Discussion Posts & 2019 Discussion Challenge

I've loved participating in the 2018 Discussion Challenge hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight! I don't think I'd have stuck with blogging as long as I have (and I can't believe I've been doing this for over a year now!) if it hadn't been for this challenge leading me to post more than book reviews and blog tours. It's also the main way I've connected with other bloggers, as linking back to the blogs of people who comment on my discussion posts as well as checking out what other people post in the link-ups are mostly how I visit other blogs. So thanks a million, Nicole and Shannon - I wouldn't be the Book Otter I am today without you guys. ♥

Here are some of my favorite discussion posts I did this year, which you can go check out if you care to:


I'm really excited to sign up for the 2019 Discussion Challenge! My goal for next year is going to be 35 posts, which will put me smack dab in the middle of the Terrifically Talkative range (31-40). I thought about going for the max 41+ range, but want to set myself up for success, sooooo... 

Here are a couple of ideas I have for posts: 
  • Diverse cover models
  • Writing books/NaNoWriMo
  • Fictional worlds you want to visit
  • TV shows based on books
  • Hogwarts houses as elements
  • Least favorite romance tropes
  • Goodreads groups
  • Hobbies outside of reading
  • Jane Austen adaptations
  • Tropes: women disguised as men
  • Plus sized heroines in romance
  • Romance as a "guilty pleasure" (and why I'm not guilty at all)
Also, since July/August I've lost almost 40 lbs since implementing a series of lifestyle changes in response to finding out I have a neurological disorder called Pseudotumor Cerebri (PTC, also called IIH, which I basically found out I had because I started having intermittent blindness which is NOT great for reading, let me tell you!) I've switched to a diet that's low carb and very loosely paleo based (I eat way more dairy than I'm supposed to, I think, haha) as well as hitting the gym and that sort of thing. Would lifestyle type posts be welcome, or should I stick with posts that are at least bookish-adjacent? I feel like film and fandom are at least in the same wheelhouse, but for whatever reason talking about mixing my Atkins vanilla shake with 3 shots of espresso as a low carb latte doesn't really belong on a book blog? What do you think?

What do you think of these ideas? Do these sound like things you'd like to read/talk about? Are there other posts you'd like to see? 
If you blog, do you plan to do the 2019 Discussion Challenge?

12 comments:

  1. Lifestyle posts are certainly welcome! They tend to be some of my favorite posts from bloggers. And I certainly haven't shied from sharing the personal with my Life in a Car series this past year.

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    1. Thanks so much for the encouragement Michelle! I love when bloggers share about their personal lives too -and am much more likely to read those type of posts than a meme, though I know some people really love memes (for some reason?)

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  2. I signed up for this challenge to push myself to do more discussion posts, because they are so hard for me. You have so many topics already lines up. That's amazing. I am always sitting there for the whole week trying to think of something to talk about

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    1. Oh boy, don't get too impressed. Most of my "topics" are literally what you see on the page. Like for TV shows based on books, my notes literally say "Anne with an E" and that's all I've got at this point. I mostly sit down the day before the post is supposed to go up and just wing it. Though the Hogwarts houses as elements one I've actually been working on and making multiple drafts of and is starting to read like something I'd turn in for a class, with sources cited and everything... I might need to scale that one back a little, lol. And you don't have to write a ton either! Some of mine are going to phrase a few questions for people asking for their opinion on a couple of points, and then giving my own opinion, and be pretty darn short. It doesn't need to be an essay, I think the point is to get some dialogue going in the comments. What I'm less than stellar at is being timely with responding to comments (clearly... since you commented on the 11th and here I am not getting back to you until the 31st, sorry!! x.x)

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  3. I would love more lifestyle posts! I signed up for this too but at a much lower level. I can't wait to read your posts!

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    1. I signed up at a lower rank for 2018 and am aiming for 1 rank higher in 2019. Trying to beat my own personal best. :) I also have found I really love doing the discussion posts. And hey, you're amazing, you already do Peekaboo's Corner here once a month, that's been like 12 posts over the course of this year. YOU GOT THIS!

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  4. This makes me so happy ♥♥♥ You are too sweet, I am SO glad that you enjoy the Challenge so much- we enjoy having you, too! (Also, I think lifestyle posts are totally fair game! Plus, who knows, you could find people going through the same stuff that way!)

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    1. Let's see if I can't make my reply to you less strange than the one I just made to Nicole's comment... "Less strange" is a pretty low bar, so it should be achievable!

      I don't have a lot of time for blogging (I'm not ashamed that with 2 jobs and 2 kids, most of the time I make I spend on reading books, not blogs) and the main way I visit other blogs is through the Discussion Challenge monthly linky. I've met some amazing people through the challenge, and without it would likely be totally disconnected from the blogging community (not that I'm super dialed in right now...) and just sitting in a corner by myself (which is where I'm going to leave it before I GET WEIRD AGAIN). SO THANK YOU for having the best challenge on the internet.

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  5. I'm really happy to hear that you've found a lot of your blogging community through the Discussion Challenge because that's definitely been the case for me too. Discussions just naturally lead to connections between people, I think. :-)

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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    1. I'm really terrible at visiting other blogs on the regular (2 jobs, 2 small children, a nasty reading habit, not enough hours in the day...) So I'll be honest, the blogs I tend to visit are those of the people who comment on my blog, and most of those comments are on discussion posts. The other way I visit blogs is by checking out the monthly link up for the Discussion Challenge - I read ALL of the discussion posts, and for posts that are really interesting to me I'll go poking around that person's blog and follow it (though I mostly just delete the emails that come through telling me there are posts, since my email box is stupid and unwieldy...)

      ANYWAY! If not for the Discussion Challenge, I'd never visit any blogs and be totally inactive in the blogging community and have no friends at all and just be a sadsack reclusive spider, hiding in my web with my books and eating flies. ...That got weird, but I'm only marginally sorry. I haven't had my morning coffee yet. *eats flies*

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    2. This is pretty much exactly me. I mostly only have time to visit the blogs of people who visit mine (with some occasional exceptions), EXCEPT for the Discussion Challenge. I read them ALL (I thought I was the only one!)---even if sometimes I get to them very late. Discussions are my favorite type of posts, and I really love reading what everyone has to say. So even months when I totally fail at my own challenge, it's a win for me. :-) (I'm actually planning on writing a post about that---maybe today.)

      Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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  6. I'm very interested in the topics you listed, especially least favorite romance tropes!

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