And she blogged happily ever after ..

I need a break

After 6 weeks of ‘skinny dipping’ in the realms of the blogosphere, I have definitely metamorphosed from being a highly reluctant blogger, to a relatively comfortable one. I’ll admit that, initially blogging scared the living daylights out of me but I later realized its potential to be fun as well as addictive. Here was a space, where I was absolutely free to express my views about my “silly” choice of books. I wasn’t being judged. Being a chick lit lover in the blogosphere was acceptable and didn’t translate into being “weird.”I could pretty much say anything and everything and still be politically correct.

The most pertinent issues, that I felt during this entire process were being honest, regular and being able to hold the interest of the reader. Coming up with new aspects within the purview of my niche was challenging at times. But then what’s a life without challenges.

When I got started blogging I was very worried about things like whether I’d be able to blog weekly, if I’d know what to write in my blogs and whether I’d learn all the technicalities involved. I had to find a way to eliminate the steep learning curve. A website that helped me to find the best ways to get going is bloggingtrouble.com. This website has hundreds of articles to guide you through the initial stages of getting your blog set up.

There are lots of areas I’d like to explore further about blogging. One being different blog sites and services available for amateur bloggers like me. Not to say that I didn’t enjoy using Word Press. But now that I’ve been initiated and the the blogging bug has bitten me, I’d like to see how the other sites like Blogger.com and WordPress.org, are different and whether blogging on them would be easier or more interesting. I am particularly interested in Blogger.com. Since this service is run by Google, the Google search engine favors the blogs, giving them a higher ranking.

Moreover , I would definitely like to become a “blogger”, I know being a professional blogger, is not as easy as it sounds but its something I’ll strive to achieve. I would love sit at home in my pyjamas all day, read and talk about the books I love. Sounds like a dream. Coming back to reality, I would be quite content, with posting regularly and having a reader base that extended beyond my mother and my best friends. So if anyone out there wants to know, yes! I plan to continue blogging. I realized today that the process had already started. A friend gave me a book and instead of reading it, all I could think of, was blogging about it. That to me that spells “blogger”. An unsuccessful one but a blogger nevertheless.

As a farewell note I’d like to apologize that the blog couldn’t cover more reviews and be more comprehensive.The excuse that I have to offer is that life has gotten in the way of my usually voracious reading. Instead of cruising along on the elliptical, where I used to get most of my reading done, I am bogged down with assignments, submissions and the like. So instead of curling up with books at night, I am submerged in research and writing. And truthfully, I’m so tired from the insane meeting of deadlines that I’m passing out at a laughable time anyway. Usually, I’ll fall asleep reading about “The Public sphere and participatory culture” or “Creative Commons” I kid you not.

So – to my only reader somewhere in cyber space -This is not good bye, but just me saying “I need a break” I will blog again, once I can escape reading something other than journals and textbooks.