armchair bea: blogging about blogging

BEA is ending? It seems like it only just begun. Thanks to Armchair BEA for letting us attend virtually - it was so much more fun than just reading along with Twitter reports (although I did that, too!). Hopefully next year I'll be able to attend BEA in person if it doesn't get scheduled too close to finals.

Today's armchair post is about the blog part of a book blog. I love lists, so I'm going to make some lists about what I enjoy about other blogs and things I try to avoid myself.

Things I like:

• I hope it's okay if I spotlight you a bit, Jenny (of Alternate Readality)! Something that I love about her blog is that she has these fabulous book vs. movie posts, a topic that would have never crossed my mind but is inexorably linked to the original story. When I read a book I'm usually curious about the screen version and usually the book wins but sometimes it doesn't and that's when I trust her opinion.
• On occasion I've seen non-meme posts and I will always stop and read those regardless of whether or not it's about characters, an author's writing, organising bookshelves, blogging techniques - just the uniqueness of the topic alone will always pull me in. I plan on having some posts like these in the future so keep an eye out! A blog that is always good for this is We Heart YA. Thanks to you lovely ladies!
• Blog designs that are easy to maneuver without too many trailers, images, and widgets. This is just a personal preference, though. I visit blogs for their content and the great people behind them, not to get waylaid by page load speed or trying to find a link somewhere.
• Twitter! I like to follow you guys on Twitter. If you have an account feel free to let me know in the comments because like I said yesterday Twitter is almost like a fresh of breath air sometimes and it's overall a fun environment.

Things that are meh:

• Followers that are just followers. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but if I follow you it's because I thought you and your content was genuinely interesting and I want to actively participate with you and your blog. All of these memes are fun but I'd rather get to know a person rather than be a number.
• One thing I avoid is trying to feel pressured to do too much at once such as: if I'm reading 5 books and then some galleys and then also have 2 recently read books that I need to review. To be frank - I don't do this. This blog is here because I love books not to feel like I have to keep the pace with anyone else. Once you get stressed it's not fun anymore and your motivation wanes. Keep only your own goals and never feel bad about it.
• Thinking it's not okay to dislike a book. It's perfectly okay and then it's also okay to review a book that you don't like. There's a big difference between constructive criticism and being needlessly cruel. The best part about reading reviews an author doesn't like is that the things they may point out could spark an interesting discussion over the story and you could learn something you've never thought of. It's always good to keep an open mind and to be honest to yourself.

There are some other neat topics that this post could have covered but I thought I'd keep it simple and perhaps expound upon those other ideas sometime in future. In any case, thank you again Armchair BEA for letting me participate and keeping me abreast of wonderful book news. It's been a blast - see you next year!

And to everyone else: back to your regularly scheduled programming! Reviews coming soon.