A Decade Ago

Over a decade ago I started this blog. The actual anniversary was July 9th. I was tempted to let this anniversary go by, with real life being a bit messy of late; however, I thought ten years of something should be noted. It's a long commitment that I've kept and I'm happy to still be doing this, writing posts and talking with great people. The first thing I did was read my first post; it was definitely a ramble. Apparently, I thought I might write about politics and fashion, as well as books. Umm... no. Maybe fashion was something that interested me at the time, but less so now, two kids and a mortgage later. I'm happy in flannel pants and a geeky t-shirt. Politics, well, I certainly have opinions about that, but I stay away from voicing them on the Internet. Mostly, because while I love the Internet, it can also be a scary place. Let's just say that I'm happy I'm Canadian. After 1014 posts, books is mostly what I've written about, along with bookish things. I also started writing about food a little while ago and a bit about parenting, when I starting having children.

I hit 1000 posts a couple months ago and that's when it really hit me, how long I've been doing this. In it, I posted a few stats. I thought about doing that again, going deeper, but then I decided against it. While I think reflecting back on the past is important, I also have let this blog flow where it wanted, and let my reading do the same. I used to read a lot of literary fiction, but now I read a lot of genre, most of which gets the blog label "fantasy". I read graphic novels now and I read more young adult, when I did not read a lot of those in the past. I have posted a lot about movies, though with the exception of Star Trek Beyond, not as much as I used to. I mean, I can only gush so much about Marvel movies. I don't write that much about television, as many of the shows I've enjoyed, end up being cancelled (genre shows mostly). Food is fun to write about, and I'm slowly learning how to take better pictures. Mostly my parenting related posts have been when I've been angry at other people in the way they relate to my children, though I stayed away from certain times other children have negatively impacted mine. Really, the evolution of the blog, writing when I want, about what I want, is probably part of why it's still going a decade later. I've never had a schedule and while I try to post often, I only post when I have something to say.

Without this blog, I would never have discovered some great people out in the world. From Yellowknife to Australia, there are wonderful blogs and bloggers everywhere. I love reading about the books they've read and the lives they lead. While the past year or so, has seen my busy-ness level rise, I still try to catch up and read the blogs, though not as frequently as I used to.

I've been thinking about spending this year, from now to next July, looking back at some of my past posts, a "Throwback Thursday" for my blog, to see what I was reading and watching 10 years ago. Maybe once a week? Just a thought. I wanted to see for at least today, the first book I ever wrote about. I first posted a list of books I had read the year previous to start the blog. Some really good books, and a couple not so good ones, some I should definitely re-read. But the first actual book review type post I wrote was for Memoirs of a Geisha. I loved that book. The post itself is pretty straight-forward, a few thoughts about the books and about Geisha in general. There's no picture, no links, just thoughts. My posts have certainly evolved. I remember when I first started, posting not taking very long. I'd post what I thought, then re-read for grammar/spelling, then that's it. No formatting, no anything. Why did that change? Honestly, probably from reading other blogs. When I started reading other blogs, they were visually so different that mine. While I didn't want mine to look like others (it started out with a plain black background and it hasn't shifted too much from that), I thought at least a book cover picture and a link to where someone could by the book was probably a good idea. They can definitely get more complicated now. I have nine different movie posters for Star Trek Beyond, plus the Rihanna trailer. I often change the fonts of my posts and try to coordinate the post title colour with whatever images I've used, though not always. Though content is still primary, aesthetics have definitely taken their place.

I'm going to change the background of my blog too. I've changed it, I think twice, in the past ten years. I feel like it's time for another change now. I've been working on something, I hope to have it up in a few days.

Thanks to everyone who has left a comment, stopped by, chatted with me about a favourite book or movie. I appreciate every word. I'm happy and surprised to have made it ten years. I wonder if I'll make it ten more.