The Person Behind: Sherlock’s Words

This feature’s guest of The Person Behind is Carolin from Sherlock’s Words, a bilingual lifestyle and book blog, as well as a bookstagram account. In this delightful talk we discuss Paris, books and the joys of blogging.

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Fiona: How old are you?

Carolin: I am 19 🙂

F: How did you get into blogging and what’s the story behind your blog’s name?

C: I started blogging when I was around 14. I used Tumblr but quickly got into the “dark parts” of it, where depression and self harm are discussed and displayed on a daily Basis. So basically, I connected blogging with all my sadness, bad feelings, etc. When I finally escaped that spiral, I didn’t want to return to Tumblr because of the triggers I could stumble upon. But I missed blogging, so I decided to create a blog about something positive in my life – books and poetry. And as my favourite books have always been Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Sherlock Holmes”, I decided to be “sherlockswords”.

F: One thing that I found very curious is that you write your blog in two languages – English and German. What influenced your decision to start a bilingual blog and is it a challenge communicating with two different audiences?

C: I’m a lover of languages in general, I’m fluent in three languages and talking in English or French makes me really happy. I travel a lot, discover new cultures and learn languages because it’s what I’m good at and it reminds me that I’m enough.

F: Ich spreche übrigens auch Deutsch. Ich finde es mutig, dass du es auf dich genommen hast, gleich auf zwei Sprachen zu schreiben. Mir ist eine schon genug! 😅

C: Haha cool! Ich freu’ mich immer, wenn jemand auch meine Sprache spricht 😇

F: Speaking of French – we have to talk about Paris. You lived there but recently moved back to Germany, is that correct?

C: Yes, that’s right! I was working as an au-pair in Paris for the past 12 months.

F: Now as many of my readers may know, I am a sucker for all things French. Mais malheureusement, mon français est terrible! What do you miss about Paris and what’s the most “french” thing you did during your stay?

C: Ohh, that was a good sentence though! What I miss most is the atmosphere. My home was in the fifth arrondissement, the Quartier Latin, which is full of artists and bookstores and I loved it from the first moment on. I recently went back to Paris and I instantly got the feeling of being home again – that’s what I miss. And well, the most French thing I’ve done was 1) standing in front of the school to pick up the kids with two baguettes under my arm. And 2) the person I’ve become during the year. The confidence I gained, the way I dressed and the way I opened myself up to strangers is so French, so Parisian, and I’m proud of my development. 🙂

F: Your time in Paris sounds AMAZING. I’ve been wanting to visit for as long as I can remember. 😍

C: Yes, Paris is amazing! You have to go some day!

F: This summer you decided to broaden the range of topics on your blog, expanding it to a book and lifestyle blog. What prompted you to make this choice?

C: When I started the book blog it fulfilled me completely but after some time I realized that I wanted something more, more interaction with my followers, more inspiration, more creativity. Sometimes I can process things better while writing so that’s why I started putting some of my thoughts into this blog. And I feel okay with opening up to people like this because it helps me create more sides to my personality and gives me fulfillment. Also, there are some things I don’t share to keep my actual private life private, in order to prevent the depression/problems coming up again.

F: If you had to compare yourself to a book character, which one would you say you are most like?

C: I have to go with Sherlock Holmes here. Not because of his brilliance but because he wants to be perfect and he stays away from people because he doesn’t understand them and that scares him. Nevertheless, when he meets Watson, he starts opening up and gets more human and imperfect and he learns that it’s okay to have flaws. And in the end he’s a good man and the best friend Watson could have. Well, that was a loooong answer, but yup, I’ll go with Sherlock 🙂

F: I feel like every book blogger has an aesthetic bookstagram account – as do you! How has your usage of Instagram benefitted you and your blog?

C: Well thank you! My Instagram account helped me a lot concerning my follower range. Lots of people see my pictures on Instagram and get more into what I’m doing so they visit my blog. As for me, I get a lot of inspiration out of the other bookstagrammers, their pictures and their topics as well. Plus I found some new friends on Instagram which I didn’t expect when I started all of this.

F: What is a book everyone should read and why?

C: Out of what I’ve recently read, I would say “The hate you give” by Angie Thomas. Not only does it deal with the discrimination of Black people in America, but also with forgiveness, acceptance and grief.

F: I read in a post of yours a while back that you were applying to university. I can relate to this a lot, as I myself am officially a student since September. What are you studying and how have you been finding uni life?

C: I am studying German law and I will do a combination with French and English law next year so that I can become an international lawyer. Honestly, I’ve only had one week of uni until now but it has been great so far! It is a lot of pressure but I like being independent and I’m currently enjoying learning new things. 

F: Last question – what is in the future of Sherlock’s Words and do you have any last words for your followers?

C: The future of sherlockswords will be colorful! there will be book recommendations, discussions about various topics, music, poetry, art maybe?

And to my followers: thank you for being here! Thank you for discovering my world with me ❤️

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Carolin, it was a pleasure getting to know you! Thank you so much for joining me in this project ✿

Click here to visit Sherlock’s Words.

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About this series:

The Person Behind is an interview series I started on this blog to ask fellow creatives about themselves and their work. In this online-dominated world the way we communicate and work has shifted – blogs, Instagram accounts and YouTube channels are one of the most common ways of expressing ourselves and sharing our art. To shed light on this, The Person Behind focuses mainly on online personalities and their individual platforms.

If you want to be featured on The Person Behind, contact me here.