Book Blogging Firsts Tag | Explaining The Hidden Reason Behind My Blog Name (yes I’m being dramatic here) and Gushing About The Support

Hey everyone!!

This week my blog hits 2 years old*!!! (I mean half of that time I wasn’t blogging but that didn’t mean I wasn’t a blogger) so this tag was perfect to look back and reflect on my blogging journey. *aww*

*Also this week I will be doing 3 posts for my blogiversary so stay tuned… (you know if you want)

Thank you so much for Lauren @ Twenty Seven Letters for tagging me. I love Lauren’s blog, her writing is amazing and her book reviews always make me want to read the book immediately. It is a super power I swear!! Thank you so much for thinking of me and please check out Lauren’s blog and read her tag, it was so fun to see her journey!!

Now on with my tag…..

FIRST BLOG NAME AND DESIGN?

I have always been ‘Me and Ink’, I even used to sign my posts as ‘love from me’ which is weird the more I think about it but I wanted to be anonymous as the internet was scary and people finding me online IRL was even scarier. But then I used my blog and realised I didn’t need to be afraid, whoo!!

I thought I would explain my name as I never have…..so, story time….

I loved the word ‘Ink’, I think it looks good (yes words can look good, how shallow am I?!!?) and I associate it with books and writing which despite not being a book blogger to start with they always meant a lot to me.

The ‘me’ part (I know you are thinking it seems pretty obvious why I used the word ‘me’ but I actually have a deeper meaning *suspenseful music*) I picked it because I knew I wanted to be anonymous and I was playing around with acronyms (as I wanted to be like Tony Stark with J.A.R.V.I.S (just a rather very intelligent system)) and I came up with M.E. which means mere existence in my head. I picked ‘mere existence’ as everyone is just a mere existence which means you can achieve as much as your greatest hero who is just a mere existence as well or you can choose to achieve little things that might not matter to anyone. I found it very comforting that I could choose big things or small things in my life so I picked that.

Then I put the two words together to form ‘Me and Ink’ I thought it sounded pretty descent. I told you it was deeper than it looked, it is slightly weird but hey it made sense to me than I became a book blogger and it made even more sense so really it was destiny.

In terms of design, well it took me months to realise you could change themes on WordPress and my mind was blown! It also took me ages to realise you could edit your homepage so it looked like the WordPress first page where it literally stated ‘You can edit this to tell your viewers about yourself’ or something like that so it was terrible to start with.

Then I got a theme and it was basic where I just wrote my name on top. Then I got a header which wasn’t very good. I knew it was blurry when enlarged and still posted it. (oops)

And now I have this header (I think you need the pink border on the website for it to look better but still)

My first logo was… 

I am no design expert but I have a colour theme and try to go for basic but nice, if I continue with blogging I might pay for a designer to do it but at the minute I try to keep blogging as cheap as possible (in the best way)!!

FIRST BLOG POST?

My first post was ominously called The Beginning and it was literally an introduction post to what my blog would be. It was basically an ‘about’ page that I posted. When I first started I literally knew nothing about blogging. You can smell the inexperience on the post. But it was fun and I’m glad I still have it. I don’t think anybody read it but that was probably a good thing.

FIRST BOOK REVIEW?

My first review I have actually deleted it was The Chronicles of Narnia and I called it ‘To Read or Not To Read: The Chronicles of Narnia Book Review’ and although I liked the title, the review was terrible. I barely wrote anything and I didn’t lie but I deleted all my bad thoughts so it wasn’t a very authentic review hence why I deleted it. I thought bad opinions were bad but they really aren’t. Lying about your opinion is much worse.

So my first book review available is for ‘All The Light We Cannot See’ by Anthony Doerr and it is a mini review and then I analyse loads of quotes like I’m in a English class but it a great book and I love all the quotes so I don’t mind it, even with my weird analysis.

FIRST MEME PARTICIPATED IN?

I have never participated in a meme. I’m memeless!! I think they are really cool and I would love to participate it one at some point but at the minute I struggle to keep up with well… everything but maybe one day.

FIRST DISCUSSION POST?

I am going to do my first book discussion because I was not a book blogger for the first year and 4 months but I am going to keep it bookish today. It depends what you call a discussion but I am going with talking about two sides which means my first discussion was Paperback Vs Hardback which was really fun one and quite short really. But I liked it and I still stand by my conclusion which is good.

Mt actual first discussion for those interested was discussing the How I met your mother ending which I actually don’t agree with all my thoughts anymore but it was fun to write.

(Both posts are deleted now, lol)

FIRST BOOK BLOG I FOLLOWED?

Ohh.. I’m not sure!! Like I said I wasn’t a book blogger to start but maybe Sophie from Sophie’s Corner or Rain from bookdragonism which are still two of my favourite blogs but I am guessing. Anyway I will use this opportunity to say that I love these two blogs. They write amazing content and I love it when they post!! Please follow them!!

FIRST FOLLOWER?

It took months as I didn’t know what I was doing and I didn’t post which turned out to not be a good combination for growing a blog (I know I was surprised as well) but it was ‘belikewaterproduction’ but I have never spoken to them (sorry) but I still remember so ‘hey’.

FIRST BOOK I READ BECAUSE OF OTHER BLOGGERS?

Oh well I watched Booktube first so it is hard to differentiate between where I got recommendations from but I would say that The Poppy War, The Boy Who Steals Houses, The Written, Descendant of the Crane and We Hunt The Flame are some of them. And I really enjoyed them so listening to book blogger’s recommendations improves your life. I am living proof!!

I am going to be saying this a lot this week but I just wanted to thank you all for making blogging such a wonderful experience, honestly you all have made the world of difference and your love and support means so much to me. I can’t thank you all enough, I don’t deserve you!!

Blogging has included many things from me posting so many grammatical errors it is embarrassing and stumbling through blog design which can still be a bit rocky. Blogging is fun but I know not everything about it is perfect and it can be stressful from me trying to catch up with blog hopping before I go on holiday and ending up having 5 hours of sleep and a headache on the train. I have improved in many areas (I hope at least) and I’m well aware I have plenty more improvement to achieve but one constant has always been my readers and friends I’ve made in the bookish community. Your support has always brightened my day and honestly it always fills me up with so much happiness and I appreciate everyone who has ever taken the time to read, like or comment on my blog. I feel so lucky and the fact that I get to talk to you all about books has been my favourite part about blogging and I want you to know how thankful I am. It will always be the people that I remember and love about blogging and I am so thankful for everything.

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How long have you been blogging? Do you remember all your firsts? I love seeing how my blog has changed over time, do you like to see how far you’ve come?

Why did you name your blog what you did? What was your first discussion post?