Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Heidi at Rainy Day Ramblings in order to discuss a wide range of topics from books to blogging (and some slightly more personal matters throw in for good measure). After Heidi stopped blogging (apparently for good), five of us took over as hosts while providing new questions. The current team is composed of Berls at Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life, Jen at That's What I'm Talking About, Karen at For What It's Worth, Linda at Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell and Roberta at Offbeat YA. This week's question is...
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN BLOGGING? AND HAS YOUR BLOG CHANGED OVER TIME?
My blog will be ten (!!!) on October 14th. Back when I started, I had a very clear-cut idea of what it would be like, which accounts for its having changed very little through the years. I wanted all the unsung, underhyped YA books that I kept finding, reading and loving to have a home. I wanted to shout out about them. I wanted people to hear about them and buy them. After ten years, my blog is still small for a number of reasons, but if I've managed to get an equally small number of readers to pick up some books that were falling through the cracks (and I know I have), I'll call it a win 🙂.
In case you're wondering, I created my banner and my graphics myself using free PhotoFiltre (with the aid of a few pre-made icons that I tweaked, just like I tweaked my Face Your Manga avatar in order for it to look more like me). The cartoonish look wasn't intentional, but a consequence of my love of strong colours and my inability to actually design graphics 😂. That being said, I like the way my blog stands out because of it, and it absolutely vibes with my personality...
The only changes that have happened to my blog since it was born are that:
- 1) I made awesome friends and I do have an audience now 😂 (with me being their audience in return of course);
- 2) I started to post more about me and/or not necessarily post reviews;
- 3) I've been incorporating more adult books into my blog in the last year and a half (speculative fiction/horror).
And frankly? I'm pleased with the way things are, and I don't plan to change course anytime soon 😉 (though I would like for Blogger to be able to incorporate an accessibility menu, but I've only been able to find WordPress plugins for now. I realised too late that my palette can be hard on color-blind people...).
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| Here, have a gif taken from a song that was wildly popular in my pre-teen years... That's the Way (I Like It) by K.C. & The Sunshine Band |
Well, that's it for now. Did you enjoy this post? Would you like to participate in the meme on a regular or semi-regular basis, and get emailed the prompt list? Just head over here and fill in Jen's form! (Of course, you can jump in anytime you like - you are under no obligation to actually do all the posts, or even most of them, just because you signed up, and you can remove yourself from the list at any time). And if you're interested in participating in a more casual manner, or only in commenting, here is the TMST prompt list for the rest of May and the month of June:
- May 24th: Do you review every book you read? Why or why not?
- May 31st: Do you request ARCs? Why or why not?
- June 7th: Who is your all-time favorite couple or character?
- June 14th: Do you make use of Goodreads recommendations?
- June 21st: What are book no-nos that make you figuratively want to toss a book across the room?
- June 28th: Which books are you looking forward to reading this Summer? (July-August)
I'll be back on May 24th, and it will be my last TMST for a while, because I plan on taking a month-long hiatus - but more of that in the aforementioned post.
Now tell me something...how long has your blog been around? and have you changed anything about it since then?
I like that you set out a goal for your blog and worked at it. Not like me, I have no goals. I think most book bloggers are better at blogging because they clearly know what to post and a little bit about the blogger is always welcome to me since you're not a robot so it's only right to talk a little about yourself now and then.
ReplyDeleteI do think your bright color template is a bit jarring at first but only because I have spent far too much time looking at screens. Your blog is quite organized and all the graphics/elements work well together, although if this is my blog, I would have shifted some of the elements int header as everything seems just a little too close to the edge, but that's me.
Ten years sounds like a long while for a blog but I'm only saying that because I barely stayed two years at a blog. I like that you're constant in what you do - I think it's a good thing.
Have a lovely day.
If not having goals work for you, that's freeing at least!
DeleteI understand what you mean. I know my colour choice is a bit...bold LOL. But I love that it's unique, and I did try to use a readable font back when I set my blog up. At least there's that 😅.
"I like that you're constant in what you do - I think it's a good thing."
Thank you!
Wow! Ten years, and I am happy we found each other. Cheers to many more!
ReplyDeleteThank you! And likewise 💚.
DeleteMy blog will be ten in 2024. I definitely relate to you that one of the changes my blog has gone through is the incorporation of more adult books. What's interesting for me is that my blog really grew up with me, and it's kinda like a scrapbook of my young adult and now adult years, which is cool!
ReplyDeleteYou've been at it for a long time! And it's great that you get to have a record of a crucial phase of your life. I started blogging when I was already an old lady...😂
DeleteHappy 10th later this year! Close enough. :)
ReplyDeleteMy blog in some ways hasn't changed a lot either- like you, I'm (kind of) happy with how things are going. It's been fun to see how my tastes have changed and my mix of books.
Great post! Hope you're well this week :)
My, am I old...in more than one way 😱 😂. Thank you!
Delete"Kind of" is a honest way to put it. I guess everyone dreams/has dreamed at some point to "make it" as a blogger. Then we find our niche and our pace and...we just make peace with it.
"Great post! Hope you're well this week :)"
Thanks! Still hoarse as hell, but that's my "normal" regardless of Covid - all my seasonal illnesses are that way...
It's interesting to look back at how I thought back when I started. So clueless but it's been such a wild journey. And you're right- we find our place. Hopefully- a comfortable place. I'm honestly kind of glad I wasn't a "big" blogger per se- remember those, the really big book blogs back in the mid- 20teens?- are those still around? Anywho- glad you're doing okay.
DeleteI don't think there are many of those left...I mean, there are bloggers I know that have been around for a long time, but they aren't what you would call "big". I can count on the fingers of one hand those who get attention from the publishers and review consistently...Tammy and Shannon come to mind...
Delete10 years is amazing. So many bloggers have stopped blogging after a few years so I like seeing the people who have been around a while.
ReplyDeleteI like your blog. I like the colors and how it's set up. I haven't really changed mine all that much since I started. I like the black background because I like how my pictures look on it plus with the name, I would think that a dark background would be there.
I started off just starting a blog with a couple of people who no long blog. I kept mine. It'll be 17 years for me at the end of this month.
Haha, mine and yours couldn't be more different if they tried, but thanks! and likewise - I do love the colour black, plus it ties in with the name, as you said.
DeleteI remember your mentioning that you've been blogging for almost two decades! 17 is...wild. Happy blogoversary in advance!
Per usual, I am late drafting the post for this question but mine has changed so much and so often that I'm surprised people have stuck with me lol
ReplyDeleteIt's a MUCH smaller group now but I'm happier so it's all good.
I feel like yours has changed in some ways. It's definitely more YOU or maybe more personal. Between your reviews and life posts more of your personality shines through.
Karen @For What It's Worth
"mine has changed so much and so often that I'm surprised people have stuck with me lol"
DeleteBut the constant is your being friendly and welcoming and spontaneous and your keeping the conversation going. It's easy to find something to say when one visits - one never feels like they have to try too hard.
"Between your reviews and life posts more of your personality shines through."
Aw, thanks! Maybe it's TMI lately though LOL.
Congrats on all of those years. I am newish to your blog - finding you as part of TMST, but I'm enjoying getting to know you better through your posts and reviews. Looking forward to your next post to tell us your plans.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Glad to be your TMST buddy, even if I can be so random 😂.
DeleteMy blog is almost 11! And it hasn't changed much in the past 5 or 6 years. But I'm ready to change the design, I'm getting sick of it, lol.
ReplyDeleteYours does have this well-established feel...I think you're one of the very few bloggers who still gets lots of ARCs on a regular basis! Which is no wonder, since you do a great job with promoting and reviewing. Looking forward to the new design!
DeleteThat's awesome that you've been blogging for almost ten years. :) I've been blogging for six years about, and it's really interesting how things changed from when I first started. When I first started I had intended my blog only to be for writing and drawing, but then I started including other things I was interested in and it became what it is today. :)
ReplyDelete-Quinley
But there's definitely a pattern to your blog, isn't there? it's still about different forms of art that you practice/like 🙂. And 6 years is a great accomplishment!
DeleteTEN YEARS! Honestly, though, I loved the graphics and banners of your blog, and I love that you haven't changed much in the ten years you've blogged (and quite frankly the time we've been friends - omg it's been that long?!) Either way, I'm happy we found each other and have stuck around in each other's lives for so long! Please don't disappear randomly, I'd be awfully sad to lose you since I think you might be the only blogger friend from back then that's still around. I was cleaning up broken links a month ago and finishing up my reformatting process (which was really just deleting most posts in the end) and seeing so many bloggers leave was saddening. :(
ReplyDeleteI would also love it if Blogger would be able to incorporate an accessibility menu, but I think I moved off to Wordpress by that time so I never took the time to actively hunt for it (because I absolutely would).
My blog has definitely changed in the nearly ten years, but I think since I started at 15 and will be entering my quarter life crisis by then, it's only natural the blog would've changed as much as a mid-teen changes as they become a young adult. I think if I started now or if I were 25 when I started in 2012, I don't think I would've changed as much or maybe I would have? I definitely post less now, though, and I've also started incorporating some adult books as well. I don't think I walked into bloggng with a goal like you did (which I love that you haven't changed that over the decade), though, but I don't think 15 year old me really had goals in the first place - I was purely blogging because I thought it was interesting after seeing other bloggers who had official fansites for a game and I wanted to be like them. So I think if there's anything that hasn't changed in the past decade I've been blogging, I think it's still being that somewhat relatively carefree teen that started blogging just making somewhat better choices (I hope).
I DO think that roughly around 2016-2017, my blog has changed less rapidly with now than between 2012-2022, but I think at that point, I actually started to get my ducks more together.
GOOD DAY ROBERTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"TEN YEARS! Honestly, though, I loved the graphics and banners of your blog, and I love that you haven't changed much in the ten years you've blogged (and quite frankly the time we've been friends - omg it's been that long?!)"
DeleteLOL, yeah! Thank you!
"Either way, I'm happy we found each other and have stuck around in each other's lives for so long! Please don't disappear randomly, I'd be awfully sad to lose you since I think you might be the only blogger friend from back then that's still around."
I'm happy too...who would wish me a good morning/day/night otherwise? 😂💚 Seriously, who would have thought that a teen and a senior blogger old enough to be her mom would have struck a friendship? 😅 I don't plan on disappearing though...unless something happens to me (my husband wouldn't be able to let you know, since he doesn't speak English and doesn't do Twitter).
"So I think if there's anything that hasn't changed in the past decade I've been blogging, I think it's still being that somewhat relatively carefree teen that started blogging just making somewhat better choices (I hope)."
I've seen your blog grow, but then again, it never struck me as immature, even when you were 15. About better choices, LOL, I think you do the choice thing better than me, I mean in general - just look at my current situation...
I blog a year shorter than you. I keep promising myself that I will find more time, I will write more, but it doesn't work that way ... Blogging is time-consuming. If something has changed over the years, the look of my blog, I've learned to take better photos and it shows. The subject matter and content, I think, remain the same.
ReplyDeleteLOL, no, it doesn't work that way...life is demanding (and blogging IS time consuming).
DeleteTaking photos is not my forte, and I'm a little envious of people who know how!
Do you only blog in Polish?
I like things how they are now too :D
ReplyDeleteJust like it should be
Less stress, more fun!
DeleteTen years, wow! That's cool, I started my blog for essentially the same reason. I was finding all these amazing indie/self-pub books, and I wanted more people to know about them. Though the sorts of posts I do have changed sometimes throughout the years. Anyway, I'm glad you've stuck around and that you've kept supporting all those unsung books!
ReplyDeleteI think we're like a tribe of our own - deciding to start a blog to support a specific type of books that don't fit the mold LOL (though I HAVE read more popular/traditionally published books through the years). Then again, we don't even read the same books usually...that only goes to demonstrate how many underhyped books there are out there! 😅
DeleteI read popular books too. This isn't our job, we're allowed to read whatever interests us. But we're still supporting the indie and underhyped books that we like :-)
DeleteYES to both things 👍.
Delete