Book Blogger Month: Guest Post by Raimy!

Hi, I’m Raimy, I’ve been blogging over at Readaraptor for just over a year… you’ll find some dinosaurs in amongst the books, hope you don’t mind! I love all things YA and a few things adult. My favourite authors are Malorie Blackman, Irvine Welsh, Nick Hornby and Sara Manning. I also love music so don’t be surprised to find one or two posts about that on my blog too!

I'm going to be completely honest with you guys and share my reasoning behind starting my blog. I didn’t start my blog to talk about books, though that was obviously one of the reasons. I didn’t start my blog to get books from publishers, though it’s been argued that a lot of us bloggers do (pish posh I say to that). No I started my blog to get my confidence up, and now that I’ve been blogging for over a year I am so glad I did!

Before I started blogging I had just finished uni. I moved in with my boyfriend and could feel myself retreating into my flat, only going out when my mates dragged me out for drinks and shopping. Most of my mates were still at uni having a good time and I had started a nine to five job, I was feeling like if I didn’t start doing something other than sitting around watching the telly I’d become boring, and I could think of nothing worse.

The thought of blogging terrified me; posting stuff for everyone to see and judge me for. I’m not a shy person when you get to know me and I certainly don’t come across as shy but I’m always worrying about what people think and what people will say about me. So I wanted to see if a blog would bring me out of my shell, get me to meet new people and get more friends (obviously I love my friends but they definitely don’t share my love of reading… not many of them anyway!)

When I started blogging it was nerve-wracking. I wasn’t sure that anyone would read the blog, or like it! Then after about 5 months blogging I was invited to my first “blogger event” it was set up by a fellow blogger not a publisher and it was near my home town so I thought, why not?! I got there, really scared about it all and as soon as we all met up, there were only 5 of us so not too daunting, it was amazing, I felt so at ease and didn’t even freak out that one of the group was a published author!

I realised that I fitted in with this awesome array of people from 22 to 40, just because we all had books and blogging in common. This is something that over the past year has really helped me. I think it’s brought me out my shell and helped me make friends all over the world. I was emailing someone in California the other day, and I went to London alone for an event at the beginning of March, if you’d have told me that I’d be doing that 18 months ago I would have laughed at you!

I really enjoy blogging and I really love sharing my thoughts on books that I read but I can’t argue with the fact that the biggest thing about blogging for me is helping my confidence grow and helping me meeting new people. It’s something that I love and I wouldn’t work as hard as I do if it wasn’t for that!

After all my waffling I would like to just thank Beverley for inviting me over to chat about blogging. I don’t actively jump out and say hello to many people, I just start chatting through others usually but please feel free to follow my blog and my twitter and if you say hi I will always reply!

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Thanks to Raimy for writing such a wonderful guest post, it was really interesting to read about her experiences with blogging and I hope you enjoyed it too!  Now hop over and check out her lovely, 'rawr-some' blog, I'm sure you'll love it :)

Here are the places where you will find Raimy:  Blog | Twitter

Interview with blogger, Beth!

I feel so happy to be able to interview blogger Beth who runs Page-Turner!  Page-Turner is one of my favourite book blogs and it's really amazing with a lot of good content, so if you haven't checked it out, go and do so once you've read the interview!  Over to Beth...

Welcome to A Reading Daydreamer!  Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your blog?
Hi! My name's Beth and I started blogging in 2011. :-) On Page-turner I love to review books, post LOTS of book news and I also LOVE doing interviews with bloggers and authors! Throughout the time Page-turner has been set up, I've gotten to know some awesome authors and made some brilliant cyberspace blogger friends! :-) Who all helped me set up Page-turner :-)

Why did you start Page Turner?

I set-up Page-turner because.....I don't think my parents could physically listen to me talking about books anymore!!- Zoe Crook, the blogger at teenage book blog BOOKHI got in
contact with me via an author, after I had contacted the author. Me and her then became "e-mail pals." ;-) Soon, I discovered her book blog, BOOKHI. I absolutely LOVED the idea of blogging, and so with loads of inspiration from her, I set up Page-turner! I set up a book blog because I absolutely LOVE reading and reviewing books, I had kept a book review journal but I wanted to do more, and so book blogging was also perfect for that :-)

What is the best and worst thing about blogging?
I LOVE blogging!!! I really don't know were I'd be without Page-turner!-Its hard to choose my favourite thing because I love absolutely everything (!!) but probably its when I get a really nice comment on a post, it means so much!! I think the worst thing is probably when I didn't enjoy a book I review on Page-turner, I try not to write to negative reviews but I want to be honest, and so sometimes that's hard.

What is your favourite weekly meme?
Mmmm....there's SO many to choose from! ;-) But probably In My Mailbox :-) I don't take part in many weekly meme's, but I love IMM, I try and do it once a week but sometimes I forget and do it every other week. Its such a good idea, how did the blogger come up with it?! :-)

How long have you been blogging for?
I set up Page-turner in 2011 and my first post was on July 25th (2011) but I didn't start day-to-day blogging until September 2011 really.

What ambitions do you have for your blog in 2012?
To put loads of effort into my posts, and make them better! I am so grateful to every single one of my readers, and I hope in 2012 Page-turner will grow even more!

Who are your favourite authors and what books do your particularly like?
(*Get comfy!*)- My favourite authors are Suzanne Collins, Luisa Plaja, Ally Carter, Sophie McKenzie, Gemma Malley, Ruta Sepetys, Jacyln Moriarty and sooooo many more! The Hunger Games series were FANTASTIC, :-), I also loved Cold Hands, Warm Hearts by Jil Wolfson and The Truth about Celia Frost by Paula Rawsthorne, I JUST LOVE SO MANY!

Do you think you are like any fictional characters?
I think I am a mixture of maybe Alice from Torn, Lauren from Girl, Missing and a little bit of Ginger from Gingersnaps by Cathy Cassidy. :-)

If you ever wrote a book someday, what do you think it will be about?
I think I would write a dystopian book with romance and thriller mixed in (my 3 favourite genres!)-I also want to write a book told in switch-over narratives, I love books written like
that :-)

And finally, do you like to daydream?
YES!!! :-), Who doesn't LOVE to daydream?! ;-) I spend half the time in school getting told off for apparently "not listening"........ ;-)

Quick-fire questions

Book or e-book: Book
Computer or TV: Computer
Sophie McKenzie or Sophia Bennett: Sophie McKenzie
Early bird or night owl: Night Owl! ;-)
English or Science: ENGLISH!!
Reading or writing: Mmmm,...I absolutely LOVE them both, but it will probably have to be reading ;-)

Thank you, Beth!
Thanks so much Beverley for the interview!!!

Thanks again to Beth for letting me interview her.  Now hurry up and visit Page-Turner!

Just to let you all know, I will be quite quiet on the blogging front until the end of this month because I have my prelim exams :-(.  I will still be reading but I won't have much time to post up reviews during this time.  I will be back by the start of March with a new feature for A Reading Daydreamer so don't worry, I'm not abandoning the blog.  I'll make it up to you by posting lots in March!

Wish me luck and happy reading!