Meet Chloe, she is the blogger behind Book Dragons: A Book a Day Keeps Reality Away

1. Hello Chloe, please introduce yourself and tell us about your blog?

Hey, I’m Chloe or Clo, I go by both and I run the blog Book Dragons 😊 My blog is primarily home to a bunch of discussion posts, ranging from bookish topics to blogging topics and topics to do with society. I also post reviews when I eventually get round to writing them, procrastination is my talent. I live in England, UK and I’m a tea drinker so often I’ll be found with a cuppa near me.

2. What was the deciding factor that made you go “Yes I am doing this, I’m starting my own blog!” ? Are you passionate about what you post on your blog?

Being an only child, and living in a village, where there’s no public transport. I sort of get lonely at times. Books made me feel less alone. But obviously there’s only so much you can take from the feels, before you explode and need to fangirl with someone. I have a best friend who’s also a bookworm, but we don’t get to see each other as much as we’d like. At the time I decided to start my blog, it was summer, I’d finished my GCSE’s and it was a new chapter to my life—so I thought I may as well start a blog, I have nothing to lose and a lot to gain 😊.

It also turns out blogging helps me with my college course that I’m currently studying, which is Graphic Design, so the graphics on my blog are all designed by yours truly *chuckles*

3. How would you describe your blogging style and persona? How meticulous are you, when it comes to the conceptualization up to the execution of your ideas?

My style is a bit weird I suppose in terms of how I write the content like *waves* I use asterisks to almost show what I’d do if I were saying it in person. As I’ve been writing since I was 11, I already developed my voice a while back so like, my blog is my word dump from my brain a touch of editing and voila we have a post done. In terms of the whole execution of my ideas, it varies, usually I tend to write a batch of posts in one go, but then I’m used to sitting and writing for long periods of time without moving.

My blog as a whole is pretty cartoon-y in style due to my graphics but I like that style, it’s me developing my own style through graphics.  

4. What do you want and hope your readers to take from the content you share?   

I hope they can find content that resonates with them, that makes them think about things and also that they can enjoy it. Whilst I post a ton of discussion posts, they range from being light hearted with my sarcasm interjected whilst being informative to some who may not read. To being informative and me giving some advice on what I may have learned…to me just being really opinionated and wanting to share my opinion on topics and hear others opinions.

I really love hearing other people’s opinions, because it challenges our own usually, it helps us grow as a person and I mean I’m 17. I’ve barely lived, despite living many lives through books. It’s always nice for me to hear others thoughts and opinions from all over the world, different backgrounds, ages etc.

5. What is your blogging mojo? How do you stay inspired and motivated to continue running your blog?

Lots of tea. Regular breaks to cry over why I have writers block….

Ok seriously though, I don’t know how exactly. I guess I just have stuff I want to chat about really, I’m also a writer so I do write stories, poetry and lyrics. There’s always a story to be told. Maybe it’s already been told a thousand times like those love songs, but there’s always room for a new perspective right? I just like sharing my thoughts, and having a voice. But I do still get writer’s block—it sucks, but my advice is to write through it. It’ll get easier, and you may just delete everything you wrote but at least you wrote something 😊.

6. What is your long-term goal/plan for your blog?

The future…is pretty terrifying. I mean I love my blog, it’s a part of who I am now, and I’ve made so many amazing friends thanks to the community. I know it’ll always be around and you’ll all probably get sick of me when I’m like 70 and technology’s advanced beyond recognition but us bloggers are still here, blogging away to our hearts content. I guess, my plan is to always keep it alive. For it to accompany throughout my life, as I face new challenges, grow as a person and allow my content to grow and change with me.

7. Who is your favourite marginalized main character? It doesn’t have to be from a book, it could also be from a movie, tv series, games, comics etc. Why is this character your favourite? Marginalization is the process whereby something or someone is pushed to the edge of a group and accorded lesser importance. This is predominantly a social phenomenon by which a minority or sub-group is excluded, and their needs or desires ignored. A marginalized person can be people of colour, the disabled, mentally ill, the lgbt+ community etc.

Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo, Kaz because he has a limp, it’s not there to move the plot in anyway it’s a part of who he is. And probably Inej, she’s coloured and badass 🙂 gotta love the badass girls.

8. It is important that marginalized people are given platforms to shine and bring awareness to their movements and plights. If you believe so, why is it important to you?

Bluntly I’m a white girl who lives in England, and reading is one of the ways I can see what life is like for others. I always knew there were people of different colour from me, and that was fine, like you can be purple and still be human. We are all human, we all have emotions and yet some of us who are in a minority group, get penalised for it.

Books are a way for the minority to be given a voice, to be allowed to take that stage and tell their story. To shake up those, like me I guess, who to an extent live in a bubble. I also have this need to learn more about other people, to understand their thought process and what makes them tick. Particularly in the case of mental health, and LGBT+ I have a ton to still learn about the community. Despite me being a part of it, I guess I just find having to label who you’re attracted to totally backwards. So like, whilst I am within a minority group I’m also not? But I’ve yet to find a book which resonates with that part of me, hopefully someday I’ll find one which hits me so hard and understands me. Until then, I’m happy to learn about what it’s like for other minority groups.

9. It is crucial that in whatever we do, we should always strive for both equity & equality, what advice can you part with, when it comes to using our platforms to give a voice to the marginalized?

I think it’s important to remember that within minority groups, there’s going to be different perspectives from the minority, no two people from the same group will go through the same experiences. I think that’s particularly important to remember, when looking to books for representation.

In terms of using our platforms—don’t be afraid to speak your mind and hold your hands up if you do make a mistake. For instance, I realised a few weeks ago to my horror, I actually automatically imagine the characters in books to be white like my skin colour or there abouts (you don’t want to be as pale as me xD) and that’s not because I’m oblivious to coloured people. It’s just I can relate to someone who has the same skin colour as me, but it also makes me wonder if those who are from different ethnic backgrounds imagine all characters their colour or if they see them white unless it’s otherwise stated?

But by bringing more diversity into books, and into our platforms, we can give voices to the minorities and let them shine. We all deserve to shine, we all can learn something from one another too.

10. Last but not the least, what’s your take on the blogging communities? What has been your experience within the community?

Quite simply, they’re my people.

If you want a longer answer then, imagine being with a family who are there to help you when you fall over the HTML and coding. Who’ll support your blog and your content, give you advice and pointers to make your content better—who don’t bring you down or try and one up you. It’s a community who try to help one another out, we showcase each others content, do our best to interact with one another.

Most importantly though, you’re not made to feel like the weird kid who cries when a fictional character dying. You won’t feel stupid for buying multiple copies of books, instead you’ll find a ton of others all over the world like you, and some who are similar but have their own habits and quirks. Like I said, this community is my people, we all freak out over books and I can discuss at great length by stationary hoarding habit *winks*

But I do think that people need to remember that it’s ok for not everyone to love the same books, like chill, it’s ok if someone hates your favourite series. Just show them respect and either walk away if you can’t stand it, or be civil and have a wonderful chat about what you both did and didn’t see eye to eye on.

These are some of the kind of posts you’ll find on Chloe’s blog, and these are some she has shared, and I think you’ll definitely enjoy reading. Please send some of your loving her way!

Why I don’t Separate My Blog Life from My Personal Life

So this is something I’ve been wanting to talk about for a while now. Mainly because I feel like I’m one of the few, who don’t actually separate their blog person with their real person. What I mean by this, is that a lot of us bloggers use a pen name or part of our real name or…we go by a totally different name online for our blog. Furthermore we also separate our social media profiles by having multiple accounts one set specifically for our blog, the other for personal.

Writers Den

This series started due to me wanting to get back into writing totally original stuff, and not just fanfiction. It was created as a way for me to try and help other writers, like you, to believe in yourself. And to know that it’s ok to have doubt and want to delete everything. We all have those moments. The important thing is to continue on, finishing the first draft of anything leaves you with one of the best feelings ever. 

Bookworms Explained

Bookworms Explained is a series I created here at Book Dragons, where each Friday I take something us bookworms do, and I explain it both as a way for other bookworms to be able to relate to something and for non-readers to try and get an insight in how we think. Being a bookworm is a dangerous thing – but knowing one can well…be just as dangerous if not more. As we’re fickle beings and one moment we’re singing your praises, the next you’ve gone and said something, without realising it’s hurt us.

You can find Chloe on the Social Media sites, listed below, clicking on the various names, will lead you to her account.

Twitter • Pinterest • Bookstagram • Instagram • Bloglovin • Goodreads • Facebook • Wattpad • RSS

You also can be featured, so everyone can also see your thoughts, I’m too lazy to change the questions right now, but I just might in future, but I’m still taking on people who want to be featured. This series I hope can go on until December. Here’s the link to all the information you need to know —> PSA: Sign Up for my Guest Feature Post

I think a lot of us can relate to Chloe’s answers up there. I also started really blogging when I was about to turn 17. So I think it’s awesome that Chloe is starting so early and I’ll get to watch her blog grow and her graphic designing skills evolve. I also really love Chloe, her essence is one of the nicest out here on the internet.

With that said, you have arrived at the end of this Guest Feature, please don’t forget to show Chloe some love and see you again next week, with a new blogger.

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