Hello everyone!

Today, March 16, is the blogoversary of my blog, Forever Bookish. I’m sure you realized this from the title, but anyways. This marks seven years of blogging and reviewing and being involved in the book world: a big accomplishment for me. I want to thank all of you who have visited my blog throughout the years; I wouldn’t be here without the authors, publishers, followers, fellow bloggers and librarians who have engaged with me in person and online. Seven years ago when I started blogging, I didn’t realize what I was getting myself into; I wanted to share the books I was reading with others and maybe, just maybe, get sent some books to read and review. Today my dreams have been fulfilled and I have met and interviewed and connected with so many incredible people and gotten more involved in the book world. I did not imagine I’d have these opportunities and such a welcome into the book community, and I am so grateful for it. Really, bookish people are part of the reason I continue to blog, however sporadically. I also continue to blog so I can help reluctant readers find books to read through someone they can relate to. I want to keep delivering the best content I can to my readers and be able to share the wonders of books and authors and publishers and libraries and bookstores with you. It brings me so much joy and I am proud of my content.

I feel like I have come a long way from the beginning. Here are a few screenshots of my blog in its baby form for you to enjoy. If you have been around since those days, thank you!

This was my first post. From this we can determine that I was 11, my blog was originally called Xander’s YA Book Reviews (I hadn’t realized that most of the books I read were actually middle-grade), I didn’t know how to properly use semi-colons and I read a lot.

This is my “About Me” page, taken from Wayback Machine. Yes, I had my bookshelf in the background but there was a white area on the post that made the text readable. Still…interesting design choice. At this point, I realized that I was reading mostly middle-grade.

My first review was of Lemony Snicket’s “Who Could That Be at This Hour?”. I wrote ELEVEN posts from March 16-March 31. I was really cranking out that content!

Here is a map of my worldwide blog visitors. I am so blown away by this map! It makes me so fulfilled to see that my posts have impacted people all around the world.

In this time of COVID-19 and self-isolation, I hope to be able to use this time to write more posts, read more books and create more content. Thank you to everyone who has supported me and I am excited to keep growing and improving my content for many years to come. If you are looking for some books to read while you are at home, or some informative author interviews, please check out my backlog of content on this website and on my YouTube channel.

Thanks again and eat some cake for me today!

All the best,

Xander