Why You Should Staff InterBlogCon

Why should you join the InterBlogCon staff? Let me give you some pros and cons!

Pros:
You will meet new people
With all the people who will attend and help, you'll definitely meet new people. From hosts to moderators to teachers to attendees, there are so many people to meet.

You will learn new things
With the teachers teaching everything under the sun, you'll learn something new every day. From blogging to life to books, there are so many opportunities.

You are able to meet people all over the world
This convention is international (it's in the name.) So you can meet people from the four corners of the world.

You can enter some awesome giveaways and contents
Winning prizes is always cool too! The con will have a fan art and cosplay contest where you could win prizes. Not into the artsy stuff, that's fine. There will be an overarching giveaway for all attendees.

Cons:
I admit, it is a time commitment 
Being a part of InterBlogCon takes time. There's time for the con itself and for the preparations. You have to dedicate time for different aspects of the con.

It is also takes energy
To be a staff member or an attendee takes energy. As a staff member, you have to be connected with the hosts and other staff members. With the preparations, there is energy to be used to create forms, schedules, and whatever else we need.

But overall, the pros outweigh the cons.

We still have spots for teachers. Sign up here

What Went Down: March 2016

Welcome to another weird monthly recap of The Bookmato Chronicles!

And not a lot of pictures...sorry. I'll try to have more pictures next time. Like me watching anime maybe? Hm...

Book Stuff

It's so completely sad that I've read only four books this month. 

But let me explain why! I've been going through a massive reading slump. All I want to do these days is to draw, write, and/or watch anime. Which, I might add, I have been doing. But, since anime takes superiority in this situation, reading gets the boot. It's super hard for me to read and watch anime. It's like asking someone to catch a ball and run around in circles. Impossible, you know? 

But the books I've read this month are pretty worth it. Or so I say.

My trying-too-hard-to-be-artistic picture

Into the Dim by Janet B Taylor: I'm not always a huge fan of time travel stories. Why? Because some things aren't done right. This book was well-researched, but I just couldn't get into the main character's story. Check out my review here. 3/5

A Gathering of Shadows by VE Schwab. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Victoria Schwab. Her books are fantastic masterpieces, and AGOS is definitely amazing. I love being introduced to new characters and learning about the different sides of old ones. And the Elemental Games are pretty cool too. Review to come! 5/5

Riven by Jane Alvey Harris: This was a beta read from somebody I met in real life. It was a super awkward experience. I was a little too harsh, making edits from page one. But I tried to catch all the inconsistencies and grammar errors. So I hope the author forgives me! No rating. (Because it's a beta read.)

The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig. I'm still working on this. But Kashmir? Totally adorable. And I really love the premise too! 

Blog Stuff

My Posts

This month was a pretty good month post-wise. I had a lot of stuff to post. It was pretty good. 

I participated in the Get Up Offa That Slump/Get Outta That Slump (I forgot the name...) blogging extravaganza. And I loved it! I tried to make my posts unique and weird. And I hope I accomplished that.

I interview myself

I banshee wail for some bookish gifts (which is a good list of stuff you could get me for my birthday. Hint hint)

I write some (awesome) Vicious on crack fan fiction. And I might start doing more Books on Crack. Fun stuff.

I rant (loudly) about my least favorite series ever. The Anna and the French Kiss series. -gags-

I (re)introduce Dyvian and Ravenda from my (unwritten) story Ravensoul in a romantic way.

I read a scene from my WIP (which I want to rename) Soaring, Falling, Crashing.

I shout about why Six of Crows should be a series. (Unless Freeform takes it. Then no)

I take you across the anime universe. In a you-might-die sort of trip.

I also was part of the Beyond the Red SST! 

Blogosphere Posts

Per usual, I don't really have other posts to share... I'm a bad blogger because I don't like reading other blogs...

But...here are some.

Caught Read Handed analyzed the trailer for 'Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children'

Paper Fury talks about books she doesn't always rave about but still loves
Chasing Faerytales talked about reader acceptance. 
Paper Fury talks about her newest WIP. 

Event Stuff

I hosted the Mid-Book Chat for the AGOS Readalong. And it was super fun! Thanks to all of those who attended! And remember, there's the end of book chat on April 2 at 8 pm EST! 

Anime Stuff

Ah, anime. I love you so. I watched a whole bunch too. And started doing...drum roll...anime reviews! 

Here's the first one of Terror in Resonance.

Terror in Resonance: A mildly okay anime. The girl was so completely useless, though. 2/5

Gate: Thus the JSDF Fought There: I had high expectations for this anime. I thought it'd be AWESOME to see fantasy and military clash. But no, this was just another harem anime. But the main character was cool. I guess? 2/5

Antimagic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon: You can sum this anime up in one word. Harem. And I've realized that I positively hate harem animes. They get on my nerves. Especially ones like this with each girl feeling 'special' around the boy. He's playing you, sweethearts. Get a clue. Not to mention the fan service. Excuse me, but I didn't ask for more boobs. I dropped this anime, with two episodes left, because I couldn't handle it anymore. 2/5

Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun: I laughed so hard. (While my mom stared at me like I was a freak...which I am.) This didn't have much of a plot. But the side characters' relationships were so adorable! Review to come! 2/5

Snow White With the Red Hair: People have raved about this anime. But I didn't really see the intrigue. The romance is lackluster, and the main character makes me want to punch her. (As do many anime girls.) But...the art was fabulous. Review to come! 4/5

Daily Lives of High School Boys: If you like the short scenes and humor of Hetalia: Axis Powers, then this is for you! It's so funny. And it makes no sense. What I liked the best was the fact that this anime could be real. Someone's life could be like this. And that made it pretty cool. 3/5

Wolf Girl and Black Prince: Just...no. No no no no no. I can't tell you how much I hate this anime. The romance is the problem. (I'm fine with the art. Bishie boys will be bishie boys.) But the romance. -groans- The protagonist accepts the abusive situation. She doesn't try to back down or anything. She goes around like his slave, and it annoys me. She doesn't fight back. And she even falls for him. EXCUSE ME? And the guy isn't even tsundere anymore. He's just a sadist. Just...-rages- 1/5

Prince of Stride: Alternative: This is Free! on land on crack. Or...parkour on crack. While I was screaming in joy on the first episode, I started to see cracks in this show. The girl is totally useless. (As are many anime girls.) While the art was amazing, and the underdog stance not too bad, I just couldn't get past friendship vibe. There are only a few animes that can pull off that amount of friendship, and those are One Piece and Fairy Tail. So no. 3/5

And Takeru looks too much like Haru from Free! in this photo.

Death Parade: Oh my gosh. This anime is amazing. I really loved it. It was captivating and deep and meaningful. The art wasn't the best, but the meaning behind it was fascinating. It makes me want to rethink my life. Review to come! 4.5/5 
ERASED: This anime, much like Death Parade is insane. I loved it! I loved the art. And the murder mystery. And the friendship! Even if the supernatural elements were lacking. 4.5/5
One Piece: I didn't keep track, but I know I watched at least 20 episodes of this show. And I'm now in the 100s! Huzzah! One Piece is a show that is super hard to keep up with. Even if you put your all into it. It's just so long. (600+ episodes now.) But it's still funny and cute. No rating because I'm still working on it...

And Vivi looks super creepy in this.

Life Stuff

Not much happened to me. I guess...

• Of course, I had spring break. And I watched a lot of anime. So that's successful, I guess.
• And there were some family troubles. But I'm okay now.
• I had a Calc test. Which is stressful... (And it was split into two parts. Which means more procrastination!)
• And I am going to TKD more! So losing weight? Hm...good question.
• I finally drew a successful 3/4 view for a head. I should start working on the body now.

• My mom keeps buying snacks. And I have to eat them. -grumbles- (I'm going to gain so much weight...) 
• I went to In-n-Out for the first time! Not that it was amazing or anything.

• We're looking into buying a new car. The one we have now is as old as I am. That's pretty old. So we're looking at the Honda Civic and Honda Fit. My mom is leaning more towards the cheaper Fit which is quite spacious. (But I want the Mini. SOO BAD. My mom has hinted at buying it for me if I get into a good college. Good motivation, Mom.)
• The editors at my school newspaper were conducting staffer evaluations. And my editor, the graphic editor, was all "You're so very diverse in what you do." (I do pages, graphics, AND writing. Fun times.) She was very kind and gushing about my progress and all. Maybe I'll run for page editor. (Graphics editor will be taken by the only graphics person who started in the beginning of the year.)
• I Tweet out too much anime and Sims Freeplay stuff. Sorry! But not sorry. ;)

Artistic Endeavors, Love (Or the Lack Therefore), Bingewatching Anime, and Angrily Ranting About Calculus Aka My February

I haven't done a monthly recap in so long. Oh man. I'm not even sure what to do...
I'll try to make this good! (Also, in my next recap, I'll add more pictures...)

Book Stuff

I read 10 books this monthly! And I'm working on the last one (number 11.) And I should do more book photography...why not?

I DNFed TWO books this month. Mostly so I could move on to better and brighter things.

Also, do you guys like less reviews? Because I do.

The Love That Split the World: Wasn't too bad. But it could have been way better. The hype was too much. My Review

The Memory of Light: Interesting...but not a favorite. The characters were...okay. I wanted more from this book.

Bones and All: The cannibal thing was pretty cool as a premise. The romance? Not so cool. My Review.

Between Shades of Gray: Okay. This was a school book. So I had to read it all the way through. Did I like it? No. Did I have to finish? Yes. It was terribly boring for a well-renown book. And there's a HUGE gap between the end of the book and the epilogue. No. Thank. You.

Unhooked: A DNF. First, I was swamped with books. Second, this book was just...I couldn't get into it. I tried really hard, but Peter Pan retellings don't seem to be my thing.

Sophie Someone: A DNF. The language was unbearable. I needed some sort of Sophie-to-English dictionary. I couldn't get past that.

Tell the Wind and Fire: This was supposed to be a cool book. Did I love it? Nope. Not at all. The Light and Dark thing turned me off immediately. Not to mention the awful love triangle and empty and Mary Sue protagonist. Nuh-uh.

Soundless: I wanted to like this book so much, but I couldn't. With the non-Asian-seeming characters and the confusing premise (Seriously, how can sound just 'disappear'? I don't believe their reasoning), I was completely not with this book.

This Raging Light: I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I didn't think I'd like it so much. The contemporary genre just...is not my thing. But the characters and their relationships (not to mention the unrequited love) really drew me in. Bravo, TRL, bravo.

Symptoms of Being Human: This book...I was waiting for it. With my confusing life, I am currently pondering about gender. Specifically, my gender. And these sorts of books (about genderqueer people) make me so happy. Because they can help me figure it out. (Though, I'm still lost.)

Assassin's Heart: This is what I'm currently on. So it's technically not finished. Haha. But...it's not too bad. But I have a feeling I'm going to hate it soon enough.

Blog Stuff

The twins at Fable's Library and I began to do group reviews of The 100. And we started off with Season 3 Episode 3. Haha. We're weird. 

But you should check them out! And check out Angelina and Brianna's blog too!

And, surprisingly, my Truthwitch review got a lot of comments. Because...reasons? And, just saying, it wasn't a positive review...

I did 15 posts this month. Seems like enough? I'm not sure... 

But I unveiled Tomato Talks my podcast discussion post thing...

Listen in!

Episode 1: Build a Better Blog

Episode 2: Rated R for Mature

And I did TWO anime-ish posts! You'll see more of these here at The Bookmato Chronicles because I luurrve anime!

Top Ten Anime Openings

Four Heroines You'll Meet in Books and Anime

And I've kinda given up on these yearly book and blog challenges. I just can't keep track anymore...

Event Stuff

Well, I created the VElites! Check it out. It's a street team for the amazing Victoria Schwab. The second newsletter comes out today actually! We'll have monthly newsletters, and anyone can join! 

The VElites had their very first event: A Magical Party! We have a few people turn out, but I don't care if there's 2 or 20 people. I'm so happy people came! Tune in for the next event!

Check it out here! (This sends you to the page with some info)

And on InterBlogCon and BiblioSummerSwag. 

IBC has been taking over my life. (SIGH) But we're getting more attention! 

If you wanna check out InterBlogCon/IBC, look here! And we always need more teachers! Please sign up! 

I haven't had the chance to do much with BSS. SORRY. But we do have some info here.

Anime Stuff

I didn't keep track of the animes I watched. I will start doing that now, though.

• I was creeped out by Danganronpa. But I secretly loved the punishment scenes. But the main character honestly made me so mad. Danganronpa is a psychological anime about these fifteen kids who have to kill or be killed. (Basically.)
• I finally finished Toshokan Sensou. And I admit that the artwork is not the best, but the story is quite amazing. As is the premise. I mean...these guys are pretty much fighting librarians. Isn't that awesome? This show is about the Library Force which protects art (in all different forms) from the censorship of the Cleansing Force. (Probably butchering the names, though. It's been a while...)
• I watched the wonderful Natsume's Book of Friends. And positively loved it. I cried at (almost) every episode. It was very moving and wonderful. Might continue with this series. This show focuses on Natsume Takashi (I'm using the Japanese way of saying his name. In English, it's Takashi Natsume.) He can see youkai (or spirits) and is going around releasing them from the servitude his grandmother Natsume Reiko (or Reiko Natsume) put them under in the Book of Friends. This is episodic in nature, (aka not much of an overarching story) but the characters and relationships will bring you to happy tears.
• Then I moved onto the action Aoharu x Kikanjuu. And I got made at the anticlimactic ending. But I loved the main character Hotaru. And genderbender animes are SO COOL. Hotau is a girl, but she fights with two dude adults in survival games. But both adults Yukimura and Masamune have their own problems (especially with the Dr. Midori.)
• And I finally finished off my anime watching with Subete ga F ni: The Perfect Insider. It was (again) a psychological anime about a genius programmer found dead. And some other geniuses have to solve her murder. (But, honestly, a non-genius like me saw it coming.)

And I might start doing anime reviews! I love anime, so I think it'd be cool to share with the world. What do you think? 

(Also, does anyone else hate how Myanimelist.net looks now? Because I do.)

Creative Stuff

I started to draw again! Not very well or anything. But I'm trying. I'm awful at drawing bodies and stuff, but my headshots aren't too bad... I think. 

I put some samples of my art below!

And I drew this while waiting for Marissa Meyer. 

This girl reminds me of Lila Bard. But she isn't anybody. I just got bored. And ignore the Lina. It means nothing.

Notice how my art slowly improves? Hm...hm?

Life Stuff

Ah, life. How you annoy me so. 

• For one, I missed a lot of tae kwon do classes. I think the staff is a bit annoyed with me. WHOOPS
• I'm rage quitting Calc AB. It's just...soo hard. (I'm at volume using integrals.)
• My mom and I hopped on a plane and flew to San Francisco for a weekend. It was really fun. I got to have some dim sum from Chinatown and had chocolate ice cream at Ghiradelli Square. Yummm.
• School seems to be sending all the projects at me. (Chemistry. WHAP. Calc. English.) Is there no end?!?!
• My school newspaper had a new print issue out! And my page designs are in there. Also with the newspaper thing, I was nominated for two awards! I don't know if I won them, though. Haha. And I'll be doing more graphics than writing now. They changed the story application process thing (like a story request), so writing has gotten way harder. For example, I'm doing an anime review, and I need EXTERNAL SOURCES. (Like other people!) And it's a not-so-well-known anime (or so I think). It's gonna be tough. The entertainment editor was all, "I won't edit it if there are no external sources." PSH. 

Things I Want The Book Blogging Community To Talk About

I adore the blogging community. I really do. But I do think that there can be more.

We do talk about things, but I feel like certain bookish or non-bookish topics need to be covered more. 

1) We're all flawed

Admit it. You're not the same person in real life than who you are when you are blogging. I know I'm now. I'm not afraid to admit it. In real life, I'm crazy and sometimes funny and weird and maybe smart. Online, I'm sassy and smirky and quick to a joke. I'm not that in real life. I want to show that we're all flawed. To new bloggers or bloggers without a lot of readers, it might seem like the 'bigger' blogs are these perfect people. When they're human like the rest of us. 

2) ARCs are attainable by everyone

ARCs are attainable by everyone. I found this out not so recently. But it seems odd to some. Especially new bloggers. They want the big views and big numbers to get the ARCs, to get the attention. Sure, that does make it better for people to see you, but don't forget that ARCs are marketing tools to get the hype up.

Jillian really sums this up on her post about why she stopped caring about ARCs. I love ARCs like the next blogger but still. The people behind the books are important too.  

3) Mental health, sexuality, gender orientation, etc 

This is actually a great little graphic for your sexuality/gender needs. Helped me figure out a lot of LGBT+ stuff. 

I feel like there are so many books about this. But bloggers don't really share their stories. Maybe their mom had PTSD. Maybe their sister is gay. I dunno. I want to hear stories like this to make me feel not alone. I'm the weird one, remember? Especially with people who like books and blogging and, maybe even, anime. I want to relate. 

4) We're all in the same boat

We all want the books. We all want to review. We all fangirl/fanboy/fanwarrior/fan-whatever. We're all bloggers. So why do we act like someone's better? We're all totally awesome people who are totally awesome at what we do. So don't hurt someone who you think is better than you. Learn from there. There is no shame in asking.

And if you need help, I'm always here.