Someone's Having a Birthday!

Happy Sunday everyone! I need to start off this post by letting everyone know that today is Michael Koryta's birthday!! So, send a little birthday love his way today. Best wishes for a fabulous year 27, Michael. Not that you haven't had tremendous success already, but may this year bring you much more.

A few other odds and ends to mention, since I've been focuses on Book Blogger Appreciation Week this past week. It was a wonderful week and my warmest thanks go out to everyone who voted for Jen's Book Thoughts in the awards. We didn't take the whole shebang, but the nomination means the world to me. Thank you! I'm so thrilled to have you all to share fun crime fiction book stuff with.

I received an email the other day that this onlinecollege.org group listed Jen's Book Thoughts on their 100 Best Blogs for Book Reviews. So, thank you very much to them for that recognition.

I am continuing to update the Twitter Crime Fiction Directory. I am planning to put a link to it over in my sidebar so you can easily access it any time. I have a lot that needs to be updated over there. I apologize. I've fallen a bit behind, but I intend to catch up. I have several reviews I'm excited to share with you as well.

This Wednesday at 6:00p.m. is Tim Hallinan's event at the Foul Play bookstore in Westerville. I'm very excited about heading out there to see him. I hope you will join us if you're in the area!
Tim has been receiving absolutely RAVE reviews for BREATHING WATER. Of course, mine were among them. The Poke Rafferty series is outstanding. So, snag this chance to meet Tim if you can!

The final topic for Book Blogger Appreciation Week was:

"Write in 50 words or less…what do you like best about your blog right now and where would you like your blog to be a year from now?"

I didn't respond to this one on Friday since I was hosting that deliriously fun interview with Kelli Stanley. But I did want to respond to it because it gives me a chance to reflect and to look forward. Sometimes I get so caught up in the "right this minute" - because there is a ton to do right this minute - that I forget to look forward or back. I may have to cheat a little on the 50 words, though. So, here goes:

I love the sense of community here and my hope is to build that even more. I'd like Jen's Book Thoughts to really be a meeting place for lovers of crime fiction to share and discuss. So, my hope is to continue increasing the traffic and the comments. I'm definitely going to continue to work on new ideas and projects and recruiting special visitors in interviews and guest spots. But, on that same note, I have to work on saying, "I'm sorry, but I'm just overbooked right now." I need to be better about staying on top of my reviews and not getting so far behind. That's when the quality starts to diminish. I wish I could read EVERYONE'S book, but this is not my full-time job, it's my hobby. And as much as I hate the fact, I have to remind myself of that. So, I'm also working on building in parameters. That means I'll have to work on staying within those parameters as best I can.

This was a wonderful Book Blogger Appreciation Week. I have to send out special thanks to Amy from My Friend Amy and her whole crew of helpers who made this week happen so spectacularly. And now it's time to look forward. I have another rather exciting week coming up on the blog. A very special give-away, some new reviews, and another special interview. We will also have another special 6-word memoir post on Wednesday. So, I hope you'll be back to enjoy all the fun.

And of course, we need to know the Bouchercon countdown: 25 DAYS!!