Fun-Read-Friday Winner! Paradox Interview!

Hello everyone! The winner of last weeks Fun Read Friday contest was Paradox! Click here to visit her amazing book blogging website! Here is the interview she gladdly responded to!

1) What first got you started in blogging in general? -
I don't remember when I first found it, but when I discovered there were blogs about books with reviews... even of books that hadn't come out yet, I looked everywhere and bookmarked over 100 blogs. Somehow after that I got interested in something else and forgot about them for a while. I rediscovered the YA blogging community when I was looking for contests back in August 2008. *ashamed* But I realized there was so much more to it than contests. Everyone seemed pretty similar to me... obsessed with books. And I'd been wanting to start a blog... so in November I finally decided to sign up for Blogger, even though I was incredibly busy with National Novel Writing Month, and start my YA sf/fantasy (and writing and randomness) blog.

2) What blog/person/thing most inspired you to blog about books? - I can't really remember a specific blog... it's probably the community as a whole. And the free books. ;) Of course, there's more to it than that, because I love to read and talk about books with my friends, so the idea of reviewing seemed like an extension to this, a way to get my feelings out there.

3) Do you get asked to review books by the author/publisher often? - I just got my first e-mail from an author about this a few days ago!!! The book is Hottie by Jonathan Bernstein, which I had already known about for a month and wanted=2 0to read!!!

4) If you do get asked to review, while reading their book, do you find it less or more fun than reading a book of your choice? - I haven't gotten my first yet... but I imagine that it would depend on the book. I would feel pressured to read the review book, but if another book I had looked really good or I'd been wanting to read it forever...

5) What do you do before you start blogging about a book. Do you search for a post about the same book to get ideas? Or do you just start typing random things about the book? Do you write down your ideas first? - I haven't posted reviews yet, but I am writing some. So yes, I do look around to get an idea of how other reviews are structured and to get a synopsis of the book in case I read the book too long ago to remember all the details. Also, I do take notes about my opinions on a book.

6) While reading a book before you blog about it, do you write down the most important things that happened on paper so you can add it to your review? - Sometimes I type up some of my reactions to the book and ideas for a review into a text file. I'm big on the use of text files because they're so simple. They're good if you just want to write down notes or sentence fragments

7) Was/is there ever a time where you absolutly dread having to read? - Yes... If I have a TBR pile the size of Mt. Everest, especially if m ost of it is library books, the task seems impossible and I almost fear to start reading. That and the times I've had Summer reading for school. I procrastinated so long once that I had to read the Iliad in a day (well, 27 hours, counting the moments when I ate and slept.) *shiver*
*Paradox*

Thanks so much for your amazing, and amusing answers Paradox!!!!