Geeky Book Snob lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba and is grateful she gets to experience a climate with four different seasons. New to blogging, she also spends her spare time volunteering in the theatre community, has a daytime job that she enjoys very much, is married and goes by the name Annette. Cheese is her kryptonite.
1- When did you start blogging?
I started blogging in August 2012.
2- What exactly made you start blogging?
First off, I love writing. I want to improve my writing, find my voice and run with it. What better way of doing that than through blogging? The idea of keeping a blog was a challenge for me. To keep going with new content was both intimidating and exciting.
3- What motivates you to keep going?
In all honesty it is the blogging community. I use WordPress for my blog and the community there is so supportive and engaging. You do get a little anxious at first, you begin to think, what if no one likes what I post? I quickly realized that I didn’t care, that I was blogging for myself and should there be people along the way that want to stop in and read what I have to say then great. The people who share your passions find you and the people that visit my blog on a regular basis are all book lovers too. We all geek out together which I love. The other motivation is the challenge of posting daily – I’ve made a deal with myself that I would post daily and while it doesn’t always happen, just keeping the blog fresh is enough motivation to keep me going.
4- Favourite post ever? Include a link to it
My favourite post ever was a when I responded to a writing challenge. WordPress has the Daily Post, their own blog that encourages development in bloggers. Once a week they post a writing challenge and I liked the topic so much I decided to heed the call. The challenge was to write out of your comfort zone. Since I blog about books I thought the best way for me to do that was to combine my other love: quantum physics. Hence How I Opened a Wormhole Simply by Reading was born. I really enjoyed writing this post, it brought out the little girl in me – and I was rewarded for it. That post was a WordPress Freshly Pressed feature.
5- What is the direction you are heading in with your blog?
I love books. It has been the one consistent love in my life. It isn’t just about reading, it’s a love affair with books. While I do post book reviews on my blog I like being creative and just exploring the world of books in general. I’m a geek and I want to share my geek love for books and hope to get others excited about books. I will write about anything to do with books from gift ideas for book lovers to videos about books (such as book trailers – yes they exist!). I have two running installments throughout the blog that my followers seem to really enjoy; Thoughts from the bookshelf (where I post random thoughts that pop in my head surrounding the topic of books) and the Book Cover Gallery (the newest one, where I share my favourite book covers from an artistic point of view).
6- Tips for new bloggers?
The only tip I have is one that will make blogging a bit easier. Have a topic and ideally a topic you are passionate about. For me, it’s books. If you are all over the place you might get frustrated and be unsure of what to write about. A topic or theme makes it so much easier. Helps with focus.
7- What do you want people to know about you?
That I am an enthusiastic geek when it comes to books. However, I do have my snobbish side (hence the name of my blog). I find most book enthusiasts can be a bit elitist and I say embrace it!