One of the reasons why I keep blogging

I know I've been pretty hit-and-miss over the last year in blogging. Sometimes I wonder if I should just quit but one of the reasons I keep doing it is the Utah Book Bloggers. We got together for another social last weekend and it was so fun. This is the 5th time we've gotten together and the 4th time I've attended. I was one of the originals. Here we were the first time:

Only 2/3 of these were bloggers, one was an author (James Dashner), and the rest were spouses. On Saturday night there were around 60 people including several published authors (Bree Despain, Emily Wing Smith, Rick Walton, Sheralyn Pratt, Cory Poulson, Lisa Mangum, Jaleta Clegg), soon to be published (Brodi Ashton and a couple others I'm sorry I don't remember) and lots of aspiring writers. I sat next to Penelope from Reading Fever and her sister Latu, Lisa from The Book Worm's Library, Alison from So Many Books So Little Time, and Sheri at Belle's Book Blog. We had a great conversation over dinner about books (of course) and blogging and I really enjoyed getting to know them.

After dinner we each introduced ourselves. I wished that I'd had something a little more witty to say instead of, "I'm Kim and I blog at Good Clean Reads." We were doing the introductions quickly since there were so many people. There wasn't really applause at the end of each introduction but I was surprised that I got a few claps when I said I was from Good Clean Reads. I don't know if they were applauding the blog (seems unlikely since I don't post much these days) or just applauding the name of the blog since so many people there appreciate a "clean" book. I guess I'll never know but I must say it does motivate me to be a more consistent blogger.

I have to mention my appreciation to my favorite peeps who have been there from the beginning. Natasha at MawBooks, Suey from It's All About Books, and Cari from Book Scoops. Another favorite is Becky from One Literature Nut who has helped in the organizing of the last few socials. At the end after almost everyone had left we all sat there talking. If they were feeling anything like me they didn't want to leave the feeling of book passion?, magic?, obsession? (whatever you want to call it) that had been there. There's a real comraderie among book lovers. Maybe that's why I feel so close to my friends in my book club.

So to all of you bloggers, authors, and aspiring authors who attended this winter's social, I send out a great big THANK YOU!

Oh, if you want to see some pictures check out Maw Books or It's All About Books. Natasha and Suey are always the ones with the cameras.