Wow, eight years! I nearly forgot to celebrate my own blogiversary again. Perhaps it’s like birthdays; the older you get, the less you celebrate. I was going to let this one go by without celebrating, but then I was like “Hot damn, eight years is a lot of work! I’m going to celebrate!”
In past years, I’ve shared wisdom and advice about what I’ve learned in the past several years of blogging. This year, however, I’m going to celebrate because I am the happiest I’ve ever been in blogging. It’s not because the access I get to review copies, or the great people I’ve met (ya’ll are still pretty damn awesome). Instead, it’s because I finally found myself. Found me. Found my blogging place.
How did I do it? Did I wake up one morning with all the answers? Heck no. Blogging is hard work, much less surviving eight years of it. I’ve learned from my mistakes and I’ve grown from them. To be perfectly honest, I’ve stopped giving a damn. Not about blogging in general, but about making other people happy. I always tell new bloggers to blog for yourself and, I have to say, I’ve finally found that happy place.
I don’t need to have my hands on the biggest, most up-and-coming book. I don’t have to go to the best bookish parties (although we bookish people do know how to party!). Instead, I’ve found myself in this place of calm and serenity, a wonderful balance between my personal life and my reading life.
So what changed this year? I incorporated my reading/bookish side with my creative/crafty side and set up an Etsy store. When my brain just needs an escape, to focus on something other than life or, *gasp*, a book, I craft. Surprisingly, it’s been pretty successful, just celebrating my 200th order in just 5 months. Who embraced this side of me the most? My bookish community. They became my first customers and my ardent supporters. It reminded me of the bookish community that existed when I started blogging, so welcoming and supportive.
Additionally, I gave up on attempting to post something every day. Goodness know I read fast, but I can’t read THAT fast. And, believe it or not, sometimes I just don’t feel like reading, or don’t feel like writing about the book I just read. And still, it’s ok. I didn’t lose any followers (perhaps it made me feel more…normal…) and my blog didn’t disappear. Given how hard I worked to post daily in the early years, this is a welcome relief.
I must give a special thanks to Sarah Knight (author of The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck: How to Stop Spending Time You Don’t Have with People You Don’t Like Doing Things You Don’t Want to Do). Before writing this book, however, she was an editor I worked with regularly. She shared her favorite titles with me, so I was thrilled to read one she’d penned herself. Though I already had the framework of this philosophy, she helped me take another step forward, to embrace it and practice it. I can’t thank her enough (read her book!).
So, thank you all (and I’m going to give myself a pat on the back here, too) for the last eight years. It hasn’t been easy, some days have been a struggle, but it’s been worth it. Here’s to another eight years!
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