The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,700 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 28 trips to carry that many people.
Click here to see the complete report.
1. Read 64 books. That was goal this year as well, however I didn’t quite make it, I only read 53, so next year I’m gonna do it!
2. Write a review every week, I am absolutely terrible at writing reviews which seems ironic for a book blogger, but unfortunately it’s true. I am making Monday review writing night, as I know I read a book a week so hopefully I will be able to review almost every book I read.
3. Read six classics. That’s one every two months which really isn’t bad. I’ve talked and talked about reading classic but I have yet to actually do it, other than the book I had to read for school.
4. Read more ARCs and review them. About 4 months into my blog, I joined Netgalley and was really excited when I got approved for some ARCs however I have yet to actually read one, which is a bit shameful.
5. Finish the novel that I started writing during NaNoWriMo. I wrote about 17,500 words of Burn (working title) which is a good start so I want to finish it this year by writing 5000 words a month until I finish it.
6. Have more unique posts and discussions. There are loads of book blogs out there, I want to stand out from the crowd. I’ve already started working on this, I have a brand new feature planned for my blog that is going to happen every two weeks. I’m already so excited about it!
7. Participate in every Top Ten Tuesday and complete every tag I get tagged in. I’ve done pretty well at this so far, but I don’t want to miss anything.
8. Comment back. When I started I was really good at this, but now, not so much. So in 2015 I am going to comment back to every single comment I receive on my blog as well as trying to comment more on other people’s blogs.
9.Make more connections with authors, publishers and other bloggers. I want to be part of all these blog tours and blog hops and have ARCs and author interviews.
10. Keep having fun. At the moment, I love blogging, but I don’t want it ever to get to a point where blogging is a chore. I love blogging and I want to continue to love blogging.
I had a fabulous Christmas and I was very lucky and received lots of lovely books for Christmas.
They were:
13 Little Blue Envelopes By Maureen Johnson
Legend By Marie Lu
Cinder By Marissa Meyer
Solitaire By Alice Oseman
Since You’ve Been Gone By Morgan Matson
The Giver By Lois Lowry
Across the Universe By Beth Revis
I also received a boatload of awesome Harry Potter merch.
Not the best quality photo but look at that Harry Potter awesomeness. I got robes, a tie, socks, a wand, a bracelet, a scarf, a quiz book and a hoodie. Aren’t I a lucky little muggle?
I’m still really excited though, because it’s my birthday on the 31st December so fingers crossed I will receive lots more lovely books.
The Jolly Blogger Award
1. Answer the twelve questions that have been left for me.
2. Create twelve new questions.
I’m going to be lazy and say that I liked the questions I answered so if anyone does complete this award they can answer these questions.
3. Nominate ten lovely bloggers!
I’m just going to nominate everyone I follow as they all deserve it. Also I’m a bit late doing this, as by now it is Christmas day so I’m not really sure anyone else is going to do this.
1. What is on your Christmas Wish list?
Well, I had an awful lot of books and DVDs on wish list as well as some clothes. But I received lots of other lovely things I wasn’t expecting such as chocolate, makeup and a gorgeous Harry Potter charm bracelet.
2. What would be the perfect Christmas?
Spending time with all my family and friends with no arguing or jobs to do. Everybody having fun and spending time together.
3. What’s your favourite winter make-up look?
Well, I don’t really wear much makeup so my favourite winter makeup is similar to my favourite every other season makeup look, some concealer, powder and mascara with a bright red shade of lipstick that adds some colour to my face
4. Do you believe in Santa?
What sort of silly question is that? Of course I believe in Santa, because I usually spend Christmas with my young cousins so everyone has to believe so we don’t ruin the illusion.
5. What is your favourite Christmas food or drink?
Chocolate. Obviously.
6. Will you be travelling for Christmas, if so where?
Yes, my family and I have driven 3 hours up to visit family.
7. Would you prefer Christmas with or without snow?
I prefer Christmas with a light sprinkling of snow, enough to look pretty and be fun to play in, but not too much so it causes problems and gets in the way.
8. Do you like eggnog?
No. Sorry.
9. What is your favourite winter clothing?
Jumpers, wooly jumpers definitely. They are just so soft and snuggly, who wouldn’t want one?
10. Do you leave Santa cookies, if so who eats them?
We leave Santa a mince pie and as explained above Santa eats it obviously!
11. What was the best gift you ever received?
I don’t know, that’s impossible. I’ve received so many brilliant gifts over the years.
12. What is your favourite Christmas memory?
Again, incredibly challenging. Although I do remember when I was about eight years old, receiving a bike and immediately going outside to ride it around the block in my pyjamas. It was the most exciting thing!
Don’t worry, I’m not dead. I’ve just been super busy at school and getting ready for Christmas. Now, however I’ve broken up from school and have pretty much prepared for Christmas. Before I start I want to remind you about my survey. I would really love it if you could take a few minutes to quickly fill it in, it would mean so much to me. You can find it here. Please, please, please fill it in. Thanks in advance.
Sight: This week I have only read one book which was Here Lies Bridget which I gave 2.5 stars. Last week I watched Sunshine on Leith for my friend’s birthday and fell in love. The characters and music were amazing. I have also enjoyed watching Christmas films such as Elf and Home Alone because lets be honest what’s Christmas without Home Alone.
Sound: Due to the brilliant movie I watched, I have been listening to the Sunshine on Leith soundtrack on YouTube nonstop. My favourite songs have to be 500 Miles, It’s over and done with and Sky takes the soul. This week I have also obviously been enjoying some Christmas tunes. Some of my favourites include Do they know it’s Christmas?, Merry Christmas Everyone, Santa Baby and Mistletoe and Wine.
Taste: This week I have eaten an awful lot of chocolate due to it being the last week of school. I swear when it comes to Christmas day, my jumper won’t fit anymore! Today though I made mini cheese and bacon quiches which turned out quite tasty, although they weren’t the most beautiful ones known to man.
Touch: This week has being a good week for clothes, I enjoyed the sale in Sainsburys, where I bought a Christmas cardigan, a sparkly blue top, a bejewelled black top and a pair of black high heeled ankle boots. This meant I had a new glamorous evening outfit which I wore to a concert the next day.
“What works of fiction have taught you by example, and what did they teach you?”
This is very vague, and I know a lot of other bloggers have taken it to mean what have books taught you about writing? But I’m gonna go with what have books taught you about life in general.
I’m going to starts with the cliche one that everyone will use – Harry Potter. Not only did those three teach me what it means to be true friends, Sirius taught me you don’t have to be related to be family and Neville taught me not to worry, it gets better. I mean, compare book 1 Neville with book 7 Neville, book 7 Neville is a brave hero. Hermione, where to even start? She taught me it’s okay to be smart, actually that being smart comes in handy a lot. She also taught me that I can be a princess and a warrior and a genius. I don’t have to choose one. I think Hermione is great, but Harry Potter in general taught me so much.
Secondly we have Percy Jackson, which taught me that we all have a hero on the inside, no matter how odd we seem to the rest of the world. It taught me the importance of keeping going and what it means to be a friend. In addition to that, it taught me tin cans are a good source of vitamins and apparently very tasty.
Want to follow our blog chain? Here are the participating parties, day by day:
5th – http://thelittleenginethatcouldnt.wordpress.com/
6th – http://nasrielsfanfics.wordpress.com/
7th – https://erinkenobi2893.wordpress.com/
8th – http://introspectioncreative.wordpress.com/
9th – http://semilegacy.blogspot.com/
10th – http://kirabudge.weebly.com/
11th – http://whileishouldbedoingprecal.weebly.com/
12th – http://randomosityofeden.wordpress.com/
13th – http://musingsfromnevillesnavel.wordpress.com/
14th – http://www.alwaysopinionatedgirl.wordpress.com/
15th – http://www.juliathewritergirl.wordpress.com/
16th – http://miriamjoywrites.com/
17th – http://horsfeathersblog.wordpress.com/
18th – http://unironicallyexcited.wordpress.com/
19th – http://theboardingblogger.wordpress.com/
20th – http://stayandwatchthestars.wordpress.com/
21st – http://unikkelyfe.wordpress.com/
22nd – http://fantasiesofapockethuman.blogspot.com/
23rd – http://lilyjenness.blogspot.com/
24th – http://oliviarivers.wordpress.com/
25th – [No posts today!]
26th – http://butterfliesoftheimagination.wordpress.com/
27th – http://missalexandrinabrant.wordpress.com/
28th – http://www.pamelanicolewrites.com
29th – http://jasperlindell.blogspot.com.au/
30th – http://maralaurey.wordpress.com/ and http://theedfiles.blogspot.com/
31st – http://teenscanwritetoo.wordpress.com/ (We’ll announce the topic for December’s chain!)
alwaysopinionatedgirl 