Jamie tagged me. ;D I thought this might be oodles of fun. It’s different from other blogging tags I’ve done, but…that’s why I’m doing it. The Sunshine and Liebster awards are great fun, but…they feel more like tags than awards? And the last few times I’ve been awarded for the Liebster award…I didn’t qualify (#awkward). I like some blog memes, though! I think they’re great when it terms to getting to know fellow bloggers. 😀 Hence~

Rules

1. Answer the Qs down under
2. Credit the Jamie responsible for this tag
3. Tag at least 5 peeps victims
4. Have fun

Questions

1. Where do you typically write your blog posts?

At my desk! Except the clean photos you’ve seen are results of me halting my laziness and procrastination and cleaning my desk off. It collects dust. And the surface is white, so it makes for some good photos. So of course I show it when it’s clean more—like this.

Currently, it looks something just like this (minus the phone, gum, and Solo cup):

And I work better this way. When my desk is clean, I feel like my creativity has been cleaned off. For me, clutter encourages creativity—I like to think I’ve a bit of a balance!

2. How long does it generally take you to write a book review?

We may never really know. I batch the formatting process and that of uploading book covers. Depending on the book, I may be able to finish the review quickly. After reading a book, I prefer to wait about a day to procure a book review. Letting my mind wrap around what I’ve just read helps me articulate things better—at my pace. The most I’ve spent on a book review is, I surmise, an hour—because I was searching for specific quotes or scenes again.

I finished Long Black Veil in 10 minutes. I had a fever and hadn’t slept in the last 23 hours, and my temperature was finally lowering. It really depends on the context of, like, everything going on in my life.

I do want to get UBB in the future, because I think it’d be better for my carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), though that’s not the primary/only reason.

3. When did you start your book blog?

I’m not sure this question applies to me. I’m not a book blogger—I’m nicheless and loving it! I tell people at events that I’m a lifestyle blogger, but I blog about my life, and that’s not something that can fit so fine into one blog niche…and I love being nicheless. It’s freedom.

The start of it all, I suppose, was when I published a review of Almost Undead. It was the first time I’d published a book review on my blog. Then happened The 100 and sharing my thoughts about Seeing Ezra, and the whole thing just fell into place like that’s what was supposed to happen all this time.

4. What is the worst thing about having a book blog, in your opinion?

Again, not a book blogger—but since bringing book reviews to my blog, what I struggle with most is an ever-growing to-read list and having to rely on others to meet deadlines. One program I’m part of provides deadlines, but because of their shipment process—they don’t send advanced reader copies, which I feel would really help—I sometimes have but two weeks to read a book before the book review is expected to be published. I’m a mood reader, so I don’t always sail through the pages of one book at a time—I skip around across multiple books if I’m not feeling the one I’m on.

I also think—and I surmise it’s because I’m not primarily a book blogger—the book blogging community is often taken advantage of in ways other blog niche communities are not, and they’re expected to be grateful and take it because books. It bothers me, because I receive emails telling me about the importance of promoting this book and that book, and not once is there any benefit for me? I’m not asking for much, but I think the way book bloggers are treated in this department is very dated. Companies still don’t understand bloggers, but at least they’re trying. Publishers and authors should do the same. Bloggers are not less than mainstream media—especially since people are more likely to trust bloggers/influencers than newspapers, magazines and celebrity endorsements. BUT I DIGRESS.

5. What is the best thing about having a book blog, in your opinion?

Reading comprehension was never my forte, okay? I will so be the first to admit it. I failed such tests for them a lot and was accused of “not reading” something when I chose the wrong answer. It was like, no matter what, I wasn’t going to understand it. But even if I did understand it, I probably wasn’t gonna remember it. I wasn’t the same person everyday. I’m autistic, too. Everyone is going to relate to things differently.

Blogging, in general, has helped me with reading comprehension, but I can only take so much nonfiction. The longer I blog for, the less comments I leave. It sucks, but it’s what happened. I spend more time emailing and messaging the people I’ve met through blogging than commenting on their blogs, and when what they blog about resembles their day-to-day lives, the outside conversing supplements the conversation needed to keep the camaraderie going. It became a habit I didn’t enforce upon myself, but whatever.

There’s truth in fiction. It just might save the world, even. I relate to it more—the brain processes it differently. Reviewing books has allowed me to increase my reading comprehension. It was an accident, but since doing it, I’ve found myself actually understanding more of the world around me. It challenges me to actually think about what I’m reading instead of letting the text drone on before my eyes. And discussing it via comments? Well, that’s just amazing. I could do it on Goodreads only and keep it off my blog, but…Janepedia is my playground. Amazon could shut down Goodreads tomorrow, everything on it gone.

6. What blog post have you had fun writing so far?

Oh.

I really wish I could name my millennials post for this answer, but…I can’t. The research for it was fun; the post just sort of…happened.

“Fight song” was fun, too. And my soccer analogy.

No—the post I most had fun writing is my first-ever menstrual cup review. When I’d posted that review, I crossed my fingers and was basically like, “Aight, I’m doing this, but if it flops? I’m taking it as a sign that these posts are not my jurisdiction—and I’ll do the world a favor and write about RUMPs no more. If it doesn’t, I suppose it’s another thing I’m meant to blog about.” And then it was used in the FAQ by the company in their Kickstarter campaign….which made it go viral on Facebook and become the most popular post I’d ever written.

It gained more traction than only a hundred people or so, like I was expecting. 🤦 (Like, WTF signs? You were supposed to guide me against this kind of thing.) I cried and told Charlise how embarrassed I was. (“Everyone loves vagina plugs,” she said.) Viral—ON FACEBOOK, OF ALL PLACES. NOTHING DIES ON FACEBOOK, YOU GUYS. All my exes…

SIGH. Anyways. I survived…yay me.

7. What is your favorite type of blog post to write?

So hard, wow??

I like writing posts about things I’m confident in—things I know I know well—so mostly these topics:

• reusable menstrual products
• gardening
• posts wherein I’m unapologetically me – like, the ones that even I read and I’m like, “Woah, this is bleeding everything that I am,” as creepy and morbid as this sounds (I realize this now that I’ve put it into words)

8. When do you typically write?

Whenever the need strikes. I’m a writer, though, so I’ve always got some story stirring deep inside me and itching to crawl out. However, I’m predominantly nocturnal—my best blog posts have been written circa 2-3am. Most of the posts on this blog were written after dark. Because of this, I almost titled my blog Jane After Dark, but Char and another person said it made them think of porn…I go to events where kids are, so that seemed like a bad idea.

9. Do you review every book you read?

I am trying to! I used to not, but the practice is good for me, it seems. Not every book review goes on Janepedia, though; I don’t want to clog my nicheless blog with niche things and make it seem like such, because people get the wrong impression…and then it gets awkward.

10. How do you write your book reviews? With a cup of coffee or tea? With Netflix? Cuddled with your fur baby?

Sitting at my desk, tbh, with water or Pepsi. Since I watch stuff with closed captioning (CC), I can’t exactly watch it while I am reviewing something. I have no music playing, either. I don’t fill every second of every day with noise.

I don’t have any sort of blog post ritual, really. If I do have music, it might be “Pachelbel’s Canon” or “Habanera” if I’m feeling sophisticated or moody, and some pop music any other time. I’ve taken a recent liking to “The Vampire Masquerade”, and Lindsey Sterling is a common favorite, namely her “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” cover.

11. When do you write your book reviews? Right after finishing the book? Two weeks after finishing the book?

See #2.

12. How often do you post?

I had an answer for this, but things have changed. A better answer is that I post whenever it feels right.

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I’m not tagging anyone, but if you wanna do this, feel free.~