I’ve never done a tag, but I wanted to change up some of the book content, so I stole this tag from Naz @ Read Diverse Books! I hope you enjoy it!
The Secret Life Of A Book Blogger
How long have you been a blogger?
I’ve technically been a blogger for three years, but I really made this into a consistent thing last October,
At what point do you think you will stop?
Who knows? I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon, because I really enjoy blogging. However, when it becomes more work than enjoyment, I’ll probably stop.
What is the best part?
My favorite part is interacting and meeting with new people who love books. I’ve made some great friends through books, starting with Carrie in my tumblr days and even most recently with Naz and Bina on Twitter. Friends make this so much more fun to do.
What is the worst part?
I think the worst part is feeling overwhelmed by books I need to read. It doesn’t happen often, but I schedule myself on books to review, and it can get overwhelming for me when there’s so much to do. I really enjoy reading, but when it starts to feel more like work, I’m less likely
How long does it take you to find/create pictures to use?
This varies for me. If I know what I want the image to be for a book review, it will take me maybe half an hour to put an image together. I have a much harder time if I’m taking the photos myself, because I don’t have that much stuff to help make the photos more interesting. Sometimes I have the ideas, but I don’t have access to the stuff I need to do that photo. I also run into issues when finding stock images that are what I really want for each book.
Who’s your book crush?
I don’t really get crushes on book characters, so I don’t have a good answer for this one.
What author would you like to have on your blog?
I think the author I would most love to have on my blog would be Jenny Lawson, also known as The Bloggess. Her book Furiously Happy seriously changed my life when I read it last year, and I’ve been a follower of The Bloggess for as long as I’ve been blogging. It would be my favorite thing.
What do you wear when you write your blog?
Sometimes I’m in my work attire, sometimes I’m in pajamas, and sometimes I’m in a mix of the two. Whatever makes me the most comfortable is what I wear.
How long does it take you to prepare a post?
Between 30 minutes and 3 hours depending on the length of the review, and how focused I am when I sit down to write it. I’m ADHD so I often write two or three sentences at a time and come back to it when I remember what I wanted to say. Sometimes, though, it just happens that my focus is exactly where it needs to be, and I can blow through a post.
How do you feel about the book blogger community/culture?
I think we have a community where all of us stand to learn so much from each other, and I’m grateful for it. I hate the recent controversies, but I love that so many, including myself, have had the chance to learn things about more marginalized communities and to learn not to hurt others.
What do you think one should do to have a successful blog?
I think that success is defined differently for everyone. For me, success means that it’s reaching others and I’m enjoying doing it. So, I’d say that I’m pretty successful at it!
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I’m not going to tag anybody in this, because I think everybody’s already done it, but if you want to do it, please tag me and I’ll come take a look!
I loved reading your answers 🙂 I sometimes feel overwhelmed by all the books I have to read as well, but in these moments, I guess we just need to remember that we LOVE books 🙂 And I agree, the community is so great and we have so much to learn from each other, we should focus on the positive sides more <3
Yes – remembering we love them is absolutely what helps deal with the overwhelmed feeling! I think that the focus on the negative things that happen are really important, as much as I like not having to deal with them on a daily basis. There’s something going on that’s wrong, and how else will it get fixed if we don’t make an effort? I do think that we do need to also emphasize the positives of our community, but the problems also need to be addressed, if that makes sense.
I’m surprised you haven’t done any tags before, Ceillie! Now that you’ve done one, you should do more. They can be really fun and there are so many of them. So be on the hunt for the next one you think is a good fit for your blog.
Your answers resonate with me. Many bloggers feel overwhelmed when they they have reviews to write out of obligation, but you do SO WELL. I commend you for that. I know you have reviews scheduled weeks-months in advance. I have never been able to do that.
I’m thankful for all the great people I’ve met either on their blogs or on social media. They make all the work worth it. Thanks for being part of my circle of bookish friends. 🙂 <3
I always wanted to be tagged in them, but I didn’t know enough people to be tagged in them, and thus I made myself a conundrum! It was really fun to do, surprisingly! It takes me back to the early Facebook days when we’d do stuff like this as Notes…. maybe I’m showing my tech-age! But seriously, I’m so grateful to have met fabulous people like you through the bookish community!
I honestly don’t know how you don’t schedule things so far in advance – I think I’d go (even more) nuts if I had to read a book and immediately write a review for it for publication. Doing it like that gave me so much anxiety and let to a lot of things not getting published. Scheduling helps me work around my weird work schedule and life schedule to be able to do what I want to do and still enjoy this! Everybody works so differently, it’d be interesting to see how everybody does their blog planning!