Year Wrap Up {2}: Blogging Over 2018, Life Highlights, Reading in 2018, 2019 Goals, And More!

this is very late but

2018 in one word: vacillating

Ok so I’m doing this intro for the SECOND time because IT DIDN’T SAVE THE FIRST TIME FGJSBGKUBSEGUSDBIGNDFIGND. If that’s not demonstrative of this year, I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS OK?

This year was great, terrible, bitter, happy… ALL AT THE SAME DAMN TIME AND I DON’T KNOW HOW TO FEEL ABOUT THAT, ALRIGHT? Sure there were some okay moments, but there were some pretty sucky ones too.

SO OBVIOUSLY, I’m my Cake Queenly fashion, I’M HERE TO RANT ABOUT THAT. OKAY?

Cool.

top blogging moments of 2018

wHoA these exist? I’m surprised too, from the LACK OF BLOGGING THAT HAPPENED THIS YEAR. (towards the end)

• So I came out online!! FACE, SEXUALITY, ORIENTATION. All of it. Obviously, that took some guts for me, and I just had to DO IT but it’s so amazing to have a little corner of the internet where I can just be out about my sexuality and orientation and not have to worry and just be chill and express my super angsty thoughts in a comical fashion. SEE MY COMING-OUT SERIES HERE.
• I wrote more discussions posts!! This is something that I REALLY wanted to happen this year. I feel so much more confident approaching a discussion now, too. This time last year I would have talked myself out of a discussion post 1000 times over and would have panicked and worried over every itty bitty part of it. SO THAT’S MKING ME FEEL SUPER CHUFFED.
• I just think my posts were more varied?? I’m happy that I did less review followed by review followed by review, and more whatever this whatever that and it just worked way better. I just loved blogging so much at the start of this year, (cough before exams and before college) and it was just such a chill, free thing.
• I JUST LOVED WRITING THE POSTS THAT I WROTE THIS YEAR!! I can genuinely say that I loved writing every post (sans the really angsty ones) that I wrote, every discussion that I started, ALL OF IT.

worst blogging moments of 2018

• Obviously, during exams and now that college has started I’ve been blogging less and less and losing the momentum that I had at the start of the year. I think that’s just me learning to balance A LOT more work and HOPEFULLY, in 2019 I WILL just… sort out my life (lol don’t we all hope)
• I just didn’t feel THAT ‘bookish’ this year? I just felt less “booky” and I don’t even know why. Maybe it’s the lack of reviews because literally, all I talk about on here is books.
• OKAY MASSIVE FAILURE THIS YEAR: communicating with other bloggers!! I’ve been super bad at replying to comments and with college starting and generally blogging less, I’ve been reading fewer posts from people too WHICH IS SO BAD AND SADDENS ME. I love love LOVE reading people’s posts. This is definitely a goal for next year!!
• Gonna end this here before it gets too negative!!

2019 blogging goals

• talk to more people online!! communicate!! maybe set up a group chat with loads of bloggers?
• COLLABS!!! MORE COLLABS!!
• REPLY TO COMMENTS!!
• just keep going with posts!! I know that realistically I won’t be able to fling myself into blogging the moment that 2019 starts, but I’m hoping to be able to smash out a few posts a month.
• Get a little bit more organised!!!!!! PLAN POSTS??? maybe??? (look at me being all.. productive..ew

top life moments of 2018

• Finishing exams!!!! that was an end to such a stressful time and THANK THE LORD IT’S OVER.
• Collecting my exam certificates and prizes at graduation!! This moment was so satisfying and I was so happy to move on from high school and have the chance to see all my teachers again and thank them. I don’t think that there are really words that sum up how satisfying graduating is.
• The Summer Holidays:
• – Pride!!: this was AMAZING. I just. speechless. all the feelings
• – Nice, France: THIS WAS GORGEOUS. I used to live there when I was younger so it was so nice to go back because we really don’t go back often!! We saw loads of our friends and it was just SO NICE.
• – Cornwall: this was SO RELAXING. It was the perfect trip to go on after my exams, seeing my dad and just having a chill routine for a bit was THE NICEST THING.
• Starting college. this was great, I was so ready to go to a new place, and meet new people. I was so excited to start all my new courses (which are going well) and I JUST LIKE IT. IT’S STRESS THOUGH.

worst life moments of 2018

• just not being that organised until college started??? genuinely made things a little bit tricky!!
• THE STRESS: I was so so stressed about my exams and it definitely affected me a lot more than I thought that it was going to. And now college benchmarks have started properly I know what to expect, and I was thoroughly stressed the first time around so now I know how to prepare for the next ones!
• There weren’t LOADS of bad moments in 2018 if I’m honest!! nothing that I can remember anyway!

2019 life goals

• stay organised!! how this is going to be done –> BULLET JOURNAL!! that’s right lads… I’ve made the jump and finally caved into my compulsions to start a bullet journal. I’VE WANTED TO FOR YEARS.
• Stick to the bullet journal!!!
• Stay positive. I think that being more organised will help as things won’t feel as overwhelming/manic if I take a teeny bit of control over my life and try and get things together.

reading over 2018

you can see more about this here about my overall top ten 2018 reads and where I vaguely talk about my YEAR. LONG. READING. SLUMP. Just constantly falling in and out of slumps. It’s a miracle that I finished ONE book, to be honest.

Obviously, I’m going to take a moment to complain about that here too. sjgbkesjbgjksbgjksdbgjkrdlshbfkdjnxsiowqeifonwfip!!

But, the books I did read, I ended up rereading (eg. foxhole court, carry on) and I did so multiple times!! I LOVED IT!! Do not underestimate the power of the reread.

TOP THREE READS:

1. Dear Martin —This was my first read of the year and BOY OH BOY, this tore out my heart. I think that I read it in one sitting and I remember just wanting to read it over and over again. This, like THUG, is such a poignant novel and I SUPER DUPER recommend it to everyone. 
2. Autoboyography —WHAT A READ. I sobbed like a baby throughout this book, and I seriously cannot even describe how MUCH this book means to me. You can see my review here, where I go into MASSES of detail about the importance of this book.
3. Carry On —WHAT ANOTHER AMAZING GAY BOOK. Filled with heartwarming wit and British humour, cherry scones, magic and gay. Could anything be more perfect? This is the absolute epitome of disaster Gay^tm and I LOVE IT. 

reading goals for 2019

1. read 35 books. I know it’s not LOADS per se, but I just want a really chill year, where I don’t have to worry about how much I’m reading. This averages 2.916 books per month which isn’t that bad!!
2. don’t worry about rereads!! I read loads of rereads last year and I LOVED IT! They’re fun!! and when you’re stressed I find it so much easier to reread because I don’t really have to pay that much attention??? makes sense?? REREAD MORE THIS YEAR!
3. don’t worry about keeping up with new releases!!  we all know, theoretically, that we cannot POSSIBLY keep up with ALL the new releases, YET, INSANELY, MY BRAIN THINKS I SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO THAT? what is wrong with it and why doesn’t it have any chill? I question my sanity. 
4. CONTINUE TO READ MORE AND MORE DIVERSELY. I’ve been reading a lot more LGBTQIA+ books and it’s so refreshing and I really hope to keep on reading more and more books with different religions etc because they have such important messages about marginalised groups in society that need to be talked about *ends here before this turns into a rant*

how was your reading in 2018? what are your reading goals for 2019? Let me know!