2018 Wrap-up: The Year at Glance

Oh my god I can’t believe it’s almost 2019!

Now I’m just panicking all over because I still have so much left to be done and barely 24 hours left to do it. But more than that I am anxious to write this wrap-up post. I mean how do I sum up the whole year in a matter of hours?

*takes a deep breath*

 

This year has been a really bad one in terms of life and mental health but on the other hand I’ve learnt so much and grown a lot as a person. And without this blogging community I couldn’t have made it.

I started blogging at the beginning of the year(I have the worst memory ever so don’t ask me when exactly) and wow it’s been a roller-coaster but the most fun one ever!

Last year I was a girl who just read books for fun and probably forgot about them. Now I’m a girl who reads diverse books, writes reviews and treasures the memories. Add in a good deal of planning and a whole bunch of best friends I could ask for and book blogging and reading became the highlight of my life.

So here’s a quick glance at what the bookish community and blogging taught me:

• It’s okay to DNF books. I NEVER left a book in between. I kept going on even though it was such a pain and maybe that lead to some reading slumps too. But now I know that my time is precious and if I don’t feel like continuing the book after having given it a fair enough chance, I should dump it.
• I’m not the only one who’s a crazy fangirl. I’ve never in real life, met a person who is as crazy and fanatic over books and fictional characters as I am and for sometime I thought that I was too much? BUT THERE’S A WHOLE COMMUNITY OF US CRAZY PEOPLE! HOORAY! 
• Respect different opinions. If someone dislikes your favourite book, it’s okay. People are allowed to have different opinions, have a healthy discussion over it with them! If someone wants to dog-ear their books or break the spines it’s fine. 
• Organizing and planning is my hobby. Can you believe I never even used to keep track of the books I read? Wow, now I can’t imagine a day pass by without me planning something for my reading or blog or even organizing books.
• DIVERSITY! I’ve been reading such beautiful diverse reads about the different communities and religions and cultures and discovering some beautiful Indian origin books that make me feel seen in books that  would have never discovered on my own. I’ve learn so much about so many things, I can’t even begin to start. Especially mental health and LGBT. I learnt a lot on both these fronts
• Discussions and Debates. So many topics and debates are being discussed in the community all the time and it’s so fun to participate in them. I learnt so much about trigger warnings, boundaries with authors and reviewers, plagiarism and what not that really opened my eyes.
• ALL THE LOVE! But most of all I found this beautiful community which is my family now. I never knew any community could be so loving and supporting and I’ve had such good times making friends. I opened up a lot which is a big deal for an introvert like me and also learnt to handle and manage various social media sites ad promote my blog without hesitation- all thanks to the love of all the bloggers 🙂

 

I’m pretty sure I left a lot of things out but this is all I can remember for now.

Moving on, I want to thank this lovely community of bloggers and bookish people who have taught me so much and given me all this love that I have no idea what to do with. I’m thanking some of them personally but please don’t be mad if I miss out a few people because like I said, I have a horrible memory. I love you all for being here and supporting me ❤

 

First off I want to thank Cait @Paperfury for introducing me to book blogging and just being an awesome and hilarious person on a whole who makes my eyes fall off with the wonderful and colourful content she keeps on creating.

Without Evelina I would never even have met all these amazing and lovely people I am about to name. She created the New Bloggers and International Bloggers group and I am ever so thankful for it. I joined it and never looked back. And apart from that she’s this beautiful and kind person whom I love to chat with and who has such helpful content on her blog. You’re such a friendly person and I’m so glad I met you!

Then there is Nandini, my ride or die twin sister without whom I honestly couldn’t have survived this year! I can talk to her about anything and she’s always there for me with her ever so helpful advice and suggestions 🙂 I don’t even know what to say about you, you’re just an all in one wholesome human, I love you!

Shruti has also been such a constant source of love and support. She writes amazing poetry and I love her dark humor. Also the first person I go to when I need any Netflix recs XD Okay but thanks you weird sister I love you and I love your brilliant blog.

Aditi is the cutest ever and I’m always in awe of her because she’s so smol and yet has such a pretty and amazing blog like wow what am I doing with my life. I miss you so much Aditi, kick those exams away and come back!

Fanna and Simant are also these epic friends that I have had the pleasure of having. Both have gorgeous blogs and such write such wonderfully constructed and meaningful posts and reviews. Such models for me, honestly. I mean honestly Fanna is this literal goddess and I always keep drooling over Simant’s blog like how is it so aesthetic?

Clo is such an amazing book dragon and her blog is to die for. She has the most adorable dragons and teacups over which I constantly keep squealing. And she’s always doing such wonderful stuff like organizing Bookending Winter like are you a super human? I love talking to her and squishing her into hugs(I mean as much as you can from continents apart :() She’s a ray of sunshine!

I’ve known Thya for so many years but I feel we got closer this year what with me discovering her blog and me finding her on various social medias. Okay I was a hermit earlier, sorry. I love her sense of aesthetics and her beautiful journals and bujos and she’s really fun to talk to!

Marta and Marie have blogs that make me go woww and like I never even expected them to notice me but they did??? And we like talk sometimes?? Maybe just in comments but yaay?? I’m just blessed. I would love to talk to you two more next year!

*hides behind a rock*

And Shealea is this epic person who introduced me o great blog tours and is such a huge supporter of Asian books! She gives amazing recommendations and has helped me discover some mind-blowing diverse reads!

Reet and Sanjula made a blog this year and I’m so happy they did! They’re doing great and I love reading their hilarious banter on their posts. It’s really entertaining. I miss talking to yo guys though, get a little less busy 😛

Rain as a mind-blowing blog on book dragons and posts that put a huge grin on my face. She’s just adorable and wonderful and we need to talk more next year, okay?

Also want to mention Shreya, Mathangi and Sahi whom I want to talk to more often because they’re all awesome humans whom I discovered late or unfortunately didn’t get time to ineract with 😦 I WILL MEND THAT IN 2019

 

 

So I think that’s it! Thank you to each and every one of you in this community who made my year better 🙂 Tell me what all blogging and the bookish community has taught you? I can’t wait for this new year. See you all next year! 🙂