Back to Books

I used to write about books. This isn't my first blog (that was Xanga), or even my second. More recently than my high school Xanga, I wrote on jennakristine.com on wordpress for a bunch of years—irregularly—and at least half the time it was just about books. Short blurbs of a handful of reads, longer reviews occasionally, collages of everything I wanted to read in the coming season, you get it.

Back when my books per year count leaned towards 100, it wasn't too hard to write about them.

2017 was the first, and only, year I hit that 100 goal—throwing several short books and graphic novels in at the end to do it. Repeating it right away felt unlikely, being newly engaged with under a year to plan, so I set the next goal somewhere between 50-75.

I managed 30. And then in 2019, 25.

And last year? 10. Oops.

I noted the idea for this post at the end of February, when I still hadn't actually finished a book in 2021. At the time, I imagined I was close to something changing.

I was finally engrossed in a few novels again (Circe, The Lovely War) and had others hovering on my nightstand for their turn (Queenie, The Starless Sea). I had a couple of new poetry books sitting around for a few pages here and there (Aphrodite Made Me Do It, and Margaret Atwood's Dearly. And about that time, a long awaited pre-order came in the mail from a woman I went to college with, and I was really looking forward to it (#ChurchToo).

Spoiler: I finished two. Circe (excellent if you like mythology retellings) and Aphrodite Made Me Do It, which... had a lot of pictures, but still counts!

Do I want another book blog? Probably not—but something feels off when I'm not reading, and if I can manage to fix that this year, you might just hear about it.

I Promise I Liked This at One Point

I used to write, I really did. I had a blog, I loved a good turn of phrase, I had an obligatory column in my college newspaper senior year as the editor. I thought I was going to pursue editing, or writing, or something with both. I was a print media major. I took words-focused classes. I read, constantly.

My last website, abandoned and alone now

What I didn't even really see for a long time is that I was also designing. In my senior year of high school, or maybe before, I started a 1-2 page newsletter for my class. Half of the thing was just mini profiles for them, and sometimes the other half was just a chance for our class President (hey, Tim!) to write a little letter to the class. I designed it in Publisher. It wasn't beautiful, but it was adequate.

What my class actually thought about it, I was never totally sure. Did they just humor it? Did they like it? Just how much of a dork was I, actually? But the thing is, apparently people like attention. Being focused on. Given a tiny, tiny platform. Seeing their faces and their friends faces on even an informal publication. They encouraged it -- and whether that was teasing that totally went over my head or genuine enthusiasm? Who knows. My best guess is that is was a little of both. And looking back, who cares? I enjoyed making it.

The summer before senior year I considered starting a school newspaper, but realized that making that happen would be way too big of commitment on top of every other commitment I had going on senior year. But at least I had the Jouster.

I didn't think too hard about it, but I eventually picked a graphic design elective as a college upperclassmen, and I loved that too. When I was editor of the paper, I would stay up even later (aka never slept) helping my managing editor with layouts. When proofs came back, I often sat and helped with the final InDesign changes.

And after I graduated and started a project-managing focused role in publishing, I found myself taking little design projects, web graphics and newsletters, for my old high school. Looking back at those pieces, it is extremely clear that I had not been design major, and was definitely learning as I went. But I liked it. And I kept making, self-teaching, and eventually trying out classes until I was able to pivot into a design job at my current company.

So here I am—mostly designing, but maybe it's time to write again too.