The Book Blogger Tag | 6 Years Later in 2020

The thing about old blog posts is it’s a great way to remember what your younger self was like way back in the day, but also it’s so mortifying, you end up thousands of feet into the grave just from secondhand embarrassment.

Rest in peace to the me who had to go through that deleting posts. And rest in peace to the me going through to clean up the remaining posts.

Is that even possible? 🤔 I’m going to say yes, even if I might’ve had some iconic phrases from my posts.

It’s time for new and updated answers to The Book Blogger Tag!

I don’t know about you, but six years is a lot. Back then I was a baby potato still learning how to write words and finding my blogging voice and I was in high school. I’m actually done with school now. 😱 So things have definitely changed from when I first did this back in 2014 with Ella when she first joined, like:

• The blogger who originally tagged me is no longer blogging. 😥
• Ella is no longer a co-blogger but you can definitely read her posts on her blog, Novelly Ella!

How much have my answers changed from 2014?

Let’s find out, bookwyrms! Lupe was originally tagged in the first one back when she had her own blog, but did she actually do the tag? We’ll never know the answer to this mystery, but she’s definitely joining in this new edition because collaborating is fun. We haven’t done it since writing about libraries we want to visit around the world.

Lupe: I can confirm that I did NOT do the original tag back when I had my own blog. MYSTERY SOLVED!

Sophia: Damn it, Lupe.

Also, does anyone know who created this tag? Are they still around? My god, so many bloggers have left over the years. That’s another thing about going back into old posts: visiting blogs you’ve probably visited at least once or regularly only to find out they’re no longer blogging. 😭

(Sometimes you reunite. I swear I thought Lauren from Northern Plunder quit book blogging until I joined a Discord server and recognized her name. Let’s just say that was a highlight of my blogging career.)

How many times do you check your email every day?

Sophia

Not gonna lie, I’m still a bit lazy with my email. I might check my email through the notifications bar on my phone and then delete it as needed, but I sometimes take a few days to respond if I even respond. Other times I end up forgetting… oops.

(I used to respond to every request, but after getting shamed one time, I’m only responding if I want to respond. I’m not trying to get shamed again after politely declining.)

What’s different now than in 2014: I got a domain in 2016 and an email account just for blogging (with the fancy domain)! Everything is so much cleaner now. 💃 Oddly I still get the rare request through my Hotmail, and I would definitely delete it if I didn’t need it to contact family members across the ocean. I do wish I could change my Gmail username rather than having two though… but it’s handy for separating work and personal when I need to use Google Drive.

Lupe

Ever since I can remember, I have always disliked having that annoying red bubble that is next to the email icon on my phone. I check my email first thing in the morning, when I get a notification, and before I go to bed. Basically, I constantly check my email.

Do I respond to emails? Yikes. I only respond on time if it is an EMERGENCY and if my response is needed immediately. Do I respond to review requests? I do not respond unless I want to review said request which is rare. I am at a point in my life where I choose what I want to read based on what I feel like at the moment. I don’t want the pressure to review something on a deadline. That sucks the fun out of reading.

How many times a day do you go on Goodreads?

Sophia

I can’t believe I worshiped Goodreads once. Now I only go on if I want to approve or leave friend requests in limbo or update my reading progress. Sometimes this is daily, other times it’s once every few days.

Lupe

Like Sophia, I am only on to update my reading progress which is every few days. As of lately, I am on it more because I am finding lots of great book recommendations from Twitter and Instagram! I check Goodreads a little more frequently because I want to read the synopsis and read the reviews before deciding if I add it to my never-ending TBR.

How long does it take to you to edit your posts?

Sophia

My editing process has definitely changed from skimming or leaving it as it is while formatting it into HTML code. Back then I had to be quick with my posts due to my lack of internet access at home and relying on whatever time I could with public computers. I still have a lack of internet access at home, but I have a mobile hotspot now, which is generally more than enough to last me a whole cycle. With Zoom University, though, it ate up that data pretty quickly.

Now I’ll write posts in WordPress (sometimes through Word, which is when I’ll later code it), shuffle it into Pending Review and come back to edit in the future, which sometimes might not happen until a year later. (Although at that point, I end up rewriting instead.) Not counting any break time, this can take about 2-5 hours depending on various factors. Let’s just say the 2 hours only happens when I’m procrastinating the day before a blog tour stop.

Lupe

I’m a hardcore procrastinator. I do all my writing and editing in one go. Let’s say if I plan to have a post scheduled by tomorrow, there is a big chance that I will write and edit the post the night before. Normally, it will take me roughly 2 to 3 hours to write and edit in one sitting. I’ve always been this way since I first began blogging. My habits have not changed much.

What kind of laptop do you use?

Sophia

Sad to say the Toshiba Satellite I once had is now dead and sitting on a chair waiting to be completely wiped by the Pros when I get around to it. I don’t have a Surface Pro now as I originally wanted, but I definitely considered it when I got my current laptop, along with the Surface Laptop. I’m now using a Samsung laptop, it’s heavy and I kind of have Regrets™ for not getting a lighter laptop.

Side Note: Geez, Surface Pro has been around for that long? Also if I knew Windows 10 would be a Mess™, I would’ve settled with a Chromebook. But then I couldn’t use Photoshop for my classes.

Lupe

My first laptop that I used to use was an ASUS but that thing got slower and slower. So it is now collecting dust underneath my desk. I only ever use it during emergencies. Due to the slowness of the computer, I had to invest in another lighter laptop that I can use for school as I was gradually taking more online classes. By the way, I finally graduated! Yay me!

Now I use my handy dandy HP Envy laptop which I love and have had for 3 years now. This thing has not failed me yet and its still going strong!

How often do you check your Twitter?

Sophia

Okay, I need to have a talk with 2014 Sophia because I don’t comprehend whatever gibberish I wrote back then. What the actual fucking hell? (I’m not even going to put it here because Secondhand Embarrassment.)

What I did understand: Twitter was the best thing in the world and Ella should get one.

For my mental health, I’ve been on Twitter rarely since 2017? 2018? and it’s been awesome. I think I’m less stressed than I could have been, but I still check notifications once a day or every few days. Sometimes I’ll tweet out something I think is funny, but a lot of my tweets are now retweets or automated when posts on Instagram or the blog go live.

Did Ella get a Twitter, though? Yes!

Lupe

I’m on Twitter at least once every day. Although I don’t tweet much, I like a lot of tweets on there that are both book and non-book related tweets! I check my notifications a lot and will usually respond within 24 hours or less. I tend to forget to respond because I open the notification, get distracted and end up forgetting. This happens quite often when I get text messages. I’m sorry in advance.

Sophia: I can vouch for this! I usually get left on read by a lot of people anyway.

Why do you use Blogger, WordPress, etc?

Sophia

Wow, if there’s an answer that has THE BIGGEST change since 2014, it’s this one. I’m not going to lie, though, Blogger was great because I could freely customize without dealing with the constant paywalls of free WordPress, and I wouldn’t be tinkering with basic HTML or CSS without messing around on Blogger. Hell, I think I would be scared to break the entire blog; there’s so much power in my hands. Compared to wordpress.com though? Hands down, Blogger.

But Blogger compared to self-hosted WordPress? Oh my god, I am living my best blog platform life. I get everything that I want from Blogger in WordPress and the mobile version is so user-friendly, which is a huge plus from someone who used to blog on a tablet. Plus I can do so many other things that I wouldn’t have been able to do easily with Blogger, like my landing page.*

*I’m sure it’s possible to create that same page with Blogger, my coding skills just aren’t up to par, so I use a plugin instead. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Lupe: Hey, you know more about coding than you think! Coding is such a good skill to have these days. Take it from someone who minored in Cybersecurity who IS STILL struggling with coding.

Lupe

Listen, I traveled with Sophia during the whole change from Blogger to WordPress. Since I have recently gotten back into blogging, I had to relearn this program once again with the help from, of course, Sophia. I’m sure I was a pain in the ass by bothering her so much with questions and screenshots. I mostly bother her because I am afraid of breaking the blog!

Sophia: Lupe is not a pain. She’s a blessing.

One thing I really hated in Blogger was the number of roles; the author’s role is so limiting, especially with group posts. 😡 And you can’t switch authors like you can in WordPress. WordPress can be rude sometimes, though, but at least only one of us can really break the blog.

Are you good at keeping up with your reviews, tags, etc?

Both of us:

Sophia

It’s six years later and I still don’t know the definition of “keeping up.” 🤣 I’ve become even pickier with weekly memes and bookish events than ever before; I’m not even sure when I last did one? Same for blog tours — I almost never sign up unless I plan on reviewing.

As for tags? I’m still hoarding them. (Did anyone expect otherwise though?) Look at me pulling out a tag from years ago and redoing that instead of doing the numerous I’ve actually been tagged in.

laughs in corner I still have reviews from last year…

Lupe

If you haven’t noticed, I DON’T keep up with reviews or tags, etc. I am trying though! Like I’ve said before, I am picky and rarely sign up for blog tours or accept requests. To be honest, I find blog tours and review requests as chores and I don’t want to feel that way towards blogging and reading.

Tags are fun! I only do tags that sound fun and interesting like this one for example!

Sophia: So if we start getting tagged like every week, please know that Lupe spoke the dangerous words to add on to my already piling hoard. I can already see Clo doing this. (But it’ll be fun! I think.)

How many times a week do you post?

Sophia

Since I mentioned high school back in the first edition: surprisingly high school was relatively easy for me except for a few classes? I never did AP though, because I couldn’t afford the tests and I don’t feel tests are a fair way to measure how I can do in college. (I still graduated Cum Laude!) The ACT/SAT is absolute bullshit, and I will die on this hill. Also, I think I learned more in college without so many tests.

But back when I first started blogging, I used to post nearly every day. Over the years, there’s been a decrease in posts, and I don’t know if it’s from the lack of time that I used to have as I continued, or I started to focus more on quality instead. Probably a little of both? I’ve fluctuated from every day to once every few weeks depending on how much I could handle. I know I care way more about the quality of my posts now than in the past, and I think the fluctuation in the number of posts a week will continue.

Lupe: We should definitely remove the ACT/SAT because it is a load of bullshit! I’m still in awe that you managed to post every day back then. I was barely functioning back in High School.

Sophia: Who says we’re functioning now? 🤣

Lupe

I used to post weekly Fandom Friday posts! If you remember those times, I freaking love you! Honestly, I am amazed that I was able to post once a week during that time. After my health fiasco, I took a break from blogging and now I’m back! Currently, I plan to post once a week or more, depending on how many books I fly through.

In the past, I normally wouldn’t post more than once a week. I totally agree with Sophia. It is better to focus more on the quality of the posts rather than the quantity. Personally, I want to feel proud and happy of what I post. Don’t want to share a post that I am not proud of. That is not something I am striving for!

Our Victims for the Book Blogger Tag

Clo from Cuppa Clo | Kal from Reader Voracious | Giuls from Bookish Giuls | Marley from Dragon on a Book

(We all know most will hoard this tag for a century, but it’s okay because we hoarded the posting of this tag for like two months.)