Murder by Death

Obsidian Blue tagged me for this questionnaire, created by Grey Warden:  http://greywarden.booklikes.com/post/1447925/the-secret-life-of-a-book-blogger-challenge.

How long have you been a blogger?

Only since I joined BookLikes in 2013.  I still maintain I'm not really much of a blogger, although I love this format so much more than I ever thought I would.

At what point do you think you'll stop?

When it starts to feel like a job, or when I stop looking forward to logging on to see what people are saying, which will hopefully be never. 

What's the best thing?

The comments and conversations that stem from everyone's posts.  I have never found anybody in real life who loved to read as much as I do, so booklikes is Heaven for me; a place where I feel not-weird. 

What's the worst thing?  What do you do to make it ok?

This is the hardest question because I've stubbornly created a place here for myself that doesn't have worse things.  This has been easy because everyone here is fabulous; I can only think of maybe two incidences where people have been less than polite to each other, and the authors who participate are very respectful of boundaries. 

On those very rare occasions when I do run across something I'm not comfortable with or I think someone I'm following is either too negative or whatever, I just quietly unfollow.  On the very odd chance that someone posts something I don't like (it's only happened once, it was a promotional thing) on one of my posts, I just delete the comment without a second thought.  I figure my blog is my world and my rules apply.  No sales and no mean people allowed.

I could vent about librarian functionality, but I'll spare all of you.

How long does it take you to create/find pictures to use?

I almost never use pictures; I use the BL database for books, and if I do a cat post or other off-topic post that uses pictures, usually not more than 5 minutes or so.  I'm not patient. 

Who is your book crush?

Gallowglass from Deborah Harkness' Discovery of Witches trilogy.  Tall. Blond. Kind. Viking. 

What author would you like to have on your blog?

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  He's as close as I come to fandom. 

What do you wear when you write your blog posts?

I'm either in my sweats or wearing multiple layers of clothing including jacket and gloves, depending on whether I'm at home (sweats) or the freezer that is my place of employment, when I'm trying to wear all my clothes at once.

How long does it take you to prepare?

No time at all.  I try to write about the books I've read as soon as I can after finishing so I remember everything.  I am not a note taker.  Once I've started, it can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours depending on how many times I'm interrupted by my husband, my cats, or people at work asking me to actually work. 

How do you feel about the book blogger community/culture?

I love BookLikes with a fervent passion; I don't really spend any time reading blogs on the "outside" so I can't comment beyond that. 

What do you think one should do to get a successful blog?

I suspect my answer isn't really going to fit the question, because it sounds like it's aimed more at people who write book blogs in order to accomplish something (more followers, more traffic, more xxx) - which is totally fine, but not why I do this.  So these are things that make me love a BL blog:

- Write what you want to write: short, long, gushing, critical and be yourself when you do it.  I don't need a lot of extraneous information about the book - that's what databases are for.  Just tell me: did you like the book?  Why?  and I'm happy.

- Participate.  Take part in conversations that spring up on posts and give others a chance to get to know you outside the post box.  If it starts to feel like someone I'm following is only posting reviews but never taking part in any conversations - especially if all those reviews are for ARC's - I'm likely to unfollow.

- Now these are just my personal preferences and should be disregarded accordingly:  I pass over pretty much all things promotional, including author interviews.  I like a bit of book news that's obviously news, not an oblique sales pitch, and the occasional shout-out about a book sale.  I love posts about pets, but tend to pass over videos.  Obviously, I'm a sucker for a good questionnaire.  

Now I'm supposed to nominate a few others - no obligation but we'd love to hear your answers:

Book Cupidity

Bookstooge

Tea, Rain Books

Themis-Athena's Garden of Books

SusannaG

and anybody else who would like to participate!