Category: Let’s Discuss

So, I was driving to pick my kids up from swimming recently at the high school and I drove past some boys’ high school team or other working out—shirtless. And I noticed something. These boys had abs and like seriously muscular physiques. Now before you start to think I was being weirdly creepy or something, I just drove by (with a slight stop at a stop sign—it’s not like I stopped to goggle at them), but it was sort of hard to miss when a whole mob of shirtless boys was standing right next to my car. But it got me thinking: How many times have I sort of chuckled at the YA trope of the high school boy with the perfect body? I mean, these aren’t the boys I remember from when I was in high school. Now, I wasn’t really hanging out with any of the athletes when I was… Read more »

So, I thought I’d whip up a quick post because I’m headed to ALA tomorrow and I’m not going to post this weekend at all. I should be back on Tuesday. Probably. Or I might still be recovering, we shall see. I haven’t posted much this week because I’ve been busily preparing for the conference. Or procrastinating—more procrastinating really (I read a whole book today and just figured out five minutes ago what time I need to leave tomorrow morning. Hint: It’s early.) My preparation has been spotty at best. Still I thought you all might want my expert advice on how to prepare for a big book conference like ALA. Well, here goes. The Disorganized Blogger’s Preparation for a Book Conference: Wait to order your tickets until right before the deadline. Actually, you might as well almost completely forget about this step, since your mom will remind you anyway. She’s good… Read more »

Wendy over at Falconer’s Library came up with this bookish “This or That” post back when she did the Slice of Life month of blogging and commenting. She invited us to join in on the fun, so I’m doing just that! Feel free to create your own Bookish This or That post or tell me some of your answers in the comments! And make sure to visit Wendy’s post too! Buy new or buy used? I used to say that it didn’t matter to me, but I’ll confess that the longer I’ve been blogging, the more I prefer shiny new books. I buy from The Book Outlet sometimes and even that little line on the bottom of the book makes me a teensy bit twitchy. Eat while you read or read while you eat? I sometimes snack a bit when I read, but I don’t do a lot of it, and… Read more »

I was recently reading Becky @ A Fool’s Ingenuity’s post about The Fear of Not Having a Post Queue, and it (once again) made me realize how random and disorganized my blogging really is. If I manage to have a post or two in my drafts, it’s a miracle. Most of the time, I write my posts on the fly and hit Publish thirty seconds after I’m finished with them. For the most part, I’m fine with my haphazard blogging style. I’ve never been big on planning, and I often find that my fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants methods give me flexibility. The only reading and blogging I ever schedule is for blog tours, and I’ll admit that I’m often finishing those books last minute (though I’m actually very conscientious about getting everything up on time—I’m disorganized, not irresponsible!). Still, at times like this, when I have a lot going on (editing, homeschooling, etc), it would… Read more »

I was recently reading the 1st Blogoversary post over at Sparkling Letters and I realized something: Graphs make me happy! They just do. Seriously, if I see a post that has graphs in it, I just have to read it—and I gobble them up. I see graphs in someone’s wrap-up post and I perk up and take notice. Even though I’m a completely disorganized person, somehow data in a graph calls to me. It almost doesn’t even matter what the graphs are showing. (Okay, it does matter. I’m not crazy enough to love graphs about boring stuff like the stock market. Butif the graph has anything to do with books, I’m sold.)  Somehow putting the information into a graph makes it fun and interesting. Also, adding color to the graphs automatically makes the information that much more exciting. Case in point: I thought I’d look through my Goodreads stats for… Read more »

Have you ever gone back and looked at your old posts and realized just how much you’ve changed your book blogging habits, opinions and processes? I’ve been blogging now for four years, and I can definitely say that I’ve grown—both as a reader and as a blogger. It can make me cringe just a little bit when I look at some of my baby-blogger posts and think, “Why on earth did I think that?” This is especially noticeable to me when I look at posts that give “advice.” Sometimes I look back at those old posts and I feel almost hypocritical because, while the things I was suggesting were great for me at the time, I’m no longer following my old advice at all anymore. Either I couldn’t stick to it, or it just stopped working for me as my blog grew. Does that mean the advice was bad? Should I go… Read more »