Best Bookish Moments of 2012

I started doing this recap and look back a few years ago and love it. It's fun for me to have these reminders of how cool the years have been with all things bookish. So here's what I've loved about THIS year:

Top Ten Bookish Blogging Moments of the Year 2012

1. Participating on a panel! There was a week back in March were one day I talked on a panel at BYU class about blogging to students learning about publishing kids books, and the very next day I talked on another panel at the library about blogging in general to those interested in getting started. Both were very fun, and very scary. When I started, I felt nervous and weird about talking about my blog, and now I'm on a panel? It was surreal to me. And huge highlight of the year.

2. So many author events! It seems like the author events have skyrocketed this year! Either that, or I made more time to actually go to more things. I went to many launch parties, a conference, and countless book signings at both libraries. I can't remember them all, but a few of the authors I met and/or supported this year are: Lois Lowry, Maggie Stiefvater, Eoin Colfer, Marissa Meyer, Susan Beth Pffefer, Jonathan Maberry, Dan Wells, Rob Wells, Brodi Ashton, Ally Condie, Brandon Mull, Brandon Sanderson, Veronica Roth, Aprilynne Pike, Jennifer Nielsen, James Dashner, and many many more! It's truly getting crazy around here.

Lois Lowry

3. Bloggiesta! This year Danielle from There's a Book and I took over the event created by Natasha from Maw Books and hosted it twice, in March/April and September. We got an awesome response and are so glad that so many are participating and happy to have it back. Looking forward to many more events.

4. Meeting bloggers IRL! This was the first year that I actually met up with bloggers (not from Utah) and talked! We went to Arizona and found a few there, then Melissa from Book Nut came here and we talked, and then Susan from Bloggin' bout Books came here and we hung out for a good long evening. So fun! I wonder who I'll be lucky enough to meet this next year!

In Arizona with:
Melissa from One Librarian's Book Reviews
Susan from Bloggin' 'bout Books and
Gaye from Inside a Book

5. Getting a Kindle! For Mother's Day, I ended up with this popular e-reader and have finally joined the ranks of readers and bookish people who love it. Yeah, the electronic reading? Not bad, not bad at all! It's changed a lot about my reading habits. A whole new way to look at things.

6. Going to Powell's! One of the most famous bookstores in the country, and I finally went there! Yes, it's everything they say it is. Very overwhelming place, and so awesome.

7. Milestones reached: Five years blogging, 1000 Twitter followers. I feel like both these milestones is something to note! Not sure what it means, expect, I'm here to stay awhile I think.

8. Hosted my first highlight week. One of the challenges of the September Bloggiesta was to do something out of your comfort zone. So I decided that no matter how much it scared me, I'd finally host a Markus Zusak week. And yes, it was scary, but yes, it was also lots of fun! Maybe I'll do it again... maybe.

9. Making more "real" connections. This year I wrote real letters and cards to several bloggers and felt like I made connections on a whole new level. I also watched lots of movies and TV shows with Kelly from The Written World and others. I've made a friend in Japan who LOVES Josh Groban and we chat and email a lot these days. All these things make me so happy for blogging and I feel the level of personal connections has grown in huge amounts for me this year.

10. Sister Megs joins the ranks. I managed to get my sister Megs from Sweet and Sour Sassiness to blog a few times this year, and to join me for Bloggiesta in September. It was tons of fun! I also hauled her with me to a couple of book launches! Here's hoping she keeps up the blogging and lets us know about her upcoming adventures in Missouri!

Wow! What a year, yes? I've loved it all! Here's to an equal awesome year in 2013!