Monday, August 29, 2011

A Few Changes...

It has been such fun, but I've come to realize Bookie Woogie will not last forever.  Oh, we'll keep posting for a good while.  But eventually, someday, we'll have to wind down.  Running Bookie Woogie really is a part time job for me.  I easily commit over 10 hours a week to the site, and it's an activity that doesn't put food on the table.

Bookie Woogie has been a labor of love.  Love for books.  Love for art.  But above all, love for my kids.  And those things won't ever change.  We'll always love books.  We'll always love art.  I'll always love, love, love my kids.  But... I may not have the ability to share all that with the public week to week.

I'm incredibly proud that up to this point, as long as Bookie Woogie has been running, we've updated with new content *every *single *week without missing once!  Of course there was that planned hiatus (the hiatus was planned... the length of the hiatus was not foreseen).  But for the 135 weeks on either side of that, we've had new content each and every week.  135 weeks!  Hip, hip!

But... that's the main thing that's going to change.  I've loved providing a blog with a reliable schedule.  Every Monday.  Like clockwork.  But I can't keep that up.  So moving forward, our posts will start showing up randomly.  It's not ideal, but it will enable us to carry on.

The mix of kids may be different too.  Isaac's starting to get all teenager-y... he still reads a ton, but he's off with friends a lot more, has a fuller schedule... reviewing has become trickier.  So for some reviews we might have 4 kids weighing in, other reviews 3 or 2 or 1.

Hopefully there are fun things to do on the site if ever there's a long stretch between reviews.  We've got a big Archive over there to the right.  And there's a huge post compiling 200 of my personal favorite books... almost 150 of which we haven't reviewed yet.  And I'm updating this Fan Art post on an ongoing basis.  And I plan to keep adding to this Wall Art one as well.

We're still excited about Bookie Woogie and hope you are too!  I've got at least 12 books that come to mind immediately that we're committed to reviewing.  And we have 2 Author Interviews already scheduled.  And we are always discovering more and more favorites.  So we've still got a good long ride ahead of us.  I just wanted to give a heads up about the changes coming:

Bookie Woogie is going to be less about having a review every Monday for Monday's sake, and more about sharing the very best books we discover when they cross our paths.

Thanks for sharing the journey with us!

9 comments:

Bridget Rieth said...

We think you're terrific...on any schedule! Hurrah for Bookie Woogie and good for you for finding ways to keep it a realistic part of your busy lives.

Heidi Noel said...

Sad, but totally understandable. I am impressed that with 6 kids you kept it up this long. I am following you guys so will know when you update and i will definitely still read it. Good luck!

Alysa Stewart said...

Sounds great! You do your thing, and we'll read it!

Anonymous said...

Sad! Have you thought about including a Tip Jar. Your work(and your kids's) on this blog is pretty darn creative, useful, educational and fun all at the same time. Very motivating for parents like me. Wouldn't like to miss it. Is there anything us readers can do?

ElizT said...

A very good idea.
We are lucky and grateful to have had Bookie Woogie at all.
All best wishes to the evolving family.

ldsjaneite said...

Gotta adjust with the family. Glad you'll still post on occasion.

Rose said...

I'm sad that Bookie Woogie is changing but I'm glad it's going to keep going for a while. Love this blog and love seeing people loving books.

Just a word for Issac...I'm seventeen, and while it's great to be around friends and do new things and constantly be learning more about the world, I do regret trying to be someone else when I was 13/14. So go explore and be a teenager. But be so awesome that even such an activity as being with your family and playing with lightsabers for a few days can't tarnish your awesomeness. ;) It saves a lot of confusion when you have to get back to your family after being in another world for so long. :) Don't mean to be preachy or anything...it's just something that I learned.

Jenny S. Morris said...

We love your blog, and whenever we see a new post we will pop by!

Anonymous said...

I love Bookie Woogie and as a first grade teacher refer to it often for reviews. Thank you for continuing to post - random is fine with me!!