Fortnight of Guests: From The Bookshelf of T.B. (The New "Age" of Bloggers)

Hi everyone!  I hope you are enjoying Megan’s awesome Fortnight of Guests so far!  My name is Tessa, and I am going to go into the ninth grade this coming fall.  My blog, From The Bookshelf of T.B., is all about young adult book reviews for young readers, such as myself.  You might know me as T.B. on my blog, but you can call me Tessa!  First, I’d like to thank Megan so much for having me on her blog!  She’s so, so sweet and a great blogging buddie of mine!

As I mentioned, I will be going into the ninth grade and starting high school.  I’m only fourteen years old.  Many people are surprised when they hear how old I am, and that I’m blogging at such a young age.  It can definitely be tough blogging.  I have school, sports, friends, family, and so much more that are also a part of my life.  Blogging is just one aspect of it, as it is for many of us. 

Some things that can be a bit scary for young bloggers when they are first starting out (I knew they were for me!):

Everyone is so much older than me!  All of the other YA book review bloggers out there seem to be adults.  Being a teenager and just stepping into the blogging world, everyone else seems to be so big and scary.  They all act much more mature, and since they’re adults it seems like they know what they’re doing.

Many of the YA book review bloggers out there are older, but many more teens have been joining the YA blogging community.  I highlight a few of them later in my post.  The entire blogging community is so supportive, and the bloggers really are the sweetest people I know.  No matter what your age, they all want to see you shine!

Will Anyone Even Listen To Me?  I’m only a kid.  Who’s going to be interested in what I have to say?  There are so many other people out there!

A great way to gain more readers is to go visit other blogs.  I was surprised by how many people were interested in my blog.  I didn’t have very many followers at first, but now I’m already at 100 :D  Even if you’re just a teen, you will slowly gain readers who want to hear what you have to say.

How Will I Keep This Up?  How am I going to motivate myself to continue with my blog and not give up?  I already have a ton of homework all of the time, not to mention sports, extracurricular activities, hanging out with friends, and spending time with my family.  Where does blogging come in?

Blogging can be tough to keep up with for anyone, but especially for teens.  We have so much going on, and it’s hard to set enough time aside to read the books, write the reviews, visit other blogs, AND keep up your own blog.  As time passes it definitely becomes easier though, and it did for me.

I’ll Be All Alone…  I’m too embarrassed to tell all of my friends about my blog.  They probably won’t care very much.  Only my family really knows about my blog, but I want to reach more people.  How am I going to put my blog out there?

At first, I was very nervous to tell my friends at school about my blog.  I only told a couple of my closest friends, but slowly I got more comfortable with promoting my blog.  When I was able to get an author to visit our school the cat was pretty much out of the bag by then.  As I kept blogging I even made business cards to pass out when I went to book events!

Even though being a young blogger can be tough, there are so many things that make blogging a worthwhile and amazing experience.  Being so young, blogging has taught me so much.  I was amazed when I started blogging by just how supportive the blogging community is!  Everyone just wants to see everyone grow and succeed!  So many amazing bloggers have been with me from the start and I’m proud to call them my friends.

Not only are there amazing bloggers, but the authors are so kind and generous as well!  I’ve encountered many authors who will give me words of encouragement and urge me to continue with my writing.  Hearing people, let alone authors, tell you to keep at it is one of the greatest feelings in the world!  Starting a blog has shown me that I can truly accomplish anything.  I just have to put myself out there and take that first step.

But I’m not alone.  I’ve been encountering more and more young bloggers lately, and I’m so glad to see more teens blogging!  Some other YA book review blogs done by teens are:

Lexi @ The YA Book Nook

Lexi is a great blogging friend of mine, and she’s a teen too!  She has great, in-depth, reviews, and she reads a TON!!  She’s got some very fun features on her blog as well.  She’s actually a part of the Fortnight of Guests too, and you can check out her guest post tomorrow!

Mimi Valentine @ Mimi Valentine

Mimi is a Canadian blogger who is a freshman in high school.  I lover her reviews, and she is super sweet and funny!  She’s just starting out, and she’s got a very cute blog.

Sierra Cullen @ Happily Never Ending

Sierra is a very sweet young blogger, and she’s only thirteen years old!  She always includes quotes that she likes from the book in her reviews.  She’s a great writer, and she even dabbles in creative writing every now and then.

Sarah @ Sarah’s Bookshelf

Sarah reviews some really interesting books and she’s not afraid to talk about some books that cover intense subjects.  She’s a very honest reviewer who’s into music and writing short stories.  Another awesome writer!

Sonia @ The Story Queen

This girl is absolutely hilarious, and I love her reviews!  She’s also a Canadian!  I definitely suggest you check out her About Me page as it lists 101 random facts about her.  They’re all a lot of fun to read!

I hope you get a chance to check all of these great book review blogs out, all done by teens too!  So even though being a teen blogger can be tough, its benefits outweigh the challenges.  I hope you get a chance to meet some great new bloggers, and learn a bit more about the growing young crowd of bloggers. 

Thank you so much for having me on your blog Megan, and for letting me be a part of Fortnight of Guests!

-This is T.B. with Another Book Back on the Shelf…

Until Next Time, Keep Reading!

---
Aww, you're so sweet, too!  You really got all the tricky parts about blogging, that I'm guessing are even trickier at the age of fourteen.  Plus I've seen some blogs I'm going to be checking out!  Thanks for taking part Tessa!