hobbies

Off Topic Thursday: Non-Bookish Hobbies

Posted on by AmandaKay

Happy Thursday, book friends! My “traditional” Thursday post is usually a TBR Thursday highlight of a book I’m looking forward to reading. However, the thought of looking at my TBR during a reading slump is a little overwhelming. So many books I want to read, and yet, I’m struggling to find the time/motivation to read!

It’s totally normal to have reading slumps, and most of us have plenty of other responsibilities and hobbies to attend to that sometimes take time away from reading. So for today’s post, I thought I’d highlight some of the not-directly-bookish hobbies that I’ve been spending time with lately.

Playing Video Games

I mentioned in my What We’re Reading Wednesday post that I’m back on the Stardew Valley train for the cold months. I’ve loved video games since I was very young and tend to prefer two main genres: RPGs and “cozy” games.

Earlier this year I got back into the open-world RPG, Skyrim, in a big way. Then I got frustrated by a cave and haven’t played in actual months. So it goes. I’m also a huge fan of The Sims and farming games like Stardew Valley, which are more low key and involve just doing pretty mundane tasks and reaching goals you mostly set for yourself.

Watching Great British Bake Off

To be honest, I don’t keep up with much in the way of TV anymore. I just get overwhelmed trying to remember which shows are on which streaming platforms and I have to care about something enough to go seek it out. I do, however, watch Great British Bake Off whenever there’s a new season out. My friends and I have a fantasy league where we draft bakers and then collect points based on how well those bakers perform throughout the season.

My team is not doing well this year and I’m down to just one baker left, but it’s always an extra layer of fun to engage with the show in this way. Plus, an excuse to get together with friends on a weekly basis so we can watch together and agree to the point values.

Baking

I don’t just watch baking on TV–I love to bake in real life, too. Over the past couple of years, I’ve been baking more consistently and following my way through some cookbooks trying to learn new methods. I’ve learned a lot, though I’m not going to be auditioning for the American version of Bake Off any time soon (not that my friends haven’t suggested it.)

One of my sourdough loaves

Blogging

Blogging is honestly the hobby that’s taking up the most of my time this month. While writing itself comes pretty naturally to me, there’s so much else that goes into blogging that does take up time. I try to engage with other bloggers regularly, especially during Blogtober when we’re in our group sharing our posts each day. So, between writing my own posts and reading others, I spend most of my mornings with Azula doing blog-related stuff rather than reading these days. And right now I’m okay with that, because it’s still feeling fun and worthwhile for me.

That’s all from me today, book friends. What are your hobbies besides reading?

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What We’re Reading Wednesday, July 27th

Posted on by AmandaKay
Image created by the editor in Canva

Hello, book friends! Is it Wednesday again already? 

Time is flying by as I prep for new student orientation and the fall 2022 semester at work. While I am overwhelmed at times, I’m getting into a good groove and feel satisfied with my work most days, so at least there’s that! 

I have not done much reading in the past week, so rather than attempt to update the nonexistent, I’m doing another unorthodox post for this week’s What We’re Reading Wednesday. 

Let’s call it… 

Things I Did Last Week Instead of Reading

1. Scroll through Instagram reels

I wrote an essay not too long ago about how I downloaded TikTok for about 48 hours after marathon listening to an internet culture podcast. While I did delete TikTok, I’m not a bit more into Instagram reels than I care to admit. I find many of them cringey, but there are a few good trends that I enjoy and I end up scrolling for a while to find them. 

2. Fail miserably at baking bread

I’ve been continuing on my challenge of baking through an entire Great British Bake Off cookbook, and have arrived at the bread chapter. If you know, you know — bread week is always a huge challenge on the show, and so it was for me. I didn’t plan it out properly and tried to rush things so I could say I’d gotten the bake in. Only, bread doesn’t like to be rushed, and it came out massively underproved, making it dense. 

3. Go for a long run by the river

Now that I’m half marathon training, my long runs are back! Andy and I ran down by the river for an hour, then I made him take me to get a matcha latte and massive scone because the runger is real. 

(Incidentally, I am blogging through my training experience over at my other blog, Running Into Joy, and would love to have you follow along if you’re interested!)

4. Play Sims and wish High School Years would just come out, already. 

There’s a new Sims 4 expansion coming out on Thursday (not that I’m counting), so I’ve been playing the game so I can really lean into that anticipatory excitement. Once High School Years actually comes out, I won’t have as much time to play as I’d like, since August is coming and I’ll be working long hours with orientation and the start of the semester. 

5. Stare wistfully at my Kindle, think about reading, then do literally anything else. 

I really have thought about books and reading a lot over the past week. I just never quite felt like sitting down to actually, you know… read. Aside from a bit of light reading before bed at night, my brain just needed a break. So here I am reminding you, yet again, that it’s okay to have weeks (months, years) when you don’t read as often. It doesn’t make you any less of a book person, I promise. 

That’s it for me this week, book friends! Now it’s your turn. How was your week in reading, or in life? Let me know what you like to do when you’re not feeling called to your books.