It’s June 28th which means I’ve been sharing all about my reading life for 2 years at East Bay Bookshelf!
I had been thinking about starting a book blog for years before I ever bought the East Bay Bookshelf domain in June of 2024. I had dabbled a bit in bookstagram, but having my own website felt like a huge step! My husband encouraged me to go for it and I’m so glad he did.
Once I figured out how to begin and I had a website name, I needed to decide how I was going to structure the blog. I’m a mom who also works full time, so most of my reading, writing, and book-talk happens in the evenings or weekends. I decided that I could be consistent with a simple weekly blog post. That’s how the “5 on a Friday” newsletter was born!
Below is the very first post I ever wrote. My mantra was definitely “done is better than perfect.” I didn’t even want to have pictures when I first started writing but my friend told me I needed to have pictures. Thankful for constructive feedback. I am so proud of myself for staying consistent that first year and then experimenting the next year with different types of posts and writing.
These are two of my favorite posts personally because my friends took the time to be interviewed! 😘 I am so grateful for everyone in my life who loves to read and talks all things books, authors, bookstores and libraries with me!
My favorite series is “Beyond the Bookshelf” because it takes me behind the scenes of the reading and writing life – one of my favorite places to be!
As I look toward East Bay Bookshelf’s third year, here are some areas I’d like to focus on:
- Shorter posts with a more focused theme (these are easier to find and link back to). Think Tuesday TBR and Beyond the Bookshelf series
- Keep the newsletter format for “5 on a Friday” to share new content and highlight blog posts from the week
- Up my social media game – I don’t have a plan for this yet, but I know this is how book-lovers discover the blog!
Thanks to everyone who follows along – it has been so fun reading with you over the last 2 years!
Check out last year’s newsletter where I write about the lessons I’ve learned from one year of blogging!
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