Let’s Talk Bookish – What Makes An Engaging Blog Post

Good morning! Welcome to another Let’s Talk Bookish post! Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, created and hosted by me, where we discuss chosen topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts.

Today’s topic is: What makes you continue reading a blog post?

This question is absolutely random, has nothing to do with books, should probably not be a topic for a meme called Let’s Talk Bookish, but I think it’s an interesting question that I’d love to see the answer to!

Top Three Things That Makes Me Want to Read Your Post:

A Beautiful Featured Image & Blog:

I love creative and aesthetically pleasing featured images. They’re so unique and delightful to look at, and they make me want to see the rest of your blog. If you blog’s also absolutely beautiful, or if it has a pleasing/unique color palette, then I will take the time to read through your posts.

Seeing other blog’s lovely featured images is also the reason why I’ve started designing my own with stock photos, instead of the vine + flower graphics that I had before. I still use those for WWW Wednesday, but I like designing unique images for the rest of my posts.

I think that I’m most proud of these two:

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  2019 Blogging Wrap-Up + 2020 Goals

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  Monthly Wrap-Up: January 2020

A Catchy Title:

A catchy title is also super important, and I love the ones that have the little side-note is that what it’s called?? like:

I listened to an audiobook for the first time – would I do it again?// ft. me questioning everything + LISTS ~ Kerys @ The Everlasting Library

That little side note could be what makes me read your post, rather than the actual title itself. It’s also a great way to point out exciting news that is in your post, or use a buzzword that is not mentioned in the title.

Like: Monthly Wrap-Up: September 2019 ft. a 200 Follower Q&A Form

OR

Mini Reviews: Escaping From Houdini and The Rose and the Dagger | ft. a rant, tears, and broken love

Hitting a follower milestone is something amazing, and adding it to the title would make me want to continue reading and also congratulate you on your achievement. Also, if I see rant and tears, I am definitely going to read your post. Or at least leave it open for later. Those are two buzzwords that I just can’t ignore. And I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only one.

You Being You:

The most important thing that will make me read your post until the very end is you being you. If that means no capitalization, a lot of side comments like this one!!, plenty of GIFs or swear words, anything that makes that post scream YOU, then yes, that would make me finish reading your post.

There are probably many millions of blogs out there, and what makes each of us unique is the way we write. There are thousands of us who talk about the same topic, hundreds who talk about the same sub-topic, and the only way for you to stand out is by being yourself, whoever that may be. Don’t censor yourself, or try to be someone you’re not because that just won’t work. Just write, and whatever feels right, feels right, and nothing can change that.

It’s a lot more fun reading a post that is “messy” or super snarky and it being natural, than having to cringe, leaving a polite comment, and then never coming back because the author was trying to write in a way that’s not them. Because it was forced. Nobody wants to read painfully forced writing, so just be yourself, because that’s what makes people, or at least me, stop and hear what you have to say.

This Week’s Participants:

Evelyn @ Evelyn Reads | Jane @ Blogger Books | Dani @ Literary Lion | Aria @ Book Nook Bits

That’s it for this Friday!!

How was your week? What are you reading? What makes you want to read a post? Are there some buzzwords that you just can’t ignore either? Do you think I should include more blog related questions in LTB’s prompts? Chat with me in the comments below!

Let’s Talk Bookish – Reading Slumps and Ways to Overcome Them

Hi guys and welcome to Let’s Talk Bookish! Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, created and hosted by me, where we discuss chosen topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts.

Today’s topic is: Reading Slumps and Ways to Overcome Them

I am not going to take part this week, because I didn’t have the time to write a post, but that shouldn’t stop you from writing your own posts!! Be sure to link back so that I can see them! You can also share your tips and tricks for reading slumps in the comments below!

*You can learn more about LTB and see August’s topics here

This Week’s Participants:

Jane @ Blogger Books  | Books On The Brain

Have you ever had a reading slump? What are some ways to overcome them? Is there a specific method that always works for you? Chat with me in the comments below!

Let’s Talk Bookish – Bookish and Blogging Myths

Hi guys and welcome to my first Let’s Talk Bookish post! Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, created and hosted by J.R. @ Eternity Books, where we discuss chosen topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts.

Today’s topic is: Bookish/Blogging Myths.

You can choose to write about bookish myths, or blogging myths, or about both! I’ve chosen to do a little bit of both, and talk about some myths, untrue sayings, and untrue expectations that people have about books/reading and blogging.

*You can learn more about LTB and see August’s topics here

#1: Don’t Judge A Book By It’s Cover – A saying that most don’t follow

I am going to go ahead and say it. I think, and based on what I’ve seen on Goodreads, people do judge books by their covers. Especially books with gorgeous covers. This is one of the things that nobody cares much about and does, because who can resist a beautiful cover???

To be perfectly honest with you, I have personally chosen not to read books because the cover was ugly. I use covers to decide if I should check out the books further, and mostly avoid books with covers that are not pleasing.

And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that! We don’t have all the time in the world (we’ve got books to read!), and if something doesn’t catch our attention at first glance, then you shouldn’t feel bad about not checking it out. Imagine going through Goodreads and looking through every. single. book. just so you don’t judge it unfairly. I think that would be completely impossible.

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#2: Classics Are The Gods of Literature – The Greatest Lie Ever

Most of the times, for school, you have to read a bunch of stories that are considered literary classics, many of which were written long ago, and some many centuries ago (Shakespeare anyone?).

The problem is, these books are so highly praised, and are called classics which are supposedly timeless, it’s pretty much ingrained in our minds that if we don’t like them, then there is something definitely wrong with us.

Here’s the truth: most of the classics that I’ve read have been horrible. I’m actually trying to recollect any that I have liked, and the only thing I can come up with is Anne of the Green Gables (I loved this series!!! This is probably part of the reason why I love English history and the Victorian Era) and maybe A Christmas Carol (I liked the moral/theme).

Everything else, such as books by Mark Twain, Charles Dickens (minus Christmas Carol), Lord of the Flies by William Golding (I passionately hated this book), A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (I didn’t even manage past the first few pages), were not good. And that’s a problem because this makes kids hate books and it also bores them because it isn’t relevant to their lives.

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#3: It’s So Easy To Be A Blogger – Ok, maybe this is The Greatest Lie Ever

Sorry to burst your bubble, but nope, blogging is not easy. Sure it’s fun, it’s amazing when you meet so many supportive amazing lovely fellow bloggers, it’s a chance to be creative and let yourself shine, but it is far from easy.

Being a blogger means countless hours spent writing and perfecting posts, blog hopping, responding to comments, and constantly worrying about your stats. Okay, some of you may not worry about your stats, but I 100% do. It is energy draining, it is time consuming, and it can also be sometimes depressing.

However, I personally think the pros outweigh the cons, because it is so uplifting to see other people read and love your work, admire your site design, tag you, and nominate you for awards (this always make me so giddy and happy!! Thank you so much guys!!!!). It’s also amazing how bloggers support you during hard times, are super welcoming to those who are new to this, and in general are the most amazing, kind, and lovely human beings! It may not be easy, but bloggers have your back every step of the way.

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#4: You Will Have Instant Followers and Become the Next Big Thing – *Sigh* Yet Another Great Myth

TBH, I thought it would be super easy to gain followers. Just write a post, sit back, maybe type a few comments here and there, and wait for the numbers to rise.

Of course, that didn’t happen.

Why did I think that being a lazy potato would help me gain followers? Because it seemed like all the big and popular blogs just wrote one post every few weeks, and they had over 1,000 followers.

But that’s not how it works. You can write awesome content, you could be the most original and unique blogger, but you won’t gain followers if you don’t go find them. No one will visit your corner of the web if you just sit and wait for them to magically appear.

It also won’t happen in one day. But don’t give up because once you start to gain exposure, you’ll realize how amazing and rewarding all your effort is.

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#5: Reading is a Waste of Time – The Most Ridiculous Statement Ever

You know that look you get when someone asks what you’re doing, and you say “reading”? To me, that look translates to: “This girl is wasting time. Why is she reading all the time? She could be using this time to do something more productive.”

It’s annoying, because then I get self-conscious and I can’t really enjoy my book anymore because that look is still lingering in my mind and nagging me to get up and go be productive.

But reading isn’t a waste of time.

It can be used to de-stress, to escape, and to learn. You can brush up on history, learn about ancient times through amazing adventures, learn about legal and police procedures through mysteries and thrillers, and even to increase your vocabulary. Most of the ‘big’ words I know, I probably picked up from reading books.

Reading is also a hobby. If I was making something, or cooking/baking, or painting, I don’t think I’d get that look, because those activities seem more productive. But reading is a hobby as well, and should not be considered a waste of time.

So this statement, or thought, is 100% completely ridiculous.

Those are just a few blogging and reading myths that I think are completely not true. There are a few more that I could think of, but I think this post is long enough as it is lol

This Week’s Participants:

Jane @ Blogger Books | Ruqs @ Many Things Bookish

What are some untrue blogging or reading myths/expectations that you’ve encountered? Do you get that look when you say you’re reading? Am I the only one who doesn’t like assigned reading in Literature? Be honest, have you judged books by their covers?

Chat with me in the comments below!

Monthly Wrap-Up: July 2019

Happy Saturday my friends!! I hope you all are having a fantastic start to August. Today, I’ll be sharing my Monthly Wrap-Up post for July 2019.

July was meh. To be honest, I didn’t really want to blog, I didn’t post on time, I’m behind on two reviews, and I was really busy IRL. But I still posted when I got the chance, and I joined Top Five Tuesday for the first time which was great! I loved the A-Z book idea and you can find a link to the letters that I did, below. Let’s take a look at this meh month.

Books:

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Covers are from Goodreads | Click on the titles to visit my reviews.

Key: * = Book for review | ^ = Review to come

So I read 6 books this month which is great, but I am behind by 5 books on my GR reading challenge which is bad. I really need to catch up and hopefully I’ll do that this month!

Trust Me I’m Lying by Mary Elizabeth Summer // Rating: ★★☆☆☆ One sentence summary: A disappointing read with a naive main character.

Keep You Close by Karen Cleveland // Rating: ★★★☆☆ One sentence summary: A quick thriller with okay characters.

Look For Me by Lisa Gardner // Rating: ★★★★★ One sentence summary: A great mystery with strong and amazing main characters.

*The Bridge of Little Jeremy by Indrajit Garai // Rating: ★★☆☆☆ One sentence summary: An okay contemporary novel with a passionate main character.

^Hell’s Corner by David Baldacci // Rating: ★★★★★ One sentence summary: An amazing political thriller with two spectacular main characters.

^The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton // Rating: ★★★★☆ One sentence summary: A confusing, but interesting and unique murder mystery.

DNF: I also DNF’d Captive Witness by Carolyn Keene. It was a bit dated, too cliche and unbelievable for me, which is sad considering I loved Nancy Drew as kid.

Total Number of Books Read This Month: 6

DNF: 1

Tags:

Okay, so I really can’t believe this but I have done only ONE tag all month! How…???

2019 Mid Year Freak-Out Tag (I tagged myself for this one!)

Here’s a link to the Top 5 Tuesday posts that I did:

K-O | P-T | U-Z

Great Posts From Around the Blog-O-Sphere:

5 Things No One Tells You About Blogging // ft. the real truth about what bloggers do!! by Olivia @ Purely Olivia

Beyond the Blurb | How Blogging Has Helped Me as a Reader by Siobhan @ Siobhan’s Novelties

Why You Should NEVER Compare Your Blogging Statistics with Others’ by Caitlin @ Caitlin Althea

Summer Blogger Promo Tour: Blogging Made Me More…Introverted? by Tiffany @ Read By Tiffany (Ok, so this wasn’t published in July, but I loved it and had to include it anyway!)

Anything Else?

Yes! I started a weekly meme called Let’s Talk Bookish which hopefully will encourage me and others to write more discussion posts (yes, I know, I posted this yesterday, August 2nd, but I shall sneak it on here anyway). You can learn more about that here. As you can guess, I didn’t do a discussion post this past month.

Also, school starts this coming Monday, and I’m not sure how easy it’ll be for me to blog and do my school work at the same time, so please bear with me if I don’t post regularly, or on time.

I also reached 1,000 comments/pingbacks, and I believe that is an achievement so HOORAY!! I’m also close to hitting the 150 followers mark so again, YAY!! Thank you guys so much for loving my blog, chatting with me so much, linking to me, and following 💚

That’s A Wrap!

In the end, I read 6 books, wrote 4 reviews, did 1 tag, and 0 discussion posts. 3 of the books I read were either 4 or 5 stars which is great, but sadly, I am behind on my reading challenge.

I did meet one of the goals I set in June, which was to read at least 6 books, but I think my content quality took a bit of a dip instead of a rise. I did discover some new blogs, thanks to May @ Forever and Everly hosting the 2019 Book Blogger Awards so that’s definitely a plus!

For August, my goals are to: post more often, but even if I don’t, I hope that my posts are great and not generic; do maybe 3 out of the 4 discussion topics for Let’s Talk Bookish (at least 2 though); and read 8 books.

And that’s it for this wrap-up! How was July for you? Did you get as much reading as you wanted done? Did you take part in the 2019 Book Blogger Awards? Ideas for discussion posts you’d like to share? Chat with me in the comments below!

Let’s Talk Bookish | An introduction to my first weekly meme

Welcome dear friends! How are you doing today? I really hope that your week has been spectacular. (As you can tell, I have been introduced to the wonderful world of changing text size and I’m loving it!!)

So, I’ve thought about this for a super long time.

It’s taken me forever to publish this!!

I’m really nervous, and I’m not sure if it’ll work.

But here we go!

I’m going to start a weekly bookish meme called, Let’s Talk Bookish. As you all know, I have done exactly 2 discussion posts since I started blogging, despite my promises to do more. And in a bid to force myself to write, and also to encourage others to write their own discussions, I’m going to post questions/topics at the beginning of each month and you can choose to answer them every week, or every two weeks, or even once a month if you want. This way, we can all link together and read each other’s posts about the topic and hopefully have an engaging and amazing discussion across many blogs.

This is going to be on Friday’s, starting from next week. All you need to do is write your own post in response to the question/topic and link back to me so that we can all find each other’s posts!

If you have topic suggestions, PLEASE send them to me through my Contact page, or fill out the Google Form below with your ideas! I’d really appreciate your help!

Topic Ideas for August

August 9: Bookish/Blogging Myths

August 16: Reading Slumps and Ways to Overcome Them

August 23: Advice You’d Give to Newbie Bloggers

August 30: Book Tropes That You Love And Why

I really hope you enjoy and participate! I really don’t want this to flop, and would be so happy to hear your ideas and suggestions! I’d also love to read your opinions about these topics this month, and though I may not participate in all the discussions, I’ll still make a post with that Friday’s topic and everyone’s posts!

I sincerely wish that this will help me and all of you fellow bloggers with your discussion posts!

Do you think this is a good idea? Would you want/are you going to participate? Any suggestions for September’s topics? Chat with me in the comments below!