Musings of 2013: Octavia @ Read. Sleep. Repeat.

Check out the Octavia in her natural habitat. Octavia @ Read. Sleep. Repeat. is one of the most awesome people ever. She's super supportive to talk to and she's awesome (stated in her bio). Don't believe me? I'm offended. Not really, but this post by her should be enough to convince you.

Octavia's 2013

Now this is usually the part where I go into this long winded and unbelievably epic story about how I fought dragons, or went to Hogwarts or did anything besides sit around and troll the internet. But that would be lying, and lying is frowned upon apparently.

Darn goody goodies and their "morals"!

So, because I had to scrap my dragon and Hogwarts adventure how about I share a few things I learned in 2013?

1. Bigger blogs will not rip out your heart and play soccer with it because you tweeted/emailed them. They (most of them) are actually really nice.
2. Authors, while awesome, will laugh at you when you tweet to them about how they crushed your soul with their fantabulous books.
3. Being self conscious is a complete waste of energy. Most people who read your rants will be just as crazy.
4. Fear totally cramps your style. If you want that ARC email the publisher, if you want that interview email the author, if you want to join a totally random twitter convo about cheese DO IT!
5. Most importantly, there will always be more awesome books so don't let a few bad ones put you in a slump.

Pretty good lessons right?! All things I learned the hard way, but still good lessons. Some of them I learned faster than others, and some I'm still testing to make sure the results are consistent but all things that I didn't know in 2012 but will definitely bring into 2014. Oh but let us not forget some of my favorite things that happened in 2013! Like, getting Leigh Bardugo to dance with me in front of a giant crowd at the Decatur Book Festival. Or interviewing the legendary Brandon Sanderson! Oh oh and what about the TWO times my name was said during Tea Time?! They may not seem like big events to some, but this stuff made my life! Add in meeting my two bestest friends (hi Chrys & Crystal) and all my other new friends (including Nova) and I'm in book nerd heaven when it comes to 2013. I have no clue how 2014 is going to be able to top it, but I'm thinking a huge plate of bacon and a 5ft tall stack of books, would be a fabulous place to start.

 

*Hint hint universe*

 Okay, now do you get how awesome she is? Like she's just as awesome as that gif right above. I said it! Quote me on this; Octavia is as awesome as JLaw. Oh yeah.