Behind the Blog #1: Beginnings

Behind the Blog is a meme to help bloggers connect their life and interests to the content showcased on their blog. The co-hosts, Faye, Kathe, and Melissa will provide a different topic, idea, or question every week that bloggers can relate to themselves and the books, films, or other media they find interesting!

In honor of the meme's launch, this week's theme is beginnings. When did you start your blog? Who or what inspired or motivated you to do so? If you want to connect this to books, which book's first line or paragraph hooked you and made sure you kept reading the whole way?

I suppose I should start with when I started this blog. As many of my readers already know, my blog is relatively young. My blog is only 5 months old as of yesterday. 


I must say, this isn't my first blog. My freshman year in college, I started an online blog over at Xanga. It's mostly an online diary, with day to day ramblings, some important events and rantings on various subjects. I have to be honest, I haven't kept it up very well in the last few years. The last few months especially after becoming so involved with Melissa's Midnight Musings. I think the last time I posted on the Xanga blog was back in February. 


My inspiration for starting this blog comes from my absolute love of reading and books. More than one of my friends/family members will tell you I'm slightly obsessed with reading. I pretty much always have a book on the go. Actually, this picture that my boyfriend posted on my Facebook page (he just posted this yesterday in fact) sums up my obsession with books (and us as a couple) perfectly.

This would have to be a really long book to take me 98 hours to read it

  I've been reading (and reviewing) a lot more in the last two years since I discovered Goodreads. I kept noticing links to blogs on Goodreads and thought it might be fun if I were to start my own blog for books and reviewing. I started this blog right after I had completed my 100 books for the Goodreads yearly reading challenge that began in 2011. 


I never expected that it would take off the way that it has. (Thank you to all of my amazing followers!) I've met so many awesome bloggers and discovered amazing new books that I don't think I would have found out about without this blog. I think the most awesome part about book blogging is interaction with authors. Since I've always loved to read, I've always thought it would be amazing to get to interact with authors one on one. I've never been to a book signing (yet!) but I have gotten to interact with some awesome authors as a result of this blog and I'll be forever grateful for those experiences. 


The first time I got an email from an author commenting on my review of their work, I nearly died of shock. An actual author emailed me. Me. And they liked my review of their work. So utterly cool! That author happened to be the hilariously funny Chris Rothe. You can find my review of Dirk Danger Loves Life  HERE.


I think it was this review where I really started to connect what I was reading to my life on a more personal level, so it's quite fitting that I include it in this first Behind the Blog post. 

What's in a name?


I know this post is already getting a bit long, but I wanted to let you know a little bit more about me by explaining the reasoning behind the name of my blog. (I may have already done this in an earlier post but I'm not sure.)

Melissa's Midnight Musings came about as my blog title, mainly because I like the alliteration. What can I say?  I'm a total language nerd. I'm also always awake at midnight. (I blame the fact that Goodreads giveaways end at midnight and I always stay up to see if I've won anything, haha) I'm also  a complete night owl by nature anyway.  I love to ponder and wonder late at night too, it's when I get some of my best thinking done. And there you have it. That's how the name Melissa's Midnight Musings came to be.

And so that's how this book blog began. It's been a wonderful, wild ride. I can't wait to see where else this blog will take me but I know the journey will be fun. Since I do have quite the obsession with books, and I do want to try my best to relate the Behind the Blog posts back to them, I'll leave you with the beginning line of the very first novel that I absolutely had to own as a kid. I would say that this novel sparked my passion for reading.

"When I stepped out into the bright sunlight, from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman, and a ride home." 

That's from the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.


What about you? What stories do you love that have great beginnings? What story sparked the beginning of your love for reading?



Behind the Blog is a new meme for bloggers themselves. To find out more, check out Kathe's blog or that on Faye’s Or,  you can check out my introduction post here

Are you joining us? Here are our rules:

• The hosts' Behind the Blog posts go live at midnight on Friday, GMT + 0:00. Feel free to post before that and then just link up on Friday!
• Feel free to make use of the button shown above or, if it clashes with your blog colors, e-mail us or make your own.
• Read, write, and connect! The Linky is there for you. Make use of it!
• Last but not the least, have fun!

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