Six Month Blogiversary!

Wow, I’ve been blogging for six months!

I can’t decide whether I’m more shocked because I’ve been blogging for six months already, or because I’ve only been blogging for six months?!* Either way though, I’m shocked.

I wasn’t quite sure how I wanted to celebrate this, but I knew that I wanted to acknowledge it somehow… These six months have been amazing, and I hope to have many, many more amazing months, and eventually years, of blogging.

I gave it some thought, and eventually decided to just look back at how my blog has changed, and maybe how my blog has changed me. I hope you enjoy!

*Obviously I need to work on being a bit less indecisive.

When I finally decided what I wanted to do for this post, I went back and read my early posts. WOW, were they ever awful! I’m often not very happy with my posts, and there is definitely still room for improvement, but you know what? Compared to my early posts, my recent posts are pretty darn good!

Because apparently I like embarrassing myself, I’m going to link to my first post, as well as my most recent book review. There is a HUGE difference!

My Awful First Post.

My Much Better Recent Post.

Even just from a glance, I have a completely different style now.

IT. IS. SO. UGLY.

This is an awful picture, but as you can see, the post itself is significantly less ugly. It actually has formatting.

Also it’s long enough that I can’t take a picture of the entire post. Which I would say is an improvement. My first couple posts were SO short. And terribly written.

I am SO much more pleased with my posts now… I just want to cringe whenever I see my earliest posts.

Also I almost only posted reviews. Which is sort of boring.

I’ve already touched on my blog’s appearance, but it is definitely another thing I’ve changed. It still has the same basic idea, but I’ve made little changes here and there, and I like it so much better now.

A couple of the biggest changes I’ve made are:

• I now have dividers. I mean, I sort of hate them, but at least my posts aren’t just huge blocks of text now… and I feel pretty pleased with them when you consider the fact that it is completely NOT what the app I used was meant for. I’m not actually sure what it was mean for, but I’m quite confident it wasn’t that.
• My featured images.
  When I started bogging I just used the cover of whatever book I was reviewing, or some random image, that vaguely related to my post. I hated it. I am SO much more pleased with how my blog looks now that I’ve started taking my own pictures…
  Yes, half of them are blurry, and yes sometimes I just look at my featured image and hate it, because I took a hideous picture, but I actually like how they look most of the time. So… definitely an improvement.

Honestly, thats about it. I haven’t really made that many changes to the appearance of my blog… I’m hoping too maybe change it up a bit more in the new year… or maybe not, I’m not really sure yet.*

*Like I said, I’m way too indecisive.

I feel like the quality of my content is where I’ve really improved. Stats wise, I’ve barely improved. Actually, I’ve had less page views in the past three months than I had in the first three… I’m not quite sure how that happened, especially because I get more comments now for sure, and I also have significantly more followers. Stats are weird.

Speaking of followers though… I don’t have a lot of followers, I believe I have nineteen, but I am so grateful to each and every one of them. And to everyone who has followed me, thank you, it means a lot to me.

In fact, to anyone who is reading this post, follower or not, thank you. Maybe not a lot of people see my blog, but it makes me so happy to know that some people do. That some people do want to read my silly, rambly posts, that some people do see the content that I put so much time into.

It means a lot to me that people read what I write, so thank you.*

*Wow, I got WAY sappier than I meant to there… sappy is SO not usually my style.

I think blogging has changed me too.
Having this blog has been an amazing experience for me. I can’t quite pinpoint exactly how it has changed me, but I can tell that it has. Blogging has become a part of me in these past six months. It’s not something I can ever imagine giving up.

And although yes, I’ve spent more time on the computer since I started blogging, and my procrastination skills have grown as well, I think that most of the changes have been for the better.
I just can’t figure out quite what they are. I know there are changes, and I sort of know what they are, but apparently I don’t know what they are quite well enough to put them into words.

Aside from the more personal changes, there’s also been other things blogging has done for me.

• It’s introduced me to some of my favourite books. Like, at least half of them. So… I’m pretty pleased about that.
• It introduced me to goodreads.
• It’s so amazing to have somewhere I can go, that I can talk about books freely (Other than spoilers OF COURSE!), and just know that people will understand. Will get why I am sobbing over the death of a fictional character. Will* understand why the fact that I just slightly scuffed the cover of my book is a horrible thing.
• Not to mention all the wonderful people I’ve met. The blogging community is definitely one of the most amazing parts of blogging for me, and I’ve met so many lovely people.

*I literally keep reading that and thinking that will is referring to Will Herondale, and being confused. I WROTE THAT SENTENCE FOR GOODNESS SAKES! Why can I not seem to realize what I meant. Obviously I haven’t recovered from The Infernal Devices yet. I don’t know if I ever will. Probably not.

These first six months truly have been a wonderful experience. I hope that as I continue blogging, I will continue improving, and continue having great interactions with all these great people.
Thank you everyone, for supporting me in this. I love you all!

How long have you been blogging? How have you changed since then? What changes do you hope to make to your blog next? Is anyone else out there never going to recover from The Infernal Devices?