Today The Story turns two. Which, I think (well for me anyway), is huge accomplishment in itself. If someone would have told me I'd be blogging about young adult literature two years ago, I probably would have laughed in their face. What a crazy year it has been.
My second year blogging was so very different than my first year, in good ways and bad.
First off, I want to thank everyone. Thank you to the people that actually take the time to read and visit this blog. Thank you to the authors that have taken the time out of their busy day for an interview or a guest post. For those authors that have sent me a part of them! I mean their book, of course. Thank you to the publicists that send me books, and take the time out of there hectic schedules to answer my emails! I cannot express how much I truly appreciate you all. Honestly, this blog would not be what it is without you.
Much like last year, I'm going to use this post to reminisce about some of the happenings here in the past year, as well as highlight some of the events that made it a year to remember.
December 16, 2008: My first review of my second year blogging. The book was Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles, which I loved! The cover to its companion novel, Rules of Attraction was recently released!
December 18, 2008: My first author interview of year two. Sasha Watson, author of Vidalia in Paris.
January 19, 2009: The Young Adult Book Blog Directly was born.
January 28, 2009: I shared a personal look into why I read YA, and also shared some embarrassing photos from high school.
January 31, 2009: The Story reached 200 followers!
February 20, 2009: It was not a good day. And yet, an important milestone, that I hope to someday forget.
March 28, 2009: I found out that my review for Gone by Michael Grant would be used as part of the advertisement campaign in the UK from it's publisher EgmontUK!
April 4, 2009: My second author signing! Not only did I get to meet fabulous authors Lisa McMann and Cassandra Clare, but I also got to meet bloggers Chelsea of The Page Flipper and Lauren of Shooting Stars Mag!
May 23, 2009: The Story was honored with the awards "Best Reviewer" (runner up), "Best Interviewer" (runner up) and The Golden Blog Award! From The People's Choice YA Book Blog Awards hosted by Steph Bowe.
May 24, 2009: The Story received a make-over, which is the design that you see now!
July 13 & 14, 2009: I posted about ALA Confernce in Chicago. This was my first big "book fair" experience, and it was awesome!
July 31, 2009: Fresh Face Friday was born!
August 21, 2009: A was a guest on A Book and a Chat!
September 2009: The Story was awarded, Most Extravagant Giveaways, Best Meme: In My Mailbox, and Best Young Adult Book Blog for Book Blogger Appreciation week 2009!
September 14, 2009: Author signing: Julia Hoban! And I got to meet bloggers Erica from The Book Cellar, Drea from Book Blather (who I met at ALA) and Kristen from Bookworming in the 21st Century (who I also met at ALA)!
November 7, 2009: The Story reached 1,000 followers!
Random Facts:
I have over 1,100 followers, 2,000 subscribers and almost 300,000 visitors!
I've made 968 posts and have had over 18,700 comments
I've posted 138 reviews and 67 contests.
The most popular post to this day is Advance Readers Copies: What You Need to Know. It has been viewed 2,244 times since it's post date in November.
The most popular review post is Fallen by Lauren Kate (viewed 905 times since it's post date in October), followed by Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (viewed 717 times, since it's post date in November).
Most popular author interview: Mari Mancusi (viewed 751 times, since it's post date in November) .
My biggest referring blog is Book Chick City! Thanks Carolyn!
The most visitors I've ever had in a day were on August 9, 2009 with 1472 visitors and November 12, 2009 with 1303 vistors. On August 9, the post was The Dark Side (of blogging) and on November 12, the post was Advance Readers Copies: What You Need to Know.
I've had visitors from over 109 countries! The top ten: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Spain, Philippines, Germany, Singapore, Netherlands and Mexico.
Thank you all (authors, readers, publicists, book lovers, lurkers, first time visitors) so very much!
I don't get the chance to voice many personal thanks, and I'm not the type of person that likes to single people out and drop names, but I want to thank these people for helping me get through this crazy year.
Sharon and Khy. I seriously don't know what I would have done without your support. You know what you did for me. You have no idea how much it means. Thank you.
Chelsea. You are like the little sister I never had. Wait... I do have a little sisters... but seriously you are my sister from another mother. I <3 U!
Julia. I don't know what I would do without your words of encouragement and your guidance! I am so very fortunate to have a friend like you.
Michelle and Kay. Thank you ladies for being an ear when I needed one. You will never know how much you helped me with your simple acts of kindness.
Cat and Julie, you are my personal balls of sunshine. Just a simple tweet from you makes me smile! Thank you!
I'm sure I'm missing someone, but just know that, I appreciate you all so much, you've made this a great year, and I CAN'T WAIT for the next one!