Blogging Firsts Tag

I was tagged a few weeks ago by a new book blogger, Krisha, in the Blogging Firsts tag. Krisha is 12 and lives on the other side of the world in India, and how amazing is it that we can talk to each other about books over so many miles and years? Anyway, Krisha’s Cozy Corner is fun, sweet, and super insightful, and you should all go follow her NOW.

This blog is just over three years old, so I’m pretty removed from some of these blogging firsts, but let’s take a trip down memory lane, shall we?

1st Name/Design

Well my blog name hasn’t changed, but I have changed my design. Only pretty recently, in fact, maybe sometime around New Year? Sadly I didn’t think to save any images of what my blog looked like, but thanks to my good friends at archive.org I was able to check it out on the Wayback Machine. Take a look!

I’m not fully convinced my new design is better because I really liked my original look. But I do love my header designed by the fabulous Jenn, which is what inspired the redesign. 🙂

1st Blog Post

My first blog post was a review of Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. I don’t know that I wrote this review for the blog. I was writing reviews on Goodreads for probably a year before I started my blog. (For who? I didn’t have any followers…) (For me, duh.) And when I first started my blog I had it in my head that I would be a YA blogger. But I changed my mind literally two weeks later when I realized I like adult fiction better, lol.

Anyway, I posted a couple of reviews I’d already written early on while I was getting a feel for WordPress, and actually over the course of that summer I published every review I’d previously written for Goodreads, so that for my first summer I was posting at least five days a week. Why? Who knows.

1st Likes, Comments, & Followers

That first post got 4 likes from (bless their hearts) Emma Jane, Sue, Sam, and Chris. Sam is still around at River Moose Reads, and Emma Jane from the Book Crunch I somehow unfollowed somewhere along the way (why does WordPress DO that????) but I’ve refollowed her and am looking forward to getting to know her again.

My first comment was from my AMAZING friend The Orangutan Librarian on one of my all-time favorite posts At least I don’t have to run from the Anduin the Fangorn… She wrote “haha I love this!!”. I love YOU friend!

I can’t see who my first follower was, WordPress won’t let me see past 2018. Sorry.

1st Book Review

As discussed, it was Fangirl. ❤

1st Discussion Post

My first true discussion post, which is still shockingly relevant, was Do I Have to Agree with an Author’s Politics, which I wrote three months after I started blogging. I re-read this post recently in light of … events, and I actually really like what I had to say. I think you should read it, but with a disclaimer that The Orangutan Librarian called me out on in the comments, which is that my statement about Roald Dahl is inaccurate. He was definitely an anti-semite.

But before that I wrote several kind of silly almost-discussion posts, starting with one called WWWHHHYYY??? which was about the very annoying way Goodreads deals with reviews.

1st Book Blog I Followed

According to my manager the first blog I followed was Blissful Scribbles, which is now inactive. The second blog I followed was The Critiquing Chemist who is still blogging and still awesome, go check her out!

1st Review Copy

So this is a fun story!

Back before I was a book blogger I had a couple other blogs that I used on and off. On one I wrote about whatever I felt like writing about, including two book reviews. One of those reviews was for Mrs. Queen Takes the Train. I also emailed and tweeted the author because I loved the book so much.

Flash forward to 2017. The author of Mrs. Queen had a new book coming out called Prince Harry Boy to Man, and he emailed me to read an eARC. I guess I was on his email list from my earlier contact with him. That I just happened to have started a book blog mere weeks before was a sheer coincidence. Anyway, I wrote a post about that here, and my review is on Goodreads here if you want to give me a like! (You could also read Prince Harry, because it’s stinking hilarious.)

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This was a really fun stroll down memory lane! Thanks for tagging me Krisha, that was fun. 🙂

I tag some more old farts:

• Sam
• Meg
• Lynne
• Adrienne
• Naty
• Kristin

All Krisha asks if you do the tag is that you link back to her and use her banner image. Hope you have as much fun looking back as I did!