SOPHIE LI

Hello everyone!!!

Since May is my blogiversary month, I thought that this is a good time to reflect on how Sophie’s Corner has come to be, and how far I’ve come since my first blog posts.

To be honest I am a bit nervous and embarrassed to look back on Sophie’s Corners old posts haha. When I started blogging, I had no idea what to write in my blog posts, I also had no idea that people would actually read my posts. The thought that people out there who read what I write frightened me (and… it still kind of does?!)

So today I will be going back to two years ago, May 24, 2017, when I made my first ever blog post. I was living by myself in the small, cold city of London, Ontario, probably snuggled on the couch with a cup of tea, contemplating what to write that people would possibly want to read.

(This post was inspired by Marie’s post about her book blogging firsts. This tag was originally created by Kristen @ Metaphors And Moonlight.)

First blog name and design?

I’ve actually had a few stints with websites and blogging before. When I was in junior high (this was something like 15 years ago, no jokes), I loved all things anime and also did a bit of amateur graphic design, so at this time I started a website (named Setsunakute, after my favourite anime song) with a friend which we maintained for several years. The website has long been taken down from the internet, but…. I was able to find a copy of what Setsunakute used to look like on Dec 7, 2004 thanks to the Wayback Machine!!!

(At this time we actually made our themes from scratch using Photoshop and HTML, so this isn’t too bad, right??!)

It wasn’t until May 2017 when I decided to start Sophie’s Corner. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a screen cap of the very first theme that I had, but here is what this blog looked like probably during my first year of blogging:

As you guys can see, I had a bit more floral action going on, compared to the new nautical theme that I have right now 🙂

First blog post?

My first blog post actually has nothing to do with books. This was back then when I had no idea that I wanted to start a book blog haha. The first post I wrote was about a quote that inspired me, about how we should each have 3 hobbies that we love.

It is a bit embarrassing to read my post from a while ago. It definitely seems like I am struggling with my blogging voice, but I think a bit of myself shines through in this post. For those of you who are interested, here is a link to the post: Find three hobbies you love.

First book review?

Once I discovered the book blogging community, I thought that being a book blogger was ALL about reviewing books. (Boy was I wrong!!!) The first book review I wrote was The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, which is still one of my favourite fantasy novels to this day.

Looking back on this post, I was surprised that… the way that I write my review hasn’t really changed? Even though I hadn’t decided my review into sections (Characters, Plot and Pacing, Worldbuilding and Writing) as I do now, I still cover these same points except without these headings haha.

First meme participated in?

Once I got involved in the book blogging community, I noticed that everyone was doing these “Top 10 Tuesday” posts… so I quickly jumped on the bandwagon haha. My first post for these meme was Top 10 Fantasy and YA books on my TBR. It’s kind of neat that, to this day, I actually managed to read 5 of the 10 books that I mentioned in this post (Legend, Carry On, Our Dark Duet, The Book Thief, and Everything Everything)…… which is not bad for my mood-reading standards hahah :’)

First discussion post?

It took me a while to write my first book-related discussion post, however my first discussion post was not about books, but rather about.. being an introvert. I felt that introverts are often misunderstood, and that we’re often seen as “quiet,” “shy,” or even “uninteresting.” I had thought that being an introvert was disadvantageous, and because of this I tried for my entire life to become an extrovert. It wasn’t until later when I realized that introversion is a good thing, that we should value ourselves for it.

ANYWAY. So, it took some courage for me to write this post. And to this day, is it one of the favourite posts that I’ve written 🙂

First book blog I followed?

The first book blog that I followed was Trang and Lashaan @ Bookidote. I was super impressed with the amount of content on their blog and the organization of their site (and I still am!!!) In my early days of blogging, I had no idea what I was doing, and so Trang and Lashaan’s blog was an inspiration for me. I am really amazed that they have kept up their great work on Bookidote today 🙂

First follower?

It’s really hard to dig back to find who my first follower is!! However here are some of the bloggers that I’ve met when I first started blogging, who still maintain active blogs today:

Melissa @ Bookish Wanderer was one of the first bloggers that I’ve met on WordPress!

I think Kristin @ Kristin Kraves Books and I discovered a few weeks that we started blogging at about the same time!

Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm was another book blogger that I met early on in my blogging journey.

First book I read because of other bloggers?

I remember very vividly that, about the time when I started blogging, everyone was talking about Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon, so I decided that I had to pick it up. It was a fun book that I finished in 1-2 days.

I tag these awesome people!

• Kristi @ Confessions of a YA Reader
• JW Martin
• Trang and Lashaan @ Bookidote
• Kristin @ Kristin Kraves Books
• Melissa @ Bookish Wanderer
• Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm
• The Orang-utan Librarian
• Kelly @ Another Book on the Wall

I would love to hear about your blogging firsts! If you are not tagged above, but would want to do this tag, consider yourself tagged!

Tell me about your blogging firsts! Do you reread some of your old posts? How has your style changed?

Psst!!! My 2-year blogiversary giveaway is still happening!! I am giving away $40USD and $20USD on BookDepository to 2 lucky winners (available internationally.) Click here (or the happy fishy below) to check out my giveaway post.