The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Crazy-For-Books and is currently being hosted by Coffee Addicted Writer. Every Friday, a new question is posted for book bloggers to answer in the coming week. The purpose of the hop is connection and community. You can discover new blogs to follow, new books to read, and you may end up with some new followers, as well!

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This Week’s Question

What inspired you to start book blogging?

Submitted by Julie @ Stepping Stone Book Reviews.

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Ahh, I do love this question. I like to look back on beginnings of my little blog!

So, I’ve always been a pretty avid reader but, as happens sometimes, I found myself in a reading slump for a number of years. There were many reasons why I didn’t have the urge to read (life changes, new motherhood, etc) but I think one of the bigger reasons is that I had no one to talk to about my favorite hobby. Sure, I had friends, but none of them were huge readers and, though they would have let me ramble on for hours about a book I loved, I don’t think they would have appreciated it 😅 I still read occasionally, but it wasn’t nearly as much as I used to.

Then, as social media became more of a thing, I found myself exploring the bookish community. It started with my watching Booktube, which I still love to do to this day. I started getting more in the know of new releases and I could feel that old excitement for books and reading coming back to life. As I watched more and more videos, I explored other parts of the bookish community, as well. And I started to realize that I wanted to be a part of it! There was no way I was doing Booktube, though. I am not good at explaining my thoughts verbally in a concise manner because my brain likes to jump all over the place when I try to explain anything. I also knew bookstagram wouldn’t be my main place to be because I don’t have a very good eye when it comes to photographs.

But then… then I found the book blogging community and I knew I was home. When it comes to communicating and language, writing has always been where I shine. I’m much better with the written word than talking, thank the gods 😂 A book blog seemed like the perfect fit for me! A place where I could write about my love of books and share it with like-minded people. It still took me a minute to work up the courage to make my blog. Lots of thoughts of “Who would ever want to read something I wrote?” and “It’s not like I’ll be bringing anything new to the table, so what’s the point?” In the end, though, I decided to make my blog because it’s what I wanted to do and, if no one ever read a single word, I was happy with that. I still my little corner of the internet where I could gab about books until my fingers went numb and that was good enough for me. I’m so happy I took the plunge because it has caused me to find some of my favorite people on the internet!

All that to say, if you’re thinking about maybe starting a book blog (or a bookstagram or a Booktube!), don’t do it for other people. You’ll more than likely make yourself miserable. Do it for yourself and see where it can take you!