April 01, 2013

Book Blogger Confessions: Real Life Edition

Book Blogger Confessions is a meme that posts the 1st and 3rd Monday of every month, where book bloggers "confess" and vent about blogging-related topics. This meme is hosted by Midnyte Reader and For What It's Worth. So click on the link(s), grab the logo and jump right in! Let's get to know each other a little better :).


April 1 Question: How does blogging affect your *real* life? Are friends and family supportive? Do you find that blogging cuts into family time? How do you strike a balance between the two?

Since I've only been blogging for a few months - and not feverishly - I can't say that my life has taken a drastic change because of that. Of course, I'm still reviewing bought books so far...should I start receiving ARCs or giveaway prizes or stuff like that, I suppose my blogging life would become far more hectic :). (Though, since I'm in Italy, I guess ARCs are largely out of question...). Having said so, when not spending time on my blog, I can more than often be found on Goodreads - hoping to "meet my next favorite book" or gathering more info about those already in my to-read and not-sure lists. And that cuts into family time even more LOL. But I have to confess it especially cuts into work time *inserts sly grin here*. I spend part of my working hours online for legitimate reasons, so it's easy for me to sneak in some personal business here and there. Lucky gal, I know ;).
The only person from RL who is privy to this blog is my husband. I don't know anyone who could be interested in it, especially since I'm in Italy and my blog is in English. Anyway, my husband has this one wonderful quality - he never questions what I do. Whether it's about my hairstyle or the books I read and review. So I guess you could say he's supportive, in the sense that he lets me go my way without thinking that what I do is funny or crazy. He knows I only get involved in stuff that really means something to me anyway.
As for striking a balance, I wish I could be useful  by giving advice - but like I said, I'm (still) a budding blogger, and a lucky person who can blog from work if need be (please don't hate me too much LOL). But one thing I've learnt: while memes are a wonderful tool when it comes to meet other bloggers and chat with them and get a perspective of blogging, they are very time-consuming as well. If you get a lot of traffic through them, you feel like visiting all those kind people back at the shortest possible notice. If you read a post that you appreciate, you feel like letting the blogger know ASAP. That's what happens to me anyway. So, I decided that I'd only participate in this very meme for the time being. What I'm trying to say is, one should probably make up her/his mind about how many memes/contests/cover reveals/etc. one can actually keep up with, and stick to them...
When it comes to reviews, I personally try to take it easy, refusing to feel compelled to post more than once a week. I read somewhere that a blog should have a new post at least every couple of days, in order to prove that it is alive and kicking. Well, sorry, but no. I don't have the time, but aside from that, I firmly believe that posting should be a meaningful act, not a productivity contest. Also, like many of you BBC participants have often stressed, it should be fun! If I feel guilty for not posting enough, or on the contrary, for neglecting family and friends and RL duties in order to post more, maybe I should step back and reconsider the whole matter...

Now, this one should be fun. What about you? I expect the most diverse answers from my blogging buddies :).

14 comments:

  1. Oh, I agree! You do need to do only so many meme's & reviews. I've been approached by authors about books or approached them & I think that's part of the reason I love book blogging. It's friendly, it isn't selfish & the social element is just addictive. You could get ebooks surely if you didn't mind a slight pressure. Personally I only feel pressure when I'm in a reading slump and then it gets confusing with my internal monologue. I'm not letting you into that though! If you want to be let into anything here's the BBC + also an update post:
    http://spreadingukya2013.blogspot.com/2013/04/book-blogger-confessions-3-blogging-and.html

    Have a great April (:

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    1. Hi - so it's you who became a follower the other day! I couldn't find a Blogspot link in your profile, apart from the RP site. Thanks for joining!
      About eBooks, I have this very small problem...no eReader. Yes, it's probably a great tool when it comes to read more and pay less, but I just can't seem to get into it. I still need my physical books...and physical music. Hopelessly outdated, I know ;).

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  2. You may think you're a newbie blogger but that's great advice and it's what will keep you from getting burned out!

    I found that once I started accepting books for review, you're reading on a schedule and it becomes a job which kind of ruins it. I mean - it's awesome too but I've learned to cut back on that and not worry about having a post up just for the sake of page hits.

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    1. Thanks! Especially since it's coming from an experienced blogger like you :). I hope I'll be able to follow my own advice LOL.

      Quote: I found that once I started accepting books for review, you're reading on a schedule and it becomes a job which kind of ruins it.
      I would love to get books from authors (well, publishers)...but then again, I'm kind of scared that it may actually happen...precisely for the reason you stated above.

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  3. I agree meme are great and nice to find out about other bloggers. Its so great that your dh is supportive. Yes I agree that Goodreads is great to find out about books.

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    1. This particular meme is awesome IMO. It really brings people together, much more than those where you only focus on books - not that there's anything wrong with them of course :). Also, one can learn a lot of things thanks to BBC!

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  4. I'm the same way in that most people in my real life wouldn't care about my blog. One of the reasons I started blogging was to connect with other people with the same interests in reading. :)

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    1. I've been reading since I was a toddler...but only recently started to buy books in English (if you don't count my University years, when I was graduating in it). I wouldn't know whom to to talk with about them anyway, especially those of the YA variety. When I discovered that there was this huge international community of YA readers, my jaw dropped. Thank goodness for blogs too! ;)

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  5. Memes are all consuming for me. Especially top ten tuesday.... I subscribe to about 500 blogs and I feel like I need to comment to ALLLLL OF THEM! And it feels like everyone participates in TTT(they dont, lol).

    You are so lucky you have go online at work :D Well I can... but no blogging time :(

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    1. I know the feeling. One does think she/he's coming across as rude if she/he doesn't comment on everyone else's posts. Makes you feel guilty.

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  6. " I firmly believe that posting should be a meaningful act, not a productivity contest." This is the best quote ever!!!! I am totally with you! I don't really accept ARCs or books to review either (it's very rare) because I want to review what I want to read, not what someone else wants me to read. Also, you nailed it. Once you do accept a review request...you feel this pressure!!! Yikes. Another reason I do it so rarely. I think you've got your balance right...once you get caught up in the mentality of "having" to do stuff that is when it takes over your life and you start thinking about the balance between blogging and real life, lol.

    Your hubby sounds awesome too. Mine is totally supportive and encouraging of anything I want to do as well.

    Yes, memes are time consuming. There are some good ones out there. I try not to overwhelm my blog with too many.

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    1. Thank you Pam *blushes*. To tell the truth, I only got two review requests so far (which is understandable, since I don't have many followers yet), but I declined, because they weren't my thing. I didn't even have a review policy back then, since I wouldn't expect anyone to ask me at that point. Of course, getting free books would be lovely, and I won't pretend I'm averse to that LOL - especially with my limited budget. But the real reason why I started off this blog was to give a spotlight to some less talked-about novels, not to receive books for free. And should it never happen...so be it.
      It sounds like you found a great balance too. As for hubbies...it's great that there are so many awesome men out there. Or maybe we book lovers and bloggers got them all ;).

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  7. Sounds like you've got a great balance in your blogging life, and it's great your husband is so supportive as well!

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    1. Thank you - I hope to retain that! (the balance and the husband LOL).

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