Blogging Year Number Nine Has Been So Fine!

Posted August 12, 2018 by Lisa Mandina in giveaway / 116 Comments

Wow, it’s been nine years since I started blogging, and I feel like the last two years have been really great, and really busy!  I’ve been so busy this past year in fact, that right now, I am stressed about taking the time to do this post, because I’ve got a bunch of books to finish for reviews this week!  Gah! 
I am slowly working on my scheduling, and I thought I was getting better, and ahead, but let’s just say I’m still working on my time management with review books every once in awhile. There are just so many good ones out there, and with publishers reaching out to me more these days, I have trouble saying no.  
 
That’s how I feel right now with all the books I need to read!  So many e-galleys!  The thing that has stressed me out even more is that in the last two weeks I have somehow lost my Nook, so I’ve had to try to get them all read on my phone.  Which, don’t get me wrong, I read on my phone all the time, but it isn’t as quick as on an actual e-reader that is real book size.  At work today I gave in and bought a new Nook. With my luck, I will find my old one now.  
Let’s talk about a few of the cool things from this past year.  Something little is that I switched to Direct TV and got Starz channel free for a short time, and so got hooked on the Outlander series, and finally started reading and loving the books.  In October I got to finally meet Colleen Hoover, and at that same event joined a Kansas City Book Club, which I haven’t actually gone to a meet-up with yet, but I’ve seen several members at different book events.
In February I spent $100 to get this picture taken (worth every single penny):
At the second annual Kinky in Kansas City, I got to see Amy Daws again:

Then I was busy saving money for my two big trips this past summer.  First was my very first time at the American Library Association annual convention.  It was held in New Orleans, my third time visiting there, luckily I have a friend who has a place he lets me stay there for free, right in the French Quarter!  It was a lot of fun, and I got to meet some favorite authors:

Andrew Smith is the author of one of my favorite books, Grasshopper Jungle.
Tahereh Mafi, love her Shatter Me series.
Now, I actually met Julie Kagawa at my first BEA, but I hadn’t read any of her books then.  Now that I have, it was so cool to get to tell her how much I loved her books in person.
You can check out my full post about ALA HERE. 
Then, I was back home for about a month, which was spent working a ton of hours at my part time job, to save money for my second big trip of the summer, Book Bonanza, in Denver. Book Bonanza was a new convention put on by Colleen Hoover and it had a TON of awesome authors!  Here are a few of my unicorn authors, that it totally made my day to get to finally meet them!
Helena Hunting, author of the Pucked series.  
Cambria Hebert, author of the #Nerd series.
Meghan March, author of the Beneath series.
Now, I could go on and share a ton more pictures from that event, but if you want to see them, you can just go check out my post dedicated to that event HERE. 

Now, let’s get to the part of a blogoversary that everyone looks forward to, the giveaway!  I’ve got three prizes this year.  One will be choosing three books from my books for trade piles in the pictures below.  Now, there may be more added once I finish them this month, since I will keep this giveaway open till the end of August, so I’ll send the winner an updated photo then.  Also, this part of the giveaway is for US only.  Sorry, there will be an international part to this giveaway too.

I’ll probably throw in some swag from my conventions this past year as well!

I’m going to give away a $9.00 gift card to either Amazon or Barnes and Noble, your choice.

And internationally you can pick one of my 5 star reviewed books listed below from The Book Depository, as long as they ship to your country.  Hint:  There will be an option in the Rafflecopter to comment on the reviews below for an entry, one a day!

Just fill out the rafflecopter below to enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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116 responses to “Blogging Year Number Nine Has Been So Fine!”

  1. What Cathy Read Next

    Wow! Nine years blogging is an awesome achievement. I was just congratulating another book blogger on achieving five years earlier and I thought that was impressive. I've only been blogging since November 2016 but I soon realized how much dedication it takes, not to mention the juggling it involves once you start getting inundated with requests from authors and publishers. Hope you continue to enjoy it in the years ahead.

    Reply
    • Lisa Mandina

      Honestly, I just do it because I love reading and books and talking about books. My first few years were nothing like they are now. I can't honestly imagine quitting, even when I get a little stressed, I still want to come and talk about books! Thanks for stopping by! Hope you entered the giveaway.

      Reply
    • Lisa Mandina

      Thanks! I haven't found it yet, but when I was registering my new Nook, it mentioned that my apps hadn't been signed into in 15 days, and that is exactly about how long it has been since I last remember seeing it. So I have to have lost it or accidentally thrown it away. I figure if it was stolen, someone would have checked in and used it, right? Oh well. Thanks for visiting, make sure you enter the giveaway!

      Reply
  5. Danielle H.

    Happy Blogoversary! Thanks for sharing the pictures of you with the authors you met. I really want to meet Julie Kagawa too as I love her Talon series so far. Cheers to many more years of blogging for you!

    Reply
    • Lisa Mandina

      I first read her Immortal Rules series, and loved it, then worked on some of the others. I've only read the first Talon book, but liked it. Thanks for stopping by and make sure to enter the giveaway!

      Reply
    • Lisa Mandina

      Thanks! I pretty much just blog because I love talking about books, and don't have as many people in my life to talk about books with like I do here online. Thanks for visiting! Hope you enter the giveaway!

      Reply
  9. Darlene

    Happy Blogoversary! The pics look like a lot of fun. I wish that there were bookish events close to me. I love your September is for Sequels. I love to try new series, but I'm bad for getting distracted by other new series and never finish the ones that I've started!

    Reply
    • Lisa Mandina

      I am the same way with sequels and series, more so with YA series it seems though, these days. I might do the challenge again, we'll see. Thanks for stopping by, and make sure to enter the giveaway!

      Reply
    • Lisa Mandina

      I remember really getting to know each other then, but I think we probably followed each other before as well. I'm glad we've kept in touch as well. I love following your writing journey, gives me inspiration to keep writing myself! Thanks for stopping by!

      Reply
  15. Dee

    Happy bloggiversary! 9 years is so amazing. I tried blogging a couple of years ago but got burned out so I'm always amazed by people who continue this passion! 🙂

    Reply
    • Lisa Mandina

      Thanks! I just love to talk about books, and I love the opportunity I get to meet more authors this way, or at least it feels like it. Glad you could visit today!

      Reply
  17. Reese K Jones

    Happy blogoversary! ufff, nine years (confession: I just checked the pc time/date to see what year we're on. I swear I know! My brain just spaces out sometimes.) I was in college for over half of those, and that's the mosrt productive I've been this while, so I'm impressed you've managed to run such an organized and complete blog on top of all the RL stuff. You should be proud!
    My fave thing about this blog is how your reviews really let me know what you feel about a book, because when I read I look for things that "hit my buttons" and this type of review is more helpful and entertaining to read (for me!).

    Reply
    • Lisa Mandina

      Glad that you like how I do that with my reviews. It's kind of what I look for when I read other blogs or reviews, so figure I'll stick with that! I have to check the date every year to remember myself, for some reason I always think it is in September, not August, and so get backwards on when to post. Thanks for stopping by, and make sure to enter the giveaway!

      Reply
  32. LB

    I am so jealous you met Colleen Hoover! She said next blog tour she is finally coming to Florida… I hope its near me!! Happy Blogoversary!

    Reply
  36. Anonymous

    Congratulations on 9 years! I tried to get to Book Bonanza but the tickets just weren't there for me. So happy you got to go!

    Reply
    • Lisa Mandina

      Thanks! I found out about it after tickets had already been sold out, but I got on the waiting list and lucked out! It was a blast. Hope you can go to the next one! Thanks for stopping by, and make sure to enter the giveaway!

      Reply
    • Lisa Mandina

      Thanks! Most of my traveling these days seems to center around bookish events, and that is just fine by me! Can't think of a much better way to spend my money. Glad you could stop by, and I hope you entered the giveaway!

      Reply
  48. Olivia-Savannah

    Congratulations on blogging for nine years! I don't even know how many years I have been following your blog for but it has been a while and I've loved every moment, review and conversation <3 Here's to many more!

    Reply
    • Lisa Mandina

      I read such a mixture of both it seems. Probably because I have so many books on my TBR piles that I bought and don't get to right away. Thanks for visiting! Make sure to enter the giveaway!

      Reply
    • Lisa Mandina

      Oh, you just get going and if you like it, you keep going as you feel like it. While I feel like I have a ton that I'm posting now, I don't get stressed because I don't want to post, I get stressed because I feel like it's wrong to do more than one post a day, or a lot more anyway. Thanks for stopping by, make sure to enter the giveaway!

      Reply
    • Lisa Mandina

      I think it just depends on how much time you have and if you feel that is a good use of your time. I know a lot of friends who blogged and don't keep up with it anymore, including the person that encouraged me to start in the first place! Thanks for visiting!

      Reply

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