BBAW: 2012 Highlights

This year I haven’t had as much time to catch up with all the posts around the blogosphere as I did last year. But I plan to do so. It will just be post-event. But even with my crazy schedule, I still managed to take a peek around.

And I discovered that a couple of the bloggers I’ve known forever decided to participate this year - Magical Urban Fantasy Reads and Two Chicks On Books - a couple others that I’ve known a little but got to know a little better were also participants - The Non Reluctant Reader and The Book Vixen - and I even got the chance to discover a few new blogs I’ll be scoping out - Roof Beam Reader, Short and Sweet Reviews and Musings of a Bookish Kitty.

I found a new book that I know I never would have crossed paths with thanks to The Busy Bibliophile who swears by Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park. And I was forced to put my thinking cap on to promote a book  - The Incredible Journey - that I thought deserved a bit more attention.

This year the posts were much more challenging than last year. And I really had to dig deep to put into words just what book blogging meant to me. I’d almost given up but as I am not one to quit without at least giving it my best effort, I pushed myself. And I’m glad I did.

It also seemed to me that there were fewer participants than last year. Perhaps it was because there were no awards for being the best, most popular, most revered. But it was the lack of awards that made me decide to join in rather than sit on the sidelines. While I was unbelievably flattered last year to have been nominated for the awards, before I even knew what they were, I love that the hosts of this event decided that appreciating bloggers was about appreciating all bloggers and not singling out just a few.

I think it’s such a wonderful thing to have an event that puts the spotlight on book bloggers who spend their time shining the light on books and authors year-round. It’s nice to know that our efforts are appreciated even though we do this for ourselves, because we love doing what we do, and not for any kudos or pats on the back.

I am thrilled to have been able to participate in this year’s interview swap, to discover something new about the blogging community – such as bloggiesta, an event that I’d only heard about but now know a bit more about thanks to Sheila of Book Journey’s post on the BBAW blog – and to be able to find out just a little bit more about the bloggers in this community.

I may be a blogger myself, but I have a deep appreciation for every hard-working, dedicated and book- and author-loving blogger out there, even if I don’t know them all.