I love reading blogger interviews. It’s very cool to meet the people behind the blogs. So I decided to start my own feature. Welcome to Phantasmic Friends! If you are interested in being a feature, please fill out the form HERE.
My very first featured blogger is the awesome Ashley from Nose Graze and Creative Whim. Ashley is the creator of the super wonderful Ultimate Book Blogger Plugin. She handled my move from Blogger to WordPress a couple months ago, too. Ashley is super sweet and I wanted to give you all the chance to get to know her a little better!
Help me welcome Ashley, everyone!
Please introduce yourself! Tell us a little (or a lot) about you:
Thank you so much for having me on your blog, Reanna! <3 My name is Ashley and I’m a 22 year old book blogger slash web designer/developer! I’m a bit of a coding nerd, I love video games, and I have an amazing bat-hunting cat named Willow.
How long have you been blogging? What type(s) of books do you blog about?
I’ve been blogging for almost a year and a half now! I blog about almost all kinds of YA and NA books. In particular I focus on contemporary, paranormal, and science fiction, but I’ll read mostly anything as long as it sounds good!
Why did you decide to start?
It started out as a way for me to categorize, index, and keep notes about the books I read. I’ve always loved going through my bookshelves, categorizing them, counting them, alphabetizing them.. then one day, I thought it would be cool to create a blog! Since WordPress blogs are run on a database, I knew I could use all kinds of features to help me categorize them, link them, run queries on them, and share my thoughts about them. This was before I even knew about Goodreads, which basically does all that indexing/archiving stuff for you!
Where are you blogging from?
England! I’m originally from California but I live in England for most of the year.
What’s the best thing about book blogging? And the not so best?
The best thing about book blogging is publishing a post and having tons of people comment, saying they agree with you. Not because I don’t like it when people disagree, but because I LOVE finding like-minded people. I have a serious problem with finding people like me in “real life”… I just can’t do it. I’m seriously incapable of finding awesome book nerds in real life. That’s why I get so happy and excited when people comment on my blog agreeing with what I’m saying, because it makes me feel like PEOPLE LIKE ME DO EXIST OUT THERE!!! And it’s a great feeling.
The not-so-best thing about book blogging is having to e-mail a publisher or author and inform them that you didn’t like a book they gave you. This crushes my soul like you wouldn’t believe. I’m known to hit “Send” on those e-mails and then go hide under my pillows because THEY CAN’T SEE ME THERE!
How do you spend your time outside of blogging and reading?
Web developing and gaming. I’m always doing web projects, trying to make new WordPress themes/plugins, and just messing around. I also play a couple computer games, like Lord of the Rings Online. (I also love God of War but I’ve already gotten all the achievements on all the games so I’m kind of “done” with it, which makes me sad!)
You are responsible for creating one of the most valuable WordPress plugins for book bloggers. Was there any special reason you made the Ultimate Book Blogger plugin, or did it just happen?
Well I had been using almost all of those features on my own blog from day 1. After a while, I started thinking about all the bloggers who were formatting their posts and review indexes manually and it made me cringe! So I thought I could make a plugin that I could distribute to other bloggers so that they could enjoy the same features I was using on my own blog. But I had to recode it completely for the ground up to make it customizable so that it could be suitable for every blogger.
I honestly never imagined that the plugin would be as successful as it is! Every time I visit a blog and see them using my plugin, I get this incredible feeling. I really feel like I’m helping people out and saving them valuable time, which is AMAZING!
What inspired you to start your excellent Bitchin’ Book Blog feature?
I absolutely love all things coding, WordPress, and web design. Before I started my book blog, I kind of tried to make a web design blog but it didn’t work too well and the lack of engagement caused me to lose interest. But then I realized that the people in the book blogging community could be interested about coding, WordPress, and web design, because those topics help enhance their blogs! So I started out by posting tips and tutorials as I thought them up. When I ran out of material, I opened up Bitchin’ Book Blog to questions. Now people can submit their coding/blogging questions and I answer them in my posts!
What’s your guilty pleasure?
Sour Skittles. I seriously have some kind of problem. When I was younger, I used to tape all of my empty Sour Skittles bags up onto my bedroom wall. I didn’t put hot guys or magazine cutouts on my wall.. I put Sour Skittles wrappers up there. I desperately wish I had a photo to show you but I don’t.
Do you prefer ebooks, paperbacks or hardcover? How come?
I used to be strictly a hardcover girl, but now I’m almost strictly ebooks. There are two reasons for this and they both have to do with me living in England most of the year. First, I have a small apartment with EXTREMELY limited storage space! I just don’t have the room to store physical books anymore. Then, I’m often going back and forth between England and California and traveling with physical books is also a nightmare! Also, at the end of each summer, I move out of my apartment and have to put all my belongings in storage. More books = paying more money for more storage space. (Sigh.)
Although I used to hate the idea of ebooks, I turned to them out of necessity. They solve my storage problems and my transporting books problems. After a while, ebooks really grew on me and now I kind of prefer them for reading! I love that I can have a book (Kindle) everywhere I go, and highlighting is so useful!
What are you currently reading, or what did you recently finish?
I just finished Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller. I was a bit of a black sheep and didn’t love it like so many of my friends did.
What was the last book that blew you away?
Maybe One Day by Melissa Kantor! It was fabulous, and honestly, I was so glad to have a HarperCollins book blow me away because lately a lot of their books have been a bit meh. But this one ROCKED! It’s jam packed with so many feels, so have a box of tissues nearby!
What are three things you never leave the house without?
Phone, wallet, and a pen!
What are some of your favorite books?
Pivot Point by Kasie West
Throne of Glass series by Safah J. Maas
Parallel by Lauren Miller
Angelfall by Susan Ee
The Dark Duet series by CJ Roberts
The Selection series by Kiera Cass
If a fairy godmother told you could be put into the world of your favorite book for 24 hours, which book would you pick and why?
I’d pick Insignia by S.J. Kincaid! I’d want to give the virtual reality things a try! I’m a bit of a gamer nerd and it would be so cool to kind of live inside a game for 24 hours, and that’s basically what Insignia is!
If you could have dinner with any three authors, who would you choose and why?
Kasie West! She rocks so hard and I love her and I really want to meet her! I have fun terrorizing her on Twitter, begging for Pivot Point #2.
Marissa Meyer. I met her at a book signing and she was super sweet! She seems like a fun person to hang out with. Plus I feel like she has all kinds of obscure fairy tales in her head and I’d love to hear them (she told one at the book signing).
CJ Roberts. I also met her at an event and she seems like the life of the party. As in: crazy, so much fun, and never EVER boring.
Favorite book from childhood?
Harry Potter, without a doubt!
Is there any advice you’d like to share with fellow bloggers?
Let’s rock this list-style!
Don’t expect giveaway hops to earn you followers. They give you numbers that look good, but not returning subscribers.
Don’t blindly accept all friend requests on Goodreads. If the person has more friends than books, IGNORE! This will save you from so much spam.
Don’t follow anyone and everyone on Twitter for giveaway requirements. I did that when I first started out, now I have a ton of stupid spam in my Twitter feed and it crushes my soul.
WordPress is worth it. Period. (Yes, I’m biased.)
Don’t have internal links (meaning links on your blog that lead to other pages on your blog) open in a new tab. It’s annoying.
Speed Round:
Favorite TV show(s)? Spartacus (season 1 only), Prison Break, and Arrow.
Favorite Movie(s)? The Dark Knight Rises. Talk Bane to me!
Milk, white, or dark chocolate? Funnily enough, you named them in my order from favourite to least favourite!
Dogs or cats? Both! I have a cat who I love to bits and pieces but I want a dog as well some day.
Pie or cake? Cake!
Coffee or tea? Eeww neither. Hot chocolate.
Name a place you’d love to visit someday: I’ve already been there once, but I’d love to go back to Egypt. Fun fact: I took a class to learn how to read Egyptian Hieroglyphics. That failed miserably. (That stuff is HARD!)
If you could have any superpower what would you choose? The ability to fly. Imagine the money I’d save if I didn’t have to constantly buy airplane tickets to fly between England and California!
Thanks for taking the time to visit with us, Ashley! It’s nice getting to know you a little better
Where to find Ashley:
Blog | Creative Whim | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads