I interview a lot of authors, we all do. And it is really a lot of fun, right? But who is it behind those interviews? You!!! So now I want to interview you! This post will run every Thursday (give or take a day due to scheduling) as long as I have people who want to be interviewed! Check out the tab up there in my tab index for this feature. That's where you can check out past interviews, upcoming bloggers, and sign up for your own interview! :)
Happy Halloween! Ok, so I'm a day late for that. But I hope you had a fantastic day! I know I did, took the wee one trick or treating in the rain! The weather couldn't stop the excitement though, and I definitely know I will be stealing someone's candy when she isn't looking...ahem!
Welcome back to another edition of the Blogger On Blogger Interviews! This week I have Sally from Always Lost In Stories! And I don't have a picture this week, but I have another awesome swag prize full of bookmarks, trading cards, and magnets from your favorite authors and bloggers! So make sure you enter the rafflecopter at the end. Enough from me now, let's get on with it!
***********
Hello Sally! Welcome to Fictional Candy! Thanks for talking with me today J
Thanks for having me!
First, can you tell our readers a little bit about your blog, Always Lost in Stories?
Posting can be a little bit sporadic at times because I work full time, so I just post when I have the time and energy to write something.
I always wanted to be a writer, but have never gotten around to writing a book myself. I still enjoy writing, and stringing sentences and thoughts together- even if it is just for book reviews!
And how long have you been blogging?
I started the blog in January of 2011- so about 21 months
You have such a nice blog design. I love the mushrooms! Did you design it yourself or did you hire someone (and who!)?
Lori from Imagination Designs designed my blog for me earlier this year- and I love it! I had wanted a new look for a long time and everytime I found a blog design I liked I would scroll down to see who had designed it. Nine times out of ten the prettiest blogs were designed by Lori so I asked her to do mine, and I’m really pleased with it. She was so great, so approachable and really patient with all my demands!
I did try to design the blog myself and had my original orange design for over a year, but it looked so amateur. I figured that blogging is a hobby much like any sport, it was something I loved doing and wanted to keep doing, so it was worth the small one-off investment in the design.
Sally, you have your very own meme/feature on a monthly basis, called Best of the Bunch. Can you tell us a little about it, and how can we join in?
Best of the Bunch is a monthly meme originally started by Lyrical Reviews, and taken over by me in January this year. It’s basically a wrap-up post for the month summing up of all the reviews posted on our blogs during that month (or total books read if you prefer, or if you don’t have a blog), and then awarding a Best of the Bunch sticker to our favourite book of that month. Go here to grab the button and BOTB sticker-
I love reading all the posts every month and seeing which books people are really enthusiastic about. Especially if people write a lot of 4 or 5 star reviews it’s interesting to see which ones are the real gems, and because it’s only once a month, it’s not too much of a commitment.
Do you participate in any other memes?
The only meme I regularly participate in is one of the offshoots of In My Mailbox on a Sunday- either Sunday Showcase hosted by Books Biscuits and Tea, or The Sunday Post hosted The Caffeinated Book Reviewer. Everything else is a little bit sporadic.
Occasionally I do Wishlist Wednesday or Waiting on Wednesday. Sometimes I post a To-read book, either The Time Will Come hosted by Books For Company or From the Review Pile hosted by Stepping Out of the Page. I try to post more reviews and “fun stuff” each week rather than memes, but it always depends on what I have time to write.
How about what you are reading now? Can you give us a little teaser?
I am currently reading A Gathering Dark by Leigh Bardugo (which was called Shadow and Bone in the US). I’m really enjoying it so far!
It’s a fantasy and draws on a lot of mythology, using language and imagery inspired from Russian history as well.
Alina, a pale, lonely orphan, discovers a unique power that thrusts her into the lavish world of the kingdom’s magical elite—the Grisha. Could she be the key to unravelling the dark fabric of the Shadow Fold and setting Ravka free?
The Darkling, a creature of seductive charm and terrifying power, leader of the Grisha. If Alina is to fulfil her destiny, she must discover how to unlock her gift and face up to her dangerous attraction to him.
But what of Mal, Alina’s childhood best friend? As Alina contemplates her dazzling new future, why can’t she ever quite forget him?
What is your absolute favorite genre to read?
YA paranormal romance. J
It is my guilty pleasure! I love dystopian stories as well, but a book is nothing without a little love story sideline to it!
I see you are participating in a few challenges this year! How is that going? There are so many out there, how did you manage to pick out which ones to enter?
I’m failing at all the challenges I signed up for this year! At the start of the year I always think I have a rough idea of what I’m going to read off of my massive TBR pile, but then I usually end up reading something newly released instead!
In the past I have steadily read more and more books each year. Last year I set myself the challenge of reading 120 books in 2011 and I ended up reading 136. This year I set a challenge of 150 books, but according to my Goodreads widget I’m 22 books behind where I should be at this point in the year- too over ambitious I think!
There are so many challenges out there at the start of the year. I wrote down a list of all the challenges I could find and who was hosting them- I had about 15- then tried to narrow it down to just a few that I thought I could honestly achieve. I think I am way behind in every single challenge though! I am a mood reader and only read what I fancy picking up in the moment.
What do you do when you aren’t blogging?
I work full-time at a library (which is also bad for my To-read list), taking care of the children’s stock, book ordering, children’s storytimes, book clubs etc.
When I get home I love reading, stalking my favourite authors on Twitter, watching films curled up in my blanket, and sleeping!
How about a fun question, tell us something weird about you!
Okay, when I put a book down, I have to stop reading on the left hand page about a third of the way down. I don’t know why!
What kind of things can we look forward to in the next year from Always Lost In Stories?
Lots more book reviews. I also want to try and do more original and fun posts, and try to get a few more discussion posts up as well.
I would love to be more involved with authors and publishers, maybe do a few blog tours or interviews.
What are some of your favorite book blogs?
Eep- I have so many!
Books For Company- Jodie is so nice and has supported my blog right from the beginning
Mel’s Random Reviews- another really lovely blogger whose blog is so consistently good, and she always leaves me nice comments
Kimba The Caffeinated Book Reviewer- her blog is so good, and she is another blogger who is always so friendly and always leaves such nice comments on posts.
Read Me, Bookmark Me, Love Me- I love Lisa’s blog because her book reviews are so good. So many times I read her reviews and think she’s said exactly what I wanted to say about a book but 10 times better than I could! And she usually loves the same books I do so I trust her review if she rates a book really well.
Xpresso Reads- Giselle posts so many great reviews, and her “Fresh Batch” feature tells me what new books are coming out that week.
Down the Rabbit Hole- All of Amber’s posts and reviews are good, her blog is so cool and her “Happily Ever Endings” feature is so useful for keeping track of series, and remembering what had happened in the previous book in a series.
Ok, that about wraps us up for today! Thank you again for taking the time!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Follow Sally Online
******GIVEAWAY IS INTERNATIONAL - ENDS 11-4-12******
