Book Blogger Confessions: Quitting?

Book Blogger Confessions is a meme that allows book bloggers to discuss issues unique to what we encounter in the blogging world. Every 1st and 3rd Monday of the month we will post a question and invite you to answer, comment and discuss opinions and different views.

Please keep the dialogue courteous. No bashing!

If you would like to participate in this meme sign up and please feel free to to grab the button to include in your post with a link to For What It's Worth Reviews or at Midnyte Reader.

Question: We've discussed blogging slumps before but have you ever seriously considered throwing in the towel and quitting blogging?  If so, what changed your mind?  Did you discuss it with other bloggers?

Answer: No, I've never honestly considered quitting book blogging.  I haven't been in a reading slump in years (mostly due to all the awesome books I've discovered in the 3 years I've been blogging), but I do find myself in reviewing slumps.  There have been times over the course of my blog that I haven't posted much, but I would say for the last year or so I've been more active.  Going to BEA last year really solidified that this is something I want to do, that this is an online community that I want to be part of. 

I've learned to not be too hard on myself.  Do I wish that I had a big following and boxes of books arriving at my door?  Partly.  But not enough to invest the time and money that it would take to do giveaways and contests and daily posts.  

One reason that I participate in an ARC tour is that it has forced me to review on a schedule, plus it brings books my way that otherwise I'd have to wait to read (and because I don't have endless supplies of money I'd have to go to the library and I'm pretty sure that the Library Police have a wanted poster of me prominently displayed, as I suck at returning books on time). Writing reviews is still a struggle, but I have a review template now and it's making it easier.  I gave up trying to sum up the books and mostly just focused on characters and observations.  I take notes of books I read, and all in all, I find I'm remembering books a lot better. 

I never thought when I started this blog that it would stick.  I've started lots of blogs and never did a thing with them- my blog Movie Hussy, started the same time as Midnight Book Girl, still only has the one post.  I always say that I'd consider quitting if my blog starts feeling like work, but that's not entirely true because blogging is work, but it's work I'm happy to do.  And once I was blogging for over a year, I treated myself to a blog design, which made it all the more real.  Midnight Book Girl is no longer just a blog, it's part of my identity.  So unless I start watching massive amounts of tv and decide books are lame, I just can't see myself quitting book blogging.  

What about you? 

Book Blogger Confessions: Follow

Book Blogger Confessions is a meme from Midnyte Reader and For What It's Worth and deals with blogger issues and topics.  This week they're asking:

Question: Following:  How do you follow blogs?  Do you use Google Reader?  Are you on an e-mail list?  Are you more apt to follow people who have less followers?  Would you follow a blog to enter a contest?  What makes you unfollow a blog?

Answer: I follow blogs whenever I can through my Google Reader, although I follow a few through email.  I much prefer to have everyone neatly in my Google Reader, and I even have some of the blogs sorted.  For instance I have a Bloggers BFF folder for the blogger's I'm friends with (Kim, Steph, Bittner, Andrea, Jen, Pam, Katie, Cindy, etc) or stalk (Murder by Gaslight and Raych).  Then I have one for blogs that have Word Verification so that I know beforehand if I'm going to have to jump through hoops to leave a comment.  I give really new bloggers a pass on CAPTCHA, but I am far less compelled too continue following a blog that has word verification on it.  I hate CAPTCHA, and I can only assume from the blurry letters and obscure font that it hates me right back.  

 I do like following new bloggers, simply because I remember how it was (and really, still is) to not have a lot of followers.  I follow blogs that draw me to them, I even follow blogs of genres I don't read if the blogger is interesting enough or (and this is shameful) if the blog looks good.  Lori from Pure Imagination designed my blog and I have a tendency to follow the blogs she makes new designs for purely based on how cool they are.  I have made lots of great blogger friends through that, including Cindy from Cindy's Love of Books whom I ended up rooming with at BEA.  I will also follow any blog with the word Midnight in it for obvious reasons.

I do follow blogs to enter contests, but that can't be the sole reason.  It's not fair to the blogger if I'm only following to win and have zero interest in their regular blog content.  Usually though, if they're giving away a book I want to read they also cover a genre or genres I like.  

Occasionally I clean up my Google Reader and find blogs that are inactive, and I'll unfollow them.  This past year I did unfollow a blogger because a post was so ignorant that I had to delete them to preserve my sanity.  Mostly though, if you're posting, I'm still following.  I kind of go follow crazy during Dewey's Readathon, or during other bookish events.  My Google Reader makes it possible to follow tons of blogs without wasting whole days of my life.  

What about you?