2014: A Year in Review

Chocolate cake and real sugar soda: requirements to ring in the New Year right.

If you had asked me in April of 2014 if I would still be actively blogging in 2015, I would have most likely said no. My debut into the blogging world of 2006 was lukewarm at best, mostly because I didn't know how to meet other bloggers of my kind (teen and bookish and irreverent wasn't quite popular way back when) and I had only the comments of my IRL friends to urge me on.

This time, I did things differently: a grand total of 3 people I know in 'real' life know of this blog. It was also much easier to find other bloggers and bloggers' groups due to the massive expansion of the internet since then, as well as the fact that I have 'high speed' internet to aid me in my furious Googling. I can't tell you how much things have changed online since 2006, but it's definitely for the better.

To conclude with my rambling: this blog has been more successful than I ever dreamed it would be. Due to this blog, I'm both writing and reading more in my free time, and I finally have a hobby that isn't entirely antisocial, which the vast majority of mine happen to be. I'm glad to have my little corner of the internet, and happy I've found enough like-minded bookish folks to convince me to keep on blogging.

Statistics:
 (2014) Days Elapsed Since Blog Went Online: 265
 Total Blog Makeovers: Approximately 5, with lots of tweaking in between.
 Total Posts: 173
 Average Amount of Posts Per Month: 19
  Total of Weekly Sunday Feature Posts: 35
  Confessions of an Insomniac Book Devourer: 13
  Sunday Fun Five Lists: 17
  NQAC: Biweekly Updates: 5
  Total Critiques: 104
  Average Amount of Critiques Per Month: 11.5
   Genres: (Some Books Fit in More Than One Genre)
     *Classics: 12
     Dystopia: 4
     *Fantasy: 26
     *Historical: 32
     Historical Romance: 2
     Horror: 3
     Magical Realism: 2
     Mini Macabre Monday Reviews: 4
     Out of Orbit: 2
     Paranormal: 1
     Paranormal Romance: 12
     *Sci-fi: 11
     Steampunk: 1
     *Urban Fantasy: 17
     *An asterisk indicates I posted critiques in this genre in 7 months (or more) out of 9 months. Bolded and underlined indicates my three most prevalent genres for critique.

Pageviews For 2014: 5,272
Comments: 82+ (just counting Blogger, not G+)

Most Popular Posts of 2014:
Blog News: Liebster Award
Blog News: Liebster Award #3
I'm Joining in on the Travel the World in Books Readathon!
Travel the World in Books Readathon: Map Mini Challenge
Not Quite a Confession: Biweekly Update #1
NQAC: Biweekly Update #2, with Travel the World In Books RAT Update
Confessions: On Banning Books
"The Lazy Vacationer" by Litha Nelle (Wherein I got lazy after my trip to Flathead and posted vacation photos)
How To Make Your Blog Really, Really, Ridiculously Good-looking (For Free)

Most Popular Critiques of 2014:
"Entreat Me" by Grace Draven (My very first post, and the only one without a book cover)
"The Lycan Hunter (A Gardinian World Novel)" By Kelsey Jordan
"Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" by Lisa See
"The Way of Kings (Stormlight Archive #1)" by Brandon Sanderson (the Benevolent)
Mini Macabre Review Monday: The Tell Tale Heart and the Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe
"The Black Prism (Lightbringer #1)" by Brent Weeks
"Poe" by J. Lincoln Fenn (5 Star Read)
Early Critique: "Of Bone and Thunder" by Chris Evans (A Mantasy)
Early Critique: "Cipher (The Shadow Ravens #1)" by Aileen Erin

Most Popular Pages (See Bar Below Header)
1. About (used to be About Me and My Pups- which it basically still is...).
2. Connect With Me (apparently social media icons aren't good enough).
3. Archive (which is sometimes filled with cobwebs from not being updated).
4. Lovely Links (my newest edition, besides the tag archives of Fantasy, Historical, and Science Fiction).
5. Unfortunately, I can't tell which of my tag archives (Fantasy, Historical, Science Fiction) got the most clicks, but people seem to use them a lot, so they aren't going anywhere.

Most Visited By People From (Social Media and Search Engine Traffic)
1. Google
2. Bloglovin'
3. Google+
4. Twitter
5. Pinterest

Most Industrious Commenters of 2014:
Jamie of Mayhem Books
Tanya of Mom's Small Victories
Becca of I'm Lost in Books
Miriam W. of Inky Realms
Roberta R. of Offbeat YA
Kritika of Snowflakes and Spider silk
Jules of Book of Jules

Most Awesome Blogging Moments of 2014:
Lisa See retweeted a link of my review for her book, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.

I FINALLY won books from those Rafflecopter giveaways.

Having authors contact me to review their books. It warms the cockles of my heart.

Turning down a read-x-book-for-review offer for the first time. It was kind of freeing.

My first comment was kind of a major deal, thanks to fellow blogger Roberta of Offbeat YA pointing out the Blogger comment system is much preferred than the Google+ system to comment with.

My first readathon with the Travel the World in Books gang was a blast, so much so that I committed to a year-long challenge.

Having authors interact (and sometimes agree) with me on Twitter:

There are many more awesome Twitter interactions I've had, but I won't wax poetic about them.

And also, meeting awesome fellow bloggers who read the same books that I do- that may not sound like much, but I have very few IRL friends who even read books anymore. (All my friends are in college, reading overpriced 'college' books.)

Overall, it's been a great year, and I'm happy that I stuck it out and kept on posting. Here's to hoping 2015 is just as incredible as 2014 was!