fairy skeletons.: Blogoversary! (WHAT.)

It's the truth, folks. As of today (or at least according to the timestamp of the first post), this blog is three whopping years old. Trust me, I'm just as scratch-my-head confused as you are.

But hey, it's certainly cause to celebrate! I'm honestly so shocked that I've managed to keep a blog going for this long (I started out with a WordPress one that has since fallen into oblivion because it was so awful), and I feel that it's really spanned an era in my life. I have changed so much in the past three years. When I clicked "Create blog" back in good old 2011, I was a different person. Since then, I've gotten back into serious writing, made some fabulous online friends, become much more articulate in my posts, and discovered new and different passions. I've become happier with who I am and who I want to be, and I'm very satisfied with the blog in its current incarnation.

Of course, the most important shoutout has to go out to my readers. That's right. YOU. While technically this blog's audience is relatively small, it's been such a gift. Your comments, your thoughts, even your pageviews - they make my day brighter. I'm so grateful for you all, and I can't believe you've put up with me for three whole years.

Cue reminiscing, because I've consistently missed my blogoversary for the past three years and really want to savor this one.

2011

I didn't really do much blogging-wise back in 2011, as it was already November and so there wasn't much left of the year anyway. I was just getting the hang of using the Blogger platform and was way too excited. (In fact, I only posted twice. For the sake of your own well-being, do not read those two posts. They are thoroughly cringe-worthy.) Back then, I used pretentious French phrases for everything, so the blog was called "Je Ne Sais Quoi" and existed under the URL lifeisinexpressible.blogspot.com. I planned on using it to post any and all writing dabbling that I did, since I'd been told that I should do this on a blog, but I wasn't incredibly into writing. Actually, I had very little idea why blogging was important, and consequently I didn't really know what I was going to do with the space. I don't remember the blog design well, but I can assure you it was horrible.

2012

It turns out that after the last post of 2011, in December, I didn't post again until April of 2012. Sometimes my own consistency amazes me.

This was my most active blogging year by far - seventy-three posts in all! I started out writing mainly book reviews, with little short stories here and there, and occasional artwork and writing prompts. It was fun, certainly, but I sort of felt like I was shouting into a void (which I probably was). But I got some really good posting practice in, and I think that was really valuable for me.

I stumbled upon the glorious madness that is NaNoWriMo in 2012 as well, and that's when I really threw myself back into writing. I started posting some chapters of WIPs (which are old and bad and you don't want to read them). I ended up getting to about 30K on the middle grade fantasy that I started that year, but I abandoned it when I realized just how much of a train wreck it was. I'd like to revisit it someday, but... that's a very big someday.

2013

Basically the biggest event of 2013 was that I started OtMS, my current WIP, and I made some ambiguous cover-related posts about it. My writing life spiraled into Chantilly and Finn and thievery feels. It was great.

This was also THE YEAR OF THE FIGMENT and the year that writer Christina re-emerged from the depths of my elementary school years. I finally joined up on the "writing community that simply walks into Mordor", and it was one of the best writing-related decisions I've ever made. If you're considering joining and are on the fence, I urge you to GO FOR IT. Figment has a community unlike any other, and for the most part, it's a really meaningful and amazing site if you want genuine feedback on your work from fellow writers. I met a profusion of Figment/Internet friends and supporters and other people who shocked me with their niceness. I had several oh-my-goodness moments. I got published in a few places. Occasionally I got a little morose.

I also did some weird things with photo editing. I was strange. (I would like to pick some of this up again sometime, though. It was surprisingly fun.)

Plus, I founded The Teacup Trail, my Tumblr-based literary and art magazine, in October of 2013, although I didn't post about it.

2013 was such a wonderful, improbable, brilliant year.

2014

...is not actually over yet, so I feel a little weird doing a recap. 

First I started off the year with a little resolution-type post (I feel like I fulfilled basically none of these resolutions except for the school-related ones, so oops). 

A little later, I won a thing that got me pretty excited. I started my "Music Monday" and "Fiction Friday" post series (which I think made up most of my posts for the year, actually, since they're so easy an fun to put together. I got my first blog award from the indomitable Morning. I got published some more, which was very cool. 

Then I won a thing that was a very big deal: national medals in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. This was just about the greatest thing that had ever happened to me. There was much behind-the-scenes squealing.

After that, I wrote about why representation for minorities in books is important (I'm not sure whether I'll be continuing this series as I don't know if I'm knowledgeable enough to do these topics justice, but I want to). I got my second Liebster Award from the lovely Adelyn. I congratulated the drop-dead-magical Kim Karalius on the publication of her novel, Love Fortunes and Other Disasters (which is coming out in June 2015 - a mere seven months away! - and should be on your TBR pile NOW). I made a booklist featuring girls with different kinds of "strength" in YA novels. I made a gigantic post about my far-fetched future story ideas.

I became a mentee in the Freshman Fifteens COMMON ROOM Teen Mentoring contest and fangirled about it. (By the way, I've recently turned in what I think might be my final revisions of that story to my wonderful mentor, Kim Liggett, and I'm so excited for the final release in January. Look forward to that! And to Kim's book Blood and Salt because it sounds impossibly amazing.)

Then I joined up with Morning's blog party because she is a fabulous human being. And a little while later (as in I didn't post a single thing for the entire month of October) I spewed about my WIP On the Midnight Streets. Most recently, I've talked about my Meyers-Briggs type - INFJ!

overall reflections

The past three years have certainly changed me for the better. I'm more aware of the world around me and am more confident in my values. I've made some absolutely wonderful friends (you know who you are and I love you!). I feel like I'm much more intelligent, which is always a plus. This blog has taken me places from the comfort of my own computer, and you are the reason for that journey. 

thank you so much for that. here's to more years of ups and downs!