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I'm baaaaaaaaaaack. Hopefully for awhile this time!Yes, that's correct, I'm taking another shot at this whole blogging thing. I've found my love for reading again and I've rediscovered my love for writing so I'm hoping now that my life is a bit mellower I can get back into the groove of blogging. I know I said goodbye only a few months ago, but the hiatus I took really made me realize how much I love blogging and how much I love the blogging community. I'm going to reevaluate the things I post, and sometimes I may not post for awhile, but the blog will be more for myself than for other people. Just something I do for me, to fill my time and help me keep up with reading the way I used to. Because I'm starting afresh in 2014, I decided to make a list of New Year's blogging resolutions that will hopefully help me keep things in perspective.
1. Write at least 2-4 reviews a month.This means I can post one review a week, or every other week when I'm feeling particularly bogged down. I don't read as much as I used to and while I'm trying to read more, forcing myself into makes reading that much harder.
2. Write at least 1 discussion post a month.I love discussing the world of books with people and now that I'm not in school it's harder to talk about books to the extent that I'd like to. Sometimes I want to know why kids love horse books so much? What is the main difference between fantasy and science fiction, and why do I like one more than the other? Why do I even read YA, I'm 24? There are so many great questions I get asked and so many things I want to talk about, I need to just sit down and write it out.
3. Don't take on review requests.See, the nice thing about refusing all review requests is that I can read whatever I want, when I want. I don't have to worry about meeting deadlines or enjoying a book because I asked for it. I can just write whatever I want about any book I read and that's that.
4. Read for me.As a children's specialist and head of the children's section at my store, I need to know about a lot of books for many different age groups. This requires me to read everything from picture books to young adult, including nonfiction and graphic novels. That's a lot of reading. If my blog becomes a place where I'm dictating what I read, it'll become more like work and less like fun. I don't want that to happen.
5. Don't let the pressure get to me.I think I initially gave up because the pressure to entertain followers and provide interesting material weekly became too overwhelming. I wasn't blogging for me anymore, but for the people reading my blog and that's not what I want to do. Of course I hope you enjoy what I write, but if you don't than that's okay also. I want to enjoy it, and I hope that if I'm enjoying it you'll enjoy it as well.
6. Blog about things I want to read.I want to write posts about things I'd like to read. I'm going to start a weekly post dedicated to comics. I read a lot of comics now so I'd like to discuss some of the series I'm reading as well as new volumes I've recently devoured. I'll talk about new releases, new story arcs, and some classic favorites. I know it's not YA, but it's a part of my reading life and I want to share it with you. I know it's hard for some people to get into reading comics when they aren't familiar with what's out there, so I'd like to help. It's worth it.
7. Be more personal.I found my blog was becoming overwhelmed with memes and blog tours so I want to stay away from stuff like that. It just became teasers and updates and I'd like to put more of me into my blog. I want to share myself with my readers and not become just another generic book blog.
8. Possibly find a partner.Blogging alone can be a tough job, so at some point I'd like to find a co-blogger. I don't know anyone at the moment who would want to do it with me, and I don't want to find some random person off the internet. But if I meet someone with some interest in books who wants to write guest reviews or be responsible for some of the posting, that would be cool.
***** It's a new year and I genuinely missed blogging. I'm excited to get back into it and start things fresh. I can't wait to meet some new blogging friends and get some ideas for 2014. So, I'm happy to be back guys :) This year is going to be fun!
