Bookworming in the 21st Century: Year In Review

I started my blog on June 9, 2009. My first post was a review of Need by Carrie Jones.

Some of my firsts:

My first IMM post
My first Teaser Tuesday post
My first WoW post
My first blog community event! Blogiesta! This is how much I got done during the Blogiesta.
My first It's Monday, What are you Reading? post.
My first real OTHER post.. aka not a review, not a meme... etc.
My first Friday Finds post.
My first Blog Award!
My first VLOG!
My first contest.
Met other bloggers for the first time at ALA
My first author interview with Jack Regan
My first Saturday Spotlight.
My first Sunday Spotlight (because I got so much response!) Originally it was only going to be a Saturday meme.
My first Link a Contest Thursday
My first IMM Vlog - which I've been doing more often since then.
My first Challenge - the ZOMBIE Challenge.. for Zombie week. :) Which included a Zombie interview and other fun zombie stuff.
My first book signing event (that is not ALA - which was insanity itself)
My first If I had All Day to Read monthly meme post.
My first Blog Tour.

Cool events I attended this year:
I went to ALA this past summer, had a ton of fun and met some cool bloggers! Got over 100 books too. I had to icy hot my shoulders on the second night from lugging bags of books around all day.

Book signings I went to this year:

Month in Review posts - links to books are included in each one
June in Review (32 books read, 49 blog posts)
July in Review (14 books read, 52 blog posts)
August in Review (16 books read, 81 blog posts)
September in Review (9 books read, 66 blog posts)
October in Review (14 books read, 52 blog posts)
November in Review (20 books read, 59 blog posts)
December in Review (22 books read, 103 blog posts)

Events I hosted/came up with:

Hosted Maria V. Snyder week
Started If I had All Day to Read monthly meme
Started Link a Contest Thursday weekly meme
Launched a fun and crazy Birthday Bash Contest which was great! Lotsa winners! Also, had a great birthday myself!!!
Hosted Reading into the New Year and the New Year Readathon!

Fun things I did this year on the blog:

Joined in on a 6-Hour Read-a-Thon
Joined in on the Helluva Halloween Challenge. In which I read some great paranormal books and posted a list of books I had read recently in that category.
Joined in on the Thankfully Reading Weekend and did pretty well.
Participated in 3 Secret Santas - Gift One, Gift Two, Gift Three
Had fun with the Holiday Break Reading Challenge. This was my list of books to read and an update before the end of the year.

Random yet important stuff:

I answer some fun questions about myself.

I found out about Swagbucks, which has funded a lot of books thanks to their Amazon giftcard prizes. Here's a post about how to utilize the site best.
Got married on October 24th! Here's a cute Over the Years slideshow. Chris reviewed a book for a change. I shared my favorite books about love and growing up with someone special. Then, I posted some seriously delayed wedding pictures.
Got a blog makeover by Barbara over at designsbybarbara.net. Big huge thank you! I <3>

Awards won:

600 followers by mid-December.

Summing up 2009:

By the end of 2009, I had around 675 follower and had been blogging for almost 7 months.
I read 247 books this year. See the full list on Goodreads.
I reviewed 109 books on this blog.
I posted 462 blog posts and over 7,000 tweets on Twitter.
Had around 800 followers on Twitter.
The month with most posts was December with 103 blog posts.
My Favorite Fictional Couple of 2009
My Top 20 Books Read in 2009
My New Year's Resolutions

Author Interviews/Guest Posts of 2009:
Nicole Barker
Sean Beaudoin
Megan Crewe
Marissa Doyle
Mark Freeman
Trilby Kent
Malinda Lo
Jack W. Regan
Libby Schmais
Maria V. Snyder

Blogger Spotlights of 2009:

A Bookful of Thoughts
A Passion for Books
A Reader's Adventure
All Things Urban Fantasy
An Addicted Book Reader
And Anything Bookish
Between the Lines
Book Chick City
Book Dragon's Lair
Bookjourney
booktumbling
Cover to Cover
Fantasys Ink
Feed Your Imagination
Good Books and Good Wine
Hey! Teenager of the Year
Melanie's Musings
Miss Danaidae
Mrs. Magoo Reads
My Tea Time is Book Time
Park-Avenue Princess
Pirate Penguin's Reads
Read Now, Sleep Later
Reading in Color
Red House Books
Running for Fiction
Steph the Bookworm
Strange & Random Happenstance
Tales of Whimsy
That Chick that Reads
That's a Novel Idea
The Book Scout
The Bookologist
The Hiding Spot
Too Many Book, Too Little Time
The Undercover Book Lover
Twin Pigeon
Two and a Half Book Lovers
Tynga's Urban Fantasy Reviews
Wicked Good Books
YA Book Queen

Only Fail:
I tried out a monthly feature called La Creme de la Creme and failed to keep it up. Is this something you guys would like to see in the future?

6 comments:

EmilyJanuary 3, 2010 at 4:18 PM
WOW Kristen! Awesome accomplishments! Your blog is truly wonderful - it really shows how much time and love you put into it.
You have done a ton so far and I'm looking forward to more and more! :)
WOO HOO!!!
RobbyJanuary 3, 2010 at 4:22 PM
It's been amazing, Kristen, to see you grow. I'm going to stick around for this year, and hopefully for the next. Your blog=inspiring, wonderful. So many things, but all great.

~robby
SaraJanuary 3, 2010 at 6:46 PM
I was the first Sunday spotlight!! Congrats on the huge success of your blog... and I have you to think for the beginning of my blog's growth as well, due to the spotlight! :D Love ya!
Liz @ Cleverly InkedJanuary 3, 2010 at 6:57 PM
I am a newer to our blog but I look forward to a new year with your reviews
Kari OlsonJanuary 3, 2010 at 8:59 PM
Wow, you had a really great year! Fantastic job and keep up the good work.
LlehnJanuary 3, 2010 at 10:07 PM
I can't believe your blog is not even a year old! Wow! You are totally amazing!