12/23/2016

Happy Blog Birthday!

I can´t believe that one year is already over and my blog is celebrating its FIRST BIRTHDAY! Wooohooo! And what exciting, exhausting, and stress full months those were! Today, one year ago, on December 23, 2015; I hit the publish button and launched Gone With The Books. Born out of the need to give my international friends a place where they would be able to read my reviews and where I was pretty much in control about everything. Now, one year later, I can hardly believe that twelve months have gone by and that this blog has become my little success. I learned so many new things during the past year, met so many new friends, got helpful advice, became a member of some Facebook groups, started attending various challenges, and begun to connect with publishers in a completely new way.

Since a few months, I am registered with my blog at a German publisher’s blogger portal and it is actually quite satisfying when I receive an email in which they offer me a book and I can actually answer and say Yes- I want to review that book – because I fulfill all the requirements and can do as I please! Or when I put a book request online at a blogger portal and get approved for a book I am interested in. The freedom that comes along with being a book blogger who runs an own blog, the pleasure creating it, choosing the right colors, the logo, the name – all that has quite something.

And I learned one thing: blogging takes TIME.

A LOT OF TIME!

When I started Gone With The Books I didn´t realize HOW MUCH TIME I would have to spend day by day to create, write, and schedule my blog posts. And to be honest, I am still struggling to find a schedule I can really live with and which satisfies me completely. Don´t get me wrong here. It is a LOT OF FUN and I have a great time doing all those things necessary. And yes, I don´t regret my blog launch. But I am still figuring things out. There are days where I don´t have the time to write and edit new posts; or the energy to do it. But at least I am blogging consistently. Not on a regular basis, but there is always some new content I can share.

Over the past few days, I thought from time to time, that I might not have chosen the best launching date for my blog. The idea of starting my own blog grew over many weeks and months inside my head. I purchased two templates and had my name already and maybe the fact that I wasn´t really happy with some things which made me so annoyed that I finally decided from one minute to the next to open my own account and start creating this blog. And though the Christmas time is a very stress full one, I hit the launch button late at night on the 23rd and went into a field where I had little to none experience – when it comes to all the work that needs to be done in the background. Since then I changed my template twice and bought more books than I ever bought in my life.

Unfortunately, I can´t provide a giveaway for this first blog birthday, but I thought nonetheless I share this for me a special day with you.

Best wishes

Follow

Twitter ❀ Instagram ❀ Goodreads ❀ Facebook ❀ Bloglovin ❀ Tumblr ❀ Pinterest