Goodbye to 2012, Hello to 2013!

This should be a rather short post, seeing as how I didn't start my blog until October of this year.  Looking back over these last 3 months of my blog, I thought I'd share some stats with you:

• My blog went live on Monday, October 1, 2012
• There have been 88 posts as of December 30th.
• There have been 4,951 page views in my blogs history and 740 published comments.
• My all time top 3 viewed posts are: December New Release Giveaway, Best of 2012 Giveaway, and In My Mailbox 2 & Sunday Post 1.
• 319 GFC followers.
• I've had visitors from 10 different countries.

These stats are exciting to me!  Mostly because when I first began, I was anxious to reach even 10 followers.  I had no idea how fast the followers would come and how great of a community book blogging is.

Of the 88 posts, about 42 of those are book reviews.  The rest are the fabulous meme's I participate in, and without those my blog would certainly not be where it is today.

Lessons learned:

The main lesson I have learned over the 3 months of blogging is to not request every book from Netgalley that I think I might be interested in.  In the beginning I went crazy and was requesting books constantly.  Sad to say I think I've only reviewed 3 books that were Netgalley books (and one of those turned out to be a fabulous book, in fact a Favorite of 2012 for me (Pushing the Limits).  The rest are still sitting there waiting to be read but the honest fact is that I more than likely won't get to all of them, at least not in the near future.

Goals for 2013:

Please hold me to these!

• I hereby state that I will not request any more Netgalley books until I have read and reviewed all the ones I requested in 2012. (ugh - am I really agreeing to that?!)
• I hereby state that I will not purchase any more books until I have read and reviewed all the ones given to me over the Christmas holiday (that are new reads - because I wanted some books that I had already read but didn't own a copy of). (ugh - this is going to be another tough-y as I find I'm somewhat addicted to $.99 books!)
• I have a goal to reach 500 followers by the end of 2013.  Not sure what a realistic goal for this is but since I reached 300+ followers in 3 months, surely in 12 months I'll gain 200+ more.
• I have a goal to participate in some author tour stops where the author does interviews and gives books away on your blog.... - again my limited knowledge of book blogging has me lacking in knowing how these are even chosen!
• I have a goal to update my blog graphics, and since I don't know how to do this I know I'll either have to pay someone or enlist the help of my techy husband who doesn't really have the time to help with this right now.
• I have a goal to read all the current books I have in my possession, whether by Kindle or printed book.
• And finally I have a goal to be a blessing to every follower, every reader, and every book blogger that takes the time to come visit my blog.  It is always my goal to reply back and/or to come visit you in return.

Thanks for helping make 2012 a success on my book blog!  I have enjoyed so much creating it and writing on it.  I look forward to all the new and exciting books I'll read in 2013 so I can share them with you.  Here's to a new year of blogging together!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!