Random Ramble: Blogging & Things (Rachel)

So Megan and I have kind of been slacking off lately when it comes to this blog. We are well aware of it. In the beginning of summer, we were all "YAY NO SCHOOL! NOW WE WILL HAVE SO MUCH TIME TO BLOG!" But I'm pretty sure we're actually putting LESS time into our blog than we were during school. Whoops.

You see, it's summer. And we're teenagers. So we kind of don't want to do anything productive...at all. And that includes the blog. We love blogging and rambling and everything, but why would we try to form sentences and be intelligent when we could just sleep or swim or eat? (I'm not even going to say "have a social life" because hahahahaha no.)

Megan has been going on ALL THE VACATIONS, and I have been...really lazy. Also my internet has been really weird lately, just randomly not working for me, which causes me to FREAK OUT because my entire life revolves around the internet, basically.

But anyway. The point is, we totally and completely fail at being good bloggers. But that's okay. I mean, it's not like we have thousands of people checking our blog everyday because they think we are so wonderful and perfect. We really don't have a lot of people following us or checking our blog or whatever. I think. We don't really look at our blog stats, because we kind of don't care.

But, Rachel! You are probably saying, Why even bother writing posts and things if nobody is going to read them? That is a good question! And the answer is that it's fun. I don't know about Megan, but I enjoy letting out all my feelings and posting them on the internet. I like the book blogging community. I like that if I have something book-related to say, I have a place to say it. So blogging is wonderful. But that's the thing; it's supposed to be fun for me. So when I'm having trouble putting my feelings about a certain book into words, and I just can't find a way to say what I want to say, I don't stress over it. I just delete the draft and move on. I don't write about every single book I read. Only the ones that make me freak out and scream that I NEED TO TELL SOMEONE ABOUT THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW BECAUSE IT IS WEIRD AND TOTALLY AWESOME AT THE SAME TIME. Blogging is really just saving me from talking to myself about it.

The same thing goes for when I just don't feel like working on blog posts because it's summer and I want to go to the pool and read and listen to my ipod and be happy because I don't have to worry about school for another month. Reading and having fun is a priority for me, because if I force myself to work on the blog when I don't want to, suddenly it becomes more like homework than something I do for fun.

And it's okay for me to slack off, because this is not a professional blog. I know that a lot of book bloggers treat their blog like a job, and they put a lot of time and effort into it. They work with publishers and authors and Important People, or at least they're trying to get to the point where they can work with publishers and authors and Important People. I love these kind of bloggers. I visit their blogs almost daily and I think they're all amazing.

But Megan and I are fifteen. We have other things to do, and we can't stress ourselves out and spend our time worrying about this blog. So we keep things very unprofessional-like. We don't request ARCs from publishers. We're not even interested in requesting ARCs from publishers. As cool as it would be to read some awesome books before everyone else, we just can't. We have enough books that we own or can borrow from a friend or the library that we'll never run out of reading material. I don't want to feel like I have to read a book just because I'm supposed to review it by a certain time, because life just gets in the way and I might not have time. I'd rather just read what I want to read, and buy or borrow new releases when they come out. I mean, I still enter giveaways for certain ARCs that I want, but if I don't win, whatever. I'll just wait till the book is released. 

This is not to say that I don't take this blog seriously. Because I do. It's a high priority for me, just not the highest. Right now, at least. During the school year, this blog is more important to me than homework or school assignments or whatever. (Because I am the master of procrastination and homework sucks.) But during summer, reading a crapload of books is more important to me than reviewing or rambling about them. 

I don't really know what the future of this blog will be. Megan and I are going to be high school sophomores this fall, and I have no idea what to expect from my next three years of Hell high school. I hope that this blog can be a thing that we'll work on over the years. I hope it will grow and improve and become really awesome. Who knows, maybe we'll get somewhat professional and start accepting ARCs and have a beautiful design and a lot of followers and stuff. Or maybe Honors Chemistry and Honors Algebra 2 (Why did I even sign up for these classes?! Ugh.) will take up all our time and we'll have to stop blogging. I have no idea what's going to happen. 

I'll always be a reader. I'll always read and obsess over books, regardless of whether or not I'm a blogger. Blogging is fun, but it is also really hard at times. To all the bloggers out there putting a zillion times more effort into your blog than I put into mine, YOU ARE AMAZING. Awkward Voldemort hugs for you all! Really. You guys spend so much time and energy on a blog that you don't even get paid for, and I am in awe of your awesomeness. 

I do love this blog. I'm glad Megan and I started it because it's usually a lot of fun and I've made a bunch of internet friends who are full of awesome. But when it comes down to it, I am a lazy teenager who is moody and hates doing anything that is not laying in bed all day reading and/or watching Youtube videos. I'm not going to pretend to be an amazing blogger, because I'm so obviously not.

This post has gone in about a thousand different directions. I hope you were able to keep up with all that. If not, well, I will leave you with some book recommendations:

Hold Still by Nina LaCour

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

The Summer I Learned to Fly by Dana Reinhardt

Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

These books are all amazing contemporaries that I've read within the past week or so, and I think you should read them. Yes, you! With the face! Read them.

-Rachel