Guest Post — Carrie Schmidt, Blogger at Reading Is My SuperPower

Carrie Schmidt is a blogger extraordinaire! Her blog, Reading Is My SuperPower, is a must-read for the latest on books and authors in the Inspirational market. Carrie and I first connected through some FB groups and also back and forth comments between our blogs. Don’t believe it if you hear someone say that relationships through social media can’t possibly be real. But our connection is more than just books because of our mutual friend, Jesus Christ. I finally got to meet Carrie in person at the Christian Fiction Readers Retreat in April! What a joy!

Carrie is a self-professed book pusher, one of the many things I love about her. Here is her book-pushing journey. Thanks so much, Carrie, for joining my celebration! (Make sure to check out the link to my 10 Year Blogiversary Giveaway at the bottom of this post.)

Evolution of a Book Pusher — Carrie Schmidt

First, let me say a big HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to my friend Beckie and By The Book! Your posts are always a joy to read, and your love for books is contagious. Thank you for all you do to promote Christian fiction and for your heart for God and His Word too. I am so blessed to know you.

Beckie and I are part of a subset of bloggers who are sometimes (lovingly, I’m sure) dubbed ‘book pushers’ for our tendency to shove books at random people with a ‘read this! You’ll love it!’ command. No one is safe around us, unless you already have a book in your hand. And even then, there’s no guarantee that we won’t try to add to your TBR pile. We just can’t help it. Our love of good books overflows from our reader hearts and we just have to tell you about them. 

I’ve always been a bit of a book pusher. My first word was ‘book’, if that gives you some idea of the longevity of my cause. I would follow people around, book in hand, clucking ‘book, book, book’ like a chicken. And even before I could actually read, I had those beloved books memorized and would oh-so-helpfully inform the person reading to me that they had ‘kipped a page’ if they had the audacity to want to hurry through the umpteenth reading of that book. For the record, I still frown on ‘kipping pages. 😊 

I took a break from ‘super-reading’ for about six years, after a botched wisdom tooth extraction left me in severe facial pain. I now refer to this time period as the ‘Dark Ages’ and one of the first things I did after the miracle workers at my dentist’s office found a way to calm the damaged nerve in my jaw was head to the library and stock up on a bag full of books. Oh bliss! to be reading again. I felt like myself finally. 

Once I started reading, I also started talking about books in new avenues that weren’t popular before my Dark Ages began. Now there was Goodreads, and social media had become the place to be as well. As the number of people who messaged me to ask for good books increased, I started exploring the idea of a blog about books. I experimented with a few titles but nothing clicked with me until I landed on Reading Is My SuperPower. With the birth of my blog, my book pushing took on new levels of pushery. (It’s a word if I say it is, right? LOL) About a year later, I was blessed with the amazing opportunity to help start the Christian Fiction Readers Retreat with Bonnie Roof and Annie JC, the first event of its kind for Christian fiction, where authors & readers could celebrate books and Jesus together as friends. What an honor to be part of something groundbreaking like that!! Two years after that, my friendship with Annie and our mutual book pushery led to us starting JustRead Publicity Tours, a company dedicated to promoting books through virtual book tours on blogs & social media. What a crazy ride this love of books has taken me on, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything! 

The best part of this ride is being in such good company. Working alongside fellow book pushers like Beckie to get the word out about such great books and authors is so much fun! Congratulations, Beckie, on all your hard work and thank you for loving books – and Jesus – so well. Here’s to many more years of book pushing together 😊

Carrie aka Meez Carrie
Avid Reader. Book Reviewer. Story Addict.
KissingBooks Fan. Book Boyfriend Collector. Cool Aunt.
A little bit Yankee & a little bit y’all.
I love Jesus and THE Story a whole lot.

Follow Carrie at Reading Is My SuperPower, on Twitter, and, Pinterest, Instagram, and Goodreads. 

10 Year Blogiversary Giveaway

Be sure to enter HERE.

Tags: Carrie Booth Schmidt