Vlog: Tips and Advice for New Bloggers!

May 6, 2014May 6, 2014Leave a comment

I’ve been blogging for What A Nerd Girl Says for nearly TWO years now, sildenafil and I absolutely love it, more about and I love how much my life has changed since starting it. I love the people that I’ve met, and the things I’ve gotten to do, and I love writing for it.

I got a ton of feedback from you guys, all the time, and I LOVE hearing from you and one thing that I get a lot is “I’m starting my own blog; do you have advice?”

And you know, I always do the best that I can to give the best advice that I can. I have been doing this for two years but I don’t know everything and I’m learning every day how to be a better blogger and to have more and more fun with it.

So I decided to reach out to my blogger friends, and get some advice from them to share with you guys! It turned into an awesome vlog, which you can check out here:

There is a TON of great advice in this vlog, if I do say so myself, but there was also a ton of advice from these bloggers that I could not fit into the vlog so I wanted to share it below.

ADVICE and TIPS!

“Don’t be afraid to be controversial. Show up. Make your site look good. Keep your brand consistent.”

–Jackie, Seeking Bazinga

“Be serious. Don’t do it for the wrong reasons (like for perks or special admittance to events) – it shows in your work. If you genuinely love it, you’ll want it to be great, and it will be better for it.”

“Seek out other bloggers who share interests and work together.”

–Amber, Grown Up Fan Girl

“Be honest about what you write/blog about. Be true to yourself and your love for it. Be yourself. Don’t be afraid about what others will say.”

“It’s not a competition! Just do what you love! Write what you love! Share what you love! Everyone else is doing it…so don’t be afraid to share as well. Blogging is supposed to be fun where people can share their thoughts and feelings about whatever they want to share!”

–Jasmine, Movies Shows and Books

“Take notes because sometimes you have the olds and forget what you wanted to write about in your review.”

–Alethea, Read Now, Sleep Later

(This is one that I’m DEFINITELY going to start doing…)

“Patience. I’m still new to the whole blogging thing and I love it. As a starter things get slow but honestly just wait you’ll get it.”

–Kristen, Recently Acquired Obsessions

“I’ve learned if you are blogging for a particular fandom, competition can fester even if you don’t mean for it to. Fight against the urge to fall into the trap of trying to beat people, as hard as that can sometimes be. There is always someone who will feel threatened when you gain followers and they don’t. Just be true to the followers you have. Don’t be afraid to share your own personality. You can be consistent, but don’t forget to be real and to be nice. The golden rule should apply.”

–Amber, The Mortal Institute

“There will always be petty drama. I don’t care what bloggers you deal with. Just ignore it, blow it off. It’s never going away. My advice; never respond to it nor let it show that it bothers you. If you do that the you’ve let them win and you’ll forever be miserable. Just do you and be you and eff everything else.

That doesn’t mean you can’t make friends. I’ve met 3 of my closest besties from this world but it’s not often that happens or that jealousy will get the best of them. Especially if you come up with a really stellar feature to do. It’ll kill them that they didn’t think of it first and some may even try to sabotage you and your blogging rep. The blogging world is very, very similar to high school drama which is crazy considering a lot of bloggers are at least in the late 20’s.

So. Have fun with it, don’t let anyone bring you down and you’re golden.”

–Amy, Lady Reader

“Seeing as I’m still new to the whole blogging thing I’d just say do it because you love it. If you love books so much and fangirl over characters then put those feelings out there, if you love a certain celebrity, then do a whole post about them. Don’t be afraid to show the real you.

Oh and the followers will come haha. Just because you only have 60 followers (me) and other people have love thousands, don’t let that put you off. Like everyone has been saying; it’s not a competition. It’ll soon lift off. Even if you don’t have a lot of followers, it doesn’t mean that you’ve failed. Be proud of it. Love it. Talk to your blog like you would talk to a friend.”

–Hayley, Geek and Book Nerd Site

“Do you. Love what you do. Do what you love because it’s what you truly enjoy and don’t do it for the recognition. There will always be people with more connections, even people who have less traffic will sometimes get better perks and it may feel sh*tty for a bit. Just…you have to have that passion for what you’re actually doing on your site. The perks are few and far between and you have to view them as a present. A thank you for all your work. The studios don’t owe you anything and as soon as you seem entitled to them, you’re done. Be kind, to a point. Be a hardass when protecting your reputation and brand – this is a must no matter how meek and kind you want to be (I feel like I am the epitome of meek and kind, this was a learning experience). If you view the perks as the be all end all you will go crazy and destroy your mental health (I’m saying this from experience).”

–Kimmy, Page to Premiere

“Do it because you love it. Don’t ever do it because you think it’ll get you perks. That’s completely the wrong reason to have a blog. Work hard, have a passion for it, love it, get involved. When you show how much you love it and how much you love the community that comes with it, the rest falls into place. The rest is just an added bonus to the fun that you have just writing your blog. I don’t get paid to run my blog, and yet I spend a TON of time, and money and effort on it. Why? Because I genuinely enjoy doing it. I enjoy the community that I’m a part of because of it, and I enjoy meeting people who are like me. I enjoy writing it, and I enjoy interacting with anyone who comes my way. The perks that came are just an added bonus and they are still so far and few between. Start a blog because you are passionate about something and you want to share that passion with others.”

–Sara, What A Nerd Girl Says

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I hope you enjoyed watching the vlog and reading all of the fantastic and amazing advice from all these wonderful bloggers. I hope you’re able to check out each and every single one of them because they are all TRULY awesome!

And if you have a site, please definitely share in the comments because I would love to check it out!

And a HUGE good luck to all of you who hope to start one. I hope that we didn’t scare you off (haha!) and that you’ll be writing alongside us VERY soon!

Happy Blogging!

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Fire and Flood Book Review

March 6, 2014March 6, 20142 Comments

Fire and Flood by Victoria Scott

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

Tella Holloway is losing it. Her brother is sick, more about and when a dozen doctors can’t determine what’s wrong, her parents decide to move to Montana for the fresh air. She’s lost her friends, her parents are driving her crazy, her brother is dying—and she’s helpless to change anything.
Until she receives mysterious instructions on how to become a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed. It’s an epic race across jungle, desert, ocean, and mountain that could win her the prize she desperately desires: the Cure for her brother’s illness. But all the Contenders are after the Cure for people they love, and there’s no guarantee that Tella (or any of them) will survive the race.

The jungle is terrifying, the clock is ticking, and Tella knows she can’t trust the allies she makes. And one big question emerges: Why have so many fallen sick in the first place?

My Review:

I am going to be completely honest here: I didn’t know who Victoria Scott was until about a week ago. Jessica Brody was having an online video chat launch party…thing for her new release, Unforgotten. She did it with Victoria Scott, who had the first of a series, Fire and Flood, release the same day as Unforgotten. It was a really fun chat, I had a great time with it, and I figured I should check Victoria Scott out. Fire and Flood sounded amazing and I won a swag pack thing for answering a “trivia” question correctly so I got a couple signed bookmarks and such. Last Thursday was my birthday so I decided to go book shopping because, well, duh, and I picked up Fire and Flood.

I didn’t get to it until Tuesday and then I stayed up all night reading it. I read it from about midnight to about 4 am. I CONSUMED this book.

When we were all chatting online, someone had compared it to The Hunger Games and there are a lot of comparisons to it on the back of the book. I can definitely see those comparisons and if you like THG, I definitely think you’ll like this book.

However, I do think Victoria Scott sort of stands on her own with this. While there’s a similarity of survival, and being part of a “game”, and a winner at the end, there’s so much about it that is unique and frankly, insanely exciting.

Tella is part of a game to the finish where you will receive a cure, a cure she desperately wants for her brother. She receives a mysterious message and she goes with it. Its sort of an underground game, not like THG where its broadcast all over the place. There’s a choice in the matter. I like that there’s stages, and with each stage, there’s a winner. It makes it even more exciting. There are stages that they have to survive in order to reach the ultimate goal. I also like that the game was hidden from Tella so when goes to it, she’s unprepared but she’s determined and she learns along the way.

Plus, no one is killing anyone. Well, they’re not required to, anyway. That’s all I’ll say about that haha!

I’m also incredibly attached to the characters. I loved Tella from page one, even as a kind of whining girl stuck in the middle of nowhere, missing the city of Boston and her friends. Because I could feel for her. And I felt her desire for her excitement and her immediate desire to go on this adventure to help her brother. I love that she is resilient and determined but she also struggles, and she has to learn. I like that she doubts herself but pushes herself onward anyway.

I also definitely love the other characters as well: Guy, Harper, Ransom, Levi, Caroline, and the rest. They all have their purpose to the story and I love all of them. I think that Guy brings some mystery to the story, especially hinting at what is to come. Harper and Ransom and Levi provide humor and provide a sense of normalcy when trying to survive in a jungle or desert. They also sort of build mystery to this game.

The fact that the game takes place in our world, kind of under the radar is something that I really enjoyed too. I’m not sure how to classify this book because of that. Its not really dystopian because its OUR world, but with this underground game going on. I love that it feels so real. Everything about it feels so authentic that its not hard to accept any of it. The transition from the normal, everyday world to the world of the games just felt so easy. I loved it. I was easily wrapped up into the world.

Lastly, I think my favorite part was the Pandoras. I can’t handle how much I love the Pandoras. Each contestant had to choose an egg, of varying sizes, that contained a Pandora, an animal that hatches during the game to provide assistance for you, to help you in any way possible. I don’t want to reveal much more than that because there’s more revealed in the story, as it goes along, and I really enjoyed that aspect and I’ve decided I most definitely want a Pandora. I think there’s going to be more to the Pandoras as the books continue too, so I’m excited for it.

Bottom line, read this book. It will grip you from page one, to the last page. I was addicted right off the bat and now, I’m not going to be patient enough to wait until the next one is released. Victoria Scott, hear my plea! I’m ready for the next book :)

Rating:

5 out of 5 Stars

Blogger Spotlight-Kayla from The Thousand Lives

October 28, 2013October 27, 2013Leave a comment

One of the best parts about running this blog is having the ability to meet some really cool people, drugs and some of the coolest people that I have met have led me to really cool blogs. I’ve said it before, no one’s blog is 100% original but everyone’s voices are different so there are blogs that I love to read because I love the writer, and I love the passion that they show for what they are writing. They are fun and interesting to read and they inspire me to get better and better in my blog.

So I decided to do a feature (inspired by Megan at the Nerdy Girlie’s Geek Girls Gab), where I profile the bloggers that I love. Not only do I get to find out more about them, but I also get to share them with you guys! Most of the bloggers that I follow are like me, nerd girls, fan girls and they enjoy the same things as me, and you! Every blogger that I profile is one that is super important to me and I urge you to check them out!

If you are interested in being featured on the Blogger Spotlight, feel free to contact me, please! I would love to hear from you, to feature you on the blog and to help spread the word about it!

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This week’s blogger is Kayla from The Thousand Lives.

You Can Find Her At:

Her Twitter

Her Good Reads

Sara: Tell me a Little Bit About Yourself:

Kayla: Kayla, 18, graduated with a Bachelor’s in English (yes, yes I know it’s a long story but the short answer is online college), currently a high school literature teacher, Algebra II teacher (both at a homeschool program), and a chiropractic assistant. Habitually introverted and hermit-like. My dog is my constant companion in my blogging and reading adventures. I’m fluent in English, Spanglish, sarcasm, and fangirl. I can also read Shakespeare quite easily and most of my friends cheated off my papers.

I’m afraid I’m quite uninteresting after that! I work a lot, and in my spare time I try to recuperate by reading books or catching up on/rewatching my favorite tv shows (Supernatural, Sherlock, Doctor Who, Avatar: The Last Airbender + Korra, Spongebob, and Criminal Minds). I love teaching, and sometimes (okay, 99% of the time) I’m far more excited for the books we read in class than my students.

Sara: Tell me about your blog:

Kayla: My blog is to mainly categorize the books that I’ve read, and the thoughts I had about them. Too often I forget everything after I put the book back on my shelf! It’s just an extra bonus that I get to meet so many people and actually talk about my interests with them :) My original feature is called Standing On My Soapbox, and it’s basically my discussion posts, every Thursday, where I talk about what’s been on my mind (bookish or not). I also take part in a few memes like Top Ten Tuesday, WWW Wednesday, and Stacking the Shelves.

Sara: What inspired you to start your blog?

Kayla: Originally I was going to have it as a platform for my writing, but then I discovered so many amazing blogs and bloggers that I switched over to book blogging. I have them to thank for my return to reading!

Sara: What is your favorite nerd memory?

Kayla: Definitely the first season finale I watched (Supernatural season 8) while I had a tumblr. Knowing that so many other people were freaking out at the same time as me was just amazing. I’ve never felt a part of something like that before!

Sara: What are you most looking forward to, as far as new books/movies/etc?

Kayla: Sherlock. Series. Three. January 19th. My body is ready. I can’t afford/travel to cons. And as far as book releases, I’m most looking forward Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo (June!). I don’t know much else, since I’m still getting into all this. I rely on my friends to get me on the ball as far as releases go! OH wait!!! And then Tuesday October 29th I get to meet Leigh Bardugo with the lovely Sara :)

(I am so excited to meet Kayla at the Fierce Reads stop on Tuesday! Its going to be awesome!)

Sara: As my blog is mostly about books and reading, what are some of your favorite books or authors to read?

Kayla: I don’t really have a favorite author, to be honest. But some of my favorite books are The Hobbit, Left Drowning by Jessica Park, Backward Glass by David Lomax, Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, Eragon, Catching Fire, The Raven Boys… and so many more it’s not even funny.

Sara: What are some of your favorite blogs to follow?

Kayla: Flip That Page, Books for Delicate Eternity, Adrift on Vulcan, Books and Beautiful World, Andi’s ABCs, Respiring Thoughts, Chrissi Reads, Always Lost in Books, In Italics, Talking (Blogging) Bookworm, Effortlessly Reading.

Sara: Who is your fictional crush (what, we’re nerd girls, we all have one!)

Kayla: Are you actually ready for this answer? Because I think we could be here all night. But I’ll keep it to five: Peeta Mellark, Eowyn (girl crush ftw), Dean Winchester, Stormhund, Finnick Odair. I lied. We’ll go for five more: Etienne St. Clair, Tobias Eaton, Raffe (from Angelfall), Fear (from Some Quiet Place), and Ryan (from the Hybrid Chronicles).

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I hope you all enjoyed this week’s Blogger Spotlight and that you are able to check out Kayla and her blog. Her blog is awesome, and way super adorable. I enjoy following.

Don’t forget that you can check out old Blogger Spotlights here.

Happy Blogging Everyone!

What A Nerd Girl Says

Nerd Life is Just So Much Better Than Regular Life

Tag: Book Blogs