Beneath the Surface of Blogging with Sofia from The Reading Fangirl

Today for Beneath the Surface of Book Blogging I am thrilled to be hosting Sofia from 'The Reading Fangirl'. She's been a sporadic blogger since early 2014 but really kicked into high gear at the start of this year and is offering a newer blogger's perspective on book blogging. She reads mainly YA books across a variety of genres but also branches out into TV shows, movies and general lift posts. Thank you Sofia for joining us!

How did you start blogging, were there any blogs you followed that got you thinking this was something you wanted to do?

I started blogging mainly because I had been following the book universe for a while and I decided to join in. I learnt about the book blogging world through booktube which I discovered first and through that I discovered so many of my favourite bloggers. The blog that inspired me to start blogging was Queen of Contemporary because before that all the blogs I had found were run by adults and I thought that maybe teenagers don’t participate much. However when I discovered QoC, I thought if Lucy could do it, why couldn’t I?

What do you hope you achieve through your blogging?

Honestly, I just made my blog to share my opinion with the world. I read quite quickly and therefore my friends who read generally don’t read all the books I do. Therefore, I have no one to share my feelings with but through my blog, I can do that and that’s what I love. I hope to convince people to read some books that I love because then I’m spreading the love and supporting that author even more.

What are the most rewarding parts of it for you?

Definitely meeting a lot of people and discussing books with them. I love talking to other book bloggers or people who regularly read my blog because it means that my opinion is being shared which makes me so happy.

And the most frustrating?

I get quite frustrated with trying to make my blog look appealing and that’s my biggest annoyance about it as I am constantly hating the design of my blog.

Have you had reading slumps/insecurities/times when you felt you weren't good enough and wanted to quit, and how did you pull yourself out of them?

This has happened quite a few times due to people or things that happen in my life that affect how I feel at my blog. I’ve never been a person to do something by myself that no one else around me does so when I started my blog, it was weird because I felt like I was never good enough and other people in my life occasionally bring me down and make me feel bad about my blog and it used to affect me a lot. However now as I’ve made other blogger friends, I’ve learned that my blog is something to be proud of and I am proud of it and it’s got to the point where I don’t let other people get me down. If I feel myself feeling like my blog is terrible, I just go talk to some of my blogger friends and I feel better immediately.

Have you taken a break from blogging at any point and if so how did you get back into it?

Last year, I took regular breaks. I’d make a post and then I wouldn’t post for a month. I think this was mainly because my heart wasn’t really in it. Last year, I didn’t try hard enough to get out of my shell and I didn’t talk to anyone so I never felt that I was good enough. I got out of all this simply by talking to people.

Any tips for dealing with the self imposed guilt that comes with a blogging and reading slump?

My main thing is that you should focus on your blog. Your blog is for you and write posts because you want to write them. Read books because you want to read them. Never try to force any posts or try to force yourself to read a book because that will make you enter a slump. Sometimes you need to take a break in order for you to get back into it properly.

How do you manage to juggle life outside books and blogging?

I am a very organised person which is quite odd. I organise my time well so therefore I usually get all my work done within a few hours and then I blog after doing my work. And yes I do have a social life. I just happen to balance my time well because I set targets for the day, which include bookish and blogging targets, and I won’t sleep until I’ve hit them. Even then, I’m always in bed early as I always give myself at least an hour every night to read.

The blogging world is constantly evolving, any changes you'd like to see start to happen?

Honestly I’m not sure. While the blogging world isn’t perfect, it’s still incredibly good. We’re a welcoming community and everyone is really nice. However, I’d like to see less focus on reviews on blogs because I always feel bad when I write a post that isn’t a review because I feel reviews are sometimes the only posts that people care about.

Any advice for new and old bloggers alike, particularly if they are going through a down slump at the moment?

Talk to people! Don’t make the mistake I made for so long and be scared of entering the community. Honestly, Twitter is a book bloggers best friend because your life on social media really does affect your blog. #ukyachat on twitter really helped me to get out of my bubble and it got me to where I am now so I feel like all book bloggers should participate in it because you all can, even if you’re not British!

Thank you so much Sofia for such wonderful responses!
Check out Sofia's blog The Reading Fangirl
And follow her on twitter