Happy New Year: Looking Back At 2015 & Forward To 2016

Happy New Year! I’ve been meaning to write this for the past week or so (especially as I didn’t write a Christmas post…but I will be doing a ‘what I got for Christmas’ post soon, as I’ve now received all but one of my presents) but never really got round to it/prioritised other thing (OMG GUYS I FINISHED CARRY ON IN LIKE 48 HOURS OMG OMG OMG but this isn’t a flailing post (as Eve would say) so I’ll save that for another time)(probs five minutes after I publish this).

For more, take a look at my insta 🙂 (@mixomuseblog)

ANYWAY.

I finally got my butt in gear because I was asked if I was doing one or not so I stopped searching #Snowbaz on Instagram and taking pretty bookstagram pictures, plugged my laptop in, bought a new phone case and HERE WE ARE. I *may* stop rambling now. (but let’s be honest, which of my posts do not involve excessive rambling?!)

So. 2015 in review. I can’t really remember anything I’ve done, to be honest. Oh dear. I’ll give a list a go anyway.

• I posted a lot of times – according to the stats helper monkeys, 163, which is about 20 less than last year but still a pretty decent number!
• Special shoutout to Michelle (TOP COMMENTER WOOO), Elly, Eve, Evi, and Victoria for being my top commenters this year!
  

         {source}           GUYSGUYSGUYS SHERLOCK TONIGHT WHO’S EXCITED?!?

• I’ve already done a roundup of 2015 in popular posts, but according to aforementioned stats helper monkeys my most popular posts (most popular first) were Social Life of a Bookaholic  (I PUBLISHED THIS IN MAY 2014 AND IT’S BEEN MORE POPULAR IN 2015 THAN THEN WHAT IS THE ATTRACTION OF THIS POST?!?), my free chocolate review and giveaway (go figure), the list I did of my Top Ten Reasons I Can’t Wait To Get My Braces Off (woop, I like that post, clearly a relatable subject) (I WAS ALLOWED TO EAT TOFFEE PENNIES AT CHRISTMAS GUYS THIS IS GOOD), the Blog Olympics 2015 announcement which was also my most commented on post of 2015 (not gonna lie, I love the opening bit of this post, though I do appear to have forgotten that paragraphs exist for a reason) and finally my 2nd ever book tag – the Book Lover’s Questionnaire.  (check out the my full 2015 year in blogging report HERE)
• I had visitors from 85 countries (FIST PUMP), primarily the UK, US and Canada. (The UK won though. Probably because I don’t have any stalkerish friends in the US or Canada.) (That I’m aware of, at least)
  

  {source} Hey, stalker friends.

•  I had a vaguely ridiculous 8247 views, more than double what I had last year, 3668 visitors (again, approximately double), 2080 likes (almost FOUR TIMES what I had in 2014) and 884 comments (271 in 2014). WHOA GUYS. THANKS!
• I spent the whole of February doing An Overthinking Song Challenge, spent April (I think) doing Camp NaNo (actually wrote a bit, woop), the Blog Olympics in I think July and from June onwards was part of The Feministas (I’ll post on there soon, promise). The Blog Squad was also created at some point, and I AM SO GLAD THAT EXISTS BY THE WAY I LOVE YOU GUYS.
  

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• I hit 300 Twitter followers, 200 Instagram followers and created a Facebook page.
• Away from the blog (OMG, you mean you actually have a life outside the internet? *insert emoji where person is screaming in fear and looks blue*) I spent fiveish days in Serbia which was both character building (THE ACCOMMODATION/THE FOOD/THE SHEER QUANTITY OF GROSS BREAD *insert same emoji*) and ridiculously awesome (THE FLIGHT/PLAYING ON THE MAIN STAGE (in a thunderstorm :/)/HAVING AN AUDIENCE OF LIKE 300/LOADS OF STUFF/THE ONE DAY WHEN WE WENT TO THE BEST POOL EVER AND HAD THE BEST FOOD EVER AND SOME PEOPLE DID A GIG IN A MOUNTAINY PLACE FILMED BY THE EQUIVALENT OF THE BBC AND THEN WE HAD A GROUP PHOTO ON  A BRIDGE THAT WAS DISTINCTLY UNSAFE), I spent just under a week on an RAF camp that was…interesting (but good in the end) and probably did some other stuff, but I can’t really remember any of it. *shrug* I guess that’s what the end of the year does to you.

BUT ON TO THE FUTURE  

(back to the future!)

Last year I set out a few goals for my blog in 2015 that can be found here and generally, I think I gave stuff ago but wasn’t overly successful – I wanted to book blog a bit more, which I tried but just didn’t enjoy that much, I wanted to comment more, which I kinda didn’t really improve on, I wanted to use more pictures, which I think I did (woop!) and I wanted to post more regularly and soon after events. Yeah, that didn’t happen. Maybe a post about summer RAF camps and trips to Serbia coming your way in 2016…

Now for my 2016 plans…

• I want to comment more! I WILL DO IT THIS YEAR!
• Same for posting sooner after events!
• I want to post more about my everyday life
• Maybe more Top Ten Tuesdays
• I want to try and grow my Instagram account a bit more…I’m getting quite into book photography now! (Follow me @mixomuseblog to give me some motivation ;))
  

  Another snap from my insta @mixomuseblog

• I want to interact more on Twitter…having said how fabulous the Blog Squad are, I need to make more time to talk to them!
• Review more books! I think I’ve found my style now, kinda…just extreme fangirling! I did this for The Knife of Never Letting Go and really enjoyed it, so am planning on giving it a go for Carry On too 🙂 (HAHAHA I JUST REREAD THAT POST AND IT MAKES ME SMILE SO MUCH)
  

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• Find more blogs, then share them with you guys. This is kinda a specific post I have in mind but it *WILL* happen, I swear!
• *maybe* tell more people about this blog. Big maybe. I mean, I’m planning on applying to the journalism academy at college where I’ll have to tell them about my blog and possibly submit some writing from here so…scary. I have an idea of what I’ll send it, but still. SCARY PEOPLE MAY JUDGE, GUYS (except they’re adults so they probably won’t). But there are some other friends I’m becoming increasingly close to that I want to tell as well. Hmm. We’ll see.

And that, my friends (or enemies. you choose. let me know your choice, just so I know where I stand), is all I can think of for now. I shall see you most likely at the end of 2016, when I suddenly remember that yes, I have a blog, and no, I haven’t posted at all for a year, let alone fulfilled these goals!

How many of your goals for 2015 did you fulfil, and what are you hoping to achieve in 2016?

Happy New Year!