The Year That Was

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This was my reading life in 2011...

On reading goals and challenges:

I'd like to think I started out well. I aimed to go through at least half of my 2010 TBR.  I joined the TBR Dare, which lasted for me until the end of February. I also aimed not to buy more than 12 books in the whole year, unless I had already finished my TBR goal. Sadly, by March, that 12-book buying goal was compromised by one thing--the Kindle. My sister had given me one as a gift, and there went my goal. To be fair, I held out until the middle of the year. To date, though, I do not know how many additional TBR books I've acquired. I can count how many print books I've added, but cannot and do not want to count how many ebooks I have on my TBR.

As for my other goals, well, I barely remember them and I suppose I lost interest in them along the way. Figured that, as long as I'm reading and trying to vary it, I'm ok. In any case, here's my total reading progress for the year.


On book/reading events:

I and other Filipino book bloggers organized the first Filipino ReaderCon, out of a desire to give Filipino readers more of a voice and a presence. It was a small albeit successful (judging from available feedback) event, and we're planning to hold the second one, of course, this 2012.

I also got to attend the 2nd Manila International Literary Festival, graced by two Pulitzer Prize winners: Junot Diaz and Edward P. Jones. Fell in love with Mr. Diaz when he said that readers were his peeps. I, along with blogger Tarie Sabido, was also invited to be one of the panelists in the talk entitled "Getting the Young to Read," where I mostly talked about my experiences as a high school teacher in getting kids more interested in reading. Been telling myself to write a post about that whole talk, and I hope I finally will before this month ends.


On other life-changing things:

Well, not so much life-changing as career-changing. Last August, I wrote a post explaining a change in job, which thereby makes me not just a book blogger, but also part of the publishing industry. So far, am loving my job, but it sadly leaves me little time for book blogging. I'm hoping all that can be explained away by the customary job adjustment period (though that is kind of a long adjustment period). The beginning of a new year is always an optimistic period for me, blogging-wise, so I will keep my hopes.

Working at Flipside has given me the unique opportunity to help other authors publish their own work and help local publishers become more comfortable with the digital era. It's pretty exciting work that I'm glad to be doing. I don't know where it will take me or how things will pan out in the future, but for now, I'm just going to work my ass off and enjoy myself while I'm at it.


So I say goodbye to a year that, for all intents and purposes, has been good to me. Here's to hoping that the coming year will be as good or even better. Soon up--my best reads in 2011.

Comments

Chachic said…
Yay Kindle, Filipino ReaderCon and Flipside! Looks like 2011 was an awesome year for you, Honey. :) Let's hope that 2012 will be just as great.
January 2, 2012 at 3:30 PM
fantaghiro23 said…
Thanks, Chachic! Don't forget our projects for 2012! Haha, pressure.:)
January 2, 2012 at 10:47 PM
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