2022 Goodreads Choice Awards reading challenge recap

After reading all the great books from last year's Goodreads Choice Awards reading challenge, I decided to do it again. My goal was to read at least two books a month from the list of 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards finalists, for a total of 24. I ended up reading 28.

The books I read were (in alphabetical order by title):

• The Anthropocene Reviewed - John Green
• Apples Never Fall - Liane Moriarty
  
• Appleseed - Matt Bell
• Beautiful World, Where Are You - Sally Rooney
  
• Bewilderment - Richard Powers
  
• The Book of Accidents - Chuck Wendig
  
• Cloud Cuckoo Land - Anthony Doerr
• Come With Me - Ronald Malfi
  
• The Cousins - Karen McManus
• Crying in H Mart - Michelle Zauner 
• The Final Girl Support Group - Grady Hendrix 
  
• Golden Girl - Elin Hilderbrand
• The Good Sister - Sally Hepworth
• The Hawthorne Legacy - Jennifer Lynn Barnes
• Iron Widow - Xiran Jay Zhao 
• The Last House on Needless Street - Catriona Ward
• The Last Thing He Told Me - Laura Dave
• Local Woman Missing - Mary Kubica 
• The Lost Apothecary - Sarah Penner  
• Malibu Rising - Taylor Jenkins Reid 
• My Heart is a Chainsaw - Stephen Graham Jones
• The Night She Disappeared - Lisa Jewell
  
• The Push - Ashley Audrain
• Rock Paper Scissors - Alice Feeney
• The Rose Code - Kate Quinn 
• The Sentence - Louise Erdrich
  
• A Slow Fire Burning - Paula Hawkins 
• Under the Whispering Door - T.J. Klune

Of the 28 books, I rated 11 as 5 stars, 8 as four stars, and 9 as three stars. The average rating came out to be 4.07, which is higher than my overall average of about 4.0 stars for the books I read outside the challenge. However, it wasn't as high as the 4.11 average from last year's Goodreads Choice Awards finalists. Still, this was a great way to read books that I wound up liking.

I made two observations from last year that held true again this year. The category winners didn't perform as well as the other finalists, and there were more 5-star and 3-star ratings than 4-star ratings. This seems to just be how the list of finalists work for me. 

A new observation this year is the shift in genres I read. As I mentioned in a previous post, I've found that I read more thrillers in 2022. This was reflected in the reading challenge since eight of the 28 books were part of the Mystery & Thriller category.

NaNoWriMo 2022 recap

We've reached the end of November, which means the end of another NaNoWriMo. In my last post, I mentioned that I wanted to write more than 20,000 words this month because I'm behind in the first draft of my WIP. Well, it didn't happen. :-( I only managed a little over 15,000 words. Between an extremely busy day job schedule and a very welcomed vacation over Thanksgiving week, I had less time to write this November compared to previous Novembers.

While my word count wasn't what I hoped it'd be, NaNoWriMo did help my story along. In addition to the words added to the manuscript, I had several new ideas that made the story better IMHO. The most significant one led me to change the ending. I didn't throw away my original ending completely. Instead, most of what I had planned for the ending will now take place earlier in the story to make room for what I believe will be an even better ending. I hope my readers will agree when they read the book.

I still have faint hopes of completing the first draft by the end of the year. It means that I will have to conduct a personal NaNoWriMo writing challenge during the month of December. I don't have a word count goal because I don't know how many words it will take to finish the novel. Let's see if I can write "The End" by the last day of 2022.

Playing catch up, a.k.a. NaNoWriMo

In 2020 and 2021, when I wrote the first drafts of the first two books in the After Z-Day series, I had written at least 20,000 words by the end of October, used NaNoWriMo to add another 20,000 words, and wrapped up the first drafts by the last day of December. That was my plan this year as well.

Except that I've written less than 10,000 words of book 3 so far. I still have a few days left in October to make progress, but realistically, I'll be starting November with a little over 10,000 words written in my first draft. Even if I add another 20,000 words during NaNoWriMo, I'd only be about halfway done with book 3. As I see it, my options are to (1) increase my output in November, (2) write even more words in December than in November, or (3) give up on my goal to finish the first draft by the end of the year.

The second option seems extremely unlikely. Throughout my writing career, November has been my most productive month, thanks to NaNoWriMo. Although nothing prevents me from writing even more during another month, the psychological kick in the pants of NaNoWriMo has been undeniable for my productivity. I also don't want to give up on my plan to finish the first draft by the end of this year, even if I'm behind right now. Which leaves me with option 1. It's not out of the question that I can write more than the 20,000 words I wrote the past two years. After all, I've "won" NaNoWriMo before by writing 50,000 words.

So this year, I'm going to shoot for more than 20,000 words in November. How much more? 25,000 words? 30,000 words? I don't know. This will be an interesting NaNoWriMo for me because I'm planning to ramp up from writing less than 3,000 words a month the past three months to over 20,000 in November. Will I be able? Stay tuned and find out!

Changing reading tastes

 

If you're a long-time follower of my blog, you know that I've been a fan of YA books for many years (despite growing out of my "young adult" phase in life long ago). YA is the predominant genre I write in because I also love reading YA. When I came up with my favorite series, for example, 7 out of the top ten fell in the YA category.

This year, however, I found my reading tastes changing. I've read more books for adults than for young adults in 2022 so far. The top two categories are thrillers and fantasy/sci-fi, which are two genres that have been among my favorites for a long time, just not more so than YA. I attribute the rise in reading fantasy to my newfound fondness for Brandon Sanderson, as well as the general surge in interest in the genre through shows like "The Wheel of Time" (which I'm starting to read) and "The Rings of Power."

It's too early to say whether my shift in reading preferences signals a declining interest in YA or an increased interest in other genres. I've still read some really enjoyable YA books this year (e.g., The Inheritance Games series comes to mind), so it still holds a special place in my heart. I also don't have any plans to stop writing YA stories. Maybe next year, my reading preferences will revert back to YA. We'll see.

Hopeless is free this weekend!

For a limited time, Hopeless, the first book in the After Z-Day series, is free! Download the e-book from Amazon here.

If you enjoy it, try the sequel, Relentless, which is free to read for Kindle Unlimited members.

Release announcement: Relentless

I'm happy to announce the release of Relentless, the second book in the After Z-Day series and the sequel to Hopeless. 

Just in time to celebrate the 4th of July, Relentless is currently available in e-book or paperback format on Amazon. For members of the Kindle Unlimited program, you can read the e-book for free! If you're looking for an action-packed story this holiday, check out Relentless!

Description: 

Seventeen-year-old Sara Sanders survived the initial days following Z-Day, when zombies took over the world. She also reunited with her brother, whom she first feared was dead.

Preparing to face life in a new world on their own, she and her fellow survivors overhear a broadcast from an army base. The soldiers at the base claim that they can protect civilians from the zombies and provide them with some semblance of a normal life again. The base sounds like a godsend. It is what Sara and her companions have been hoping for in the midst of the zombie apocalypse.

But is it too good to be true? Is anywhere truly safe after Z-Day?

Cover reveal: Relentless

Relentless, the sequel to Hopeless, will be released soon! In the meantime, I'm excited to reveal the cover and description for this second book in the After Z-Day series. Look for the new book next month! 

Description: 

Seventeen-year-old Sara Sanders survived the initial days following Z-Day, when zombies took over the world. She also reunited with her brother, whom she first feared was dead.

Preparing to face life in a new world on their own, she and her fellow survivors overhear a broadcast from an army base. The soldiers at the base claim that they can protect civilians from the zombies and provide them with some semblance of a normal life again. The base sounds like a godsend. It is what Sara and her companions have been hoping for in the midst of the zombie apocalypse.

But is it too good to be true? Is anywhere truly safe after Z-Day?