There has been some great energy floating around the bookish interwebs this week. Adele at Persnickety Snark declared a Blog Thanksgiving week. And Kristi at The Story Siren joined in with her thoughts on why she loves to blog.
I'm coming up on one year of blogging in June. I had no idea the community of book bloggers that existed until I started blogging. Initially I hadn't planned on joining any type of community. This blog was meant to share my love of young adult literature with my family and friends.
But, I got hooked.
Last Summer I hung out with some amazing blogging friends at an event organized by Natasha at Maw Books. I can be a little shy in large gatherings. I like to lurk and observe rather than be loud and vocal. But, after about 10 minutes I was chatting it up with Becky from One Literature Nut, Angie from Angieville, and Britt from Confessions of a Book Habitue. By the end of the evening it was like we were old friends. I don't often feel like I belong in situations like that, so it was pretty neat. I was really sad that I didn't get a chance to go to their social in February, and also sad that I won't be going to BEA this year.
One of the other awesome things that I discovered through blogging is how freaking awesome authors are. I used to think they were these super-human figures that were untouchable by the common folk. (Okay, maybe SOME of them are). But, nowadays, I look up their blog and shoot them an email to tell them how much I liked their book, or to ask them a question. And 9 times out of 10 I get a response. Although I still freeze up at signings and act like a total fan-girl dork. (We're working on that in preparation for when I meet Shannon Hale someday)...
But most of all I love reading and I love writing. It is unlikely that I will ever publish a novel. (I say unlikely because anything is possible). But, every day I am able to put my thoughts about books into writing. It's totally helped with my reading retention which sucks because I read so quickly. It's like water through sand. Blogging helps me remember the finer points of stories and why I liked them.
Thanks to all of you who read my blog and for your wonderful comments. It's so fun to have a community of people that I have so much in common with to talk about the things I love most.
So, talk to me about the reasons you love to blog. (Or reading them)
