Blogmas #18 | Let’s Talk Bookish: Reading, Blogging & Writing
Happy Friday everyone! ❄️ We’re officially one week away from Christmas! I can’t believe that the time has gone by so fast 😨 For me, the holidays are a very weird season. I can’t wait for them to finally arrive, but I don’t want them to at the same time, because when they do, then we have to wait a whole year for them to return!! I guess that’s what makes them so special, right?
Anyways, today we have a new topic for Let’s Talk Bookish! This weekly tag is hosted by Eternity Books and Literary Lion, so if you’re interested in participating head on there ☺️
BUT, before we begin, let’s do our Advent Calendar!
The objective of this Advent Calendar is to get to know each other better and learn about some of the things we love to do this time of year! I really hope that you guys decide to participate, and I can’t wait to read your answers as well. If you want to check out the upcoming questions go to this page.
What is one of your favorite holiday dishes/food?
My country doesn’t really have many traditional Christmas-y foods. We don’t really eat peppermint or hot drinks (cause it’s always hot here)… Or anything else really. But, almost every single family cooks pork and moro (rice and beans cooked together) on Christmas Eve, so that is my favorite Christmas food. BUT, if we’re talking about holidays in general, one of my favorites ever is Habichuelas con Dulce (I think the proper translation is sweet beans? I’m not sure 🤔). It is a dessert that we always eat during Lent and Easter.
Reading & Blogging: Their effect on writing.
Have you sometimes felt that as a reader, you should also be a writer or vice versa? Do you think that a desire to write is connected with a love of reading?
I don’t think that readers are writers, but I do believe that writers should be readers. I don’t understand how someone could be passionate about writing and putting their words on a page without loving to read at some capacity. In my perspective, wanting to write novels comes hand in hand with reading them. For instance, if you want to be a journalist, you probably like reading articles on subjects that interest you. Personally, picturing a writer that doesn’t read doesn’t make a lot of sense. However, not everyone that likes to read needs to like writing. They’re both very different and not everyone that enjoys a good story feels like they could be the ones to create it as well.
What motivates you to write?
Reading inspires me. As simple as that. Growing up I didn’t envision myself as a writer, cause I didn’t understand how I could come up with so many words at once. But, the more I read and discovered new worlds I found myself longing to write them myself. I’ve read so many books that have helped me through the years, and I’ve learnt so much from different novels that I dream with writing stories that help others as much as those have helped me.
As a book blogger, do you ever feel discouraged about publishing a book because you know how readers & bloggers can react to books/authors?
Honestly, sometimes I do. Obviously everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I know that not everybody will like what I end up writing. But even when we don’t like something, there is a degree of respect that we should adhere to. Some people are a little cruel with their opinions and don’t consider it important to express themselves in a way that doesn’t hurt authors. Giving constructive criticism and explaining your dislikes about something does not entail hurting someone’s feelings. I don’t want to be a hyprocrite. I know that at some point or the other I’ve probably said some not so nice things about certain books, but I try my best to not be unnecessarily mean. So, reading horrible reviews about books sometimes does discourage me about publishing my own work. Still, I try to remember what I said previously. There are so many people that might end up loving it, and I think that’s worth it.
Do you think that authors can be book bloggers as well, or that they’ve crossed the imaginary line between authors and bloggers and therefore are not like other book bloggers anymore?
Yes and no. I don’t think that being an author means you can’t be a blogger, but I can’t picture an author as a blogger 😂 This is simply because I would imagine most of your time goes into writing your book rather than reading and critiquing other people’s work. But that doesn’t mean that it can’t be done. It’s completely doable and possible.
Do you guys think that readers are writers, or vice versa? Would you be discouraged about publishing your own work because of negative reviews? I would love to know.
Your point of view caught my eye and was very interesting. Thanks. I have a question for you.
Thanks for sharing. I read many of your blog posts, cool, your blog is very good.
https://bibliobibuli56.wordpress.com/2020/12/19/two-blogger-award-nominations/
I completely agree! I think readers definitely don’t need to enjoy writing, but I have a really hard time seeing someone become a good writer if they don’t read… After all, you need to see loads of examples of good and bad writing in order to learn what works and what doesn’t!
As for bloggers writing books themselves – I really hope that’s possible, because getting a novel published has always been my life’s ambition! 😊 And I actually don’t think bad reviews would bother me that much – I know not everyone is going to like what I read! And if someone got passionate enough about a book of mine to leave a really long rant, I might even be a little flattered 😂 Also, I actually don’t even think it’s bad for authors to read reviews of their own books, since criticism can always help you improve 😉 But only if you can deal with it maturely!! I don’t think an author should ever, ever respond to reviews of their own books and invade readers’ discussions of it 🙈 You’ve got to learn to let go and observe from the outside!
However, I do think I might feel a bit weird critiquing other authors books if I were an author myself… It kind of feels like once you’re part of the author community, you’d be bashing your colleagues’ books if you said anything negative about them. But I suppose if you can learn to deal with that and still write honest reviews, it shouldn’t be a problem either! As long as you make sure your fellow authors know you’re not trying to hurt them, but just being honest, no matter what. After all, any review is good publicity, even if it’s a terrible one! 😁
I agree with EVERYTHING you just said!! I think authors can be bloggers, but it would be weird for them to critique the work of their ‘colleagues’. Though that doesn’t mean that it can’t be done. But you’re also right that although criticism is very important in order to improve, author’s shouldn’t respond to negative comments or reader’s discussions. That would just be like meddling or trying to justify a mistake that readers didn’t like.
Thank so much for your insight Naemi!! Honestly, you’re so smart and I’m always in awe of what you say ☺️
Haha, I’m glad you think so 😂 Though if your posts weren’t so clever in the first place, I wouldn’t be able to come up with something interesting to respond with, either 😉 I really enjoyed the way you approached this discussion!
This was a really interesting read 🙂 I’m the same I find it hard to imagine a writer that’s not a reader and you are completely right that constructive criticism is so important, it’s years of an authors work that we’re passing judgement on sometimes, which is a really scary thought!
Exactly! Criticism is not necessarily bad because it helps you grow, but that doesn’t give anyone the right to be rude or cruel about their opinions.
I’m so glad you liked the post! Thank you for your comment Jen ☺️
If I wrote a book I would go out of my way to avoid all reviews because some of them are absolutely horrible 😬