As of today, it's been a year since I created my blog. So it's my blog's birthday. AHH, I KNOW!!
But let’s be honest: it really doesn’t feel like it’s been a year. Christmas (last year, not this year! It was only 2 days ago!) feels like so long ago, but I remember starting my blog as clearly as anything. I never expected for it to last, and I don't think I would have believed you, if a year ago, you told me my book blog would still be running!
Initial changes to my blog
I first started this blog to share my love of books, and meet new people, maybe even more to meet new people. Because I started out with a fandom account on Instagram, I’d already experienced the joy of internet friends, so creating my own blog was the next step for me. I was pretty devoted to that Instagram account, but a blog always appealed to me just a little more.
Also, I’d had previous experience with blogger anyway. I knew how to work the site pretty well, so actually setting up my blog wasn’t hard for me at all. The hardest part was the name...
Gah, I’m cringing just thinking about this! (I’m super embarrassed to say this, please don’t hold this against me guys...) 'Oh Look, Some Books!' was my first blog name. I don’t know why I ever settled for it! Thankfully I realised just how cringe-worthy it is (for me, anyway), and changed to Confessions of a Book Addict a few days later. I did love this name, and still do, really, but there’s lots of variations, and lots of blogs have similar names. It also meant I had to hyphenate the URL, so was a pain to type and got kind of confusing.
So, in the summer, I changed to The Bibliolater. I was thinking about this change for a while before I actually did it, though the name was the part I struggled on. The reason why I chose The Bibliolater was because the definition for bibliolater is: a person who is passionately enthusiastic about books (Google it if you don’t believe me!), and that's definitely me. I really like it, and don’t think I’ll be changing because I haven’t seen anyone with the same name! I wrote more about this back in August - you can read my post here.
Blogging has changed me, too
Not just has my blog changed, but I’ve changed too, as the person behind the blog. At the start of my blogging journey, I was quite shy. Blogging brought me out of my comfort zone from Instagram, and as the community was so vast, it felt a little overwhelming to me. I didn’t know too much about blogging, so my posts and writing styles were very different to how they are now. I didn’t really visit other blogs, and I just wasn’t fully invested in blogging. I didn’t spend half as much time writing posts, and I barely even went on Twitter!
Now, it’s the complete opposite. I’m spending a lot of time thinking/writing about posts, and I spend a lot of time blogging! I try so hard to visit everyone’s blogs, and I’m pretty much addicted to Twitter. (You can follow me here *cough* shameless plug *cough*).
For me, I think I’ve accomplished a lot in this past year. My confidence has definitely grown, and so has my writing. I’ve learnt a lot about the book industry, and how to ‘do well’ as a blogger. I hope I learn even more in 2016, and develop even more as a blogger.
Thank-you for a great year of blogging, everyone! I have enjoyed every moment of blogging this year, and I hope next year is just as great!
How has your blog changed? Has it affected you in any way? I'd love to know how it (and you!) has developed! ☺
Hello! I'm D - a dog-loving feminist from the UK. You'll probably find me with my nose in a book or playing my clarinet
