Book Blogger Resources: Writing That Book Review When You Feel Out of Your Depth (and Out of Experience)

I know: writing book reviews can be really difficult.

That’s why, mid-2019, I put together a Book Blogger Resource post offering 63 book reviewing prompts to help book bloggers write book reviews that they found challenging. I suppose I’m not the only one who struggles to write book reviews, because my book review prompts post is one of my highest viewed posts at The Quiet Pond. Today though, I want to get a little more specific and offer some guidance on writing book reviews when you feel a little out of depth.

Book Blogger Resources: How I Revamped The Quiet Pond (and My Tips For Your Next Blog Revamp)

Recently, I revamped The Quiet Pond and gave my book blog a fresh look. In the past, my revamps were always a haphazard process – I changed things here and there and just hoped for the best. With this revamp, however, I took the time to plan my revamp – and I’ve never felt so happy with how my book blog looks.

To be honest, I am really proud of this recent revamp. I put a lot of thought, care, and effort into this revamp, and I’m hoping that I won’t have to revamp for another two years (Did you know that The Quiet Pond is two years old and has already been through three revamps?!)

I wanted to do a ‘behind the scenes’ sort of post, so today, I’m sharing with you all my process The Quiet Pond‘s latest revamp – one that I’m really proud of! – and also, along the way, offer some advice for those of you out there who want to revamp their blogs as well.

Our Friend is Here! Pride Month Edition – A Discussion with Kait, Book Blogger behind Kaitlyn’s Cozy Reading Corner; My Journey Through Queerness (Or: Kait Decides to Ramble for 3,000 Words)

Our Friend is Here! is a guest feature at The Quiet Pond, where authors, creatives, and fellow readers, are invited to ‘visit’ the Pond! In Our Friend is Here! guest posts, our visitors (as their very own unique character!) have a friendly conversation about anything related to books or being a reader — and become friends with Xiaolong and friends.

Pride Month is a month-long event at The Quiet Pond, where during the month of June, queer authors and bookish content creators are invited to celebrate being queer, queer books, and their experiences of being a queer reader. Find the introduction post for Pride Month at The Quiet Pond here.

Throughout our Pride Month series at the Pond, we have had the honour and privilege to share so many people’s stories about their queer experiences and their varied feelings about what it means to be ‘queer’. A theme we have seen in these stories that we’ve been lucky to share with you all is that how people come into their queer identities is not a straight line – it can be a complicated mess, one where people go back and forth, and may even take time to figure out.

Our Friend is Here! Pride Month Edition – A Discussion with Em, Book Blogger Behind Em’s Bookish Musings; Being Aro-Ace and Yoruba Muslim

Our Friend is Here! is a guest feature at The Quiet Pond, where authors, creatives, and fellow readers, are invited to ‘visit’ the Pond! In Our Friend is Here! guest posts, our visitors (as their very own unique character!) have a friendly conversation about anything related to books or being a reader — and become friends with Xiaolong and friends.

Pride Month is a month-long event at The Quiet Pond, where during the month of June, queer authors and bookish content creators are invited to celebrate being queer, queer books, and their experiences of being a queer reader. Find the introduction post for Pride Month at The Quiet Pond here.

During our Pride Month post, we have had the honour of having some of our guests talk about how their queer identity intersects with their religious identities. For instance, our first guest Fadwa talked about her experience of being both queer and muslim (and how that was not a contradiction) and we have also had Nicole, who talked about how her Christian upbringing shaped her journey into bisexuality. I feel incredibly honoured to have guests put their hand up to collaborate with me for Pride Month and to share something that is deeply personal. Today, we have another guest who is going to talk about her own experiences.

Our Friend is Here! Pride Month Edition – A Discussion with Carolina, Book Blogger; The Weight of Being ‘Out and Proud’: How Trans Books Helped Me Feel Validated

Our Friend is Here! is a guest feature at The Quiet Pond, where authors, creatives, and fellow readers, are invited to ‘visit’ the Pond! In Our Friend is Here! guest posts, our visitors (as their very own unique character!) have a friendly conversation about anything related to books or being a reader — and become friends with Xiaolong and friends.

Pride Month is a month-long event at The Quiet Pond, where during the month of June, queer authors and bookish content creators are invited to celebrate being queer, queer books, and their experiences of being a queer reader. Find the introduction post for Pride Month at The Quiet Pond here.

As a queer woman of colour, something that I’ve reflected on a lot is the burden that queer people of colour feel to ‘perform’ their queer identities. There is so much pressure to express queerness in ways that are highly visible, and for queer people of colour, when queer spaces are predominantly occupied by white people, it can be a heavy weight to bear.