Simply put, this year was amazing.
Some highlights included: getting an agent, getting a book deal (!), watching my CP get a book deal, celebrating a best friend’s marriage, meeting twitter friends IRL, finishing TAKEN revisions and sending it to copy editing, hosting Read for Relief, spending Fourth of July at the lake house with family, waking up next to the Engineer each and every day, re-doing my office, maintaining this blog, chatting with all you lovely followers, driving to the Manchester airport with the Engineer to watch plans fly overhead from a vacant parking lot on a random summer night for no reason other than the fact that we could, reading, writing, and reading some more.
During all that reading, I devoured some amazing books, but since I’ve already spent a ton of time creating “best of” lists, let’s talk about something else… What you read on this blog, and the content that was most loved over the course of 2011 according to google analytics. If you’re new(ish) to the blog, here’s what you may have missed that others seemed to find noteworthy:*
My top 10 posts of 2011
#10 My query process, or, How to not lose your mind while querying — January 26
#9 A little story about my critique partner (In which my CP sells her book) — October 4
#8 Battling Fear — April 21
#7 Beating a “Case of the Mondays” with fabulous news (In which I announce signing with my agent) — January 24
#6 On book ratings (In which I discuss my preference for written reviews over star ratings) — November 21
#5 LAICOS has a new title! (In which I introduce you to TAKEN) — November 11
#4 Why you should read every hardcover with the book jacket off — August 18
#3 Amazing news (In which I announce my book deal) — April 6
#2 Keep calm and carry on (In which I give you free desktop artwork) — May 6
#1 Is it dystopia? A flowchart for decoding the genre — July 14
I’m incredibly (and perhaps unnecessarily) proud that this flowchart snagged the #1 spot. It was so much fun to make and it was amazing to watch it travel around the interwebs. I occasionally spot it on tumblr and it always makes me smile.
Top 10 and “best of” lists aside, I just wanted to let you all know that I am incredibly honored and thrilled to be on this journey with you. Thank you all, for following my blog these past months and leaving your thoughts in the comments. Thank you for dealing with my sporadic posting schedule,** for being excited for TAKEN, and for celebrating my publishing milestones alongside me. It means so much. It’s funny how the internet separates us, so literally, and yet brings us together in a way that still feels intimate. Many of you I have not met in-person, and yet your personalities are always so clear in the comments. I feel like I truly know you. You guys make me smile. Each and every day.
I hope this next year is just as awesome as 2011. I can’t wait to get to know you all better, to meet some of you in-person,*** to make new friends along the way. The apocalypse better not happen because, damn, I’m really excited for 2012.
Happy New Years, everyone! See you on the flip side.
* Let it be known that I did NOT include posts that were giveaways, as those obviously get extra traffic for having freebies attached.
** Oh who am I kidding; I don’t have a schedule.
*** You especially, Katy Upperman. We need to make this happen. And April! We need to bust out a calendars, CP. One of these days in 2012 we are going to meet up and talk books/puppies/fall/food/publishing.
