’ll also review some TV shows, recipes that I’ve made or movies that I’ve seen and recommend. If that is something you want to read about, stick around and please drop me a line or a question. I’ll be happy you’ve stopped by.
To all of you that stuck with me and this blog, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Your bookworm Melanie
bookworm2bookworm's Blog 
I AM SO GLAD YOU’RE BACK! And, yes, please write what you want, when you want. No pressure!
Glad to hear and know that you’re doing well Melanie! It’s great to still have this space to come back to, to share our love of books, life hacks, and friendships, even if we aren’t as active as we used to be.
Glad to see you back! I really enjoyed reading this post.
You were wise to take a break. So few of us realize it is something that can be necessary every so often. My email and TBR lists are huge, but I will try to check in on your blog when I can. Welcome back.