Saturday 5 July 2014

5 Years of Blogging


On the 5th July 2009, with very little idea about what I was doing or what I was letting myself in for, I wrote my first review on Brona's Books.

The book was Gone by Michael Grant and reflected that this blog started life as a review vehicle for teachers and parents about children's books.

For two years, I reviewed children's books, in fits and starts.
However I had very little interaction with the blogging community. I felt like I was writing into a great big unknown void.

It was during my summer holidays in January 2012 that I had a revelation.
I had read several fantastic adult books over the break and I was brimming with things to say about them...and I suddenly realised... I could blog about adult books too!

I also began to google and read stuff on how to be more interactive in the blogging world & how to get more comments and interested followers.

The brave new world of memes, blog hops and readalongs suddenly opened up before me!
I discovered The Classics Club and numerous Australian bloggers. I joined events, participated in memes & left hundreds of thoughtful comments in the blogosphere.

In fact, I found myself blogging about so many new and wonderful things, that I felt the need to start a second blog to cater for my photographic & travel writing urges!
In July 2012 Four Seasons was born.

Since then, I have learnt basic html, joined twitter and instagram and started a Brona's Books facebook page.

In the last 12 months I hosted my first events - AusReading Month in November and The Wharton Review in May.

To prove to the ever patient, always supportive Mr Books just how book nerdy & blog obsessive I really was, I spent a night tallying my reviews!

I have reviewed:

202 books by women authors
128 by men

138 of my 330 reviews were Australian titles

119 were adult books
80 teen/YA books
69 books for younger readers
57 were picture books

75 books were historical fiction
51 were contemporary stories
50 books were part of a series
39 were classics
28 were non-fiction books
27 books were fantasy
25 were dystopian/post apocalyptic books
23 were crime fiction
15 books were memoirs, biographies or autobiographies
12 featured a time-slip or time travel story line
7 books were short story collections
6 books were written in verse or poetry
6 were romance
5 were classified as humorous
1 was a play
1 graphic novel (& a partridge in a pear tree!)

I've loved every single minute of this five year journey (even the torturous first year of doubt and insecurity).

But the very best part of blogging has been all of you.

Yes, you - my readers, my followers & my regular commenters.
All of you who have shared readalongs, readathons, photos, spins & other book events with me, I thank you. I feel blessed to have met you all.
You have enriched my reading life no end.

24 comments:

  1. Anonymous5/7/14

    That's a great achievement! Congratulations! I have only been book blogging for 6 months. Until I started following your blog, I didn't know of any books written by Australian authors. Now, I have been introduced to many Australian children's books. I am dying to get my hands on a copy of Parachutes by Danny Parker. It is great to know another blogger who values children's literature.

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    1. Thank you. Glad I've helped you to discover our wonderful Aussie picture books.

      I've been keeping an eye on your Newbery Medal Challenge list (I've only read 4 of the books - The Wheel on the School, Bridge to Terebithia, When You Reach Me & A Wrinkle in Time). But they were all wonderful. Great idea.

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  2. I love the stats. :) Congratulations!

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    1. Thanks Marianne, I was particularly pleased to see how many female authors I had reviewed and how many Aussie books were in my library :-)

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  3. Happy blogoversary!!!!!

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  4. Wow! Five years! That is an accomplishment that you can be proud of. I always enjoy reading your posts and I was especially disappointed to miss The Wharton Review. Oh well, next year and I'm also looking forward to many more years of events hosted! And I'm so happy to be connected to someone who is interested in children's literature. I just started a children's book blog, so if you have time, please check my list and let me know if there are any great classic titles that I've missed. You can find me here: http://cleoclassicalchildrens.blogspot.ca

    So congratulations and I'm raising a glass to many more years of blogging on Brona's Books!

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    1. I love what you're doing with your children's classics Cleo - the new blog is looking great. Your master list is VERY impressive.
      Have you checked out Exploring Classics Newbery list (in the comments above?)

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  5. Congratulations on your anniversary! and I am very impressed with your stats! I hope you have many more years of reading and writing to come - filled of course with books old & new.

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  6. I'm also impressed with the amount of female authors you read! Congratulations on the anniversary. That is a huge milestone.

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  7. Congratulations Brona - here's cheers! I think my graphic novel count is the same - I am sure I am missing something with them.

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  8. Anonymous5/7/14

    Happy anniversary! Five years is a great achievement

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  9. Anonymous5/7/14

    I loved the AusReading Month....discovered Nevil Shute an On the Beach! You are a great link to Austalian literature and congrats on the 5 year anniversary. Question: What do you do in you are in a ' blogpost dip' ?

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  10. It just goes to show that slow and steady works. You start something and just keep going, doubts aside and suddenly you have created another world, a parallel universe. Congratulations on a job well done. Looking forward to the next five years.

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  11. Congratulations Brona! I'm glad you started blogging 5 years ago! I love your stats. Fascinating to see- of course it makes you wonder about your own- but I just don't have time.

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  12. Anonymous6/7/14

    What a wonderful accomplishment! I enjoy reading your reviews, and the kids have enjoyed some of the children's books you've recommended.

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  13. Anonymous6/7/14

    congratulations, happy blogiversary!

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  14. Anonymous6/7/14

    Congratulations! Here's to many more :D

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  15. Congratulations, 5 years is very impressive

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  16. Happy blogging anniversary! I love that you found your niche after trying a few things!

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  17. So awesome, happy blog anniversary!! :)

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  18. Wow, five years, that's impressive! Here's to (at least) five more!

    And you just made me see how many things I still need to learn about blogging...

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  19. Congratulations on this big milestone! And thank you for your thoughtful posts. I hope you keep them coming for at least five more years! :)

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