Felicia Fredlund

Writer. Editor. Reader.

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What Changes and What Doesn’t: Poll Closed for What Blog Posts You Enjoy Reading

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Thanks to everyone who voted in the poll on what blog posts you enjoy reading. The poll is now closed.

It was really helpful to see what you all enjoy reading.

I always try to reassess what to do about my blog about once a year. I want to be sure I posts things you are interested in reading, and I want to have fun with it. So this poll helped me make some adjustments.

Just arrived in Japan on my 1 year visa.

Picture of the Month is the most enjoyed part of this blog so it will definitely keep going! Right now I’m thinking of doing a sort of mini-series inside it.

I’m currently in Japan on a 1-year visa, and I thought I could spend the next year posting one picture from each month I’ve been in Japan on this visa. That means I’d post a picture from April when I run out of already scheduled PotM posts (September would be the first Japan visa post). And then I’d post a picture from May in October and so on.

If this sounds like an awful idea, please comment. I don’t feel strongly one way or the other. What I have been doing is to go through my digital photos and post the ones that are interesting or pretty from across all photos I’ve ever taken.

Second on the poll is updates about my life, including writing, blog, website and other news. I really don’t do those posts very often, but it does lead me into the change I’m planing for my Great Entertainment posts.

A first taste of what my pictures from Japan will show.

I’m basically going to smash together those two. Each month I’ll write about books I’ve read, games I’ve played, movies I’ve seen, places I’ve visited, which I’ve really enjoyed.

That way I’m both telling about what is happening in my life through what I consume (plus this won’t be strict reviews so life stuff will get in there) and I get to share great entertainment that I find.

I’ll also keep doing the release news, but might do like I’ve done the past month (and will do later this month), which is to collect release news together. So the blog might not learn about a release as soon as it happens. For that, sign up to my (monthly) newsletter where I will tell of things the same month they happen.

Also more timely news such as special bundles and sales will only be announced there.

So that is what it looks like for the next year or so, unless any of the changes doesn’t feel great.

Great Movie: Mr. & Mrs. Smith

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This series of posts are about entertainment that I recommend when people ask me for recommendations. It also includes place-specific “entertainment”, such as beautiful gardens; it might be stretching the definition of entertainment, but I enjoy myself in the places I recommend.

They are not universal recommendations. I wouldn’t recommend a dark thriller to someone looking for something nice and happy; I’d recommend a romance.

They aren’t perfect or without mistakes.

Art is never finished, only abandoned. ~ Leonard da Vinci

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, great action, and a fun (if implausible) story: What more can you ask of a great movie?

This is something of a theme with me. I love a lot of the big Hollywood action movies.

When I heard the plot for Mr. & Mrs. Smith, I knew it would be a blast. Two assassins unwittingly married to each other going through marriage counseling.

Plus I enjoy watching those two actors and several of their movies are my favorites.

I also enjoyed how the story was told. When they switched between different times in the couple’s life and when it went to the counseling.

Admittedly, I really don’t know much about how to make a great movie. Like camera angles, when to cut, how to cut, what to leave out, how to… everything.

All I know is I really loved how they did it in this movie. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Take it or leave, but if you tend to like Hollywood action movies and haven’t seen this one? Go see it. Then come talk to me so we can gush about it (I can hope!).

Which of My Posts Do You Enjoy Reading?

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I have a favor to ask you today. I mostly write this blog in advance, as much in advance as I can manage in fact because on a day to day, weekly and monthly basis I’m very bad at remember to write and post stuff on this blog. I’ve now come to a time where I need to write and schedule new posts and I started wondering which posts you, my readers, actually enjoy reading.

I have therefore added a poll below (which closes on July 15th, so please vote before then). If you are reading this in an email, you’ll need to click through to my site to actually participate.

Basically, I’m looking for a feel of what is being read and what is enjoyed. I’ll probably add more of those and maybe completely drop something if no one is that interested. It might also make me change things up.

So please answer honestly about what you actually enjoy reading most of the time. I think I added all types of posts and at least one I divided into two options.

Please comment on this post if you have any additions to your vote whether praise, critique, or an option I missed that you wanted. Also if you have any suggestions for things I could write about on my blog, feel free to add that too.

I can’t promise I will take any specific actions. I thought however that I should ask for your input before I potentially changed things up.

Thank you for your time! <3

Here is the poll:

Obs! The poll closes on July 15, so please vote before then!

Great Books: Mercy Thompson, and Alpha and Omega by Patricia Briggs

Posted:

This series of posts are about entertainment that I recommend when people ask me for recommendations. It also includes place-specific “entertainment”, such as beautiful gardens; it might be stretching the definition of entertainment, but I enjoy myself in the places I recommend.

They are not universal recommendations. I wouldn’t recommend a dark thriller to someone looking for something nice and happy; I’d recommend a romance.

They aren’t perfect or without mistakes.

Art is never finished, only abandoned. ~ Leonard da Vinci

Mercy Thompson, and Alpha and Omega by Patricia Briggs

This post covers a fictional world/universe more than a specific series.

Some time in the early 2000s I picked up Moon Called by Patricia Briggs. It was the start of a few years of reading urban fantasy and paranormal romance, mostly because of Briggs’ book.

The cover you see for the book to the right is the cover of the mass market paperback I bought back then, and the reason I picked the book up up.

It is a gorgeous cover by the artist Dan dos Santos. Yes, it was gorgeous enough that I actually looked up and made sure to remember the artist’s name.

Moon Called is the first book in the Mercy Thompson series. An urban fantasy series set in the Tri-Cities in Washington state, USA. It has all the usual trappings of a urban fantasy series. And it is great.

The main character, Mercy Thompson, is a coyote shifter and not insanely powerful. She is resourceful, have great friends, and a tenacity and protective instinct that brings her into trouble all the time.

She’s a hero.

Sometimes her thoughts in the books matches exactly what I imagine I’d think in those moments.

A couple of books into the Mercy series, Briggs wrote a novella also set in the world called Alpha and Omega, which turned into the start of the second series. That novella is one of my favorite stories of all time.

There are more short stories set in this world, most if not all of them helpfully collected in Shifting Shadows. A great read with many gems. Especially Seeing Eye. And any story with Asil in it. (Asil is always fun to read about.)

I’ve read every book and story set in this world. I’ve enjoyed them all.

Of all the urban fantasy I read for years, this is the series and author I still keep up with. And whose books I buy as soon as they release and read them until I finish them in the middle of the night.

I also reread them regularly.

Picture of the Month — June 2019

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Sailing-on-the-Baltic-Sea-2003
How far away might that piece of land be? I have no idea.

Three photos of three different waters from three different years and 2–3 different countries.

The first one above is of the Baltic Sea taking in 2003. I was on a sailing vacation with a friend’s family who owned the ship. I think we were mostly in Swedish waters, depending on how far out Swedish waters go, but we visited Bornholm on the trip too, which is part of Denmark. So those waters could belong to Denmark.

Second photo was taking in Boston, USA, in 2017. I was out canoeing with a friend. I had a great time and thought a factory looked pretty for once.

Structure-by-lake_factory-Boston-2017
Factory by the river, view from a canoe.

Third photo is from a middle-of-the-week vacation I took in 2015 a little ways outside Stockholm. I wanted to be a bit pampered and to take in some nature. And some nature I found! Really great. Back in April, I shared a photo of a tree from the same vacation.

Structure-by-the-sea_Sweden-2015
Not sure what that building is, but it makes a pretty picture.