BOOK BLOGGER SPOTLIGHT | Meet Chelle from Tales of Yesterday!

Hello readers, and happy Wednesday! After having a week off, we are back to the book blogger spotlight feature - one that is proving immensely popular with you lot - so thank you for reading! Today I am spotlighting one of my favourite all-time bloggers: Chelle Toy, blogger at Tales of Yesterday. She is my favourite blogger not only because her blog is a fantastic read and she recommends great books, but also because she is genuinely one of the loveliest people I have ever met! I was lucky enough to meet Chelle at YALC last year, which was amazing since we had been speaking on twitter for about a year before that, so it was great to meet her in person! Chelle blogs about a wide-range of topics, all revolving around books of course, but she also does write-ups of events, book reviews and author Q&As plus much, much more.

BLOGGER BIO 

Hi, I’m Chelle and I have been running my book blog - www.Talesofyesterday.co.uk since November 2014.  I read lots of books and review them on my blog and also love to feature guest posts, Q&A’s amongst others things from authors as well as other bloggers or publishers.  I always feature anything I enjoy or find fun and basically want to know the answers to! I am helpdesk / resource planner team leader for a service company by day and an avid book reader / book blogger / serial tweeter / twitter addict by night and on weekends!

I am the organiser of #DrinkYAMidlands and #PicnicYAMidlands where everyone is welcome to meet up for bookish chat and fun!  I also host a nostalgic #PointHorrorBookClub on the 13^th of every month where we read and discuss a Point Horror book which were all the rage and loved by myself in the 90’s – do you remember them? I am often known to be a little bit clumsy and I am always laughing at something or another and have a bit of a chuckle laugh (one of my managers calls me chuckles).

I live with my husband, Kevin, who I have known since I was 4 and I have an 11 Year Old son, Corey, who is as much of a book lover as me! I also have 3 cats, Skittles, Patch and Louis who enjoy clawing at my curtains and 2 rabbits, Smudge and Clover who pinch all my vegetables! I am a book loving (obsessed), theatre loving, slasher horror film loving csi geek! I’m often seen on twitter embarrassing myself and tweeting about books a lot using @chelleytoy.

Today I am lucky enough to have Chelley on my blog to discuss all things books, the YA blogging community and her award-winning blog!

Hi Chelle! So, what’s the best thing about being a book blogger?

Starting a book blog seemed to be a natural step for me and something I wish I had done years ago!  I LOVE talking about books and sharing my thoughts and experience of a book with people and sharing my thoughts through reviews on my blog.  Books in general excite me.  I love getting lost within the pages of a book.  Feeling what the characters are feeling or experiencing and going on a journey with them.  

This may sound cheesy but for me the best thing about being book blogger is getting to know new supportive people who all love books and the community just as much as me.

I have met the most wonderful people and made some lifelong friends in my journey so far whether this be other book bloggers, authors, publicists or just people who loves books!

I have also loved the chances I have had to meet authors or have authors appear on my blog and learn more about their lives, writing, books and the publishing industry.  I always feel truly honoured when an author agrees to appear on my blog.

I also love being asked for recommendations especially by children and then being told how much they love the book…this makes me so happy.  I also love sharing books with my son and having reading time with him every night.

What’s the most difficult/challenging thing about being a book blogger?

The most difficult/ challenging thing I find as a book blogger is time!  I need Hermione's Time Turner!  I want to spend ALL my time with my family and friends, read ALL the books, put more time into my blog and write that book that’s inside me, but time is restricted sometimes.  It can often be a challenge sometimes although maybe I should not spend all my spare time on twitter and be a little bit more productive.

What’s been your highlight in the time that you’ve been a book blogger?

I think a highlight for me is the opportunities and experiences that I have been lucky enough to have been given since starting my book blog.

One of the most over whelming experiences has been winning a UKYABA award in March 2015 for Champion Newcomer which in turn gave me the honour of speaking on a book blogging workshop / panel at YALC which was mind blowingly amazing and scary all rolled into one big ball of fun!

This year I have recently won four #AwardUKYABBloggers including Best Adult Blogger which are voted for by other bloggers etc and it really made me cry.  I was so overwhelmed.

I have also been pushed out of my comfort zone completely this year as well and have been lucky enough to chair two author panels at Waterstones Birmingham, answer questions on blogging at Foyles Birmingham and have been asked to host a workshop at YA Shot 2016!

So many unbelievable highlights!

Name one author you would love to meet, and one blogger you would love to meet in real life!

I feel I have been very lucky to meet a lot of my favourite amazing authors already, but for me this would be John Green or James Patterson…..two authors I adore who I would be honoured to get a chance to meet in real life!  In fact I think it would render me speechless which would be a miracle in itself!

Again I have been lucky enough to have met some wonderful bloggers who are all amazing!  One blogger I would love to meet (and hopefully will have met by the time this post goes live) is Rachel ( @_sectumsemprah ).  She does such a fantastic chat called #SundayYA and always gives us hugely exciting and interesting topics to discuss.

What advice would you give anyone who wants to start a book blog?

I would love to have known how wonderful and awesome the community is before I started!  I have made some lovely friends through blogging and it genuinely brings a tear to my eye to think about it.  When I think back to a time in my life where I felt quite lonely and scared (I had my family of course) if I had known that book blogging would introduce me to genuine wonderful people I would have done it sooner.  I love the community so much.  Everyone is so supportive and lovely…it’s amazing!

Oh and your TBR is always going to be huge!

Thanks so much, Chelle, for being on my blog! 

Check out Chelle's blog here: http://www.talesofyesterday.co.uk/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChelleyToy

Until next time :)