It is with much sadness that today I say goodbye to Trish's Reading Nook. I have been blogging here just shy of three years with 367 posts. Many of you have probably noticed my absence over the past five months. I've had some incredibly happy things happen--a new house and a new position at work--that have kept me busy and some sad things that have prevented me from spending too much time online. In the past five months I've experienced major blogger burnout and for a multitude of reasons I've decided it's time for me to hang up my hat here.
The past three years have been amazing. I've met some wonderful wonderful people and I've been stretched and pulled in directions I could have never imagined. The love of books in this community has been a constant joy for me and I would have never experienced this joy if not for blogging, reading challenges, and different blogging events such as the 24-hour-readathon. I've read things I never thought I'd read and been introduced to authors I was unfamiliar with. I've added hundreds of books to my shelves and even more to my wishlist. I've met bibliophiles from all corners of the world and connected on all different levels. And I've read more than probably all other years combined. I wouldn't trade these experiences for anything.
I want to thank everyone who took the time to leave me a comment, took the time to get to know me and allow me to get to know them, took the time to participant in my reading challenges (Classics Challenge, Non-Fiction Five Challenge, and even the 100 Mile Fitness Challenge). Thank you to the publishers and authors who have sent me books over the past two years. And finally thank you to the community for taking me in and allowing me to grow with you. According to Feedburner I currently have over 500 subscribers and I'm constantly baffled as that number continues to climb and grow even as my blogging has waned. I would have never imagined so many people would take an interest in my thoughts on books! And let me tell you that's a tough thing to give up--quite scary actually.
But with 500 subscribers also comes the pressure of maintaining this blog. Self-inflicted pressure, of course, but nonetheless. Without going too much into the negative (because, really what does it matter what my opinions are about the evolution of book blogging over the past several years), I simply feel as though I need to scale down a bit and simplify my blogging habits. I have started blogging again (although not bloghopping yet) and after months of mulling things over I've decided the best thing is to combine my efforts into one blog. Friends have asked if it might not be simpler to transfer my other blogging to this blog, but I kind of like the idea of a fresh start. And it is tough knowing that I've put hours and hours into this blog and hours and hours more into cultivating relationships with other bloggers and maintaining my place within the community. Of course I'll always consider myself a book blogger because that's how I started, but I don't want to be just a book blogger any longer. I want to have freedom to blog about what I would like to blog and I don't feel that I have that here. Silly, I know, but if you've been following for a while you know that my feelings are not always rational. :)
I'd love to invite you to visit me at my other blog: Love, Laughter, and Insanity. It is a blog where I post about personal aspects of my life but I have transfered all 367 posts and 7,000 comments from this blog over there--and in a way book blogging is personal as well. I do hope to continue blogging about books because I love writing about my feelings of what I read. I do plan to start bloghopping again--my apologies for not being around much these past five months. Whether or not you've missed me I have missed you and the interaction. Simply put I've felt overwhelmed and have needed to take a few months to clear my head and find my place. I partially feel like I'm running away from this blog, but I need a place that can be inclusive of all my blogging.
Plans for this blog. I'm not sure. For now I'm going to devote it entirely to the Non-Fiction Five Challenge. If you're signed up for the challenge, no worries--nothing will change. I'll probably change the name of the blog from Trish's Reading Nook to NFF and after that...I don't know. Honestly I don't want to think that far in advance. Classics Challenge is currently going on at its own blog (same as past two years).
Man--if I hit that "publish post" button this is really official huh? :)
Best Wishes and Happy Reading,
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Come visit me at my new blog: Love, Laughter, and a Touch of Insanity
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