Book Blogger Love-a-Thon: Mini Challenge #4
The Book Blogger Love-a-Thon is an event where we can share our love for our fellow book bloggers! The event is hosted by Alexa at Alexa Loves Books and Katelyn at Kate’s Tales of Books and Bands.
In this fourth mini challenge, we’re writing letters to our blogging selves! I’m a relatively newbie blogger (I just had my one year blogoversary in January), so I’m going to write to my self in the past, as well as write to my future self!
Dear Past Andrea,
Pace yourself. You’re new at this, and that is OKAY. You love to read, and that’s why you’re doing this. Remember that. You don’t have to have a perfect blog, and you don’t have to be the comment queen. If you write good content, they will come. ;) And remember how you feel about your IRL friends? (Yes, I just wrote IRL. If John Green can say “IRL” in his vlogs, I can type it.) Anyway, you feel like you’d rather have just a few great friends rather than tons of acquaintances. That’s how you should look at your blog. It’s better to have a few great readers than tons of followers who don’t even stop by! The numbers can be enticing, but just ignore them. Be grateful for every follower you have and know that you will make some awesome blogger friends along the way. Blogger friends that you will come to think of as actual friends, even if you’ve never met them IRL. And that, frankly, is the best part about this whole thing. Give yourself a break every once in a while, and above all, have fun!
-Andrea in Feb. 2013
Dear Future Andrea,
I hope you’re still blogging. Because in early 2013 (and all of 2012, for that matter) you loved it. It was more than a hobby. It was a part of who you were, and part of who you wanted to always be. You made so many great friends through blogging, and found so many wonderful books that you wouldn’t have known about otherwise.
If you have stopped blogging, I hope that maybe you’ll look back at this blog and this letter, and realize how much you enjoyed it. Yes, it was work, but it came with its own wonderful rewards: the community, the camaraderie between other book bloggers and fantastic authors. And I hope that you can think long and hard about how different your life is now without it, and maybe consider coming back to it. I’m sure you miss it.
If you’re still blogging, way to go! Please continue to make this a part of your life. Take breaks if you need to, read a few books just for fun, and make sure to spend lots of time with your family. Remember that this is a hobby, but also remember that it’s more than that–it’s one of your passions. And DFTBA!
-Andrea in Feb. 2013
So what did you guys write to your blogging selves? Leave a link to your post and I’ll stop by and check it out!
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Katelyn
February 23, 2013 at 9:24 pmThis is so fabulous! Writing a letter to your past and future self…I just loved it! You said some really great things :)
Dana
February 23, 2013 at 9:26 pmAww, that letter to your future self made me tear up a bit to be honest. I hope we always remember why we started blogging and that we continue for years and years to come!
Dana
Liz
February 23, 2013 at 9:29 pmAndrea, I love that you did one for the past and one for the future! And I really love what you said about close friends and quality followers. It is totally better to have a few real followers over a bunch who don't really care. I love all of this!
Bittner
February 23, 2013 at 10:53 pmThe last time I tried to write a letter to myself, it got really depressing. So I applaud your efforts to keep these positive! I can't imagine a non-blogging Andrea. She could be scary!
bookrockbetty.com
February 23, 2013 at 11:05 pmVery creative with the past and future letters!
"It's better to have a few great readers than tons of followers who don't even stop by!"
That is so true and something we all need reminded of. So glad I found your blog. Go Love-A-Thon!
Whitney
February 24, 2013 at 12:09 amI love that you wrote two letters with both exemplifying the enjoyment you get from the hobby and reminding yourself why you do.
Claire
February 24, 2013 at 12:32 amAwesome letters! I love that you did past and future :) I totally agree with the comment about a few great readers – I definitely need to be reminded of that often.
Courtney
February 24, 2013 at 12:58 amI love that you wrote two letters. Both with awesome points. I've loved this love-a-thon – i've found some awesome new blogs to follow: yours included!
LHughes
February 24, 2013 at 1:30 amI love that you did two letters! So cute and clever!
I completely agree about not focusing on numbers. I recently took down the box that had the number of followers and just left the rss feed and email subscriber because I didn't want to focus on the followers and didn't want people to judge my blog based on how many followers I had. I want people to focus on my content, and I want to focus on the great people I've connected with.
And I hope you don't ever quit blogging! It would make me sad! It is such a meaningful hobby, and I love how you wrote about how empty your life would be without it. I completely agree! I can't imagine reading books and not having anyway to discuss them or read what others thought about them.
Great letters!
Lauren @ Hughes Reviews
fakesteph
February 25, 2013 at 6:32 pmDFTBA! I love your letters and I hope you continue to blog (and love doing it).