You Asked, I'm Answering: Blogging and Everything Else

Jen asked,
"I'm going to put on my travel agent hat and ask you a couple vacation questions. Where is the best place you have ever visited? What is your dream vacation? Tell us where it would be and what you would do there."

This is really hard. I have sincerely loved a lot of the places I've been, but I think the best place I've been was Mont St. Michel in France...absolutely gorgeous and so totally fascinating. I highly recommend it. That little mini trip (I was teaching English just north of Paris for a summer) was also the first time I stayed at a Bed and Breakfast. I wish I could go again right now!

I also, of course, recommend Kyoto, Japan which was my second choice.

As far as a dream vacation, I really want to go to Italy before I die. I thought about choosing someplace more exotic and less cliched, but if you told me I was going to die in a month and could only go one more place, I'd choose Italy. I would of course want to eat a lot, and visit all the beautiful museums and historical places, and go to Venice before it floods or whatever is bound to happen.

Beth asked,
"I don't participate in Faith in Fiction because I'm not a Christian and because I participate in a ton of memes already. But I'm impressed with the questions and tasks you come up with each week. What's your inspiration? How do you come up with 52 topics a year?"

Thanks Beth! It's actually really hard sometimes. I have a list of possible topics, but I am a blogger that needs to be struck by inspiration. Thankfully, there are just so many ideas to explore in the world of Christian fiction. Plus the participants are all very different in their approach to both faith and fiction that I enjoy seeing what everyone has to say!

Shelly asked,
"How do you juggle your online time vs. reading time?

My reading pile seems to be growing as I spend more time on Twitter, blog commenting etc. Anxious to see what you say."

It's possible I could read blogs all day. I think reading blogs is a valid form of reading...and an important one despite the naysayers. But I also love reading books.

My first tip, so to say, is to make sure you always have a book with you. There are a million unexpected little places during the day you can sneak in reading. I read everywhere possible...I hate waiting in line, so I read. (why waste the time?) I read during my lunch and on my breaks. I read before sleeping. And yes, I read at red lights, in drive thrus and all other manner of dangerous places.

Secondly, sometimes I just turn off the computer and go someplace to read. Otherwise I get tempted by e-mail or twitter or google reader.

And lastly...I have my google reader organized. I have about 20 blogs I try to read everyday. (I usually read more than that, but they are my "can't miss!") That way, if I have a day where I can't really spend time on the computer, I usually can read their posts. Then, I generally spend Saturday mornings catching up on sleep and my google reader.

As far as Twitter...it can really be a time suck. It's so much fun to chat with everyone through the day and I absolutely HATE to miss anything. I usually leave Twitter on at home, and check in a few times during the workday.

Beth asked,
"How do you define beauty?"

Wow! Honestly, I had never really thought about it before. I guess beauty is something that gives me hope or makes me believe that there is always something better. I say this because the one thing beauty always does is fill me with longing. Whether it's the beauty of nature, or of a kind act, or piece of music...if I choose to define it as beautiful, it has made me ache inside with hope and longing. Or homesickness. Of course if I'm saying beautiful man it's not quite that deep ;)

Marta asked,
"What is 10 + 6 + 5 +10?"

Marta! I said no math! Erm, um, I think that's 31.

Wordlily asked,
"Why do you like vampires?"

Oh, I wish I knew! I tend to be dramatic. I love tragic stories. It really doesn't get more tragic than being doomed to wander the earth in an undead state drinking blood, does it? There is so much symbolism, so much possibility for redemption, so much angst. I just love them! I've said it here before, but my mother absolutely hates that I do! Every time I've fallen in love with another vampire story she worries for the eternal condition of my soul. :) (just kidding) So as you can see, I prefer vampires with some personality...I'm not as much into the "vampires as monsters or demons" myths.

Bermudaonion asked,
"What has been your proudest moment in your life so far?"

This is also a difficult question. I'm going to cheat and tell you a moment that made me feel proud and like I was doing something good that happened recently. I tutor adults in reading improvement and from the very first day it was an uphill battle. It is not at all a glamorous job. I have seen several adults turn their reading around, though, and even get promotions at our workplace! But the moment that filled me with joy was when I was at the bookstore and bumped into a former student. "I never used to come here but now thanks to you I read all the time!" he told me. These moments...they are so few and far between. Most of the time, I'm plugging away just like my students. But when they happen, when I remember that what I'm doing does make a difference in the best possible way...well it's very sweet, indeed.

Euphrony asked,
"What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?"

Huh?

No one asked this question, but here it is since it seems appropriate for this week:

Who are your blogging influences?


The first blog I read was the blog of Shaun Groves. It is still a daily read for me, though I don't comment as much as I used to. I didn't even really understand what a blog was, but I read Shaun's and ended up creating my own. In any case, Shaun is one of the best writers I've ever read. And for a few years there, his influence through his blog was profound on my life. That little community there at the time wrestled through a lot of issues together. If I could inspire and influence people through my blog a fraction of the way Shaun influenced me, I would be very happy indeed.

Kat Jacobs. It's not her real name, but Kat's blogging was a model to me. I learned a lot from reading her blog about blogging itself, including that you can have blogging activities! Before I thought of blogs as merely places where you wrote about what you were thinking, but Kat organized a collaborative blog event called the 40 Day Fast where 40 blogs chose a social justice issue to blog about and fasted on their day. It was a great experience. The reason I mention this is because if I hadn't known that you could do fun things like that, BBAW (Book Blogger Appreciation Week) would never have happened. Sadly, I don't think Kat reads my blog anymore (probably since I post 50,000 times a day) but I still look forward to when she has time to post.

Booking Mama. Julie probably doesn't know it, but she influenced me a lot in learning how to write reviews. I was terrible (or more terrible) at it before but I learned through reading her reviews. She's still ten thousand times better than me. I wanted to mention that I found her blog through Megan Crane! When she reviewed Names My Sisters Called Me, Megan linked to it and that's how I found her! And I'm so glad I did!

Thanks everyone for asking me questions and for bothering to read the answers! After I started this, I thought...oh my gosh, this is really self-centered. But I've had a ton of fun answering the questions and next week we'll get back to book reviews with an autobiographical slant.

I'd like to do another giveaway...please leave a comment and tell me about one of your blogging influences! If you don't blog, just tell me about a blog you enjoy. Or if you like just leave a comment relevant to the post. I'll choose one winner for their choice of a ten dollar gift certificate to Amazon or iTunes. Be sure to have a valid email address as well.

I have an insane amount of other giveaways at the moment don't forget to check them out!
Buffy Seasons 1 and 2
Books
The Kitty Norville Books
LOST season 1
Don't Let Me Go
The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived

You Asked, I'm Answering: Reading and Books

Marny asked,
"How do you choose the books you read? Recommendations from fellow book bloggers, random finds at the library/book store, ARCs?"

Great question! A combination of all of the above. While I do receive review copies, I still consider the ones I agree to review as selecting the books. I also buy and read books based on blogger reviews...that is probably the number one influence on my purchasing choices at present. And I also buy books that I see at the bookstore that look good.

Lilly asked,
"If you were reading romances in your adolescence, do you feel they may have left you with great expectations towards your future love life and men you'd meet?"
I think Lilly's worried about my singleness.

I actually didn't read many romances in my adolescence, the ones that stick out are the classics like Jane Eyre and L.J. Smith's books. It's so funny because I don't know if they influenced my expectations, but I love reading romances now. At the same time, I'm pretty happy being single. More than anything, I think I thought I would be happily married and finished having kids by now, because both my mom and sister married young and had kids young. But I'm really glad that didn't happen for me. I didn't have a shred of an idea of who I was and I did end up having some rather destructive relationships that I got the chance to grow through and learn through.

TexasRed asked,
"Here's mine -- what's the first book you can remember picturing yourself in (as one of the characters, or interacting with the characters)?"

Hmmm...I think from the moment books became part of my life I imagined the characters. I used to actually play Nancy Drew in school and this is so incredibly embarrassing but my friends and I asked our teachers to call us the names of the characters in the Baby-sitters Club. (then we didn't respond when they did...ha!)

In recent times, I could totally see myself as Becky Bloomwood...at least as far as being a shopaholic.

Marie asked,
"What is one book that you know that you have read at least three times? (doesn't matter when)"
That's actually really easy to answer because I read the same books over and over and over with my students! (we have a very small and specific library) But not counting that, I have read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone three times.

Nymeth asked,
"Who was your first favourite author? Are they still one of your favourites today? Why or why not?"
Well. The first author I can remember just absolutely adoring was Ann M. Martin. And no, I don't consider her a favorite today. I know she's written some other books, but I haven't read them, since she primarily writes for younger children. But some other favorites from when my mom read aloud to us (as opposed to reading to myself) like Laura Ingalls Wilder or Roald Dahl are still favorites.

Jenny Girl asked,
"Do you ever re-read books and if so which ones? Are they basically your all time favorites?
Who are your top 5 authors?"
I do re-read books, but I haven't for awhile. Generally, I re-read non-fiction more than fiction...particularly books related to my faith that serve as devotionals. I also will reread epic romances, feel good fiction, or series books.

Top 5 authors....that's hard!
Frederick Buechner
Julie Lessman
Francine Rivers
Sophie Kinsella
Ravi Zacharias

I don't know...those are all auto-buys but I love so many authors.

Melody asked,
"Which is your favourite genre and which is your least favourite genre? Why?"
This is such a great question, because I've been thinking a lot about it lately. Before I started reviewing, I'd pretty much get hooked on a genre and then read it for like 5 months straight...I went through a legal thriller phase, chick lit phase, Amish fiction phase, etc. But now, I guess I would say general fiction as in "literary" fiction (I know a lot of you don't like that terminology, but I don't know how else to describe it). Books that fit in this genre usually move me on a deeper level. While I read to escape sometimes, I also read to know and learn to be moved and to change. Sometimes, you read a book and rather than allowing you to escape it hits you right where you are. And how can you escape? Story has a way of slipping beneath the surface and digging in. (I just had this happen recently...the experience is fresh!)

As far as least favorite? I'm going to say traditional fantasy. It's so weird because I like the idea of fantasy...and even like urban fantasy. But when you are creating brand new worlds with a bunch of weird names and rules? I get confused. I think that's why I could never read Lord of the Rings. I really should give it another go, sometime, though.

I do have a giveaway today and I'm slipping it in here for the people who actually read the post. :) Just leave a comment...I'll draw a random winner and send you a surprise! Of course, this is open worldwide.

You Asked, I'm Answering: Reviewing

Ti asked,

"How do you prioritize the books that you have agreed to review?

I am often overwhelmed with what I have agreed to review only because of the books that I also want to read on my own TBR list so I'm interested in hearing your response to this."

I wish I was source of wisdom on this issue, but I'm not. I am also often overwhelmed with what I've agreed to review, and still adding to my TBR pile at an alarming rate.

A lot of people will say, "I only agree to review what looks good to me." That doesn't help at all. Everything looks good to me. If I go to a used bookstore, I generally walk out with an armful of books.

I will say that I create time each month to read something from the TBR village. This month or last, can't remember, I managed to read 3 or 4 books not for review. The thing is that I never want to feel like reading is work. So if I need a week's break from review copies so be it. Most of the time, I love reading review copies. It has really really expanded my reading horizons. But sometimes books like The Hunger Games are just calling my name!

Mrs.Cupcake asked
My question is how did you get into book reviewing, and how could I?

I realized I was reading about 4 books a week, which seemed like a lot (I didn't know Swapna then), and I decided it would be fun to process through them on my blog. This blog at the time was much less active and mostly a place where I blogged random thoughts on life, so I tried starting a separate book blog. But then I kept forgetting to post there, so I brought the book discussion back to my blog. Then I learned about blogging alliances for Christian fiction, so I joined one to test the waters. At the time, I thought if I had to read something I would resent reading. Au contraire. I discovered that I absolutely loved sharing my thoughts on the book and so I joined the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance, which is much much active and things really took off.

If you'd like to review books, I recommend reviewing the books you are already reading. Then maybe test the waters with a review copy or two. Something I've see happen kind of a lot is book bloggers who gorge themselves on review copies right when they're starting out, and then crash and burn. So I think easing yourself into reviewing is important to see if you really like it.

Serena asked:
Have you ever thought about reviewing or writing full-time for money? And if so, what has stopped you?

To this I say...if someone is looking for a full time blogger, I'm interested! I would love to write full-time for money. What's stopping me? Probably a lack of confidence in my skills and and a complete lack of knowledge about how to even do that. I have thought of a few companies that could use me as their social media consultant, though....I would love to do something like that.

Today's Blogiversary Giveaway: LOST

I'm really excited about today's giveaway because I've had a lot of people say they'd like to watch LOST. Well, now you can, because I'm giving away the first season! And to everyone who already watches...well I spoke to ABC and arranged to have a new episode aired tonight. Yay. Okay, that had nothing to do with me, but I can't wait for tonight's episode! My love for LOST is both ridiculously high and well documented on this blog.

To be eligible you must:
1) Be interested in watching LOST, and possibly being harassed by me in a few months time when I'm dying to know what you think. OR
2) Love LOST but not own any of the DVDs.
Once again, I want this to go to someone who genuinely wants it and has no plans to do away with it. :)

Open worldwide, but please keep in mind these are region one DVDs.

Leave me a comment and tell me if you fall into category 1 or 2. Leave a valid email address, and tell me one book you'd want with you if you were trapped on a mysterious island with a smoke monster. Don't worry, if you win, you'll understand. :) I'll announce the winner in this week's weekly review.
Oh and of course if you blog this with a link to this post, it's an extra entry, if you tweet it, it's another extra entry! Namaste

You Asked, I'm Answering: Faith

Last week, I asked if you had any questions for me...most of them were related to blogging/reviewing/reading and I'll tackle those soon, but I thought I'd start out easy with the questions related to faith.

Lenore asked:
Old Testament or New Testament?

Oh definitely New Testament. I am Christian, so the New Testament is where the Old Testament is fulfilled for me. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy reading the Old Testament as well, particularly the Psalms and the history books, but when I'm looking for comfort or inspiration I usually find it in the New Testament.

Plus, to me, the New Testament just shouts hope. The Kingdom is here! And my favorite "character" in the Bible is Jesus and He doesn't show up until the New Testament.

Stacie asked:
What is your favorite Bible verse and what does it mean to you?

My favorite Bible verse is Hebrews 4:12, "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any double edged sword it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

This verse means...well a lot to me. First of all...isn't it gorgeous??? Secondly, can I get an amen? And lastly... while I was raised in a Christian home, the process by which I came to truly believe in God for myself as my salvation from myself was through the process of memorizing the Bible. Um, not the whole thing, just the book of Hebrews. The words, sat in my brain and worked themselves into my heart and changed my life. Living. Active. Judging.

Furthermore, they mean a lot to me because while I read a lot there's only one book I read again and again and that's the Bible. And it is alive to me...there's a depth to Scripture that I don't have with other books. The process of growing in maturity as a Christian means I can read something I've read many times and suddenly it makes sense for the very first time.

Thanks Lenore and Stacie for asking! If anyone else has any questions about my faith...really anything feel free to ask in comments!

Today's Blogiversary Giveaway: Books!

Of course, right? Here's the scoop.

There are two giveaways, one for readers in the United States and one for international readers.

For readers in the United States:
Go to Amazon.com
Pick a book you want to read that's less than ten dollars and eligible for Amazon Prime. Come back here and leave a comment with a valid email address telling me what book you picked and why you want to read it.

For international readers:
Tell me about a book you read because of a book blogger review (extra points if it's me! just kidding) and you'll be entered for a ten dollar Amazon gift card. Once more be sure to leave a valid email address. Also, please mention which country you live in.

Winners will be announced this Saturday in the Weekly Review!

Blogging: Connection or Community?

Ever since I read the following on Anne Jackson's blog, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it:

"I believe what happens online is connection—not community."

I almost immediately took issue with that as I'm sure you can imagine. After all, I spend most of my time in the book blogosphere and we almost pride ourselves on the community we have. "Is it not really a community," I mused. "Are we really just connecting over and over again over our shared love of books?" (and many other shared traits)

I guess this really begs the question....what is community? I looked it up on dictionary.com and while we don't match the "living in the same locality" definition, I do think we match this one: "a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists"

Um, books would be our common interest and our larger society would be the blogosphere.

But really, those definitions are a bit dry, so what is community?

Is community when you talk everyday to one another? Check (don't think our blogs are the extent our relationships...they aren't)
Is community when you celebrate each other's personal victories in life? Check
Is community when you grieve each other's losses and heartbreaks together? Check
Is community when you plan a trip to see each other traveling over states to make it possible? Check
Is community when you work together to accomplish a common goal? Check

I suppose I'm missing some aspects of community, but I'm pretty confident in saying that the book blogosphere does indeed have a community.

And of course we have connection as well.

There is a lot of fear of the internet out there....even by big successful bloggers. I'm not saying that you should have only online friends...I think we all have relationships outside of our blogs. But what I'm saying is why keep analyzing if it's good or bad? It is what it is. There's some good and some bad. Just like when the telephone was invented. Just like when the radio and TV came along. The truth of the matter is this....as humans, we need to stop blaming technology for our problems and focus on the core conditions of our hearts that abuse and use technology. It's not the internet keeping people from having meaningful relationships, it's man's natural loneliness and feelings of isolation. And sometimes, just sometimes, it's through the screen, that we find that person who sees life as we do, it's through the interwebs we finally find someone who consumes the written word and values it like we do. And I'm sorry, I just won't say that it's less than it is. It is good.

I welcome your thoughts...community or connection? The internet is evil or the internet just is?