15-Day Book Blogger Challenge - Day 9

It's day 9 of April's Book Blogger Challenge!  For more info or to participate, visit her blog, Good Books and Good Wine.

Day 9 -  Why I Do What I Do

I love introspective posts like these.

So why do I blog about books?  For two reasons - because I love to write and because I LOVE to read even more.

The Writing

When I graduated college with a degree in creative writing, I learned pretty quickly that I wasn't going to be writing a bestselling novel and retiring at an early age.  The jobs out there were your standard cashier/waitress jobs or desk jobs.  I worked the first for a while before landing the office job that I have been at for almost five-and-a-half years now.  With all the hours I was spending commuting, working, and commuting back home again, my writing took a back seat.  People would ask me if I'd written anything, was I using my degree, and I always had to say no.

One Sunday, I was talking to a woman in church who I'd known for years (she was a homeschool mom, just like mine), and she asked me if I was writing.  I gave her the usual "No, but I'd like to get back to it" answer that I gave to everyone, and she says, "Maybe you should try blogging.  It would be a good way to keep writing."  What a great idea!  It was one of those "Could've had a V-8" moments.

The Reading

So in May 2009, a whole two years after graduating college, I decided to start this blog simply as a way to keep writing.  But what to blog about?  I didn't really want to just write about my life.  It seemed pretty boring at the time, and besides, I'd already tried that back in high school using LiveJournal.  Then there was always the politics option.  I minored in political science and loved a good debate, but seriously, no one wants to read a blog that's nothing but me ranting at the corruption in our system.  (Well, some people might, but I certainly wouldn't have.)  That left two options - a blog containing my actual stories, poems, book chapters, etc.  Or a book review blog.  It wasn't that hard of a choice.

As much as I love writing, I love reading infinitely more.  Ever since fifth-grade, books have been such an integral part of my life.  I've traveled the world, fallen in love, been the damsel in distress, been the kick-ass heroine, flown on a dragon - all without leaving my home.  I love books for what they can give you, what they can show you about the world and about yourself.  And I've always wanted to share that with people.  It's why I was in a book club in high school with one of my BFFs, why I gave my brother a four-page reading list so we could discuss books, why I joined goodreads and went to BEA, and it's why I blog.

So I started blogging about books.  And it's been amazing.  I'm pretty much doing something I love and then telling you about it.  It has its ups and down; we all hit those slumps.  But it's also so much fun; it's so worth the time and the effort.  I mean, it would be nice if I could get paid for it too, but even though this blog doesn't come with a paycheck, I still feel like I get something great out of it.  I get to be part of a community of people that understand this crazy love of books, who get why someone would rather buy books than clothes.  People who see no problem with having double and triple-layered rows of books, or books piled on the floor, or crammed into every available space.

And I get to gush and rant and cry and laugh all I want about books.  That's probably the most rewarding part.  Until recently, I was really the biggest reader in my family.  My dad and brother both read, but not as much as I do, or the same genres.  My mom and my younger sister have both told me "Why read the book when you can watch the movie?"  Now, my youngest sister has become a rabid reader, just like I was at her age, but she's still too young to be reading the same books as me.  I can recommend books to her and see how she feels about them, but I can't discuss the books I'm reading with her.  And while my three BFFs all love to read, we are rarely reading the same thing.  So this blog is the perfect way for me to just share, to spill everything I'm feeling about a book.  Even if no one reads it, it's still an outlet to let out all the FEELS.

So yeah... all of that to say that I blog because I love my writing, but I really love my books.

What about you?  If you're a blogger, why do you blog about books (or whatever else you blog about)?  If you're not a blogger, what are you passionate about and why?