Hello there! Since I challenged myself (for some reason) to post once a day in October in honor of a little thing called Blogtober, I figured I might as well take the time to (re)introduce myself here. Depending on what brought you here to this blog, maybe you already know me. Or, maybe not!
I’ve been writing about books on the internet since, oh…2010? Yikes, that makes me feel old. For several years during college, I ran a book blog called Amanda Reads, which went dormant when I got busy during grad school and couldn’t find the time to read much outside of coursework, let alone review those books!
After college, I served two years with AmeriCorps in my beloved hometown of Cincinnati, while devouring contemporary books since I was finally set loose from lit major syllabi and The Literary Canon.
In grad school, I studied creative nonfiction, earning an MFA with a teaching concentration. I also worked part time in student affairs and as a teaching assistant, where I fell in love with having a foot in both the faculty and staff sides of college life.
Now, I teach First Year Writing, work full time in Student Affairs, and write about my life on the internet (while hoping my students don’t think to work the Google machine and discover said writing). I am currently working on a memoir about my relationship to my body before and after developing a chronic pain condition.
This past year, I’ve returned to book blogging here at Your Book Friend as part of an effort to write (and read) more consistently. I also discovered Bookstagram which is a great source of joy and bookish community for me.
I could yammer on at you for quite some time, but in the interest of keeping this intro brief, here are a few quick facts about me, Your Book Friend, Amanda Kay Oaks!
Age: One year short of thirty, flirty, and thriving (aka 29)
Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio (alas, I now live in Pennsylvania)
Day Job: I serve as the Coordinator for Student Success at a small private university, and I love my job! I also adjunct for two first-year courses in the fall, so I’m a busy lady!
Hobbies: Aside from the obvious fact that I, a book blogger, enjoy reading, I also love running, baking, yoga, and playing video games and tabletop RPGs.
Favorite book genres: I am a hardcore romantic comedy enthusiast, but I also adore memoir and personal essay collections. If women take center stage in a book, I’m interested.
Star Sign(s): I am Pisces Sun with a Virgo Moon, and my rising sign is Sagittarius.
Pets: My fiancé and I have a one-year-old Blue Heeler/Australian Shepherd mix named Azula. Yes, after that Azula and yes, the name does fit a bit too well sometimes.
Well, there you have it! I always find intro posts a bit awkward, like suddenly I don’t know who I am or how to define myself? But, I love reading about other people in their intro posts so it’s only fair I attempt to chime in every now and again.
Let me know if we have anything in common, or if you just want to tell me about your pets. I am here for that content all day, every day.
If you want to know more about Your Book Friend specifically and the type of review style I bring to the table, there’s a post for that, too: Welcome to Your Book Friend
Your Book Friend 
I love reading this, and getting to know you better as I am new to your blog! I love yoga and romantic comedies too!
Hi, nice to meet you. I like to write book reviews too. I am also writing a memoir of when I got sick. So we have a couple of things in common. I did train to be a teacher but never got around to it (I know, what a waste) I decided I didn’t like kids and then went on to have five of my own!
Hi, Raisie Bay! So cool to hear what we have in common and I look forward to following along with your posts! )
I lovely to learn more about you. nice to meet you x
Hi, so nice to meet you, looking forward to reading you posts 🙂 I too love to read and review book (though I tend to keep them to my book blog:) I play Warcraft and also Warhammer table top.
Good luck on Blogtober adn thank you for introducing yourself! 🙂
Nice to meet you! I also love books and blogging. Your dog sounds amazing. We have Pembrokeshire Sheep dogs over here and they’re gorgeous too. Our dog sadly passed away in June, bless him. My mum has a gorgeous huge rescue dog – he looks part border collie and part lurcher- and I think of him as my brother lol so I still get lots of dog walks and cuddles thankfully. Good luck with Blogtober xxx
Thank you! Nice to meet you as well. Azula is definitely a lovely pup, albeit quite the handful at times. Sorry to hear about the loss of your sweet dog ❤
loved the post and the post comments. such great camaraderie is hard to find elsewhere and that’s why i keep coming back to wordpress….best wishes everyone, and may each of you find renewed energy and inertia to pursue your dreams, will always keep cheering you on, so do plug in in case you need a dose of motivation, anytime.