I wanted to write a post apologising for not blogging for a while, but apologising seems like such a stupid word. After all, it's my blog, I run it, and therefore I shouldn't really be apologising to anyone. I haven't done anything wrong!
I think myself and other bloggers can be very quick to put pressure on ourselves to do what is expected of us, such as posting every day or a couple of times a week, because it's what other people do or what publishers expect.
When I first started blogging I was unwell and unemployed. I had lots of spare time on my hands and I needed a hobby to keep me focused and give me an outlet to express myself. Blogging was great for that and went hand in hand with my love of reading. Combining the two was the best thing I ever did!
In January I started my very first job. Yes I'm 23 and had never worked before. My health had prevented me. Starting work was a huge landmark for me and was both exciting and challenging. Because of my health, I have limited energy. I try and explain it as running on a recharable battery that needs charging up a little sooner and more frequently than most healthy people! I love my job and wouldn't change it for the world, but it is a physically demanding job. Since starting work I have found myself having to balance that energy just right so that I could really focus on my job. This meant I had less energy for things like reading and writing as I needed my evenings to rest and recuperate.
As well as working, I've been learning to drive. I don't think driving will be something that ever comes naturally to me, but I've made a huge amount of progress and now I look forward to my lessons and often finish them feeling proud of what I've achieved rather than terrified of what just happened!
I still read on my days off and the occasional evening when I have a burst of energy, but I don't read as much or as quickly as I used to. This doesn't mean I enjoy reading any less or have any less desire to read or to blog, but obviously running a book review blog requires you to have read books in order to review them! And sadly that is something I have less time to do.
I hope that readers of my blog will be patient with me, and that they don't mind that the reviews may be further apart timewise. I may not post every day or every week. But when I do post reviews, they will be the same as they always have been. I will spend the same amount of time writing them and pour the same amount of emotion into them. I would never want to try and cram in reviews to pad out the blog and lose some of the substance.
The bookish community is wonderful, and I've always found it to be incredibly supportive, and I hope I can still reach readers even if it is less frequently than before. I'm always lurking about on Twitter so please feel free to chat to me on there! @TotalTeenFic Hopefully speak to you soon!
Showing posts with label personal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label personal. Show all posts
Sunday, 27 April 2014
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
My Blogging Journey
This blog has been up and running for a few months now and so I thought it would be nice to share a little bit more about how it came to be! This is my book blogging story.
Although I started this blog only recently, I'm not new to blogging or to reading and reviewing books. For over a year and a half I've been using Goodreads, which is one of my favourite websites ever. The longer I was on that site, the more detailed my reviews became. What started out as a few sentences slowly grew into a few paragraphs. But I still wasn't ready to take the leap into book blogging.
Last year I started my own personal blog. I often found myself needing to express myself in ways I couldn't quite fit into a 140 character tweet. I began using that to share my thoughts and to raise awareness of M.E, an illness I've lived with for nearly 7 years. I saw what a great way it was to reach people and it was good having a place to go when I needed to share my feelings.
I've always loved teen fiction. It's my ultimate comfort genre and where I'm happiest as a reader. There's a slightly deeper level to it as well. My health problems mean I struggle with concentration and memory, which isn't the most helpful when you love reading! Whilst there are plenty of adult novels and genres I love, sometimes I just find them too hard to read. I love that teen fiction can be exciting, gripping and deal with the most poignant issues, but without you having to wade through heavy, dense text to unravel them. That doesn't mean there isn't brilliant, innovative writing in YA because there is. There really is. But sometimes when your brain is all fuddled and reading is hard, you want those books you can slip into like a worn pair of slippers. YA is that kind of genre to me.
I love so much about YA and over the past few years I realised just how passionate I was. When friends asked me for book recommendations I would always pick a YA title I had read recently. I loved seeing people enjoy books that I'd recommended to them. I think sharing my love of books and reading amongst my friends is one of the most fulfilling parts of those friendships. And that's when I realised that I could do this. I could start a book blog.
It had always been something I'd been a little intimidated by before. I didn't know if I could write a review worthy enough to stand on its own in a blog post, that people would enjoy reading. I didn't know if I'd be able to read enough to maintain a blog. Reading is still something I struggle with because it takes a lot of energy and time. Because of my health issues I have to take regular breaks between reading to rest. I get headaches, I can't concentrate for long and I have a very limited supply of energy. I'm not a naturally fast reader. But it's still my passion. It means it's even more worth it when I finish a book because I feel like it's an achievement - because to me it is! There have been times over the past few years where I haven't actually been well enough to read. Having one of life's greatest pleasures taken away from me in the past makes it something that's even more precious to me now.
For me blogging has become something for me to focus on and in the short time I've been blogging, it's become one of the most important things in my day to day life. I regret not starting this blog sooner! I can't wait to carry on blogging and sharing my books and discoveries with you all. I love reading other book blogs and becoming part of the community of bloggers out there. Discovering new books to read on other people's blogs has been one of the best things about starting my own! I constantly find myself inspired to write new posts and share things on Twitter with fellow readers. I want to thank everyone who's visited TTF so far and made this experience such a good one! I can't wait to carry on blogging and chatting with you all.
Thanks for reading and keep checking back for more reviews!
Sarah x
Although I started this blog only recently, I'm not new to blogging or to reading and reviewing books. For over a year and a half I've been using Goodreads, which is one of my favourite websites ever. The longer I was on that site, the more detailed my reviews became. What started out as a few sentences slowly grew into a few paragraphs. But I still wasn't ready to take the leap into book blogging.
Last year I started my own personal blog. I often found myself needing to express myself in ways I couldn't quite fit into a 140 character tweet. I began using that to share my thoughts and to raise awareness of M.E, an illness I've lived with for nearly 7 years. I saw what a great way it was to reach people and it was good having a place to go when I needed to share my feelings.
I've always loved teen fiction. It's my ultimate comfort genre and where I'm happiest as a reader. There's a slightly deeper level to it as well. My health problems mean I struggle with concentration and memory, which isn't the most helpful when you love reading! Whilst there are plenty of adult novels and genres I love, sometimes I just find them too hard to read. I love that teen fiction can be exciting, gripping and deal with the most poignant issues, but without you having to wade through heavy, dense text to unravel them. That doesn't mean there isn't brilliant, innovative writing in YA because there is. There really is. But sometimes when your brain is all fuddled and reading is hard, you want those books you can slip into like a worn pair of slippers. YA is that kind of genre to me.
I love so much about YA and over the past few years I realised just how passionate I was. When friends asked me for book recommendations I would always pick a YA title I had read recently. I loved seeing people enjoy books that I'd recommended to them. I think sharing my love of books and reading amongst my friends is one of the most fulfilling parts of those friendships. And that's when I realised that I could do this. I could start a book blog.
It had always been something I'd been a little intimidated by before. I didn't know if I could write a review worthy enough to stand on its own in a blog post, that people would enjoy reading. I didn't know if I'd be able to read enough to maintain a blog. Reading is still something I struggle with because it takes a lot of energy and time. Because of my health issues I have to take regular breaks between reading to rest. I get headaches, I can't concentrate for long and I have a very limited supply of energy. I'm not a naturally fast reader. But it's still my passion. It means it's even more worth it when I finish a book because I feel like it's an achievement - because to me it is! There have been times over the past few years where I haven't actually been well enough to read. Having one of life's greatest pleasures taken away from me in the past makes it something that's even more precious to me now.
For me blogging has become something for me to focus on and in the short time I've been blogging, it's become one of the most important things in my day to day life. I regret not starting this blog sooner! I can't wait to carry on blogging and sharing my books and discoveries with you all. I love reading other book blogs and becoming part of the community of bloggers out there. Discovering new books to read on other people's blogs has been one of the best things about starting my own! I constantly find myself inspired to write new posts and share things on Twitter with fellow readers. I want to thank everyone who's visited TTF so far and made this experience such a good one! I can't wait to carry on blogging and chatting with you all.
Thanks for reading and keep checking back for more reviews!
Sarah x
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