Today we have Camillia of Twenty three pages, a lifestyle blog. She is an amazing person and you should all go check her blog.

Before we start with the interview I want to tell you a few things. I met Camillia almost by accident. I was bored and browsing all the book blogs and suddenly I came across this beautiful blog. It had everything. The most intresting part was books – for me ;D. Her posts were so good and I totally fell in love with her pretty little blog. Then, I emailed her about this interview and she immediately replied me. I am so thankful to her.

This is my first blogger interview and I wish this goes well. :).

Camillia: Well I wouldn’t say that I ever felt like I needed to start a blog. More like I always knew that a blog was something I didn’t mind doing.

So one day, a couple of friends and I were sitting together and we happened to be talking about how we each had always wanted to start a blog but had never done it. So while sitting there, we all randomly created blogs.

At that point, I had no idea what my blog would be about and I certainly had no direction for it. I posted one book review and then a couple of personal pieces. Then one day, an indie author, Dameon Gibbs contacted me asking me to read his book and review it. So I did and that opened up this whole world of book blogging and I started reading and reviewing more books until one day, i realised that 2.5 years (almost 3) had gone by.

By the way, all the friends that started a blog that day with me abandoned their blogs after a couple of posts.

Camillia: I have known that I wanted to write since I was 10 and at that age, I did a lot of fiction writing till I was about 14 or 15 when I started writing articles for a newspaper. I loved it so much that I decided I wanted to be a journalist when I was older. So I’ve been working on that and I just recently got my dream internship at Singapore’s flagship newspaper, The Straits Times. It’s my ultimate dream so I’m really blessed.

Camillia: Chocolate. I don’t drink coffee actually.

Camillia: Book browsing but with friends. My friends actually like going book shopping with me since I know all the good titles.

Camillia: Wow that’s a tough one haha. I’m honestly more of an ebook kind of person so for me, physical books are either just to showcase on my shelves or because I get an ARC copy of a book. I like paperbacks but only when it’s a floppy paperback. It’s lighter of course and much easier to read with. But hardbacks are beautiful for shelves and photos. Honestly I’ve never particularly liked reading from a hardback because I’m always afraid I’ll damage the cover or the jacket.

So floppy paperbacks would be the best.

Kindle!

Camillia: Well there’s a lot of advice that I can give younger bloggers and I have done that a lot over on my blog but I think the main piece of advice I have that is not overly-cliched is to create a blogging schedule. Decide on posting days so your readers know when to check back. That really helped me to gain readers as well and to manage my blog without going crazy.

Also be yourself no matter what. It can be easy to want to model your blog after someone else or to read and review only popular titles. But be authentic and be you and your readers will come.

And of course, have loads of fun with it. It’s a hobby not a job.

Camillia: Three books for each category? Okay.

Cry: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult, Never Let You Go by Chevy Stevens

Laugh: The Martian by Andy Weir, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han, All the Shopaholic books by Sophie Kinsella

Feel Complete: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell, Fish in A Tree by Lynda Hunt

Camillia: I feel like I would be too overwhelmed to ask a proper question haha. I remember when I met Sarah J. Maas I was so nervous that all we talked about was how long I had been waiting and how long it took me to get to the venue.

But with Jodi I believe I might ask her about her research process for some of her books about jail and euthanasia. That really interests me.

e Book Signing

Camillia: I’ve been lucky enough to have the most lovely readers and I’ve only got a small amount of hate in my time as a blogger. But if I were to get a sexist comment, I would either do two things. I might delete the comment, or I might respond very politely. Don’t stoop to their level or respond emotionally because that’s honestly what these trolls want. Just be calm and they will feel very low for trying to insult you.

Camillia: I am an introvert through and through so I love being alone. Even when it comes to friends, I really prefer spending time with people one on one because that’s how I function best.