Tag Archives: Carrie Booth Schmidt

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

5 Nov

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.

 

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10 Year Blogiversary Celebration!

1 Nov

I can hardly believe it has been 10 years since I started blogging! 10 years of books, authors, bloggers, and all the bookish goodness I could find. November is going to be one long party! I have lined up some friends to help me celebrate with guest posts about their publishing journeys, books they love, the blogging life, and much, much more. See the schedule below.

 

Of course you can’t have a party without gifts, so I am gifting one of my readers a big box of books and bookish swag. The box includes nonfiction, a variety of fiction genres, and even a cookbook! Some of the books are brand new, others are ARCs, and some are gently read. To enter the giveaway, just leave me a comment. (Please US residents only.)

 

I have to give a big thank you to all those who have read my blog over the years. Your encouragement to me is very appreciated. I have loved every minute of the blogging journey, and I count you all as great fellow travelers. 

 

Guest Post Schedule

11/4  Sarah Sundin, author of Sunrise at Normandy series

11/5  Carrie Booth Schmidt, blogger, Reading Is My SuperPower

11/6  Rachel Dylan, author of the Atlanta Justice series

11/7  Amy Green, fiction publicist Bethany House Publishers

11/8  Heather Day Gilbert, author of Belinda Blake And The Snake in The Grass

11/11  Lindsey Bracket, author of The Bridge Between

11/13 Courtney Clark, blogger, The Green Mockingbird

11/15  Rachel McMillan, author of the Herringford And Watts Mysteries

11/18  Janet Ferguson, author of the Coastal Hearts series

11/20  Iola Goulton, blogger

11/22  Susie Finkbeiner, author of All Manner of Things

11/25  Kimberly Woodhouse, author Daughters of The Mayflower series

11/26  Carole Jarvis, blogger, The Power of Words

11/27  Rebecca Maney, reviewer, Inkwell Inspirations

11/28  Olivia Newport, author of the Tree of Life series

 

 

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Top 10 Tuesday — I Would Do Anything For Books . . .

9 Apr

With Meatloaf playing in my head, I pondered just what to write about for this week’s Top 10 Tuesday prompt — outrageous or uncharacteristic things I’ve done to get books. I live a rather predictable, unexciting life. I am not a risk taker or someone who embraces challenges (just ask my family). But when it comes to books . . . . 😉  Although I have never camped out all night to buy a new release, I’ve never stalked an author (at least by the current legal definition), and I have never done anything remotely illegal to obtain a book, I have done several things that are waaay out of my comfort zone. Today’s post follows the progression of my book-obsessed ways.

To discover what other bloggers have done to get that book, check out That Artsy Reader Girl.

 

Top Ways to Get That Book!

 

I became a blogger. I’d like to say I was all altruistic in my quest to obtain books for my church library. Like, I sacrificed to write a blog to update our collection. Yeah right! While I did add mightily to the library’s shelves during my brief tenure as library lady, let’s not forget that I got to read all those books first!

I crashed attended book conferences and galas. This one was definitely waay out of my comfort zone. Going to a new place populated with authors? I was a timid, shrinking mess. But the lure of not only meeting, but talking to my favorite authors and then getting their books signed was over-powering.

I judged for the Inspy Awards. Now with this one I really did feel like a fraud. 😉 I got to pretend I knew what I was doing when critiquing the merits of finalists. This was one of the most rewarding things I have ever done (and not just in terms of books). I got to meet fabulous bloggers who have lots more insight and smarts when it comes to books. I judged four years and loved every minute of it. If you have a blog, I highly encourage you to apply to be a part of this fantastic group. (Applications for judging this year are closed, but check back for 2020.)

I finally got to attend the Christian Fiction Readers Retreat. Woo hoo! Because this year’s event was held so close to my son and DIL’s home, I could finally attend this fabulous event. What a wonderful day of books, authors, readers, bloggers, and bookish shenanigans. I scored lots of books too! Although I didn’t win any of the prizes *sniff, sniff*, my goody bag was filled to the brim with goodies! There was also a book store (enough said)!

 

What would you do to get that book?

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