Book Blogger Hop No. 109: My Favorite/Least Favorite Aspects of Blogging

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Ramblings of a Coffee-Addicted Writer!

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to find out the topic of next week's question, click HERE.

This Week's Question

What is your favorite part of

blogging? Is there a least favorite

part of blogging?

(Submitted  by Elizabeth @ 

Silver's Reviews)

My Answer

When I first started blogging, back in 2010, I had NO idea just how rewarding, fascinating, and downright enjoyable it would turn out to be! And I began blogging thanks to a suggestion by a coworker. She encouraged me to try it, telling me that I was a good writer. I was hesitant at first, but then decided to take the plunge. I'm SO glad I did, too!

As for only one favorite part of blogging, I can't say there's just ONE. There are several aspects of blogging I love and enjoy! 

The first thing that comes to mind is the fact that I blog about books. YAAAAAY!!! i LOVE everything about blogging about books -- discovering new books on other blogs, getting free books in the mail to review, creating new blog posts in which I express my passion for books....just EVERYTHING!! 

I could also see myself blogging about art, which is another passion of mine. I just don't have the time, though. I would have to create another blog dedicated exclusively to art. I've seen book blogs that combine the topic of books with other topics, such as cooking or gardening. That's fine for whoever wants to do that. It's not my style, though. I prefer to have a blog dedicated to only one topic. 

In order for me to have an art blog, I would have to attend gallery openings and do some networking in the Miami art community. Sadly, I just don't have the time, or access to transportation, to be able to do these things..... My consolation is that I can post about art books on my second blog, MindSpirit Book Journeys, anytime I want to!

Another favorite part of blogging for me is the interactions with other bloggers. I'm a firm believer in replying to comments left on my blog, and also commenting back on the blogs of those who have left comments on mine.  Some people don't have the time to do what I do. If I run out of time myself, I will at least comment back on other blogs. I just feel that this is common courtesy. 

Happily, I have made some super nice blogging friends, and they usually leave comments on my blog, on a pretty much regular basis. How I wish I could meet them all personally..... Here are some of them: Wendy @ Musings of a Bookish Kitty, Barb @ Booker T's Farm, Michele & Mckenzie @ A Belle's Tales, Brian @ Babbling Books, Stephanie @ Bookfever, Greg @ Book Haven, Verushka @ Pop. Edit.Lit (for some reason, I couldn't link up her blog title, so I used her name instead), and Brittany @ Brittany's Book Rambles!   These book bloggers are all great blogging buddies!

Another favorite part of blogging for me is designing my blog. I did a lot of experimenting when I first started out. Finally, I settled on the present design, which is based on a template provided by Blogger, the blogging platform I use. The background image, which I have nicknamed "Cosmic Blue", was also provided by Blogger. I'm  very happy with the current look of my blog! Once I settled on this design, I decided it would be my final one. No more experimentation! After all, as the saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". My current design is certainly not "broke". I am totally satisfied with it, as it fits my blog's title perfectly. And I adore my blog header! It was created by a web designer I used to know.

This is my header for most of the year. During October, November, and December, I use seasonal headers instead. 

This is another header I sometimes use. I created
this one myself, using a now-defunct
Google software -- Picasa.

As for the least favorite aspect of blogging, I would have to say that it's the unfortunate fact that Blogger frequently has glitches. Strange things sometimes happen when I'm creating a post. For example, I usually select the Verdana font when writing my BBH posts. Well, sometimes, the post editor will NOT put in that font, even after I have selected it. Other issues I've had are just as annoying -- like I won't be able to align my text with a book cover pic, when I'm creating a book review post, or the spacing between post components will be all wrong, or the text color won't change, etc. 

Whenever one of these issues arises, I have to stop what I'm doing (yup, in the very middle of creating a post!) and send feedback -- along with a screenshot -- to Google. I also have to close down the post editor in the browser I'm using, and switch to another browser in order to attempt to correct the problem. I use Firefox most of the time, and usually switch to IE or Chrome in order to correct problems. Sometimes I'm successful, but sometimes I'm not.... ARRRGGGHHH!!!

Because of these issues, some bloggers actually prefer Wordpress, another blogging platform. They say that it's better than Blogger, with fewer glitches and more and better plug-ins. These statements may be true, but I have preferred to stick with Blogger for several reasons, the first being that I'm terrified of losing my entire blog if I attempt to transfer it to Wordpress. I could always ask Jennifer to help me with this, but, of course, I would have to pay for her services. Even if I did do that, though, I would lose the current look of my blog, obviously, as I'm using a Blogger template and background image. I love my current look too much to lose it! 

Another thing about Wordpress -- one that I don't like -- is that they don't allow bloggers who use the Wordpress blogging platform to publish blog tour posts on their blogs. The Wordpress higher-ups consider these posts to be spam. I think this is totally unfair! Blog tours are mostly for Indie authors. So does this mean that these authors, who, for the most part, cannot afford the expensive publicity of the big publishers, are not allowed to promote their hard work? According to Wordpress, they're not. 

Unfortunately, I don't usually get a lot of comments on my blog tour posts, which is yet another "least favorite" part of blogging for me. I guess many bloggers and blog readers happen to agree with Wordpress.... But again, this is just not fair. Yes, I know that blog tour posts frequently don't contain original content, but, they're a great way to discover books we book bloggers might not find out about otherwise. 

In my case, I do insert some original content in those tour posts that are labeled "spotlight" or "blast" posts. I came up with the idea of including a mini-review with these posts. I do this with spotlight posts that include an excerpt from the book being promoted. The mini-review analyzes the excerpt, not the entire book.

This Wordpress policy is also unfair to book bloggers, as it means that these bloggers are only allowed a limited amount of freedom as to what they can post on their blogs. Again, this is totally unfair, not to mention extremely dictatorial. 

So, as you can see, I'm sticking with Blogger! And I sure hope Google doesn't adopt the Wordpress policy, and start prohibiting blog tours, too.....

It's been a challenging, although certainly FUN, seven years of blogging, during which I've exercised my creativity, discovered some fascinating books, and made some great book blogging friends! So I'm raising my cup of Java to many more years of blogging, not only for myself, but for all of you fellow book bloggers out there!

What are your thoughts on

this topic?

If you're participating in this hop,

I'll go comment on your 

own BBH post.

If not, I will then comment on one 

of your blog posts!

Thanks for visiting!!!