Top Ten Tuesday: Reasons Why I Love Being a Blogger

Hosted by Top Ten Tuesday

There are blogging-burnouts, occasional drama-fests, and crazy schedules that come with being a blogger. But there are also many reasons why it's great to be a blogger. Of course, it's great to just be a reader too! Amazingly, I was able to limit myself to 10 this week and be a rule follower.

1. Blogger friends. Before I started blogging, I heard my sister talking about the people she was talking to in the blogosphere and I actually thought it was weird. You're talking to strangers? Really? But I quickly realized how great bloggy friends are. They bookishly connect with you in a way that most "in real life" people can't comprehend.

2. Interaction with authors. One of the greatest things about blogging is that you have more interactions with authors. A reader may be able to as well, but I know I interacted, connected, and talked more with authors once I started blogging. They went from being untouchable celebrities in my mind to a friendly pals.

3. Meeting new people. This relates back to the previous two points in a way because usually those new people are bloggers and authors. I love discovering new people—from bloggers to authors to only readers to publicists—and connecting with them in some way.

4. Community. The blogosphere hosts a wide variety of perks within. There's the connection with other people I've been harping on, but I also love participating in events, such as RBWL, and blog hops and Twitter-y things. I don't always have as much time for Twitter as I wish, but there are fun happenings over there a lot. Fun that I would never know about if I wasn't a blogger.

5. Tastes have expanded. I'll be writing a post about this soon, but one of the things that amazed me when I became a blogger is how much my tastes have expanded. I love that, because I joined in the blogosphere, I was introduced to new genres and authors and loves.

6. ARCs. They can be a headache for many bloggers, but I think every one of them appreciates and loves ARCs. ARCs are definitely perks and I'm grateful to receive them. Which leads to...

7. Publicizing. When talking about books, you're publicizing them. A rant, a fangirling post, a mini-review, a intellectual review, a Top Ten Tuesday, a Waiting on Wednesday, a month in review post...all of these posts publicize at least one book, negatively or positively. I love that. I love seeing commenters say that they never heard of it before or that I influenced them in some way. I love knowing that in a very small way, I can publicize a book and an author.

8. Judgement-free outlet. We all have differing opinions, and while I have seen horror stories (in which shaming, bullying, and drama occurs), I have only had positive experiences in the feedback of my input. Basically, I use my blog as an outlet for my thoughts (of course) and there's no judgement. I know that I have to be careful to respect others and in return, someone can have an opposite opinion, but then that can lead to a great discussion. I love discussions.

9. For all readers: the perfect transport. Some of the points above may apply to non-blogging readers as well, but I know that this point definitely does. Reading is the perfect transport, which I talked about in my first ever post (which is so embarrassing). From aristocratic Europe in the 1800s to a small, contemporary beach town to a whole different universe in the distant future; you can experience all of these situations. What's better than that for a girl who dreams of traveling?

10. For my selfish moment of the day: future/college. I'll be honest, as I always like to be, and say that one of the reasons I love being a blogger is that it helps with my future. College applications, resumes, college essays. My blog impressed the Scholar program, the senior publicist I talked to wanted to see it, and I wrote about it for my college application essay. Something I love doing helps me with my future and that makes me love it even more.

Why do you love blogging or reading?