Blood,Sweat and Books

We all know what goes on behind the scenes at our own blogs but rarely do we lift the curtain and share those experiences and thought processes with others. Dear Diary: Confessions From A Blogger stems from the curiosity. This week I wanted to share my tips and tricks on how NOT to be a bad blogger. Here is my confession:  Hello again my lovelies! This week I had intended to talk about bloggers selling ARC's but honestly, I just couldn't bring myself to write a full length post about it. Every year it seems some idiot decides they are above reviewing law (it's a real thing yo) and is caught selling ARC's. It doesn't even really surprise me anymore when allegations come to light (sad, I know). So instead of a long winded rant about said idiots, I decided that I'd share my tips and tricks how NOT to be a bad blogger.  In no particular order... 5.) Do not complain about books you received for review. Books cost money to produce, even when they are ARC...

We all know what goes on behind the scenes at our own blogs but rarely do we lift the curtain and share those experiences and thought processes with others. Dear Diary: Confessions From A Blogger stems from the curiosity. This week I wanted to revisit a post I published several years back where I talked about Gender Stereotyping in Books. If you'd like to read my original post Click Here . Here is my confession:  Hello again my lovelies! This week I wanted to (again) talk about Gender Stereotypes. In the years since I originally discussed some of my annoyances a lot has changed in the publishing world. Not only are women more empowered than ever but even male characters are seeing a breaking down of traditional barriers. However, the more things change the more they stay the same. It seems that even with the advent of extremely strong characters like Katniss Everdeen (Hunger Games), Lisbeth Salanders (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) and Hermione Granger (Harry Potter) to na...

  We all know what goes on behind the scenes at our own blogs but rarely do we lift the curtain and share those experiences with others. Dear Diary: Confessions From A Blogger stems from the curiosity. This week I wanted to talk about Companion Books. Here is my confession:  Lately, I've been noticing a lot of books initially published as Stand Alone novels going the route of adding companion books. While I have nothing against companion novels when used in the traditional sense (ie attached to a completed or nearly completed series) the sudden increase of them being attached to wildly popular stand alone books has made me a bit leery. Now, my problem with the sudden influx of companions stems from the books themselves. I feel like the Authors of the supposed "Stand Alone Book" know good and god damn well they have more story to tell as many have the companion announced alongside the initial book. So why do Authors do it then? Is it lack of imagination on...

  We all know what goes on behind the scenes at our own blogs but rarely do we lift the curtain and share those experiences with others. Dear Diary: Confessions From A Blogger stems from the curiosity. This week I wanted to talk about Co-Blogging. Here is my confession:  I feel like I need to state up front that these are my own personal opinions. I realize your opinions may differ and that mine might even be frowned upon by those in the blogosphere. That being said, this week I want to talk about Co-Blogging. Lately some of my favorite blogs have opted to go the Co-Blogging route. It came as quite a shock to me as I've only ever known them as singular bloggers. In each instance I knew the bloggers joining them (at least in passing) and have nothing against them personally, however, that didn't change the fact that I was disappointed, no, let's say let down that these blogs I loved chose the Co-Blogging route and here's why: I chose these blogs to follo...

  We all know what goes on behind the scenes at our own blogs but rarely do we lift the curtain and share those experiences with others. Dear Diary: Confessions From A Blogger stems from the curiosity. This week I wanted to talk about Gender Stereotypes in Books. Here is my confession:  Hello, my lovelies!This week I wanted to talk about Gender Stereotypes in Books. I like most of you read a lot. Naturally, after awhile, patterns in a characters style and behavior start to appear. The hot bad boy with the tortured soul, the ugly duckling whose actually supermodel gorgeous, the best friend who saves the day but doesn't get the girl because he isn't hot etc.. Through the years these scenarios have played out time and time again and you know what? I'm sick of it.  Why do all female leads have to have some sort of body complex? It's very rare that I find one who doesn't. All  or should I say most females whether they live in a Fairy Tale world or Dystopian so...

  We all know what goes on behind the scenes at our own blogs but rarely do we lift the curtain and share those experiences with others. Dear Diary: Confessions From A Blogger stems from the curiosity. This week I just wanted to take a moment and touch base with all of you. Here is my confession:  Hello, my lovelies! I feel like it has been awhile since I've touched base with all of you so I wanted to take this opportunity to do so. Fall is officially in full swing which is awesome. I really love this time of year between Halloween, Apple picking, preparing for Thanksgiving I've been keeping myself busy. As for books November has so many coming out that I want to pick up but I know I need to hold back because I get a lot of books for Christmas as well and realistically I know I will only get to a few of them before the end of the month anyway. Let's see what else.....Oo... I was thinking of changing my design again for Winter and this time I might actuall...

  We all know what goes on behind the scenes at our own blogs but rarely do we lift the curtain and share those experiences with others. Dear Diary: Confessions From A Blogger stems from the curiosity. This week I just wanted to take a moment and touch base with all of you. Here is my confession:  Hello, my lovelies! I feel like it has been awhile since I've touched base with all of you so I wanted to take this opportunity to do so. Summer is officially over which means I'll no longer be tempted to spend my day outside in the sun swimming and less inside reading. I really feel as if I slacked off in August but that's already changed now that it is September! Speaking of September if you haven't checked out my 1000 Followers Giveaways you should do so! I know the Giveaway is a bit late since I hit 1000 in late July/early August but I wanted to make sure that I had the funds to really spread the prize love with as many of you as possible.  As for books th...

We all know what goes on behind the scenes at our own blogs but rarely do we lift the curtain and share those experiences with others. Dear Diary: Confessions From A Blogger stems from the curiosity. Here is my confession:  Don't you just hate when you forget to put up a post on time? Usually I schedule my Waiting On Wednesday posts a week in advance but this past week I just didn't get around to it. When I woke up this morning and realized my fail I kicked myself. Now this might not seem like a big deal to you but for me I blog on a schedule which means if my Waiting On Wednesday isn't up by a certain time it doesn't go up that week at all. I know it's silly but I have a rule and that is don't post late. Of course this rule only applies to memes I participate in not to those hosted by others.  IF I happen to miss posting a promotional post on time I'll put it up a.s.a.p., apologize for my tardiness and move on with life. Anyway, I guess ...

We all know what goes on behind the scenes at our own blogs but rarely do we lift the curtain and share those experiences with others. Dear Diary: Confessions From A Blogger stems from the curiosity. Last chat I shared my Blogging Pet Peeves so I figured this week I'd share my Reading Pet Peeves as well! Here is my confession: You know how it is. You start a book and suddenly wham a scenario you've seen played out in dozens of books before appears. Or worse you don't even start the book since you can tell from the synopsis that the book will probably be filled with things that peeve you off.  I'm sure some of my pet peeves are things you love and I understand what one person loves another might hate. I only ask that you please refrain from throwing anything hard. Since I'm awesome I've provided some water balloons by the door if you do have the urge to pelt me with something.  With that being said, here a my Top 5 Pet Peeves while reading: 1. Lo...

We all know what goes on behind the scenes at our own blogs but rarely do we lift the curtain and share those experiences with others. Dear Diary: Confessions From A Blogger stems from the curiosity. This week I want to talk about Pet Peeves. Here is my confession:     pet peeve n. Informal Something about which one frequently complains; a particular personal vexation. Ah yes pet peeves. Everyone has them. I however found that I've developed quite a few since starting my blog.  Now I'm sure to some of you these might seem like minor annoyances but for me these produce much guffawing, huffing,  eye rolling or rage depending on my mood at the time. 1. Captcha - Oh my gosh guys. I hate Captcha. Every single time I come across this on a blog I want to rage especially when the Captcha is a blur of words where I have to squint or refresh just to read it. I understand spam is a problem trust me I do but is it really a captcha worthy problem. I ...

We all know what goes on behind the scenes at our own blogs but rarely do we lift the curtain and share those experiences with others. Dear Diary: Confessions From A Blogger stems from the curiosity. This week I want to share some of my bad blogging habits. Here is my confession: Bad blogging habits aren't something I'm proud of. I know that I should strive to be the best little blogger I can be but I'm not perfect and I realize that while I'd like to be it's simply never going to happen. I'm human, sometimes I'm lazy, sometimes I'm just busy and then other times I simply forget. So today, I want to share three of what I feel are my worst blogging habits. These are the areas I know I need improvement in and have been really trying to overcome slacking on them. 1. Commenting on other blogs : This I feel is probably my worst blogging habit. While I do have a list of blogs I try to visit daily I know I could do so much better. Some of the ways ...

We all know what goes on behind the scenes at our own blogs but rarely do we lift the curtain and share those experiences with others. Dear Diary: Confessions From A Blogger stems from the curiosity. This week I want to talk about Authors Behaving Badly. Disclaimer: I've wanted to talk about Author Bullying for some time but didn't quite know how to do so without bringing down the wrath of these Authors behaving badly on myself. I've decided that it is in my best interest not to link to these instances, nor mention the Authors or Bloggers involved. My goal here isn't to choose sides or publicly shame those involved it is merely to highlight what I see as a growing problem in the blogging community and ways I believe we as reviewers can counteract them. Here is my confession: Over the past few months I've noticed a disturbing trend if you will. Authors who have received bad reviews or negative feedback on a book will attack the person who posted it. I unde...

We all know what goes on behind the scenes at our own blogs but rarely do we lift the curtain and share those experiences with others. Dear Diary: Confessions From A Blogger stems from the curiosity. This week I want to talk about What makes someone a real reviewer. Here is my Confession:    A few weeks back I talked about Professional Reviews and why they didn't matter to me. Why do I mention that? Well, during that same time (while reading comments on another blog) I came across a young blogger who mentioned being told they received almost every new review book through online sites. However, what caught my attention was them mentioning a blogger (whose name I've never learned and didn't inquire about) who apparently told her that she wasn't a true blogger/reviewer since she didn't receive Arc's in the mail directly from the publisher. I was floored. Did this person even pause to take into account the fact maybe due to the bloggers age ...

We all know what goes on behind the scenes at our own blogs but rarely do we lift the curtain and share those experiences with others. Dear Diary: Confessions From A Blogger stems from the curiosity. This week I want to talk about Bad Reading Habits. Here is my Confession:    I know I've talked about Reading quirks before but today I want to share some of my other "bad" reading habits. I don't have many but the ones that I do are so hard for me to break. In no particular order here they are in all their naughty glory: 1. Breaking the spine - I'm sure I'm not the only one guilty of doing this. You're quietly sitting reading when something comes up where you need to put the book down. Rather than grabbing a bookmark or something else to hold the spot you flip the book upside down and let gravity keep your place. I know it is awful to set a book down this way as it weakens the glue holding the spine together yet I can't seem to ...

We all know what goes on behind the scenes at our own blogs but rarely do we lift the curtain and share those experiences with others. Dear Diary: Confessions From A Blogger stems from the curiosity. This week I want to talk about disappointment. Here is my Confession: Lately I've been feeling a bit down in the dumps. It seems many books I've been waiting to read have turned out less than stellar upon completion. Mostly I've been disappointed these books hadn't lived up to expectations. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't expected to love every book I read but the rate at which I'm not enjoying this years books is almost alarming. I don't think I've ever had so many books one right after the other stay in the firmly good category. I've even admittedly put off reading some sequels just to delay my disappointed. So what do you do when every book feels like a rehash of the previous one? I've found I...

We all know what goes on behind the scenes at our own blogs but rarely do we lift the curtain and share those experiences with others. Dear Diary: Confessions From A Blogger stems from the curiosity. This week I want to talk about Vanilla Reads. Here is my Confession: On my last Dear Diary I talked about 3 Star Reviews . Since then I've had plenty more to add to the list. Now I know I am not going to love every book. As a blogger and avid reader I know and accept that . However the staggering amount of 3 Star reads this year ha s definitely ca ug h t my attention . What is the cause? I s it the books? The Authors? Then it hit me, they were all Vanilla. I've noticed with many of the 2013 releases the trend is Authors trying to appeal to the masses instead of creating content to appeal to the few, the loyal. Yes authors want to be liked, they want the book to be popular and I get that. However, trying to please everyone has made these books common, lifel...

We all know what goes on behind the scenes at our own blogs but rarely do we lift the curtain and share those experiences with others. Dear Diary: Confessions From A Blogger stems from the curiosity. This week I want to talk about 3 Star Reviews. Here is my Confession: Earlier this week I was reading a conversation on Twitter regarding 3 Star Reviews. I didn't follow it closely but the consensus was some people thought a 3 Star Review meant the book received a negative rating. I found this completely odd since for me 3 Stars means I liked it but the book didn't particularly wow me. 3 Stars for me is middle of the road. The book isn't great nor is it bad, it is just good. Personally, I find 3 Star reviews are the hardest to write. In fact I probably spend double the amount of time writing them then books I love or hate. Why you ask? Well it's simple. When I love a book it is easy to pin point specific details that wow me. This might be the story, char...