Blogger Chat with Jo Stapley
Hello and welcome to a brand new edition of Blogger Chat, that semi-regular blog series I started with Grace Latter back at the end of August, and today I’m welcoming another one of my favourite bloggers to the series! Jo blogs at Once Upon A Bookcase and at Jo’s Scribbles, and she’s one of the most inspiring bloggers I know of, which is why I’m really excited to welcome her to the blog, and who better to introduce Jo than Jo herself?!
“I’m Jo, a Journalism Studies graduate and a Children’s Bookseller. I run two blogs. Once Upon a Bookcase is my book blog, where I review primarily YA and fantasy, and has been going for seven years now. Jo’s Scribbles is my lifestyle blog, where I cover a range of things, but mainly topics that are important to me, such as feminism, body image, self-confidence and mental health, and has been running for almost two years.”
“My favourite thing about blogging is having a platform where I can use my voice and maybe help others. With Once Upon a Bookcase, I love being able to highlight important, diverse books, in the hopes they end up in the hands of those who need them.
With Jo’s Scribbles, I share my thoughts, mostly, on topics that affect women. Women are constantly dictated to by society on how we should look, how we should behave, what our roles should be, and most of the time it’s contradictory. And we’re so used to being told these things, I think it can be easy to not notice how damaging it is. I’m still learning about feminism and sexism, but as I learn, I like to challenge these things we’ve been told our whole lives, and give my readers something to think about, a different perspective, and maybe open their eyes. I hope through Jo’s Scribbles, I’m showing women they don’t have to follow these “rules”, that they’re incredible just as they are.”
“I don’t have a favourite blog [out of the two], because they’re both very different, and cater to two passions of mine. I absolutely adore writing, and I love that both give me the space to do something I love. They’re both very much reflective of me and who I am right now.”
Like I’ve already said, I’m a fan of Jo’s blogs, and there’s a lot of posts of hers I like. One that I mentioned in particular to her whilst preparing this post was her piece on self-doubt when it comes to blogging (which you can find here), but Jo really does blog about a lot of things, including taboo topics. Is she a fan of talking about taboo topics?
“I do enjoy taking on topics that need to be talked about. There’s so much that not enough people are talking about, and so there is a stigma or a lack of understanding that leads to negative connotations. Before feminism came into my life, I had it completely wrong. I thought feminists were angry women who hated men, and that’s completely not the case. It’s only through talking about things like feminism, like mental health, like impossible beauty standards, that we can open people’s eyes to what’s really going on — that feminism is about equality and women being treated fairly, that mental health is nothing to be ashamed of and doesn’t make you dangerous, that you do not have to bend over backwards to try and fit some ideal of beauty that doesn’t actually exist outside of Photoshop.
And being open and honest about topics like mental health, periods, sexual assault, the actual experience of being a woman, slowly but surely we can remove the shame. By talking about taboos we’re showing the world that these aren’t things that need to be hushed up and hidden. We have the right to exist in the world just as we are, all of us.”
Jo has two very distinctive blogs, both of which are regularly updated with really insightful posts. So what is it that she’d like you, the reader, to take away from her blogs?
“With Once Upon a Bookcase, I hope readers find a book or two that they may want to read. I hope that readers who identify somewhere on the LGBTQ spectrum, who have a mental illness, who have a disability, who are people of colour, who have intersectional identities, find the book they have been looking for that they can relate to — or will do in the future — on my blog. And generally, I just hope readers simply enjoy reading my opinions.”
“With Jo’s Scribbles, I hope to give my readers a different perspective, make them feel less alone, or introduce them to things they’ve not thought about before — maybe enlighten them.”
What next?
“Well, I don’t see myself giving up writing any time soon, but other than that, I can’t really say where I see myself going in regards to my blogs. Ideally, I’d like for my love of writing to become a way of earning a living, though whether that’s with my blogs or completely separate, I don’t know. I do know that my blogs will both probably change over time, as I learn and grow, as I experience and discover new things, as my tastes change and as other things become important to me. My blogs will evolve right along with me.”
And as for those of you who are perhaps starting out with blogging, Jo has a few words of advice for you.
“Figure out the kind of blogger you want to be, and go for it. Write about the things you’re interested in, that you want to write about. Don’t try to twist your blog into what you think it should be because of what other bloggers are doing, and don’t be scared to talk about things that have already been discussed. People want you; your thoughts, your opinions, your ideas. Just be you, and focus on what you’re passionate about.”
“If your blog is a reflection of who you are, it will be more authentic, and readers will be drawn to that.”
Thank you so much to Jo for joining me on my blog today! You can follow Jo on Twitter @Jo_Scribbles, and Jo blogs at Once Upon A Bookcase and at Jo’s Scribbles. Definitely go and give both a read!
