On the seventh day of Bookmas…
We’re now just over halfway through the Twelve Days of Bookmas, which also marks the end of the year. I feel like Wandering Words has really found its identity this year, and is closer than ever to how I envisaged it when I bought the domain in 2014, moving over to WordPress in 2015. I’m looking forward to it growing even more in 2016!
So, just to bring the year to a close, here are some Wandering Words blog highlights for 2015:
First Lines Fridays
2015 saw the introduction of my first weekly meme, First Lines Fridays. The idea was to create a fun weekly post which would give readers the chance to have a taste of a book without being influenced by factors like title, cover, author, etc. I have loads of fun doing the posts, and finding books with particularly brilliant first lines. My favourite so far has to be from 17th July, with the quite sinister-sounding:
“Somebody stabbed you in the neck, young lady.”
MCM Comic Con
One of the first posts I did on Wandering Words was a post about comic conventions, and my October 2015 post can be found here. I have almost lost count of how many times I have been to MCM Comic Con in London now, but I always appreciate the opportunity to attend, especially as this year I was able to see a friend I usually only see once every couple of years! The price is creeping up every year, and with other trips starting to take priority, I don’t know when I will be able to go again.
Words & Geeks Book Club
Whilst catching up with Emily from The Geek Undergraduate over the summer holidays this year, we came up with the idea of a bookish collaboration, since we both enjoyed discussing books with each other. Thus, the Words & Geeks Book Club was born! Juggling it with work and university has been a struggle at times, but it has been an exceedingly fun occasional addition to the blog.
Book Challenges
I’ve really got stuck into book challenges this year. Next year, I won’t set myself as many reading goals, and will make a point of reading more for leisure rather than to hit targets. Even so, I did exceed my Goodreads 50 Books Challenge goal for 2015, though I can honestly say I wouldn’t have stood a chance if not for the sheer volume of graphic novels I have devoured through the latter half of the year. I also ended up being defeated by the 2015 Reading Challenge. I just felt it was too tricky, for example, ‘A book you were supposed to read in school but didn’t’ proved impossible since I always read what needed to be read in school. I think I was just too lazy to think of imaginative solutions to these more awkward categories…
I’ve also done a lot of exciting things outside of the blogging world:
- I saw Paolo Nutini, All Time Low, You Me At Six and Walk The Moon perform live
- I visited Bristol to see Wicked, and visited London to tour the Harry Potter Studios
- I wrote over 50,000 words in a collaborative writing project (more on this in 2016, hopefully!)
- I finished my degree with a 2.1 (hooray!)
- I booked my flight to Japan!
So, to all my followers, new and old, I wish you all a happy new year!
Also, don’t forget you can connect with me on Instagram (mywanderingwords), Twitter (words_wandering) and Goodreads (wanderingwords) too.
