I’ve been thinking a lot about being a blogger later. I’ve been doing it for over two years now, viagra buy which is kind of baffling to me. I know people who’ve been doing it for so much longer than me but two years is nothing to sneeze at. I’m quite proud of myself too. Its been a lot of hard work but I love it.

But I truly have been thinking about it quite a lot lately. Reaching my two year anniversary was huge, shop and I had a mondo giveaway for it. Yes, I realize mondo is not a word, but for the sake of this post, let’s just pretend that it is. I’ve also gotten recognized a bit in public, and by public, I mean, when I’m at bookish or nerdish events. That’s been kind of fun. I’ve had people talking about my blog to others, which, again, kind of fun and kind of crazy.

I’ve also really started to spread myself out. I have friends everywhere I go. Its kind of insane but I am loving it so much. I’m meeting people at book signings and festivals and premieres and concerts, and I’m meeting people online and I’m meeting booksellers and authors and other bloggers and its just been intense and awesome. Last night, I was at Leigh Bardugo’s release party for Ruin and Rising (more on that at a later post, of course), and I had several people coming up to talk to me. Bloggers. Readers. Librarians. Authors. It was an incredible feeling and it reminded me how much I love doing this and how much I love being in this world.

So this week’s top ten is talking about WHY I love being a blogger. Enjoy :)

Technically there aren’t ten reasons. I know what you’re thinking. If you love blogging so much, aren’t there a million reasons. Well, yes and no. The fact is, there are a million reasons why I love being a blogger and why I love my blog but it all kind of boils down to these reasons.

9. Promoting my Novel 

I mean, come on, this is something that I honestly didn’t think about it until fairly recently BUT its something that I think is going to work out for me in the long run. I’ve spent and continue to spend a lot of time on this blog. I don’t have a massive following but there’s a good amount of you out there, and I think that’s awesome. And the few of you that are there, are REALLY great fans. You guys rock, and I love talking to you. I honestly think that a good amount of you will follow me into my writing career and that’s awesome. There are a lot of you that have expressed a ton of interest in reading The Awakened so that makes me incredibly happy. I think my blog has gotten me on a great start to hopefully making my novel be successful in the future.

8.  Discovering New Fandoms 

When I first started blogging, I had a small group of fandoms, but I was very passionate about them. In the past two years of blogging, my fandoms have exploded. I was a TMI fan, and a Star Wars and Harry Potter and Doctor Who and many many others but I’ve discovered Legend and Jessica Brody’s books and Leigh Bardugo and Andrew Smith, and just the whole wide world of YA that I hadn’t even begun to discover yet. Every day, I’m discovering new authors, new books, new shows, new movies and that is awesome. I review a book, and it leads me to another book, which leads to me to another book. My life is a never-ending life of discovery.

7. Building up My Reputation and Earning Recognition

This is kind of the lowest one because…well its sort of unintended thing that happened. I had very different reasons for my blog when I first started it, so what happened with it actually worked out even better for me. But I love being a blogger because I love what it creates for me. It establishes me as a book lover and it establishes me as a person that works hard, and cares about the world of books and reading and writing and I love that. I love that, not only do I have the fans of readers, but I have teachers and librarians and authors and other bloggers that know me and respect me, and seek me out for things and that really means a lot to me. I may not get paid for being a blogger, but this…this is a huge reason and a huge paycheck for me. I love the way I feel when people recognize the hard work I put in and they respect me for that, and they support me.

6. The Perks!

Okay, I’d be lying if I said the perks weren’t a reason I love being a blogger. When I get a book in the mail, or get approved for an e-galley online, or when I’m granted press access, or that sort of thing…it feels good. Because those sorts of things, they don’t come easy. I didn’t start my blog to get free books, honestly. And those who do start blogs to get free stuff, and press access, etc,…you can tell and they end up not achieving those goals because they seem very lacking. So working my butt off for two years, and being able to earn these sorts of things is pretty awesome. I do enjoy that.

5. Writing About My Passions 

This is literally the REASON I started What a Nerd Girl Says. I was tired of talking everyone’s ears off about books that I love to read and that sort of thing and them being bored of their mind. I wanted a place that I could come to and talk about all these things that are so awesome to me. I was also taking children’s literature at the time and we did a small unit on YA, which made me feel…a lot of things actually. I had the desire to talk about it all the time and I also felt some validity in reading it, as an adult at 24 years old. So I started the blog. And I love that I can log onto this site and literally write about whatever I want, whenever I want. I love that. I can talk books every single day, I can write about movies and TV shows, and I can write my reactions and I can fangirl like crazy and I can share my opinions. I honestly think that’s just the best reason to start my blog and its a huge reason why I continue to do so.

4. The Events 

I love all the amazing things that I get to do. Honestly, its not like I have to do them or I’m invited to do them. I just do them. I did some book events before I had a blog but I really didn’t get involved until I had a blog. I didn’t realize how much was possible. I didn’t realize all the books that were out there, or the authors. I didn’t realize you could go to launch events for books, or go to movie premieres and meet and greets. I’ve gotten so hugely involved with all that, because of my blog. I’ve met SO many authors, and I’ve been to movie premieres and meet and greets and I’ve been to epic concerts and I’m attending my first ALA conference, and I’ve been to book festivals and its awesome. People are constantly, like, “Sara, you’re ALWAYS there” when it comes to events and they’re right. Usually. I got involved and I love it, I love every moment that I get to meet an author, or attend a premiere or something like that. I absolutely love it.

3. Becoming Friends with Authors 

This is something, again, that’s sort of randomly, magically happened and I absolutely love it. I want to be an author. Its like…when you’re a little kid and you want to be a firefighter when you grow up and you get to see one, and they talk to you, and its like…its like talking to Superman. Its like, they’re the biggest person you’ve ever seen. That’s the way I feel with authors. I want to be one, and I’m coming closer and closer to becoming one. So the fact that authors know me, and are becoming my…friends, for lack of a better word…it makes me incredibly happy. I love saying hi to them at events. Ava Dellaira, Jennifer Bosworth, Gretchen McNeil…they all said hi to me last night, gave me hugs and it makes me feel awesome. It’s total hero worship! I love that my blog constantly brings me in contact with the people that I am inspired by.

2. The Community 

The people that are involved in this community that I’ve immersed myself in. Disregarding a few rare cases, I’ve found that this community is incredible. Everyone is so supportive of each other. Librarians and authors and booksellers and bloggers and fans, they all work together, and (for the most part), there is no competition and I love that! There’s always this moment, where you think, I need to know something or I have a question, or something of that nature and I can immediately think of someone in my community, whether in real life or online, that can assist me. I think its great that I can meet other bloggers in real life and we automatically are fast friends, and we’re exchanging ideas. I love that there’s this whole little inside world of people that all love the same sorts of things as me.

1. Meeting New Friends 

Which brings me to my very last and very important reason that I love being a blogger and running this blog. I go to these events and make friends online and I have this incredible community and all of this, and it brings me to some of the best people ever. I have met some of the COOLEST people, that I can’t imagine being without…and in only the last two years. I’ve met amazing friends, people that I literally talk to every single day. These are the first people I want to text when reading a new book, or when I find out about a cool event. We laugh together and wait in lines for hours together, and its been amazing to find these friends. Without my blog, I wouldn’t have these people in my life and that would be a very sad thing to me, and I’m grateful for my blog, because it brought me to every single one of them.

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Are you a blogger? What are some of the reasons you love doing it? Share in the comments!