Sunday, July 14, 2013

Book Blogger Challenge Day 7

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The Book Blogger Challenge is hosted by April at Good Books & Good Wine. Stop by her blog to sign up for this fun blogging challenge!!

Today's Challenge is: Talk about your blogging quirks.

I am by nature quite eccentric but probably the quirkiest thing about me as a blogger is that the rules that I apply today I won't necessarily apply tomorrow. I'm a bit impulsive like that. But here are five other quirks about me as a blogger:


  • I wear headphones when I'm writing a blog post. Big leather, noise cancelling headphones. This is mainly because my family is so used to me listening to audio books and being unable to hear them that they seldom bother me when I have headphones on. So I take advantage of that a bit. Shhhh! Don't tell them! 

  • I use Windows Live Writer to write my blog posts but am open to finding more effective ways of blogging. I am not as familiar as I would like to be with HTML and CSS and this is something I hope to change. 

  • I seldom schedule posts in advance unless it is a guest post or blog tour post.  I usually just write a review and post it immediately.

  • I don't write many discussion posts even though these are my favorite kind of posts to read. This is also something I plan to change moving forward. 

  • I am still trying to find my blogging "Voice" I'm much more reserved in the way I write than I am in my day to day personality. Conveying tone has always been a bit of a struggle for me and while I may consider something "irreverent humor" someone reading it may see "blatantly offensive" so I tend to be more careful. 

What about you? Do you have any unusual bloggy quirks?

10 comments:

Rachel said...

Oh I hope your family didn't read this post! LOL. The cat may have just been let out of the bag. :) I need quiet too, and that's one of my quirks. I get distracted by even the slightest sounds like the controller for the XBox360 or someone breathing.

Good luck with the discussion posts. I love reading them and seeing what everyone has to say about... well... everything bookish-related.

And finding your voice isn't easy, is it? I have a bit of a snark-i-tude going on IRL for most things and I try not to let it come out on the blog for those same reasons. Plus I generally don't feel snarky about most books.

I love your quirks. I'm seriously thinking about amending my post as mine are way too OTT.

Donna @ The Happy Booker said...

I'm actually pretty good at tuning everyone out, but it seems like when I don't have the headphones on, they are not as likely to believe that I am that involved in what I am reading that I cannot hear them. I would definitely recommend investing in headphones! Even if you don't listen to anything, just wear them to muffle outside distractions.


I started compiling a list of things I have opinions about. Now it's just plucking up the courage to write those opinions down and share them with the world without worrying that I sound like a lunatic. IRL my peeps already know I'm a lunatic, so I'm pretty comfortable sharing my opinions...



I'm heading over to check out your quirks now. :)

Lizzy Lessard said...

I write most of my posts straight out of the Wordpress dashboard. I feel kind of stupid because I can't figure out how to write them offline.


I hate my blogging voice. It feels very mechanical to me sometimes and then other times I'm overly sarcastic. And sarcasm on the internet isn't always seen sarcastically, lol. When I'm writing up my reviews, it takes me forever to piece together the sentences because they never seem to be as awesome on the screen as they do in my head.


I love discussion posts too, but I'm so self-conscious about them. When I write one, it feels like I'm trying to explain in a different language. I also can't figure out that perfect length. Either my discussion posts feels way too long or way too short. I do have ideas for one that I'll probably post next week, however I want to include book excerpts and I'm worried that it will be too long...and that's before I even write it.

Donna @ The Happy Booker said...

Lizzy, that is exactly it! I am completely self-conscious about my discussion posts. I have even written them and then deleted them because I felt like they made no sense.


Sometimes, when I can't get out what I want to say in my reviews, I take a voice recorder with me and get a hot bath and talk to myself about the book. Then I use the voice recorder to help piece my review together. Some of the reviews I'm proudest of have been because I've done this. It sounds a little weird, I know, but whatever, I AM weird! A hot bath always helps me relax and focus my mind so it is not going in 1000 different directions.

Kimberly Peterson said...

When I was on Blogger I used Windows Live Writer also. For Blogger it was the best way I found. For WordPress it's easier to write it online.


I also struggle with my voice. Sometimes I feel that I'm not giving my posts enough of a "me" voice but my friends disagree. It's hard because words always "sound" different on the internet than when you say them aloud.

April @ My Shelf Confessions said...

I always listen to music when I'm on the computer.. something always feels "empty" if I've not got it on! I write most of my reviews and discussion posts on my iPad while I'm in bed - I just can't think good in the day time! :D

That's a good trick to put on your headphones on so people leave you alone! My family always thinks it's the best time to talk to me when I've got my earbuds in.. -_-

I tried to use Windows Live Writer after hearing about it at an online book blogger conference.. but I couldn't get used to it or how it imported into Blogger. Things are so much better now I'm on Wordpress, I think you'll love the dashboard!

Sometimes I worry how my personality comes across too - especially in my discussion posts. I never want to make people feel bad!



Great list, it's always fun to see other people's quirks! :D

Donna said...

@Kimberly Peterson

I agree Kimberly. I am so much more reserved online than I am on my blog and I wish I could convey more of that "fun" side of myself without sounding ridiculous.

Donna said...

@April @ My Shelf Confessions

I get too distracted listening to music when I'm writing. It's become such a habit to blog with headphones on that I just do it automatically, but I never have anything actually playing on the headphones.

I just uninstalled Disqus for the final time. I cannot wait to move to WordPress next month simply for the better commenting setup!

Gin @ Gin's Book Notes said...

I am trying to find "my voice" too. I guess it just takes time. I love the idea of using the recorder. I have been using my husband or my mom to flesh out my thoughts on a book I'm planning on reviewing and from the glazed look in their eyes I'm pretty sure they would love the recorder idea. :)

Donna said...

@Gin @ Gin's Book Notes

Ha! I know that glazed eye look! My family has it every time I go into one of my book rants. Well, my son is sometimes interested since he likes to read too, but even he isn't as passionate (or crazy) about books as I am. If I couldn't visit all these wonderful blogs every day, I might think I was the only crazy book lady in the world! It's nice to know others are a obsessed with books as I am!

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