Hi guys…
Today I’m extremely happy (like flying-in-the-air-happy) to announce that The Reading Bud has turned into a 1 year old baby. I can’t believe how fast this year went! It seems like yesterday when I said to Vishal (V), “I’m thinking that I should start a blog for reviewing books…” and he encouraged me to go ahead by upgrading my library membership to the platinum package in which they deliver unlimited books at home. I remember him telling me “Go ahead and make me proud.”
I had no clue what book-blogging even meant that time. V encouraged me to go ahead and his unwavering trust in me led me to start a book-blog in January. I’m so, so, so happy that I did… ❤
I started this blog on blogger with the same name “The Reading Bud” with very short and awkward reviews but slowly and steadily I started to learn and absorb from other awesome bloggers and reviewers. While setting up TRB if someone would have told me that within a year it will be so flooded with review requests that I’ll have to be looking for review-contributors, then I would have laughed… But now I’m so proud to say that it turned out to be a great journey and that too an amazing one!
I hope that you are proud of me dadda. I love you so much! TRB would not have been possible without your love and support (and also the suggestion of the very name.)
The whole year (March’14-March’15), I read and reviewed like crazy and this was the first time that I spent an entire year without getting even a single panic attack due to over stressing on useless matters. The entire year was like a dream and I’m planning to spend the rest of my life pretty much the same way (of course, with the exception of writing my own books, which again will be like a super awesome dream!)
When I look back at this year today, I can say without a speck of doubt that with TRB, even I’ve grown as a person, not just the awesome transition from 23 years old to 24 but also the amazingness of having read so, so, so, so many books.
The second best thing to happen this year is that TRB and I have met so many awesome people and more than half have become my really good friends. I THANK each and everyone for dropping by constantly and encouraging me with all your precious likes and comments.
Don’t judge me for this but some names need special mentions:
- Annabelle Franklin (Author: Messages from Millie)
- Dagny (Vaquer Boarding House)
- Dear Kitty Some Blog
- Erika (Erika Kind)
- Ina Vukic (Croatia, The War, And The Future)
- Jacklyn Canada (JC’s Book Haven) Thanks for having me as a reviewer last year Jacklyn! 🙂
- Joel (Chesapeake Films)
- Kim (By Hook Or By Book)
- Leah (Fiction Fan)
- Maccabros (http://maccabros.myblog.de)
- Meredith (Meredith’s Musings)
- Mihran Kalaydjian (MIHRAN KALAYDJIAN)
- Rabindranauth (Drunken Dragon Reviews)
- Rob (V-Pub)
- Romeo (Romeo Writes)
- Teny (Movies Of The Soul)
- The Crazy Bag Lady
- Violet (Vegan e-Comics)
Here are some of my “relatively” new but equally awesome friends:
- Bruce (Precinct 1313)
- Galit (Coffee n’ Notes)
- Molly Mortensen (Woven Magic)
- Sue Bahr (YA Author)
PS: If you are mentioned in either of the lists then it’s because of your likes, comments, interactions, recommendations or you might just have motivated me in some or the other way 🙂
Pray forgive me if I’ve got anyone’s name or blog-link wrong.
Here’s the entire year in numbers: (March’14 – March’15)
No. of books read: 96
No. of books reviewed: 60
Blog followers: 483
No. of comments: 1,260
No. of spam comments blocked: 3000+
Facebook followers: 1,315
Twitter followers : 63 (lol! a lot of people follow me cause they don’t know about my TRB account. So here’s a better stat- No. of followers on my twitter (@rathoreheena): 1,000 – exactly!) 😉
All these stats could have been a bit better but last year in October V got really sick and so I was MIA for almost 3 months.
I also created another blog, Heena Rathore P. (for my personal and writing related ramblings) and that took a lot of my time and also my interest! heheh!
This year I’ll try and schedule each and every post on both the blogs so that I can manage both of them easily (not to mention my content writing stuff.)
To conclude, I’ve learned so much through this beautiful journey that when I look back I can see I’ve grown into a matured blogger and a much better person.
I love reading and reviewing and I’m gonna do it till my last breath. The Reading Bud is my baby and this just the beginning for us.
I thought of buying the domain name and the customisation for TRB on it’s birthday but as soon as V gave me a bright smile as a sign to go ahead, I literally jumped up and bought it in December only… lol (God! I’m so impatient!)
As a present V wanted me to buy a good premium theme for TRB, but keeping a stone on my heart I had to turn down the idea cause if I get a new theme then I’ll be wasting almost 9 months of customisation that Ive already bought. So I’m gonna continue with the customisation for now and meanwhile will select a theme that suits TRB the best and will buy it as soon as the customisation ends. 🙂
I hope you all will continue to shower your love on TRB always! ❤
Have an awesomely guys 🙂
Here’s a pic for TRB that I posted on my Instagram yesterday:
The Reading Bud 
I love reading your comments, so please go ahead…