Branching Out (18)

Branching Out is an exciting feature which focuses on bloggers. Anyone can be a part of this, you just have to answer some simple questions for me, so that we can all get to know you better. This week my special guest is:

Name/Screen Name: Steph Bowe
Blog: Hey! Teenager of the Year (http://heyteenager.blogspot.com)
Age: 15

1. Tell us about you and your blog.
I’m a fifteen-year-old aspiring author and book blogger. I live in Australia with my parents, sister and a small, fluffy and slightly crazy dog. Outside of reading, writing and blogging, I love watching B-grade zombie movies, stealing hats from people (kidding!) and helping the elderly cross the street.

I started blogging at Hey! Teenager of the Year in April 2009; I wanted to start after seeing all the brilliant book and author blogs out there, and wanting to have go at it myself. There aren’t many libraries or book stores near where I live, and none of my friends like reading, so blogging is really the only way I can express my love of teen books!

My blog offers (what I hope are) articulate reviews, interesting author interviews plus posts about writing (my other passion), life as a teenager and whatever other issue takes my fancy. I aim for my blog to be funny and informative, and I post daily.


2. You also run The YA Blogosphere. Tell us about that and/or any other similar projects you run.
The YA Blogosphere is really great for people new to the YA book blog world, because they can quickly and easily find a blog from their country or in their genre. Recently, I’ve had authors email me and tell me about their book, and ask who I think would be a suitable reviewer – the YA Blogosphere makes it easy to find an appropriate blogger for them.

The number of entries now are up over 150, and always growing. It was a bit difficult to set up (I emailed A LOT of book bloggers), but Kristi of The Story Siren helped me out (I used the blogs on the YA Book Blog Directory as a starting point). I aim for it to reach a point where publishers can easily find a blog that’ll be appropriate for reviewing their books, and that it’ll generate readers for new YA book bloggers.


3. What is your favorite and least favorite aspect of blogging.
Favorite: Chatting to all of the fantastic book bloggers, getting books for review in the mail (such an awesome feeling!), getting to know authors and other people from around the world, having a lot of fun writing posts and reading the comments people make on my blog!

Least favorite: As in all aspects of life, there are some people who are negative (leaving mean comments anonymously) – only very few, though. Everyone else is wonderful. Also, I’m always doubting myself and thinking ‘Why don’t I have as many readers as this person? My blog is no good.’ I think everyone is a bit like that.


4. What are some things that you know now about blogging that you wish you had known when you first started?
1. Don’t expect to have a million readers straight away
2. It’s your blog, write what you want, when you want
3. Reading and commenting on other people’s blogs is just as important as working on your own


5. If you were stranded on an island and could only have three books, what would they be?
Looking For Alaska by John Green, Everything Beautiful by Simmone Howell and Skim by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki.


6. List 3 random things about you.
1. I shaved my head last year to raise money for cancer research. I was totally bald! It was a really interesting experience though, and I’m far less self-conscious than I was before.

2. I do school by correspondence now so I can travel around Australia. People ask where I go to school, and I say, ‘I don’t.’ They think I’m a total bad-ass.

3. I have a scar on my lip from when I fell over when I was two and split my lip open. When I was ten and at a new school, I made up a story where I said the scar was from a fight I was in. I said, “Yeah, I got this scar, but you shoulda seen the other girl. She was in hospital for a week.” (This is funny, because I am the most non-confrontational person ever. I’ve never fought anyone in my life.) I got a bit of a reputation because of this. Nobody messes with Steph Bowe.


Thanks Steph!