the blog glo-up tag (original)

In honour of March being the third anniversary of my blog, I thought I would create the blog glo-up tag!

Rules: 

1. Credit the original creator, whatthelog
2. Answer the questions!
3. Tag as many or as few people as you like

Why did you create your blog? 

I went to a talk during my undergraduate that was all about getting into publishing. One of the pieces of advice we were given was to create a blog, so to show that we were interested in publishing. So, I started my blog and reviewed books, and it grew from there.

When did you start your blog?  

I first created my blog in March of 2016!

What was your first post about?

My first post was a break-down of the 2016 World Book Day books. I looked at each one and suggested a diverse book that could have been chosen instead. I didn’t link any of them to their goodreads pages, and I didn’t explain what the World Book Day was!

Have you had any significant design or name changes? 

Not really! I’m not very good at the design aspect of blogging, and I think I’m pretty stuck with the name I have now. This is slightly annoying, because I would like to have a blog name that is more clearly bookish, but hey, what can you do.

What has been the biggest change to your blog’s content? 

Well, I used to have a co-blogger! Her name was Lucy, and she was a friend of mine. I also used to do weekly wrap-ups of bookish news, such as winners of prizes and things like that. I also used to post EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Who or what has been the biggest influence on your blogging journey? 

A big influence on my blog was Naz, who sadly doesn’t blog anymore. I was really inspired by his dedication to reading diverse books, and that made me want to read more too!

If before you started you could look at your blog now, what would surprise you the most? 

I think I would be surprised that I was still doing it, first of all. I’m pretty bad at picking up hobbies and then abandoning them because I feel like I’m not progressing as quickly as I want to. I think I would also be surprised about the number of YA books that I read and review, as well as the fact that I feel comfortable enough to talk about mental health at least once a week!

What personal milestone have you hit that makes you the proudest? 

I recently hit over 900 blog followers, which is pretty great! But I think more importantly is that I’ve made a number of really great friends. For a long time I felt like an outsider in the blogging community (and to an extent, I still do). But now I know that there are other bloggers out there who just get me, and that’s lovely.

What do you see next for your blog? 

I have a lot of ideas.

• I would really like to create another blog where I would get a team of own voices bloggers to review books with mental health representation (much like Disability in Kid Lit) but specifically for mental health. (I might put a Twitter poll up soon to see if people would be interested in this.)
• I’d like to write more about fat activism and body positivity. This is something I’m really starting to think about more.
• I’d like to do a group read-a-long of a mental health book in May to celebrate Mental Health Awareness Month.
• I’d also like to have more guest bloggers. I really enjoyed working with Jackie recently! (Just comment below if you’d like to guest blog!)

I tag:

Ceillie @ Candid Ceillie

Sinead @ Huntress of Diverse Books

Jackie @ Death by Tsundoku

Melanie @ Grab the Lapels

CW @ The Quiet Pond

Christine @ Lady Gets Lit

Avery @ Red Rocket Panda

Neha @ BiblioNyan

Lydia @ 22 is still young adult

Caro @ Book cheshire cat

Alex @ The Paperback Piano

Rita @ Bookish Rita