In today’s Blogger Spotlight, we’re shining a light on a blog I can really get behind. Everything Handheld run by Aaron is a blog all about books and gaming – two of my personal favourite hobbies. He features book and game reviews as well as other articles highlighting his two favourite hobbies.
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What made you get into blogging?
I have been reading fantasy and Sci-fi for over a decade after a dear family friend (who has now passed away) recommended the David Gemmel book ‘Legend’. In a matter of months, I have polished off a large selection of David Gemmel’s novels and was slowly falling down the rabbit hole of reading. Over the years, my thirst for reading has continued to grow and I wanted to expand my social circle since no one I knew also enjoyed reading as I did. So I took to Twitter to begin expanding. I enjoyed Twitter and wanted to be able to discuss my reading more, so I thought that I would give blogging a try. If I can recommend some fantastic novels at the same time as sharing my thoughts, then everyone is a winner. I am also currently writing my own novel ‘Choosing Elements’ which is in the editing phase and wanted to have an outlet for practising my writing and hearing other readers thoughts.
What’s your most successful post?
My most successful posts are a set of three that I wrote for the release of Stephen Aryan’s ‘The Coward’ – I wrote a review for the novel as well as interviewed Stephen about his latest release and writing. I then wrote a blog post about the after adventures of heroes – which is related to the themes within his own novel.
What’s been your biggest uphill battle with blogging?
My biggest uphill struggle is dealing with my own expectations. I hold myself to very hard standards and I always have throughout my life, and if I am not meeting those expectations then I consider myself to be failing. So when I started writing my blog and I didn’t get hundreds of views (I know that isn’t reasonable) then I took it as a negative to my writing. I have now learnt that when starting anything that it takes time for things to grow. I have received kind words from other bloggers and readers that have helped my levels of motivation.
What are you most proud of about your blog?
I am most proud of the articles that teach and are shared by others. That may sound egotistic, but referring back to my day job, training is a passion. When something sticks in a writer’s mind and they pass that off to others, I get a sense of accomplishment.
What one tip would you give to people looking to start a blog?
My biggest tip would be to write about what you are passionate about. My blog is a mixture of reading and gaming because those are my two biggest passions and at times I feel they interconnect with each other. When you write about things that you are passionate about then the words flow much easier. Sometimes it can be tempting to do things that others are also doing, but that can mean that you aren’t being true to yourself.
