2021: A Year in Blogs

Ah, 2021: the year that saw 2020’s efforts and said, “Hold my beer.”

Without wanting to dwell on that any longer than strictly necessary, I had a lot of blogging highlights in a low year, and here they are!

January

As ’tis the season every January, I spent a lot of time reflecting on the year that had just passed.

I looked back on all the series and standalone books I read in 2020…
… and went a step further by starting a series of posts on my best books of the last decade, 2010-2020!
For the first Top Ten Tuesday of the year, I thought about books I was excited about in the months to come, and, books on my TBR I was hoping to read (of which I read four out of five!)
And for the first Fangirl Friday of the year, I gushed about one of my first great reads of the year, The Cousins.
My January wrap-up was slim, but good!

In February, because also ’twas the season, I got romantic.

For Top Ten Tuesday, I thought about my five favourite romcoms…
And for a Fangirl Friday, I ranked the songs on evermore, the then-most-recent album from the queen of love songs, Taylor Swift.
I got a little darker after that, with a gush of Ninth House…
… but a romance still won February’s best book of the decade!
Finally, my February wrap-up revealed a lot of romance, but also a hint at the month to come…

March was a month of two things: the Grishaverse, and my first ever March Madness!

For Top Ten Tuesday, I thought about what books I wanted to read over spring (three of which I eventually read).
But then my blog was taken over by running a March Madness bracket, where my followers picked my April TBR! This was so much fun, I’m already excited for the second one in two months’ time–you can see the rounds of voting here!
March’s Best of the Decade winner came as no real surprise to me, as I’d already gushed about it on the blog, a year before.
And March’s wrap-up was dominated, as mentioned, by the Grishaverse!

April’s blog seemed to bring together all the results from the last month.

First things first, April saw the results of March Madness.
And, equally fun, I was nominated for two blogger tag awards: the Outstanding Blogger award, and the Mystery Blogger Award!
Following on from March’s dominated TBR, April’s Fangirl Fridays were dominated by three Grishaverse gushes…
… while for Top Ten Tuesday, I got to gush about my favourite bookish pets.
April’s Best of the Decade was a long-standing favourite…
… and April’s Wrap-Up wrapped a lot of blog themes up, too!

May was a month of trying to find bookish balance.

I started May thinking about spring, with a Top Ten Tuesday about nature…
… and spent two Fangirl Fridays on the theme of nature vs nurture, breaking down The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
In a much less heavy post, I gushed about one of my 2021 favourites , Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda…
… and later about one of my all-time favourite books, when it won May’s Best of the Decade!
And May’s Wrap-Up was still chock-full of March Madness winners.

June was a month heavy on all the feels, with my turning 30 making me all emotional!

It started on Top Ten Tuesday, where I spoke about books that mean a lot to me…
… and continued over three Fangirl Fridays, where I spoke about characters, fictional worlds, and books that made me the person (30-year-old!) I am today.
Even June’s Best of the Decade was emotional, with the winner being a birthday gift that made me happy-cry!
And then there was June’s wrap-up , which featured a lot of birthday gifts–a great bookish month all around!

The birthday goodness bled into July’s posts.

I celebrated my birthday book haul and gushed about Malibu Rising, a book from that haul.
That turning-thirty sentimentality also carried over into a Top Ten Tuesday, in which I talked about reasons I love reading.
And the turning-thirty-must-make-changes sentimentality continued into July, too, when I started two scary blog series: sharing my own writing, in Flashbacks and Freewrites! July’s Flashback was a poem I wrote for my degree about becoming yourself, and July’s Freewrite was about being old and thinking about youth (go figure).
July’s Best of the Decade winner was a sequel to a series I have a lot of sentimental value for…
… and July’s wrap-up involved a character I saw myself in, for the first time in a long time. All the feels!

August saw a return to normality from the over-sentimentality… Mostly.

I spent one Top Ten Tuesday giving some love to the angry girls, and another giving some love to my fictional crushes, because I am a true Gemini.
On the subject of crushes, my August gush was on my then-most-recent CLo read–while another CLo read took August’s Best of the Decade.
My August writing evened out the balance, though, with a Flashback poem about gossip, and a Freewrite about parental love and pregnancy exasperation.
But my August wrap-up took it back to romance, because who doesn’t want a summer of love?

When I think about September, I think about taking the first holiday I’ve had in about a decade–but book-wise…

I thought about the changing season for a Top Ten Tuesday, when I considered my autumn TBR (of which I only managed to read two).
But I also thought of summer in my September gush, on one of my favourite 2021 reads!
Writing-wise, my Flashback was the only poem in a 200-line collection that my uni tutor liked, and my Freewrite, of a grandpa taking his wife and grandchild to the zoo, was my favourite yet.
Romance won out again for September’s Best of the Decade…
… but horror won for my September wrap-up!

What else could October be filled with if not content for the spooky season, the most wonderful time of the year?

I started with a seasonal Flashback collection of Halloween haikus…
… then devoted an entire Fangirl Friday to my Halloween crafts…
… and even laid out my Halloween TBR for a Top Ten Tuesday.
My Freewrite was a little spooky, with a father-of-four bravely preparing to explore the horrors of his Lokiesque ten-year-old’s pockets…
… and my October gush was family-focused, too, in the best way: on The Once and Future Witches!
A Halloween book won October’s Best of the Decade…
… and of course, the season dominated October’s wrap-up. Honestly, what else?

November is one of my favourite months of the year: National Novel Writing Month. But in terms of blogging…

I shared my first short story for my Flashback, and resolved October’s Freewrite by revealing exactly what was in those pockets!
I gushed about one of my favourite 2021 reads, Mexican Gothic...
… and sought out recommendations in a Top Ten Tuesday that was supposed to be devoted to giving them.
November’s Best of the Decade was full of past uni reads, but the winner was very deserving!
And November’s wrap-up was very slim–though I guess that’s to be expected in a month devoted to writing!

Which brings us to the recently-passed December, and another month of summaries.

I thought a lot about my favourite 2021 reads for a Top Ten Tuesday, though I already want to sub in In a Holidaze…
… which, unsurprisingly, was the subject of December’s gush!
Just as I did with Halloween, I blogged about some Christmas crafting.
And, appropriately, December’s Flashback was a poem I created with Christmas in mind, through a found poetry exercise.
December’s Freewrite was very seasonal, about an unpleasant New Year’s surprise…
… but December’s Best of the Decade was all about festive joy…
… as was December’s wrap-up!