My first year blogiversary – All about my love for blogging!

So, my blogiversary was in July which coincided with a mini-hiatus I had decided to take. So yes, this is a bit of a delayed post. Moreover, I kept delaying it because I wasn’t sure what to post about.. except:

So far, the blogging fatigue hasn’t set it yet, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn’t anytime soon.

• It is a great hobby to just pick up and invest in … and kill boredom!!! You don’t have to spend money to learn it, or travel or go outdoors.
• It must be the only hobby or passion that is all about “documenting” other hobbies or passions that you have .. be it reading, photography, cooking or anything else.
• You can find people with opinions about whatever you are interested in.. which is pretty hard to find in real life. Well sure, you can find a couple or a few, but I am talking about an entire community. Well, yes, there are clubs, groups etc. you can organize or take part in but this is like a 24*7 meeting ground.  And, perfect for those who are introverts in real life or who just enjoy the degree of anonymity provided by blogging.
• When I started the blog, I went in blind. I didn’t check out too many book blogs and I was so out of touch with what’s happening in the world of fiction. Except well, maybe literary fiction, psychological thrillers and the super-hyped books that end up getting made into movies. So, blogging not just got me out of a reading slump specific to certain genres but also helped me discover books that I might have otherwise not have come across.

• Read a few completed fantasy series.
• Read diverse books – And by diversity I mean not just authors or character ethnicities but also stories set in different countries.
• Umm… stop entering so many giveaways. Because I either win nothing or half a dozen at a time. Right now, I am trying to play catch up as my TBR mostly comprises of these books.

• Try and come up with more bookish musings/discussion posts. Well, basically more non-review posts.
• Comment on other blogs. Well, I am lot better at this now than I used to be.
• NOT review every book that I read. Once again, I am getting much better at this these days.

A lot of it will depend on how much time I will be able to devote to reading this year.  If I can’t, then I would cut down the reviewing so that I can read more and maybe come up with other kind of summary/wrap-up posts.

Thanks y’all so much for sticking by!

(image credit: clipartkid.com)

My first six months in the blogosphere!

So, it has been nearly six months since I started this blog, and as I look back, I realize just how much more aware I am about the book blogging world now. Book tours, ARCs, review requests, the whole social media promoting, giveaways … whew!

2015 has been an amazing year for me … a life-changing one. I got married and moved to another country nine months ago. A new life, new environment, and well.. quite a lot of free time. Then my husband introduced me to the awesome library services here. And that is what prompted me to get back to reading which I had sort of neglected in the past few years. And blogging is an extension of just expressing something I love doing.

During my initial days, I didn’t even think much about having my blog seen or liked by other bloggers. Then Bookidote liked and commented on my post, and it was then that I started checking out other blogs more carefully. However, it was weeks before I seriously started revamping my blog, adding a Review Policy page, indexing my posts and setting up an email account for contact. Because I thought it was such a great way to discover and read different books.

I wish I had discovered the awesomeness of twitter earlier in the year … I went a bit nutty trying to enter every giveaway that was being promoted for Christmas and New Year :p .. No, but seriously, I didn’t know there were so many bloggers, publishers, editors and new, aspiring authors who are so active in encouraging each other’s work and checking out different blogs. I had heard terms like virtual tours, book tours, tour hosts but never dug into it to fully understand how it works.

So when I finally did, I did feel like I missed out on some opportunity.. but oh well, I probably wouldn’t have gotten picked that early anyways..

So signing up for blog tours is definitely something that I would try in 2016. But more than anything else, more than review requests or giveaways or tours, or even stressing over page count or frequency of blog posts, I think my main blogging and reading resolution for this year is to just enjoy the whole process of reading, blogging and discovering new books, trying different authors and genres.