In case you missed yesterday’s post, I’m participating in Armchair BEA which runs from May 28-June 2, 2013. Each day different discussion questions are posted for book bloggers to write about and then visit other book blogs to get some conversations going and meet new bloggers. Its for those of us who can’t or don’t want go to BookExpo America, which is really awesome, but once was enough for me.

The topic of this post is paths to becoming a better blogger or blogger development. Today’s other topic was genre, which I wrote about here.

What my blog is:
This is my forth year as a book blogger. I often go through episodes where I spin in circles until I wear myself out thinking about my blog and what I “should” do with it. I think up big plans, small plans, and sometimes even make blogging schedules. Then I remember that my blog is a hobby and it can be whatever I want it to be and whatever that is can even change from week to week if I want it to.

I mainly write reviews, photo essays of library visits, and occasional author event recaps. I am happy if I write one post a week.

Community:
Just recently I’ve started connecting more regularly with a few book bloggers. I’m an introvert, even online, but I did meet up with a book lover I met via Twitter/Goodreads for an author event last month. It’s fun to connect with fellow book lovers online (obviously, right?) and I think it would be great to meet more in person as well. One of my goals this year is more community, hence participating in Armchair BEA!

Learning from others:
Like most of my blogging peers I’ve learned the most just from visiting/reading other book blogs. Sometimes I’ve liked what other bloggers have done and other times I avoid what they’ve done. I’ve picked up some cool tips from Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Blogger and her Blogger Tips & Tricks feature.

On monetizing:
I have no plans to monetize the blog, although I have pondered the thought. I was an Amazon Associate for about five minutes until the program was pulled from Illinois. Personally, I shy away from blogs that are loaded with advertisements. I don’t blame anyone for wanting to make a buck, but too many flashy ads make me question the content.

Expanding my blogging horizons:
Last year I hosted a Willa Cather Novel Reading Challenge and that gave me more structure than I was used to, but I enjoyed having that structure. It made me think more about when I would read and post what. Of course the best part was introducing Cather to more readers. I think I might do something similar with a different author every-other year.