Happy Blogaversary To Me!
Well folks, it’s been a whole entire year since I started this blog! It hasn’t been easy, but it has been fun and I am looking forward to continuing on this journey as a book blogger. It’s been a rough few years, so I’m celebrating all of the victories! For those of you who are curious about book blogging, it does take a lot of work but it’s worth it!
Why a Book Blog?
I love to write. I’m also a trained journalist. Before I became an educator, I was a Features Editor for a newspaper. So I have a love of service journalism that has never left me. So in 2020ish/2021, when I discovered the book community on Instagram and felt the desire to write about books, I decided to go with it. This blog is a beautiful outlet for me and when I think about it I get excited. I write regularly, talk about books and support authors! Bonus Points: book blogging also keeps me in the avid reader zone! (Something that can be a challenge as a mom of young kids.)
My First Post
One of my first posts, A Mom’s Jump Back Into Reading, was about how as a mom I basically needed a reboot and an entry point to start reading regularly again. When I started Cocoa With Books, I had to keep in mind that I have a lot of different pulls on my time. Basically, I sat myself down and looked in the mirror and said, “Don’t start running in these book blogger streets like you are a twenty-something with no one plotting on your time!” I also wrote it because there are lot of people out there who want to read, but don’t see a pathway to doing so consistently. In that post, I share how I became an avid reader again.
First Memorable Book
Black Girl, Call Home by Jasmine Mans was one of the first books that I recall really loving after I began this blog in its current iteration. I had an earlier version of Cocoa With Books on the Blogger platform. It was National Poetry Month and I had heard a lot of buzz on Bookstagram about it. I bought it on a whim at the bookstore after flipping through it and immediately getting caught up in a poem that I flipped to. My reaction became my first Current Reads post on this blog. (Which I need to get back to, although I have reinvented it as Friday NIght Highlights.)
Year Two Goals
As things continue to shift and change in the world, so does my approach to this blog. When I began Cocoa With Books, I was working from home. My commuting time could convert to book blogging time. Now I’m back in the office and I’m still trying to adjust and find the right time to write. But I’m determined to continue blogging. I survived the six month mark, and I plan to write for as long as it brings joy to my days. Here are a few of my goals for year two:
- Develop a consistent posting schedule
- Write batches of reviews & posts to support the schedule
- Write more thematic reading posts
- Write more posts that aren’t book reviews ( I like to be creative!)
- Put reading schedules on my calendar as part of planning for Book Tours
Do you have a favorite post or feature that you especially liked this year? Or is there a type of content you would like to see more of on Cocoa With Books? Let me know in the comments!
Congrats on your blogoversary!
Thank you so much!
Congratulations! I find it really helpful to schedule blog posts, and I have sort of a schedule for what day of the week I post what books. I read blogs mainly for book reviews, so am not really interested in other stuff, but I know the posts I do on random topics get a lot more comments. I’m glad you’ve found the blog helpful in getting back into reading, and am sure you’ll make great plans for year two!
Thank you! Thanks for the advice! I’m still trying to figure out what days work best for me for posting. So that will be a challenge I work on in year two.