It’s hard to believe the month is over. And I did it. I posted one post a day all through the month of May. Even though I had such a tough time blogging in the last two years, I never doubted I would make it. I somehow knew I would enjoy it and I really did. The first weeks went by very quickly, the third was a bit dragging but the fourth was gone before it even started. I didn’t follow a plan, I just picked something every day, read it or looked at it and wrote about it.
Before I’m going to look at some statistics, I’d like to thank everyone who followed me this month. All those who read my posts, liked them, and commented. Thank you very much. You all made this so much more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise. It almost felt like the early years of blogging. And gives me hope that I can celebrate my upcoming 10-year anniversary in style – posts and guest posts and maybe one or two themed weeks. We will see.
Some statistics:
I read 2 novels (which I didn’t review) and 18 novellas, short novels, longer stories, and nonfiction texts.
12 titles were written by women, 8 by men.
I read books from 11 different countries: UK, US, Canada, Ireland, Israel, Turkey, France, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, and Russia.
Week two was the week when I had the most visitors and also the most new subscribers.
The posts that had the most views were: The Daphne du Maurier Week post on The Birds, 100 Must-Read Life-Changing Books and The Intro post The Temptation of a Post a Day in May.
The day when I had the most views was the day when I published on Dickens.
The posts that received the most comments were The Intro Post, the Post on The Birds, and the post on Chandler’s Killer in the Rain.
This is quite interesting as it shows how many people look at posts without commenting or liking – The Life-Changing Books post for example.
New Followers – I did count for a while but then there were so many every day that I gave up. By week two, there were some 40 or 50 new followers.
Where do I go from here?
The question that I’ve been asking myself in the last couple of days—where do I go from here? I don’t want to go back to posting only once a month or every two months. Obviously, that wasn’t exactly my choice since I had pain issues. That was actually my biggest worry for this month – that the pain would return. And it did for a week or so, but luckily it wasn’t as unmanageable as before.
Before this month, I also had issues with reading. I picked one dud after the other that I really didn’t feel like reviewing. I was astonishingly lucky this month. There was one book I could have done without, Odd and the Frost Giants, but even that was not terrible at all. And those that were good like Love, Am Südhang, Once There Was A Family, Killer in the Rain, The Dog,The Testament of Mary, or The Calligraphers’ Night were just amazing. Several will be on my best of list at the end of the year.
This will sound weird, but it looks like I do best when I have a project that leaves me a lot of freedom. If I had chosen the books I was going to read and write about beforehand – this would have been an utter failure.
So, what now? It is entirely possible that I will do another month like this. Maybe in August, maybe in December. It might not even be about books. I might resuscitate my World Cinema Series and do A Movie a Day.
And I would like to begin a late Literature and War Readalong. Last year I had to skip it, the year before I had to stop before the end. So, this year, I’d like to just read two or three titles, but not decide in advance which ones I’ll be reading. I’ll let you know two months in advance, so you can join, if you feel like it.
For now, I hope I can stick to a three days per week posting schedule. One review type post, one coffee table book, and maybe something more like essays or musings.
Thanks again to everyone who read, commented, liked and shared. It meant and it means a lot. Without you, it wouldn’t have been so much fun.
Beauty is a Sleeping Cat 
I didn’t realise that you had just followed your heart and didn’t read according to a plan. I’m even more impressed! And I’m glad that you found most of them really worth your while.
I really just picked something that called to me, from many different shelves. Some I had just bought, others had been on the shelves for ages. I seem to like structure but not fixed plans. I guess I’m like that in most things. It was an interesting experience.
Love that you did it spontaneously, I think freedom is such a great partner in creativity, even with the big like to choose from you retain a little if the excitement of the unknown. Such an inspired effort!
Thank you, Claire. That’s exactly it. It felt creative as some books then led me to others and some patterns emerged. And it was a daily discovery. That’s why it was so enjoyable.
Well done for completing this. Having only recently done a blog post every day (the A2Z challenge in April) I can certainly appreciate how much effort it takes to keep up this kind of schedule.
I can echo your thoughts about the difficulty of reading from a predetermined list – that seldom works for me too
Thank you. That reminds me, I wanted to visit as it sounded so interesting. Visiting is more challenging with a tight schedule.
In recent years, lists like that do really not work for me. Some structure, yes, but with freedom of choice. Interesting to know that you feel the same.
I had the same issue as well Caroline.I was so busy creating content I barely had time to look at anyone else’s content.
It’s normal, I suppose as there were also far more comments than usually and I wanted to answer them all. I’m sure that’s what you experienced as well.
Looked forward to reading you everyday and glad you were able to stay to the end. I have found a lot of beauty in your blog. Mary
Thank you so much, Mary. That means a lot.
Well done – especially as you didn’t plan! I can’t manage a Club week without planning ahead!
Thanks, Karen. I seem to be the opposite. No plans for me.
Congratulations Caroline! It’s been a great month, I’ve really enjoyed your posts.
Thank you, Madame Bibi. You too. I still need to catch up last time it looked like you were going for the full month too.
Yes, I just made it – well done us!
Wonderful. I’m looking forward to catching up.
Loved your post-a-day in May, Caroline! Congratulations! I can’t believe that the month is already over! Loved all your posts! It is so nice to have you back 🙂 I am hoping to read ‘The Dog’ by Kerstin Ekman soon. I loved your review of the book so much! So glad to know that you are planning three posts a week. Can’t wait to read them! The World Cinema project sounds wonderful! I would love to join the Literature and War Readalong, whenever you you plan to resume it 🙂 Happy reading, writing, watching movies, blogging 😊
Thank you so much , Vishy. It was such a quick month. I liked it a lot. I hope you will enjoy The Dog. So nice to know you would join me for the Literature and War readalong. I did the World Cinema Series during two years and it was very popular. I watched great movies. I hope I can keep up the blogging. And visiting more. 😊
Looking forward to reading The Dog soon, Caroline. Hopefully after I finish my current read. I remember I discovered Marlen Haushofer’s The Wall after you reviewed the film adaptation of it 🙂 Then its fame slowly spread and many other bloggers read the book 🙂 Looking forward to your posts. Happy reading, writing, blogging, watching movies 😊
Yes, that’s true. I had forgotten that it was via the movie that you discovered it.
Happy reading and watching to you as well. 😊
Thank you 😊
Congratulations on succeeding with this venture.
Thanks, Simon.
Thank you for all you do, for reading and posting interesting thoughts and just being a wonderful person. I check in occasionally and am always stimulated. Again, just thank you.
This is so kind of you, Andrew. It really means a lot. I’m very happy you like my blog posts. Thank you for reading.
Caroline, I quit blogging a couple of years ago, and crawled back quite recently, but when I returned I realised that the blogging community had changed. So many writers were sporadic, some have almost stopped, and when I learnt that you were going to do one post a day, it made me feel like the golden days of blogging have returned. I enjoyed reading your posts, made me TBR be mad at me by adding more books, and you have inspired me to try blogging again. Thank you for being an inspiration! I hope you would continue to write more.
Thank you so much, Deepika. It’s so nice of you to say this. I know exactly what you mean. I started ten years ago and was extremely active nack then. Almost for five years and alos loved interacting with fellow bloggers but every year a few and the many of them stopped. There is only a handful from the early days left. Of course, new ones have come and I’m grateful for those but it feels different. This project was important for me because I missed blogging and I also realized that many people read and it means a lot to them but they don’t always comment. So, I hope I can continue, at a slower pace. And make sure to visit others. I’m looking foward to reading your posts as well.
Nice blog 💕
Thank you very much. 😊
My pleasure, followed you ❤️
Thank you. That’s very nice.