May 29, 2013

Taking Baby Steps - Armchair BEA Wednesday



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So you want to be  a book blogger. To be quite honest I have not yet discussed this topic with any other blogger, ever, so I don't know how it was for everyone else. 
My thinking process went like this.

Day 1: I really want to blog about books, too.
Day 2: I'm way too dumb to get that done.
Day 3: I don't even have the time.
Day 4: Whatever. I'll just do it. Can't hurt.

So, I looked up The Story Siren's blogging tips, went to blogger and created a blog with the title Booksmartie. I still like the name, because it's short and it fits me and my blog.
What happened after the creating the blog was writing my first review. About Sarah Dessen's This Lullaby. And, oh my, did it suck. Not the book, the review, I mean. I just couldn't do it. I didn't even finish writing it, that's how much I hated what I'd written.
All of that happened in February 2012. I stopped working on my blog (it wasn't online then) until the end of March 2012. That was when I finished Divergent and just. wrote. that. damn. review.
And I uploaded the whole thing. And then I just went from there. Read, review and repeat.
I started linking the book covers to Goodreads, I started summarizing my opinion of the book at the beginning of the review to make it easier for the busy people, I created a Twitter account ... and so on and so forth.
Those are all the things you just do. It's like babies breathe without really being told or taught. Trust me, it happens. 
The next few things were what I struggled with - and still struggle with today.

Commenting
The classic. I'm lucky enough to actually like commenting. If I read something, I usually have an opinion on it - and the desire to utter that opinion. My problem is - how do I remember where I commented to see if someone responded to the comment? I honestly don't know. So, I comment on a lot of blogs, actually, but I seldom come back because I just don't remember which blogs I commented on.

Twitter
I mean, it's getting better. I used to be horrible at Twitter consistency. I'd go months without even looking at Twitter. If I use it, I love it. It's easy, it's organized, people are nice and funny on Twitter but still I find myself overwhelmed with the Twitter feed. It does get better, though, as I said. Oh, and one thing I love about Twitter are the Twitter chats/parties. They're a blast!

HTML
Attention!!!! Red Flag!!! Every experienced blogger who ever posted about HTML always has this lecturing tone when they say learning HTML (for blogging use only) is nothing more than a lot of patience and endurance, and Google. The problem? I still find myself way too lazy to even try and understand HTML. It is one of my 2013 goals, though. If only because it's so cool when people can use it.

Hosting
And by this I really mean hosting anything. A challenge, a giveaway, a Read-A-Long, a Read-a-thon. Those are the kinds of things big bloggers (in my opinion) do - and I'm terrified of the idea. I guess it's just something you grow into...once you take your fear and throw it over board :)

Vlogging
This is something I've always been tinkering with. I love Youtube, I think I would love making videos. But it's so, SO easy to just sit here and write where noone knows who I am and where noone who knows me in real life can find out that I have a slight obsession with the Vampire Academy's Dimitri.

So, that's it. The steps I've taken, the steps I still have to take. Which of these experiences have you made already? Do you have any tips or advice for me? Or questions about the few things I did manage to do? I'd love to hear!

10 comments:

  1. Hi Laura! I sometimes struggle with original content especially if I'm having a slow reading week. My meme posts are my high traffic posts as well. Thanks for stopping by.

    Kendal
    Kinx's Book Nook

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  2. I didn't notice this before, but I guess I'm lucky too to be one of those people who don't regard commenting as a chore. I especially like commenting on discussion posts like these, and regarding the whole who replied back thing, I think Disqus is perfect at that. It notifies me when someone replies to a comment I've made, so there's that.


    Like you, I can't imagine maintaining a vlog. I want to, and I have all these things I want to include in my videos, but the idea of recording one seems really tough. I guess vlogging is for the brave.

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  3. I have the same issue with commenting. I often will post a comment somewhere and then don't check for a response because I've forgot where I posted the comment in the first place!

    I love Twitter, too, but also get overwhelmed by my feed. I just can't keep up with it.

    I've hosted giveaways, and they (I think) are pretty simple to do. When it comes to trying out hosting I think they are the easiest to start with.

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  4. Ah we've had such a similar process! I did absolutely No research...I just took the plunge. Then stopped for two months bc my writing sucked and I got discouraged.

    I have problems with comments too. The thing I've heard is of Disqus. My friend has it on her blog, and then I noticed several other blogger blogs have it too. You get notifications when you get responses...and u don't have to make an account u just sign in w twitter or whatever.

    I want to get it, but I'm worried my smileys will go away! And, I don't know how. Lol.

    I still have to write a post for today, it's gonna be short bc I'm super busy all day now exhausted,

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  5. I love your thought process! My early reviews were so terrible. I read them now and I just shake my head.

    I struggle with commenting sometimes because I use a reader on my phone, where commenting purely sucks! One of my goals for 2013 is to find a better way to handle that. My (unsolicited) suggestion for comments is to create a folder "return comments" in your reader. This is what I did. This way when I comment these blogs it's easier to remember to go back and check!

    Sometimes I still find twitter overwhelming, but I usually just ignore what I missed and don't try to read everything. I may miss something cool but sometimes there are just too many tweets!

    BTW - you're name is very cute!

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  6. i love the way you explained your blogging journey, lol! ah vlogging, I keep telling myself I am going to do that! need to find how to integrate it, maybe with a weekly recommendation?

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  7. I am awful at HTML. Seriously, I need to take a class or something! lol. And you are definitely lucky to like commenting. It's not so much that I dislike it as it that I rarely have the time to!

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  8. Oh, I can relate!! My first reviews were meh, and there are still times when I'm not too impressed. But, I enjoy blogging and I realize I can't have every plug-in, be linked in with every form of social media, and I really just have to be okay with it...which I am:). Enjoyed your post!

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  9. I despise HTML...I use to be good at it, but I don't know what happened. I guess I stopped using it and then i forgot everything, not I just don't want to be bothered. I do it when I have to but I don't have any of that patience people mention. Hosting things like giveaways is scary at first but then it becomes rather fun! I still want to host an event, but I'm not ready for that just yet. Good luck with all of your goals!

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  10. I totally agree with you about videos!! I can't bring myself to share my face with the blogging world simply because I don't want the real world to know about all my crazy book obsessions ;)

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