My Plans for my Revamped Blog

I have a few plans for this blog, which I'll share here in this post.

Here are some topics I posted about before my big 2021 blog revamp:

1. Controversial Bookish Topics - blog posts about topics that have divided bookworms over the years
2. Bookish Dilemmas - problems (big and small) that come up in a bookworm's life
3. Historian Dilemmas - problems (big and small) that historians - whether professional historians or history buffs - have to deal with
4. Book Reviews - reviews of history books I have read (see examples on my Instagram, @historybookreads)
5. Discussions of historical based movies, shows, and musicals - a focus on cinematic interpretations of historical events or people and what I thought of them
6. Interviews - with a focus on historians and authors, my interviews are usually conducted via email
7. Tips - reading tips, studying tips, etc.

I do plan to continuing these topics, and I have some other plans for blog posts. My plans for blog posts include individual posts (i.e. posts not under a series), and posts of a series. Here is a list of what else I'm planning to post in the coming year:

1. Monthly releases - history book releases each month, both fiction and nonfiction
2. Monthly TBRs - my TBR list for each month
3. Reading Wrap Ups - wrapping up my reading, both monthly and at the end of each year
4. What Made Me Pick This Up - what made me pick up specific history books - nonfiction and fiction
5. Why I DNFed - why I DNFed a book
6. Pros and Cons - pros and cons of the different aspects of reading
7. Tropes in Books - going over the tropes seen in literature, and discussing whether or not I like them

The two series "Controversial Bookish Topics" and "Bookish Dilemmas" will be the only two series that have an overarching topic of books. Everything else - all the other posts that will be a part of this blog - will have the specific topic of history books, both fiction and nonfiction. Some of the other series - "Pros and Cons," "Why I DNFed," "Tropes in Books," and "What Made Me Pick This Up" - are at that strange intersection of fitting as a general bookish topic and fitting within the history and historical fiction genres.

I really hope 2021 goes well, both for this blog and for everyone in general.

Blog Revamp: Official History Book Reads Blog Restart!

Hi everyone, and welcome back to my blog! And Happy New Year's!

I took a very long hiatus from posting here to my blog in 2020. Once I had to go into quarantine due to COVID-19, it was really hard for me to do much of anything in relation to this blog. With quarantine, COVID-19, and my semester fully online, I felt very stressed. I had posts drafted and prepared, but I had little motivation to actually schedule posts.

I was also in a bit of a reading funk. I was doing my reading for my university classes. I was doing some personal reading, but it was at a more sluggish pace due to everything else not being so great. The end of 2020 did end up being better for me, but 2020 as a whole was just . . . meh.

As a result, I ended up deleting most of my posts here on my blog except for two (Interviews! (Precursor Post) and Interview! Helen Carr of Hidden Histories). This is because I wanted to start this blog fresh, essentially from scratch at the beginning of 2021. This blog really means a lot to me, so I wanted to really gear it towards something that reflected the subjects I'm interested in.

I will be keeping some of the series posts that I had on my blog - Controversial Bookish Topics, Bookish Dilemmas, Historian's Dilemma, and so on. I also hope to bring in some new series of posts. Thank you all for tuning in. Let's have a great 2021!