The Melodramatic Bookworm

2022 was a mediocre year for me personally. It started off with a humongous life and reading slump before I finally crawled out of it, coughing and squinting, wondering what I had missed. I feel like I speak way too much about this, but it was a tipping point for me, one that almost lost me some friends and work. But something had snapped and because of that, it’s come to define 2022 for me, both personally and professionally. After that horrific slump, I slowly got back on track, wondering if I should continue making YouTube videos or if I wanted to veer off into other territories. Some of these thoughts are still on my mind, still revolving leisurely in there for when I’ll deign to give them more than a minute each time.

That aside, there was one thing that I wanted to do for sure: get back to serious blogging. I haven’t been as consistent as I had wanted to be, but I’ve made quite some progress and I’m really proud of how far I’ve come this year alone. Even if it’s 10 meters and not the 10 miles that I wanted to have traveled before 2022 ended, it’s been progress and I know that the future is far more welcoming because of it.

But in today’s blog post – one of the first in my year-end posts – I want to talk about my blogging highlights from this year. In this reflective, introspective post, I’ll be telling you about the blogging-related things that I’ve done in 2022 that I’m really happy about and some that I’m outright proud of, although I’ve already gushed about it on here. No harm in repeating the joys, is there? 😉

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 Revamping & Cleaning Up the Blog

Step 1 this year for blogging, and a huge undertaking at that, was to revamp and clean up the blog which meant:

• deleting all the posts that were irrelevant, outdated, or which didn’t agree with my beliefs anymore
• deleting all the media that had doubled up or which were no longer needed
• streamlining all the posts: titles, thumbnails, tags, categories etc.
• editing information about my brand, be it the About section or about the services I provide as a book reviewer, editor, and proofreader
• sharing posts on social media, although I haven’t gotten better at this, but I hope to get there one day

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This took me quite a while to accomplish because of the extent to which involvement was needed. I methodically went through all the posts, right from the oldest to the newest. And as I kept adding posts, I designed them according to the new ‘aesthetic’ – if that’s what you can call it – so that I wouldn’t have to edit them, too.  But while the posts themselves took a few weeks to polish, it was the media that gave me a right headache because of how many unnecessary or irrelevant pictures there were. Plus, given the limited storage space that WordPress affords me, I realized – a little late, but thank God I did – that I could upload different quality pictures that were equally clear while saving space. I was, and still am, rather smug about it even though it’s pretty basic knowledge to have. 😂 I still have the excel sheet where I recorded all the media on the blog so that I could make sure they weren’t repeated.

But I’m now happy with the state that my blog is in, with the posts being up to date, the formats being uniform, and the media limited to what is needed on the site. I reuse pictures of book covers and others that I think are relevant because that’s all I can afford to splurge on a website that gives me little to no returns. Like many say, I blog for my love of writing and blogging. ❤

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Writing Long-form Content

While I never shied away from writing long pieces before, this year has definitely changed my definition of them. Earlier, I used to consider 1000 words as long and it took me a while to craft the whole thing. But now, I can write a 1000-word post pretty easily. I end up thinking that maybe it doesn’t have too much flesh or that it isn’t nuanced enough but rereads tell me that I do get the points in that I was trying to make. So that’s a pretty huge win for me.

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I’ve written quite a few long blog posts this year. Be it the one in which I talk about being exhausted or my social media journey or the multiple recommendations posts that I had or the multiple travel posts that I had, there were many that crossed 2000 words in the snap of a finger. I obviously got physically tired writing them, but the satisfaction of having come up with a blog post in which I put my thoughts through effectively and of having scripted another long blog post was way more than the tiredness. I still am in awe at how far I’ve come but I also am aware that I have a long way to go, be it in terms of writing or blogging or interacting with other bloggers.

But I’m ready for it all. Because I know I can. I only need time.

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Blogtober

(Here’s an introduction to what Blogtober is and my announcement: Blogtober – Can I Do This?)

Blogtober 2022 was obviously one of my blogging highlights! There have been years in which I didn’t post as many blog posts as I did in October 2022. It was a huge accomplishment for me, but I’ll be honest: it also drained me out. Because 33 posts – including the introduction and the wrap up – are too much for anyone, even if many of these posts had previous skeletons sitting there, ready for me to fill them with flesh. Yet, I will say that I loved the whole experience because I challenged myself. I had to constantly be on my toes, trying to come up with topics that I was passionate enough to write, because half-heartedly writing blog posts isn’t my cup of coffee anymore. And I passed with flying colors, I must say. I even heartily congratulated myself, as you can see in the wrap up post.

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Here’s where you can see the wrap up post in which I’ve included the links to all my Blogtober posts: Blogtober 2022 Wrap Up – The Melodramatic Bookworm.

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Finding My Blogging Voice

Blogging, for me at least, has been to share whatever is on my mind but in a structured, fancy manner. There used to be a time when all of this – SEO, posting times, blogging voice – was never a concern because, let’s be frank, I had no idea why they were important. And although I’m still nowhere near understanding SEO, I feel like I have found my blogging voice.

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I used to be stingy with writing and even in that stinginess, I somehow was repetitive. But over the course of the paradoxical year that was 2022, I somehow found out how I wanted my posts to be and what I wanted to share with whoever was reading them. My posts can be super personal, but I now also have a sense of detachment from them, because life has taught me that only through detachment can I see the value or spot the mistakes in whatever I’m writing. That’s a useful paradox that I’ve learnt this year that I’m putting into full use.

Another facet of this point is that I earlier wanted everything to happen in a jiffy. One week, two weeks max, and I’d lament the fact that something I wanted really badly wasn’t happening. But this year has taught me – in blogging as well as in life terms, through new languages – that things take time and effort. You need to put in both. If you don’t, and if you expect things to happen immediately, then all you’re going to get is a load of disappointment. The first point in this blog post is a solid example of this! And my patience is a lot stronger because of this.

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So those were my blogging highlights of 2022! Like I mentioned before, they might not seem like much but I’m pretty proud of what I’ve achieved here, and that’s something, I guess. I’m hoping I can continue in this manner – step up the gas, even – in 2023 and take my blog to a better place. Keeping my fingers crossed! 😊

I’ll be coming up with a blog post soon about my 2023 goals which will include my reading goals/plans, blogging plans, BookTube plans, Bookstagram plans, writing plans, as well as life plans in general. Keep your eyes peeled because it’s coming soon. 😊

Let me know in the comments what your 2022 highlights were and what your 2023 plans are. I’d love to hear from you! 😊

I’ll see you very soon in the next blog post.

Until next time, keep reading, and add melodrama to your life! ❤

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