The topics for day 2 of Armchair BEA are:
- How do we develop ourselves as bloggers
- Genre Fiction – what draws us to a specific genre
Julie’s Thoughts
Rose’s Thoughts
This whole blogging thing is totally new to me on so many different levels. Level one, I never followed others’ blogs before. Level two, I never blogged before. Level three, I just got my first new computer in over ten years. ALOT has changed since 2002!!! Windows 8 anyone??? Level four, yeah, like I said, windows 8, anyone? Level five, I am completely, totally, and in all other ways, LOST when it comes to knowing how to do ANYTHING on the computer. I rely heavily on Julie to guide me through what different things are… memes, book blasts, rafflecopter, linky, twitter… these are all brand new concepts to me (which is pretty exciting to me because seriously, this stuff is awesome!!!) This whole blogging experience has been like a trip to a foreign land and I have been super lucky to have such a patient tour guide in Julie. Sometimes I venture off on my own and discover awesome things like how to add pictures to my blog posts and oooohhh! my newest discovery, how to underline words in html format. Go me! My extent of developing as a blogger is mostly learning from Julie <grin> and reading other book blogs. I take note of what I like about these blogs and try to create a similar feel to my blog posts.
Literature is my life! (I even got me one of those totally worthless, but esteemed never the less B.A.’s in English Lit. and yeah, I know the ‘s is incorrect after B.A., but I tried it without the apostrophe and it just looked weird. Don’t believe me? Try it. Seeeeeeeeeeee!!!! Weird, right?) My favorite genre is YA and NA. It is so much more interesting to me than traditional adult lit. I read somewhere once that a person is never more alive or feels more than when he/she is aged 15 years. (wish I could remember who wrote that) I believe this. I can well remember the conviction with which I knew truth and how very strongly I felt about things when I was as young. Perhaps this is what I identify with when reading YA lit. Or perhaps it is how amazeballs YA lit is.. I mean, Holden Caufield, Katniss Everdeen and Hazel Grace Lancaster are some pretty unforgetable characters that you just don’t find in traditional adult novels. I really enjoy character driven novels. I love a good love story, a tragic hero, and a strong heroine. I practically demand a HEA (which for all you newbies like myself, that is a Happily Ever After ending.) One of my favorite book quotes of all time is from The Fault In Our Stars by John Green:
“Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.”
[…] I do. I of course explained in our first BEA post the reasons I am drawn to YA. Check that out here. The top five books I think every child should have on his/her shelf are the following: 1. If […]
[…] I do. I of course explained in our first BEA post the reasons I am drawn to YA. Check that out here. The top five books I think every child should have on his/her shelf are the following: 1. If […]
Sounds like you guys have a plan and that you’re comfortable where you are, but yet experimenting with branching out–which is exactly what you should be doing. Rose…definitely the more time you spend on the computer and around this blogging world the more comfortable you’ll become. It’s great that you kind of have a tour guide in Julie. Good luck!
I haven’t read anything by John Green but that quote is wonderful. It’s awesome that you help each other out!
Paranormal is definitely my go-to genre. Sometimes I’ll find myself in the mood to branch out into a different genre for a change, but it’s always paranormal that I return to because I also love the idea that anything can be possible.
That quote from The Fault in Our Stars is one of my favorites. I really like how you describe the appeal of YA–it’s so true!
Good luck with your blogging pursuits. I really need to read Fault in our stars!! What am I waiting for, I don’t know! Hope you have a great ABEA Week! New follower here. Here’s my Blogger development and favorite books by genre post if you’d like to stop by.
I think it’s so cool to discover blogs that are maintained by pairs or groups of people. When I stated I never thought to do that, but now I think it would be great to have someone to help with the work and keep things fun. I hope you get a lot from Armchair BEA and will continue to keep blogging!
I loved The Fault in Our Stars (I listened to the audiobook). I copied that quote too.
I love the idea that a book is incomplete without readers to experience it and then share their experience. So true!
Mythology about why paranormal creatures are the way they are fascinates me too Julie. Rose, I learned so much from reading other blogs and goodread reviews and other bloggers like you learned from Julie. And TFIOS is just incredible!
I’m a new blogger and I’m trying to learn by observing, too!
I also really enjoy the freedom that comes with paranormal books! It’s fun to see the different spins authors can come up with!
I love how YA characters feel so much, and I really enjoy their sense of discovery. I like connecting to the development, even though I’m an adult it still helps me think things through sometimes!
Sounds like you two are doing just great! Learning by experience is one of the best ways, so just keep it up. I love the quote about feeling alive when you’re a teen. Teen lit really speaks to me still too, though I’m well past that time 🙂
I think learning from other bloggers by observing what they do is one of the BEST ways to learn about blogging! There are so many of us who have been at it for a while and it’s a constant learning community!
Love the quote from John Green and also your statement about believing a book is not complete until the reader engages the text and shares the experience with others. I listened to the Fault in Our Stars on audio books and was deeply moved. Recommended it to my reading challenged high school niece and she listened to it and liked it! Yeah!