In this, my fifth year of blogging, I’ve decided to refocus my goals for the blog. To date, I’ve successfully achieved my main objective of creating original bookish content on a variety of topics. I’m proud of the 133 articles I’ve published here on Broke by Books. I’ve treated my writing here much the same way I write for Book Riot, meaning I write for a general bookworm audience, hoping to help people discover new books, delve into detail on topics to gain expertise, and live an awesome bookish life by celebrating literature in our lives. Yet, even though my blog has connected readers to books, and even though I’ve gotten the amazing opportunity to write at length on topics that I’m passionate about, one big thing has been missing all along.
An identity.
Mine.
When I first started freelancing, I reviewed books for Kirkus Reviews. Their reviewing style is similar to how I’ve approached blogging and therefore influenced my blogging style. In a Kirkus Review, the reviewer has no voice or identity. Everything is written in the third person, as if Kirkus Reviews itself is the one writing the review, not an actual human author. That’s great, keeping things objective, but I ended up stifling my own voice and vision in my blog. I took a hard left and went with the Kirkus model, maybe because I believed nobody cared what I had to say, or maybe because I was just starting out writing about books publicly and wanted to hide behind anonymity. The result is a bunch of articles that seem almost scattered together with no connection. You’d never know there’s just one author behind them and that I do have strong feelings and opinions and reactions to literature and to life. In leaning too much on sharing information, I’ve lost the core along the way, the heart that is just as powerful (and important) as the head. By doing so, I’ve isolated myself from other book bloggers and the bookish community.
I am a huge believer in blogs, (and wrote a book about book blogging), but I don’t know if I’ve really been running a blog all this time. At least, not a blog true to myself and what I want to say. So from here on out, I’m going to retool Broke by Books to be more aligned with my personal vision and experiences.
Like all of us, I’m on a journey that’s distinct and unique to myself. And what is that journey right now, in June 2019? I’m in the second semester of my MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program, finally finding my courage to create, while also writing romance, reading a ton of books, and trying to manage my disability: bipolar disorder, Asperger’s, and related mental illnesses.
I find myself craving this moment, to emerge from the shadows, to really make this corner of the internet my own, to let you into my life, and I want to be a part of your epic life. And maybe that means recognizing that I don’t always have the information and facts. Maybe I don’t have a well-researched guide to a genre. Maybe I just have feelings, sloppy, unchecked, honest, and real ones about the things that matter most to me: stories. In therapy, I’m working on not running away from those big emotions, even when they’re scary, but feeling them. Really feeling them. I want this blog to feel them.
Stories. Emotions. Personal. Candid. Honest. Me.
What you’ll see from me is more posts from the heart about my experiences as a bookish bipolar creative, more reviews packed with honest and sometimes disorganized feels, and more writing that I hope speaks to and promotes a greater sense of dialogue and support among readers, writers, and people in the mentally ill, neurodiverse, and differently abled community.
I welcome your feedback at any time: sarahsdaviswrites (at) gmail
Thank you for joining me.
Sarah S. Davis
Founder, Broke by Books
