My 11th blogiversary was a couple weeks ago, but I couldn’t think of a post idea to celebrate it. So a couple weeks late, here’s what I’ve come up with! I thought I’d look back at my first posts in some of my different blogging categories and talk about them and maybe share some of my favorite posts too.

(I normally post reviews on Wednesdays, but I don’t have one, so I figured might as well just post this already.)

Book Reviews

My first book review was for Incubus by Amanda Meuwissen, though I have since reposted it with some updates (kept the original review though). And you know what? My review is still solid! Not as cringey as I thought it would be, and it’s still a series I love and keep rereading.

Choosing a favorite book review is hard because I don’t want to just choose my favorite book, you know? I’ve always liked my review for Real Vampires Don’t Sparkle by Amy Fecteau. I think it’s a fun one while still actually reviewing the book. Honestly, this might my favorite thing that I’ve ever written in a review:

Not only that, Matheus and Quin made the perfect couple. And by couple, I mean not a couple. And by perfect, I mean they constantly bickered and only half-teasingly threatened to maim each other (as you do when you’re a vampire).

And it’s another series I still love and keep rereading, though it has been some years now.

Game Reviews

My first game review was Tusks, a gay orc dating sim. It caught my attention and was only a few dollars, and I think it was the first visual novel I’d played. I have to credit it as being the game that got me into trying more stuff like this, more games that weren’t just The Sims or whatever else I played as a kid/teen, and clearly the game that got me started writing game reviews. And I still think it’s a decent review.

For some reason, this is even harder. I’ll go with my Project Zomboid review. It’s not funny or anything, and it’s one of my longer ones, but it’s exactly the kind of review that would help me. And what I’ve learned in 11 years of blogging/reviewing is that you will never be writing reviews for everyone, because different people like different types of reviews (long, short, funny, informative, etc.), and we’re all coming at games/books/media from a different place. So when you’re looking for reviews, the best ones are usually the ones that match where you’re coming from. E.g. Stressful zombie games with real-time mechanics? Not usually my thing, but I love this one, so my review is going to help other people who also aren’t usually into this kind of game but are curious about this one.

Bookish Memes

Back when I started blogging, there were so many weekly things to participate in. It was nice, in a way. As a newbie, it was a way to find others and easy ideas for posts. But it was also a lot of, “Great post, here’s mine!” comments that got tiring. Pros and cons. My first was a Top Ten Tuesday post about authors I’ve read the most books from. I’m not so much an author person, I’ll love a series by an author and then forget to check for other books, or not be interested in what else they write, or try another book and not like it as much, etc. Also some of my favorite authors have only written a few books. However, 11 years later, there are quite a few authors I’ve read at least six books by, even if it was just for one series, so the list would look pretty different.

I don’t think I have a favorite meme post and don’t feel like trying to find one.

Bookish Discussions

My first discussion post was, “What Do You Listen to While Reading, Writing, and Blogging?” It’s fine. A little cringey. Has a link to a cool website I forgot about where you can tailor cafe background noise to listen to.

My favorite discussion… I’m gonna go with two because it’s my blog, and I can do what I want.

“What Does Frankenstein’s Monster Actually Look Like?” was so fun for me to write, and I want to do more posts like that. Super niche, but something I’m just genuinely struck with the desire to talk about and can have fun with. (It also gets probably more views than any other post of mine, though that’s probably because Frankenstein is such a well-known thing, and then also a Frankenstein movie came out, thank you, Guillermo del Toro.)

“Thoughts on Disability Rep in Books” is just a topic that’s important to me and something I felt like I could actually add to the conversation about.

Book Recs

Speaking of disability, my first rec post was about books with disabled characters. I should make another because although a couple of these are still good recs, the rest I feel like aren’t very good rep or I still haven’t read them.

Maybe this is recency bias, but I’ll go with books with nonbinary characters. There are some fantastic books and some fantastic rep on that list.

Update Posts

My first update post was September 20, 2015. It’s clunky and not exciting (not that my update posts are particularly exciting now, but I like to think they’re less clunky at least). Back then I did weekly updates, and it took me a while to figure out how I really wanted to do them.

I don’t have a favorite update post, they just are what they are. It’s fun when I at least have art or book photos to share.

Blogging Posts

My first blogging category post was a discussion about revamping and reposting book reviews. I reread it, and to be honest, I made some good points. I think I should repost more.

My favorite is about my blogging history and failed blogs, because I took a weird path to get here, including briefly being the #1 internet authority on Gravity Falls cosplay, despite never having done cosplay myself.

Writing

The first bit of my own writing that I shared here was a short story called “All’s Fair in Love, Ice Cream, and Power Outages.” Reading it again now, it makes me cringe a bit, I have not mastered the craft of writing 😅 But I think the dialogue is good and the relationship between the characters comes through. When I was still trying to write, dialogue was usually what came to me first and most naturally.

My favorite writing that I’ve posted here is my Misunderstood Merman poem. Could be touched up a bit, but I think I nailed the vibe.