Secret Life of a Book Blogger Tag

Happy Tuesday everyone! I decided to schedule yet another post today (I am away busy taking my fall semester finals when this posts) because I really, really need to catch up with my tags and awards. I mean I have tags since May. That’s like 6+ months ago!

Anyway, this was one of my “May” tags and I’m pretty excited to share this one. Maybe you’ll get to learn a little more about me as a blogger… because this is the Secret Life of Book Blogger Tag! I was tagged by Trey at Trey Schnarr Books, Casey at Inspired by the Page, Raven at Dreamy Addictions, Joey at Thoughts and Afterthoughts, and Kelly at Dancing Through the Pages. Gosh, this post is way belated, but thank you all again for thinking of Xingsings and tagging me!

Okay, this is going to be a text heavy post so let’s move on with the questions!

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   How long have you been a blogger?
   Well before this one I ran an Exo blog on tumblr that I still use to this day actually. It’s also called Xingsings. So yup I’m the very Xingsings from tumblr! This blog stemmed from the moment I had an idea that I’d like to share my passion for books with other people. So this WP blog Xingsings was born on January 2nd, 2015. There’s actually a funny story to this though… My first blog post (don’t try to look for it; so embarrassing) was actually created in 2014 and was supposed to be scheduled to published on New Year’s Day (I wanted an easy blogiversary date to remember) but being the newbie blogger I was at the time I’m not sure what I pressed but it never scheduled when I checked on January 2nd. So yup, after that incident I never scheduled my posts again… until October 2015, when I decided to try that WP feature again.
   

2. At what point do you think you will stop?
   I think most people that have done this tag have said something along the lines of “not anytime soon.” For me… it may be when I start pharmacy school which may or may not be soon depending what the admissions committee thinks of me (for those of you that are new to Xingsings; yup, I applied to professional school this year as a sophomore in my undergraduate studies. It’s a little complicated to explain how I was eligible to apply, maybe I’ll do a separate personal post about it if I happen to get in). Since the rigor and course load is so much different in professional school compared to undergraduate… it’s probably the best idea if I took a break while I’m on that path. I really do love blogging but I’m the type of blogger that likes to interact with the community (not so much on social media but through catching up with other bloggers via blog hopping). And I just can’t do that while being in pharmacy school; sometimes real life has to receive priority. With all this being said, I don’t think I would quit completely though since I really enjoy this hobby too much. Hopefully I would still be able to publish a few posts here and there and still keep in contact with all of you (maybe even get the hang of using Twitter and joining Twitter chats; I really should use that social platform more).

3. What is the best thing?
   I’m assuming about blogging… The community aspect, I think. I love how there are just so many bookworms that share their love of reading through blogging and social media. It’s amazing that we can have an internet community so close-knit all the while being global.

4. What is the worst thing? What do you do to make it okay?
   For me it’s something kind of silly and more self related than anything to do with other people. Sometimes I have blogger insecurity and wonder why some posts “don’t do as well” when I post them. But these insecurities never stick for long since I remind myself that I started this blog out for fun and not for other people to read really (though it was a nice bonus when I learned that others did read what I shared sometimes).

5. How long does it take you to create/find pictures to use?
   Well I also have a bookstagram in which I post pictures daily. It takes me about twenty minutes to find, assemble, and adjust the lighting, and then take the picture. But don’t worry! This isn’t for just one photo, I usually take 5 to 10 photos at once to save time and effort. Plus, the lighting looks more consistent this way because there’s only certain days where I can take pictures at home (other days I’m out at school from early morning to late at night). Also, my photos are filter free so that saves some of the decision making and time aspect. As for the banners I make… It honestly doesn’t take that long either since I’m pretty comfortable with the programs (PicMonkey, Canva, MeituPic, etc; depends on my mood) I use now. Maybe five to ten minutes?

6. Who is your book crush?
   Jem Carstairs. But you guys knew that! 😉

7. What author would you like to have on your blog?
   Most definitely Cassandra Clare! She’s my favorite ya fantasy/paranormal writer. Along with Twilight, TMI introduced me to the world of ya books which was an important reading transition in my childhood/teenagehood. However, I would totally settle (look at me being pretentious) with my other favorites like Sarah Dessen or Richelle Mead.

8. What do you wear when you write your blog posts?
   Why this is a strange question! Well I mostly blog at home so I guess comfy clothes that I usually lounge around in. At school, it’s probably my usual jeans and t-shirt combo, nothing too fancy.

9. How long does it take you to prepare?
   Prepare myself to blog? Prepare a blog post? Prepare what exactly?? If it’s to prepare a blog post… Probably an average of maybe thirty minutes (which is much faster than it used to be when I first began) but I do go back several times to edit for several days before I schedule or publish the post. I also have a rule where if I don’t feel like writing a review I just won’t write one. Hence why some reviews are written months after I’ve read the books. And that’s why I always have an annotation at the beginning of my reviews stating when I completed this book. First, to show the people that read my reviews the time of reference (I sometimes talk about holidays or events in my life in my reviews) of when I read it, but ultimately the date thing is for me. I started this blog to document what I read so I wanted to know when I read it specifically (I am aware that GR does this too but I rather it be on my blog as well).

10. How do you feel about the book blogger community/culture?
    At first I was quite surprised by everything. The fangirl jargon (it’s somewhat different from the K-pop kind); the bookish memes, tags, and nominations; the use of social media; how kind and supportive bloggers were were all things that were new to me. But it never really felt overwhelming; honestly, I really feel accepted and at home in this internet community more than anything now. So I guess warm is how I’d describe this awesome book blogging community.

11. What do you think one should do to get a successful blog?
    Well I’m going to slightly go off of what Joey mentioned in his post of this tag. It all depends what the blogger terms as a successful blog. I’m almost at my one year blogiversary but I really don’t feel like I’m one to give advice on this subject yet. Maybe one day!

12. Who do you tag?
    My usual blogger buddies* (I know some of them aren’t online anymore but I’m just kind of set that this is going to be the list I’ll always tag no matter what (think of it as my follow forever), unless they specify they rather not be tagged or have become tag/award-free) and everyone that is reading this post that also blogs!

*I later noticed a lot of people already did this tag so I had to edit this list. 😅

• Ashley at Dreamingthroughliterature
• Carolyn at A Hundred Thousand Stories
• Chooi at Read, Think, Ponder
• Jenna at Reading with Jenna
• Marie at Drizzle and Hurricane Books
• Shotobhisha at Confessions of a Bibliophile
• Thuong at I Read Therefore I Am
• Trisha at The Bookgasm

5 New Bloggers I Want to Tag (and when I typed “new” that doesn’t necessarily mean new to the blogging community but new to me or I’d like to get to know these individuals more hence why I’m tagging them. I will most likely continue to do this for future tags.)

• Calliope at Calliope the Book Goddess
• Charley at Booksandbakes1
• Kat at Life and Other Disasters
• Samantha at Reed’s Reads & Reviews
• Stefanie at Your Daughter’s Bookshelf

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So that’s it! I hope you guys learned a little bit more about me perhaps. And, as always, I hope you have a lovely Tuesday! 😀

Blog @xingsings | Instagram @readxings | Twitter @xingxings