Top Ten Things That Make My Blogging Life Easier

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week she posts an idea for relating to books, and encourages other book bloggers to respond with their own “top ten” list.

This week’s list is “top ten things that make our life as bloggers easier.” I don’t take advantage of too many resources, but here are some of the ones that help make my blogging life easier:

1. Goodreads
I practically live on this site. I use it as a way to keep track of books that I’ve read, want to read, and my progress in the books that I’m currently reading. I also use it to post my reviews and see what friends are reading. It’s an excellent way to find new books to read, and my to-read list has grown exponentially since joining this site. If I don’t have you as a friend yet, feel free to add me! : )

2. WordPress
This blog wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for WordPress. I’m really awful at the technical aspects of blogging (coding, designing layouts, etc.) so I’m incredibly thankful that WordPress is very user-friendly and easy to use. I love that I can schedule posts for when I’m going to be away (even though I sometimes forget to do so), link back to other posts, and connect this blog to my twitter and tumblr accounts with just a single click.

3. My Local Library
Since I’m a university student, I have to limit the number of books that I buy in a year. My library takes order requests for the newest titles, and offers interlibrary loans for older titles that other Ontario libraries have. The majority of the books that I read come from here, and I’ve already resolved to get a Waterloo library card as soon as I move into my new house in September.

4. Bloglovin’
This is such an easy way to follow blogs that I love who don’t use WordPress. It’s so nicely set up — I can either view all of the new posts at once, or view posts from specific users.

5. Twitter
I’m still fairly new to the whole Twitter thing so I don’t use this nearly as much as I should. I love being able to interact with authors and fellow bloggers, though, so I’m definitely working on using this a lot more frequently.

6. & 7. Day Planner & Highlighters
I mostly use this for school, but I’ve recently started using it for blogging too. I have a colour-coded system that shows when ARCs are going to be published, when reviews are scheduled to be posted, which memes need to be completed for which day, etc. I’m a very visual person, so it definitely helps me stay organized — and balance school work with blogging work, which is a lot harder than I thought it would be.

8. Kindle & Overdrive Apps
I used to be that guy that refused to get an e-reader because it just seemed wrong to read books on a screen. Of course, then I got an iPad for school, started using my library’s ebook download center, and now I can’t imagine living without these apps. It’s so much more convenient to bring an iPad filled with ebooks on a trip than a bag filled with actual books, and it’s definitely useful for reading ARCs and books that I’ve been sent for review. And the fact that the overdrive library usually has books that my local library doesn’t have saves me from putting in an interlibrary loan request, which saves us both time and saves them a lot of money.

9. Netgalley & Edelweiss
I know that I always talk about how little self-restraint I have when it comes to requesting ARCs from these sites, but they’re really quite helpful when it comes to finding new books to read. I love browsing through the publishers’ catalogues and looking at which books are going to be released in the near future, since it gives me a good idea of what I should add to my Christmas/birthday wishlists, haha.

10. You
Without you guys, my blogging experience wouldn’t be nearly as much fun. I love reading your thoughts and comments, and having conversations with you about the most random things. You help me find new books to add to my to-read pile, fangirl with me, and make every moment that I blog completely worthwhile. So, thank you guys! <3

What resources help make your life as a blogger/reader easier? Are there any on your list that you think I could benefit from using?