Hey everyone!
I hope you’re having a lovely Friday so far. Today we’re going to be doing something a little different. I’m going to be participating in my very first blog tour.
What this means is that my friend is helping to boost the blog she just launched by having different blogs post about it and link back to her site. Mia explains the whole process over on her blog, and it would definitely be helpful to check that out.
I got the privilege of looking at her blog, and it’s very beautiful. She already has a few posts about spring-related things. I definitely recommend her post “how to find joy in spring cleaning”, as it does a lovely job looking at ways to improve our attitude towards this.
I also personally have read and love many of the books she enjoys on her post about spring reads – and I would definitely check that out.
Before you head over there, I was able to do a Q + A with Mia about her blog, writing, and a few other fun questions thrown in.
Hopefully you enjoy reading this, and checking out her blog, which I certainly did.
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Q: What inspired “i feel like a fairy”?
A: Well, the answer to that question has two parts. First, the concept for the blog. I work at a store located inside Walmart and when we’re not busy, I like to watch the people wandering Walmart. My workplace is right by the self-checkout lanes and I see a lot of people waiting in line, staring at their watch, tapping their foot, and looking really antsy. It struck me how rushed our society has become. You’re not allowed to take one second to breathe before you’re being pushed to the next task.
This year, I made an informal resolution to slow down and make an effort to see the beauty in every aspect of life. When I saw how those people in Walmart were rushing along, I decided I wanted to write about how to slow down and see the little treasures God left for us to see. So the concept was born!
As for the name, when I made my first flower crown and placed it on my head, the first thought I had was, “I feel like a fairy.” Thus, the title came into existence! When I put the two things together, I had an idea I couldn’t let pass by.
Q: Your blog has a very aesthetic, lovely vibe to it. How did you achieve this, and what were you trying to express?
A: I’ve been really into the aesthetic, pretty, lowercase vibes for no other reason than I think they’re just lovely. Since I was going with a whole “fairy” theme for my blog, I decided that I would make an effort to make it pretty to look at and comforting to read.
I’m subscribed to a lot of blogs and email lists and several of them are so beautiful and chill. When I was designing the iflaf site, I started out by doing research. I explored the blogs I wanted to emulate, taking careful note of the aspects I loved about them, then I spent several hours agonizing over graphics, color schemes, themes, fonts, etc. (It took me more than an hour to settle on a banner design!) until I settled on something that would draw me in and make me feel happy. In my opinion, it is very important that the design of your blog matches the general vibe of what you write about. I wanted a simple, neat layout that wouldn’t overwhelm new visitors, while also drawing attention to the core bits of the posts and I think I achieved that goal!
Q: What kind of writing do you do (outside blogging)?
A: I primarily write fantasy novels, and I’m in the process of editing my big project. I hope to be traditionally published, but we’ll see what God has planned for me.
Q: Favorite books? Books you would recommend to anyone? Your “comfort” reads? A book you want to read, but haven’t? The book you know you should read but are avoiding? Was there a book that you wanted to throw across the room (or did), and why?
A: My number one favorite book is Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. It’s so beautifully written and the story was so inspiring and vibrant. It’s probably not for everyone but I love it so much. It’s the first book I’ve reread in a long time and I’ve not only read it multiple times within a few weeks (I don’t reread a lot so this is a pretty big deal for me!), I’ve also annotated my favorite parts. I really like the movie as well. (Not as good as the book, but it’s still a good watch.) Highly recommend.
My comfort read……..hmm…….like I mentioned before, I’m not usually one to reread. I like to try new things, so whenever I finish a book, I’m on to the next! I do really really like The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. I haven’t finished the series yet but I already want to go back and reread it. I love the characters and it’s the only sci-fi series I’ve actually enjoyed in a long time. I was reading Cress the other day and it was just so good, I HAD to annotate. I’m honestly a little scared of the last book because I don’t want it to end, but I suppose all good things must come to an end.
A book I want to read but haven’t would be Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. A friend recommended it to me almost a year ago and I bought it back in July. But there it sits on my shelf, waiting to be read.
There are a lot of classics on my TBR because I’m really not much of a classics person, but I want to read them just to say I did. The Secret Garden was on my school reading list years ago, and I read half of it and promptly noped out of it. I also want to read Peter Pan (the original story) and The Great Gatsby, because I had to analyze a Great Gatsby movie trailer for school this year and my interest has been piqued.
Q: If you could save one thing in a fire (you, your family, and any pets are safe) what would it be (and why)? Not limited by size.
A: Noooo, I HATE this question. This is the kind of question I ask myself late at night then quickly think of happier things because UGH, this is a horrible question. I know I wouldn’t save my laptop or any devices because, though they are expensive, almost all of the stuff I have on them are saved to Google Drive or to a specific account and are easily retrievable. I think I would probably save my songwriting notebooks and my ukulele. I know, I know, that’s two things but songwriting is important to me, as is my ukulele, Sabrina. Of course, that’s ignoring all the penpal letters shoved in the top of my closet and my many many journals that chronicle a lot of important moments of my life, and my old writing notebooks, and all my stationery and books, and my favorite stuffed animals…….This is an evil question. Moving on.
Q: Where would you be found any given Saturday evening?
A: Sitting in my bed either writing a blog post, checking social media notifications, or watching YouTube videos after a long day at work.
Q: What advice would you give your younger self?
A: It has to get worse before it can get better. That’s my motto right now and it’s been a huge help. I know that there are going to be bad seasons but I also know that there are going to be good seasons. It’s worth sticking out the bad for the good.
Q: And lastly, why do you love writing?
A: I cannot begin to articulate how much I love coming up with my own original characters, giving them names and personalities and costumes, and imagining how they’d interact with other characters. Creating characters is my favorite part of writing. In fact, in my current writing project, I have near 100 background characters for no other reason than that no one was stopping me from making that many. I also just love imagining my own world with its own rules and creatures and languages. That’s why I write fantasy — I love worldbuilding! It’s been so fun coming up with my own worlds.
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All right readers, that concludes the post for today!
If any part of this intrigued you, check out her blog “i feel like a fairy” here, and I hope you’re blessed by it as I was.
Keep the faith,
Anna
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