Hey everyone!! I hope you’re all doing well. Today, I am finally doing part 2 of the 400 follower Q&A. I hit 400 followers back in the summer (July/August I think?) and I asked you guys to ask me some questions to celebrate. I got a bunch of questions, so I decided to split them into 2 posts, the first of which I did at the start of September and is all about blogging.
Now, part 2 is finally here and is going to answer the rest of the questions which are an assortment related to food, TV, and books.
The funny thing is, I actually passed 500 followers a few weeks ago so this is already kind of outdated (lol) but I am so happy to have reached yet another milestone this year. Thank y’all so much, especially since I’ve been a pretty terrible blogger since August so I really appreciate you following and sticking around anyway.
I’m going to break this post up into three sections just so it’s organized. Some of these questions are going to have pretty short answers and others are going to be more long winded, so we’ll see how long this ends up being.
I’ve done yet another blog redesign, but this time, I actually think it’ll last? I’ve said that every previous time, but let’s ignore that. I’ve been working on all the graphics, and the color scheme since around June, and I’m now finally publishing this! I’m so excited, and I actually really like the look of it, so I hope you guys do too. Let me know in the comments down below!!
And now to the normal intro of this post:
Good morning my dear friends! I hope you have had a fantastic August. It’s so funny how weeks, months, and years fly by so fast, but then days take forever to end. And this lock-down is not helping things.
Nonetheless, hopefully this day will go pretty great since we’re starting it off with a 400 follower Q&A!! I am so happy to have reached this milestone, and I’m so thankful for every single one of you for following my little corner of ramblings and less than awesome designs.
Last week or so, I posted the 400 follower Q&A form for you guys to fill out, and I really appreciate all of you who did!! I’ve got a lot of questions, so I’ve decided to split this Q&A into two, this being the first part all about blogging, and then the next part will be about books, food, and my likes/dislikes.
This is going to be kind of long, so let’s get started!!
Welcome everyone! Today I’m going to be answering the questions that some of you asked me on my 200 follower Q&A form. I hit 200 followers in October, and decided to ask you guys to ask me anything you’d like to know! It’s not a lot of questions, but I’m still super glad to answer them all.
Right now, I’m not really sure because I haven’t had ice cream in a while, but I think I love vanilla and chocolate equally. If I had to pick between the two…I think I’d go with chocolate, because hey! It’s chocolate.
If you had to be stuck on a deserted island with 3 characters, who would you want to be stuck with??
Kell, because he’s an Antari magician, so he’ll probably hopefully use a spell to get us off the island; Asher because he’d keep things fun, and interesting with a few explosions; and Inej because she’s sensible, smart, super agile, and maybe she’d teach me some of the things she knows (we can also cry over Kaz and his history together more like I’ll be the only one bawling my eyes out).
How did you manage to reach 200 followers? Do you have any tips?
Lol.
I don’t know.
I went to bed last night trying to answer this question, and I still can’t find the answer.
It’s kind of surprising that I reached 200 followers, because 1. I don’t think I’m a great blogger, and 2. I’m not a very good blog hopper/promoter. I really am not good at keeping up with all the blogs I follow, and commenting on their posts (I usually just read and like which is not good), and I’m working on that, but it’s a struggle.
I think that a mixture of blog hopping, doing book tags, being overly active, especially when I first started out, and taking part in the popular memes helped me get to where I am now. I also think I got more followers through Let’s Talk Bookish.
But what makes people want to follow me? Many of you (and thank you!!!) have said that you loved the design/theme, or my posts, and honestly, it makes me feel amazing and super proud of myself, especially because sometimes I think the design looks horrible and that I’m super annoying in my posts which I am.
So for tips: blog hop, get yourself out there. It’s the most generic advice ever and it works. I don’t have any social media (except if you count Goodreads, and even then I only know of a few people who found me through there), I don’t follow anyone on Twitter or Instagram, or wherever, and I seem to be doing something right, and the only thing that I am doing is blog hopping, being annoying sometimes, commenting with excessive hearts when I find someone who loves the same books as me, and just in general being a part of the community.
What made you want to start a blog, and how do you post so often?
What made me want to start a blog: A mixture of boredom, no hobbies that stuck/no friends, a love of books, and a chance to be creative and do something that was my own. Last December, I didn’t really have any friends and I loved to read. I’d dabbled in painting, coding, writing, cooking/baking, but I eventually got tired of them, and I had just discovered book blogs, and I loved the idea and decided to give it a try. And I’m so glad that I did. I’ve discovered so many new books, people who love books like me, and I have something to do that I love except when it’s 7 in the morning and I just want to sleep
How do I post so often? By procrastinating? I usually wait until the last minute to write my posts, but I always keep a set schedule in my mind.
Monday: Book review or a monthly wrap-up or nothing if I don’t finish the post in time.
Tuesday: Another review, or the review that I should have done on Monday if I didn’t make it, or my off day
Wednesday: WWW Wednesday
Thursday: A book tag, or another review if I didn’t do a second one on Tuesday
Friday: Let’s Talk Bookish
So as you can see, it all depends on my mood, how tired I am, and if I finish writing a post in time. The only two days that there is a high guarantee that I’m going to post are Wednesdays and Fridays, but for the rest of the week, I flip flop and post based on how I’m feeling. And sometimes I don’t write any posts at all, and I only write a post on Friday so it all depends. I always try to at least draft a post every morning and maybe schedule it for later in the week.
I would not suggest you follow my method, and you should actually try and draft as many posts as possible when you have free time, and then schedule them through-out the week. I usually try to do that on the weekends (and I usually fail) so that way I’m not rushing to finish a post.
If you had to change your name to a book character’s name, what would it be?
Probably Josephine “Jo” March from Little Women. I was obsessed with Jo’s name, and I still think it’s really pretty. Though I’d change the last name to Connolly. I really liked Puck Connolly in The Scorpio Races. So, Jo Connolly. I think it sounds really good.
What’s your opinion on liking “problematic” books?
I don’t think I’ve liked a problematic book before really? So I’m not really sure but I guess it depends. If the whole book is problematic, and everywhere you turn, you find something wrong, or someone says something that isn’t right etc, then yes, I think it’s, not necessarily wrong, but it’s not good to like such a book IF you don’t understand or see what the problems are.
For instance, some people may read the book, not notice all the problems everyone is mentioning, or just brush it off as a character being an idiot, or like it’s part of the plot for the character to be saying/doing things like that etc, and they like the book. You can’t really blame someone for missing that. This time last year, I probably wouldn’t have noticed any problems myself.
So I respect everyone’s decision to read whatever they want, and if they like it, then I’m not going to lose sleep over the matter. I can try and convince them of why it is problematic and why I think they shouldn’t like it, but everybody’s allowed to have their opinion, and to like whatever they want. Maybe there’s something else that they liked about the book, or maybe they didn’t see what was so harmful or problematic about it, or they might believe that it is the point of the author for the character to do XYZ.
Perhaps because we are reading the book looking for the problematic content, and they read the book with no idea about it being problematic, they saw the other good parts of the book while we were focused on all the bad things being said or done.
But at the end of the day, if they still like it, then well, life moves on.
Any tips for balancing blogging and school?
I’d suggest you try blogging ahead/scheduling posts on the weekends when you have the time, or setting aside 30 minutes each day to draft a post. By the next week, those 30 minutes will add up, and you’ll probably have one, two, maybe even three extra posts already completed.
Also, take advantage of the holidays!!! Thanksgiving break is coming up here in the U.S. and I’m already planning how I’m going to cram all my reading and blogging into next week starting from this Saturday to the Sunday after Thanksgiving though knowing me, I’m probably not going to write anything 🤦🏽♀️. Holidays are the best time to draft a lot of posts ahead of time, and then when school resumes, you’ll have a bunch ready for those days that you didn’t manage to write anything.
Honestly, the only other thing I could say is to try and find a balance. Maybe your class load is very light and you have the time to blog 5 days a week, or maybe you’re like me, you have assignments to do, yet you still try and blog 4 times a week, or maybe all what you can manage is one post every week.
Find the right fit for you, and don’t feel too bad if you can only post 4 times a month. School is stressful. I’m pretty sure it’s a scientific fact and if it isn’t, it definitely needs to be. Trying to do more than you can handle doesn’t help, and beats (at least for me) the purpose of blogging, which is to relax and have fun while talking about books.
Who are your blogging inspirations?
Definitely you Caitlin!! I absolutely love your discussions, and your humor, and it makes me want to write better posts and be more creative with the topics that I discuss on my blog and with Let’s Talk Bookish. So thank you!!
Kat @ Novels and Waffles is also one of my inspirations, especially for design. Her blog is mouth-wateringly splendid and every time, it makes me want to go and do a rebrand, or try a different look with my graphics/blog. It also makes me seriously crave waffles 😭
Xandra @ Starry Sky Books is another amazing blogger who inspired me to start Let’s Talk Bookish. Her discussion posts are on point, and I love how she explains everything so thoroughly and in such a fun way.
Meeghan @ Meeghan Reads is awesome, and I love her and her blog, and even though we don’t read many similar books, or enjoy the same genres, she still inspires me to be a better reader and blogger overall. It’s one of those things that you can’t really explain, but she definitely does inspire me a lot!
These are only some of my inspirations when it comes to blogging, and definitely not all, because all of you who read my posts, like, and comment inspire me to continue blogging, and not to give up even when I just want to curl up and go back to bed. You are all awesome, and I thank you for being with me on this journey and motivating me to keep going 💕💖💚
That’s it for today! Thank you to Meeghan, Caitlin, Aimee, and Aria for asking me questions!!
What do you think about liking problematic books? When and why did you start blogging? Who are your inspirations? Got any tips for posting more often or finding a balance between blogging and life? And for a random question, what did you have for breakfast? Chat with me in the comments below!!
Hey hey hey!!!! Welcome back dear bookworms! Today I’ll be sharing with you my wrap up post for September 2019!! how is it almost the end of 2019 already??? how?? where did the year go?
So September was…I guess, a kind of good month? More meh than good, but still kind of good. I think I’ve gotten used to classes and blogging, and that’s great! But I didn’t write that many reviews, wasn’t that super active in the community, and I only read 6 books. Let’s take a deeper look below!
Books:
Covers are from Goodreads
So I read 6 books, which is better than the 5 books I read in August but not by much. I am now helplessly behind on my GR challenge, and I’m so disappointed. I’m actually contemplating doing my first monthly TBR so that maybe I’d read more if I had a schedule, or an idea of books that I can read. Let me know if you’d like to see that!!
I am also behind on reviews from August, so I’m hoping to catch up on those this month (October)!
Read This Month:
Key: * = Book for review | ^ = Review to come
Curious Minds by Janet Evanovich // Rating: ★★1/2 One sentence summary: An easy and humorous mystery, with okay characters.
*Against Their Will by Carolyn Courtney Lauman // Rating: ★★★★☆ One sentence summary: This was an incredible fast-paced debut, with great characters, and a captivating plot.
^A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman // Rating: ★★★★★ One sentence summary: A heartwarming story with beautiful friendships and a sweet grumpy man.
^Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim // Rating: ★★★★☆ One sentence summary: An interesting Mulan-inspired adventure in a world of magic with a determined heroine.
^Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco // Rating: ★★★1/2 One sentence summary: An okay mystery with a strong and complex heroine and amazing side characters.
^With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo // Rating: ★★★★★ One sentence summary: A sweet and uplifting story about family, friendship, food, and community.
50 Bookish Questions tag by Meeghan @ Meeghan Reads (Guys. FIFTY questions. Grab a cup and go have a seat, because it was so nice reading all of Meeghan’s answers!)
I changed my blog’s design…again!! I actually had my previous design for almost 6 months which is amazing. I wonder how long this one is going to last, and I really hope I keep it for much longer.
My stats were pretty high in September, and I’m so happy and thankful to all of you who came over and read whatever I had to say!! Also, I’m kind of close to reaching 200 followers, and after being inspired by Caitlin’s post, I’m going to host a Q&A about me/blog when I also hit 200! (It was not intentional lol!! I just felt like my letter that I wrote last time wasn’t much, and I wanted to do something more fun, and I’d seen the idea of a Q&A somewhere else, and then I saw Caitlin’s post that she did earlier this year, and it seemed like a fun way to say thank you, so here we are!)
Thank you to everyone who is following me, and if you’d like, you can fill out the form below to ask me your question, and to give me feedback about my blog!! I would really appreciate it 💚
That’s A Wrap!
That’s it for this month. In total, I read 6 books, did 4 reviews, 2 books tags, and wrote 4 discussion posts (YAY!! Honestly, can you believe that I shied away from writing discussions before??). 2 of the books I read were 4 stars, and another 2 were 5 stars so that is great! However, I am still behind, by 10 books, on my reading challenge.
For October, I hope to read maybe 8 books, catch up on 5 reviews, and try to do maybe 4 or 5 BE Autumn posts. At the very least, I’m going to do 3.
And that’s it for this wrap-up! How was September for you? Did you get as much reading as you wanted done? Are you behind or ahead on your reading goal? Will you be taking part in Bookending Autumn? Should I do a monthly TBR post? Anything you’d like to share? Let’s chat in the comments below!
Eternity Books 