2011 Stats & Wrap Up!

*  2011  *

I can't believe that it is the 31st December already, this year seems to have flown past. I've had a good year in blogging terms, my follower numbers have bounded up and I am so grateful, I have had more contact with publishers and authors and had a good number of review books both physical books and PDF files (still not a fan of ebooks and they take me twice as long to read but can see the use of them).
I've done some features and Guest Posts as well as hosting some authors for Guest Posts and Participating in Blog tours.

Here are my stats:

Books read (including short stories): 182 (could be one or two more but I didn't mark them down)
Pages read (according to Goodreads): 55,533
Number of blog posts (not counting today): 565
Number of page views: 82,403
Most popular post this year: Midnight Summer Festival (3) Artemis Goddess of the Hunt with 4,423
Review with most comments: Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Book signings attended: 2




Challenges
I signed up for 5 challenges this year:

• Off The Shelf Challenge - I read 37/50, not as good as I hoped but not a bad effort.

• 100+ Reading Challenge - 182/100, COMPLETED!  I updated this on Goodreads to try and read 200 books but just didn't make it.

• 2011 Support You Local Library Challenge- 77/51, COMPLETED! Thought I'd do even more to be honest.

• A-Z Reading Challenge - my list is here. 23/26, not bad. I'm hoping to do this again in 2012 and i WILL complete it. 

• Mini-Challenge 2011 - something old, new,  borrowed, blue. COMPLETED. did this one early on.

So not a bad effort I did 3/5 challenges. I'm signing up to four challenges next year (2012) will post the intro's to them either later tonight or tomorrow.


Books Read
I read more books than I ever thought i would manage in one year, but now think I can beat that in 2012.
Here is a collage of all the books I read this year:

Impressive?!?

Interesting Facts

- I did my first ever Vlog this year. (have done three now)

- I got a review on the back of an actual printed book (this was one of the best things about this year) See my post on it here 

- I got mentioned in the acknowledgments of another book 'The Peaks' by Martin Chu Shui. He is such a nice author and I'm glad I could help him with his book.

- I took part in NaNoWriMo and WON!!! but only just. I did about 12,000 words on the last day - had like a 7 hour writing marathon and gave myself a splitting headache, but I did it! YES!

- I sent query letters to 6 different publishing companies about my first finished novel, and have so far got 6 rejections! :( Gonna keep trying in the new year, hopefully I will get it out there for the world to see. (If you own/work for or know someone in the publishing business and would be interested in my manuscript - don't be afraid to get in touch. ;D)

- I met Derek Landy for a second time, Steve Feasey, and emailed the awesome Alexander Gordon Smith (author of Furnace) and got replies - I also did an activity with my children's/teen book group based on his books and sent him copies of what they made and he replied - he rocks!

- I made friends with some bloggers and have had loads of fun and read lots of good books. I accepted some self-published books and found some treasures.


So, for now I will leave it there. I will be posting a vlog of my best reads from 2011 within the next couple of days, so look out for that.
I hope you all have a FANTASTIC New Year, and I look forward to another great year, but this time it will be even better! :D