When I sat down to write the post, I didn't know what the crap I was going to say. I looked back on last year's blogiversary post and found that, I didn't really want to do what I did last year for my post. I talked about my stats that year, what authors I've met, and all that but I didn't really want to do that this year. (I'm still doing Thank You's...don't worry.) So, I'm sitting here now, with no idea on what I am going to write about, because really I don't want to reflect on stats or the top viewed posts.

No, today I am going to talk about 5 things blogging has taught me; 5 lessons one is for sure going to pick up from blogging. So don't expect any stats, story about how I got to this blog, or lists from this post because you won't get it. You can see all that in last year's post. Other than enjoy.

And, here we go!

5 lessons blogging has taught me:

1. The best time to edit any writing is a few days after you've written it

I used to not even edit my writing. (If you go back far enough, you'll find my unedited reviews...don't do that though.) Yeah, it's that bad. I have found that if you sit on your work (not like...literally but) for a few days and come back to it, you'll find ways to reword things, find that some statements are unclear, or statements to add on. Authors definitely use this way when editing but you can definitely apply  This is pretty important to me because well duh, it improves your writing and who doesn't want their best writing published into the world?

2. Internet friends come and go very easily
When I look back at the list of people who I considered friends last year it saddens me to say that the list has really changed. I see people who I haven't had a conversation with for so many months. It's really important to always be in contact with the people who you want to be good friends with. Getting one's phone number and texting often is really important and will keep your friendship going. Internet friends are a lot more different than other friendships. They're a lot easier to come and go therefore, if you find someone on this interweb that you really like, hold onto them because they can be gone very easily.

3. How to say no
One of the mistakes every blogger will make is not having the ability to say no, especially when it comes to being asked to review author's book. I used to never say no and that gave me much stress because I felt so pressured to read this book that I didn't want to read because I just didn't want to say no and pass this opportunity to read and review a book. Overtime, as time becomes limited to read, I have started to become picky about what books I read. It's something that must happen if I wanted to make the most out of the limited I had to read. I started to say no to more authors if I was genuinely not interested in their book and that saved me a lot of stress and pressure to reading and reviewing their book. And let me enjoy reading a lot more.

4. Being organized can save you
I have had moments (*cough* aka days) where things had gone forgotten, I didn't write down dates, or I just lost it and things that were supposed to happen didn't. I am a very organized person so I always know when I need to collect myself and re-organize my life, basically. Blogging is not easy, there are many dates to remember, people to talk to, and not being organized with that information can really affect how people (publishers) see your blog and the blogger behind the blog. Stay organized. Know what's going on, and be on top of it. Blogging is such a great thing but there are many parts ot it so you must have some way to organize everything.

5. Not having a plan isn't as bad as having a plan

If you don't already know, I am a planner. I like lists, calendars, ANYTHING that will keep me organized and on top of it. As I stopped having a lot of time to blog and read, I found that having a plan of what I wanted to post for the month stressed me out to no ends. I was already pretty stressed about the fact that school was consuming my life. Now, add the stress of trying to find time to read (and completely failing), and keeping up with blogging (and failing as well). I stopped planning what I was going to post and it stressed me out less because I didn't have anything to stick to? This review not finished yet? No worries! I don't have a plan on when I'm planning to post it! I'll just do it another day! Eventually, this resulted me in posting a lot less but even with the plan of what I wanted to post, I probably wouldn't have gotten the post up anyway, because I just simply didn't have time at all to do anything book related for a long stretch of time. Be organized, but sometimes it's okay to not want to be held down by a blogging plan or something like that. School before blogging. Always remember that. Blogging will still be here when you find time to return to it again, so don't be afraid to cut yourself loose from posting often if you simply can't.

Thank You's

To the people who have stuck with me for 2 years now. You guys have been there since I started taking this blogging thing seriously and I thank you guys for that. To more years together!

Amber / Cristina / Genissa / Jacquelyn / Jessica / Jessica / Kaitlin / Lauren / Nori / Serena / Willa /Aneeqah / Annie / Nova / Rachel / Mishma / Andrew / Claire

To everyone who I become good friends with this year. You guys have caught me within the days where I was somewhat pretty steady with this blogging thing and it's been a joy to watch you guys and your blog grow.

So, after a very long time of going back and forth on what I wanted to giveaway, I have decided to not giveaway books (although, I would love to have enough money to do that) but something that can very much relate to books, POP! Funkos! I've recently started collecting these so I thought it would be fun to give two of these away to one lucky winner. Enter down below, you have until my birthday, July 29, to enter, and good luck! Note: POP! Funkos must be listed on Amazon under Prime. Also, US only

a Rafflecopter giveaway