Blogger Recognition Award

~ Beth (Reading Every Night)

This tag was floating around a lot a few months ago, and I know I am missing at least one person who nominated me for this award. I was in the middle of updating my blogging notebook and wasn’t on top of my list of the tags and awards still in my queue.

If you did tag me in this award then let me know and I can add a link to your original post in mine.

In the meantime I was nominated for the Blogger Recognition Award by Sammie at Bookshelves & Biros, Izzi at Ravenclaw Book Club, and Jill at Rant and Rave About Books. Thanks so much everyone for nominating me for this award. Everyone should definitely check out their original posts which I’ve linked to, and while you’re there check out their blogs as well.

blogger-recognition-award

Rules:

  • Write a post to show your award.
  • Give a brief story of how your blog started.
  • Give two pieces of advice for new bloggers.
  • Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
  • Select 15 other blogs you want to give the award to.

How my Blog Started.

I’ve already mentioned this once or twice before but I actually had three other blogs before I started Reading Every Night. All three fizzled out for a variety of reasons; there was no clear direction behind what I was posting, I had difficulty managing my everyday life with posting reviews, and I am a terrible procrastinator—which probably played the biggest role in why none of my other blogs lasted more than a few months.

But even after I stopped posting on my third attempt at a blog I knew I wanted to start again. This time however I came up with a set plan as to what I wanted to blog about and how I wanted to format my reviews and posts. Basically I had a plan this time around. Then all I needed to do was come up with a name—there’s no real story or deeper meaning behind why I picked Reading Every Night, I just played around with different phases that contained the words ‘books’ or ‘reading’ until I found one that fit.

Now the reason I started this blog when I did was because I wanted people to talk to about my favourite books. If you’ve been following me for a while now the you will know that I can read books quite quickly, my friends on the other hand either aren’t interested in the same books I am or they aren’t as quick to read them. Around November two things happened; the first was that I started a new series which quickly became a favourite of mine – The Bone Season – and the second was that the last book in The Lunar Chronicles series was due to be released very soon. I was so excited about both series that I needed someone to talk to about them, my friends had read either series and weren’t really planning to anytime soon so I knew I had to start a blog just to talk to someone about why I was so excited for both books.

The Bone Season

The Lunar Chronicles

My Advice for New Bloggers.

  • First is that blogging is not a job.

Yes blogging is time consuming and it takes a fair bit of effort as well, but you shouldn’t treat it like a job because, in my opinion, that’s the quickest way to become disillusioned with it. The main reason I can think of as to why Reading Every Night hasn’t fizzled out the way my other blogs did is because I love it so much and it does feel like a chore the way my actual job can at times.

  • Second, and this is one I’m not too good at myself, is not to be afraid to take a break every so often.

If you don’t feel like posting anything one night, or if your everyday life has gotten in the way and you don’t have time to reply to comments or finish reading that book then don’t feel pressured to. I think everyone worries about being forgotten, or worries about their stats going down, but everyone on WordPress knows that it takes a lot of time each day to write, post and comment and if you don’t have the time the world won’t end.

Like I said though this is something I’m bad at. I worry all the time about my stats, about people hating me if I don’t reply to their comments the same day. I feel guilty when I don’t post something but I just don’t have the time or the energy to post every single day. Everyone is the same, everyone needs to take breaks now and again.

My Nominations:

  1. Alex at Young at Heart
  2. Cat at The Book Finch
  3. Chrissie at Bloggin’ & Writing
  4. Donna at ChocolatenWaffles’ Blog
  5. Emma at After Butterfly Rain
  6. Gina at Rattle the Stars
  7. Hilary at Songs Wrote My Story
  8. Jacquie at Rattle the Stars
  9. Lauren at Lauren’s Page Turners
  10. Louise at Genie Reads
  11. Melissa at BookNerdMoMo
  12. Sam at Sam’s Life in Books
  13. Stephanie at Teacher of YA Book Blog
  14. The Jouska Blog
  15. Yasaman at Following Muses

66 thoughts on “Blogger Recognition Award”

  1. Pingback: Blogger Recognition Award – Lauren's Page Turners
  3. Pingback: Blogger Recognition Award – afterbutterflyrain

  5. Love this! Thank you for the lovely shout out, Beth. Your advice is absolutely spot on – I think you’re totally right when you say that treating your blog like a job is a sure fire way to become really bored and frustrated with it. It should always be fun and fulfilling above all else! If it feels like a chore, it ain’t working for ya. I’m so glad you decided to start your fourth blog and stick with it, I love reading your posts. ❤

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    1. That’s all right 🙂 thank you for nominating me for this award!
      Exactly, there are times when I become bored, and tired and just disillusioned with my job and if I ever even begin to feel that way about blogging I’ll know it’s time to take a step back and take a break.
      I’m glad I decided to start my fourth blog because without it I would have met all the wonderful people I have, this one has lasted longer than all my others so hopefully fourth time will be the charm! 😀

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      1. My pleasure! ❤ Exactly – it’s easily done but very hard to get out of once it happens. Like reading slumps haha! Fourth time is most definitely the charm – you’re never allowed to leave the book blogging community anyway haha! Once you’re in that’s it! 😂

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      2. Well yeah, I always find it difficult to get out of reading slumps so I doubt a blogging slump would be any different. I feel like one day it will happen but whatever I can do to avoid it I will! 😀
        Nah I’d never want to leave the book blogging community either, I’m staying in this time! ❤

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  8. Great answers, I loved reading your advice, Beth! I agree, well I take blogging as a job and freak out over taking a long time to answer to comments or when I’m a bit late on my schedule -as..right now. ugh. I am freaking out. But we need to remind ourselves of why we do this, and why we love it 🙂

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    1. Thanks so much Marie! I’m glad you liked my advice so much. I treat blogging as a little bit of a job at times but I don’t ever want to get to the stage where I get tired of or don’t enjoy blogging like I do with my job at times.
      Yeah it’s important overall that we really enjoy blogging, if not well what’s the point of doing something you don’t enjoy right?

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    1. That’s all right! I can’t wait to see your post for this one! 😀
      The Lunar Chronicles is just amazing isn’t it?! And the same Heartless is one of my most-anticipated releases at the moment. The Bone Season is really good so I hope you enjoy it when you get around to it! 😀

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  11. I had several blogs when I was a teenager but I could never really stick to it. I only recently discovered that without a clear purpose, a blog is bound to fizzle out!
    You gave the best advice. I need to remember this is not a job, but a hobby. Sometimes I put too much pressure on myself to visit, comment, answer to comment and post. And I always want my reviews to be perfect. I need to remember that as long as they’re good to me and I managed to convey my feelings, I don’t need to write in perfect English.
    Thank you for the nomination 😘

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    1. Yeah in hindsight that’s definitely why my previous blogs fizzled out. It’s hard to manage something like this with no direction.
      Thanks, I’m glad you liked my advice. Yeah I sometimes have problems with not treating this like a job; in one way I suppose it is but I sometimes don’t enjoy my job (and doesn’t everyone feel that way) and I never want to feel like this about my blog. Yep, I think as long as you’re happy with your content that’s the most important thing isn’t it.
      That’s all right! ❤

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  12. Hey Beth, thanks for tagging me 😊

    I should mention due to a mistake on my part I lost most of the content of the Throne of Glass post so I had to delete it. Sorry, please still consider yourself tagged if you’d like to do it (the questions should be available somewhere on wordpress if you search #throneofglasstag.
    All the best ☺

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. That’s all right! I can’t wait to see your answers for this one!
      Oh that’s a shame about your content, I know a lot of work goes into tags so it can’t be great having all that deleted, but thank, I’ll have to get around to it soon and I’ll be sure to check out the tag for the questions! 😀

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  14. I loved reading this, Beth! I’m so glad you decided to start blogging again! I couldn’t imagine not having you around ♥ The advice you gave is excellent too. I’ve taken lots of breaks lately and have felt rather guilty about it, but I’m trying to be easier on myself haha. I totally get that fear of being forgotten too.

    I’ve had The Bone Season on my shelf for SO LONG. I really need to get to it!! And finish the rest of The Lunar Chronicles.

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    1. Thanks so much Lauren! Yeah I’m really glad I started blogging to, I certainly can’t imagine my life without it and my life without talk to all you guys on WordPress ❤
      I'm glad you liked my advice as well, I feel I should try and take the advice about taking breaks a little more but one day I'll get the perfect blogging/real life mix down. I don't think any of us have to worry about being forgotten but we still do worry about it don't we.
      I hope you enjoy The Bone Season then, and yes definitely finish The Lunar Chronicles. The series gets better and better in my opinion so you really do still have the best to come! 😀

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  15. Thank you for the tag!! I definitely get what you mean about friends that don’t read the same books as you or they don’t read at all!! None of mine read sooooo…. Also sometimes it can feel like a job and I sit there and I’m like, why aren’t I getting paid for this???

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    1. That’s all right, I can’t wait to see your answers for this one!
      It’s pretty much the primary reason I started this blog so I guess I should thank my friends for not picking up the same books I do 🙂
      Oh my god imagine getting paid for blogging! That would be just so amazing! 😀

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  16. Thank you so much for the tag, Beth 😊♥! I did this one a while back but I loved reading your advice! I can relate heavily to that second piece about taking breaks. I force myself to take breaks sometimes but always feel guilty when I don’t get on and read posts or reply to comments asap. I try to remind myself that everyone gets busy, especially with school and work so we all understand. But it can be hard sometimes.

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    1. That’s all right, and sorry about that. I knew a lot of people would have already been tagged in this one I just had no clue who they were! 🙂
      Yeah I think everyone gets that feeling, we’re all in the same boat but it is good to take breaks every now and again, if not I think we’d just all burn out and that would definitely not be good for our blogs.
      There are some days when I’m busier than others and then it’s impossible to keep on top of blogging it seems.

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      1. It’s okay! It’s hard to know who has done what tag now a days. Either way I enjoy reading others posts even if I’ve already done the tag previously. 😊

        Exactly! That’s a reason why I think my very first blog didn’t last. Along with your first piece of advice – it started feeling like a job to me. This time around though I’m enjoying it and keeping the pressure to a minimum. My first blog only lasted around two months but I’m going on six with this so 😃.

        Same! Life can busy like that sometimes.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Yep, especially the really popular ones like this where it seems like everyone was tagged by one person or another.
        It’s important to take breaks, I do if I ever feel like blogging now is becoming a job. If I don’t want to write a post I won’t because I know it won’t end up being any good.
        I’m approaching a year on this blog and that’s way more than any of my previous ones lasted! 😀

        Liked by 1 person

  18. Great post, Beth, and thanks for sharing! 💕 I agree with your advice – the main thing about blogging is that I blog for fun, so when it becomes a chore, I stop forcing myself to do it and do something else instead. And the being forgotten fear is SO real, haha. But we’ve seen people who take long hiatuses and come back strong to the community, so I like to think that if/when (likely when) I take a hiatus, it won’t be as bad/hard too to come back.

    Also RE: The Bone Season – I saw a hardback for $10 recently at a bookstore and I was like “GOD SO PRETTY” but then I looked up reviews on Goodreads and they’re not very… good. But now after hearing that it’s one of your favourite series, I’m thinking of getting it!

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    1. Thanks so much Reg! I’m glad you enjoyed reading this. 😀
      Yeah that’s the main advice I try to follow myself as well. I think the quickest way to have a bog burn out is to treat it like a job. I always try now to have at least one day off a week, where all I do is comment and reply to comments rather than write my own posts. Kind of helps to step back every now and again. People do take long hiatuses but I always feel it would be different if I did it myself, you know, you always feel like it works different for other people than it does you (that could just be my anxiety talking though). I think the same for if/when I ever take a hiatus myself as well.
      The covers are gorgeous, and personally I think the books are amazing so I really hope you do as well. I haven’t actually seen many negative reviews for this series but I guess I haven’t been looking for them you know?

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      1. Having a day off is definitely a good idea! I mean, it’s not a job but it can easily take the hours of a job, so you know… lunch breaks and weekends are just as important to have, haha. Do you aim to post every day?

        Yeah, fair enough! I think it was just that many of the first few reviews I saw on Goodreads seemed a bit more negative than positive… but I’m definitely keen to give it a try. 😊

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      2. God I can’t imagine working my job every day without a break, that would really burn me out. I guess I need to start thinking of my blog the same way, I need to take breaks if not I’ll burn myself out.
        I do tend to aim to post every day but I know I’ll never succeed with that so I guess I just have breaks whenever I need one.
        There are bound to be a few positive reviews out there, mine aren’t on Goodreads but they’re positive! 🙂

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      4. If only we got paid for blogging right! I feel the amount of work we put in we’d get a fair bit of money for our work!
        Breaks are definitely important. I’ll be taking on in October when I go on holiday but I’ll still have posts scheduled! I’m not capable of letting go completely even while on holiday! 😀

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      7. Algarve looks really wonderful from pictures (I just Googled) so I hope you’d have lots and lots of fun!

        Hmm, no holidays yet, unfortunately. Life’s been super, super busy somehow that I’m really feeling like a week where I can just lie in bed and read and chill instead of travel. 😂

        Liked by 1 person

      8. Yeah my friend is googling pictures every day trying to get through work at the moment. I think it’ll be even more beautiful in person, I can’t wait.
        Oh that’s a shame, but maybe when life quietens down a little. If not a relaxing week in bed reading could be really nice as well! 🙂

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  19. Great advice, Beth! Sometimes I do feel like it’s a job. I’ll convince myself I need to post a meme or review on a certain day and then feel obligated to blog hop and answer comments on top of that. I’ve been getting really burned out lately because of it. Now I take the weekends off. I’m going to attempt to write my posts for the week during the weekends so I don’t have to kill myself during the week while I’m working. It really is a major time commitment. I honestly think commenting is the most time consuming part about blogging. As always, nice post! 🙂

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    1. Thanks Jill! I’m glad you liked my advice.
      Yeah a lot of work has to go into blogging and I guess thinking of it as a job more than something you do because you love it so much is probably the quickest way, in my opinion, to burn out. I make sure I have at least one day off a week, where I only reply to and comment on other people’s post rather than write my own post. It helps to take a break every now and again.
      Oh commenting takes a lot more time than I assumed it would when I started my blog, but I love talking to everyone on here so it’s a plus in my mind.
      Thanks again Jill! 😀

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  20. Pingback: Blogger Recognition Award |

  21. Thanks for the nomination! 🙂 I have The Bone Season on my TBR. Also, I love your advice. The blog won’t die or have something terrible happen to it if you can’t post everyday or as often as you’d like. I felt that way when I started and I was so overwhelmed. Great advice.

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    1. That’s all right. Oh you should definitely get around to The Bone Season soon, it’s an amazing series.
      And thanks so much, I’m glad you liked my advice. Yeah it can be hard to follow, especially when you’re first starting out but the more you blog the more you kind of realise you can leave it a day or two without posting and nothing bad will happen! 🙂

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