Thank you so much to Siriusly Good Book Reviews for nominating me for the Blogger Recognition Award!
Rules:
- Select 15 other blogs to give the award to. You can’t nominate yourself or the person who nominated you.
- Write a post to show off your blog. Talk about how your blog started and give a piece of advice to new bloggers.
- Comment on each blog and let them know you nominated them. Be sure to provide a link to your post.
- Provide a link to the original post on Edge of Night, so people can find the original rules if they need them. This will keep the award rules from straying from the original too much.
How this blog got started:
Well. My blogging journey is kind of a long story.
It all started in… sixth grade, I think? Sixth or seventh grade. So, about three or four years ago. Probably closer to four.
Anyway. In sixth grade (I’m just going to say sixth grade because that’s more impressive), I was obsessed with wolves. And when I say obsessed, I mean OBSESSED. I drew wolves, I wrote about wolves, I wore clothes with wolves on them, everything was wolves.
So, anyway. I wanted a place where I could talk wolves and share my thoughts, and my mom, a graphic designer (you can check out her super awesome website here!), had an idea – I could set up a blog! So that’s what I did.
I started with Blogspot (mostly because it’s simpler) and ran a blog… I think the title was Wolves for Kids? Something like that. It was a lot of fun – I talked about wolf related news, reviewed wolf related books and movies, you get the idea.
After a while, though, I started to get bored with wolves.
So I set up a writing themed blog, Noveling at Twelve (named because I was a twelve year old, not because I stayed up until twelve to write – my attention span was too short for that). It was mostly just little anecdotes and tips on writing, never anything more than a paragraph. It was fun, though. The posts were quick and, even looking back now, they were informative, even if not very detailed (at all).
I did have a big ego. But, I mean, it’s not like that’s unusual for me.
So I did that for a while, but then I got tired of themed blogs in general.
(Just FYI, Wolves For Kids was deleted, so I can’t link to it. Sorry about that!)
For a while, I dropped blogging altogether. But I had liked it so much, and I came to the realization that I didn’t want to quit. My next move was setting up a new blog, Nerds Inc, that I decided not to give a theme.
At first, I mostly used it as a Pinterest board kind of thing – it was usually just posts with “funny” pictures that I liked, almost always Doctor Who related.
Eventually, I realized that that wasn’t really what I was looking for either – I wanted a place to share my writing, and my thoughts! So I made another shift in theme, deleted all the old “funny picture” posts, and started writing more original content.
Finally, more recently, I realized how unhappy I was with Nerds Inc. The title, the url, and the options for customization on Blogger (which are pretty crappy) just weren’t what I was looking for.
So I FINALLY got to where I am now: Stay and Watch the Stars! It’s taken a lot of work, and it still isn’t even CLOSE to perfect, but for the moment, I’m happy with this.
Advice to New Bloggers
I actually have a few pieces of advice, because I’m cool that way.
First off: you’re not going to be perfect right away, so don’t expect yourself to be. Being a good blogger takes time and, even more importantly, work. It’s something that comes with practice, just like any other skill. And what works now will, if you’re anything like me, not work forever. So don’t feel bad if you need to, say, switch up the theme a lot, or take an extended break from blogging. You’ll figure things out.
YOU ARE PERFECT AND YOUR BLOG IS BEAUTIFUL SO KEEP BEING YOU
Second: interact with other bloggers! Unless you started blogging so you could scream into a void (which is totally fine), you probably want people to see what you’re writing. Whether that means follows, likes, or comments to you (each blogger sees this differently, I find), it’s not going to happen unless you put a little work into it. Interacting with bloggers is the best way to get attention. Follow blogs, like their posts, but most importantly, comment! Talk to people, start discussions, and they’re far more likely to return the favor.
SO DON’T ACT LIKE IT
Third, and finally: be open minded and nice to other bloggers, and people in general! Let’s say someone is raving about a book that you absolutely HATED. It’s fine to leave a friendly comment explaining why you didn’t like the book, but do it in a nice way! Don’t go to their post and be all like THIS BOOK SUCKZ AND ALL COPIES OF IT SHOULD BE BURNED AND HERE’S WHY, because that’s going to feel like bullying to the writer, even if that’s not how you intended it. Also, be open to new ideas! For example, if someone leaves a comment on one of your posts gently pointing out that a book you liked is SUPER racist, at least try to listen to their ideas. You don’t have to agree. I’m not saying you should listen to everything everyone tells you, because that’s absurd and impossible. But just keep your eyes and ears open to new ideas. People are always different, and by trying to see the world through someone else’s eyes, you may see something new and amazing (or horrible) that you never would’ve noticed otherwise.
so basically, don’t act like this
I’m not going to be nominating anyone for this – I’m sorry about that, but honestly I’m feeling really lazy right now and can’t think of fifteen blogs I want to nominate.
Stay and Watch the Stars 