6 Month Blogoversary & 2016 Blogging Goals

THE DAYDREAMING BOOKWORM IS 6 MONTHS OLD!

I can NOT believe that it has already been 6 months since I posted my first review on The Daydreaming Bookworm! I also can’t believe that I am STILL blogging 6 months later because let’s me be honest, I suck at keeping commitments. But I am so happy that I have pushed myself to keep blogging because blogging led me back to books, something I will be forever grateful for. I have also met and become friends with so many AWESOME and creative people and I think I’ve found my niche!

HOW HAS BLOGGING & THE BOOK COMMUNITY CHANGED MY LIFE?

♥ First & foremost, I AM READING AGAIN! For a girl who hasn’t read a book in 6 years, I slid back into my old reading habits quite nicely. I have managed to read over 100 books in a little over six months, which I have to say is mighty impressive. *pats self on back*

♥ My insomnia has gotten WORSE! My circadian rhythm is out of wack because I have either been staying up late to read or to write a post and I know this is not best (I say this as I am writing this post at 2 a.m.), but I plan to change this in the new year!

♥ I have been pushed out of my comfort zone, forced to step out of my box, and I think it has been for the best. Blogging is NOT easy and anyone who says otherwise is either a robot or a wizard! You’re putting your thoughts into a post for the world to see and you hope that somewhere out in the blogosphere someone likes what you’ve written (like me with this post right now). But it can be so worth it because a post can start a conversation where you can meet new people and I have definitely met some wonderful bloggers through some of my posts!

THE TRIALS & TRIBULATIONS OF BLOGGING

♥ Creativity & Originality: I think every blogger hopes to be thought of as creative and original and in terms of creativity, I’d like to think I am getting better. My favorite post are always my wrap-ups because I get to use, or sometimes even make, GIFS to describe how I felt overall about a book and I haven’t come across any other post that does wrap-ups like this. Also, I must say my graphic making skills have improved tremendously from what they were 6 months ago and I am very much IN LOVE with my new blog look. 

♥ Plagiarism: DUN-DUN-DUUUUUN! The ugly “P” word that everyone hopes they never have to say. Yes, about a week ago I found that a fellow blogger had plagiarized one of my reviews and it broke my heart. Unfortunately, these things are bound to happen, and while I think it is completely ridiculous that a blogger would even consider committing such a crime, we shouldn’t let it hold us back from blogging! 

♥ The Numbers Game: Ahh, the stats. We all want to see those numbers grow and in the beginning I was a bit obsessed. But now, I’ve realized that it should not be all about the numbers and I would rather have meaningful conversations with my fellow bloggers than having them just view a post and then sliding to the next one.

THE UPSIDE OF BLOGGING

BOOKISH FRIENDS! I have met and made so many new friends through blogging, from ALL AROUND THE WORLD!! I can be such a hermit sometimes and blogging has helped me to get out of my shell. SHOUT OUT to all of you who have ever commented and followed my blog! I truly appreciate every single one of you. Twitter has also been a great place to meet new bookish people and I enjoy chatting with my fellow Blogspot bloggers. They are truly a creative bunch and their enthusiasm for both books and debut authors is quite contagious. SHOUT OUT to my SASSY girls in the DM, my buddy read girls who had my back when sh!t hit the fan last week. They are the BEST!

The BookCon app is where it all started for me and I love the community we have created with this little app. We have become a tight knit bunch and I CAN’T wait until BookCon’17 so I can see them all again!

I only have a few goals that I want to focus on this year when it comes to blogging.

♥ Being more organized: Staying up until 2 a.m. to write a post is NOT fun and frankly, I miss sleep. I have bought notebooks and cute pens to motivate me to write out drafts for my posts. This way I know all the important point I want to talk about and I don’t have to worry about forgetting anything.

♥ Being more creative: So discussions posts have become a big thing and I too have a number of ideas floating around in my head. This could backfire on me and be a complete mess, but I am going to give this a whirl and see how it goes.

♥ Reading what I WANT to read: Since joining the book community, I have noticed that YA is the dominant genre and I felt like I needed to read all the new releases in order to be in the know. I have found myself slowly drifting away from YA and reading more NA and I think I want to read more from this genre.  I have decided to not let myself become obsessed with all the new releases of 2016 and I will read them when I am ready.

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I think that’s enough rambling for now. Thank you all for making these first 6 months of blogging the best months of 2015. The book community is truly been so inviting and I can’t wait to meet more awesome sauce bloggers so we can fangirl our hearts out!