2014 Blogging Year | 2015 Hopes

I started, quite randomly, blogging about books in 2011. It started with my and my friend Haley, who kind of bowed out a few month later (because of school/stress reasons). (She does, sometimes, make book videos). And now it's over three years later and here we are.

I struggled a lot with what the hell to do here pretty much straight through 2013. And I feel like 2014 is when I found my legs a little, not completely, but a little. I love writing about books and reading about people talking about books, commenting and getting comments, and so on. And I'm so glad that I kept going with this blog even when I was completely lost.

I definitely struggled the most in 2013, as you will be able to tell (stats will all be at the bottom). I didn't post a lot of things, didn't know what to post. I did read more, though, then I had previous years. And, then, when the new year came around I decided to just clamp down on myself. I pushed myself to make sure I read my feed of blogs and left comments (which I'm still pretty bad about, I second guess myself, but I'm getting better at), and then that I also kept up with my own blog.

Blogging is really hard for me sometimes. I have no idea what to say or I don't like how it's coming out or I'm scared to post some things. And I think that's completely normal struggles, but it put me off of blogging. Also, I stopped using my personal blogger blog, which I think was nice (anything I wanted to post there, I posted on my tumblr instead or just kind of journaled about it).

I do not blog in an efficient matter, I feel like this is important to say. I don't set aside posts or schedule way ahead (like some can, I'm jealous but mostly just highly impressed by people who can), and I actually kind of rarely sit down to write posts. I tend to binge write them for about the month (I tinker and fill in my wrap-up through-out, and I'm hoping to do the same with my weekly wrap ups this year, but that's for the goals section).

I don't review a lot of the books I read, which can be a problem for a book blogger. However - since I read so many books in 2014, I feel like I was never out of ideas for it (and there are, currently, books from 2014 that I didn't get to write full reviews of that I'd like to. I think all read in December).

I'd like to say one of my goals is to have a better schedule for writing posts, but I know myself well enough to know that'd have a negative reaction. So I'm just going to leave my slightly silly/ridiculous way of blogging and such. However, I do have other blogging goals for the year. Some of them are more just things to keep in mind, but still.

Weekly Wrap Ups -
I did two towards the end of 2014, just to kind of try it out. And I didn't quite like the just reading wrap up, but I thought it was fun to add other stuff. I don't quite know, yet, how you guys feel about them, but I think they're fun? They're also a lot of work, but I think this is the way I'm going to do the thing of mini-review/at least talk about more all the books I read.

More discussions/reviews - 
This is one of the ones to just keep in mind. I'm not going to push myself, but I tend to write discussion posts and then not post them because I second guess myself and worry and such, and I'd just like to do it and see what happens. And start some conversations with you guys. However, I'm not going to set a number or any other kind of push, because that'd make me not want to do it.
And then for reviews - I reviewed way more books in 2014 then in 2013, I'm going to count it up and put the stats at the bottom, but I'd still like to review more. Some people post full reviews for every book they read, which I'm not going to even try and do, but I'd like to review more and refine my voice/opinions/taste more.

Read-a-Thons/Challenges/Taking part -
I've never taken part in any yearly challenges in the blogging community, but I am this year! Technically only one for the year, but another that's for the new few months kind of thing. And, of course, you might know about my undying love for read-a-thons. I hope to participate in all three Bout of Books and I missed Dewey's 24-hour read-a-thon in October, sadly. And any others that come my way and look like fun. I love read-a-thons, I get a lot done. Maybe I should start taking part in the things that can come after - the review-a-thons.

Be more active -
This is always a goal for me, because I'm so bad at it. I wouldn't say I was shy, except when I don't know the people. And with text it can be hard to convey what you want to say without tone of voice or facial expressions, that kind of thing. But I always really enjoy commenting on posts and chatting with people in the comments of my posts (if you've ever left a comment - thank you! I think I'll always be at the point where I'm shocked and then a little brighter all day for it).

I think that's it, I don't want to set too many, but I felt like all of these would be things I'd be doing anyway and I wanted to mention them here. If you have a book blog - any plans of your own for 2015? Any that match up with mine? If you don't have a blog - does that all sound fun to you? I mean, I'm still going to do it all, but I'm interested and curious.

Stats By Year:
2011 - 34 total (started in August)
Month with most posts: October (12)

2012 - 83 total
Month with most posts: July (18)

2013 - 57
Reviews posted: 3 full book reviews, 1 series review (yes, for the whole year. I just went and checked and I did not know it was quite that low. I'm even more ashamed now).
Month with most posts: May (12)

2014 - 192
Reviews posted: 24 full book reviews, 18 mini review compilations, 4 series reviews (I'm not unhappy with it, because it's a lot better then I did in 2013. However, considering I read over 200 books, that is not a lot of reviews to show for it).
Month with most posts: May (23)