The Blog Squad - Part 25

We are a group of three book bloggers situated on different continents but brought together by our love for books and a penchant for talking about them. We’ve joined our forces to create a collaborative series of posts about book blogging and we hope you’ll enjoy the discussions.

A MAGICAL WORLD OF WORDS - AmyNikita

BOOKS.BAGS.BURGERS - Uma K

BOOK REVIEWS BY DI - Di Hewlett

What's the strangest thing you've done in the name of blogging?

Blogging has seen me doing all sorts of things I didn’t think that I would need to do when I was a newbie blogger! For example:

• Learning strange new languages (HTML, CSS, JAVA)
• Opening social media accounts all over the Internet (Twitter, Facebook Page, Instagram, Pinterest!) Who even has time to maintain all these things!?
• Buying and binge reading 5 previous books in a series
• Spending HOURS actually blogging and then minimal hours actually READING
• In order to GET more reading hours I stay up WAAAAY past my bedtime (who needs sleep)

None of these are really strange - it’s just what book bloggers do… We are pretty legendary when you come to think of it!

My points are very similar to Di’s:

• I stay up late to get reading done. I hardly read at all in the day, to be honest, so that means I do most - if not all - of my reading at night.
• I’ve got Instagram and Twitter accounts, which I never thought I’d have. I was against them for so long and I’m not sure why, but in retrospect it would’ve been impossible to do the things I’m doing with my blog if I didn’t at least have Twitter.
• Image/graphic design and HTML = #stress. But it has been so good for me to fiddle with HTML and CSS and learn more about them. I’m still terrified, but I definitely feel more confident playing with it than I was before the blog. Heck, I hardly even knew about it then.

What do you do about blogging slumps use?

I think the question to ask yourself here is - why are you in a slump in the first place?

• Is the way that you are blogging sustainable?
• Are you tired of your posts/meme participation/ schedule?
• Are you in a reading slump that is carrying over to your blogging world?
• Is something else happening in your life that is forcing a blogging slump?

Once you know the reason behind the slump, you’re well on your way to being able to get yourself out of it - if you can!

Right now I’m in a serious slump - it’s been brought on by LIFE in general, particularly work. Everything else is just taking up so much time in my life that I haven’t had time for myself, let alone time to invest in a hobby like blogging! I’ve just stepped back, reiterated to myself that it is my HOBBY and a source of enjoyment and the blogosphere will be there when I return. I’m spending what time I can on blogging and catching up because, despite this all being a digital experience, I love reading everyone’s updates and reviews and my blogging friends are a wonderful part of my life. I just have to readjust my expectations and schedule to fit into my life right now, and you can do it to!

If changing up the routine or spending less time posting and blogging doesn’t work for you, it may be time to take a break - rest, recharge and come back better than ever!

Ha. Ha.

I think I’m actually in a blogging slump at the moment ;) I’m so behind on replying to comments, blog hopping, and I’m procrastinating writing certain posts. I just have very little motivation to do any of that. As far as beating it goes, I guess you can either embrace the break and have some down-time, or force yourself into your chair and make yourself blog (I may be taking that approach....)

But I think a better piece of advice would be how to avoid a blogging slump. I think I’m in a slump because I’ve been blogging so much; posting too much, blogging every day…...it’s seriously draining, and if you do that you’re gonna run the risk of burning-out.

So take it slow. Blogging is a hobby, so treat it like one. It mustn’t overwhelm your life.

(And yes, I really need to start taking my own advice...)  

Do Have you ever struggled to write a review?

Only ALL OF THE TIME!!! What’s funny is that I always find it so easy to write reviews about books that I didn’t like or had huge issues with - there’s plenty of rant material available there! With books that I liked/enjoyed/loved I have less to work with so I rely a lot on the notes that I take while I was reading to direct me in what I’m going to specifically address in my review.

I always try to remember the basics when I review (I also quite handily have put these into an infographic #ShamelessSelfPromo) - the genre, the writing style, the characters and their development, the plot themes. How did the book make you feel?

If all else fails you, don’t be afraid to try a different sort of post - not only reviews sell books! You could try a 5 Things About list, a Pinterest Mood board, Author Interview post, Makeup or Nail Art inspired by post - there’s so many opportunites!

Oh YEAH. Like, that makes up most of my blogging life, let’s be real. #bloggerproblems

When I’m struggling to try a write a review, it’s usually because I’m not in the mood, or I’m rushing it, or the book isn’t giving me much to work with (when in doubt, blame something other than yourself...). Sometimes the words just won’t come, or you find yourself going off on tangents or waffling, or trying to hard to please the people you know will be reading the review.  

My advice? Take a break. Leave the words alone for a while, write out your thoughts on paper and organise them, take a deep breath, or do something totally different for a while. Then a few hours - or days (if you can afford to) - later, come back to the review and work on it again.

I always start my reviews days before I post them, so I have time to edit them and read over them a few times to make sure they’re the best they can be. By the time I actually publish the review, I’ve probably read through it about five times.  

Go over to their collab posts to know my answers!:

❤ Book Reviews by Di
❤ A Magical World of Words

We hope you’ve enjoyed the latest in our series of discussion posts! Please talk to us and let us know YOUR answers below. What do you think of our responses? If you have any specific questions you’d like us to address in the future, please let us know in the comments section below.