It's Been A Month: A Recap by a Newbie Blogger

It's been a month (and 4 days) since Fiction Predictions went live. Time does fly, doesn't it?

Before we plunge into a (quite lengthy) recap, here's an artwork I did a few days ago that I think you guys would like:

So... This is a recap of what I've been doing, and what you can expect in the future.

1. The Posts

Recap: 

I've been participating in 5 weekly memes: Top Ten Tuesday by The Broke and the Bookish, From the Review Pile by Stepping Out of the Page, Follow Friday by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read, and Stacking the Shelves/Showcase Sunday by Tynga's Reviews and Books, Biscuits and Tea. 

I've also started my own segment called Book News Night, and joined in a few blog tours, cover reveals, giveaways, and book spotlights, including:

Love Comes Later Blog Tour: Excerpt and Giveaway!
Dead Perfect Blog Tour: Excerpt
Cover Reveal and Giveaway! Phoebe Pope and the Year of the Four by Nya Jade
Book Spotlight: Emily's Trial by Natalie Wright
Book Spotlight: Forbidden Forest by Tenaya Jayne

Now, the one thing I'm regretting about the past month is the lack of BOOK REVIEWS. I feel like hitting myself right now - isn't this the reason why I started this blog in the first place? 

What to Expect: 

Definitely more reviews. Most of my time last month was dedicated to figuring out the blogosphere and everything - I still have a lot to learn, but I hope that I've known enough to focus more on reading and reviewing!

Cutting down on memes: From next week, I'm only participating in Top Ten Tuesday and From the Review Pile twice a month, so that my archives won't be clogged up with memes.

Also, new segments to come! Like I promised in the last Book News Night, Movie Edition is coming! This is where I discuss an adaptation and compare it with the book. I'm looking forward to unveiling the first Katie Reads Classics and Katie's Predictions in the near future too.

2. The Books and the Challenges

Recap: 

Most of the books I got this month came from NetGalley/Blog Tours/Review Requests.

• More on NetGalley: This place is amazing! Great for finding new releases and ARCs. The only problem I had is the amount of self-restraint not to request too many titles!
• More on Blog Tours: This is one of the things that are completely new to me about blogging. And as above, it is important not to overestimate the time you can spend reading!
• More on Review Requests: I've got 4 review requests this month, which is totally mind-blowing to me, a newbie blogger! When I wrote that Review Policy I thought nobody would be checking it out until another year or so! I had to decline 2 requests, as I didn't think I would enjoy the book, but still, thank you!

I'm participating in 3 reading challenges! The first one is the 2012 TBR Pile (here's my post about this if you want to join!), and the other two are on Goodreads: Read the Group Cover Image Challenge and Around the World in 90 Days! Of course, there's also the Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge, you can see the widget on my sidebar!

What to Expect:

I'm going on quite a few blog tours in the upcoming months, so stay tuned! I'll (try to) update the sidebar to reflect events more often! Also, I'm trying my best to finish all the challenges - I've got some books overlapped so it won't be as hard!

Update on Review Policy: I will not be receiving requests for eBooks, since my eTBR pile is seriously ... overpiling (if there is such a word). Besides, I'm going to move to another country in November, so things are going to be quite busy. I'll try to revert this change as soon as possible.

3. The Design

Recap: 

When I started out I used a Simple Template from Blogger, which was, in hindsight, boring as hell. So thank you to the folks at The Cutest Blog on the Block for the amazing template I'm using!

I've also added a few tweaks on the sidebar: you can search according to segments, genres and ratings now!

Almost forgot: To everybody who said they love my header or button... thank you so so much! I designed them myself, and it's nice to know that half a day wasn't wasted!

What to Expect: 
I think I'll just keep this design for some time, but on special occasions maybe I'll change it to something related!

4. And the most important part - The People

Recap: 

First and foremost, thank you thank you thank you for all my followers and commenters! You guys are so awesome! I never expected that somebody - anybody - will listen to my rants and ramblings... you gave me hope :) I know sometimes I can't comment back, but I really appreciate all you've done! 

Also, thanks to the memes and blog tours (not to mention Book Blogs) that I participated in, I got to meet with many great bloggers! The blogosphere is much more friendly and welcoming than I thought it would be!

Shout-outs to some of my favorite bloggers! If you guys can read this, know that you are extraordinary :P
Sara from The Page Sage: Her blog is the first book blog I followed, and the reason I started Fiction Predictions!
Vicky from Books, Biscuits, and Tea: Not only is Vicky the person who gave me my first review copy as a blogger (for Jellicle Girl by Stevie Mikayne) AND an organizer for one of the best blog tours sites out there - Novel Publicity, she also writes great book reviews!

What to expect:

I'll try to reply to all comments, I promise! Though I don't know if Blogger notifies you if I comment back...

For my lovely followers: I'm thinking about a giveaway when I reach 100 followers to thank you guys!

And basically I'll just enjoy your presence on my blog and be forever grateful :)


Wow, that's some long recap! Now I'm asking YOU if you want any changes to Fiction Predictions - just comment below! A few things I would like to know (you can say all you want, of course!)

• What do you think about the content of the blogs? Anything you want to change, or anything you want me to post more?
• And what about the design? Is it comfortable for you to read?
• Is there anything you think I should add in the sidebar/pages?
• If you have any suggestions or new ideas, feel free to say so in the comments!

Once again, thank you so much for visiting my blog! Here's to one great month and many more to come!