Hosted by: Tiger's All Consuming Media
The topic is: Social networking with authors. Do you interact with authors on Twitter/Facebook etc? Does it effect how you review their books if you are on friendly terms with them?
I don't have too much interaction with authors. I do occasionally comment on a tweet they have posted. Not too much happens as a resort of those comments. When it comes to Facebook I am at a complete loss. I just don't understand it.
I do enjoy it immensely when they tweet back but then I enjoy when just about anyone acknowledges that I exist. So far it hasn't effected how I review books. I can't see that a friendship would change my opinion of a book. It might make me really hesitant to review a book for a friend since I wouldn't want to hurt their feelings. Well, I won't know until I cross that bridge.
Thanks for the topic.
So I just noticed I missed a few of these and thought I would log my responses to past posts. I hope that is okay.
Topic for January 2nd: How has the "job" of book blogging changed your reading habits? Both pro and con.
As of late I have noticed that I am reading a bit less for fun. Too much stress to meet my deadlines is creeping in. On top of that I often force myself to finish books I don't like since I made a commitment. When too much stress or torture ebbs its way into my reading moments I find myself struggling. In fact, I will then find ways to avoid reading, such as doing my chores. Eventually, I sit down and force my way out of the slump but it is a lot of work.
On the other side sometimes through blogging I have found some great recommendations on other blogs. That has been very helpful. When I have read a particularly fine book it is hard to put into words how great it is. But I really do want to share it with others. Even if only one person reads the post and finds a great read it was all worth it. So the job of blogging has really helped keep my TBR pile overflowing.
Topic for January 16th: Have you ever had reading/blogging slumps? How do you work through them or work around them?
I most definitely have slumps. Sometimes it feels like I have more slumps than good days. It is hard to put your time and heart into a post and then watch it languish. Or when I send a question into cyberspace and it is left unanswered. I pick up a book I have been looking forward to and it is a complete drudgery. Worse when I have to slog through a few of them in a row. I am not proof to jealously either. When I am out and about visiting blogs it is great to see how they are socially connected. But that little evil voice inside my head doesn't talk sweet. All these things start to crack my passion for reading and sharing good books. I begin to wonder why I am bothering to write up reviews. Maybe I should just go back to reading just for the simple pleasure of it.
My first and best way to pull myself out of these slumps is to drop what I am doing and go reread a favorite book of mine. This will help restore my faith in books and allow me the energy to go in search of the next read that will leave me breathless. As far as the blogging side of the slump I will just try to push on through. It helps to attempt contact with others at this point. Any sort of comment back can help me stumble on a bit longer. Also, it can help to try something new.
Alright now I am up to date.
