I just wrote a brilliant post (if I do say so myself) — and put it back in the maybe, some day file.  Because I second guessed myself.  I hate when I do that.

I noticed something recently on one of the large, anyone can drop in a review places – and it bothered me.  So I wrote a post about my feelings… and then I second guessed myself.

How often have you second guessed a post on your blog that wasn’t a review piece, but an opinion of your own?  Are you brave and force through no matter what any other opinions might be?  Or do you step back, take a second look and think… maybe I shouldn’t say this.

I want to be the first but more often am the second.  And really, it’s just my opinion – it’s not like it’s brain surgery if I make a misstep someone dies.  It’s a blog post, a discussion – my own opinion what do you think – kind of blog post.  Yet I hesitate.

I think I hesitate because this isn’t a “big” blog.  I mean, I’m relatively new, what right do I have to upset the apple cart.  Do I really want to take the risk of losing readership when I’m still growing the blog?  Or maybe I should be more concerned with being true to my own self and opinions on my own blog.  Again, it is my opinion – if no one else agrees or even disagrees within 24 hours a hundred other new posts will have taken over my one opinion’s spot.

So why can’t I be braver?  Why can’t I point out something that I see as wrong, instead of worrying about the opinion of others?  I hate second guessing myself.  And it needs to stop.

What about you?  Do you hesitate?  Do you post what is on your mind no matter what anyone else might think?  Brave or Safe?

I was going through my Bloglovin’ feed this morning and noticed something that kinda broke my heart.

One of the blogs that I follow – Blogger has removed.  I’m not mentioning names of blogs – for all I know it’s a glitch that is being fixed as we speak.

But just the thought of all that work… just gone.  All the time, and creativity and thought that went into making that blog… just gone.  At someone else’s decision, not mine.  It does break my heart.  I cannot even imagine what I would do.

This is the exact reason I always have and always will use WordPress.org for my self-hosted blogs.  Yes, it does cost money to self-host.  But to me it is worth the cost for several reasons.

1.  NO ONE will EVER take away my hard work in an instant.  I decide to keep the blog running or not.  Only me.

2.  I run several blogs, not only in the book reviewing niche.  Those other blogs are part of my income.  If they suddenly disappear, by someone else’s decision – there goes a few monthly bills that won’t get paid. ( yes, I review items on commission on blogs of mine that are over a decade old, I will never be private jet rich, but it does supplement my other income )

3.  The only censorship that I face on self-hosted blogs is self imposed.  As long as I have the proper disclosures available for the public to read – no one is going to shut me down.  And I keep certain genre of reviewing separate from the main book review blog for that exact reason.  I don’t take stupid risks when it comes to compliance.

4.  I cannot replace an entire blog.  Yes, I have backups.  We all should.  But the “feel” of this blog would disappear forever.  You cannot replicate the comments, the feeling of a blog easily.  Once the name you are “Known” by is gone – you are starting from scratch.

I am emotionally attached to Keeper Bookshelf.  It’s not much, it’s not huge – but it is mine, it is me, it is the heart and soul of my love of fiction.  If I lost this – I do not honestly know if I would start again.  I cannot fathom losing this place.  Four months ago it was a fun, occasional pastime – now, it is the first thing I do when I wake and the last tab I close down on my computer at night.  It is important to me, for my own reasons, and I will never take the chance that someone could take “this” away from me in a second…just hit a key and it’s gone.

I am not saying that I am right and self-hosting is the only way to go.  Lord knows I completely understand finances or lack of them.  I wrote this to simply say – think about it.  If you are not self-hosting all of your hard work, blood, sweat, tears, laughter and time could be gone in an instant.  I really don’t want to go to my feeds and not find your blog there anymore, if it wasn’t your choice.  Just think about it, okay?

**This is an emotional post, the thoughts poured out of me – I intended no offense to anyone about where they put their blog – I just don’t want to see it gone for no good reason.**

Sometimes I just have to ask:  Why?

I’ve just come from a post that has totally taken a possibly entertaining novel off of my TBR Pile and tossed it on the “give to Goodwill” pile.

In the very first sentence of this blogger’s “review” she has told me the ending of the story.

Why?  Why bother to read the book now that the ending is spoiled for me?

I will admit that yes, I’m frustrated and yes, I’m mad.  But for the love of the written word why in the world would someone tell me the ending of a novel without warning me?

I’ve wasted $7.00 on a novel that I’m not going to pick up.  Hopefully, someone else who buys it at Goodwill for a dollar will enjoy it.  (and yes, that is sarcasm)  But it’s not only the money (I, like most people, have a limited book allowance per month)  What truly bothers me is that I lost the chance to enjoy a novel that I was looking forward to.

I understand that we all review differently.  Some tell most of the story, leaving the ending to be read by the reader.  Some offer only teasers and their own opinion of the book.  While others completely tell the entire story in a summary fashion.  All of these styles work, and I usually know how far I can read on a review before I have to click away in order to avoid big spoilers.

But when the ending is in the first sentence of a review?  There is no time to realize that I don’t really want to be reading this.  At that point, I already know the ending, all that would be left to me are the parts up to that ending that I was told – too early.  Getting to read the ending AT the ending is part of the joy of reading, one of the rewards of a story well told.

Today, I was cheated out of that – and yeah, I’m mad.

Do you schedule posts ahead much?  I do… sometimes.  I am far from consistent about it though.  So, Anna, over at Herding Cats & Burning Soup has this Blog Ahead Mini going on for the beginning of May.

So go over to the   Sign Up Page Here   and check out the limited amount of “rules”  It’s so easy and we’ll get a head start on the coming months when vacations, family events and just summertime is out there waiting to be experienced, ya know?  So this is good.  Really good.

If I could get some basic weekly stuff up and ready to go ahead of time, that would give me more time to take care of other stuff… set up a system and I’d be good to go.  That is my overall goal of this.  With one main blog, and a few specific genre blogs it can get backed up.  So good habits start right now.

Interested?  Then go on over and check it out.

I love NetGalley.  The idea of it, the variety of novels offered there, just about everything.

Ah yes, that “about” thing.

I am a fast reader, I review rather quickly but always trying to keep the reviews within a week of a novel’s release.  Some publishing houses request that, and it simply makes sense to talk about a book when it is due to be launched.

I have a decent ratio at around 78% to 89% – it fluctuates depending on how many novels must “wait” for the reviews to go live because of release dates.  I am trying desperately to keep my requests to only a month or two ahead so that the ratio stays in a reasonable area.

Yet, I’m pulling my hair out over three publishing houses.  So, I’ve decided to simply no longer request from them, especially Harlequin.  I do not want a long list of declined requests on my profile.  And that is just a personal dislike, I don’t know that it affects the approval rate or not.  I’ll stick with the houses I’ve reviewed for already, and maybe branch out to smaller publishing house divisions.  But I will not touch the “big guns” again for at least a year, if ever.

It’s not as though I cannot go out and purchase Harlequin novels myself – and I often do.  It’s not that I’m looking for freakin’ free books.  It is that I enjoy the various lines at Harlequin and their authors.  But, nope, not going to get myself in a hissy-fit any longer.

To be honest, I don’t know if this blog will ever be “big” enough readership-wise for those “big publishing houses”.  And I shouldn’t let it bother me so much either.  I know this.  That damned pride, ya know?

Ah well, I’ll wait them out for a year or two.  I can be patient, in spite of these current words.  I can be.

So, how long did it take your blogging to reach the point where the larger publishing houses thought your blog worthy of their offerings?  Just curious.

While I don’t normally send you off to other websites (I’d much rather keep you company here 🙂 ) – I came across this amazing article – thank you Uncle George Takei – that shows some truly awesome  tattoos that are inspired by the books these folks loved enough to have them inked.

Please check them out.  The article link is right here.  –  or simply click on the image.

I’m afraid I’m about to rant here.  And I’m not going to apologize for it either.

I just came from a blog that had an excellent, thought provoking post on it.  I read it with interest and learned a lot in the process.

As I began reading over the comments, I realized something rather strange – to me at least.  Not one of the over 40 comments posted had a reply from the author of the post.  Not. One.

I don’t get it.  I would be over the moon, jumping up and down in excitement if I had 10 responses to a non meme post… but 40?  And not one answered.  Really?

Yes, I’m certain I’ve missed comments.  I might have clicked on the notification and didn’t get to the post right away so it slipped through the open weave net that is often my mind.  And if I’ve done that to you, I sincerely, honestly apologize for it.  It wasn’t personal, I just messed up.

Yet, I cannot imagine missing 40 comments on a post.  That’s a popular post in my mind and I’d be jumping into the discussion in order to encourage even more talk.  So I don’t understand why.

I can certainly cut this blog owner a break and assume that something happened that prevented them from commenting – power outage – emergency – work or school schedules – any number of possibilities.  And I will check back to see if those comments were ever replied to…just to satisfy my own curiosity.   I’m honestly not trying to be a bitch here.  I really don’t understand how those comments could be ignored unless something major prevented the author from replying.

Maybe it’s me.  Perhaps this isn’t as, well, rude as I see it to be.  I would be kissing the keyboards of so many commenters – so I just don’t get it.

Okay, this is the point where you can tell me to shut up and stop obsessing about this.  And any opinion you’d like to share is fine with me.  Maybe I am crazy that this bothered me.  I have made the decision to simply not comment there – ‘cos why bother if no one is going to talk back to my one-sided conversation.

End Rant.

Thoughts?  Opinions?  Feel free to tell me what you think.

There was a discussion post over at Herding Cats & Burning Soup by Anna that really got me thinking – plotting – and finally taking action.  This is Anna’s post that started all of this for me.

Today I set up a brand new book review blog.  One that is slightly different.  Romance Is Ageless is a blog about novels with heroines over the age of 29.  I know,  I know – none of us would willing go beyond that age if at all possible.  But life happens as they say – and the years pass by.

The longer I thought about the discussion in Anna’s post, the more this idea for another blog took shape.  Oh, it’s in it’s very, very beginning stages.  And I’ll spend the next couple of days getting everything set up.  But I feel so very strongly about this subject that I just couldn’t let it sit and stew any longer.

This is the very first introduction post.

I sincerely hope that any of the folks that wander and visit here at Keeper Bookshelf will take a look at the additional blog and give me your thoughts, suggestions or… whatever you chose to say about it.  Am I crazy?  Perhaps, but I’m willing to bet that I’m not the only person reading romance novels in all the genres that is over the age of 30.

Come visit, don’t be shy.  You don’t “have” to be 30 or over to visit, honest.  🙂