Sunday 30 September 2018

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Six for Sunday: Questions to Ask Book Bloggers

Six for Sunday

Six For Sunday is a weekly feature run by Steph of A Little But a Lot. You can read all the Six for Sunday prompts for the rest of 2018 here. This week's topic doesn't work for me, so I'm going with questions to ask book bloggers!

What advice would you give your younger blogger self?
About the community, about running your blog, about ARCs, about reading, about communicating with publicists/authors.

Don't feel you have to accept every ARC that is offered to you. Yes, it's awesome, and yes, it's a privilege, but there's no point accepting books you know you won't enjoy. Publishers won't have a problem with you declining. Also, don't follow the crowd. Work out what it is about blogging that you enjoy, and stick to it. Blogging is meant to be fun! Just because everyone else doing something doesn't mean you have to - and if it makes blogging feel like a chore, just let it go.

Highlight of your book blogging career?

This is probably being  a panellist on the Blogging: The New Community panel at the London Book Fair, and also being the Children's Innovation Theatre's media partner, in 2013. It was pretty awesome to be asked, and although it was terrifying, it was brilliant, too. I mean, seriously, getting asked to be a panellist at the London Book Fair? I'm just a reader, it's ridiculous! But so, so cool!

Best blogger/author/publishing event you’ve been to?

I have been very fortunate to go to a number of blogger/author/publishing events, so there are many to choose from. This would probably be when I went to the Lauren Oliver's Delirium launch party, and she remembered me from my blog. Or when I went to a Laini Taylor Q&A last year. I am such a huge fan of Laini Taylor, and it was just so awesome to listen to her discuss Strange the Dreamer and actually get to meet her.

Which book bloggers do you admire?

This is probably not going to come as a surprise to anyone, because everyone knows how big a fan of them I am, but it's Cait of Paper Fury. Her blog is informative, but so funny, and has her personality all over it. It's not just what Cait says that makes her blog awesome, but how she says it; with her humour, her love of cake, and her ruler-of-all vibes. There is no other book blog out there like hers. But it's not just how great Paper Fury is, but how much work Cait puts into it. She will have blog posts up on every Monday, Tuesday and Saturday without fail, she is has mastered the art of using Twitter and Instagram to promote herself and her blog, takes photoshoots for Bookstagram which must take an age, she reads around 200 books a year, and writes and edits multiple books each year. All on top of having a full time job, and a life outside of blogging/writing. Cait is just incredible! I could never be like Cait, because I would end up hating blogging (this goes back to question one, and not doing what others are doing, not make blogging feel like a chore), but I am in complete and utter awe of her and the time, effort, and work she puts into blogging. I will eternally bow down to her, because she is just amazing.

Imagine you're having a bookish dinner party. Who do you invite?

Cait of Paper Fury, obviously. Laini Taylor - although, as I proved when I met her, I would be a complete mess of a fangirl and wouldn't be able to say much other than "I love your books!" due to being starstruck. Heidi Heilig, because woooow, Heidi is not only an incredible author, but she's passionate about diverse books and accurate representation, and speaking out against problematic books, and I am in awe of her. J. K. Rowling, because I have lots of questions. So many questions. I need answers. But more than Rowling, I'd love to see Dumbledore, because even if he can't teach me magic, with me being a muggle and all, there is so much I could learn from him. Hmm. There are probably loads more, but I'm not great in the company of lots of people I don't know, so this small group will do. And I hope everyone is cool with take away, because I can't cook.

What do you hope for the future of your blog?

Well, next March, I'll have been book blogging for ten years. Yeaaaah, ten years! And I really can't imagine life without blogging, so I'm hoping I will continue. I love it so much. But I'm sure, as I get older and my circumstances change, there will be changes. I do hope to have my own family one day, and that will affect the time I can give to blogging, so I'm sure there will be quite big changes, if/when that happens. However, I would absolutely love to celebrate my 20th book blogging anniversary, so I hope Once Upon a Bookcase is still around then, in some way shape or form.

So those are my questions and my answers, and now it's over to you! What would your answers be? Leave them in the comments!

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