The Blogger Recognition Award

A thousand thanks to my Star Wars buddy Emer for nominating me!

Emer posts concise-yet-lyrical book reviews on A Little Haze Book Blog daily (sometimes even twice a day!)

GO THERE NOW.

ON TO THE AWARD!

 

The Rules

1. Thank the blogger/s who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
2. Write a post to show your award.
3. Give a brief story of how your blog started.
4. Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.
5. Select 15 other bloggers you want to give this award to.
6. Comment (or pingback) on each blog and let them know you have nominated them and provide the link to the post you created.

A brief history of Narrative Paradise

In my final months of college, after a long and discouraging dry spell, I started writing self-insert Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfiction.

Laugh all you want. It was pretty good.

No, you can’t read it.

While my fiction needs were being met, I had nowhere to publish the great entertainment discussions my friends and I were having.

OTHER PEOPLE NEEDED TO HEAR OUR THOUGHTS ON THE HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER ENDING AND THE FIRST SEASON OF THE 100.

I also desperately needed a place to talk about the new Star Wars trilogy.

(More to the point, I needed a place to write about how hot all the characters were.)

As ADDITIONAL motivation, professors and mentors had advised me to create an online portfolio to help me land MFA scholarships and writing jobs.

Final nail in the coffin: my mom told me to start a blog, probably so I would stop telling her about all the hot new Star Wars characters.

In late April 2015, I researched blog hosting sites and filled out a basic template between editing term papers and helping my friends plan their wedding.

I published my first post on April 26, 2015.

 

Advice for new bloggers

#1: Write whatever you want.

In my early days, I forced myself to write entertainment reviews.

Even though I’m not all that interested in formal analysis of entertainment, I thought reviewing films and music made me a “serious” (read: legitimate) writer.

I also liked being able to tell people, “I review entertainment,” like it was my job.

I learned pretty quickly that writing about music and holding myself to a schedule didn’t work for me.

Or, rather, I fell into a spiral of boredom, avoidance, and guilt that resulted in me abandoning this blog for a year-and-a-half.

I ditched the format and posted about books, personality, faith, and stories from my personal life instead.

My blog has since morphed into a into a queer, religious, feminist, mental-health-oriented book blog/Ronan Lynch fan page.

The moral: Don’t feel obligated to create a specific kind of content. If something sounds more intriguing to you (complaining about dating apps, for instance), write THAT.

 

#2: Join in.

This was hard for me, because I like affecting a Tough Loner persona. I CAN’T BE AN ICONOCLAST IF I’M ONE OF MANY.

Blame book tags for turning me into a joiner.

I recommend:

• participating in blogging challenges or weekly memes (e.g., Top Ten Tuesday for book bloggers)
• keyword searching for blogs like yours
• visiting followers’ blogs
• commenting on other blogs, ESPECIALLY when you see something you like

You’ll get ideas, gain readers, and make friends! It’s a win-win-win!

I tag

Weird Zeal | Shut Up, Shealea | Ace Reader | My World of Books | Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub | The Library Looter | A Book. A Thought. | Book Reviews From a Novel Nerd | Meghan’s Whimsical Explorations & Reviews | kitty marie’s reading corner | SMELLFOY CAN READ? | twenty-seven letters | Starry Sky Books | Amy Leigh Reads