What I Want (and don't want) my Blog to Be

I'm in a blogging rut. Just putting that out there from the very beginning. In the past 2 weeks I've posted one review, one book recommendation, and 2 giveaways and announced the winners - so not too much of anything of real substance. I've always said that you shouldn't make apologies for lack of posting or reviewing. That is not what this is. I've just lacked some inspiration. All of the ArmChair BEA/BEA posts this week have made me think a lot about my blog and what it has become and what I want it to be. And right now, it's not exactly what I want it to be. BUT what do I want?! WELL that's what I'm trying to figure out.

What I do want:
A place where I can share the books that I am loving. A friend who occasionally reads my blog (Hi Carl!) called me out a few weeks ago and asked me if I really LOVE every book that I read. He said that this all I over write about or tweet about. Books that I love. Well of course not, but I usually don't finish books that I'm not into when I know that there are just too many other books on my shelves that I can read. I don't review books that I don't finish, so there you go. And I wouldn't tweet about a book that I wouldn't want someone to read.

I do want: to be able to openly discuss plot and characters and specific events in books that would otherwise be deemed as spoilery in a review. A little less that a year ago, some friends and I started a book club, Provisions and Paperbacks, where we do openly discuss the selected book, other books we're reading, and many other random things. I've even started posting some of the discussion here, alerting readers that they are spoilery, and asking for some feedback to continue the discussion. There's been some response and I'm hopeful that as I continue to post these "discussions" there will be more.

I do want: to get caught up on all of my back-logged reviews. I hate to admit it, but I have to admit it, I have reviews to write that I committed to over a year ago. Yes, I am airing out my dirty laundry today. And the kicker is - I've already read many of the books. Some of them I accepted for review because, being new to blogging (at the time), I was so excited that an author or publisher wanted me to review their book. AND THEN THERE IS NETGALLEY. This was like SWEET TEA to me. (some people might say CRACK, but sweet tea is my addition) Anyway, I got behind on those reviews and still am trying to catch up. I've almost completely quit requesting from Netgalley. I do have 2 pending requests that I hope are granted. But if they're not, I understand - especially after reading this, because they are books that I would buy and read and share on the blog anyway.

I do want: a greater sense of community. I mean that is what brought me here in the first place. I want to get back to that. I know that commenting more will help for sure. I read over 100 blog posts a day. But would anybody know it - especially the bloggers whose posts I'm reading? Probably not, because I rarely comment. I suck.


What I don't want:
Followers who only stop by to enter giveaways. Now this is kind of tricky or maybe it isn't. I don't require people to follow my blog or me on Twitter to enter a giveaway. And I very rarely give extra entries for doing so. AND I love hosting giveaways. I sponsor almost every single one of them - and I do it for the pure joy I get for giving a book to someone or sharing a book by an author that I love and want to support. BUT, again, a lot of followers are only stopping by for the giveaways. So this gets in the way of what I want my blog to be. I KNOW I need to have some interesting content to get people to read my blog or my reviews. If it's not always there, what is going to keep people coming back? So this is something that I will be working on.

I don't want: this to be a place for just posting memes. I stopped my Teaser Tuesday posts a long time ago. Occasionally, I post my Waiting on Wednesdays picks, and I stopped participating in In My Mailbox back in late March. I stopped doing IMM because I realized that my book buying/obtaining habit was getting out of control and I thought if I stopped participated it would curb my habits. AND it definitely did. At the same time I established a Book Budget too. Both have made a huge difference and my wallet thanks me for it. Yet I'm finding that I miss sharing my books with my blog readers, but I don't know if I want to go back to In My Mailbox. I'll have to think about that one.

So where does this leave me? Well, I'm ready for a little overhaul. My blog will be 2 very soon and it is time for some changes. Maybe a new look. More open discussion posts, and a little more about me. 


Now in the little bit of time that it's taken me to get these thoughts out, I have a little more motivation. I hope it's enough to get me out of the rut.