Feature and Follow Friday #130

Welcome to the Feature & Follow

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Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

What sets this Hop apart from others, is our Feature. Each week we will showcase a Featured Blogger, from all different genres and areas. Who is our Feature today? Find out below. Just remember it is required, if you participate, to follow our Features and you must follow the hosts (Parajunkee & Alison Can Read) as a courtesy. How do you follow someone? Well, if you have a preference, state it in your #FF post. A lot of blogs are transitioning to Wordpress in which they do not have the luxury of GFC, so an RSS subscription is appreciated or if you choose an email subscription. If you don't have GFC please state in your post how you would like to be followed.

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How To Become a Featured Blog?

We pick our featured blogs randomly each week from the blogs who participated the week before.

Please be sure to feature your e-mail address clearly on your blog. Either on the main blog, on a Contact page, or on an About Me page. If I can't find your email easily, I will choose a different blog to feature.

Our Feature - Lost in Thought

1. When did you start blogging?

I started blogging almost a year ago. Actually, my one year blogoversary will be happening on the 12th of this month! Time has really flown by. I started after finding out about reading challenges (and realising they were easier to do with a blog) and happened to stumble across a few blogs and then I thought of making one myself. I like to think I’ve come a long way in a year and learned a lot about blogging, reviewing, publishers etc. I love blogging and I’m quite proud of myself for sticking to it for a full year even though I’m quite busy in my personal life. I love the book blogging community and love books and reading in general so it’s always fun and never ever a chore.

2. What is your favorite part of book blogging?

Writing posts and having lovely comments off other bloggers especially when it comes to reviews. After spending ages writing reviews (and it takes me so long!) and worrying about its quality I love reading comments off others saying that they enjoyed reading it, or that they added the particular book to their wishlist. I also love my readers and followers. After creating my blog I can remember doing a dance of pure joy when I had my first follower haha. You could swear I had won a million pounds or something, but it was a great feeling! I've also met so many lovely book bloggers whom I consider friends, it's been great.

3. What is your favorite book(s)?

The Lord of the Rings. Just pure amazing stuff. You should all read it and get lost in Middle Earth with all its adventures. I also love George R. R Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. It has been an obsession of mine since reading it. I just love epic fantasy. But also since blogging I've read some great YA books and my favourite reads of 2012 were definitely Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, Cinder by Marissa Meyer and The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa.

4. What has been the best thing that has happened to you because of book blogging?

Receiving books of publishers is up there with the best. I love Netgalley but when I had my first paperback book from a publisher in the mail I felt like I had made it haha! I squealed in delight when it came through the letterbox! I've loved having the chance to work with authors and publishers; it's been awesome. I’ve had the chance to read and review some amazing books so it is definitely one of the best things to happen!

Q: What New Years Blogging or Writing resolution have you placed on yourself?

I actually think I'm going to do a whole post about my blogging resolutions.

Essentially I want to (1) comment more, because I've become bad about it; (2) write reviews more frequently, because I've become lazy; and (3) actually get serious about my blog redesign that I want to do.

As for writing, I'd like to write more. I'd love to write original fiction, but for better or worse, fan fiction is what pops into my head most. I don't necessarily mind this since it's good practice. For the first time, I have a story arc inside my head that could actually become novel length. It's a Harry Potter fan-fiction - one of those canon missing moments. I've written a few chapters and am quite pleased with it. I want to write more before I start putting it up online. Having a long connected story is a first for me, since I usually write a lot of fan fiction one-shots.

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Now for the Follow Fun!

With GFC going the way of the dodo bird for many bloggers, there is no better time to start following blogs via RSS feed. If you use a reader, it would be great if you followed my RSS directly.

We have a new button, so update your blogs if you are used to doing this meme!

<a href="http://parajunkee.com/category/ff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4710921228_e3140444bf_o.png" /></a>

RULES

To join the fun and make new book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. (Required) Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts {Parajunkee & Alison Can Read}
2. (Required) Follow our Featured Bloggers
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say "hi" in your comments and that they are now following you.
5. If you are using WordPress or another CMS that doesn't have GFC (Google Friends Connect) state in your posts how you would like to be followed
6. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
7. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
8. If you're new to the follow friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!

CAPTCHA:

If you have CAPTCHA word verification enabled on your blog, please take it off. It makes it much more difficult for readers to comment. Please look at my CAPTCHA Eradication Post to learn how to get rid of it.

Happy Follow Friday! Come back at midnight CST for the Facebook & Twitter hop!!

**Sorry to those of you having trouble with the linky. It's working fine for me. Try reloading a few times. When this issue has come up in the past, that usually fixes it. Or give it a few minutes and maybe it'll get better.