So this morning I woke up to a little notification that I’d hit 100 followers on my blog! It’s a small number compared to the people who have been blogging any length of time, but for a newbie to the community like myself it gave me a little bit of a lift for the rest of the day.
It also made me want to kind of go back and discuss my reasoning behind starting this journey in the first place; how I think it’s been going so far and where I hope to see it go in the future.
Why Blogging?
I’ve talked a little bit before about my schedule outside of blogging and how it’s jam packed on a daily basis. I often felt like I hardly had time to think, let alone to read. Yet when I sat back and really examined how I was spending what free time I managed to scrape up – there was an awful lot of time spent mindlessly browsing social media, or trapped within a Netflix binge session.
So I made a choice in January of this year: give up the silly and superficial stuff. Using social media is okay in moderation, but no more spending hours on it. I can watch an episode or two of something with Mr. Bastion, or a movie in the evening, but otherwise my free time goes to reading. When I finish an assignment for school, I read. When I do cardio at the gym, I read on my kindle. Suddenly I’m a reading machine!
The decision to blog has been on my mind for years really, but I’m using it now as a motivation to continue with this hobby and I’m so glad I took the leap!
Expectation Vs. Reality
My expectations going into this process were really simple: read a LOT of books during 2017, and share my thoughts with lots of new friends!
I read 30 books over the course of 2016. When it was time to set my 2017 goal – which was before I’d fully committed to this blogging venture – I set my goal to 50 books for the year, just to give myself something new to shoot for. That being said, I’m already at 28 books read so far this year, so I’ll probably be upping my year-long goal to 100 very soon.
The main driving factor behind all of this though is the fact that I basically have one person in my real life that I can regularly talk to about my love for books, and that’s one of my older sisters. She lives close by, and we’re best friends. I love reading slightly more than she does though, so what usually happens is I find a book I love, lend it to her and wait for her to read it, and then we gush over our thoughts on it together. I’ve found that making friends in the blogging community really satisfies that part of myself that I’ve never been able to really talk about before. You people get me, and that’s what I love about this community.
One thing that has exceeded my expectations is just how welcoming the blogging community is! I feel like I’ve made so many friends since January! It’s truly amazing and inspiring. You guys inspire me to read more, and to continue growing as a reader and a reviewer.
Also, I had no idea just how quickly review requests for ARCs from publishers and authors would start rolling in. That’s been amazing to me!
So, What’s Next?
Hopefully I’ll be writing another one of these updates when I hit 500 followers! I plan on continuing this journey with as few expectations as possible outside of making more friends and growing within the community. I hope you’ll continue on this journey with me!
xoxo
How do you think I’m doing so far? What would you like to see more of on this blog? Less of? How has blogging exceeded your expectations?
Congratulations babe!! I know we’ll only see you grow even faster from here; Mr. Bastion must be so proud! 😘
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha thank you Chelsea! ❤ Mr. Bastion I think is equal parts proud and amazed I find the time to all this blogging stuff. xD
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congrats on reaching 100 followers! I’m do the same at the gym with my kindle, in fact I don’t leave the house without it:) And I agree, the book community is amazing, there’s always someone availability to chat about books which is just the best!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah I carry my Kindle everywhere with me! It’s like my baby in lieu of an actual child. xD If I ever find myself with spare time and didn’t have my kindle, I don’t know what I’d do!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congratulations on 100 followers!!!! I hope for you to go on to have many many more in the future! 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Tiana!! ^_^
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congratulations – that’s a great number 🙂 28 books is amazing – I think that’s about what I read last year hahaha. Was a very busy year though… I set my goal to 35 this year and so far I am on track with 10 books read 🙂
LikeLike
Congrats! It always feels amazing to reach a milestone on your blog – it’s such a mood boost to know that people are wanting to read your posts and reviews. It is amazing how much it’s possible to read when you make sure to always have a book/kindle with you. I read in every spare minute – even during the ads when watching TV! Hope you continue to enjoy blogging. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Blogging definitely boosts my mood, for sure. It feels good to be part of a group of people I relate to! You and I sound the same when it comes to reading! I read during commercial breaks too. xD
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congratulations! Already 100 followers in 3 months time is great! You’re doing great with this blog so just keep on doing what you’re doing !
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Inge!! ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congratulations 👍📚
I also completed my first 100 and I have been blogging since a month.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s amazing!! Keep up the good work!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congratulations on hitting 100 followers! It’s so easy to get sucked into the endless scrolling and checking of social media, replacing it with reading is a great idea.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Social media is definitely a time-sink, that’s for sure! Thanks Chelsea!
LikeLike
Congrats Bentley!! You’re doing awesome!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Candace! ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congrats!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congrats Bentley! We’re on similar reading wavelengths – I also started this blog in January and hit 100 followers recently; and I set my goal to 60 but have already read 32, so I’m also thinking of upping it to 100. Happy reading!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Rachel, that’s awesome that we’re both essentially following the same path here. Glad to have found a friend who I can totally relate to! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congratulaaations on reaching this milestone! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Poulami!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hiyaaa! I just wanted to let you know that I’ve nominated you for the Mystery Blogger Award! I’m aware that you may have done it before or you don’t do tags in general, so no hard feelings if you don’t want to do it! Here’s the link so you can check it out: https://toomuchofabooknerd.wordpress.com/2017/04/11/mystery-blogger-award/ Enjoy 🙂
LikeLike
Also, congratulations on 100 followers!!! 😀 ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Jackie!! I did see that you nominated me, I’m just trying to find the time to actually sit down and do the tag. Life is crazy at the moment. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, of course, no pressure! I have so many tags to do still and it’ll probably take me months to get through them all 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congrats on the 100 followers ❤ 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Annie 🙂
LikeLike
🎉🎉Congrats honey!🎉🎉 You deserve it ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! ❤ ^_^
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congrats, Bentley!! 100 is a big milestone, and soon enough, you’ll have another 100 more. 🙂 And as you said, once you devote time to reading, it really is amazing just how much of a reading machine you can turn into. XD Congrats, and I’m sure you’ll be doing another one of these posts in no time!! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Mandy!! I wish more people understood that finding the time to read is easier than they might think at first.
LikeLike
Nice, 100 followers is a great accomplishment! Esp if you started blogging in 2017. Meeting bookish friends has been one of my favorite things about book blogging, too. Isn’t WordPress special? 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
It really is amazing! I feel like WordPress, Goodreads and even Twitter have all gained me some really great new friends that I’m very happy to know.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s so good to hear positive stories like this! Thanks for sharing about your blogging journey 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yay! Congratulations!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congrats on 100 followers! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!! 🙂
LikeLike
I know exactly what you mean when you say you can’t geek out with many people in real life because that’s how I feel too!! Us book bloggers totally understand each other haha. I also went through a phase where I was tired of spending hours on Facebook everyday and wanted to read more, although now I’m just on Goodreads all day instead. I’m not sure that’s much of an improvement time-wise haha. Just think how much more time you’ll have this summer! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can’t wait for all the time spent out in the sunshine reading this summer! It’s going to be divine!
LikeLiked by 1 person