I also meant to take part in Armchair BEA, but I forgot to sign up or write anything. See my excuses above. But I want to post something because I've been really slack with posting recently, for no real reason other than I'm easily distracted and writing posts takes focus.
But I wanted to post something today and I liked Kayleigh aka Nylon Admiral's post regarding her blogger development and decided to hop on that topic as well. I'd say copy her, which is what I'm doing, but since she's answering the prompt from the Armchair BEA topic that's not really the case. I was thinking that a reflection post like this may be better saved for a blog anniversary. Then I remembered that my blog birthday was May 8th and, as usual, I totally missed it. Whoops.
I began blogging a few years ago at the urging of Boyfriend+ (then just plain ol' Boyfriend), because I complained to him about not making use of my English degree too many times. When I started writing I didn't really do book reviews. I sort of did but I would post every couple days and talk about whatever point I was up to in the book. Think of it as like readalong posts but with just me. So yeah.
I still like those posts, but I stopped doing them because I would finish a book before I wrote anything, so I would end up just writing a single post about that book. I've since stuck to this single post per book (you know, like every other book blog) because I still read faster than I write. And I've found that the readalong style posts are more fun if you're part of a group.
I also used to do more of the memes when I was first starting out. I still think they're a great way to find to find a blogging community when you're first starting out. I sporadically do the Tuesday Top Ten meme/hop if I like the topic, though now my goals are less to find new bloggers. I still go through the TTT entries other people post, but I'm less likely to comment and follow people like I did when first starting out. As such, my follower growth has slowed over the last year plus. Which is fine because one of the first lessons I learned about blogging was to ignore your reach numbers. Unless you're trying to build a brand and make blogging your primary form of income, stressing about those numbers will just make your head hurt. Besides having lots of followers but no engagement isn't much fun. I prefer a smaller group that I regularly "talk" to.
I sometimes will accept a free book in exchange for a review, but I try to be selective about what I'll accept. I've been burned by books I would have happily DNF-ed if I didn't agree to a review. For the most part I'd rather just read whatever I feel like and write about that. I love that with blogging I learn about so many books that would have flown under my radar if it wasn't for fellow bloggers raving about them. Before blogging I re-read books a lot. I still do this, but less than I used to because now I have lists and piles of books I want to read.
So that's where this blog has been. Where it's going, well, who knows. I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. I mean, there are so many books still to read, still to talk about.
