Undersea Spotlight: Susan at A Soul Unsung

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on February 19, 2013 | 0 Comments

I started this feature here at ASR in order to know your fellow bloggers a little better! If you are interested in being featured please fill out the form.

Meet Susan!

Hi, I’m Suz, a small town girl from Texas. I love to read, and blog about what I’m reading. My very favorite author ever is V.C. Andrews. Like her, I believe that “life belongs to the rare, exceptional indivudual who dares to be different.“

Blogging and reading have changed my life in so many wonderful ways and has given me a wider outlook on life and friendships!

How long have you been blogging? What made you want to start a book blog?

Blogging in general, for more than five years on livejournal. In the world of book blogging, almost two years now. My two year anniversary is coming up in March and I’m pretty darn excited about that! My love of reading and everything bookish is what made me want to start blogging about books. From an early age, I’ve always loved to escape inside of a book and get lost in a new world full of amazing characters, interesting places, and awesome story lines. For a while, books became the way that I coped with the real world, or escaped from it. Sometimes they even saved me, in a way. So, I started blogging about them, because I love talking about the books that I read and sharing my thoughts on them with others. Plus, it was a way for me to connect with others who enjoyed the same thing as me. I’ve made some pretty amazing friends and have some pretty awesome things happen in the last couple of years since I’ve been blogging.

What do you do when you’re not blogging or reading?

I like to hang out with my family and do things with them. I’m sort of a homebody. I like to write, in my spare time. I also watch a lot of TV on DVD, because it’s like the best.thing.ever. I do some crafting, such as scrapbooking (which, I haven’t done in a while), making jewelry (which, I just started doing a couple months before last year ended), and hanging out with a friend of mine. Sometimes I shop around a little, sometimes I just hang out at home and do things with the family.
Picture of Jewelery I’ve Made

What is your favorite part about blogging? Least favorite?

My favorite part about blogging is being able to connect with fellow bloggers and friends, who have the same or similar common interest in books and other things. It’s that whole camaraderie that makes it so much fun. I just really love talking about books in general and what I like or don’t like to read, sharing my thoughts, and being able to recommend a really great book to a friend or fellow blogger and have them possibly enjoy it as much as I did, if not more. Getting the chance to actually connect with authors and publishers, in a way that you normally wouldn’t is really kind of awesome too.

The downside to blogging, is that sometimes all of the “drama” that goes on within the community of book bloggers (the recent cases of plagiarism, etc.) is definitely my least favorite thing. I just don’t understand the why’s or how’s someone could even think about (let alone actually going through with it) taking someone else’s hard work and putting their smarmy name all over it, as if they were one who put their time, effort, and talents into. Grr. I just…yeah, I really just hate that aspect of it.

Then there is the “blogger slump” where you just get a little bit lazy and complacent, and blogging in general starts to feel like a chore. You know, the time-management issue, the too many review books so reading feels like a chore and less like something fun you usually enjoy, and you just start to feel like you can’t really catch up no matter how hard you try to. Yeah, that’s a frustrating feeling too. :/

[Jessi] That last paragraph – totally get it! I have so many books I HAVE to read right now it feels more like a chore, so I know the feeling =/

How did you come up with the name for your blog?

A Soul Unsung…is really personal for me. When I chose to create my book blog, I wanted it to represent who I am, a piece of my soul where reading takes up residence. I read books like the air I breathe. Their words cleanse my soul, they shake my soul, the move my soul, they are an extension of my soul and everything that I’m feeling. When I’m connecting with a book, a character, a storyline, the emotion that sweeps over me is indescribable Sometimes we are unsung souls, trapped in surroundings that are beyond our control. This is true for so many of the characters that I’ve encountered in my reading, which is why I chose to call my blog, A Soul Unsung. There is true power in the written word.

Do you have any specific book bloggers that inspire you?

Oh wow! This is a hard question, but a good one too. It’s hard, because I want to name pretty much every book blog I’ve come across, but it’s also easy because there are a few of them that have really stood out to me and that I’ve really sort of looked up to.

Molli @ Once Upon A Prologue is one of my very favorite blogs to follow. She’s not just a fellow blogger, but also one of my very best friends both online and off. She’s an awesome blogger and an amazing friend. Incredibly talented and uniquely original, she never ceases to amaze me with the fantastic content that she comes up with for her blog like Becoming A Better Blogger discussion posts or her beautiful book reviews. I only wish I were as talented or creative as she is.

Rachel @ Fiktshun is definitely one of the most amazing, originally creative, and fun blogs that I love to visit for sure. I am always inspired by whatever it is she is coming up with and I definitely look up to her amazing blogging skills as the veteran she is. She never fails to bring the awesome to whatever it is she is doing!

Rachel @ Parajunkee was definitely one of the very first book blogs that I followed and is definitely still one that I look up to quite a lot. I love her Book Blogging 101 and Feature & Follow Friday features, because they are so incredibly helpful, and also fun and entertaining.

Ashley @ Bookish Brunette is seriously fierce and freakin’ rocks my face off hardcore! Mad skills. Seriously. And hosts the Zombie Craze like nobody’s business. Plus, she’s as sweet as she can be and just a totally awesome chick to get to know.

Giselle @ Book Nerd is a spunky fabulous chick to get to know. She’s incredibly intelligent, super massively creative, and just freaking awesome! Her Newbies Guide To Book Blogging Tutorials are tremendously helpful and awesome.

I could go on and on, but it would be a love letter to just about every blogger out there, because I draw inspiration for all of them collectively and they are all amazing in their own ways.

What do you look for in a blog when following? What are your pet peeves?

Mostly I look to see if the blog has similar or common interests, then I like to check out their features or discussion posts, reviews, etc. I’m not too crazy about a blog if it’s overrun with too many memes. I mean, one or two is fine, but if it’s crawling with them and there’s hardly any original content or if it’s disorganized and hard to maneuver around then I just give up and move onto the next blog.

What’s your favorite book(s)?

This is not a nice question, you don’t play fair. lol. j/k. I have a lot of favorite books, it just depends on what mood I’m in for what I’m reading or wanting to re-read. My absolutely favorite book in the entire world is My Sweet Audrina by V.C. Andrews. I remember writing a post about why I loved V.C. Andrews and her books so much, which you can find here.

Right now, some of my favorite books would be Diety by Jennifer Armentrout, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, The Mortal Instrument series by Cassandra Clare, The Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead, The Darkest Powers trilogy by Kelley Armstrong, The Program by Suzanne Young, The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchel, and so many more. There are just simply too many to name, but you can check out my Goodreads page if you like.

Favorite author?

V.C. Andrews, definitely comes first and foremost to my mind. She’s just this amazing author that I admire so much and I believe in a lot of the things that she has to say. I also really like Jennifer Armentrout, Kelley Armstrong, Lauren Oliver, Richelle Mead, Cassandra Clare, Julie Cross, Saundra Mitchell, Libba Bray, Jessica Shirvington, Melissa Marr, Cate Tiernan, and so many others.

What is the biggest turn off for you when you’re reading a book?

Insta-love! I cannot stand it when I’m knee deep into a book that I think has such wonderful potential and then the author has to go and screw everything up by introducing insta-love. I mean, that’s just ridiculous to me and it ruins many a good book.

ME TOO! That’s the quickest way for me to go from liking a book to hating it in 30 seconds flat.

What first draws you to a book to make you want to read it?

It’s usually the cover, to be honest. I mean, they always say that your first impression is the best impression, and the cover is the first thing you see when you pick up a book. After that it’s usually what the inside flat or the back of it has to say and how intriguing I feel like the synopsis is versus how easy it is for me to get into, because I usually try to read the first chapter at least before I decide on whether or not I want to read it, borrow it on loan from the library, or buy it.

Describe yourself in 3 words.

Different. Girly. Friend.

Name a random fact about yourself.

I like to eat all of one color of gummy bears (my favorite candy on earth!) before moving onto the next color and eating all of that one.

Do you have a job? If so, what do you do?

Not right at the moment, but I have been putting application after application in, and have been trying unsuccessfully to find one. It hasn’t been easy and I’ll admit that I’ve gotten a bit discouraged, but I am going to do my best to try harder to find one this year.

What did you want to be when you were little? Has that changed?

When I was little, secretly I wanted to be a writer. Now, that I’m older and a bit more jaded, I don’t have that dream so based so much in reality anymore. I have always been interested in forensic science though.

Randomness

Cats or dogs?
Dogs. I have the most adorable little rescue Shorkie (Yorkie/Shi Tzu) mix. I absolutely love her to death, she’s my cute little cuddly buddy. I named her Spencer Prentiss, after my two favorite characters on Criminal Minds.

Pictures of Spencer Prentiss (aka Suggie): HERE and HERE

Favorite animal?
I love monkeys, pandas, and koala bears!

White, dark, or milk chocolate?

I am actually allergic to chocolate and peanuts. :/

Coke or Pepsi?
Depends on my mood. If I’m at Sonic then it’s a Cherry Coke with real cherries and no cherry syrup. If I’m just generally craving a soda fix, then it’s definitely Pepsi all the way!

Favorite TV show?
My favorite tv shows are: Criminal Minds, The Vampire Diaries, The Walking Dead, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and when it was in syndication Sex and the City, etc. I always wanted a romance like Big and Carrie’s. :)

Favorite movie?
My favorite movies are: Tombstone, Love Story, How To Be A Serial Killer, Breakfast At Tiffany’s, etc.

Color?
Purple. I absolutely love all shades of that color, pretty much. Oh, and silver and black. :)

Thanks for being here today, Susan! It was fantastic getting to know you!