BBAW Day 2: Interview
The second day of the Book Blogger Appreciation Week is interviews! Those of us who signed up were assigned bloggers as interviewees. I got Heather from Based On A True Story. And got interviewed here at Tea Time with Marce.

I love this day’s task! I perused Heather’s blog, discovered so many new books to add to my shelf, was overcome with guilt by how regularly she blogs (look at my sad attempts at consistency) and got to meet her adorable pets. Do go visit her site! 
Bookish Questions:
1. What is your idea of the perfect book?
It needs to pull me in immediately with the writing. I can usually tell on the first page whether I’m going to DNF a book or not. I can feel myself sinking into the story right away. Choppy sentences or poor grammar will take me right out. The subject matter could be anything. I don’t mind what the topic is as long at the writing engages me and the story isn’t abusive or cruel.
2. Tell us about a book you reacted strongly to and what brought it on?
Throne of Glass. I read it because so many people on my Twitter feed loved it. I didn’t. This might be an instance where being an older reader made a huge difference to the enjoyment of the book. Younger readers think it is romantic but all I could see was abusive relationships because of an uneven power dynamic. Then I went off on a rant.
3. Do you have any quirky reading rituals?
I have to know the publication year before I can read. I’m not sure why. I’ve noticed that a lot of ebooks put the copyright page at the end now and I don’t approve. I have to find it and read the year.
4. Which is your favourite genre and why?
Fantasy is what I read the most of. I love the imagination of it. It can be anything. I’m also getting into the speculative fiction aspect of fantasy which is guessing what the world will be like in the future. One of my favorites last year was Ink by Sabrina Vourvoulias.
Blog Questions:
1. Tell us about your lovely critters and how they feature into the blog!
marspirit
My URL is spiritblog.net because I didn’t know what I was doing when I was setting up my own domain way back in 2005. I thought it was like setting up a user name and I always used my horse’s name.
This is Spirit, the blog namesake, during his retirement from showing so he was allowed to have crazy hair. He died in 2008 at the age of 33. Since then I’ve gotten out of the horse hobby which is something that I never would have imagined. Now I live with my 11 year old Springer Spaniel/Beagle mix Freckles, a 13 year old cat named Powder, a 11 year old Senegal Parrot named Jules, and a 2 year old cat named Paul. They get to be blog fodder when they do something bizarre.
2. How do you manage to blog regularly? Do you follow a plan?
I don’t really have a plan. I write when I’m inspired. I tend to write in advance of when things are going to post. I like to have a least a few posts ready for the next week at all times. I do read a lot and I review most of the books that I read so that helps make up a lot of posts. I use prompts like Top Ten Tuesday if I like the topic. I use blog events to post ideas too. I’m doing Weirdathon in March about weird books so I have a few post ideas for that ready too.

3. I love your blog design. Is there a story behind it?
Thanks! I get antsy with the design every so often and need a big change. My last theme was pretty white and minimalist and I suddenly got bored with it. This theme is called Nice Blog. I liked having more color and the ability to have big featured pictures. The background is an extreme closeup of a cherry tree in blossom that I took in Washington D.C. I think you just see a solid background if you are reading on mobile though. I can’t figure out why but it looks ok so I’m not going to argue with it.
4. Which has been your favourite blogging experience?

In 2008 I was going to be in LA to be on Jeopardy (end result – I lost big). The mother of one of my blog readers at the time decided to escort me around on a free day I had. She and a friend came and picked me up and showed me around the city and took me to dinner. 

This year I’m going to Book Expo America for the first time. I’m looking forward to that.

Personal Questions


1. If you were an animal, which would you be and why?

I think I would be a whale. I’d be big enough that no one would eat me and I could go see what was going on in the ocean. Maybe I’d be an environmentalist whale and make seals pull sleds of ocean garbage back onto land for people to clean up. Nnedi Okorafor had a pipeline-fighting swordfish in her book Lagoon. That would be my inspiration.


2. What is one superpower you want? What would you do with it?

Teleportation. I’ve thought about this way more often than you’d think. I would love to be able to travel all over the world and be back for work tomorrow so I can afford to eat.


3. Which TV shows or movies do you geek out over?

Doctor Who! I went arranged a whole English vacation in a way to be able to go to Cardiff just to see the Doctor Who Experience. I recently got my husband addicted against his strong objections. He got me a TARDIS nightlight for Valentine’s Day. I also like anything Marvel and Supernatural and any kind of genealogy television show.
~

Thanks for the fun answers, Heather! A TARDIS nightlight is such a cool Valentine’s Day gift! I would love to meet the environmentalist-whale-you. And thanks for going through how you post regularly, I can sure use some of the tips.

13 thoughts on “BBAW Day 2: Interview”

  1. Great post Pirya.

    I went back and read your commentary on Throne of Glass. Vey insightful and a little troubling in regards to the content of the book.

    Spirit was a beautiful horse.

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  4. I wondered where Spirit came from! Heather is such a great blogger and her posts are always so thoughtful. Too funny about the publication year. I don't have to know before reading, but I like to look at some point and agree that it's tough to find with ebooks!!

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  6. I can see you DNF'ing in a heartbeat, funny. Teleporting, now that would be fun. Love the answer of the whale and bringing the ocean garbage back to land for us to deal with, great response.

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  7. That's so interesting about wanting to know the copyright date! Do you tend to read mainly newer books, or is it a jumble of books from all sorts of times?

    My sister went to Cardiff for the Doctor Who thing and I was soooooo jealous! She has all these pictures of herself with Daleks and things. :p

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  9. Teleportation – I'd like to do that but wonder if I'd get teleport-sick – kind of like Harry Potter with the flue powder – LOL!

    You were on Jeopardy? How very cool that seems. This was a fun interview!

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  10. Jenny – I read a lot of older books. I think that is why I want to know the date it was written. Sometimes a book is supposed to be contemporary but the technology is out of date or something just seems off. I have to pretend while I read that it is just really detailed historical fiction!

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  11. What a lovely interview! And Spirit is absolutely beautiful. I would have loved a horse myself.
    I second the teleportation invention, right next to the food replicator. Imagine how much more free time we would have.

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