I have this problem. Of the Kdrama’s I’ve watched, I have yet to complete reviews on fourteen of them. This is my Kdrama Review Backlog. You see, I began watching Kdramas in March of 2023, but it wasn’t until early June that I got this crazy idea to start a blog about Kdramas. Every time I watched a new Kdrama, I found that I had so many thoughts about it that I wanted to write them down.
My interest in writing started back in high school when I got my first idea for a novel. A Star Trek novel. Going to college and then later working as a software developer limited my writing time but I did eventually write that novel. (Never go back to read your first novel. Ever.) I have other stories in work and one big novel that is maybe two-thirds complete but even in retirement, I have found it difficult to get the writing juices flowing.
Then I watched one Kdrama, and another, and another – and the writing block in my head opened like a flood gate. While writing a blog is very different from writing fiction, it still involves the process of taking ideas and transforming them into the written word. For the first time in my life, I am finally writing on a regular basis. And I love it! But– things stood in my way. For one, I had never built a website.
Help – I Need a Website
Standing up a new website felt daunting. Fortunately, there are a lot of great website tools out there that helped me jump over that hurtle. Then, I had to figure out how to configure my site and deal with the frustration that comes with unexplained problems. Like the error in the menu that I could not get rid of until one day it was simply no longer there. Or the time when my theme mysteriously disappeared, and I had to reapply it. My site needed a few plugins which took some research and troubleshooting. (The plugin I selected for opening external links in a new tab stopped working one day. I could only resolve the issue by uninstalling it and using a different one. I have no idea why.) Don’t get me started on site security or the legal aspects of having a website. And I wasn’t even at the content part yet.
Creating Content
When I finally began working on content, I found that some reviews flowed straight from my brain to words on the page. My review of It’s Okay to Not Be Okay is one of those. Others took more thought and several re-writes. Not surprisingly, the time travel dramas, The King: Eternal Monarch and A Time Called You, fit into this category. Also, the office comedy/romance, Gaus Electronics, where it took me awhile to figure out the best way to express that fun and quirky show. Then there are the ones that I stall on but plan to finish – like my head-to-head review of Bloodhounds vs The Black Knight. Finally, there are those Kdramas that I watched before I started this blog. These fall into two categories – the ones that I have made a start on and really want to complete because I have things to talk about, and the ones that I only want to write a little something about.
Why Does My Kdrama Review Backlog Bother Me?
Having this backlog bothers me. I don’t know why. No one cares but me. Maybe it stems from the way I plunge into content that I like. I read every original series Star Trek novel as they came out until I finally tired of reading Star Trek. After that, I devoured fantasy novels – reading most of the classic series and then some. Somewhere along the way, I moved on to romance books where I discovered great authors like Lynn Kurland and Julia Quinn of Bridgerton fame. (Count me in as a Bridgerton fan before the Netflix series came out!). As my daughters grew older, I started reading the Harry Potter series to them and then continued reading young adult novels so that I could talk with them about what they were reading. (Which is what I told myself after completing the Twilight books, The Hunger Games series, all of Cassandra Claire’s Shadowhunter books, and Sarah Maas’s A Court of Thorn and Roses series – to name a few.)
Kdramas are my new content binge. I have over one hundred Kdramas on my watch list now with new Kdramas coming out every month. The line-up for this October alone has my mouth watering (Cha Eun-woo’s A Good Day to Be A Dog, Bae Suzy in Doona, Rowoon’s new historical drama, The Matchmakers). Maybe Korean writers and actors will go on strike and the content funnel will slow – like American television is going to do this fall. Hm. Not likely. So what do I do?
A Few Solutions to My Kdrama Review Backlog
Stop watching new Kdramas so that I can catch up on my reviews. I don’t like this solution. I have slowed my roll a little bit and am trying to not watch Kdramas as fast – but I really don’t want to stop watching them even for a while. Maybe I’ll re-watch some of shows where I’m working on the review or watch parts of them. That could work.
Try watching more Korean reality shows. This idea has promise. Part of the fun of watching Kdramas is to test my burgeoning skills at understanding the Korean language. By watching reality shows, I can continue to do that and get more exposure to how Korean is actually spoken in real life. I’m giving this one a try.
Set goals for writing reviews. This is a little tough, but I’m working on it. Thoughts about a show often need to sit with me for a while. I usually write down all my initial thoughts and then came back later to start the review. If things aren’t going well, my review becomes boring (i.e. a recap of the show) or circular, and I have to start again.
For shows that I don’t have a lot to write about, do something different. One something different came in the form of the idea to do bite-sized reviews. I still write about a show but only say the few things I want to cover. Bite-size reviews are in work and coming soon(ish).
Don’t write a review at all. Sadly (for me – because again I am really the only one who cares) some dramas may fall into this category. Or – they may wait for a while. I watched season one of The Arthdal Chronicles and decided to not write about it until after I can watch season two (which is not available in the US currently – argh). I do have things to say about season one – a show that I loved until I didn’t. Here’s hoping season two fixes the latter part.
The Kafenook Kdrama Review Index lists reviews that I plan to post. It sets my intention. Using the solutions above, I will get through my Kdrama review backlist. One day. Soon. But . . . another Kdrama is calling. I must go watch. . .
