2012 Blogger Goals

Happy New Year's Day, everybody!

Wow.. 2011 was kind of crazy, wasn't it? I can't believe how fast it flew by! At the beginning of last year, I had a lot of goals that I wanted to accomplish as a book blogger. Some things I accomplished, some things I did not. Obviously, this biggest curve ball for me last year was my cervical cancer debacle. Thanks to the surgery, recovery and so many other things that followed.. I got really behind on this blog. I don't want to do that again. Ever.

Since it's the beginning of a new year, I thought I would go ahead and write down things I'd like to accomplish and goals I'd like to achieve as a book blogger in 2012. Hopefully these plans will help to improve not only myself, but the quality of content found on this blog.

1. Download my blog weekly. I've heard too many horror stories of blogs disappearing and people losing all of their hard work. I invest entirely too much of my life in this blog to have it all go missing on a whim.
2. Schedule posts 2+ weeks in advance. This was going well for me last year until Blogger decided to mess things up. I think (and hope) I have it fixed. Unfortunately, I have to start from scratch.
3. Bring Before & After feature back permanently. This was one of those things that worked out marvelously, then life happened and I couldn't keep up. I have a back-up plan in preparation just in case something comes up, so I'm positive this will stay around.
4. Post author profiles frequently. The best way for people to discover new authors is to have a source of information on them at hand. I plan on making it a habit to post about new, old and favorite authors as much as possible.
5. Update all information on this blog. New navigation, updated links, new tagging system, etc.. all in hopes to succeed where I failed last year.
6. Be more available. Last year's phone debacles (yes, plural - I went through a few Blackberry Curves) and the fact that I was out of town a lot really hindered my communication relating to this blog. I just put a nice chunk of money into a better phone that seems up to par for all of my needs, so I'm hoping this is already fixed.
7. Post more reviews. Upon reviewing my 'read' list on Goodreads, I discovered that I have not posted nearly as many reviews as I have read books.. and this makes me sad. This year, I not only need to review books as I read them, but also review books I've already read to post on the blog. The more information out there, the better.
8. Find a more efficient template for review posts and utilize it. I want more information in a very organized way. I need to find a happy medium soon and possibly re-work all of my past reviews with the same template.
9. Purge my Gmail account. Since August, my inbox has been a hot mess. I need to clean it up, then go through and get rid of e-mails in folders that are not longer needed.
10. Update contacts. I have a whole lot of contacts and a not-so-very-organized way of listing them. This needs to change ASAP.
11. Try a more polished layout. I absolutely LOVE my header and color scheme for this blog, but sometimes I feel as though it needs to be a little more professional looking. I plan on making a few tweaks to help settle that unease.
12. Be more social. I don't reply to comments, tweet or interact with all of you lovely people much at all. This makes me sad. It's definitely one of my priorities to change in 2012.
13. Just be happy! Sometimes, life happens and things come up. I need to stop stressing over this.

Well, that's it for my blog. I also have a few goals for my blogging life outside of Missy's Reads & Reviews. They include:

1. Be more active on Young Adult Books Central. I help review for this site and it's quite possibly the BEST site I've seen for YA books. Helping to make it one of the best sources of YA information is a big goal of mine.
2. Write 3-5 articles per week for Examiner. I've finally decided to hop on the Examiner bandwagon to get more exposure for my blog, books I love to review, and awesome authors. I want to make sure I utilize this opportunity to its maximum potential.
3. Be more efficient. I want to get my name out there as much as possible and be one of the many voices of books that people recognize. Obviously, this takes work. I'm more than willing to put my blood, sweat and tears into that work.

Understanding YA & Its Sub-Genres

There are many sub-genres that make up the Young Adult genre and within those sub-genres, there are some that are similar yet vastly different. In order to learn more about YA and all of its greatly used sub-categories, I thought I would make a post on their definitions and notes on those that may be similar.

First, what is Young Adult?
Young Adult is a genre of fiction that is written for, published for, or marketed to adolescents and young adults from the ages of twelve to eighteen - though the actual audience age range varies greatly from this.


YA Sub-Genres:
· Apocalyptic: centers around the end of civilization through natural disasters, nuclear war, plague or other disasters.
· Chick Lit: light-hearted stories that deal with issues or modern womanhood, though typically not considered a sub-genre of romance because familial and friendly relationships are just as important as romantic ones.
· Contemporary: literature in a post World War II setting.
· Dystopian: set in a less than perfect world that explores political and social structures, often characterized by an authoritarian or totalitarian form of government.
· Fairy Tale: short narratives or retellings that involves folkloric characters like dwarves, elves, fairies, giants, gnomes, goblins and trolls, often including enchantments and/or magic.
· Fantasy: stories that use magic and other supernatural forms as the primary plot, theme and/or setting.
· GLBT: includes protagonist that is a non-heterosexual.
· Historical: set in the past, oftentimes during a significant period in time.
· Horror: story intended to scare or horrify the audience, typically including some type of supernatural element.
· Mystery: deals with a puzzle element and solution, OR may deal with crimes that are not always solved by the end of the story.
· Mythology: explains how the world and/or mankind came to be, typically with a god or supernatural hero as the main character.
· Paranormal: stories including experiences that are unusual and lack scientific explanation, and deals with things like supernatural creatures, clairvoyance, ESP, psychics, telepathy, and/or UFOs.
· Paranormal Romance: stories that focus on romantic relationships with the supernatural.
· Post-Apocalyptic: set in a world after apocalyptic disaster.
· Realistic Fiction: tells the story of a fictional character dealing with real life problems set in the present.
· Romance: story in which the conflict and climax center around the development of a romantic relationship.
· Science Fiction: deals with futuristic speculations in science and/or technology.
· Steampunk: refers to time in history where steam power was widely used - usually in Victorian era England - with elements of science fiction and/or fantasy.
· Supernatural: fiction about angels, demons, ghosts, shape shifters, vampires, werewolves and/or witches.
· Suspense: dramatic work that deals with uncertainty and anxiety toward a certain action's outcome, often depending on a lot of tension written throughout the story.
· Thriller: story with a fast pace, frequent action and a hero that must thwart plans of an enemy.
· Urban Fantasy: subset of fantasy with magical/supernatural elements in a real-world, urban setting.
· Utopian: story involving a perfect society/world.

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Apocalyptic VS Post-Apocalyptic
The easiest way to remember the difference is this: one happens during (apocalyptic) and the other is always after (post-apocalyptic).

Chick Lit VS Romance
In romance, the story always revolves around the romantic relationship. In Chick Lit, there may be romance.. but it's not the main plot of the story.

Contemporary VS Realistic Fiction
While both deal with real life issues, realistic is present (now) where contemporary can take a setting anywhere from 1945 to present.

Dystopian VS Utopian
Utopian always deals with a perfect world, while Dystopian is quite the opposite.

Paranormal VS Supernatural
Supernatural always deals with JUST unearthly beings where as paranormal may deal with humans with extraordinary abilities.