books and communities

6 Reasons Why Reading Is Good For Your Mental Health

6 Reasons Why Reading Is Good For Your Mental Health

Did you know that reading has a positive affect on your mental health? Reading offers us a chance to escape by getting lost in a new world for a little while, improve intelligence, promote relaxation, and cultivate emotional awareness.

Writing a Book: How To Get Started

Writing a Book: How To Get Started

It seems daunting, right? The prospect of writing a WHOLE book. If you stop looking at the story’s end and focus on individual steps, writing a book becomes manageable. This breakdown helps you get started with writing your first book through outlines, editing, and just plain writing.

Lit to Stick: 3 Tips for Landing an Agent

Lit to Stick: 3 Tips for Landing an Agent

Guest Post featuring author and literary agent Caroline George.

Like visual art, writing carries a subjective quality. One reader may adore the book. Another may give the story a thumbs down. Since literary agents are readers, they also view writing through a subjective lens. Each agent determines a submission’s worth based on their personal rubric—platform, plot, genre, writing style, etc. Check out Caroline George’s tips on how you can appeal to literary agents.

Do You Have "The Guilties"?

Do You Have "The Guilties"?

Do you prefer reading to socializing? Are you more of an introvert?

Don’t have "the guilties” because you enjoy your alone time. It’s healthy to spend time with yourself. Enjoy the quietness and get lost in a story for a while. 

"The guilties” are a commonly misplaced sense of guilt when enjoying something you feel you shouldn’t. For example, giving up a night out with friends to enjoy a good book can give someone "the guilties”. Although this phenomenon is a growing issue among the reading community, it has a cure. 

5 Easy Steps to Build a Bookstagram

5 Easy Steps to Build a Bookstagram

Book Lovers Unite!

Explore the community. Use #bookstagram on Instagram to see photos taken from all over the world. It is common for an account holder to pose a question in the caption for bookstagrammers to answer. 

6 New Year's Resolutions for Book Lovers

6 New Year's Resolutions for Book Lovers

1. Finish your TBR pile

We are all guilty of it... the lonely books sitting there, waiting to be opened. Read a portion of the ones on your shelf at home. My one shelf turned into three shelves in 2017 alone! There are many incredible stories, so limit yourself to the ones you really REALLY want to read. You will feel less guilty... I hope I will.