Year in Review (…and some plans going forward)

I wasn’t sure if I was going to still write this considering a week has already past since the start of this new year, but then again, I think I needed to write this for myself. I have made it known in this blog a number of times just how busy work has been the last couple of months. It continued to be up to the very end, even now I have work-related stuff I need to take care of. But if I’m being honest, it’s not the only reason why I  have decreased my blogging presence.

Truth is I’m feeling really discouraged right now and struggling to continue blogging. I know I shouldn’t compare my journey with other bloggers but it’s hard not to. My numbers have gone down – readership, followers – and I continuously questioned myself if it’s even smart to continue doing this if I don’t have an audience.

But I love reading, and writing about books is my way of expressing my love for this precious thing that has saved me countless of times. I have also met and interacted with really amazing people this past year – fellow bloggers, readers, writers and publishers – people I have met because of this blog. I just can’t leave it.

And that’s when it hit me.

The reason I created this blog was, when I look at it more closely, was me. Yes, I write to share my love for books, I write to get these stories I love and enjoyed to more hands so more people will love and enjoy them, but in the end, this blog is for me, my outlet. It may sound selfish, so be it.

2018 has been wonderful for my reading life. I have read a lot of books that made me feel a whole range of emotions – happy, sad, angry. I have beat my Goodreads challenge for the third year in a row, something I’m really happy about.

I have enjoyed, even loved most of these books. Among those who stood out for me this year were Sadie (Courtney Summers), Darius the Great is Not Okay (Adib Khorram), The Deepest Roots (Miranda Asebedo), and This is What it Feels Like (Rebecca Barrow). I have also started and finished several book series last year: I finally read His Fair Assassin trilogy (Robin LaFevers) which has been on my TBR for the longest time; the Red Queen series (Victoria Aveyard) concluded this year with the publishing of War Storm, which I enjoyed a whole though it was bittersweet [I’m going to miss all those characters, especially Mare and Cal]; The Gilded Wolves (Roshani Chokshi) which is coming out mid-January, is a promising new series I’m really excited for and you can expect me to talk about it nonstop here on the blog and on Twitter.

I also participated in blog tours for the first time, and got the chance to interview some really awesome authors. My interview, though short, with Sarah Bird and writing duo Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz are some of the highlights of my blogging year.

All these may sound small, but these are achievements for me and I’m kind of proud of myself now that I’m seeing them all laid out like this. I’m not yet sure what this year, what 2019 has in store for me. I’m pretty excited to discover it myself, but rest assured I’m staying and will continue to write.

I’m planning to add a few more feature content just as soon as I think up a theme [or something]. I’m also going to put myself out there more, which scares the crap out of me because if you know me in real life you know that I can be awkward as hell. Requesting more author interviews [please let it work and don’t think I’m weird] and requesting books I really want from publishers are also in my agenda this year. Hey, maybe I’ll even go back to bookstragram, if perfecting and editing my shots won’t take to much of my time.

All these plans are still tentative, except the feature content thing because I’m already writing down ideas for that. I don’t know if they’ll pan out, it’s scary and exciting at the same time, but I think my keyword for this year is “Try” and that’s just what I’ll do. No pressure, whatsoever, just try to do what I intend to do because, after all, I wouldn’t know what’ll happen if I don’t and the guessing, the what-ifs will only end up making me more anxious which never does me any good.

So, anyway [because as usual I don’t know how to properly end a post AGAIN!] I’ll leave you with a song I love. It’s something I tell myself whenever I feel like the world’s crashing on me. Dramatic, yes, but that’s just how the last couple of months felt like for me.

💗💗💗

How was 2018 for you? Link up your year-in-review posts in the comment section so I can read them 🙂