Pages

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Top Ten Reasons I Love Being A Blogger and a Reader


Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

I've been a reader my whole life (well, for as long as I've been able to read, anyway--which is a long time if you believe my parents) and a blogger for about a year and a half. They're two of the things I love best about my life, after my dog and really good chocolate cake. And that's saying something.

The Perks of Being a Readerflower:


I get to experience things, do things, and be things I never would get to in books. Flying on the back of a dragon? Done that. Defeated the Dark Lord? When I was sixteen, bitch. Kissed on top of Notre Dame? BEEN THERE. Speaking of...


What can I say? I love romance. I love getting to live vicariously through all the ships in fiction. I love loving them, obsessing over them, and drawing them. Seriously, drawing still lifes and all that junk is so boring. I'd rather draw fictional characters kissing.


Back to that whole "Readers live a thousand lives" thing. When you read, you can be anyone and go anywhere. Not only do you get to visit historical France or China or wherever, but you can step into the shoes of someone with a totally different life experience than you have. I'm pretty sure reading is the thing that keeps us from being totally ignorant.


It's fun. I am never ever ever bored. What do people who don't read DO with all the excess brain space?! And all that free time? Like, say you're killing time in the waiting room of a doctor's office, or a friend is late for lunch, or you're standing in line for something, and you don't have a book. What do you do? What do you even talk about?


I'm definitely the obsessive type. I don't like things; I love them passionately and wholly. I dream about them, I draw them, I write about them, and I talk about them. Reading about fictional characters and visiting fictional worlds gives me both a focus and an outlet for all that nerdery. it's like my brain is Tumblr and I need something to reblog. FEED ME FANDOMS.

The Perks of Being a Bloggerflower:


When you're a blogger, you get exposed to a ton of books you otherwise wouldn't see because of other bloggers buzzing, and publicists, and all that jazz. I have big pretty shiny book piles full of awesomeness. My TBR mountain is absolutely gigantic now, and that's all because of blogging.


It's a little sad how little I knew about the industry I hoped to become a part of pre-blogging. Book blogging is an excellent education in publishing and the internet world of books in general. Plus, whern you're a blogger, you totally get to be a reading hipster, reading and loving books before they're cool. Before they're even out. Plus there are awesome perks, like meeting and lunching with bestselling authors.


I get to write about something I really love all day long. Books are something I've never really been able to talk about to the extent I love. But now, not only do I have a space in which to blather, but I actually have people listen. It's the coolest thing in the world! Plus I get to have a hobby that doesn't require horribe things like pants or leaving the house or people.


I had NO IDEA such an amazing blogging community was out there. We are a powerful bunch of badass bitches, if you ask me. We know the pain of a cover redesign mid-series, when a highly anticipated release gets pushed back, and when a favorite character dies. And that leads me too...


WHAT WOULD I DO WITHOUT THE FRIENDS I'VE MADE THROUGH BLOGGING? You guys get my references. You've been to the worlds in my head. You know what I mean when I randomly scream "HECTORRR!!!1!!" or "STURMHOND <333". You know why I have nightmares about the dreaded not-yet-released third book in the series. If I start a Disney singalong on Twitter, dozens of you crazy people will join in.

Because of blogging, there are awesome people willing to do things like, oh, help me put this thing together (holla at Christina Franke My Dear, Ell Oh Ellis, and Megasus). I've met a ton of people I otherwise wouldn't meet, and I've made super awesome friends who are always willing to talk nerdy to me at odd hours of the day.

19 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh this list is fantastic Gillian! Reading IS fun (and really, what DO people do while they're waiting? Play a dumb game? SO not as fun.) Also, yes to the ships. And being able to understand what people are talking about with HECTOR, et al.

    Also Reading Hipster might be one of my new favorite terms to describe book bloggers. Genius.

    My TTT

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very crative way of presenting your list. It makes me want to be more creative! Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your pictures are lovely :D I love the way your presented your list. I agree with all of it. I can't imagine giving it all up if I couldn't read!

    Kate @ whYAnot

    ReplyDelete
  4. HA! I love how you call us reading Hipsters.. reading a book BEFORE it's cool. Everyone else loves books when they become a movie.. but I knew about that story way before that time. Great post!! And I have no pants on while writing this!

    Angie
    Top Ten Tuesday

    ReplyDelete
  5. I agree with so many of your points. They really made me smile. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I can relate with ALL your reasons! I so agree about discovering so many new books when I started blogging. Now my TBR list is just too high! Great list :D

    I followed you yay! :)

    My TTT

    ReplyDelete
  7. "BLOGGING GIVES ME VOICE" OH YES

    "READERS SHIP THE BEST SHIPS" OH DOUBLE YES

    Can't agree no more! Your list is totally agreeable in any means! :D
    Happy reading! :D

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love how you organized your post this week; it looks really awesome, Gillian!

    Here's my TTT post, if you're interested in checking it out: http://bookworm716.blogspot.com/2014/02/top-ten-tuesday-being-bloggerbookworm.html

    ReplyDelete
  9. "When I was 16, bitch." Hahahaha you're so funny! Love this post and this list!
    My TTT

    ReplyDelete
  10. "Defeated the Dark Lord? When I was sixteen, bitch." I'll be over here, dying.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love your point about obsessions. I get so completely enamored with a book that it's all I can think or talk about but it's also a positive kind of addiction. So who's complaining? (all my friends and coworkers probably), Anyway, great list!
    Cassi @ My Thoughts Literally

    ReplyDelete
  12. Whoaaaa, your header is so pretty. I kind of just want to stare at it for a while. AND YES TO THE SHIPPING OF THE BEST SHIPS. I am starting to ship Iko and Thorne ever since Christina brought it to my attention and it's entirely unconventional but I love it. And absolutely yes to everything under Perks of Being a Bloggerflower. Yep yep yep. And I was just looking back yesterday and what I thought I knew about the publishing world and authors before I was a blogger and what I know now. Also, if you told me two years ago that I would be good friends with a bunch of authors, I would have laughed.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I do ship the best ships, I quite agree. And the community is the bestest ;___; I've only ever been a part of one community that was as friendly and amazing as this one, and that went to shit pretty soon after I joined. Bloggers, however, remain flawless. STURMHONDDDDDDD.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I LOVE YOUR LIST! I agree with all but I especially love that books allow me to live a thousand lives. My TTT.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I completely love this list!!! I agree -- I love that everyone here understands my obsessions and we can nerd out over it and it's just awesome. I don't know what I'd do without reading and blogging has made it that much more FUN because I've discovered so many new books through it! All us bookish people are the best, seriously!

    ReplyDelete
  16. People I’ve met through books and blogging are the best. You have a fantastic blog header. Somehow, you've distilled pretty much everything I like to read in one image. :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Aw, I love this post :) You are awesome Gillian! And I agree with a lot of it :) Sigh, blog people are the best. <3

    ReplyDelete
  18. Bloggers are the most awesome nerds! yes! I love your "perks" spin-off headings, and the images you made with the reasons. You really put work into this post :)

    ReplyDelete

Note: comments on posts older than 90 days are automatically moderated, so they won't show up here immediately. Thanks for commenting! :)