Blogger Interview: The Daily Prophecy

Hiiiii, lovelies! This month is pretty darn special since 3 blogger interviews :) Today I have the pleasure to introduce one of the most wonderful and humble bloggers out there: Melanie from The Daily Prophecy. Everyone, meet Melanie! Melanie, meet everyone! :) What I knew about Melanie was that she's a fellow Captain Swan shipper, loves fairy tales and fantasy above all and is endlessly in love with Disney and Harry Potter. When editing her interview and reading through her answers, I discovered a lot more about her and I hope you will too :) Without further ado, here's the interview.

Profile

Name: Melanie, but Mel is just fine.
Age: *whispers* 23.
Origin: Netherlands!
Blog name: The Daily Prophecy.
URL: http://thedailyprophecy.blogspot.com
Blog’s age: at this moment 2 years, 5 months and 9 days.
Favorite book of all time: Why are you doing this to me? I'm going to cheat and you can't stop me. Historical: The book thief. Fantasy: Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix. Fairytale: Tiger Lily. Adult: Daughter of the forest.

Interview

Siiri: Introduce yourselves in 140 characters or less.
Mel: I'm a passionate reader, a lover of fairytales and fantasy, a Disney fangirl (beauty and the beast!), a Potterhead, a book collector, a microbiology student, a gamer, a TV show and movie addict and a proud Dutchie.

Siiri: Beauty and the Beast ftw!!! :) And I love that we're both science nerds! Though I'd never have the courage to watch all those videos you talked about on twitter a few months ago. *shudders* I'll just stay true to chem and food ;) So, why did you start blogging? Have you changed a lot throughout it? What kind of advice would you have for people who are thinking about picking up blogging? Do you have any blogging inspirations who you look up to?
Mel: My blogging career started on Goodreads. After reading a couple of reviews I stumbled on some book blogs and before I knew it I had created my own space. I'm still happy I went for it, because after almost 2.5 years I still enjoy blogging. I definitely changed because of my blog. I have experienced things I wouldn't have without blogging. I started a book club (we have a meeting every month) and I'm much better with words now. Old reviews make me cringe and I can see how much I've grown. I also feel confident enough to write discussion posts and I'm not afraid to be personal in my blog posts. My advice would be: go for it. Do it for yourself, not for the stats/followers or free books. Do it because you love books and you want to talk about it. Don't listen to other people when they tell you what you should and shouldn't do. Do what feels good to you and make your blog your own. I get inspired by everyone. I think every blog is unique and everyone has something else to offer. I have my favorite bloggers of course, but I just want to thank everyone for being part of this community. You are all special.

Siiri: Heh! Goodreads happens to be the story of [almost]everyone's lives apparently. Heheee. I dislike reading really old reviews. They're just. Blahh. Progress is the key word here! One can never stop learning and developing one's skills. And yes! It wouldn't be the same in this community if it wasn't for all the bloggers. Everyone who tackles this journey and manages to do it more than a few months (since stress and responsibility) is a winner in my eyes. Are you an organized reader? Tell us a little bit about your blogging habits.
Mel: Yes and no. I have spreadsheets I make in Excel. I have an eARC/ARC schedule and I keep track of all the series I start and want to finish. I often post updates about that on my blog. Most of the times I read my review books on time, but I'm a mood reader and that gets in the way sometimes. I don't want to dislike a book just because I'm not in the mood for it. That's also the reason I read several books at the same time. I like being able to switch between genres. My blogging habits.. I have no schedule, I take notes while reading and I leave tons of comments on blogs throughout the day. I use Windows Live Writer and every time I think of some topic, I type those ideas down with some of the points I want to say and I save it as concept. When I feel like it, I will finish that post and then I send it to my blog.

Siiri: I used to read like 4-6 books at a time, but I found myself not picking up some of those books later on and they were just there.. sitting on my table.. being all lonely while my heart ached for not being able to pick them up. So now I just try to power through one book at a time or 3 at the most. Haaaa! I take notes too :') I have a review notebook that I use and I highlight and add notes on my kindle. that's pretty neat with WLW btw! What is your favorite and least favorite thing about blogging?
Mel: My favorite thing is of course the community. I love fangirling and discussing about books with people who love reading as much as I do. It's one of the reasons I started blogging. My least favorite thing is the drama. I don't like jealousy or being judgmental.

Siiri: Fangirling has legit never been so fun by my lonesome. I looooove fangirling with all of you :) How many books do you own and do you categorize them in some ways on your shelf?
Mel: My last count on Goodreads tells me: 602. It's not really up to date, but it's around that number. I used to have a system, but now I pile my books wherever I can. My shelves are full, so my room is filled with stacks of books and I'm even building a new collection in my boyfriend's apartment. What can I say.. I'm a book hoarder (and I'm not ashamed about it) Here you can see three of my shelves. I have a book wall, but I can't get a proper picture.

Siiri: *stares* YOUR SHELF IS GORGEOUS! I love that I spot so many of my favorites there! Btw, isn't that Julie Kagawa box set just the most gorgeous? I take it out from my shelf every now and then and just find myself petting it lol. I already know about your favorite genre, but do please tell everyone else and name some of your favorite authors :)
Mel: I would say that my two favorite genres are fantasy (preferred historical, high and epic) + fairytales and retellings. I love traveling to new places, magic and mythical creatures. It's great to be able to do things you can't do in real life and the best thing: MAPS. Fairytales just make me happy and I always like to read retellings to see the unique twists. Some of my favorite authors, let's see, I will write down the first names that pop up in my head: Juliet Marillier, Marissa Meyer, Sarah J. Maas, Leigh Bardugo, Robin LaFevers, Rae Carson, J.K Rowling, A.C Gaughen, Maria Snyder, Julie Kagawa, Philippa Gregory, Markus Heitz, George R.R Martin.

Siiri: MAPS ARE EVERYTHING!!!! I really, really need to get around reading some Rae Carson and Leigh Bardugo :) I’m a big shipper and I almost always ship a pairing in a book I’m reading. Do you have any OTPs? :D If so, why do you like these pairings so much? What makes them special?
Mel:

• Ismae/Duval and Sybella/Beast from Robin LaFevers 
• Celaena/Chaol from Sarah J. Maas 
• Alina/Sturmhond from Leigh Bardugo 
• Yelena/Valek from Maria Snyder 
• Elisa/Hector from Rae Carson
• Scarlet/Robin from A.C Gaughen
• Scarlet/Wolf and Cinder/Thorne from Marissa Meyer

These pairs are all special, because they are based on mutual respect. They embrace each other's personality and their flaws. They had time to develop and they are supportive for each other. They see the value from the other person. Sometimes there is some banter between them and this creates amazing chemistry. If there is one thing I hate in books it's when there is an unhealthy relationship. I really don't care for those 'tortured' souls who act like assholes, because of their haunted past. These are all heartwarming relationships.

Siiri: Scarlet and Wolf :') Ismae and Duval! CELAENA AND CHAOL. *dies of swoon* I've yet to discover everyone else except for Cinder ad Thorne which will probably never happen since Kai and Cinder, but I shipped that in Scarlet for sure ;) If you could have dinner with 5 authors/characters, dead or alive, who would they be and what would you ask each of them (without spoilers, of course)?
Mel:

• Juliet Marillier: I want to know if she is ever going to write a sequel to Heart's blood, because it's still pitched as part one. And if not I'm going to beg her if she wants to write one *puppy eyes*
• J.K Rowling: and I'm not going to ask her anything. I'm just going to watch her in a non-creepy way, because I'm far too excited to talk.
• Liesel from The book thief. We could talk about some of her favorite books and I would hug her, because if you've read the book you know she can use one.
• Sturmhond and Thorne, because that would give the most awesome conversation ever.
• Chaol, doesn't need any explanation I think?

Siiri: LOL! Nope, that last one does't need any explanations. Yeah? I can't wait to meet this Sturmhond everyone's so obsessed about. And JKR is a no-brainer. [Almost]Everyone wants to meet her :) Where can we find you when you’re not reading or blogging?
Mel:In my free time, I love gaming with my boyfriend, board games and computer games. We love to play shooting games and Lego games on the PS3. We also watch a lot of TV shows and movies. I also spend a lot of time with my family; they are very dear to me. I'm close with my mother, father, sister and grandparents. I used to study, but I'm going into my last school year, so I have no more tests.

This or that

Blogger or Wordpress? Blogger.
Facebook or Twitter? Twitter.
Physical books or e-books? They are both precious to me, but physical books will always win. I don't really own a book until I can put it on the shelf.
Contemporary or fantasy? FANTASY.
Music or no music? (while reading) Music. I love folk.
Triangle or no triangle? NO. Sometimes it works, most of the times it doesn't.
Insta-love or slow-burn? Slow-burn is the best, especially if there is banter.
Cliff hanger or no cliff hanger? NO. I prefer not.

3 random facts about you would be... 

• I love to travel. I've seen some countries in Europe, but I can't wait to explore the world. If only I had the money right now.. The first thing I would love to see is Egypt and my dream vacation is Bora Bora.
• I can read, talk and understand German on a basic level. I used to have the same with French, but I dropped it in school years ago and I'm out of practice. The teachers were horrible.
• On May 3rd this year, I chopped my hair off to donate it for wigs for sick children. I 'lost' around 30 cm (I believe 11.8 inches) of my hair, but I had enough of it anyway (came to my hips) It was scary, because I've never had 'short' hair before.

Siiri: *laughs* I knew you'd pick fantasy and all caps hahaha. Same! As much as I love my kindle, I love petting a physical book; knowing and seeing it there on my shelf. Whoa! No one I know has ever expressed their desire to go to Bora Bora which sounds amazing! I hope you get the chace one day :) You're better with languages then I am then. I used to know basic Russian when I was still in HS, but not anymore. It's so different from Estonian and it's hard to remember any language when you're out of practice. That's what happened to me too. Gawwwd. I cannot even imagine cutting my hair off. You're brave, Mel! And I love how you donated it. You had done this once before, yeah? In any case, that's very honorable and generous.

And that's a wrap! Thank you so much, Mel, for answering these questions *hugs* I hope you guys enjoyed getting to know Melanie a little better. Are you as big of a fantasy junkie as she is? Do you ship the same ships? Did your blogging journey start out the same way? Let Mel know and let's give this adorable girl some love! :)