Tell Your Blogging Story

Through Katrina at Callapidder Days I discovered Don't Try It At Home and the invitation to share our blogging history.

(Btw, can you tell I'm procrastinating? This is the 4th entry this morning, and I have to leave for classes in an hour and a half - not that I could come early to get a bit more of the homework done LOL)

How did you start blogging?
It started out with me really enjoying various blogs at first. I checked them out as often as possible and even read all the blog entries that were written way before I found the blog (I still do that, btw!). I had been searching for a good way to save up thoughts on the books I read. I tried writing down short summaries in a book . this didn't work so well because I kept forgetting to write it down. So I got my first blog (and now have three).

Did you intend to be a blog w/a following? If so, how did you go about it?
I see my blog as my place. It's the place for my book reviews, for my thoughts. If someone reads it, hey, feel welcome and enjoy it here!

What do you hope to achieve or accomplish with your blog? Have you been successful? If not, do you have a plan to achieve those goals?
I'm trying to write down my thoughts on my books. I usually manage to get this done, but there are always times when life intervenes and I can't blog for a bit. So far, I always ended up getting back and writing again. And I sure as hell enjoy it!

Has the focus of your blog changed since you started blogging? How?
Well, I'd say I added the challenges to the blog, but my blog is still about books, as it used to be when I started it.

What do you know now that you wish you'd known when you started?
I think the worst time was when I felt bad because I didn't know a thing to blog about. I hadn't read a new book, I had no really interesting thoughts about books. So what should I write?
I now take this a lot easier. When I have something to write, I write it down. If I don't have anything to write down, so be it. If I have something to write down, but not the time to sit down and write it down, I take a piece of paper and at least get the general idea down in a halfway quiet moment so that I won't forget it.

Do you make money with your blog?
No.

Does your immediate or extended family know about your blog? If so, do they read it? If not, why?
My family knows about my blog, but they don't read it, AFAIK. My brother is not really interested in books and my parents don't know their way around the internet (neither do my Grandparents).

What two pieces of advice would you give to a new blogger?
Don't put pressure on yourself to get lots of readers and comments and to blog every day. There will be days you don't have time, where you don't know what to write. That's okay. No one will punish you for not blogging for a couple days ;-)
And the amount of readers and commenters doesn't necessarily tell the quality of a blog either, if you ask me.