Love-A-Thon: Letter To Self

Challenge #4 on this Book Blogging Love Day is a writing a letter to yourself. The prompt explains  that this can be either (if you've been a blogger for a while) to your younger-blogging self or (if you're new to blogging) a letter to your future blogging self. 

As usual, I can't be cooperative and am going to settle somewhere in the middle with my letter, as I've been blogging for a while, but have only recently set my tone towards bookish things. I mean, I still do a whole lot of random with my posts, but books are totally at the heart of things these days. 

So, here we go:

Dearest Courtney,

Hi!

You've been a reader all your life. From reciting Go! Dog! Go! from memory at a tender young age, to those late nights in elementary school where you hid under to covers with a flashlight and the latest Goosebumps! (or other assorted) book to keep you company until you fell asleep, or to you in Grad School over in Budapest where a fantasy/fiction/whatever novel could transport you home in an instant. Book have always been so much a part of who you are and, from what I can tell today, who you will always be. 

Books bring you to places you've never visited and they give you a reason to mark those places as to get to someday. Yes, even those places which only exist within the pages of that book. Books bring you happiness on the saddest of days. They provide love in the midst of heartache or revenge/justice in the midst of heartbreak. They tear you down and build you back up again. They provide entertainment when boredom strikes and help pass away the hours when time seems to be moving to slow. They trap memories between their pages so that when you think about a book you think about who you were when you first read it just as much as where you were. Books can be and will be and are everything. 

So, bringing your blog around to books? 

It was inevitable. 

Because what more is a blog than a representation of yourself? And books? Book are so much a part of you. What you pick up to read at a certain time says as much about you as the song you chose to play, the friend you chose to call, or the words you chose to say. What books you revisit year after year tell a story of your heart of hearts. They all weave together into the tapestry of who you are - inside and out. 

Sure, it's easy to say I wish you had done it earlier. That you had started reviewing books on here in earnest long ago and got your feet wet in this community faster. But, things move how they're supposed to move. You got around to it and that's all that really matters, right? 

But what now? Where do we go from here?

Here's what I'd like to see at some point in the future, whenever you can get around to making it happen. I'd love for you to give more commitment and interaction in this loving and supportive community. Because these people? They're awesome. They love books. You love books. It's really a no-brainer. I'd also like you to develop a more structured system of reviews. Yours are pretty awesome right now. I love that your voice gets heard throughout and you get every point across pretty well. And I do want to avoid making them so structured that they become clinical. Because if we're anything, we're not boring. But, some sort of method of making one review comparable to another would be nice. I'd also like to see you get some more ARC's. Because, well, that's just really, really cool. And we're cool, right? So we should get on that.

That's not too tough, right? Or too much to ask? I hope not, because I think you can do it all so well.

In closing: read more classics, don't ever apologize or make excuses for whatever book you're currently reading (so what if you're reading some kid's book or Harry Potter for the 30th time? you're reading, and that's what matters anyone who says otherwise isn't worth the argument), don't be afraid to finish a series, and don't forget to floss (your dentist will forever be happy with you). 

Always and Forever,

Courtney

PS. I'm pretty sure you'll succumb to the e-Reader phase soon. I know it will be to read those ARC's on something other than your phone (which, I understand, is almost as painful as gouging your eyes out with spoons). Try not to be too disappointed in yourself for that. I know you have sworn off (multiple times) anything that isn't paper in hand, but sometimes you have to do things in order to protect your eyes from squinting at your phone for extra hours of the day. Just, please, make sure you keep buying real books. Your future library will thank you for that.  Plus, they smell better than a tablet.