Thursday, March 15, 2012

My Blogging Timeline: 2007 to 2012


Here's a timeline of my blogging life! Whew, it turned it much longer than I expected it to be! It will probably bore you all to death, but I had fun doing it and looking over my posts from the years and seeing all the crazy changes that have happened. Wow.

Anyway, for what it's worth.... I give you my blogging timeline:

March 2007:   It's All About Books is created! I took a few days to add some stuff, then let it go public! It was a blue and green, "rounded corner" basic template blogger blog, with just two columns. I thought it looked AWESOME!

March 2007: I do my first reviews on The Screwtape Letters and Gilead... I used to do lots of "joint" reviews back in the day!

July 2007: My first Markus Zusak gush... if you thought my MZ crush and author love is a new thing, you would be wrong. I was struck down a long long time ago!

December 2007: The first time I talked about an eReader (the Kindle)

January 2008: The first time I shared my messy TBR shelf... this is totally like going back in time to see this!

February 2008: The first comment I had by an author... that I know of!

February 2008: Let the author stalking begin! Brandon Mull topped the list! (Wow, those kids look little!)

March 2008: I celebrate being one!

March 2008: I started blurbing my monthly recap posts, something I continue to have a blast with today.

April 2008: And my Josh gushings begin.... (the love had begun years before, but I reigned it in on the blog until this post!)

April 2008: I began participating in Weekly Geeks with Dewey's very first assignment

May 2088: Here's the post where Natasha and I realized we were at the same event, but didn't know each other.... thus the spark of wondering about meeting other book bloggers was born. This making bookish friends thing is probably one of, if not THE, best things that's happened because of the blog.

May 2008: Learned how track subscription numbers in Google Reader and discovered I had 26 subscribers!!! (After a year and half of blogging, but I was ecstatic!)

July 2008: One of my first posts that actually got some hits.... Literary Couples (I was going to fix the picture links on this post, have not had time as of yet... sorry!)

August 2008:  I get my very first ARC which led to my first blog tour, Farworld by J. Scott Savage , which led to my first ever giveaway.

August 2008: I do my very first Sunday Salon post... wow, I've morphed that over the years.

August 2008: I get a job at the library!

September 2008: The first ever Book Blog Appreciation Week! Wow, has that ever changed over the years too.

September 2008: I do a review on the book Deep and Dark and Dangerous, to this day it gets more hits than any other review. (Kids looking it up I'm sure.)

November 2008: I caved and joined Twitter! I had no clue what to do with it.

December 2008: I posted about Dewey's death... and got more hits on that post than anything up to that time... I think I was one of the first to read about her passing,  and then many people learned from my post. What a sad day.

January 2009: We have our first Utah book blogger gathering and meet REAL bloggers in REAL life for the very first time. It was amazing! And the beginning of something we totally take for granted now, all our blogger friendships.

January 2009: After Dewey's death, I help to keep Weekly Geeks going by posting an idea every other month or so.

February 2009: I had a blast participating in the Blog Improvement Project

February 2009:  We, Raidergirl3 and I, begin a feature called The Bookword Game

March 2009: I celebrate two years blogging with a giveaway... and if you click on this link you can see what my header looked like back then... and my color scheme was purple and green... and yellow! I think.

April 2009: I started doing "Suey's Top Tens" which morphed into "My Top Tens" with the hopes that people would join me... and then I saw that there was a much much MUCH more popular, yet similar,  feature going on over at The Broke and the Bookish, so I just joined in with them and dropped my own idea. That's the way it goes sometimes, you know....

August 2009: I get new shelves and create the library corner I had dreamed about forever!

September 2009: I start another idea I had... Authors Pick Five.

October 2009: I participate in my first Readathon.

December 2009: I start the Support Your Local Authors Challenge, which I have done really nothing on! I don't really know how to make that one more exciting.

January 2010: I participate in my first Bloggiesta!

January 2010: I begged lurkers to DELURK and got the most comments I've ever had on my blog up to that point!

January 2010: I do my first buddy read (read along)  with Heather J on  Brandon Sanderson's Warbreaker.

March 2010: I celebrate year four by doing  a survey (something new I'd learned how to do!)

April 2010: In which I review Michael Buble, rant a little and create a post that becomes one of my most popular (many hits) posts of all time!

May 2010: In which I write one of MY most favorite posts ever, though it's not at all popular with the general world... The Trouble with Author Signings. (It was also in this post were I joke about meeting Markus Zusak, and thinking the possibility was probably next to none!)

March 2011: But then, he came!

March 2011: I make a list of books the book club is deciding on... and get THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of hits! (Weird to me that this post is so popular! I have done book club lists before, so why this one? My only guess... I put the year in the title.. which makes is more searchable or something.) Anyway, the post remains my post with the most hits by far, WAY ahead of the pack!

March 2011: I celebrate four years by giving away a signed copy of The Book Thief! So very fun!

May 2011: The first ever Utah Author Month! (There are plans for another one!)

August 2011: Weekly Geeks ends. :(

September 2011: I co-host my first read along with Jenny from Alternate Readality.

December 2011: I start a feature called As Seen on Twitter... though I've quite dropped the ball on this one!

February 2012: I do my first "watch along" post along with Kailana from The Written World.... and people seem to love this post too... only because Sherlock is so popular!

February 2012: I take over hosting Bloggiesta, along with Danielle from There's a Book!

March 2012: Celebrating FIVE years blogging! Here's to another five! And more! :)

I skipped a lot of things, and still it's too long! But fun to look back. Very fun. Were you with me for some of these events? I'm wondering who else started blogging in 2007? Shout out if it's you!


And now a couple of stats, just for fun:

Posts: 1704 (counting this one)
Comments: 10,198
Reviews: 396
Most popular keyword search: The End (which bring people to this post and I just don't think it's what they are looking for!)


P.S. You can still enter for my double giveaway! You'll have a pretty good chance since the list is small, so go for it!

(P.P.S. I wonder how many exclamation points I used in this post? Hmmmm.....I must be really really excited about all these milestones.)

21 comments:

  1. Wow, you and Florinda both have tons more posts than I do. Happy blogiversary!

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  2. Wow, you're a busy blogger! I don't think a timeline of my blog would be anywhere near as exciting ...

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    1. I'm sure yours would look very much the same... but do you think this is really that exciting?

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  3. This was so much fun to read! You really have been a key part of the blogging world, Suey. I like how you did your timeline too, what you picked as key moments. I haven't been 4 years yet on here, so I have to wait a while! I'm curious about what becomes our most popular posts, every time I check mine, one of the most popular is one about second-hand bookstores! Never about my reviews, some of which I think are really good! lol

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    1. I know! It's weird isn't it? But fun to see too.

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  4. Love your timeline! I'm pretty sure, like Susan, mine would be quite dull. And you're nearing 2000 posts. You should celebrate that too.

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    1. Ha... this should be enough celebration to last awhile, don't you think? I'm starting to feel a little weird by it!

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  5. This is such an awesome post! I loved reading it and remembering these things, since I've been reading your blog since February 2008! Crazy. And now we're friends IRL. I love it.

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  6. Um, can I be lame and ask who Dewey was? The original post you linked to no longer works.

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    1. Jenni: She was a leader of us book bloggers back in the beginning. She started so many events, the readathon being the biggest ongoing one. Yes, her blog is no longer there sadly, but I have her archives still in my feed reader and this is what that post,dated Dec.1, 2008, written by her husband, said:

      Hi folks,

      I’ve got a piece of sad news to deliver. Dewey passed away on Tuesday evening.

      She will be cremated on a non-specific date this week. We live in a place with relatively relaxed laws abut these things, and I want to ensure her family has an opportunity to see her.

      I’m not certain what to do with this site. On the one hand, it’d be kind of nice to have a couple of folks take it over and continue it; there’s both a lot of traffic here (you’d be surprised!) and a lot of history. She was a prolific reader, as you folks have no doubt noticed, and she really loved updating this place.

      On the other hand, it’d be kind of nice to let this place rest. There’s a lot of energy and drive here, and I cannot imagine any two of you could have kept up with her. The piles and piles of books sitting around the house that she read but never reviewed (I hope you realise there’s not a word of exaggeration when I say there is easily well over a hundred) are a fitting testament to this.

      My wife was unwell and in a lot of pain; I don’t believe she ever discussed that side of her life here, and I’ve no desire to go against her boundaries, just know she was in a lot of pain. I am sad that my wife is no longer here, but she’s not in pain any more.

      If you have any words to share, please use the contact form. I’ll make sure she hears them.

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  7. Fun! I'm glad after five years that you're still loving it. And I'm glad you got me started. May I still be having fun in five years.

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    1. Jenny: May you and I BOTH still be having fun with it in five years!

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  8. hm, I have been blogging for a while and I still have no idea how to track subscription numbers in Google Reader...

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    1. Kailana: Seriously? When you are on your own blog in the Reader (yes subscribe to yourself!) you click on Feed Settings... then View Details and Statistics. Now you know! :)

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  9. Suey! I just love this post and might have to borrow this idea (if you don't mind) for when I turn five in June. I feel like I've been through all of these things with you--and I still vividly remember that first ARC tour with J Scott Savage. I had never really seen anything like it before then and thought it was AMAZING that authors were reaching out to bloggers.

    Here's to many more...

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    1. Trish: J. Scott Savage is AWESOME, is he not? Nicest guy ever. And do "steal" this idea... I would LOVE to see your timeline!

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  10. I LOVE this--I'm just sorry I didn't make it over here last week! Your timeline's reminded me of some big events, and it's interesting to see the parallels in our blogging lives, which began on the same day. Belated Happy Blogiversary!

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  11. Wow! What a wild ride. You've done some amazing things over the last few years and that's inspiring to those of us who haven't been blogging quite as long!

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