Saturday, June 1, 2013

Armchair BEA: Keeping it Real

Design credit: Sarah of Puss Reboots
Ah, keeping things real and fresh. I think that's something a lot of bloggers struggle with on occasion. Or maybe you have a fabulous idea but just no energy to implement it. I frequently hear about bloggers going through slumps either with their reading or reviewing. Let me set the record straight here...I'm no different.

I go through little funks just like everyone else. Earlier this year I did an internship that required me to do a two hour commute...each way. Since part of this was on a train I got a ton of reading done but I was so exhausted when I got home that I couldn't bring myself to turn on my computer and write. I was also doing an online course that cut into my free time too. I'm still trying to figure out how to get myself back into the swing of things but I'm getting there. I just started a new feature to help me read the books that have been sitting on my shelf for over a year. It's called Taking it off...the shelf and the book I read last month had been on my bookshelf for almost four years (and if you're interested you can read the review here.) I've also started doing little bookshelf "tours" because I love inspecting other people's bookshelves and I figure others do too. (My first photo tour can be found here.) I really like the idea of writing things other than reviews but I'm so behind on reviews that I need to get ahead so I can get to some other things. This week has been great for reminding me that I like writing about the book world as much as reviewing the actual books.

I've been watching what other bloggers have been doing and have been trying to get inspired by some of their stuff (and by inspired I mean I like the idea, I mention it came from them, and put my own spin on it...not plagiarising...which was probably discussed earlier this week in the ethics discussion that I didn't end up writing about!) Jamie at The Perpetual Page-Turner has been doing a lot of great stuff lately and it's been a lot of fun to read.

This probably isn't too helpful for other blogger's looking to pick up some tips but it shows you how I'm feeling about blogging at the moment and some thoughts I have to keep things interesting and fun for me. It's all about finding what works and what makes you happy. The minute it stops being fun is when you need to rethink what you're doing. Let me know if you have any fun tips or tricks. I'm open for suggestions! As for right now, I have a bunch of other reviews to go write so I can enjoy the rest of my Saturday! :)

2 comments:

  1. I also find it hard to keep up with the blog sometimes and go through phases where I'll post often, but other times post infrequently. I also can get so tied up in meeting review commitments that I don't have the energy to post anything other than reviews. I'm trying to change that though.

    BTW - thanks for following my blog. I'm now following you. Looking forward to chatting books (and Blue Jays) with you :-)

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  2. I seem to not have enough time to read in order to do my reviews. And then, like today, instead of using time I have to read my books, I spend it going through and reading other blogs. Not a bad thing, but.. Plus, I don't want my blog to be one that only does memes and non-reviews. So, when I see that I'm doing more and more of that, I get worried. Great post though!

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