3 Year Anniversary

This week’s post is a little bit early as today is the day of my blog anniversary. This anniversary kind of crept up on me I’ll admit; what with everything else going on at the moment, it feels kind of surreal to think that I’ve been doing this for three years.

Time flies when you’re not paying direct attention to it, I guess.

I’ll confess, it definitely doesn’t feel like I’ve been blogging for three years. Over that time, a lot of stuff has happened, and it feels as if my whole life has changed. In many ways for the better, but I feel very different to the girl I was when I started this blog.

For starters, when I started this blog three years ago, my ideas and dreams for it were completely different to what they are now.

I wanted a place to express myself and thought that a blog was the best place to do that. I had very low confidence and felt that writing a blog would help me to feel more confident in myself and my writing, which over time it did.

Nowadays, this blog has become a real cathartic place for me. Writing is my escape from the everyday, and weekly blogging gives me a regular opportunity to write and allows me to make my voce heard on my own terms. Developing a website and platform of my own has given me skills that I wouldn’t have gained otherwise, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to do that.

I’ve also grown up a lot over the last three years, and as I’ve matured, this blog has grown with me in ways I never could have anticipated. I would like to say that over that time, my writing has improved, and I hope you’d agree. I know that I am a stronger and wiser person because of this blog.

This year hasn’t been the easiest, and I know my content has been a bit all over the place, so I want to thank you all for bearing with me. Your support has really helped me through whatever has come my way, this year and all other times, and I’m thankful for all of you.

Everything I’ve accomplished in the last three years wouldn’t have been possible without you. By reading my work, you have given me so much, whether you’ve been here since the beginning or since yesterday, and I could never thank you enough.

So, enough with all the mushiness and on to what I really want to talk about today: I figured that the anniversary of the blog was the perfect time to announce that I have decided to pick a niche for this blog site.

For those of you who don’t know what I mean by that, the niche of a blog, or any kind of social media platform, is essentially it’s topic. Like beauty, or health, or physical activity.

Most creators pick their niche when they launch their platform, and the range of niches is diverse and pretty much endless.

When I started my blog three years ago, I didn’t want to settle on a specific niche. I couldn’t decide on one if I’m quite honest. I loved doing a variety of things, covering all my interests, and I thought that narrowing my blogging down to a niche would restrict me. Given my lack of confidence and experience with blogging, I thought it was best not to restrict myself in any way.

This past month I’ve been reflecting on how I struggled to keep steady with this blog over the first half of this year, and I’ve been thinking that it would be easier for me to keep on track if I did finally settle on a niche.

After deciding that came the tough part; what would my niche be?

A good bit of brainstorming and a fair bit of research into sample blogs from the niches I thought were interesting later, I’ve settled on the niche which I felt I’m most comfortable with: books.

Specifically, the writing of them, the reading of them, the producing of them, the studying of them (at GCSE, A Level and Uni level), the fangirling over them. Anything and everything that relates to being a total book nerd.

I remember there was a time once where I was scared of choosing to be a specific book blogger as I thought it wouldn’t be a popular choice. I worried more about my audience than what suited me, and although I think that was the right decision initially, I now think that it’s best to embrace what suits me.

I also have personal reasons for choosing this niche at this point in time; getting back into reading over this summer has allowed my writing to progress and has helped me to work past a particular bit of writer’s block I’ve been struggling with.

I figure that embracing my passion for books on the blog will enhance my writing, and as that’s my main creative focus these days, I need all the help I can get :)

So, I hope you’ll be on board with me for this next step.

If this direction isn’t your sort of thing, I understand and appreciate that fully and want to thank you for all the time you’ve given me so far. If I can request one little parting favour from you it is that if you know anyone who does like this direction, please direct them this way.

I’ve planned out a few posts for the coming weeks that I hope you’re going to like. Here are a few taster titles to whet your appetite:

- What’s on my bookshelf?

- My top five Agatha Christie novels

- Why you want a Darcy, not a Romeo

- Writer are not like normal people, part 1: the phone

I’d love any and all feedback you can give me on the posts when you read them. Any comments or thoughts I can incorporate into the posts, I will.

Finally, thanks for celebrating my anniversary with me and I hope that we will have another amazing year to celebrate when the next one comes along <3

P.S. just as a quick note, all my past posts are going to stay up, so you'll still be able to access them whenever you’d like.

#roxyelle #anniversary #bookblogger #bookstagram