What I've Been Up To: A Very Bookish Post
2:58 PM
So, it's been a very long while since I've posted on here. The last time I did, I believe I was ringing in the new year: I had just changed the entire look (and even the name!) of this blog, and was delving into my new niche that I had discovered within the blogosphere: book blogging. Funny I mention that, because this new blogging passion is exactly what's been keeping me busy nowadays.
In case you don't know, around the summer of 2015 I decided to create a book blog and join the book blog community on Tumblr (fondly referred to as Booklr). This started off as something I thought I should do to help show my interest in book publishing - after all, what better way than to create a book blog! I'd also been noticing that many of my posts on this blog were book-related, and I thought to myself, Hm, maybe I should have a blog that focuses on this one thing? This thing that I really love to blog about. With that, my book blog, Belle's Book Nook, was born and I quickly began creating my own original posts, from taking aesthetically pleasing pictures of books to writing my own book reviews. I discovered the warmth and positivity of the book community as I began following more and more book blogs. More importantly, I'd finally found a place on the internet where there were others like me, who were all passionate about and blogging about the same things. Yay! I don't regret becoming a part of this community for a second.
My one-year anniversary of creating my book blog is just about rounding the corner, and a lot has happened in this year. I've created tons of original posts - both book photography and reviews - that I'm immensely proud of, and I've worked really hard to create a visually appealing book blog that is my very own.
A while after being on Tumblr, I eventually went on to make a separate book blog right here on Blogspot. My reason for this was, well... if I wanted to make a name for myself or attract the attention of book publishers, I wanted there to be an official Belle's Book Nook where others could easily find all of my posts without having to sift through pages of reblogged book pictures ;) Consider my Tumblr book blog the fun side of book blogging, whereas the Blogspot version of Belle's Book Nook is the serious, business side. Still, it's allowed to look cute:
But seriously though, bellesbooknook.blogspot.com was all my blood, sweat, and tears. I painstakingly put everything into the look of this blog, from finding the right layout to tweaking it just so to adding in all of my pages. It could also be that I am an extreme perfectionist while also incredibly indecisive, so I was constantly changing things from one font or color to the other, from center to left align. But now, I am so happy with what this blog has become, and I only have more ideas for it in the future!
Nowadays, my book blogging has become my main priority. I'm always scrolling through Tumblr, keeping my blog active, reblogging posts as well as constantly coming up with original post ideas of my own. I'm also constantly on the hunt for the latest book news and recently published novels via Tumblr, Goodreads, and Twitter. This way, I can feel even more tuned in to news within the book world and impress my knowledge on publishers when it comes time to apply to jobs and internships. But it's a good thing that this also fuels my bookworm tendencies, so it doesn't always feel like work ;)
Speaking of internships, something else exciting that I've been up to is... I've been doing an editorial internship! Yep, around the fall I finally decided, You know what? I'm not going to give up on a career in book publishing just because it seems impossible. I'm going to give it my all before I assume failure! And I got down to business, researching so many publishing presses, finding all the internships I possibly could and finding out where they were and how long they were and if they paid or not and when to apply. It might as well have been a spreadsheet. And to this day, I still have a Google Doc of a number of potential presses, their internship dates and deadlines, and links to their websites for future reference. But long story short, I finally snagged an internship when I discovered remote internships. Yes, you can actually intern with a literary agency virtually anywhere, providing you with internship experience without needing to hop on over to a major city just yet! This was a perfect option for me, and thankfully, just by a stroke of luck and emailing the right people, I found myself interning for a great literary agency, where I receive and read over manuscripts, complete reader reports, and ultimately help decide whether a manuscript should be accepted or not. Despite the option of working from home, it's actually a lot of work, but I love it and it's only pushed me to want to improve myself as an editor and make my way into the publishing industry.
With this, I've also been familiarizing myself more with different writing style guides, namely Chicago and AP.
I've been highlighting and organizing these books to my liking, and I've already been learning so much about editing and other technical rules, which I've started to apply to manuscripts within my internship as I go through and lightly edit them. These style guides have been a huge help, and I only hope that I continue to use them as I begin to pursue a career as an editor. Hey, if you're gonna be an editor, you gotta have the right books!
Finally, over the course of the past few months, I've gotten into writing again - but not fiction. No, I've been getting into writing blog articles. Think articles you see on Buzzfeed, Bustle, and Thought Catalog. I've been really into the idea of having my writing published, and the more I think about it, the more I realize that I love writing blog posts, whether it's about life in general, about my experiences, my opinions, or just giving people tips and recommendations. So with this, I've been brainstorming all sorts of article ideas and writing feverishly, as well as working to find websites where I could potentially submit to. This is also a really great way of building up my writing portfolio, and I'm so excited to get started. Hopefully one day soon my writing will get published! But either way, I've been working on some really great ideas, so even if an article of mine doesn't get accepted no matter how many places I send it to, it will always have a home here. (Because the time I spent on these pieces will not be for naught!) So expect to see some new and interesting posts in the near future on this blog!
Just like my book blog, the one-year anniversary of graduating from college is nearing closer. I was so scared of what this year would hold. I was so scared that this would be a wasted year, that I would achieve nothing. While much is still left unknown and future is definitely still scary to think about, I look at all I've written here in this post and I think, This was not a year wasted. I made my own accomplishments, found pride in my own projects, and I'm very happy with what I've done.
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