Happy 6th birthday to Beyond Books!

Yesterday I was visiting a friend's blog. She uses one of the free wordpress blogs and so I get my little dashboard toolbar over it since I use WP myself. I noticed that I had a notification in the toolbar and thought that was odd. I clicked on it and, lo! Apparently yesterday was my 6th anniversary of signing up with wordpress.com. Although I have been self-hosting my blogs for a looooong time, I didn't know how to run two at a time so when I broke off the book posts from my personal blog, I used a free wp account.Six years ago, on July 19, 2007, I wrote my first ever book blog post. I was certain I'd never keep it up and would quickly forget about this blog. Oddly, I ended up devoting more time to the book blog than the personal blog over the years. I know that lately neither blog has been getting much love, but that's more due a lack of time than anything else and not because I have given up blogging.And so, even with being four book posts behind, I am writing this little note to acknowledge that I have been doing this for 6 years in one spot. That's not something to sniff it. It's pretty good. And since I've be writing about the books I have read since I started blogging originally, I have almost 10 years under my belt in the blogging world. Good on me!I have tried various book blogging hats on throughout the years but ultimately I end up back where I started - I just like to keep a journal of the books I have read. For myself. The occasional review book is a wonderful perk and gift to my hungry reader-heart, but it's not why I do this. It never has been. I'd been blogging for years before I was ever contacted by a publisher and it didn't matter to me. I don't promote things I don't like myself. I keep my book reviews honest and try to explain things to the best of my ability, but I am not a writer, I am a reader.Thanks to those of you who have been reading me for all of this time. Thanks to the new readers who might have just discovered me recently (sadly in such a quiet time!). I will always keep up this blog, even if it's sporadically.  I like it. I like you. I like reading. AND it's a handy reference tool if I need to tell someone about a book I liked. I just send them links. heh.Happy 6 years of blogging about books, to me!

My first ever book blog photo. Ah, nostalgia.