Long time followers of this blog may have noticed that I didn’t write anything about the Hugos this year. And that I haven’t posted anything for a couple of months. This year, I’ve been feeling as if I’ve turned a hobby I love into a tedious job. Don’t get me wrong, the reading challenges are fun, and I have a lot to say about books… but I’ve lost some of the joy of reading. Not only that, but the perceived need to be up to date for the Hugo Awards means I’m reading newer books almost exclusively. There’s nothing wrong with the new books, but there are some older series that I really want to catch up on.

There could be something deeper to be said here, about the pitfalls of hustle culture and the pressures of modern life. I’m not going any deeper into that though; I’m whining enough as is. Point is, I’m not enjoying blogging that much, and there are other things I’d rather be doing. Both more ‘productive’ things, and more ‘just for funsies’ things. (One of those ‘just for funsies’ things is playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time randomizers. I usually stream Monday mornings, and you can watch here. I think I’m starting to get kinda good.)

But I’m not here to advertise something completely new. If you’re here, it’s because you like books. Fortunately you’ll still find stories here. Truth be told I have a Hugo post mostly written, but I’m just not feeling it, because I’m trying to move this site away from book reviews and focus more on my original fiction. The more ‘productive’ hobby I have and one that means a lot to me. Maybe I’ll still do reviews for older stories. I have a lot of old magazines I need an excuse to go through. But for now, I’m much more interested in writing fiction than reviews.

To that end, I have been changing things up on the site. The Homepage is now a homepage that links to my socials and links to my fiction, as opposed to my blog posts. I’ve also touched up some stories I wrote for the weekly writing prompts competitions over at Reedsy and posted them on the blog. The Wound-Up Heretic, about a prisoner whose reality seems to be unraveling, and Endlings, about a cruel dilemma facing the last human on Earth, are both available to read for free. Just click on the titles and enjoy. Short stories that I have written can be found by clicking here; I’ll add some more as we go, both quick writing prompts, and maybe some a bit bigger.

You may have also noticed that I have changed my byline from L.J. Holmes to Jayde Holmes. This is because there is already an author named L.J. Holmes who I somehow missed while checking out pen names. I figured I better change that now before things start getting interesting on the original fiction front.

And yes, things will be getting interesting on the original fiction front. Can’t say too much at the moment, but watch this space. There are things in the works. Very exciting news soon.

Until then, happy reading.

~ Lauren Jayde