Love-A-Thon Interview Swap with Kristen from The Book Monsters

So I had the great opportunity to interview a great blogger, Kristen, The Book Monsters. If you haven't heard of their blog then definitely click on the banner below to go to their site!

Tell us a little about you and your blog!

I'm Kristen, a 29 year old elementary school librarian. I have a wonderful husband who also loves to read, but only "adult" books, mostly fantasy and nonfiction, and gives me grief when I read sappy books that make me cry. I started blogging about 4.5 years ago after I saw book blogs cropping up on Goodreads. About 2 years in, I decided to join up with Kate, another blogger who I had been talking to online pretty much the whole two years and we started our new blog The Book Monsters. It's been awesome to have some support and someone awesome to talk to about books and blogging and we meld well together. Our tastes are fairly similar but also very different at times. We mainly read fantasy and science fiction, although I've been more into Middle Grade level books lately, whereas Kate generally just reads Young Adult books. I also read a lot of graphic novels and sometimes manga and review those as well. 

What is your favorite thing about reading/blogging?

I love the escapism of reading, I'll be honest. I have my crappy weeks at work just like everyone else and reading keeps me imaginative and open as well as lets me escape into a different world. There's nothing like a great book to make you realize your problems could be much worse... like fighting a battle during the endtimes or facing off vicious zombies. Blogging is a great outlet and has introduced me to so many new authors and websites, it's incredible. I wish I could read more blogs as I learn so much from other readers. I love the community of blogging as well and it's expanded my use and knowledge of social media, which is so helpful in my job.

Are there any blogging regrets you have?

I wish I had time to write better reviews. I admit to writing short reviews, editing them just barely and then just pushing them out there. They aren't by any way the worst writing out there, but definitely not the best either. I also feel like sometimes I don't get as much reading done because I spend so much time working on my blog or getting distracted by Twitter. 

If you could have a conversation with any author, living or dead, who would it be?

Hans Christian Anderson. I'm so enthralled with fairy tales, I would have love to have met and chatted with him. 

What advice would you give to newbie bloggers/want to be bloggers?

Don't stress out and blog because you love it, not for some other reason. I know that stats, numbers, etc get into the heads of new bloggers, but it takes time to build an audience. If you keep consistent and show your passion, you'll get followers. I hate when I hear that book bloggers start blogging for freebies, it's just silly. The library is free... just in case we all forgot. Also, a couple comments goes a long way. I notice when I comment more, the more comments my blog gets. It doesn't matter how long you've been around, if you stick with it, it pays off in so many different ways. I still have author emails from years ago that saw my review of their book and sent a love note. It's the little things that make blogging worth it. 
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I'd really like to thank Kristen for answering my questions and interviewing me as well! Go check out her blog for her interview with me and definitely go follow her!