Happy 2nd Blogoversary to Me!

Amazingly, it has been two years since I began blogging, and I almost missed it! A wonderful follower's comment had to remind me of this very special date for me. This date warrants a post, of course, and a little review of what my last year in blogging has been like! (And have a piece of red velvet cheesecake on me!)
I love doing the book blogging thing as much as ever, and even with three girls under the age of 5, I still manage to find time to write about what I love most -- books! I have reviewed quite an eclectic mix of books in the past year. Some of my favorite reviews have been Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper, Chocolat by Joanne Harris, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King, and The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer. Probably my favorite book that I have read in the past year is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, which I read fairly recently. I try to read as many books of my own choosing as I review for publishers, authors, and publicists. That way, this blogging business will not feel like a job I am forced into, but something I choose to do because I love it. The "review" stack seems to sit at around 10-15 books, no matter how quickly I read through them, but I love getting those packages in the mail anyways -- and I think my local postal workers are just a little bit jealous over them.
I think that I have also become much more comfortable with my own writing, even when it garners quite a bit of criticism on Amazon or when I dare to venture into the politics of books (here, here, here, and here!). I may even dare to write my own fiction for a change this year; afterall, NanoWrimo has always fascinated me.
My follower count has gone up some, with 216 RSS feed subscribers, 108 Twitter followers, 174 GFC followers, and 15 on Networked Blogs, which is impressive, considering I cannot really afford to do any big giveaways out of my own pockets. I keep meaning to do an actual Facebook page for my blog, but that has not happened yet.
I am hoping to find the time in the next year to do a redesign of my blog -- time is ever the issue on any big projects like this. I debated branching out into other product reviews, but that was before I realized I was pregnant with my third child. Maybe when the girls are older I can revisit that idea, but for now I will simply stick with books, book, and more books! Hubby says books are like my "blankie" -- and he's fine with it (good thing!).

Happy 2nd Blogoversary, and many more!!