Stefanie tagged me on the 5 Reasons Why I Blog meme and at this point I’ve seen it going on around the blogosphere and many of you have answered with such thoughtful answers that I don’t know if I can do this justice. I think I’ll be repeating a lot but here it goes.

Some of the first blogs I read were blogs written by illustrators and/or graphic designers. I really enjoyed the way they seemed to infuse creativity in not just their work but their lives. I wanted to do something like that and then it just sort of clicked, I would blog about how books have enriched my life and so my blog started in June 2004. I quickly realized that there was already a growing book blog community and I knew I’d found my place. Some of my first blog must-reads were the wonderful blogs by Stefanie, Susan, and Patricia.

When I started this blog I didn’t think I’d keep it up for such a long time. Really the list of the hobbies I’ve had over the years is crazy. I can’t seem to stick with one but blogging about books is fantastic. Sure, there are times when I think I’ve said it all with regards to books but then a new book is discovered, a bookstore find must be talked about, etc. You know how it goes. So really there is always something to say about books and that keeps me going.

I like to journal. I know I’ve shown you pictures of my journals, I even make journals, and blogging is just another extension of keeping a diary. I’ve journaled about my books before but now it’s so much nicer because I actually get to hear what you have thought of the same books.

It’s a lot of fun. I enjoy doing the memes, taking part in the challenges (even if I don’t finish them) and adding new authors and books to my TBR list. If I ever felt that blogging was becoming a chore then I’d give it up.

Finally, I do it for the community. I get to talk about books with blog friends from all over the world. What’s not to love about that. I dream of one day getting us all together for a big book fest. We could read poetry to one another, go on a bookstore field trip and end the fest with a book swap. You’d come right?

Thank you for the tag Stefanie! If you haven’t done this one yet then consider yourself tagged.

Happy weekend all!