Fifth Blogiversary!

Yay! This blog is 5 years old today!

Thank you all, dear readers, for dropping by. I wish I had a real cake instead of a virtual one so you could all have a slice. Thanks for your participation - for leaving comments, for sending me leads to great stories and for keeping me informed about what is going on. And most of all, of course, for reading me.

If any of you feel that you would like to guest blog about any aspect of reading/books/creative writing, and think you could interest this blog's readers, please get in touch with me at sharonbakar@yahoo.com.

Fourth Blogiversary

Thanks for dropping by to cut the cake. (Though some of you can't eat your slice until break of fast.) Today is my fourth blogiversary!

Four years here and still enjoying it, and grateful to all my readers for dropping by and leaving comments.

It's been very nice to meet some of you on Facebook and to find out what my secret lurkers look like!

The Great Blogiversay Giveaway

Today is my third blogiversary! Thanks so much to all my readers for sticking with me over the past three years, and adding your thoughts and comments to the posts and making the whole experience fun.

Please have a slice of the cake. It's very low calorie.

And wait. I have a present for five of you.

The British Council were kind enough to pass me five copies of New Writing 15 to give away to readers. (I blogged about the book here.)

So here's a little competition: name any three of the writers who have pieces in the collection, and if you're one of the first five to get it right, I will give you your book. (Name three different ones from the winner before you lah!)

I am too lazy and disorganised to post anything anywhere, so the competition is limited to those folks I can pass the copy to by hand.

Happy Blogiversary, bibliobibuli!

Happy blogiversary to me. Happy blogiversary to me.
Happy blogiversay, dear Bibliobibuli.
Happy blogiversary to me.

It's two years today and almost 1,000 posts later since I first ventured out into the blogosphere with bibliobibuli, unsure of what direction it would go in, nervous about putting my writing out there and how it would be received.

I discovered another addiction (beside reading) that has been gradually taking over my life. And if there was a moment when I found my focus, I think it was when Literary Saloon, an important website on the world of books, linked me. I was a litblogger, officially, and I'd better start behaving like one!

Plenty of good things have happened as a result of the blog. It's led to (paid) writing work and given me the starting points for numerous articles which have appeared in local newspapers and magazines. It's made me read widely to turn up interesting material, and I've learned so much about authors and the publishing world along the way.

And recently I've been approached to write a book based on this blog, a "blook" in other words. I think it might happen, so stay tuned.

There have been one or two bad moments - getting flamed by nutcases has left me a little more guarded, particularly about writing the more personal stuff, about admitting those petty little weaknesses ... like suffering depression. (Writing this blog helped me through.)

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the readers of this blog, who make me want to write it. I can't believe how many new friendships I've found along the way, many of them have migrated into the so-called "real world".

Thanks for the time you spend reading, thanks for linking me (I'm honestly humbled), thanks most of all for your comments. I'm thrilled that there are bibliophiles out there, even more passionate than I am, much more well read. I've been grateful for book recommendations which have made me reconsider some of my own snobby prejudices and try new stuff. (I'm reading graphic fiction now!) I love too that you keep me entertained throughout the day when I'm bored working at home!

I like my blog so much I think I might officially change my name to bibliobibuli.

But if you want you can call me, bib.