Today please welcome Rachel,
who blogs at Bookishly Witty.
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Like many book bloggers, I've been reading since before I
can remember. But when I was 12 or 13, I suddenly decided that it was time to
Read the Great Works of Literature. And embark on that quest I did. Jane
Austen's Pride and Prejudice was my first classic, and it opened up a
beautiful, wonderful world.
Fast forward to college, where I believed that the
straightest path to becoming a professional reader and writer was to become an
English professor (cue grad school, cue Ph.D, cue disillusionment). But I
realized quickly enough that the world of acadmic writing wasn't what I was
looking for. But what to do with all my bookish thoughts?
And then my husband and I had twins and I basically kissed
reading goodbye for a year (reading, which was like oxygen to me). There was no
time to do anything but take care of the babies and try to get some sleep.
Just as things started settling into a manageable routine, I
heard about Book Riot through a friend and started reading their posts. It was
a revelation to me, because here were people talking about books in a humorous,
casual way, and having lots of fun doing it. I figured, why not pitch an idea
I'd had about some humorous "lessons" we could glean from great works
of literature. Soon I became a regular contributor (and it's been more fun than
I can explain), and that made me kick my reading back up into high gear.
I started "Bookishly Witty," my book blog devoted
to reviews, recommendations, and literary humor, soon after and set a schedule
for myself. I would post something every Monday and Wednesday (at least), plus
maintain a Facebook page connected to the blog. The many fantastic bookish
people whom I met through Book Riot, Twitter, and book-related FB pages have
kept me going in my quest to carve out my own little bookish niche in the
blogosphere.
Each week, I offer a "Random Recommendation" and
three "Books to Look For," both of which allow me to talk about my
favorite books and writers and keep up with the latest releases and news. I
also write about books "From My TBR Shelf" and reviews of newer
works. I had my head stuck in the 19th century for so long, but now I'm wading
into the sea of contemporary literture and loving it. Sharing my love of
reading with other book-lovers and being hilariously irreverent along the way has
been so rewarding. My hope is that my blog will give readers useful
recommendations for their own reading and inspire them to go write about the
books they love. The bookternet, my friends, is a wonderful thing.
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Thank you for joining us today, Rachel!
Remember to check out Rachel's blog, Bookishly Witty,
and leave a comment or question.
Wonderful post, Rachel! It's funny because I wanted to go to school to major in English or Creative Writing and my dad said, no you need something to fall back on. So I became a teacher. Ironically, I have had to stop teaching because of chronic pain issues and have had to fall back on my writing! You never know where life will take you!
ReplyDeleteSo true! And thanks for your comment :-)
DeleteThe bookternet ... LOVE this!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for stopping by and introducing yourself. I am a big fan of Book Riot, but I have not previously read your blog. I need to fix that!