A Bookish Transition or a Bookish Phase?

The Lily Cafe is going through a change. I can’t tell if it’s permanent or temporary, but evolution is usually inevitable.

Growing up, books were some of my best friends. I could always depend on them for adventure and countless daydreams. They were a way of life for me. I needed them. That remained true until earlier this year when I entered the worst reading slump I had ever been in.

For months, I hardly touched a book. I thought about them. I considered picking one and reading it. I had a few books in mind that I really wanted to read. But I didn’t. It wasn’t until August that I decided to do something about it.

Over the past couple of months, I have been reading more. Instead of blogging, I’ve been spending more time reading, which is one reason why I cut down from posting 5 days a week to 3 and why I am slower at leaving and responding to comments. I’ve been happily enjoying books that have been sitting on my Kindle for quite a while, books by self-published authors that I’ve found through blogging, and books from NetGalley.

Yup. Definitely out of my reading slump. And definitely enjoying books at my regular level, though not at my regular pace, which is quite challenging with two toddlers who demand my attention every moment their eyes are awake. Which is the better part of 14 hours, plus the however many times my youngest still wakes at night. But I am satisfied that my love of books remains and has been renewed with a vengeance.

But it means there will be more bookish posts here. I am adamant that this will not become a book blog, though. I tried it and, after a couple of months, became direly bored of writing on one topic. No, The Lily Cafe will remain a lifestyle blog, filled with stories of motherhood, the fantastical stories in my head, the odd recipe, and general ramblings of a real life person who is desperately holding tight to her last marble.

With my renewed interest in reading, though, there will be more book reviews and probably more posts about books. I can’t help it. I love books almost as much as I love my family. If I could live on books, I would. My love of books makes me wish I had studied English in college instead of psychology so I could be an editor and live and work surrounded by books. I still have dreams of having a room wholly devoted to books, though. I’ve always wanted my own personal library.

But a question keeps looping back: is this a transition or just as phase?

I can’t tell if another slump is heading my way. Maybe I’ll fall into one in a couple of months or maybe it’ll be twenty years. Maybe life will get busier as my kids get older and I look for a job in earnest. Maybe I just won’t have time in a few months to do as much reading. Will that mean I won’t be writing as much about books or will be writing about the books I long to read instead of book reviews?

More book reviews will be appearing on this blog, but I don’t know if this is a permanent transition or just a phase and in a few months I won’t be posting as many reviews. If you’ve been following for a while, you might have noticed several reviews earlier in the year, but a noticeable lack somewhere in the middle. It’s hard to know if that’s going to happen again. I’ve been on a reading roll, but life happens. It might come to a screeching halt.

Regardless, there will be more book reviews popping up than before and likely more bookish posts. That won’t stop me from posting my writings and posts related to being a mom. But there will definitely be more book-related things as the end of the year comes up fast. As a matter of fact, I have two reviews scheduled for this week alone.

Is this a transition to a more bookish blog (after all, my tagline does call me a bookish mom) or just a phase? I can’t tell, but I hope you’ll come along with me on this ride.