Writing this post feels like shouting into the void. Do people even read blogs anymore?

When I started my little blog many moons ago, I had big dreams – ones that involved creating a community of like-minded people who loved talking and reading about books.

My little community never grew, and I never seemed to get the algorithms right to change that. A blogger from the US used my name – Bound2Books – and created another website with that title, which made me feel frustrated and upset. Honestly, you couldn’t think of another name? I got tired of receiving hateful comments on some of my posts – especially ones about reading diverse literature. The world broke out into a global pandemic that changed everything. A close family member passed away, and my world was utterly shattered. People who I thought were close friends ghosted me. Another friend died. All the while, I had to work and function, remember to clean my teeth, and get dressed each day.

So, I stopped posting reviews and writing about literature because I did not see the point. And honestly, I am still not sure if that has really changed. So much about being online means giving every piece of yourself away while simultaneously conforming to particular production standards that require you to look a certain way, be photographed a certain way, have certain books, and conform to certain trends. None of that feels authentic to me—not then and not now.

I have been rather neglectful of this little space I created online because it was a labour-intensive project that I did not get paid for. And I needed to work on things that did pay me. Although, what has been really fun (this is sarcasm), was also being told that I wasn’t doing authentic reviews because I had an affiliate link to an online bookstore.

My shelves are filled with books, and anyone who knows me knows I will talk your ear off if you ask me for a book recommendation. So, even though the internet kills many things, it never took away my love of reading or the written word. However, what I do with that will be another story for another day.

Posts like this often hit like a bag of rotten fruit thrown through a window on a stinking hot summer’s day – people don’t want to see or deal with real authentic emotions that aren’t joy, lust, or gluttony on the internet. But as I said earlier, I’ve never been one to conform to that kind of thinking. So here is my bag of rotten fruit – things have been tough. And I’m not sure what it means to be writing this again, and what I’ll do next. But if you’ve made it this far into the post, thank you for reading my rambles. Please tell me what you would like to see in the future – creative pieces, book reviews, comparing different books across eras and genres, music and books, craft?

As always, share the reading love.