Free Spirit Award [What Keeps Me Blogging]

You guys I’m so excited! Why? Because this blog has been nominated for another award – the Free Spirit Award! Thank you so much Fujoshitep for the nomination 😀 I would totally recommend reading her post on this award, which is about why she loves Yaoi (beware NSFW). I wouldn’t recommend opening this while your parents (or much younger siblings) are around, unless they don’t care about seeing some naked men action ( ´͈ ᗨ `͈ )

This award was created by UNOTAKU and Marvelously Mismatched.

Rules

• Write about the topic your nominator gave you
• Place the Free Spirit Award button somewhere in your post
• Nominate bloggers (no requirements or limitations)
• Give your nominees a new topic to post about
• Have fun

And the topic that I received is

The things that help you stay motivated to keep blogging

This is such an easy but difficult question, I don’t even know how to start! Basically what helps me stay motivated are that I have an audience/feel like I belong, that I blog about things I like (whatever those things may be), and that blogging is writing.

Let me elaborate

1. An Audience/Belonging: One of the things that I worry about as a blogger (writer, person) is whether what I say ever interests people. Knowing that my content is actually being looked at by others always gives me strength and encourages me to keep writing. It doesn’t matter if there’s only one person reading, I will continue writing for that person alone.

I know, I’m a needy human being!

That’s why I always get super excited when I get notifications about people liking my posts or making comments (not just here, from other writing sites as well). Even the silent readers that hardly or never comment on my stuff make me happy. I’ve got this really big need to talk with others and since I can’t do that in person (I get super nervous and whatever I say never makes sense) I do it through the computer.

And since I blog about anime, manga, and yaoi I usually get to interact with people with similar interests. I don’t have to watch myself as much as I would if I interacted with people I know in real life (I don’t have many otaku friends, the ones that did like anime seemed to have grown out of it, I’m the only one left lol)

So for this, I thank everyone who has ever looked through my blog, liked anything I had to say, commented on my posts, and followed me! All of this feeds my soul~ (and keeps me semi-sane)

2. I blog about my interests: I feel like if I didn’t blog about the things I loved I’d probably not be blogging anymore, even if people liked my stuff (or maybe I’d be a bad blogger and people wouldn’t like my stuff and then I wouldn’t be blogging anymore). It’s kind of like my going to the gym right now. I started off well and then I just began to hate it, complaining, and now I just stay home whenever I can get away with it. I have to do something that I truly enjoy.

I guess the only thing I regret is that I can’t write as fast as I fangirl.

I’ve got this crazy Grammar Nazi and Artsy person inside my head that won’t let me post anything without checking it at least 100 times. For example, this post has had many revisions. Many. Like, I have to make sure that things don’t look too blocky (that there’s enough spacing), that there are visuals, that I haven’t left a million typos, etc!

Also, by blogging about the stuff I like I tend to meet others with similar interests (and that is awesome because then we can fangirl/boy together!!!).

3. Blogging Is Writing: One of my passions in life is writing. I love to write. When teachers ask people to say something they like, I’ll usually mention writing for fun. I write plans that never come to fruition, I write notes during class even after they’ve been provided, I write stories (originals, fanfiction, prompts), and I carry around notebooks and pens just for my writerly needs.

Writing for me is an easier way to express myself. It gives me more time to get my thoughts in order and unless there’s a deadline, I can take as long as I want. It’s something familiar to me.

Blogging is all of this for me. I can write about anything I can imagine and not have to worry about immediate backlash. As a bonus, I get to meet people who I otherwise wouldn’t and we’ll usually have something in common. Unfortunately, I’m not that great of a writer. Sometimes I feel like my content is stale and that’s what I’m trying to improve on, don’t know if I’m succeeding or failing though.

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OK! I hope I answered that question well enough! Here are my nominees

MangaLover93

Geek Girl Senshi (Stop Saying ‘Strong-Female Characters’)

The Josei Next Door

The Huge Anime Fan

Takuto’s Anime Cafe

Shiroyuni

As for my nominees here is your topic, what is a strong female lead and how does she compare to a strong male lead? For those curious, the reason I want to ask this is that my brother and I were discussing female characters and how there are not many of them that can be considered ‘strong’. We were specifically talking about them in terms of novels since my brother was reading the Throne of Glass Series and I wanted to get others’ opinions. 

What do you consider to be a strong female lead? Characteristics? How is she different from a strong male lead (what is a strong male lead)? And if they’re different, why? Etc.

It doesn’t have to be anything long either (my question feels like an essay prompt, sorry). If there’s anyone else who wants to answer the question please do so, I’m curious as to what people think.

Also, I was nominated for this award twice so please look forward to the next post, which I’m hoping to put up before Sunday ends! Topic is Karma.