How to Get Me to Follow You on Twitter

Twitter is scary. Twitter is overwhelming. Twitter is relentless.

Twitter is also the reason I am so involved in the book blogging community. Twitter is my lifeline to the bookish community outside of my blog. Twitter is a source of humor, insight, creativity and amazing people. (There is also quite the opposite lurking in the depths of Twitter, but for the sake of sanity and optimism, I am focusing on the bright side).

For me, scrolling through Twitter doesn't feel like a waste of time (unlike Pinterest, Facebook, and sometimes Instagram) because I am always inspired by all of the amazing people on my feed. It is also really easy to find ways to interact with other book lovers and forge relationships. 

Over the past five years, I feel as if I have been becoming more and more involved in the community. Since it is definitely not because of an increase in skill, I am going to attribute it to the rise of social media, especially Twitter. While those 240 characters can be used to anger, ridicule, and dramatize, you can also put a lot of love, friendship, and support in so few words.

However, there is a steep learning curve that I am still trying to climb. A fair amount of my social media skills were learned through experimentation and trial and error, but most of what I know is from the other amazing people on Twitter. So, I am breaking down why I follow the people I do and impart some knowledge with my impeccable taste.

Blogger Positivity Campaign | Introduction

We all have trouble being positive sometimes. Even us, the mighty book bloggers, are not immune to bad days.

The wonderful and thoughtful Jillian over at Jillian's Books has notices (along with many other people in our community, whether you want to admit to it or not) has noticed a lack of positivity in our community. Many amazing bloggers have gone on break or just stopped blogging entirely. The people that are left are losing steam, either due to lack of motivation, ideas, or just time. The drama has been plaguing us non-stop.

The goal of this campaign is to bring the confidence, happiness, and motivation back into our community. This is the shot of espresso that our community needs until it can learn to stay up on its own.

So, I am going to try to lift your spirits and remind all of you that blogging is worth the struggle, the long hours, the creativity, and the effort. But first, it might have you to know a little bit more about me.

Discussion | How Important is Blog Design?

I am a blogger, not a graphic designer.

Certainly, there are talented people who are both, but unfortunately I am not one of those people.

Lately, I have been obsessing over the blog layout, design, fonts, colors, sidebars, EVERYTHING!

For some reason, I have never been happy with my blog's design.

My question is -- How important is a blog's design anyway?

BookBlogWriMo | Our Review Process

Welcome to Day 12 of BookBlogWriMo!

Today's post is the nitty-gritty part of blogging-- how to write reviews. Honestly, reviews are the meat and potatoes of book blogging. Memes, tags, and discussion posts are fun too, but reviews are really what our blogs are based on.

Today's topic is...

Our Review Writing Process

Max

First, if there's anything I especially want to say in my review, I write that down first so I don't forget. Then I work on a summary of the book, which is usually what takes me the longest. Lastly, I review the book, highlight what I thought of the writing, the characters, and the plot. If it's a book I really like, I try to explain why I loved it so much and why I think other people would enjoy it as well. Then I add pictures, read over it a few times and have someone else edit, then I post it!

Tessa
First, I read the book. (Shocking, I know) Sometimes I take notes while I read, but not frequently. Mostly, I rely off of my memory. Like Max, I start with the summary of the book. This is normally the hardest part for me, because I want to accurately describe the book, but in a unique way. Sometimes I like to add quotes from the book into my summary. Then, I ramble and rant. If you have read any of my reviews, then you know what I mean. I try to include both things that I liked about the book and things that I did not. The main things that I focus on are the characters and the plot. After I realize that I have been rambling for too long, I have someone (usually Max) edit the review. Then, I post it.