Happy Blog-iversary to Me!

Last week, my blogging and conference friends, Lynn and Cindy celebrated 8 years of blogging together over at Booklist. (Bookends) It occurred to me that I've been blogging for 8 years as well and thought I began in December. I pulled up my blog from LiveJournal and found my first post this past Sunday morning. Yup, December 10, 2008. Then I spent the next hour or two clicking through my posts in order.

I was never a diary keeper (too undisciplined). I have quite a few beautiful journals begun with the best of intentions to record daily only to peter out after a few days. One of my sisters is a faithful journal-writer. In fact, she was able to prove a dispute by pulling out her journal from that year. I admire that.

My reason for starting my blog arose from the need to have a record of the books I read. I had spent the previous ten years at a K-8 school. I thought I would stay for my entire (second) career. I kept pages and pages of book "reviews" on my section of the school's web site. When I left, those pages disappeared. Poof! (Don't let the door hit you in the back on your way out.) While I had no intention of leaving my new position too soon, I needed something more portable should I do so (tenure and all).

It was fun to click through the first year. While I recall most of the books I journaled about, there were a few that I could not remember. I didn't post cover photos the first year and change, so I did not have that to jog my memory. 

There were some posts that truly amused me and some so poorly written that I cringed. But this journal is a reflection of my reading life and I'm kind of glad I have it. Unlike a physical journal that can easily be riffed (riffled?) through, there is no riffing (riffling?) through these virtual pages so I soon tired of the trip down memory lane.

I left LJ after four years on that platform. A series of glitches did me in. I had been hearing about the merits of blogger for a while and made the jump in January of 2013. I have been very happy at blogger. I seem to get more comments and higher traffic here.

I used to review every book I read. Now I keep monthly lists of books I've read and try to review as much as time allows and be happy with that. 

It is what it is and I'm glad to be here. Happy blog-iversary to me!