Happy 10th Birthday (Decaversary?), Bookwyrming Thoughts

LOOK, MA, THE BLOG MADE IT TO TEN YEARS!

Blogoversaries (blogiversaries?) have historically been something I skipped/forgotten, but this year is a bit of a momentous one in a way that I don’t think it would be okay if I actually skipped it. Because it’s not just any blogoversary, it’s the 10th blogoversary (decaversary?). And that’s a pretty freaking big deal.

I also wrote this end of September so I wouldn’t forget about it near the end of October… and then ultimately decide not to write a post at all. Will my November self have regrets over this post and want to hide it? Probably. But that could apply to any post if I want to be honest with myself.

Once upon a time in 2012… (in a blog far, far away…)

Ten years ago, on November 2, 2012, a very naive and small-sized Sophia published her very first blog post on this blog. It was probably unhinged, like many of her posts back then (and maybe some of her posts now, but we don’t talk about that), but it made her happy, even if it was mostly in the void. She was a mere 15-year-old and had just entered her first year of high school, having just come to terms that blogging about games (or maybe just one game specifically) just wasn’t for her after approximately five months.

Most importantly, she had no clue what the hell she was doing (she still doesn’t sometimes).

So she launched that blog post with just a mere sliver of hope that she wouldn’t quit after five months like her first blog, after spending two months figuring out how she wanted her blog to look and the perfect name (or what she felt was) for it. Because it would be a tragedy for her small self if she quit after working very hard (so she thought) and thinking it was Excellent™.

Never in her wildest dreams did she think she would be blogging a decade later, in 2022. She genuinely, genuinely thought she would stop after six months, maybe a year. Heck, maybe after four years, when she started college and when society deems people who have graduated from high school to be somewhat or fully independent. In reality, she still needs her mom to kill spiders because they terrify her greatly.

And yet, she’s still here.

Happy 10th birthday to this blog, you’ve made it to the double-digits!

Decaversaries are hard to come by, given that over the years, I’ve seen a lot of bloggers who have disappeared or quit after a few months or years. Every time I go back into my blogroll and see a name I feel like I haven’t visited in a hot minute, and then visit only to find out they haven’t written a post for years, it always sends a sad pang.

Uni (or adulting) tends to get nearly everyone in its clutches, though, I’m no exception. Blogging probably just became my coping mechanism and happy place.

I think out of all of my blogging friends (the few I had) from the beginning, maybe Roberta from Offbeat YA (who recently turned ten as well!) is still around. I’m sure there are more around, though, like Ruby from Bookishly Ruby, who I didn’t get to meet until we ended up on a Discord server together since we blog about vastly different bookish topics (we would never have, honestly).

But anyways, we’re not here to be mopey because blogoversaries, especially decaversaries (still can’t decide if I should just say 10th blogoversary/blogiversary), are a cause for celebration. I’ve spent the past year trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to do, and one of them was actually a makeover (new decade, new look) that I pushed to last year instead since we had plans to move homes this year (which later fell through).

Nothing honestly seemed right (I already did a here’s how I continued blogging for so long post), so I finally opted for a ramble/personal reflection post with a reintroduction.

Going down memory lane (spoiler: I get sappy really quick)

When you start blogging at an early age like I did, blogging becomes such a huge, integral part of life and even my personality (to an extent). It probably sounds weird, but I won’t lie: I’ve thought about quitting a few times over the years and had more than a few existential crises regarding the blog name.

After all, the name did come from a 15-year-old who was carefree and loved that she had a little online corner where she could talk about her little books. Quite different compared to someone now in her mid-20s.

It took time, but I’m honestly pretty fond of the blog name after long debating what name would fit better and keep the dragon. “Bookwyrming Thoughts” may be long, but it fits. Plus, I get to keep my dragon, which subconsciously, I think I chose because it’s a nod to my Chinese roots because dragons are an integral part of our culture (even if purple dragons aren’t a thing). I think feeling the name fits is all that matters in the end (and it’s become part of my brand).

For those who have been around from the beginning, you’ve pretty much seen me grow up and cross quite a few milestones (at least what I choose to reveal online). I mean, you’ve seen me from my ups and downs, from:

• getting my first job
• graduating high school
• getting my first internship
• contributing to another website (The Arts STL)
• graduating college
• getting my first full-time job after graduating

You’ve been there from the very first design giving huge “Graphic Design is My Passion” energy, the changing cursors from Pikachu to Hello Kitty, the years when I graduated from a dark background to changing color palettes (and design) of the blog to match the season, the multiple times I’ve broken the blog, and when I decided to diverge from book-related posts to movies and TV shows, music (even if it’s just one post a year) and even back to gaming. The last one is a little ironic, and while the last gaming-related post was in 2019 from Lupe, it feels a bit full circle in a way.

You’ve been there in the years when I thought blog posts were like school papers and indented every paragraph and realized five years later, “Why is everyone not indenting? OHHH.” (No one told me, omg, can’t believe you all would let me do that for years. Maybe that was endearing.) You’ve been there when I finally, finally figured out a color palette that worked out for the blog and this thing called branding, and finally got the dragon I’ve always thought fit the blog (still can’t figure out their name…) after moving from Blogger to WordPress. Everyone was probably relieved by then — “finally, Sophia has her branding ducks more together.”

And you’ve been there when the makeover happened last year and the subsequent rebranding that occurred with it. That’s a lot in the grand scheme of things if you ask me, even if a lot of my monthly wrap-ups are very much “life was very boring; I ate food, slept, worked, repeat cycle.”

Wow, that got sappy really quickly.

All of that said, much like book blogging has evolved over the years, I’ve grown a lot over the past decade as I transitioned from a teen to a young adult, and I guess I’m now an adult(?). There’s been a lot of changes over the years, and not just in the blog itself in terms of writing style and content. It truly feels surreal this little blog of mine has been around for ten whole years.

Who do I even thank? (spoiler: I get sappier)

I don’t even know where to begin with my list of people to thank over the years because it’s probably a mile long. I’ve always struggled with this, honestly; maybe it’s why I tend to skip these posts because I sometimes feel like it’s obligatory to include a list. And probably why I’m not winning an Oscar or Emmy or even a Grammy…

I’m truly grateful for everyone who has been here, whether it’s from the moment I wrote my first blog post and following my journey over the years or even if it was from a post you stumbled upon somewhere on the internet and decided, “this person seems pretty cool; I’m going to stick around.”

(Lots of power to you if you came to my Meteor Garden 2018 reboot review and stuck around because I know I don’t post about Asian dramas that much, even though I hope to do more of those. You probably came for the dramas, but you likely stayed for the books.)

But here’s a small handful of people who deal with my chaotic shenanigans on a regular/semi-regular basis:

• Roberta from Offbeat YA – I’m glad you’re still around in the blogging world and that we became friends really early on. I don’t know if you were my first follower like I was apparently your first follower, but sometimes it feels like this was the case (so we’ll assume that, yes, you were). Our friendship started out from a follow train back when follow trains were for the purpose of creating friendships and not just to boost numbers, and it’s turned into a friendship where we now yell GOOD MORNING on each other’s blog posts sometimes.
• Clo from Cuppa Clo – If I actually left you off this list, I think I’d get a message somewhere in less than 24 hours telling me off saying, “HEY. YOU LEFT ME OFF. HOW COULD YOU.” I have zero regrets about chucking you into a K-Pop and Asian drama hole, and I love our regular DMs. It would feel weird without a Clo screaming about something on a near-daily basis.
  • Also, happy late birthday! I’m glad this blog’s birthday is the day after yours (it would be cooler if it were the same day, haha). It kind of feels like destiny that you’re one of my closest blogging friends.
  • If we stopped procrastinating, maybe we’d have the collab posts we keep talking about finally published. That’s not a callout on both of us, but it truly is.
• Jayati from It’s Just a Coffee Addicted Bibliophile – I think you’d tell me off, too, lol. Our texts bring me joy, and I’m glad you’re one of my birthday buddies.
• Kal from Reader Voracious – AKA Spreadsheet, Email, and Data Queen. I love our buddy reads and geeking out over data and other things with you; I’m absolutely honored to know you and have you as one of my friends.
• Suhani from Random Reader’s Rambles – We’ve only known each other for less than a year (and therefore less than everyone else on this list), but your blog comments bring me joy (even if I’m terrible at blog hopping and replying to comments) and make my day when I see them. I’m really glad our paths have crossed, and I love our buddy reads as well! One day we’ll get our ducks together.

A Few Highlights and Stats (I’m not as sappy, but I’m proud)

Because they’re kind of fun to do, and it’ll be more fun to come back to in a decade from now (or even five years), assuming I’m still blogging. Cue a happy tear sliding down one side of the face.

Total Pageviews: ~302,600

When I first started drafting this post (hahaha, bold of you to assume I edited much; I deserve to ramble for once here) and looked at my stats, I was sitting at ~298,600 total pageviews. Getting 300,000 in time for the blog’s 10th birthday didn’t even feel possible (but definitely close).

Let’s just say that didn’t age well at all. In fact, it aged quite poorly.

Total Published Posts: 258

I don’t think anyone would remember, but there were definitely a lot of blog posts, according to my sixth blogoversary post. I did delete a huge chunk of them, though, because while they’re fun to go back to and see how much I’ve grown since back then, it was a lot of work to rebrand them all. Hard but necessary choices were made. I won’t miss them… much.

(I’m a little curious if combined, I would’ve had 1,500 posts… that’s too much math for me; we’re not doing it.)

Most Popular Post: Meteor Garden (2018 reboot) Review

I don’t think this is a surprise, as I revealed in my 2021 highlights and 2022 goals post that my review for the 2018 Meteor Garden reboot became my top review and post of all time* by around April – June 2021. For those curious, this was previously held by my review of The Shadow Glass by Rin Chupeco!

Unfortunately, for both posts, my review for Love Between Fairy and Devil is quickly became a contender for the top post, and it’s already the second most popular post of all time. You’ll have to stay tuned to see if this knocks a certain post off its podium by the end of the year.

(It actually brings me a lot of joy that my top three posts are reviews for Asian dramas and a book by an Asian author.)

A (Re)introduction! (I’m definitely not sappy)

So… I never did an introduction post. I just started posting, and that was that, so is it really a reintroduction, or is it a long overdue introduction? Either way, I thought it would be fun to do this after seeing Kat from Life and Other Disasters do one for her eighth blogoversary. As Kat puts really well in her post: “My style, the content of the blog, me as a person, have all changed over the years, and so has the audience here.”

I’ve always struggled to talk about myself and put myself out there. Is this why I skipped the first time because, deep down, I just wanted to slide right on into the community?

Anyways… let’s jump in!

I’m Sophia, a Chinese-Vietnamese American* from St. Louis, Missouri. I like playing games, listening to k-pop and c-pop, and plushies. I probably have a gif for everything.

*I tend to be more comfortable identifying as Chinese, mostly because my upbringing has been heavily influenced by Chinese culture rather than Vietnamese. Long story short, it’s complicated, and I often feel like an imposter in my own skin.

I started my first blog over the game Wizard101 in February 2012 when I saw official fansites were creating posts, and I thought it was cool (plus, I wanted my own corner). While I no longer play the game (and consequently no longer blog about it), I still hold it close to my heart.

On average, I read about 50 books a year, although since I graduated from college and no longer have to worry about papers and assignments, this has since increased to 100-200 books. I’m very much a mood reader, and while I read across a variety of genres, I tend to gravitate toward fantasy and science fiction the most. I also have a huge soft spot for books featuring Asian characters by Asian authors since I grew up with little representation and took whatever scraps I could get.

As such, I gravitate toward Asian dramas and music a lot, although I also listen to other music and watch other shows. I occasionally review Asian dramas, and I hope I get to do more of those in the future (when I’m feeling up for it)!

Unlike a lot of book bloggers, I actually didn’t get into reading like fish to water; in fact, according to my mom, I hated it, and she pretty much had to sit down and make reading a game to get me to read. My love for reading didn’t really begin until I got into middle school, and I didn’t become an obsessed reader until I started this blog. (My mother probably didn’t have this on her bingo card.) Maybe this is partially why I eventually gravitated out of blogging solely about books and into other interests.

Wow, that actually turned out longer than I thought. I think I’ll shut up now.

Here’s to more blogging years!

And here’s to more memories as well. I hope you’ll stick around longer with my chaotic shenanigans, however long they may last (I did renew my domain for a few years so I don’t forget about it, though, so I think I’ll be around a little while longer).

Side note: will I post anything for 11 years, or will I just skip it very casually and sneak by like the blogging dinosaur I am because there are only so many blogoversary post ideas I can do? Who wants to place their bets lol.