Follow Friday

• The goal is to increase blog followers, make friends and have something to post.
• You create your own post using the post prompt.
• You leave your link and thumbnail in the linky list that links back to your post prompt.
• Once you have your post up and linked, visit other posts and tell them hi. The point is to FOLLOW them not just comment.
• If you see a post that just hit it to the moon, or just want to show appreciation to a fellow blogger friend, like their name on the linky list to show some appreciation.
• The person with the most likes gets chosen as the next Feature (you can be chosen every 90 days unless we are in need of features)
• It is required that if you participate that you have to follow the FEATURE. It is a big no-no to participate and ignore the feature. They are the special snowflake in this little blizzard.
• As a participant it is up to your discretion on how you want people to follow. Please post RSS, GFC etc if you have a follow of choice.

 

This week's prompt is:

Why did you start blogging?

submitted by Parajunkee

MY ANSWER: I've probably answered this question before, but for all my new friends, here's the story...

Back in 2009 I was reading Rachel Vincent's Shifter series--incredible series by the way--and I think it was just before the third book was going to be released and Rachel had a contest. If you posted reviews of her books, back then it was just Stray, Rogue, and Pride. You would get multiple entries for the amount of places you posted reviews. So I went to Amazon, probably Borders--dearly, beloved Borders, and then I was trying to think of something else. I had to read Prey as soon as I could because I was a huge fan of the series.

I wasn't on Facebook, nor am, and didn't (don't) want to be, but then I saw Rachel give a blog as an example. And I thought, blogging? Why not! So I went to Blogger and created my free blog. And then came the hardest decision ever, a name! So I was spinning through names in my head, this was 2009 now, so there weren't as many lovely book bloggers back then. At least, I was totally new to the game and didn't know many. So I was trying to think of a totally cool bookish blog name. And then what kept coming back to me was...a GREAT read. Because Pride was a GREAT read! And that's when I decided on my blog name. And I went with the completely incorrect structure or whatever and kept it as a GREAT read. Because I wanted to emphasize how GREAT the book was! And as you might know now, I pretty much read a lot of GREAT reads! I know what I like!

So I wrote my first blog post in 2009. I didn't win the contest sadly, but I thought I would keep the blog. Those early posts back in 2009 are kind of scary. The reviews make me shudder because I didn't know how to write them really. And eventually, as I started following more blogs I picked up a few things and then started to write better reviews. And I've read a lot of different types of reviews. And it sort of comes back to advice I got back in school, but I ended up twisting it a bit to fit my type of writing. Write the reviews you want to read. So that's what I do now. I like to touch on things I look for in a review when I want to learn about a new book. I stay away from spoilers and all those things, naturally. But still, I feel like I've learned a LOT in my seven years of blogging and I still pick up a thing or two every now and then as well.

I can't see myself stopping blogging anytime soon. I'm a bit of a recluse for the most part. A thing I am also trying to work on. But I have fun blogging and talking with my blogger pals about books! Because it's something I have always loved since I was 13 and there were no paranormal YA books to read. Now there's a ton, and I read soooo many of them and adult books too! Having blogger friends who love to gush about the books is something I love so much! I am happy to have started this blog on a total whim and can't even imagine wanting to give it up any time soon!