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A Year In Review: Looking back over 2018


It's the last day of 2018, and my final post for BlogMas. 31 posts in 31 days... and in December! This month I've proven to myself that I can do it. Please feel free to throw confetti and celebrate with me as I do my happy dance :)


2018 In Review 


I feel like this year has flown by at super speed. 

2018 has been full of highs and lows, but I feel like I grew a lot this year. I got a clearer vision of what I want to do, and how I want to do it. My website stats reflect that too as I reached new heights in traffic this year. 

I didn't have the best of starts to this year health wise. I found a lump on my breast and ended up having it removed. It was a scary time. Luckily everything turned out OK. As this is such an important topic, I did a blog post to share my news at the time, which can be found here.

Luckily the year got better. 

In March I had the pleasure of doing an author event at Infinite Parentesi bookstore. I had such a great time reading my books to the children and their parents. Here's the behind the scenes of my author event.

I've made some amazing friends this year, and discovered some truly awesome book bloggers. Big shout out to all the crew at the Book Bloggers Group, and of course, to the wonderful team at Bookish Blog Hops.

I also had the pleasure of working with some great people this year, and hope to do even better next year. 

What I Learnt in 2018

Through challenges like Blogtober and BlogMas I learnt the advantages of scheduling posts in advance. Sure I knew this was a good thing already but doing these challenges showed me that I can plan ahead, and better leverage my content. By scheduling at least some posts in advance it took a lot of the stress away too. 

Collaborations can make a HUGE difference to reach. I've always been a fan of collaborating with others on projects, and this year I joined forces with loads of different people. The results of each collaboration were amazing, and I plan on doing lots more in the new year. 

It's OK to take time off. I had some months this year where I only posted a couple of times. For example, in November I only posted 3 blog posts. It was a busy month and I just didn't have the time, or energy, to create new content for the blog. I still got over 10K pageviews that month though. In fact I got 10,616. 

Most Popular Posts From 2018

Book Review: Spectrum by Ethan Cross

60 Blog Post Ideas For Book Bloggers

108 Book Blogs To Follow

What I Still Need To Improve On


I didn't do much work on my books in 2018. Life was beyond hectic this year, and I confess, I didn't make writing a priority. 

I was more focused on blogging.  It's somehow easier to find time to write up a blog post or post to social media than it is to edit a novel. This has taught me that I need to set goals, and make time for my writing too. It's also proof of how much I don't enjoy editing. It's easy to put off something you don't like doing.

Lack of time is a big issue for me now. 24 hours in a day is just not enough... at least not without some serious planning and discipline. It's clear to me that I need to get better organised in order to manage to do everything I want to do. This is super important as I have big plans for 2019.

How was your 2018? What did you learn this year?

I have far too many unfinished works in progress saved to my computer. I need to make it a priority to finish them. 




On My Shelf: Consequences of the Heart by Peter Cunningham

On My Shelf

Consequences of the Heart by Peter Cunningham


This post may contain affiliate links. Meaning, I get a commission if you purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Read the full disclosure here.

On My Shelf is a series to showcase some of the books that are sat on my shelves. Each Sunday I randomly pick a book from my shelves to show you. Some will be books that are on my TBR, others will be books I've read in the past but that deserve a little love.

This week's pick


This week I picked Consequences of the Heart by Peter Cunningham




On My Shelf: Consequences of the Heart by Peter Cunningham
D-Day on a Normandy beach. A flip of a coin seals the destinies of two men in love and war. From one of Ireland's finest writers, Consequences of the Heart is an epic story of passion and fate, of cowardice and bravery, of adultery and of murder.


Amazon

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On My Shelf: Angels and Demons by Dan Brown 

On My Shelf: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde 

Ways To Get Out Of A Reading Slump

Book Review: Letters From Alice by Petrina Banfield 

5 Star Reads: Books Recommended by Book Bloggers 

Awesome Reads: Book Recommendations From Book Bloggers 




Best Reads of 2018: What was your favourite read in 2018?



Books We Loved in 2018



I read some awesome books in 2018. You can read about my top reads of 2018 here.

But why just share about books I enjoyed reading this year? 

I decided to reach out to my fellow book bloggers to see what books they rated as the best books of 2018. This is what they had to say:


@TdySimpleLife picked Sadie by Courtney Summers
https://trendysimplelife.blogspot.com/2018/07/findsadie.html

@lovelyaudiobook picked Unbreak My Heart by Lauren Blakely
https://lovelyaudiobooks.info/unbreak-my-heart/

@ALiteraryLife picked Circe by Madeline Miller
https://emilyweatherburnblog.wordpress.com/2018/08/12/circe-book-review/

@kalventure picked Contagion by Erin Bowman
https://readervoracious.com/2018/07/22/contagion-by-erin-bowman/

@bookdragonism picked The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang
https://bookdragonism.wordpress.com/2018/11/10/the-poppy-war-by-r-f-kuang-book-review/

@bookshelfbitch picked The Heart Forger by Rin Chupeco
https://thatbookshelfbitch.wordpress.com/2018/03/23/review-author-interview-heart-forger-rin-chupeco/

@thebiblioblonde picked Heart Land by Kimberly Stuart
https://thebiblioblonde.com/2018/07/23/book-notes-heart-land-by-kimberly-stuart/

@BLBookReviews picked If Kisses Cured Cancer by T S Hawken
http://bookloverbookreviews.com/2018/05/if-kisses-cured-cancer-by-t-s-hawken-review-author-post-book-giveaway.html

@abookaweekblog picked The Broken Girls by Simone St. James
http://e135-abookaweek.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-broken-girls-by-simone-st-james.html

@downthebookhole picked Bring Me Their Hearts by Sara Wolf
https://fallingdownthebookhole.com/2018/07/15/bring-me-their-hearts-by-sara-wolf-arc-review/

@ronniereads picked Lying and Dying by Graham Brack
https://theburgeoningbookshelf.blogspot.com/2018/09/book-review-blog-tour-lying-and-dying.html

@soma_sahni picked Always Never Yours by Emily Wibberley
https://intactawesomeness.wordpress.com/2018/06/09/always-never-yours-book-review-favourite-ya-contemporary-novel-of-this-year/

@mrsscanlan picked The Rules of Seeing by Joe Heap
http://indulgeme.ie/indulgeinbooks-review/?fbclid=IwAR15vsnGv3u_E48UqmqGAwNKp8Q8olR78ASbKlmycEi_P1awUvoZh6lsBIU

@shufflingpaper picked The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
http://www.writersideoflife.com/review-the-great-alone/

@followthehens picked Little by Edward Carey
https://neverimitate.wordpress.com/2018/09/24/book-review-little/

@karlajstrand  picked Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
http://www.karlajstrand.com/2018/02/13/drink-it-in-a-review-of-freshwater-by-akwaeke-emezi/


@BethTabler picked Daytripper by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá
https://beforewegoblog.com/2018/07/11/review-of-daytripper-by-fabio-moon-gabriel-ba/

@thespooniemummy picked Dear Martha, WTF by Tricia LaVoice 
https://thespooniemummy.com/2018/06/11/may-book-reviews/

@debbishdotcom picked Scrublands by Chris Hammer
https://www.debbish.com/books-literature/scrublands-by-chris-hammer/

@bookstormgirl picked Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco
https://bookstormgirl.wordpress.com/2018/09/30/stalking-jack-the-ripper/

What was your favourite read in 2018?


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