Do Author Bios Ever Make You Want to Read a Book?

Posted by & filed under Feed Your Fiction Addiction, Let's Discuss, Writing.

I recently got a publicity email from Clean Teen Reads that caught my attention. First off, I have to mention that the cover of one of the books featured was the first thing that caught my eye. I get promo emails from publishers all the time, and I often just kind of skim through them and hit Delete – there has to be something compelling to make me take a closer look, and I will fully admit that a pretty cover is often that “thing” that does the trick. What can I say, I totally judge a book by its cover!

Anyway, in this particular instance, I was drawn in enough to read the author bio. And something about this bio just made me HAVE to read this book …

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Can Book Blogging Lead to a Job? Let’s Discuss!

Posted by & filed under Feed Your Fiction Addiction, Let's Discuss, Writing.

On Sunday, Kristen @ Metaphors and Moonlight suggested that I write a post about how I got into editing and proofreading, and I thought it was a fantastic idea! I get that question a lot, actually, so I don’t know why I never thought to write a post about it before.

The fact is that book blogging can lead into several forms of income (I’ll talk about some ideas of ways to earn money in the community later), but I’ve found that it does take some special circumstances to make it work, and it might not be ideal for everyone. Still, if you’re passionate about books and you have a little flexibility, it’s definitely worth the effort to look into.

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Feed Your Fiction Addiction’s 3rd Blogoversary!

Posted by & filed under Blogoversary, Feed Your Fiction Addiction.

Hey, everybody! It’s time to celebrate my third blogoversary (a little late – technically, it was on the 31st) and my birthday (a little early – it’s on the 11th). It’s hard to believe another year has gone by – in some ways I feel like it’s flown, and in other ways blogging has become so much a part of my life that I feel like I’ve been doing it forever!!

Scroll down for a picture of my blog before the redesign!

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Blogging Has Changed My Life (In So Many Ways!)

Posted by & filed under Feed Your Fiction Addiction, Let's Discuss.

I’ve been seeing so many thankful posts this week, and it’s made me think about the blogging things I’m thankful for. I can’t believe how different my life is today than it was three years ago, before I started blogging. It’s kind of mind boggling when I really think about it!

Before I started blogging, my life revolved pretty much solely around my family. I’m a homeschooling mom, so I spend pretty much all day, every day with two of my three kids (my youngest has some learning disabilities and attends the special ed program at our public school). And don’t get me wrong – I love my kids, and I think that homeschooling them has been the best decision I ever could have made for my two oldest. I don’t regret it at all. But I will say that, as the years have progressed, I’ve felt less and less like I had anything just for me.

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My New Design!!

Posted by & filed under Feed Your Fiction Addiction.

(I added the above image to this post as a keepsake, even though it’s a slightly updated version.)

Hey, everybody. If you’re here right now, you’ve probably noticed that things look a little different than they used to! I am SO excited to unveil my new design. The header artwork was done by Tabitha over at Not Yet Read. She has a feature on her blog called Art it Up, and I have long been drooling over her adorable designs. When I got the idea of redesigning the site, she was the first person I thought of!!

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Anderson’s YA Fandom Frenzy 2015 Recap

Posted by & filed under Book Events, Feed Your Fiction Addiction.

The second day of Anderson’s YA Lit Conference was called Fandom Frenzy. It was a lot more high energy – with quick and fun games and author speed dating. While the first day was geared toward teachers and librarians (you can read my recaps posted over the last couple of days), the second day was geared toward the YA readers themselves.

As a fun bonus, on this second day I got to hang out with some other bloggers, including Brittany from The Book Addict’s Guide and Raychelle from Steele Reviews (and her OTSP Secret Sister, whose blog I can’t name because Raychelle still doesn’t know what it is – I’m impressed that Elizabeth could meet her sis in person and still remain a secret!). Plus, I got to see Jessica from A Great Read and Kelly from This Wacky Momma Reads – sorry we didn’t get to hang out more!

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Anderson’s Bookshop YA Lit Conference 2015 Recap – Keynotes by Gary D. Schmidt, Marie Lu, David Baldacci, James Dashner, Ally Carter and David Levithan

Posted by & filed under Book Events, Feed Your Fiction Addiction.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the YA Lit Conference (and YA Fandom Frenzy) hosted by Anderson’s Bookshop. The conference day was set up as more of an informational day, with keynote speakers and panels, and the second day (Fandom Frenzy) was closer to what its name suggests – a spirited event filled with games and author speed dating. My mom went to both events with me, and my 13-year-old daughter also went to the Fandom day because she was super excited to meet James Dashner (whose new series she is sitting at the table reading at this very moment – instead of starting her schoolwork. Hmmm … maybe I should do something about that … nah, let her read.)

Day 1: YA Lit Conference (Keynotes)

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Faith in Blogging: How to Stay True to Who You Are Without Rocking the Boat

Posted by & filed under Feed Your Fiction Addiction, Let's Discuss.

This is the first of a series of discussions that I’m planning based on my experiences at RT 2015. These are thoughts that were inspired by specific panels, or by books from RT, or just by random passing things that happened there. I love that events like this help me to think critically about books, blogging and the publishing world in general!

 

So, today’s topic can be a little touchy. “Faith in Blogging” – just that part of the title, and some of you are probably tempted to hit delete (some people probably already have). Honestly, I’m not sure if I’ll get as many readers for this discussion, but that’s okay with me. Because I still think it’s something that needs to be talked about.

NOTE: Throughout most of this post, I’m going to refer to Christianity (because that happens to be my faith and the faith of the authors that spurred this discussion), but everything I say here could really be applied to ANY set of religious beliefs. The discussion shouldn’t be exclusionary. I’m also going to assume that you’re not specifically a Christian (or other religious) book reviewer – because, well, then I’m assuming sharing your faith is not an issue for you.

 

What inspired this post, you ask?

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