Hello friends! I cannot believe The Little Book Spy is 5 years old! It's insane to think that I created this blog over half a decade ago. To be honest, where did the last 5 years go? Time has flown by so fast I can't keep track of the days. This year was a very interesting year, to say the least, for my blog. It was a roller coaster that has taught me so much when it came to making my blog a place that I enjoy writing on, sharing the books that I've loved, and creating my own little space to share my one passion for reading and writing. To commemorate my fifth year of blogging, I'm doing another yearly wrap-up when it comes to blogging and other things I've tried when it came to blogging, reading, and bookstagram.
Blogging:
When it came to blogging, last year was honestly not what I had expected... I had so many things that I wanted to try and experiment with, but sadly things changed. In the beginning, I started out so strong, but as time went on, it slowly crawled to a stop. During the school year and during the beginning of summer I ended up having an unintentional break. Blogging had become exhaustingly difficult and I couldn't get my head into something that I once loved and enjoyed doing. On top of that, I spent a majority of my time working on homework all day during the spring/fall semester. I assumed that my switch from in-person classes to all online would allow me to have more free-time for my course work. Turns out, nothing changed and I was still working on homework late (which was my fault for poor time management)! I'm making fun of myself when I say this, but I was familiar with this type of workload after doing online school since middle school, so it was technically my fault that I was left little to no time for blogging. With my unintentional breaks, I realized that forcing myself to write blog posts when I couldn't dedicate time to it really took the fun out of blogging. The only way for me to start blogging again was to do it when I wanted too
One of my biggest enjoyment in blogging last year was experimenting with new kinds of posts that were short and easier to write. I was able to experiment with my Monthly Wrap-Ups that was a combined list of books I read, games I played, sometimes tv shows I watched, and blog posts, which gave me a variety of something different that wasn't book reviews. Then I was also able to experiment with WWW Wednesday posts, which allow me to share what I'm currently reading, what I just finished, and what I (hopefully) planned on reading next. As much as I love writing book reviews, they're challenging when it comes to gathering my very scattered thoughts, especially since I always try to avoid writing spoilers.
I'm hoping going into my 6th year of blogging I can broaden the types of posts I write and share even more bookish (and maybe gaming) content. I'll still be a book blog, but you may or may not see some game related posts on here (I'm not sure if this will happen, but I can only dream).
Reading:
My reading was definitely an interesting topic. Last year, in the first 3 months I was reading was so strong, then it took a nosedive off a cliff... I've had bad reading slumps once or twice every year (on occasion due to school), which is common for me. Before, I thought those were pretty bad reading slumps. This reading slump cannot compare to any/all of my past slumps combined! I couldn't touch a single book for two months and even when I tried to pick up a book, I could barely focus on it, which made it last up until September.
This year, I decided to do something different with my reading. I've dedicated myself to reading physical books! Even though I loved reading eBooks, reading hardcover books have significantly decreased my wandering thoughts and has allowed me to focus on my book without having the urge to open a random app on my device. It's so refreshing to be able put technology down and focus on the story I'm reading. In addition, I picked up a new hobby that has encouraged me to purchase hardcover books.
Starting in January 2021, I've not only gotten into reading hardbacks and I'm also working on my backlist books. My goal is to read as many backlisted books as I can and possibly finish up some series that I've been wanting to get to this year. I do have some new releases that I've bought and I'm dying to read them. My reading goal this year is 30 books (I'm hoping I can surpass my goal early this year!) and I plan on evenly splitting up my reading between 15 backlist and 15 new released books. I don't know how well that's going to go, but it doesn't hurt to try!
Bookstagram:
I've mentioned this a few times already in this post and past blog posts, but last March I ventured into the world of Bookstagram! This was something that I had always wanted to try, but because I didn't want to use my iPad for bookish pictures, I never tried it until this last year. In February last year, I ended up winning a book giveaway for A Curse of Thorns and I knew that I wanted to try to create my own bookstagram picture for it. This opportunity felt like it landed directly into my hands and it tempted me to try something new! I'm definitely a novice when it comes bookstagram, but I enjoy it all the same! (I'm also really close to 150 followers, only 6 followers away, so if you like looking at pretty Young Adult book pictures, go give me a follow @LittleBookSpy on Instagram!)
Thank you all so much for reading and for joining me on this journey. I hope to make my blog a place where everyone is welcome to talk and discuss books, sometimes video games on the rare occasion I mention them, and for allowing me to ramble about these things in ways that I never knew I could before. I'm looking forward to my blogging journey and I hope that in the future, I can grow even more. Until next time,
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