A Love Letter to Book and Movie Blog Reviewers

Dear book and movie review bloggers,

As previously mentioned, I hate book reviews. But I love books. And movies. I find myself searching out movie reviews after watching each random film Netflix or Amazon Prime or my parents' borrowed Comcast Xfinity sucks me into, an observer of conversations that took place long ago.  Some people seem to feel like there's a glut of opinions online, like Rotten Tomatoes' offering of "regular folks" opinions via blog is an unnecessary addition to the professional reviews which precede them. But. If you're watching a random movie from fifteen years ago, the regular media has dumped those links that promise reviews. It's nothing but 404 messages ad infinitum.  

Bloggers aren't constrained by the concerns of the regular media. Their reviews shine brightly years and years after they first appeared. So, by extension, I would like to extend my hand to book reviewers. Although not as subject to turnover as film, the splashing out of opinion about books is a gift to one who wants to listen to a conversation about a book she just finished at 2 a.m. 

What did I do before all this? As a child of the '90s, this constant access to information is something that has bricked over the past. I swim easily in the sea, forgetting how I used to do things. So what was different? I saw more movies with other people. Watching VHS or DVD releases was a thing. It's still a thing, and a much more accessible one, with Redboxes outside every WalMart. 

Shameless Self Promotion: Guest Blog Edition

Today, I'm guest blogging for the lovely and talented Ali of Ali's Bookshelf about what's on my book shelf, and how it connects to my work in progress. Thanks Ali! 

Here are some other posts on Ali's blog that you should check out:

Review of Everneath, by Brodi Ashton

Review of The Pledge, by Kimberly Derting

Interview with Stephen Zimmer

The Gaia Wars Book Tour: Guest Post and Author Interview

A Valentine for You (Yes, You!)

Kreativ Blogger Award

I was nominated for a Kreativ Blogger Award by the awesome commuting girl, who has a great blog and is a future beta buddy.  Thanks, commutinggirl! The mysteriously elusive "e" at the end of "kreativ" is but one aspect of this award that I enjoy. Somehow I feel like maybe it's something the Kardashian family created. I'm not knocking it; it just shows how their mighty empire extends even to lowly bloggers.  Maybe they'll create a spin-0ff reality show in which all of us nominees/winners have to compete for the Kreativ Blogger crown. The idea of doing a reality show is less appealing to me than crawling across broken glass, but for this fantasy show? I'm totally in.

In accordance with the rules, I’m sharing 10 things you may or may not know about me, and nominating 6 more bloggers who are awesomely creative.

10 Things You may Not Know About Me

1. I have central heterochromia—the irises of my eyes are more than one color.

2. I throw nail polish bottles near (not at) the squirrels in the yard through the window to drive them away from the birdseed I’ve spread. Sometimes it works.

3. I have three master’s degrees, but can’t do fractions to save my life (right-brain learning disability for the win!)

4. I’ve never been to California (but I want to go!)

5. When I was little, I could spin forever and never get dizzy.

6. In high school, competing in Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments was my life. Beating most of your opponents in a male-dominated activity is awesome for a teenage girl’s ego ;)

7. I’m always colder than everyone else. But it pays off in the summer, when I’m comfortable as others sweat and moan.

8. I’m fascinated by Mormons and Scientologists.

9. My favorite book of all time is Lolita.

10. If I could magically be granted one talent or ability, I’d choose to be a great singer.

Now, passing along the nomination, I give you six bloggers who you should read, if you’re not already:

1. Evil League of Evil Writers. 

ELEW members write from a cranky and annoyed perspective, telling the truth about writing in a way that most bloggers are afraid to.

2. Gina at Fantasy Casting  

Through imagining how novels should be cast, Gina takes a game we all often play in our reads and blogs it for the world to enjoy.

3. Jaime Morrow of Jaime Reading and Writing

She’s honest, open, and helpful  in her posts about her journey through writing. I always enjoy her YA Highway responses and comments.

4. Juliana Haygert

 I like her attitude, always like reading her YA Highway posts, and her participation in ROW80 has really piqued my interest.  Oh, and her website’s pretty cool, too.

5. Karen McCoy at The Writer Librarian.

As a fellow writer/librarian, I like reading about someone who comes from a similar background/perspective. But beyond that, she has some really insightful things to say about her writing and the process of developing as a writer.

6. Kelley and shellybean of The Book Dorks. 

They’re re-reading and reviewing V.C. Andrews books. Need I say more?

Google Puts Me in Time Out

(Image via MyEyeSees)

Rumors have been going around that Google, aka the Evil Empire, has been suspending Blogger blogs and Gmail accounts, for no discernable reason. It happened to me this morning. The blog went poof, and I emailed Google to figure out why. Then I tried logging in to my Gmail account--no dice.

In about an hour, they both were restored. The crazy part? I have no idea why this happened. The moral of the story for me is to take the advice that others have been giving, and back up my blog.

I get that the suspension of blogs is an automated process, and they claim to have a 2% false positive rate in suspending blogs for violating the TOS. But this seems to be happening to a lot of people. I'd love to know why it happened, but apparently Google doesn't give you that information.

On the bright side, the suspension made me stop procrastinating and write 1100 words. I will now stop bitching and return to writing, on the alert for Google's evil magicians to reappear.

Feature and Follow Friday #2: New Year's Resolution

For those pretty new to this book blog hop, like me, Feature & Follow Friday is hosted by Rachel of Parajunkee and Alison of Alison Can Read. The directions for participation are explained on each of their blogs, so check it out!

Question of the Week: The New Year is here -- and everyone wants to know your New Years Blogging Resolution! What are you going to try to revise, revamp and redo for 2012 on your blog?

 

 I am morally opposed to New Year's resolutions, so this question is tough. Okay, not morally opposed, but really not into them. But, I'm going to rationalize answering this question by focusing on the fact that it's about my blog, not about me.

 

Actually, it's a good question to ask yourself as a blogger. I'm very new to blogging--started in October--so the easy answer is to keep toddling along, doing what I'm doing, and trying to stay with it. I do have a few future goals that move beyond my usual routine:

1. I've learnt so many nuts and bolts things that I didn't know before, like a rudimentary understanding of the html involved in embedding comments and pictures. So one goal will be to keep learning more about the innards of blogging. 

 

2. I'd like to connect more with other bloggers. It's easy for me to feel like I'm sending out time capsules or something (even though I have a small, lovely group of people who read and comment; many thanks to them). Communicating with other bloggers, doing blog hops and tours and all that jazz, helps me feel like there's some kind of community involved. It's funny, because I know everybody and their uncle's dog has a blog. But I still feel like I'm making this unmapped journey. Since it's my first time doing anything like this, it is unmapped in a way. But it's good to remind myself that everything I'm doing has been done before. 

 3. My biggest goal is to serialize a story on my blog, and present portions once a week. I love the concept of serialization, going back to Dickens and Wilkie Collins and their contemporaries. But I feel like I have a lot of writing projects going on, and that doing a serial is beyond me at this point.  So, I'll make this one a long-term goal.

 

I'll stop with these three fairly long-winded goals, and go check out everybody else's resolutions!

Never to be Revisited Rant: Why I Won't Blog About My Kid

Like countless parents across the globe, I have a kid, and I have a blog.  My kid has a gender, name, and unique personality.  This kid does wonderful things I’d love to share with the world. When this child drives me crazy, the siren song of the online audience beckons me to vent.  Everybody else is “mommy blogging,” so why shouldn’t I? 

I don’t blog about my kid, because I think it’s unethical. I’m not trying to create a new hurdle that women must overcome to achieve the moral high ground of the “good mother.” I just can’t imagine ever being okay with my mother having blogged about my life, in all its shame and glory.

Becoming a parent doesn’t give you the right to offer the experiences of your child up for the consumption of the entire internet. There’s a wide spectrum in the presentation of children online. From the discomforting videos of kids under the influence of laughing gas, to the seemingly benign blow-by-blow account of Child X’s first day at school, countless permutations of putting a child online exist.

I realize deeming “mommy blogging” unethical is a pretty broad statement.  Can there be situations in which blogging about your child is okay? Parents like Shannon Des Roches Rosa of Squidalicious, who blogs about her autistic son Leo, are raising awareness about a unique aspect of a child in a way that provides an invaluable resource to parents and the child-free. But even in these isolated cases, it’s tough to decide if the benefit for others justifies sharing the life of a child, when that child isn’t given a choice.

Increasingly, parents are getting paid, via sponsorships and ads from companies, to share their children’s lives online. New ways to monetize parenting, and by extension, the lives of children, are invented every day.  Even before birth, parents-to-be blog their pregnancies for a profit, as in the case of the “sponsored” nursery furniture provided to Jordan Reid of Ramshackle Glam in exchange for publicity on her blog.