BBAW Interview with Cinnamon of A Journey of Books

As part of my attempt to dive deep into the world of book blogging, I went ahead and signed up for an interview partner for Book Blogger Appreciation Week!  I was paired up with the fabulous and amazing Cinnamon from A Journey of Books!  To see a list of all the other interviews, go here (warning: there are hundreds – I kid you not! – so get comfortable!).

And so, without further ado, I present to you, Cinnamon!

Why did you start blogging?

I really started blogging because I got the opportunity to rediscover my love of reading.  With high school, college and then the birth of my daughter, reading kind of took a back burner to the rest of my life.  Near the beginning of 2009 I finally found myself with a bit of spare time on my hands and began burying myself in books.  Of course, once I started reading I needed to share my opinion with someone, so I started the blog as a way of just letting others know what I thought of the wonderful books I had become acquainted with.

Has it been as you expected?

I expected my blog to be just a way for me to get out my thoughts but I was amazed at the show of support from people stopping by to comment on my reviews or just say hi.  Plus, I love giving things to people and being able to hold contest on my blog really made the whole thing so much more exciting for me.  I’m thrilled that I can help other people visit books that I love.

What is the most rewarding part of running/having your blog?

Getting to meet new people and see their opinions on books that we have both read.  I love to see what others think and the things they picked up on that I may not have.  Also, back to the contests.  I love giving stuff away and the blog affords me the perfect opportunity to do that.

What’s the worst part about blogging?

Sometimes it’s the time commitment.  Right now I’m finding myself in a particularly difficult part of my Master’s program so trying to find the time for work, home, school and blogging is getting difficult, but I still manage to do it.

You have so many followers!  Do you work hard at attracting readers to your blog?  Care to share some secrets for the newbies?

Share secrets for newbies?  I am a newbie!  I do work very hard at attracting readers.  Honestly most of my readers have come to my blog from the various contests that I hold.  I give extra points for current readers that enter to award loyalty because it really makes me feel all warm and fuzzy knowing that there are other people out there reading my reviews and other thoughts.  Also, I have to give a shout out to my readers.  A good number of them have been with me from the beginning and the wonderful (and helpful) comments that I receive from them really make my day.

Do you participate in blog memes/awards (e.g. Sunday Salon, Wordless Wednesdays, etc or any of the numerous “blogger awards” that make the rounds)?  Why or why not?

I try to although lately I haven’t been keeping up as well as I should.  I find that with my lack of time currently, getting the reviews and author spotlights up is about as much as I can do.  I certainly wouldn’t want to sacrifice my actual reading time for online time so I had to make some decisions.  When I get time, I do try to participate in The Story Siren’s In My Mailbox.  I also try to do Teaser Tuesday, Waiting on Wednesday, and I do my own UnderCover Friday where I try to feature some amazing book cover that caught my eye that week.

Do you read blogs other than book blogs?  If so, what sort of blogs?

I read a lot of author blogs but outside of that, no.  Again, with my lack of time, book blogs and author blogs are all I have time for.  Plus, when you have so many great blogs out there, I really don’t need to go looking for more.  I could probably be content just staring at the computer and catching up on book blogs and author blogs all day long.

Do your family and friends know about your blogging habit?  If so, what do they think of it?  If not, why not?

It really is a habit, isn’t it.  Or an addiction.  Do you think there’s a twelve step program?  I’m sure my family would recommend one if there was.  Most are pleased with it, some are not.  Some think I devote too much time to it while others are glad that I have a project that I can actually complete (since each post only takes me an hour or less to write).  It’s not like knitting a scarf where I lose interest after a few weeks.

What do you envision for the future of your blog?

I just hope to continue posting my reviews, become acquainted with new and interesting books and above all meeting new and interesting people.  Did I mention how I love my readers?  I do.  They are what really keep my blogging and I hope to continue to offer them quality content.

How do you find your books to review?

Some of them are through the authors, some are through the publishers but a vast majority of the books that catch my eye are through other book bloggers.  That’s what I love about the sport/activity/habit/addiction; I get to learn about books that I normally wouldn’t pick up otherwise.  Some of my favorite books I have discovered through other book bloggers.

Do you review all the books you read?  If not, how do you decide which to review?

I don’t review every book that I read.  I review every book that I have accepted to review although the timing of when the review gets done may vary.  If you offer a book and I accept or I request a book then I feel obligated to give you a fair an honest review.  I don’t, however, review every book that I read from my own personal stash however because I simply don’t have the time.  I do try to get those reviews up as well, but books that I have received hold priority over those.

Do you prefer to keep books once read, or swap, or give away, or what?

I think I have an obsession.  It pains me to give away a book.  Literally pain.  Once, when I was in school, I went away on a trip and my beloved box of books was sold at a garage sale while I wasn’t there.  Admittedly I had not read the books in a while, but I still wish I had those books as there are often times that I would love to pick one of them back up again.  Plus, there were like five series in there.  Collecting series books is hard!  Occasionally I will take a book that I know I won’t read again to the used book store and trade it for something else but this is very rare and only ever happens with a book that personally offends me.  There have been only two books like that in 2009 so it’s not like it happens every day.

Once you start a book, do you absolutely have to finish it?  What’s the biggest reason you might decide not to finish a book?

I don’t absolutely have to finish every book that I start, but I always try to.  As above, if the books offends me, I won’t finish it.  If, however, I don’t just mesh well with a book but I have accepted it for review, I do force myself to finish it so that I can give the author or publisher a fair and honest review.  Sometimes these sorts of books don’t get reviewed for a while because I have to go through the book slowly taking frequent breaks, but eventually they get finished.  Usually it’s my own books that don’t get finished or get finished slowly because the review books become the priority.

What one thing might a reviewer say that would entice you to immediately add that book to your list?

Paranormal.  If that word is associated with the book, you can guarantee I’ll be taking a closer look.  I suppose another thing they might say is that they liked the book for one reason or another and would recommend it.  If it fits with the sorts of books that I like and one of the book bloggers that I follow likes it, I more than likely will give it a shot.

Is there anything (genres, authors…) you refuse to read?

You know, horror terrifies me.  Sometimes I wonder if I couldn’t be an awesome horror writer (probably not) because I have such vivid nightmares.  I am also horribly terrified of the dark.  Super scary books where the whole premise is just to frighten probably aren’t a good idea for me to read.  Also, many inspirational or political books I try not to read simply because I hate disliking a book simply because a difference in opinion.  I only really read books that I know I can do with an open mind, otherwise, I’m not being fare to the author.  Textbooks or anything that resembles something I read in college is also strictly a no-no.  I still have nightmares of having to repeat my undergrad studies.

What book(s) (or other reading-type-thing, like fanfic for me) is your guilty pleasure?

Hmmm, good question.  Young Adult Fantasy/Paranormal.  I say guilty pleasure because I’m an adult and anymore we’re not supposed to be reading YA.  Preposterous, I know.  Plus, my peers tend to make fun of me when I shop in the YA section.  Still, some of the best books and my favorite books are YA (The Last Vampire series by Christopher Pike).

Have your tastes changed since you’ve started blogging?

Not really.  I read more genres now than I would have before, but I still love Paranormals and Paranormal Romances the most.

Do you find yourself reading more, less, or about the same than pre-blog, now that there’s the extra pressure to post reviews?

Reading much more than pre-blog because of the books that I accept and the deadlines that I impose on my self.

Do you have any reading quirks/habits/rituals?

Oh, good question.  I make my husband drive to and from work (we work in the buildings next to each other) so that I can use the time to read.  I also find myself constantly in an internal debate between reading and homework.  My husband says he’s heard my audibly argue with myself.  As far as rituals, give me chocolate and a comfy spot to read and we are good.

What is your favorite book from the past year? Ever?

My favorite book ever is a toss up between Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Christopher Pike’s The Last Vampire series.  My favorite book this year is definitely Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer.

What one book would you suggest to someone who claims they don’t like to read?

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer.  Romance, action, adventure.  My husband hates to read and I think he’d love it.

Is there any book (or author) that you have always intended to read (and perhaps have on your shelf right now!) but never actually gotten around to?

Christine Feehan and Kelly Armstrong.  Those books sit and stare at me every day and yet review books always end up coming first.  Some day dear books, some day.

What do you do when you’re not reading or blogging?

Take care of my husband and toddler, work on my MBA program, and do actual work work.  It’s not glamorous, but then it can’t always be.

Do you harbor a dream to be a writer someday (or perhaps are one now?)?

It’d be nice.  I have authors as family members, but we’ll see.  The market is so competitive now and I tend to have a fairly defeatist attitude.

Who or what inspires you?

Great stories inspire me.  Truthfully.  A great story can keep me going throughout the week.  All I do is close my eyes for a second, imagine the story and my mood lifts.  Suddenly the world seems like so much more of a pleasant place.

Thank you so much!

In Which I Have Cabin Fever

Sing with me!  We got cabin fever!  We got cabin fever!

Well, it’s not actually fun as all that.  Hélas!

It wasn’t very long ago that I was totally loving being back at school, swearing I never wanted to leave.  Just yesterday, in fact!

But today?

Today I’ve been chomping at the bit, feeling claustrophobic and tied up.  Classes and work are fine (probably since I’m engaged and actively accomplishing stuff), it’s just my “off” time that is feeling so grating.

Normally, I’m a total homebody, loving routine and comfort.  But every once in a while, I get this bug.

This bug that screams “GET ME OUT OF HERE!”

This bug that makes me push my friends away because I can’t stand to have anyone even stand near me, let alone try to make inane, daily conversation.

This bug that drives me out of my room to the library at 10 o’clock at night, just to escape the walls that are closing in.

This bug that makes me want to just say, “eff it all, I just don’t care anymore”.

I’m pretty sure I’m feeling this way because I have so much work to do on my thesis, and I just can’t seem to get started.  I tried this morning, and it took me an hour to get three sentences written.  Granted, that’s at least something, but in the long run?  Nada.

The obvious answer is just to sit down an DO IT, but I am almost at the hair-pulling-out, ranting-and-raving-like-a-lunatic-at-the-top-of-my-lungs, sobbing-like-a-maniac stage.

I know I just need to take it in chunks.

I know I just need to sit down and write, and if it’s crap, who cares?  At least it’s something to start with.

I know that I’m making it worse for myself.

But I’m stuck.

And open to suggestions?  Please?

Review: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Title: I Capture the Castle
Author: Dodie Smith
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Genre: General Fiction, YA, Historical Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5!

From the back cover:

I Capture the Castle tells the story of seventeen-year-old Cassandra and her family, who live in not-so-genteel poverty in a ramshackle old English castle.  Here she strives, over six turbulant months, to hone her writing skills.  She fills three notebooks with sharply funny yet poignant entries.  Her journals candidly chronicle the great changed that take place within the castle’s walls, and her own first descent into love.  By the time she pens her final entry, she has “captured the castle”–and the heart of the reader–in one of literature’s most enchanting entertainments.

I can’t remember how I originally came across I Capture the Castle.  I believe I picked it up randomly at my library’s book sale one year, and it sounded like the perfect book for me, what with the setting being a castle and all!  And I am so happy I did!

I normally am not a huge fan of first-person narration, but Cassandra’s voice is so strong that it works beautifully here!  I found myslef relating strongly to Cassandra in many ways and simply falling in love with her style of prose, which is at once both carefully thought-out and completely in the moment.  You can’t help but be drawn in by the story and the characters, who become like friends by the end of the novel.  This is definitely a book I plan to read over and over.

I loved the setting of the book, in a drafty old castle in the English countryside.  It is romantic, but also very real, as it is Cassandra’s home.  I must admit, though, despite the obvious problems associated with living in a run-down castle, this book did nothing to assuage my desire to live in a castle someday…  I know, I’m  a totally hopeless romantic.

Now, I classified this book above as being YA and historical fiction, but I feel I should explain a few things in case these seem off-putting to anyone.  It’s YA  because it is definitely a coming-of-age story told by a teenager, but I feel that adults would enjoy it as well, as with many YA books.  I also called it historical fiction because it is set in the 1930s.  It was written in the 1940s, so it wasn’t really historical fiction then, but I wanted to at least give you the reminder that it is set over 70 years ago, which seems historical to me!

With that being said, however, I think that anyone would enjoy I Capture the Castle, regardless of the types of books you “generally” read.

Also, there is a movie based on this book, but I haven’t seen it – have you?  Is it worth seeing?  Or does it completely destroy the book, as so many Hollywood adaptions do?  I can’t possibly see how they would adapt this book into a movie, but if it’s any good, perhaps I’ll give it a go…

Review: Picnic, Lightning by Billy Collins

Title: Picnic, Lightning
Author: Billy Collins (U.S. Poet Laureate)
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Genre: Poetry
Rating: can’t rate poetry

As I mentioned before, this semester I am taking a class in which we will be assisting with the editorial process of a literary magazine, which happens to focus a good deal on poetry.  Except I don’t really do poetry (except in Latin).  I’ve never fallen in love with a poem or had the desire to write it, or anything like that.  So I complained about it a bit to my academic advisor the other day, of course more highlighting it as a “challenge” than a pain-in-the-rear.  And he leaps out of his chair, runs to a bookshelf in his office, grabs a few books off the shelf, and settles back in his chair to read me some of his favorite poetry.  When finished, he hands me one of the books and tells me to just read it.  So I did.

And guess what?  It wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be.  (Trust me, this is fairly high praise from me!)

Billy Collins was the U.S. Poet Laureate from 2001 to 2003, so of course he must have some merit.  His poetry isn’t all existential or lovey-dovey or anything totally out there (or rather, this book of his poetry isn’t).  I liked that many of the poems simply told a story, but in a poetical manner, with certain turns of phrase or observations that elevate it.  I loved the humor that many of the poems were infused with, especially since humor and poetry don’t usually go hand-in-hand in my mind.

Unlike a fiction or non-fiction book, I’m not really sure how to properly review poetry.  So suffice to say, I liked this collection, and appreciated the fact that every once in a while, I’d come across something that would actually make me stop and think.  And I suppose you might say that Poetry, Lightning has helped chisel away my dislike for poetry in general.  I suppose you just have to find a type of poetry that works for you.  So perhaps that is my goal for this semester.

With that being said, here is my favorite poem from this collection:

Marginalia, by Billy Collins

Sometimes the notes are ferocious,
skirmishes against the author
raging along the borders of every page
in tiny black script.
If I could just get my hands on you,
Kierkegaard, or Conor Cruise O’Brien,
they seem to say,
I would bolt the door and beat some logic into your head.

Other comments are more offhand, dismissive -
“Nonsense.” “Please!” “HA!!” -
that kind of thing.
I remember once looking up from my reading,
my thumb as a bookmark,
trying to imagine what the person must look like
why wrote “Don’t be a ninny”
alongside a paragraph in The Life of Emily Dickinson.

Students are more modest
needing to leave only their splayed footprints
along the shore of the page.
One scrawls “Metaphor” next to a stanza of Eliot’s.
Another notes the presence of “Irony”
fifty times outside the paragraphs of A Modest Proposal.

Or they are fans who cheer from the empty bleachers,
Hands cupped around their mouths.
“Absolutely,” they shout
to Duns Scotus and James Baldwin.
“Yes.” “Bull’s-eye.” “My man!”
Check marks, asterisks, and exclamation points
rain down along the sidelines.

And if you have managed to graduate from college
without ever having written “Man vs. Nature”
in a margin, perhaps now
is the time to take one step forward.

We have all seized the white perimeter as our own
and reached for a pen if only to show
we did not just laze in an armchair turning pages;
we pressed a thought into the wayside,
planted an impression along the verge.

Even Irish monks in their cold scriptoria
jotted along the borders of the Gospels
brief asides about the pains of copying,
a bird signing near their window,
or the sunlight that illuminated their page-
anonymous men catching a ride into the future
on a vessel more lasting than themselves.

And you have not read Joshua Reynolds,
they say, until you have read him
enwreathed with Blake’s furious scribbling.

Yet the one I think of most often,
the one that dangles from me like a locket,
was written in the copy of Catcher in the Rye
I borrowed from the local library
one slow, hot summer.
I was just beginning high school then,
reading books on a davenport in my parents’ living room,
and I cannot tell you
how vastly my loneliness was deepened,
how poignant and amplified the world before me seemed,
when I found on one page

A few greasy looking smears
and next to them, written in soft pencil-
by a beautiful girl, I could tell,
whom I would never meet-
“Pardon the egg salad stains, but I’m in love.”

In Which It’s the Beginning of the End

Today was the first day of classes for my senior year of college, and boy was it exhausting – but in a totally amazing way!

First, I had a communications seminar that is applicable to my major since the professor’s interests and mines align really well.  I had this professor last semester, and he’s one of the few professors that I’ve felt comfortable chatting with right off the bat (I’m kinda shy…).  Anyway, this semester, the class is much smaller (like 8 people!) and so he’s planning on making it almost like a graduate school seminar for those of us who are thinking about grad school, which he knows I am and has been actively encouraging me towards.  So I’m really excited for this opportunity, and of course the class topics align with my interests, so I’m practically ecstatic to discuss them with others after a whole summer of solitary research!  Plus, there is going to be a lot of writing and engaging with the texts we read, which is one of my goals for this semester anyway, so it is going to be amazing!!!

Immediately after this amazing class, I had a microeconomics class, which is Econ 101 here.  I’m taking it for three reasons: 1) my father wants me to, and he pays the bills 2) it satisfies the last general education requirement I have left and 3) I have finally accepted that I should take a few business classes before I leave college and enter the ‘real world’…  Unfortunately, though the professor seems nice enough, it looks like the class might proceed slowly, seeing as how he appears given to tangents…

Finally, in the late afternoon, I had an English class with my roommate about literary editing and publishing.  About 5 minutes into this class I was so giddy it’s slightly ridiculous!  I had been unsure about this class because I had had the professor before and felt only lukewarm towards him, and still am, but this class is going to be one of the most amazing, though perhaps most challenging, classes I will ever take.  Basically, the professor is the head editor for a literary magazine that has both print and online editions, so we will be reading submissions for him, and basically using class as editorial meetings for this journal, and we will actually be able to influence what goes into the magazine, both online and off.  In addition, we will be writing either two book reviews or a longer essay or interview, which can be revised multiple times in order to potentially be published in this magazine!

Finally, and this is the part that really made me want to jump out of my seat and dance around hysterically, we have to create our own online literary magazine!  We need to come up with the name, the site, solicit submissions from friends, family, and/or even authors we don’t know!  And by the end of it, we need to have at least one issue of our magazine published online.  And of course, it’s entirely possible to continue working on it after the class is over, especially since the first issue is always the hardest!  I! Am! So! Freaking! Excited!!!

So all in all, a fairly auspicious start to my final year in college.  I cannot wait to see what the coming weeks bring!

:insert totally inelegant squeals of excitement here:

Fanfiction Friday: “Stone Dragon” by gravidy

Title: Stone Dragon
Author: gravidy
Story URL: http://community.livejournal.com/dmhgficexchange/306299.html
Content Rating: R, more for violence than anything else, but it’s not gratuitous.
Ships: DM/HG, RW/HG (note: this is not the normal romance-type story that is found in fanfic. It is much larger than that)

Author’s Summary: Sometimes there are no right decisions. There are only actions and consequences. Hermione’s only choice now is who to betray.

Review:

This fic absolutely blew me away.  It is unlike anything I have ever read before, either in the HP fanfic world, or outside.  It is an intense vision of the world J.K. Rowling created, far darker, but just as believable and understandable.  It is so original that I am simply in awe of the author’s skill.

And that was just my initial impressions.  Just thinking about it now, I can’t believe how fantastic this fic is.

To delve a bit deeper into the plot, it takes place with Harry, Hermione, and Ron are all in their fifties.  The story in DH compliant, but it will challenge all your assumptions about the wizarding world.  Harry is dying for reasons unknown, and Hermione is determined to find a cure, leading her down dark paths, all the while struggling internally.

As I mentioned before, this fic will challenge your world view (of the HP world, that is).  Which is a hard thing, but absolutely a good thing.  I don’t want to give anything away here, but this story really makes you think about your assumptions, and why you think the way you do.  Just because something appears a certain way on the top, there are always layers of understanding.  Nothing is ever as black and white as it may seem.

Most fiction creates a world in which there are absolutes, with a hero and a villian.  And J.K. Rowling’s universe is no different.  But gravidy’s is.  There are so many layers of grey here that you may think you are going colorblind.  Which is yet another reason this is such a fantastic story.  Only in the hands of such a masterful storyteller would any of this work, and be convincing, though it certainly throws much in the face of canon.  Except it doesn’t, because it absolutely fits.  We just wish it weren’t so.

And I’m going to stop talking so I don’t give anything away.  Just go read it and hurry back to tell me what you think!

Lessons of Me

Since returning to school, I have had a bit of time to do some self-reflections, and I am yet again amazed at how much I love being at school.  I mean, every summer (and Christmas break!) since I arrived at college has been spent with me wanting to be back at school so much, and then when I finally return, I am happier than I could ever imagine!

Some people have suggested that it’s because el boyo is here, but it really isn’t that (sorry!).

I just love learning.

I love discussing things with others, whether they be peers, or authority figures, or high schoolers.

And college is the only place that I can think of where that is truly, purely, possible.  You can have a conversation with anyone about anything, and you can actually learn something new every single day.  And it’s not just about one topic, but rather every topic you can imagine, and many that you cannot.

And the people!  Oh, the people.

I have spent the last couple of days with people that have never really met me before, and they all think me an extrovert, even though I am most definitely an introvert in the vast majority of situations.  But here at school, I am a senior, and therefore pretty much know what is going on, and I just have this fantastic confidence thing going on that I have never really seen so fully in myself before.  And it enables me to talk to people so much more than I would in any other situation.  And so I meet people, I learn things, and it is amazing!

The only slight problem is that I still am very much an introvert, and therefore am unsure of how to continue such things outside these situations.  Anyone have any suggestions?

Anyway, another slight problem is that I simply love discussing academic type things, and have approximately zero use for the celebrity gossip and other such nonsense that generally fills the silences.  And I know others want to relax and talk about other things, but this is my way of relaxing.  And I think I’ve found a few people who are sort of like that, but not really.  And so it’s hard to keep talking when they feel the academic discussions have been fully covered.

And I’m rambling again, as I tend to do when I get excited about a topic…

So I am left yet again with searching for a path to follow post-graduation that will allow me to continue to be around other intelligent, amazing people, who think that chatting about academic things is fun.  Except I don’t want to be cornered into just one area of study/interest.  Any suggestions?

What a Ride!

As some of you may know, I moved back to school on Saturday night, ready to help out with a new pre-orientation program for freshmen, which is why I’ve been awol on the internet since then!  And it was amazing!

I had no idea what to expect, since I had never heard of the program before (I was roped in through another job I had), and basically only agreed to it because I wanted to be back at school as soon as possible.  But now I am so happy I did it, and wish (not for the first nor last time!) that I didn’t have to graduate in 8 short months…

Basically, the program has about 100 freshmen enrolled in one of 9 different classes, each taught by the students’ academic advisor.  And then we do a bunch of other fun stuff, like scavenger hunts and a cruise down the local river.  My job was to make sure the kids got to classes on time, and help out with anything they might need, since their resident assistants were still in training most of the time.

While I didn’t get to know as many of the freshmen as I would have liked, I did become really close friends with the other student assistants, as well as the two women who were running the program, not to mention the professors that were teaching the classes.

There are so many amazing people on this campus, and I’m finally getting the hang of this networking thing, so I really think I need to start over again at freshmen year, and then I’d really be able to make something out of this education!  But I guess making the best of this year will have to suffice…

Are there any lessons you feel you learned almost too late (or too late?) to actually apply them?

Book Blogger Appreciation Week Meme

Though I was blogging this time last year, I hadn’t yet wandered into the realm of Book Blogging, so this is my first year learning about Book Blogger Appreciation Week, started by the fabulous My Friend Amy!  So here are my answers to the meme questions, and I look forward to reading everyone else’s!

1)  What has been one of the highlights of blogging for you?

• I got into blogging because I am an information junkie, and love reading anything I can get my hands on, which is why I am currently subscribed to a couple hundred blogs, and yet still on the lookout for more!  I started blogging in response to this, as a way to get my voice out there, to get myself writing about all these things that were swirling through my head, and hopefully chat about them with others.  I’m definitely still working on actually accomplishing all of that, but blogging is so rewarding simple because it allows me to speak my mind and discuss so many things that might otherwise fall to the wayside!

2)  What blogger has helped you out with your blog by answering questions, linking to you, or inspiring you?

• No one specific jumps to mind currently since I fear I am not very good at reaching out to others for help or links or anything of the sort – though I’m working on it, I promise!  Hopefully, I’ll be able to answer this in a month or so…

3)  What one question do you have about BBAW that someone who participated last year could answer?

• How do you keep up with all the crazyness that surrounds BBAW?  I mean, at the time of this posting, there are already 93 responses to this meme – how do you catch up?!

Though this isn’t officially part of the meme, I must say that, though BBAW is officially still a month away, I have already found some new favorite blogs and am so totally looking forward to the coming month of celebrations, if you will (and please excuse the total valley-girl-esque-ness of that sentence!)