Liebster Award

I have officially won my first bloggy award! I'm very thankful that Megan at My Library Life of Living Through Books nominated me. I love finding new followers (hey Megan!) and the Liebster award is all about discovering new blogs (which you know I'm also all about!) As you know, I've only been blogging for a couple months so it still surprises me when I find out people actually stop by this little piece of web space. This award is given to bloggers by fellow bloggers who have less than 200 followers to get a boost in exposure and hopefully give readers a chance to see some of the smaller blogs that are out there doing great things around the web.

Here are the rules: 

1. Link back to the blogger that tagged you.

2. Nominate 10 others and answer the questions of the one who tagged you.

3. Ask 10 questions for the bloggers you nominate.

4. Let your nominees know of their award.

And here are Megan's questions for me:

1. Do you manage how long you spend working on your blog, how do you?

I haven't been blogging very long so I haven't become overwhelmed yet. I typically try to write reviews soon after I read the book. This helps me keep up with them but it also helps me review better because I tend to forget aspects of the book with time due to the number of books I read (hence, the review blog.) I think the best thing I have done to manage my blog is start scheduling posts. I try to post around three times a week and I've gotten to the point where I review a book quickly after reading it and then schedule it for whenever I have the next opening. This helps me to keep on track and be regular about posts. 

2. When you were starting your blog and the thoughts you had about how you would carry on with it, has it proved more difficult and/or time consuming than you first thought?

I didn't have big aspirations for my blog so I don't think it is harder or more time consuming than I imagined. I had a personal blog at one point and I became overwhelmed finding interesting things to talk about and lost steam. With my book blog, there will always be book reviews to write. But I would like to expand my posts beyond reviews with things like memes and award posts :) 

3. How often do you get into a book niche where you just read the same genre or get caught up in books that have reoccurring aspect? i.e. magic, vampires, innocent girl falls for bad boy, list goes on.

This actually doesn't happen for me very often. If you have been around this blog for any point of time, you will have notice that my tastes are very diverse. I will read anything from romance, to thriller, to suspense, to supernatural and sci-fi. I rarely discriminate. That being said, I sometimes get bogged down with reading book after book that I don't enjoy. I have a huge TBR list and I tend to just grab a random book when I finish one and sometimes that does not turn out so well. When that happens, I return to an author or series that I know I will enjoy to get back into the swing of things. 

4. We all get into a reading ditch/slump/block, how do you get out of them?

Oops, I just answered this one in the last question... To expand upon that, my go-to's for getting out of the reading ditch tend to be simple, quick reads like Nora Roberts or Jodi Picoult. I also love my series to get out of the slump. I save up books in a series so it doesn't end too soon and I don't have to deal with series hangovers. Right now I'm still holding onto the Outlander and Game of Thrones series. Both of those series contain very long books but I love them so if it's a big ditch, I'll dive into one of those. 

5. What do you hope to get from your blog?

I love the sense of community! I'm actually doing a post on this soon but I realized at some point that I'm a serious book nerd with no one to talk books to. This made me a sad book nerd. Goodreads filled this space for a long time but I realized I wanted more. That's where this blog comes in. I follow a lot of blogs and loved that I shared opinions and passions about similar things and decided to stop being the creeper who just reads and doesn't comment (even though I still do that with plenty...) and create a blog where I could build that community for myself. 

6. When reading a book what do you want to see, what makes it good?

For me, it's all about the characters and relationships. As you may have noticed, writing is not my forte. I don't claim to be a writer and I have no desire to be one. This usually translates to me having very little opinion on what makes something "literature" vs. crap. That being said, I can tell crap from phenomenal writing. I don't know all of the fancy terms and didn't major in English but I've got the basics. Now, back to the characters. If I can connect with the character (hate or love) and am fully invested in seeing what is going to happen to them (even if it's predictable), you've got me. That's all I really need. I can forgive crap writing and even some plot holes if the character development is well done. 

7. Cover, Title or Synopsis or all three?

I'd have to say all three. The cover is usually what catches my eye but if I'm in B&N and the books only show the binding, then the title can get me. I won't pick up a book unless one of these stands out. I think it's very important and if this isn't the case for everyone, what makes you pick it up? I judge a book by it's cover when it comes to laying my hands on it, but when it comes to checking it out or buying, it's synopsis all the way. If it doesn't sound interesting and has an awesome cover, no way. I love getting to be judgey when it comes to my books!

Those were great questions and I really enjoyed answering them. Good job, Megan! Now I have to come up with ten of my own. I'm thinking 5 bloggy questions, 5 random. Let's see here...

1.  How did you pick your blog name?

2. Do you have a favorite genre and why? Are you willing to read outside of that genre?

3. Do you read a series straight through or space them out?

4. Favorite author?

5. Do you enjoying reading or writing more?

6. Tell us 3 random facts about yourself?

7. Where would you travel if you could and why?

8. If you had to eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

9. Cats or dogs?

10. What is you favorite blog to read?

Ok, that's about as random as I can get in one sitting. Now for nominations! I follow a lot of blogs and I have no clue how many followers these bloggers have. There's also a chance they've been nominated before. Here are 5 blogs I read that I think you should check out!

Ashley's Book Corner

Tumbling Books

The Girl and Her Books

Sarah Says Read

Musings of a Bookshop Girl

Well, this has been fun. Thanks for the nomination Megan! If any followers have a blog and want to answer these questions, I nominate you! Just leave a comment to let me know you did it so I can see your answers!