The Secret Life of a Book Blogger

I was tagged by Joey at Thoughts and Afterthoughts to do this tag! Thanks!

This tag seems to be a small peek behind-the-scenes of me writing and managing this blog. I guess could reveal some of my secrets to you and I can only hope that they don’t make me look too bad XD

I actually think is one of my favorite tags. It’s slightly different and it’s more personal than a lot of the other ones I’ve done. So read on!

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How long have you been a blogger?

Not long. My first blogiversary is actually tomorrow (8/24)! I haven’t actually written a post at this point for that but I probably should? So I guess almost exactly a year.

At what point do you think you’ll stop blogging?

Well I only hope that nobody answered that the only reason they continued was because they felt obligated because that’s a seriously terrible reason to continue blogging. I don’t think I’ll stop anytime soon but I can realistically see myself shifting away from YA into adult novels if I continued blogging into my twenties. As of now, I’m 15, trying to blog without too many hiatuses and living it up! I can’t predict when I’ll stop blogging but it might be when I start to find it repetitive and boring. I don’t like formulaic things. I’m hoping that I meet enough people and love the experience enough to continue as long as I can!

What’s the best thing about blogging?

I think I have multiple answers to this one.

1. When I write a really good review and I know that it’s good. The ones I’m thinking of right now is the review I wrote for The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler. I love the feeling I get when I’ve completely conveyed my opinions on the book in a way that satisfies me.
2. I also like it when I can, with certainty, say that I’ve connected with a book blogger. It takes lots of commenting and support and learning about that person BUT I’ve noticed that there’s always one or two comments that make you realize that you’ve stuck out enough to be memorable to them.
3. Really good comments! Not just any old, “Great review!” or “I agree!” but the ones that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside because they read your post and liked it a lot!

What’s the worst thing about blogging?

I had a huge period in the earlier months of my blogging where I was just so unused to writing posts and trying to get them up in a way that wasn’t sporadic. I felt stressed and as a result, wouldn’t edit my posts. I don’t even want to go back and look at those earlier posts because I know they are poorly written. DON’T LOOK GUYS. DON’T DO IT. Now that I’ve discovered scheduling posts, my life has gotten so much easier.

There’s also a thing with trying to get in with the “in-crowd” I guess. Book blogging feels really cliquey at times when it’s hard to get the attention and connect with the bigger bloggers. It’s hard trying to remember everyone you’ve talked to and comment on everybody’s posts. Especially when it can take an hour to look through my feed and I just don’t always have that time!

I guess one last thing would be the feeling that I’m not sure that everything I write and publish is perfect enough. I don’t mind if anybody gives me criticism because then I can always improve!

How long does it take for you to find/create pictures for your post?

Um… well I don’t usually try to find GIFs for my posts because it’s just hard and I don’t usually think about it. I just have a huge folder of GIFs that I occasionally look through. If I’m on tumblr and I see a GIF that I think I would use, I’ll download it.

For my own graphics, I usually take anywhere from thirty minutes to more than an hour to make it. I’m not super good at designing graphics but I’m hoping that with practice, I’ll get faster!

Who is your book crush?

TEMPLETON WESLEY FUCKING AYERS. He’s the only one I can even think of. I’ve had lots of book crushes but there aren’t any that have really gotten to me like Wesley Ayers. He’s from V.E. Schwab’s Archived series (of course) and even if I don’t love those books, Wesley Ayers has literally just gotten through my picky requirements. He’s cute and smart at the same time!

Oh yeah and if you DON’T WANT TO BE SPOILED for the sequel or what Wesley’s real name is, I’d suggest you not highlight the white space up there ↑

I mean I could also spend like 10k words describing my K-Pop crushes but I don’t think we should go there.

What author would you like to have on your blog?

Uh… V.E. Schwab. Duh. I’d spazz out all over her in my post.

What do you wear when you write your blog posts?

Err…. Clothes? I tend to write posts on the weekends so I’m never wearing any of my more flamboyant outfits. I guess comfy tank tops and shorts. Or pajamas if I’m feeling lazy that day.

How long does it take you to prepare?

Prepare what? My reviews or my posts? Or my outfits? (Answer to that: Depends on the moooood)

I guess for my reviews, I have to write down my raw thoughts in a list format and then sit on my opinion for a day or longer until I write it. So anywhere from two days to a full week. I’ll say that most of my book reviews are on books I read at least 1-2 months ago.

For discussions??? Uh…. I should outline them because that would probably make the process a lot faster. So I guess twenty minutes?

How do you feel about the book/blogger community?

So far I love them! I always love commenting frequently on the blogs I love. The people I’ve connected with are genuinely nice and love books as much as I do! I haven’t been able to really meet anyone in person (because I live in Kentucky where everything happens like ten years later) but I definitely look forward to doing it in the future!

I mean, I guess I don’t really like how hard it is to get in with the bigger bloggers (like mentioned in an earlier question) but overall, I like it a lot!

What should be done to achieve a successful blog?

I actually really liked Joey’s answer to this question.

“Ultimately, a successful blog is as much what you make of it as what you take away. Personally, I’d like to think of every little success as part of a bigger ball of success.”

You can read more of it at his post here.

Be yourself! Actually I’m not sure I should be answering this question because I’m not sure what “success” is. I guess if we’re talking numbers, I can’t really answer this question because I’m trying to get there myself. However, I think that what I’ve done so far has been mostly successful. I haven’t given up on blogging, gotten sick of reading, or have grown bitter from the whole experience. I’m extremely happy with what small progress I’ve made as a blogger and I hope that eventually I can grow to totally encompass my future vision for my blog. I’d say that we should all be positive and blog however way we want. If there’s something you want to improve, you can do it! It’s a matter of personal goals and successes.

Like for me, I want to one day design my own WordPress theme. I’ve seen so many gorgeous blog designs out there and while it’d be easier to pay someone to do it for me, I really just know I’d feel amazing if I designed it myself. I haven’t researched it or anything but I want to do it at some point.

So what’s success to me? It’s setting goals and work hard to achieve them. So that’s my advice to you.

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I tag these fabulous people:

• Aimal at Bookshelves & Paperbacks
• A.M. Bradley at Hungover Fiction Lover
• Audrey at Forewards and Bookwards
• Beatrice at Beatrice Learns To Read
• Chooi at Read, Think, Ponder
• Claire at Cover To Cover
• Erika & Miedjal at PartnersInBooks
• Lia at BookLand
• Rowan at Babbling of a Book Babe
• Summer at Xingsings
• Thuong at I Read Therefore I Am
• And YOU, if you want to do it!

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I liked this tag a lot! It’s a lot of fun to totally unload all of my thoughts and answers to this tag. And no you aren’t allowed to share Wesley Ayers with me 😉