— The Parchment Girl

September 13, 2011 1:40AM By The Parchment Girl

For the BBAW Interview Swap, I was matched with Dee Stewart, the blogger behind Christian Fiction. I asked Dee a few quick questions about her blog . . .

When did you begin your blog? What prompted you to start blogging about books in the first place?

Christian Fiction Blog was created in 2004. At the time I was an entertainment editor for an Atlanta based Christian newspaper. I had interviewed an author about her novel and she introduced me to a genre of literature that was very interesting to me. Unfortunately we didn’t have the space to cover these books in every edition, so I asked my editor in chief if we could place the reviews online. She agreed. So for a while the blog was an online extension of the paper. When the paper shut down I kept the blog.

How does your faith impact how you blog and what you blog about?

By the name and content of the blog you can tell what my faith is. I still believe this type of literature is misunderstood, misinterpreted, and deserves serious discussion.

Name two famous people, living or dead, you would most like to meet and why.

I always wanted to meet Michael Jackson. I was a huge, unwavering fan. His work ethic awed me.

My book fans know I have school girl crush on Shemar Moore. I met him before years ago, but I was a young, silly reporter then. I’m younger now. Still silly. Lol!

If you had to choose three books you think everyone should read, what would they be and why?

Tosca Lee’s Demon: A Memoir. She writes pitch perfect prose and her storytelling is so fantastic, you will not put it down. Moreover, I felt more tied to God.

Shana Burton’s Catt Chasin’ is my book blogger club’s 2011 Read a Book Month pick. Her stories are fun, romantic, relevant to today, and gutsy. It has already been selected as a summer Double Day Book of the Month Club. What I like most is that a plus size woman is the lead.

Miranda Parker’s A Good Excuse to be Bad. For obvious reasons Miranda Parker is my pen name. But also it is a new mainstream hybrid novel. I wanted to use serious fiction literary devices in a contemporary fast paced story.

What are your goals for your blog in the coming year?

I’m redesigning the blog. I will also begin doing USTREAM events and may bring my radio show back. I also want to do some serialized novels or graphic novels for mobile visitors.

Be sure to check out Christian Fiction and leave a comment! You can also follow Dee on Twitter @deegospel.

BBAW Day 1: My Book Blogging Community

September 12, 2011 3:42AM By The Parchment Girl

I’m a research nut. Before I start a new project, I have to learn as much about the subject as possible. If I were trying to start a vegetable garden, I would check out every book the library has about gardening. Then I would click on all 8,280,000 Google results and scour the blogosphere for experts on the topic before beginning. So when I decided to start a book blog, I bought a domain, hired a designer, and spent the six months before the design work started reading every book blog I could find for ideas and inspiration.

I learned a lot from all the blogs I followed, but The Story Siren held the most answers to my technical questions, such as “What the heck is an ARC?” Kristi’s Dear Story Siren feature was especially helpful when I was learning the ropes. Other old hands at the book blogging game who inspired me were Trish at Hey Lady! and the team at 5 Minutes for Books.

MizB at Should Be Reading helped me draw those first few visitors with her community-building memes and Ann, purveyor of Ann’s Reading Corner was the first fellow book blogger to leave a comment just a few days after I launched my blog. Since then, PK Reeves of Aisle B has left more comments than any other visitor and not only that, but she has left the most consistently thoughtful and encouraging comments of any reader, period.

When I started the blog I planned on reviewing mostly Christian living and New York Times bestsellers. I never planned to delve into the world of Christian fiction. In fact, I barely even knew it existed. That all changed thanks to Deborah from Books, Movies, and Chinese Food whose passion for great Christian fiction is truly contagious. There are so many amazing Christian book blogs out there today. Joy from Edgy Inspirational Romance is the funniest, sassiest book blogger out there. I don’t even like to read romance, but I’m thoroughly addicted to her blog. Relz Reviewz is my source for all the latest news in Christian fiction.

For Christian living and nonfiction, I turn to Tim Challies’ brainchild, Discerning Reader, Carpe Libris, or Jennifer’s Blogful of Books for consistently excellent reviews. And when I want to discuss hot topics in Christian publishing, I pay a visit to Mike Duran or Amy Riley, who always challenge me to think outside the box.

There are so many book bloggers out there who have helped me along my journey, but these are the ones that come to mind right now. I hope you’ll discover a new favorite among them and feel free to check out my links page for more terrific blogs!