Top Ten Tuesday: Why I Love Blogging

Top Ten Tuesday is weekly meme created by the lovely folks at The Broke and the Bookish. They created it because they're "particularly fond of lists" and since I also enjoy lists, I've decided to participate in this fun feature.

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is an interesting one. The top ten reasons I love being a blogger and/or reader. I focused mostly on the things I loved about blogging but I threw in my favourite thing about being a reader, too. Are you a blogger? What's your favourite thing about it? If you're not, what do you love about reading?

Talking about books all the time
This is the big one. I'm sure this is the reason a lot of book bloggers originally started out - I know that's why I created Books Etc. I wanted a way to discuss books, even if it was just to myself. Happily, it appears others enjoy my thoughts as well!

It allows me to write
I don't want to be a novelist (at least, not right now) but I do like writing. Having this blog allows me to work on my writing skills and keeps me writing, even if they are just reviews on the internet.

The book blogging community
I didn't realize how huge and how awesome the blogging community is when I first started out. I've been able to meet some amazing fellow bloggers, some who have become close friends. These fellow bloggers let me know what books I should be reading and give me someone to talk to when I've read an advanced copy of a book that made me super happy/sad/mad. These bloggers are my people and it makes me happy that there are so many other bookworms out there, just like me.

Free books
Let's be real, we all like freebies. However, if this is the only reason you got into blogging...that's a problem. I think it's fine to love the free books you get (in exchange for a review) and to sometimes use your experience to request titles you really want to read (I did that myself just the other day!).

Being in the know
Involvement in this community means we find out about upcoming releases and book events before a lot of other people. I like knowing when I should save up to buy a book because one of my favourite authors is publishing a new novel in a few months. Having a list of books to look forward to is a little daunting but

Book events
Sometimes bloggers get special access to events. This hasn't happened a ton to me (I don't live in Toronto, where almost every single major book event in Canada is) but I have been able to meet publicists in person and I have been invited to a couple of events just for bloggers. I've been able to meet some great authors because I'm a blogger.

It's my opinion
This blog is mine, all mine. So that means I can share what I want, when and how I want to. It's my own little piece of the internet.

Gives me something to do
This is especially true right now since I'm not working. If I didn't have this blog and the books I have to review I probably would have totally lost my mind months ago. It gives me structure when I'm lacking it in the rest of my life. This is a great hobby and I love that it gives me an outlet to keep my mind occupied while I hunt for jobs.

Creates opportunities
The best opportunity I've had because I'm a blogger was helping plan BookBuzz Toronto and being able to meet some of my all time favourite authors. Other book events fall into this, which I've already mentioned, but I've been able to work with authors and publishing companies because I'm a blogger.

Experiencing other worlds
This is the best thing about reading. Books allow us to experience so many different worlds (not just fantasy places like Hogwarts but other locations we've never been) and to make friends (or enemies) with many different characters.