Top Ten Reasons I Love Being A Blogger/Reader

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and The Bookish. This week’s theme is:

Top Ten Reasons I Love Being A Blogger/Reader

To make this week’s topic a little easier to answer, I am going to give 5 reasons why I love being a blogger and 5 reasons why I love being a reader.

5 reasons why I love being a blogger:

personal accomplishment

The sense of personal accomplishment. I have always loved to read. I didn’t need any urging to pick up a book. However, having a blog has not only made the reading part even more fun (if that is possible!) it has also given me a great sense of accomplishment to not only read books but to review them and to also share my personal opinions on them and other book related topics.

an outlet

Blogging has given me an outlet to express my opinion. It has also been somewhat cathartic – being able to express my views honestly, without holding back, has released a lot of pent-up feelings of emotion, frustration and anxiety. I have not had the easiest time of it the last couple of years so having a medium to vent or release my feelings about something is hugely satisfying.

the social aspect

The social aspect: I love interacting with other like-minded people. Joining Goodreads certainly broadened my horizons and allowed me to connect with other readers but since starting this blog last August I have met so many bloggers who share the same interests as me. I have always been pretty shy, so at first it was quite daunting reaching out to other bloggers, but over the last few months I have had a lot of fun discussions and have hopefully made some new friends.

creativity

Blogging has really given me a chance to be creative again. Not just with how I choose to write reviews and what to say but also the design of my blog (took ages to find one that really worked for me – I was constantly changing my theme for the first couple of months!) and the content of my posts. I love when inspiration hits and I get an idea of what would make a good topic for me to write about. Not much of a ‘planner’ (which is strange since I have OCD and that revolves around following various rules and routines). Definitely more of a ‘pantser’ – inspiration strikes and I usually just follow it through. Before I had my blog I had no outlet to express this side of my personality.

inspiration

Following on from above, the fact that people are reading my thoughts encourages me to keep being creative. If I want to entertain or engage any of my followers (or potential followers) I have to keep this inspiration flowing. Knowing that I have an audience really encourages me to keep thinking up new ideas. I am forever jotting down potential topics and although many will never see the light of day, I love having that impetus there to keep the creative juices flowing (urgh did I really just say that – I’ve always hated that expression but nothing else seemed to fit!).

5 reasons why I love being a reader:

escapism

The most obvious reason is the sense of escapism that reading provides. Sure, a movie can let me escape my humdrum life for awhile, so too can listening to music, but nothing allows me to completely unplug the way a book can – being a reader is amazing.

getting swept up

Also, I love getting swept up in a good book. Primarily, I am an emotional reader, I love to connect with a story and characters. I become very emotionally involved when I become invested in a book or series of books. Absolutely love that feeling of attachment. I once had a book mark that said ‘a good book is like a good friend’ – it has always been so for me.

expanded knowledge

Reading has greatly expanded my knowledge of the world. It sounds a bit trite but I do not think I would be the person I am today without books. I love learning and I really thrived in an academic environment. I think  I have the books I read as a youth to thank for this love of learning and academia. Reading is something I have always done for pleasure so it was never a hardship for me. Likewise, reading novels (any type really) is a way for me to keep this learning process going. I would hate to feel stagnant.

vocabulary

My vocabulary has grown immensely. There were a couple of years where I did very little reading and I found myself having difficulty really expressing myself. Now I feel much more verbose (some people might argue that this is not a good thing!) and find it easier to converse whether in written form or conversation. This links back to me being very shy which I mentioned above. Works have always been difficult for me due to near-crippling shyness (and maybe a touch of social phobia).

experience new things

This is a biggie – to be able to experience new things. I live vicariously through my reading. One of my favourite books last year was Wanderlove. It was about a girl finding herself on a backpacking trip through Central America. Though, I think it is very unlikely I will experience this myself (it is not impossible but I cannot see it happening for many reasons not least my OCD would make it extremely hard for me). Getting to experience that wonder through the pages of the book is probably the most enjoyable thing about reading for me. I will never travel to Middle-Earth or Narnia. I will never go to Hogwarts. Yet reading the books made me feel as if I was there. It is a truly magical experience.

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