This article was inspired by the Let’s Talk Bookish topic hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books and Dani @ Literary Lion and this week May 21-27, 2021, suggested by Rukky:

How do you create bookish content?

Examples of questions you can answer: “What’s your posting process? Do you write posts based on spontaneous ideas or do you follow a schedule of topics? How do you decide what and what not to post (maybe you feel like some things are too controversial or “out of date”)? Do you tailor your posts based on reader interaction/views, or do you just focus on what you want to talk about?”

Disclaimer:

These are my personal opinions. I do not expect anyone to agree with anything here, and in fact, I’m certain that many will disagree and/or even hate many of the things I’ve written below. Sorry about that, but you are always welcome to express your own opinions – be they contrary or comparable – in the comments section below. With that out of the way…

What is your posting process? Do you write posts based on spontaneous ideas or do you follow a schedule of topics?

Well, for things like these discussion posts, I like to post them on Sundays because of the semi-alliteration of my hashtag #DiscussionSunday! Yeah, I mean it. Seriously. If I don’t have some discussion topic for a Sunday, I look to see if I’ve got any short stories or novellas to review, because #ShortStorySunday! (Okay, you already know that I’m a poet, so…). When none of those work, I try to do a #SixForSunday post instead (hey, this time I didn’t think of it, so…).

I like to reserve Fridays (#FictionFriday and #FridayFiction) for book reviews, unless I am able to post the review to coincide with the release date of that novel. That means that the rest of the week is essentially wide open! Since I like to post three times a week, that’s usually Tuesday or Wednesday. Mind you, I have a strict rule of ALWAYS posting a new #6Degrees of Separation post on the first Saturday of every month, and the Thursday before that, I put up my link party for #ThrowbackThursday, so this sometimes puts me off my schedule. See, I don’t like posting one day after another (I don’t want my followers to get sick of seeing my posts each.and.every.day). After those, I try to post on the following Monday and Wednesday, so I’m back on track by the next Friday. That’s when I mostly post my published poetry, but pretty soon I’m going to deplete that resource. I also try to use those days for my #CountdownQuestions alternative author interviews, if I have any. Does all that make sense? Doesn’t sound very spontaneous, does it?

How do you decide what and what not to post (maybe you feel like some things are too controversial or “out of date”)?

Hm… I’ve never thought about this. To be honest, since I don’t write posts on religion or politics, I can’t see how things I might want to write about could be “too controversial.” I mean, I have that disclaimer above, which also means that I don’t mind if people disagree with me (as long as they’re civil). I’m sure some topics are hotter than others depending on what’s going on in current events. But when I don’t write about those, it seems to me that most other bookish topics are pretty much evergreen, and wouldn’t go out of date quickly. I mean, stuff like what I like or dislike in a book cover, a well-worn trope, or a trend I see, for example, might change as I get older and read more, but the ideas behind them are always relevant, no? Well, I think so!

Do you tailor your posts based on reader interaction/views, or do you just focus on what you want to talk about?

I’m often inspired by other bloggers’ discussion posts, but I won’t write about something that doesn’t interest me. I actually started a #DNF Friday series where I write a “non-review” of books to explain why I couldn’t finish reading them (when I haven’t got a book to review). That was a suggestion from a comment I got on this blog. I’m also thinking about doing a series of blog posts to review books I read before I started blogging as well as for books about which I never got around to writing reviews. The idea for that came from the amazing Malka and Chana @ Paper Procrastinators, and their post “To All the Books I Haven’t Reviewed.” I just need to figure out a good hashtag for it, as well as a pleasingly appropriate weekday for posting them!

Other than that, if something like a Top Ten Tuesday or one of these topics isn’t my thing, I’ll look for, or think up something else. If I can’t find a topic of discussion, and I don’t have anything to review, well… I have a few memes/book tags/lists with bookish questions that I could throw together if I’m floundering around for something to put into a post. So if you think about it, I am open to suggestion, but I mostly focus on what I want to talk about.

So… what do you say?

How do you create bookish content for your blog?

This post is my 6th entry for the 2021 Discussion Challenge, hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight!

Their sign-up post for 2021 can be found here (please consider this my sign-up post).

Their May 2021 Link Up page and Giveaway can be found here.