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Farm Lane Books is 1 today!

birthday-cupcake A year ago today I posted my first introductory post on this blog, quickly followed by several reviews I’d previously written for The Complete Booker Blog.

So much has happened in my first year of blogging. I never imagined the wonderful experiences that I’d find in this amazing community.

I have always loved reading, but 18 months ago I was completely unaware that the wonderful book blogging community existed. One day I decided to search for reviews of Booker Prize winners, as I’d decided that I wanted to try to read them all. I discovered The Complete Booker Blog and was really excited to discover a group of people who had already decided to take on this challenge. I started to add reviews to this site and then became aware of Musings, the blog belonging to Laura,  the founder of The Complete Booker. I became fascinated by her blog. I loved the idea of writing reviews for each book I read, and as I had similar taste to Laura I became a little bit obsessed with her. I used to log in every day and became really excited whenever she wrote a new post.

After a few weeks I decided to look in to starting my own blog. I became very excited about the idea and did a lot of research into the best platform and templates to use. Finally, with the techincal support of my husband, I launched Farm Lane Books Blog on 28th September 2008.

It wasn’t an easy start for me, although I wrote my first post in September, it wasn’t until November 8th that I received my first comment, from Rose City Reader. Michelle from 1MoreChapter and Teddy Rose from So Many Precious Books, So Little Time were next to find me on 9th and 16th November respectively. Thank you! I still follow all three blogs to this day and each will always hold a special place in my heart for being the ones to start it all off.

I then discovered Weekly Geeks, but for several weeks I was too scared to join in, as everyone seemed to know what they were doing and had such wonderful blogs. I felt so intimidated by them, but then on 24th November I finally plucked up the courage to write my first weekly geek post. I was so excited to have finally taken the plunge and was anxiously waiting for Dewey to welcome me into the blogging community, as I knew she was amazingly good at encouraging new bloggers. Tragically that never happened, as Dewey died on 25th November. I was devastated when I heard the news. She was one of the only bloggers I had discovered at that point. Weekly Geeks was the only community event I had heard of and the whole blogging community seemed to freeze with grief. I didn’t know what to do and my blog continued with me continuing to feel like an outsider in the community I so desperately wanted to join.

Slowly, I began to find my feet. I started to develop relationships with other bloggers.  The first person I connected with was Beth, and she then led me to Sandy. Since then my blog has grown exponentially. I have discovered an amazing range of blogs, found lots of people who understand my passion for books and increased my TBR pile by about 500 books!

Thank you so much for following my blog!

I couldn’t do it without you!

To celebrate I am going to write a series of posts about what I have learned during my first year of blogging. I am also going to reveal my favourite books of all time. I hope you’ll continue to follow my blog and share your passion for reading with me.

127 replies on “Farm Lane Books is 1 today!”

Congratulations! This must be an auspicious day to leave a first comment at Farm Lane Books. I was around here about a week ago, and assumed it was a blog of greater longevity. It’s so well established. Congratulations, again, on your achievement.

Great post; I’m sure it will provide a lot of encouragement to many book bloggers. I’ve been blogging for nearly a year, but still find it reassuring to learn that others too have been hopeful but nervous of joining the book blogging community.

Sarah, Welcome to my blog! Thank you for leaving your first comment! Starting a blog is a very easy thing to do, but finding your place in the community is much harder. I just wanted people to know that it doesn’t happen over night. It takes a lot of hard work and time for these things to happen.

Hopefully my posts later in the week will help others to find their feet more quickly.

Congratulations Jackie. You achieved a lot in your first year. I hit my first back in July, so I’m well in Year No. 2.

Congratulations again and may your 2nd year be as successful as the first (although I’m thinking it will be even more so)
Warmest
Rob

Happy birthday, Jackie! Those first comments mean so much don’t they. When I started blogging, I thought I was just recording my books onto an internet server instead of by longhand in a notebook. Who knew that somebody might comment? It was thrilling to get comments and then start building those friendships. The blogosphere has grown by leaps and bounds and now there are so many bloggers I can’t keep up with, but it’s still fun to run across new one. Hope you have many happy years of blogging ahead of you.

booklogged, I am amazed at the number of book bloggers there are. I can’t believe it took me so long to find them!

Verity, Thank you! I hope that I can keep it all going for the next year. I hate to think what my TBR pile will look like in 12 months time!

Yay, happy blog anniversary! I didn’t find my feet in the blogging community for a year, not having even realizing that there was one. I’d been using my blog to store LibraryThing reviews instead; once I linked up with a few other bloggers it made all the difference. I’m looking forward to learning your favorite books!

Meghan, It is amazing how little the outside world knows about the blogging community. Hopefully more people will learn about us soon – it would be great if everyone had TBR piles as big as mine (well maybe not quite that big!)

Happy Blog Anniversary. We’re almost the same age… LOL. I started my blog in early September last year. How time flies… 🙂

Congrats on your blog birthday! I’m sorry I hadn’t found your blog sooner, if you were writing for a month with out any comments! All those great posts I was missing!

I found you through the Weekly Geeks mini-challenge, and I’m so glad I joined in on that!

Rebecca, I’m not sure they were that great anyway! I’m so pleased that you found me. Weekly geeks is a great connector.

Ooooh. I can’t wait to see this week’s posts! I was so surprised to learn that Farm Lane Books is only a year old, I figured you had been around longer than I had. And without getting mushy, I’m so happy we hooked up — you’ve really expanded my reading horizons.

Beth, Thank you! We started at similar times – it has been great to share my blogging experiences with you. Hopefully we can share the ups and downs of our second year together too!

Happy blog birthday, Jackie! I am amazed that you have only been posting for a year as your blog seems so well established.

I love the personal nostalgic moments and look forward to a week of the same. I didn’t realise that Laura of Musings was the one who inspired you in a way to start your blog; I’ve known Laura for a while through the Virago group on LibraryThing and follow her blog.

Claire, I’m pleased to hear that you’ve discovered Laura too. I’m afraid I haven’t discovered a passion for those green viragos yet – perhaps that will be a development for year two!

Congratulations Jackie!!!

I remember my first comments too 🙂

I like your idea of celebrating the anniversary, I will look forward to your posts. I’m so glad I found you 🙂

Violet, I’m pleased I found you too! I discovered your blog very early on too. I was just blog hopping and saw that you wanted a copy of Middlesex – you became the first person I sent a book to!

Happy blog birthday, Jackie! I do so enjoy your site and am always excited to hear your thoughts on whatever you’ve been reading! Our blog birthday is coming up in just over a month, so I’ll have to start thinking of ways to celebrate.

Kim, It took me about 6 months before I got a comment from someone I actually know! Those are still the hardest comments for me to get!

Happy blog birthday. I am very glad to have found your blog and enjoy reading it as a treat during my workday. I am sure your second year will be even better– you are so dedicated to making your blog better. It is very impressive. Are you doing something to celebrate a year of wonderful blogging?

Heidi, It is good to know that you can sneak me in to your work day! I’m not doing anything special to celebrate one year – just writing a few summary posts I’m afraid. I hope you enjoy my second year!

Literate Housewife, I hope you decide to celebrate in January! Three years is a massive acheivement – I hope I’m still around in two years time.

Congratulations on the anniversary! I think it has to give you a wonderful feeling of accomplishment. I am still a couple of months away from mine but that first one is always very special. I have discovered your blog only a month or so ago and I am glad I did and I only hope it will be here for many more years to come. Cheers!!!

Trevor, The complete Booker is a wonderful project – I really should add a few more posts to it – I keep forgetting!

Happy birthday and congratulations! Dewey was a good blogging friend of mine and I miss her still. That’s the thing about blogging – I never expected to gain so many ‘virtual’ friends, and to feel as close to them as real life ones.

Litlove, I never thought I’d develop such a strong relationship with people I’d never met, but sometimes I even get upset when they go on holiday for a few weeks. I’m sad that I didn’t get to know Dewey better.

My goodness, I had no idea about your obsession! That paragraph almost made me laugh out loud (not a good thing given where I’m sitting right now)!

Your blog has really grown and I just love what you’re doing with it. You’re in my Google Reader and I make a point of reading what you have to say. We don’t always agree, but I learn something every time!

Laura, I’m so pleased that I didn’t embarrass myself with my little obsession. It is nice to be able to have the anonymity of the Internet and I’m pleased you didn’t notice I was stalking you! You’ll be pleased to know that I don’t have time to obsess over you now, but I still enjoy reading your blog!

Jenny, I’m pleased that you enjoy them – I’ll try to keep up with more book awards in the next year.

Congratulations! I would never have guessed your blog was only four months older than mine. I think my start was easier as another Danish blogger helped me a lot the first weeks, but you have certainly learnt the ropes since then 😀

I wish you many happy blog years!

Dorte, The help of another blogger would have been an enormous advantage. I’ll do my best to help new bloggers in the future.

anothercookiecrumbles, It is great to hear that you enjoy commenting on my blog. I love blogging – I am addicted to it! I look forward to sharing book thoughts with you over the coming years!

FleurFisher, I didn’t realise I was one of your first commenters – I thought you’d been around for ages too!

We’re the same age! My first post was on 9/19/08. My story is similar to yours: I didn’t know what book blogging was when I first started out either. My blog was more generalized.

Well I for one am VERY glad you discovered this community, Jackie! I love your blog and your reviews…and I guess I hadn’t realized you were just a year old blogger…for some reason (maybe your professionalism???) it feels like you have been around for ages 🙂 Congratulations on a great year of blogging…looking forward to your next one!

Wendy, Thank you for your kind words – I love your blog too and hope that we share many blogging years together.

Happy blogiversary! Really? Only one year? You have done very well. I enjoyed hearing your beginnings, and people like Michelle and Laura are so welcoming. They were some of the first people I ‘met’ as well.

Her’s to many more.

raidergirl3, It is interesting how many people start blogging in a similar way. I hope we have many more blogging years together.

Good Lord woman! 56 comments? I am glad to announce that the infernal Book Fair was over today! So hopefully, I will be on the front end of the comments from here out. Happy happy anniversary to you! I’m about a month behind you, so I guess I’d better start thinking about mine. So we were just a couple of little newbies when we discovered each other! It has been an amazing year, hasn’t it? You really would never know you are one year old. You have such a professional, well-written blog, plus you have an enviable amount of technical expertise that I wish would rub off on me. Way to go Jackie!

Sandy, I blame my husband for the technical expertise – he teaches me all sorts of things I didn’t even know were possible. If you ever need to know anything – just ask!

I look forward to your 1st birthday celebrations and hope we are able to share many more happy blogging years together.

Congratulations on your one year blogiversary! I have enjoyed reading your blog for several months now…wish I could remember which blogger turned me on to it, but I’m glad they did!

Congratulations on your one year anniversary. I just became a book blogger 3 months ago-a year ago I did not know there was such a thing. I am in awe of the awesome community of bloggers. I subscribe to your blog on bloglines and am always happy to see you have a new post.

Congratulations on your anniversary, and thank you for including the Saturday Review in your tips for book blogging post. You’ve made a valuable contribution to book bloggers just with that post, and your blog itself is another gift.

Sherry, I hope that more people use the Saturday review of books now – it is a great way to connect with new people.

Happy first anniversary! I just read your post full of advice on how to become more involved in the book blogging community, and I have to say Amen! I wish I had known all those things when I first started. What a great resource for new bloggers. Also, I’m so glad I found you! =)

Happy Blogiversary! And I love that you are writing about your blogging experiences! I find it so fascinating. And I’m not surprised you ended up with WordPress…I made the mistake of choosing in the beginning and I wish I hadn’t!

This is super belated, but I’m catching up with my feed reader (really! at last!), and I wanted to wish you a Happy Blogiversary! Congratulations on one great year, and here’s to another (and many more after that)! 🙂

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