#ArmChairBEA : Diary Entry No.4 of a #cheerREADER : Jorie makes amends for a two-day absence from the book blogosphere!

Day 6 as Jorie Cheer Reads!

{ Which is also going to serve as my Wrap-Up post! }

{short blurbs of what I found;

click to see my comments per blog!}

Friday night notes:

I had fully intended to make my routes through the book blogosphere on Thursday night, however, what I had not expected was to be greeted by a fierce and ominous thunderstorm which kept me offline for the greater portion of the evening hours! I was in the process of blogging my thoughts about Uncovering Cobbogoth at the on-set of the storm itself, whilst in the process of setting up my route for #ArmChairBEA! Going through the blogosphere each night has been so enjoyable on my end, that I was going to surprise everyone (as at that point in time I had hours to spare!) and extend my route by nearly thricefold! I wanted to visit more of the original bloggers I had mistakenly considered part of my ‘route’, and also, I wanted to duck back and re-visit those I had the pleasure of meeting on the route I was given! All these became ‘best laid plans’ because by the time I finished editing my book review, my eyes were a bit knackered and after what happened earlier this week, I did not want to tempt fate!

Therefore, I quickly tweeted out a note saying I’d make amends on the morrow and thus here I am! I also wanted to let everyone know a bit of a surprise, as I originally felt I did not have the time to compose my thoughts in order to get these short essays out into the world, but last night I felt a spark of ingenuity equal to my creative heart! I am going to be writing and posting my response to the follow #ArmChairBEA Topics between now & Saturday night:

• Literature (Monday’s topic)
• Author Interactions (Tuesday’s topic)
• Expanding Blogging Horizons & Novella / Short Story (Wednesday’s topics)
• Beyond the Borders (Thursday’s topic)
• Middle Grade & Young Adult (Friday’s topic)

Saturday night notes:

The following essays will now be composed throughout this coming week, as aside from having a BIG! heart as a #cheerREADER, the hours were not on my side! :( I booked myself quite full throughout the #ArmChairBEA to the brink that I simply could not juggle visiting the lovely blogs in the book blogosphere whilst remaining true to my commitments for blog tours, guest features, & my weekly (beloved!) twitterverse chat: #ChocLitSaturdays! Friday night everything felt hopeful, but storms were starting to brew again and I simply could not read as quickly as I had hoped to finish The Collector of Dying Breaths! I always want to honour the work I am reading and write my observations as I move through the story itself. Therefore, I knew even though I posted my review hours ahead of midnight, my eyes and my stamina were simply not going to carry me forward! I did not get the proper chance to finish editing my #ChocLitSaturdays Guest Feature until lateron in the early morning hours.

I was going to write more but I quite literally had to walk away from the computer! I was so knackered!

Sunday night notes:

I think the exhaustion of the week caught up with me on Saturday! Although, I was thrilled to peaches I could participate in the very last! Twitter chat for the #ArmChairBEA as well as the beautifully lovely convo ahead of the official chat, as I learnt that no matter how little or much we can each contribute to the event, we are all appreciated for the time we can give! I appreciate knowing this about the #ArmChairBEA because I would not change anything about my week — the blog tours, book reviews, and author guest features I was able to bring to Jorie Loves A Story were a true honour and blessing! The only part that I had guilt in is not realising how little ‘extra’ time I would have to give to the #ArmChairBEA and on that level alone, I felt I had failed somehow as a #cheerREADER.

I no longer feel this way — due to the overwhelming warmth of support coming from the #cheerREADER/cheerleader squad themselves and from Tif as well! I could not have been further blessed to have been a part of something that re-defines how to curate community and connections as book bloggers and readers alike! I think this event helps signify the fact that we all want to reach out to each other, unite together, and learn more about books, authors, and the grace of knowledge that reading can provide us one story at a time. I am personally thankful I took a chance to participate this year, even with a full plate!

I most definitely want to participate NEXT YEAR for the 2015 #ArmChairBEA! I will re-apply to be a #cheerREADER with one exception: I am going to leave the week ‘free of blog tours / book reviews’ so I can post the daily topics as they come along, and will have plenty of hours to give to my cheer reading duties! I only regret the hours flew by me so quickly this year! Whoa! How did a week dissolve so fast!?

Blogs I am Assigned to Visit as a CheerREADER: (Days 4 – 6)

1. #34: Jellyfish Reads | Beyond the Borders – a beautiful post about LGBT fiction & how one reader found solace in the diversity she found inside the book she reads
2. #34: Writing About Books | Young Adults – a book blogger worried about not finding her niche in YA; I left suggestions
3. #34: I Read it & Weep | Wrap-Up – celebrating what we gained out of being a part of the event overall
4. #134: Somewhere Only We Know | MG & YA – copied over the same suggestions as I felt they would be ones that she would enjoy herself
5. #39: Historical Fiction Notebook | Beyond Borders – a book discussion about #diverselit & which books to read past “The Kite Runner”
6. #39: Words & Peace | Wrap-Up – i appreciated reading the suggestions she made for next year! and surprised she is going to start vlogging! wow!
7. #39:  Istyria Book Blog | Book to Movie Adaptations MG/YA – fondly remembering my Harry Potter years
8. #139: Every Free Chance Book Reviews | Middle Grade / Young Adult – found this to be completely brilliant & loved the message! thankful to realise i am following her as I want to visit more often! wow. :)

I  must commend the organisers for giving us small batches of blogs to visit per day! I do have a few suggestions on how to improve the cheer squad for 2015 – one idea of mine is to have each Team of #cheerREADERS connected to each other on Twitter. My Team Captain Shannon had attempted to get our information ahead of time; I turnt mine in, but I never heard back from my Team Captain afterwards. In fact, without Tanya & Tiff I would have been plumb lost! I can only hope my team members fared well because I could not find them myself. I think the connectivity through Twitter helps when you need to send up a signal flare & ask for help or field a question that is pertinent. I would also suggest that if a Team Captain *disappears* there should be a sub-Captain for the Team, as your operating without a guide nor a person to go-to when you need them.

The main complaint I had was in understanding ‘which blogs’ to visit for our dedicated routes. I think they should be blocked out such as: Blogs: 34, 134, 234, etc. And, allow for each blogger to verify they understand the route. For me, I was confused & boggled by the ‘numbers’; which I realised too late was due to being dyslexic. I am not sure why the way my Team Captain Shannon explained it confused me & the way in which Tanya explained it later made more sense; sometimes with learning difficulties it is a ‘shot in the dark’ to process and get on the same page!

Also, I fielded reading a LOT of issues with CAPTCHA via Twitter; although I do agree they were mind-boggling, difficult, and down right frustrating, I do not think as #cheerREADERS we should be allowed to ‘opt-out’ of leaving a comment. After all, one blogger thanked me for mentioning their CAPTCHA was still active. Maybe others had forgotten as well!? I think we should *always!* leave a comment if we are on the cheerleader squad as isn’t that part of the purpose of the Teams!? To leave comments when no one else wants to take the time OR has the time to give to the comments!? I also tweeted a few CAPTCHA shout-outs but felt we need to truly just handle that off-Twitter. Leave a small blurb in our comment for the #cheerREADERS visit and then email our Team Captains directly. Am I wrong!?

I plan to continue to visit more blogs throughout the coming week as I write about the topics myself. I want to make more rounds & get to know the bloggers a bit better in the process! I am so thankful the linky’s are still on the website, so that even if you wanted to extend the #ArmChairBEA a bit past the week itself – you can! And, to me that simply rocks!

Jorie’s Posts for #ArmChairBEA:

Jorie’s Introduction to #ArmChairBEA

Jorie’s Day 1 as a #cheerREADER

Jorie’s Day 2 as a #cheerREADER

Jorie’s Day 3 as a #cheerREADER

I appreciate everyone who left me a comment during the #ArmChairBEA; either on the journalling posts I contributed for being a #cheerREADER OR on one of the blog tour/book review/guest author features! I appreciated seeing new readers & visitors alike stopping by to talk and spend a bit of time in the comment threads! I loved seeing more inbound traffic coming from new countries and new bloggers alighting on my little bookish niche as well! I always enjoy getting to know new book bloggers & readers! Never be shy to leave me a note! Also, for those of you who have recently followed me on Twitter, I am slowly going through my feed to sort out which new follower is from the #ArmChairBEA! If I have not followed you back OR added you to the list for the event, please leave me a comment here OR tweet me! :) I want to make sure I find each of you! As by the time next year’s #ArmChairBEA arrives, I’d love to say I’ve been able to get to know you! :)

Alongside my #cheerREADER duties I also hosted blog tours & book reviews:

• “A Beauty So Rare” by Tamera Alexander! (histfic)
• “Getting Waisted” by Monica Parker (humour/memoir)
•  “Uncovering Cobbogoth” by Hannah Clark (Thursday)
•  “The Collector of Dying Breaths” by M.J. Rose (Friday)
• Author Interview with Monica Parker (author of “Getting Waisted”) (Friday)
• Guest Post by ChocLitUK author Liz Harris (#ChocLitSaturdays feature!)

Inspired to Share:

Sometimes a book comes into your life that you were not quite expecting to arrive, and on the wings of its arrival is a book trailer whose initial response gave me this pause for reflection in the twitterverse:

.@AmyImpellizzeri #Booktrailer of #LemongrassHope is convicting in its evocation of a heartpulse centered story! Vocalised by @jennyreynolds

— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) May 30, 2014

I hope as you listen to the vocals & the chords that your heart is taken into the story’s premise as much as my own, and know that this is an upcoming next read of mine which I will be showcasing on Jorie Loves A Story! In the comment threads let me know what resonated with you as you heard the vocals against the book synopsis if you clicked over to the author’s website: amyimpellizzeri.com

Lemongrass Hope – A Book Trailer by Amy Impellizzeri

Just in case you missed it, I created the badge at the top of the post due to all the joy I had participating in the #ArmChairBEA! I will be using it for my essays this week & will be switching out the badges I used on my journalling pages as well! Beyond happy!

{SOURCES: Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. ArmChairBEA badge created by Jorie in Canva as inspired to share her love of being a #cheerREADER.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.