Book Blogger Appreciation Week – Day 2 interview

The task today for #BBAW was to conduct an interview with a fellow book blogger. This activity for me was more difficult than I would have liked, I haven’t interviewed anyone since I was in high school! I kept thinking over and changing my questions and it didn’t help that the person who I was interviewing is one of the bloggers who I have not so subtly stalked in the past. Andi at Estella’s Revenge is so gracious and I really enjoyed interviewing her. I loved being able to ask questions of a blogger way more experienced than I am, and she was very enlightening. Onto the interview…

1)      Could you share some blogs that inspire you? Who do you turn to in the blogging world when you need to bounce ideas? Any favourites that you keep coming back for?

Heather from Capricious Reader is my bestest bud and one of the most creative bloggers I know. I envy her writing “voice”. She’s such a beautiful blend of quirky, funny, and observant, and we do a LOT of bouncing ideas around. I also find myself going to Outlandish Lit, Shaina Reads, River City Reading, and so many others for inspiration because of their fabulous content and great wellspring of creativity.

2)      Being mother to Greyson, running a literary blog and working in higher education, I assume your life is filled with many excellent books, but as bloggers we don’t talk children’s books very often- could you recommend some children’s books?  (Also, how do you get time for all your commitments and all that reading?!)

Oooh, I do love a good children’s book. Some of my (and Greyson’s) favorites are: anything by Matt McElligott who wrote Even Monsters Need Haircuts and Even Aliens Need Snacks. Since Greyson has just really hit the ground running with reading this year, and he loves animals, we’re mutually addicted to the Biggety Bat books by Ann Ingalls. And finally, my child loves Halloween and monsters all year, so we recently grabbed The Hallo-Wiener by Dav Pilkey from the library about a weenie dog whose mother dresses him up as a hot dog for Halloween. We have two weenie dogs, so this one hit close to home and was really fun.

As for commitments and reading….I used to be REALLY good at burning my candle at both ends, but these days I find myself clearing out responsibilities in order to blog at Estella’s Revenge, Book Riot, Panels, AND work in PR AND teach online. Something has to give, but I’m still figuring out just what!

3)      You have been blogging at Estella’s Revenge for a long time, and reading through your blog I can see that you still come up with new and creative content. How do you manage to keep things fresh? Any advice to newer bloggers such as myself for maintaining a quality blog? I have a 30-minute commute each way to work. I tend to come up with my best ideas either on that commute or in the shower. In the case of the commute, I depend heavily on voice text to record notes about new ideas on my phone, and I keep a running list of potential post ideas. And with 11 years of blogging under my belt, I’m not opposed to bringing back an old topic to give it a new spin.

4)      Do you have a favourite genre of book? Do you have a favourite book from that genre? Hmmmm, I read across most genres, but I tend toward literary fiction…especially books with a sf/fantasy or magical realism twist.  I can’t really think of any genres that are totally out for me. Westerns are probably my least-read genre, though I still have a favorite from it! I loved The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt a few years ago.

5)      If you could change one thing in the publishing and/or blogging world, what would you change? This might be a cop out, and it’s totally personal rather than industry-related, but I would get to meet more bloggers in person. I’ve had the pleasure to meet quite a few over the years, but I’m a glutton for book talk and for knowing the people behind the blogs I love. Luckily, I will get to attend BEA for the first time this year, so there will be much meeting and hugging and wine drinking.

Thank you so much, Andi. I’ve been interviewed on Estella’s Revenge,  where I talk way too much about books set in Vietnam. If you don’t already, check out Andi’s twitter, @estellasrevenge I have been stalkfollowing it for awhile now and she tweets some very interesting things!