So, remember when I used to be able to write discussion posts somewhat regularly? Yeah, me too. That was fun. Now, I have trouble coming up with anything at all. Because I am a mess, creatively speaking. And motivationally speaking. And probably a lot of other ways too, if I am being honest. Anyway, over the past few weeks, I have tried in vain to come up with some kind of topics. But the hard truth is, they all sucked. Not just sucked, these sully the good name of suck. So off to the garbage they went.

But then I thought… well, since I can’t come up with anything else, maybe I can just take you on a little tour of the mess inside my head. So without further ado….

The Discussion Posts that ended up in my trash folder!

Bookish Injuries

Yep. This made no sense. I thought about actual TBRs crushing you, as opposed to figuratively being crushed. And then my mind wandered to papercuts which… yeah, you can see why this ended up in the trash. Some of the points I thought up before giving up?

  • Stock in Band-Aids. You know, for all the papercuts. That never happen. Which totally just jinxed me and now my books will be soaked with the blood of my fingers.
  • Class action lawsuits against IKEA. I guess because your TBR is so huge that your bookshelf fell on you? I don’t know. Also under this heading would be “tips for finding extra smarmy lawyers”.
  • A link to find reconstructive surgeons in your town. I guess… I guess those books really fell hard. Who knows. Maybe it was the papercuts.
  • Pictures of gruesome book wounds. Which I don’t know how I planned to find, because legit this is not a thing.

How to Become Part of a Fandom

This… isn’t a thing. Like, I don’t know how you do that. You just… like the thing a lot. And then you kind of become mildly obsessed with it, and clearly value it above all the other things you like. This would be the shortest post ever:

Step 1: Read/Watch/Listen to The Thing

Step 2: Enjoy The Thing

Step 3: Realize you love The Thing

Step 4: Make too many GIFs of The Thing, buy merchandise for The Thing, inundate people with talk of The Thing.

And that is it, you’re a fan. You’re welcome for this groundbreaking source of information.


Choosing Books from My Bookshelf

Fun fact: If I knew how to do this, I would not need a post. I have also done this topic to death, to the point where I was pretty sure I was plagiarizing myself. You get it, I am an indecisive mess. I ask you to choose my books all the time, because I am the actual worst at it. And this post was no different. It went something like this:

Here is a picture of my bookshelf! I want to read all these books. 

But I take a few that I extra want to read off the shelf, and maybe pick from those? Only… now that I have picked them, maybe I am not sure. So I put them back. 

Back to square one. How do you choose which book to read? 

See what I mean? We have definitely done this one before. Several times, if I had to guess. ?


OTPs

Since Valentine’s Day was coming up, I thought “hmm, maybe I should do some kind of post on something… lovey”. Even though I hate Valentine’s Day. Because I am bitter. Anyway. So I thought, “let’s feature some of my OTPs!”

Spoiler alert: I have two OTPs. That is it. I have two ships that I ship above all ships. And it should surprise exactly zero percent of people who they are.

Shocking OTP #1

Shocking OTP #2

And thanks to Rashika, for reminding me that I actually tried to do this post. And failed, clearly.


Bookish Quirks

This was supposed to be about things that I did in regards to books that were… weird, I guess? The thing is, I don’t think any of them were abnormal to other bookpeople. Just like, non-readers, perhaps. Things like:

  • Having a super long TBR. Seriously, do any of us not have one of these?
  • Book hoarding. Again, this is all of us, right?
  • Not eating around the books. 
  • Not enjoying when others borrow books. 

Look, these are asinine because they describe like, 90% of the people I know.

See, this is a mess. Have you guys ever run out of ideas? Do you have tips? Posts that you have had to send to the garbage because they were flat out ridiculous? Do share! 

Posted February 10, 2017 by Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight in Discussion, Discussion Challenge / 39 Comments

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39 responses to “Discussions From the Trash

  1. I’ve been thinking about doing that choosing-books-from-my-shelf thing for such a long time. I’ve drafted it. trashed it. re-drafted it. then re-trashed it. who knows, I might be able to do an actual post about it? lol. another post, I’ve been considering is doing a tips-on-surviving-book-buying-bans kind of post. but really, I end up doing the drafting and trashing kind of cycle as well… why do I even try?

  2. Discussion posts like I’ll have ideas and write a few, then it’s like the ideas dry up and a few weeks might go by where I can’t think of anything and I have to try and think up other loser posts lol. Bookish quirks might not be bad… I mean eating around books can be seriously bad. I remember getting mustard on a book once because you know how mustard is… it gets on your fingers somehow and I didn’t notice before I touched the book. And that shit ain’t coming out, it’s done. So yeah…

  3. OHHH I love this Shannon, I think you are very creative to turn your so-called bad ideas into a post hahaha 😛 but I do know what you mean! My problem isn’t that I have no idea but I have too many ideas (don’t mean to brag) and just don’t know which one to choose hahaha I write down all my post ideas on my blogging notebook so of course I have so many ridiculous ideas! Some of them are type of love interests in books and the downside of reading too much, but I couldn’t think of ANY points that hadn’t been mentioned by other bloggers before hahaha

  4. I definitely related to all your bookish quirks right there.? But hey! Don’t feel bad! Sometimes I die at coming up with stuff too!! I kind of like to filch discussion topics out of whatever book I’m reading though, which helps. Like I just finished a book with an unreliable narrator today and thought I could do a post on reasons I like unreliable narrators (like #1 I relate because like I say I’m going to go be productive but then end up on youtube watching stupid vines and feeling bad SO YEAH AHEM) but I try doing stuff like that!! And also I look at past Top Ten Tuesday prompts and use them too.?

    But honestly whatever you blogged about would be funny and amazing. <3 JUST SAYIN'.

  5. Lmao can I just say that I love your failed bookish injury post? I’m cracking up so much. You know, you could add scrapes/bruises from the corners of hardcovers to your list 😉 Or maybe nosebleeds if a book falls on your face while reading in bed. I totally got your back on this post, haha.

    What I do with my discussions is that I try to write them immediately, asap after I get the idea and get all inspired and start writing it in my head. If I wait, the idea gets all wonky and the words just come out all awkward and I give up.

    But anyway, I agree with Puput that this was a fantastic and creative idea for a post! At least your ideas didn’t end going to waste 🙂

  6. First this post is hysterical. Your posts with your “bad” ideas make me laugh so hard. Second I have had no real discussion posts lately. I can’t think of anything. I just keep making random lists of stuff. That’s it. SO I get it!!

  7. This post is hilarious! See! You got got a good post out of all those. 🙂 I’ve always sucked at discussion posts. I either have zero ideas or a million ideas and no motivation to write them. I have lots of ideas now…but…you know, the writing of them is hard. I’ll just be over here being lazy.

  8. haha I love this. Sometimes it’s so hard coming up with discussion ideas! I’m sure I have some questionable ones in the trash folder. Funny how you got an entire post out of the ones you trashed. hahaha Love how that worked out.

  9. I love your bookshelf. I have been waiting for one and have all my pretties in stacks (they are very unhappy about that btw).
    I spy Perfect on your shelf! I loved Flawed…I hope you like Perfect. Been dying to read that one.
    You already know I love your posts. Keep up the good work!

  10. I think a discussion of failed discussions makes an awesome discussion post. I’m always struggling for discussion ideas. Everything I want to talk about has either been discussed to death by other bloggers, or it just isn’t interesting. I try to do one discussion a month, but it’s hard. I feel your pain.

  11. I’ve been so low on ideas lately, so I know how you feel. I’ve just ended up posting pretty infrequently because it takes me so long to come up with anything good.
    I do make notes of ideas as I go along though for possible posts, but there are so many that I look back at now and am a bit like ‘what was I thinking?’ 🙂
    Great post! 🙂

  12. Yes I also run out of ideas sometimes or I think I have this great idea and then i start writing it and get nowhere or decide I rather not publish it at all. Or I I have all of these ideas for topics on my list and none of them catch my interest tow rite right now. But nowadays my problem is finding time to write the posts, I have inspiration just can’t seem to make time to write them. I have this list of possible topics and even some notes with half out written discussion posts.

  13. Haha I actually like the idea of the book wounds. All I can imagine is water damage and broken spines. OH THE HUMANITY OF IT.

    And yes, I am waiting patiently for Bellamy and Clarke to happen. I told you that the hubs is watching season one and he is n shock at what a dick Bellamy was back then.

  14. LOL this happens to me so much! I drafted a post about books about carnivals/circuses and was like well…I have three books on my TBR for this and have only read three, so this post is kind of lame and repetitive. “Yeah I love carnival books because there’s always magic in them.” Ok, end of discussion.

  15. OMG, you are priceless. The fact that you shared what you deemed not worthy to be shared is just what makes you you. 🙂 I’m still laughing over the book injuries (um, is this a thing? LOL) and the how to be in a fandom (you like a thing, you’re now in the fandom Ha!). Confession time: I’ve never done an actual discussion post. It was an actual goal last year (that I pretended I never made). I feel like it’s all been said and done and I wouldn’t have anything new to add so why put myself out there. How’s that for giving myself a little pep talk? *sigh*

  16. Kel

    Haha, thanks so much for sharing this with us! This was so fun! I don’t have so many trashed ideas these days so much as…zero ideas. ^^; Yep, totally stuck in that uncreative, unmotivated zone. But sometimes, when I don’t have any bookish post ideas, I find it’s easier to come up with a non-book thing and then maybe tie it back in?

  17. I desperately needed a good giggle tonight, and this gave it to me, so THANKS! Also, you know the thing about taking off a few books from your shelf you really want to read? Then putting them back and getting different ones down? Then rinse and repeat? yep, this is my bookish life!

  18. Shannon!
    I actually really like this blog entry. A lot. Your brain is really nice. I am a fan. *Pats your head* So, I actually never thought of asking others to pick books for me, but that sounds like it could relief some of the anxiety I get when choosing books. What helps me is checking for readathons and reading challenges.

    Katniss and Peeta are love, obviously. And, all these book quirks are REAL. Story of my life right there.

  19. I know what you mean about the never ending TBR list, Shannon. I actually made mine a little smaller this year, because it sometimes intimidates the heck out of me. Lol! And I defintely agree about coming up with post discussions. I struggle with coming up with topics as well.

  20. I rarely write discussion post because a) I find it hard to find ideas b) when I do have ideas, I can’t put them into words. I like the idea about bookish injuries though, because papercuts are dangerous! For some reason, I always get papercuts, not when I’m reading, but when I am holding a piece of paper (for example, I always get papercuts during exams).

  21. I have so many drafts that just end up on the trash, because I lose interest, or in one case because I deemed it too problematic (it was a review of the bible …I showed it to a Christian friend of mine and she was basically like yeah…. no don’t post that). So yeah… I definitely feel you. Though I did use to eat a lot while reading, but then I realized I’m not actually getting a lot of reading done, so now I watch TV shows.

  22. These are lovely, and hey, at least they’re unique, right?!? That tends to by my downfall–I think of a discussion idea, but then I realize that dozens of others have already written about it, and I’m pretty sure I don’t have anything new and amazing to say.

  23. This is a frequent problem. I have moments of having all the ideas so begin writing posts in my drafts for discussions. I then get distracted by something shiny and come back to said post a week later and think ‘WTF were you on that day? That is crazy’ or ‘those words don’t even make sense, what was your point?’ and then the post gets abandoned. Once I thought I could be smart and write down my discussion post ideas with their titles there because then I’d definitely know what point I wanted to make there, right? Totally wrong, I’d spend an hour trying to decipher the logic I employed and give up and find myself writing no discussion post. And the times you can actually write a post you’ll be merrily typing away thinking you’re a genius only to realise you wrote the same discussion post 6 months ago and forgot.

    We all have times where we fail epically at being creatively and we all have times when we think we’re being smart and really, really aren’t. Just keep trying and eventually, a glimmer of genius will appear. You’ve just got to dig through all the crap first.

  24. OMG SHANNON. Your discussion posts are always so hilarious HAHAHA. I love these ideas – the Bookish Injuries literally made me laugh out loud and your OTPs are on point (Katniss and Peeta are the best, aren’t they?) Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous post! <3

  25. This was really funny, I especially liked bookish quirks. My husband frequently accuses me of hoarding books so I can build a book fort.
    Book injuries are a thing! I actually dislocated my shoulder last year while reading. I waited a week to go to the doctor because there was no way I could’ve possibly injured myself like that while sitting on the couch! I’ve also had library bookshelves collapse and one smaller shelving unit fell over. (That one was actually pretty scary)

  26. Shannon, this is the best discussion topic, EVAAAARRR!!!

    Yeah, I am currently unable to think of awesome bookish topics right now so I feel your painnnnn!!

    Also, bookish quirks… I am NEVER letting anyone get their grubby hands on my books!

  27. Trust me, I have run out of inspiration and come up with some pretty bizarre ideas as well. I really loved the bookish injuries idea though. It’s by far the strangest one, but I like the idea of it as well. And as your OTPs… shouldn’t it be Katniss and GALE up there?! DD:

  28. I have this same problem lately! I have ideas but then I sit down to actually write them and I just feel like I have exactly three sentences to say about the topic. I feel like I’d be writing caveman discussions or something. “This good. This bad.” And then maybe some grunting. Sigh.

  29. I would love to see these posts Shannon! Especially the quirks and OTP’s and bookish injuries. I actually got hurt a lot when I moved my four 6-shelf bookcases and 800+ books to another room last summer. Bookshelves fell on me, books fell on me, on my face, it was a mess! I actually got bruises from my book injuries!
    I love the way you love THG and 100 so much. Please please please tell me there is SOMETHING romantic going on with Clarke and Bellamy by now!!!

    Nereyda│ Nick & Nereyda’s Infinite Booklist

  30. I’m still new to blogging so I don’t have a trash bin of attempted discussion posts yet, BUT… this post made me laugh a lot. Especially the one was OTPs that surprise 0% of people. Basically my OTPs, too.

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