Storming the Castle: 5for5 with Melissa of Live, Love, Read

A mystery is unfolding over the course of the next six days. Do you have the nerve to to accept the challenge of solving the mystery. Who is the girl behind the blog? Follow all the stops to learn more and to see where the story will go!!

Today, I am excited to welcome Melissa from Live, Love, Read to blog!! Be sure you stop by her blog to see the second installment of Storming the Castle: A Mystery Story Part II!!

5for5

•  Melissa, how long have you been blogging? What is the upside and downside to blogging within a group blog versus going solo? What keeps you motivated to continue blogging?

So I’ve been blogging for over a year now with my co-bloggers. However before that I had a podcast with two other girls for about a year until we lost interest.  The upside to blogging definitely has been all the people I’ve met throughout all this. Yes the books, events, and conventions are great, but it’s not why I love blogging. If I hadn’t started blogged I wouldn’t have my closest friends who are in the Boston area and living in other states. The downside to blogging I think is just finding the right balance between work and the blog, especially when we’re working with 3 completely different schedules.  It’s been difficult lately as we’re taking on more responsibilities, so I’m finding myself taking more initiative and ensuring things get done on time.  There are times when I just want to make the executive decision, but I know having my co-bloggers also agree on a decision is just as important.

What keeps me motivated to continue blogging is that I don’t want to leave my co-bloggers hanging if I left.  They have become such great friends and I know our Musings of Eternal Dreamers feature is very important and if I left it would just stop.

2.       

• What were the last five anime shows that you watched? Top five all-time favorites? When did you start watching anime?

Oh this question is going to be challenging.  It’s been months since I’ve watched Anime because I watch in long spurts and then stop.  It’s always dependent on the mood I’m in and I don’t necessarily complete all the ones I started. I first watched anime when I was a child. I have no idea how old I was, but I know my very first anime series were Sailor Moon and Dragonball, way before Pokémon and Digimon. My first film was Kiki’s Delivery Service which aired on television at some point in time.

Last 5 Anime I watched

Death Note (On Hold)

Fairy Tail (On Hold)

Sailor Moon Crystal (waiting for new season)

Soul Eater (completed) – (I re-watched a few episodes)

The Boy and the Beast (film)

Favorite Anime

Sailor Moon (Original 90s & Crystal)

Shakugan No Shana

Full-Metal Alchemist

Kiki’s Delivery Service (film)

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (film)

•         On a more serious note. If you could have a do-over and read a favorite book for the first time, which book (or series) would you like to start over with? What is it about that book that makes you wish you could read it for the first time all over again?

I could have a do-over, I would want to read the Percy Jackson series for the first time. However, I would’ve wanted to read them as they were being released.  There’s something about the experience of waiting forever for the next book to come out that I would have hated and enjoyed with this series.  Also, I’ve always loved Greek mythology and Rick has a way of making them wildly entertaining and hysterical.

•        What kind of crafts do you enjoy doing? What is one craft that you have always wanted to learn?

It’s been ages but scrapbooking and origami are some of my favorite crafts.  I love making jars of the little origami stars. I need to work on my scrapbooking skills.  I think I would like to learn how to improve my sewing and decorating classes because I stink at icing cupcakes etc.

•         You are stranded on a desert island and can only take one thing with you, what will it be?

Can it be TARDIS? Or does it have to be a real thing? Probably a pocket knife so I can use it to get the hell off the island and for defense purposes because you never know.

You can most definitely pick the Tardis! I know I would!! Sounds like me, when I have time and motivation I binge all the anime shows and then, when the feeling passes, don't watch anything for weeks. But, Melissa, you simply must finish Death Note and Fairy Tail!! I like that, so far, every one has not picked Harry Potter as the book they'd like to "read for the first time again".

And now, well, now it is my turn to answer Melissa's questions!

5for5

• What was your first book event you attended? What was that experience like for you?

My first book event was a signing that Scott Westerfeld did for the release of one of the Leviathan books. It was an interesting and fun experience because, well, because I had never thought that there would ever, and I mean ever, be the opportunity to meet an author who's books I love. He was hilarious and nice. A great combination considering we drove over three hours to get there and did not get home till about midnight.

As much fun as it was, I was too shy to say more than how much I enjoyed one of his other series, Uglies, while he signed my books. 

• How did you start blogging?

I'm not entirely sure! I believe it was a mixture of boredom and needing an outlet to talk about what I was reading. Truthfully, it has been so long since I started blogging that I cannot recall just why I started. But, I do remember that reading Meg Cabot's blog was one of the things that inspired me to begin. 

More specifically, it started with picking a name and hitting publish on a post...two weeks after I set everything up. 

• If you could be transported into any television show which would it be?

Does anime count? If so, I would not mind being transported into Fairy Tail! Even though the Fairy Tail guild is always caught up in some kind of madness, I cannot help but wish to spend at least a day in that world because the characters are some of my favorites. 

• Beast's Library or a TARDIS = bigger on the inside 

TARDIS!! Again! Just imagine all the books you could cram into the TARDIS compared to Beast's library. SO MANY! Plus the beauty of using it is taking all the books anywhere through space and time...never without a book, that is how it should be!

Deckled Edges, dust jacket art, or foil art on the book?

Foil art on the book because it's like a wonderful secret hidden away for the curious. Sometimes I wonder though how many books I own that have foil art that I have not noticed! 

Again,  don't forget to check out Melissa's blog Live, Love, Read to see the second part of the Storming the Castle: A Mystery Story.