A Decade of Blogging

This past July marked by tenth year of blogging here at Bookishly Boisterous. Given the circumstances, I sort of... forgot? Or more like, remembered, intended to post, got busy, forgot, lather rise repeat. So much has happened in those ten years, bookish and otherwise. Bookishly Boisterous has been my own little time-capsule and I am proud that I've kept it going, no matter how crazy life has gotten at times. I have a lot of faults, but when I say that I'm going to do something, I do it, and maintaining an active blog has been one of those things. I started the project back in 2010 when I was pink-slipped from my elementary teaching job and needed an outlet to distract myself from possibly being unemployed. By the time I actually published my first post, I had gotten my job back but still was enamored with the idea of having a tiny space online where I could ramble on about books however I pleased. So many people I knew during that time period were blogging, many of which were family-centric ones that fizzled out. I admittedly saw many of them as silly at the time and was fearful of also being perceived this way, so I waited until I really had a sort of theme to rely on. Running? Nah, not fast enough. Teaching? Too new. Baking? I didn't create my own recipes. Reading? Now we were getting somewhere. 

At the time I was newly married, living in a tiny apartment, and really enjoying the benefits of being someone in her twenties with disposable income and various friends who were up for anything. I was working on my Master's, going to the gym every day, and enjoying my dog. As I look back those early years of the blog represent such an "easy" time in my life, but, as I have learned with old age, "easy" is always a relative term. 

Let's take a quick, self-indulgent jaunt down memory lane.

Since then, in the last ten years, I have:

- gotten two additional teaching credentials, plus my Master's
- am at my third school site, moving from fifth grade to fourth grade to high school, where I started off teaching severely struggling kids and now have IB classes (which are wonderful but also a lot of work)
- bought a house, refinanced it, and taken out a HELOC, all of which I 've done all the leg-work and paperwork for
- Made so many new friends and strengthened many of the bonds from those friends I had ten years ago 
- traveled to some awesome places 

- really worked hard to find techniques to get my anxiety under control 
- had a kid and have watched him grow into an awesome little six-year-old (and also started a college fund with monthly contributions)

- done very boring adult things like find a tax consultant I love, take out a life insurance policy on myself, find different repair/contractor type of people for home matters, research child care/preschool/speech therapy facilities, and get passports 
- run over a dozen half marathons- all very slowly and with plenty of profanity
- said good bye to two sweet dogs and hello to crazy Ellie

- worked hard to save a lot of money, work my family's budget so it only relies on one income if necessary, and have a plan to pay off my students loans in the next few years

- become increasingly passionate about feminism and learning about intersectionality 

- dealt with a lot of foot (and hip) pain

- really taken advantage of all Southern-California has to offer, whether it's museums, nature, events, theme parks, etc... (well, during non-covid times)

- had some serious, serious obstacles that I won't bring up here, but let's just say I'm proud of myself for handling my self as I have

- I got back into cross stitch, took up embroidery, and started an Etsy shop 

In terms of reading and bookish things a lot has happened as well:

- I was an enthusiastic Amazon Vine reviewer, but then quit when I found myself acquiring books for the sake of just getting free books

- I worked with Penguin to review books for a few years, but also allowed myself to stop when I was accepting books I really didn't want to read and was neglecting the books I bought with my own money

- I have gone to dozens and dozens of author readings and have gotten to spend some really fun evenings by myself in LA and also with friends when I've gotten them to come along

- went to a fun Hello Sunshine book event for Gail Honeyman, the author of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

- I endured my students finding the blog when I went out on maternity leave, deleting a few posts before they found them (and then just assuming that everyone was reading, even though they're not)

- I have met some great women through blogging that I'd totally go to lunch with if I ever dropped into their cities (I already did with Brie! And Rory and Julz, you're next)

- Julz and I started our occasional Bookish Banter posts, which are always fun

- I belong to two book clubs now! One, through out English department at work, as been around for a very long time, and a new one this summer with two great friends that's going strong

- I've stopped hating on ereaders, although I'll be team physical copy forever

- I've subscribed to Audible but will never count those as read books (listening is not the same as reading- I won't budge on this opinion, sorry)

- I've gotten to read to a newborn, a toddler, and now an elementary student. Even cooler? I've taught him how to read and have watched him develop his own tastes. 

- That one time I completed NaNoWriMo- ha! 

- I've started an Instragram (bookstagram... @bookishlyboisterous)  account for the blog that I don't really maintain, but wanted to claim the handle for, just in case I do eventually

- I gave into Goodreads and have done a good job keeping up with at least entering what I read and buy 

- Published 1,671 posts! 

 

This blog was never, ever, ever intended as a money maker or something to "go viral" (in fact, I'd be mortified if it did). I love that I have an outlet for writing and talk about books, and I've never had lofty expectations about readership. 

So, if you've made it through this post, and whether you're an old reader or a new one, thank you so much.