It is absolutely bonkers to me that today marks the one-year anniversary of The Cozy Owlet. If you had asked me about the outcome of this experiment one year ago, I would have given myself 50/50 odds of continuing to now. My other hobbies come and go in fits and starts – I’ll go through a crochet binge and then switch abruptly to knitting – and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to make regular weekly posts, let alone the two posts I tend to make now.

And if you told me that I would have:

• Written over 80 posts
• With over 100,000 words

Resulting in:

• Over 11,000 views
• From over 7,500 visitors
• At least one top-five Google Search result
• And over 2000 community members across Bookstagram, FB, and email

I would have laughed you out of the room. In fact, when I first started, my (loving, supportive) brother made sure that I didn’t focus too much on these kinds of metrics. Instead, he focused me on making sure I was doing this for the right reasons – internal ones, not external validation. And I think, looking back, I can confidently say that this journey has fulfilled so many of those goals for me – more deliberate reading, better recall of what I’ve read, and a sense of a reading community. (Also I stopped talking my husband’s ear off about books as he tried to fall asleep – which I’d call a win!)

I thought it would be nice to take a look back at some of the lessons I’ve learned this year, as I’ve gone from “reader” to “book blogger”…

Lesson #1: Writing shapes my reading

I’ll be honest – when I started on this journey, I was pretty skeptical that it would change anything about my relationship to reading. I’ve always been a pretty voracious reader, and an easy writer, and I didn’t think mixing the skills would change much.

But I’ve found that writing two books reports a week has totally changed my approach to reading. I’m more likely to eschew books that will serve merely as “potato chips” – those long series that I binge only to immediately excise from my brain. While I don’t actively pick out books for their bloggability, I try to make sure I’m reading enough material to write about. And I’ve started keeping a little list of reading notes and impressions – a practice I’ve long wanted to start but never made happen.

Writing blog posts has also forced me to articulate so much about my reading style – my likes, my dislikes, my approach to reading. I’ve always been someone who absorbed the vibes of books, more so than the specifics – so writing has forced me to think about and articulate what in writing triggers specific reactions. And because I try to chain up cute little weekly themes, my reading has been more connected to itself. My mental library has gone from a cloud to a more precise web, with ties from book to book. And I love having that web to navigate, that ability to create and articulate connections I never would have before.

Lesson #2: I adore pretty books

This is a pretty shallow lesson, but – I really do judge books by their covers. I know, I know! We’re not supposed to do that, but you can absolutely bribe me to read a book I was otherwise on the fence about with a pretty cover.

Learning this has also forced me to come to terms with the fact that many of my favorite genres do not have pretty covers. I’m not a huge fan of the painting style on many a classic cozy mystery, and the dark background with yellow or white text for crime novels makes me unhappy. Part of this journey is me coming to terms with my own book cover issues – yes, I can still read that classic even if the cover is ugly. And part of the journey is, weirdly, expanding my horizons to chase after pretty books! Basically, this self awareness has been an excuse to acquire even more books – non-gorgeous ones that get me out of my comfort zone, and pretty ones I may otherwise not have read. It’s a win for me and my bookshelf (if not my wallet).

Lesson #3: I can (almost) always make the time…

One of my biggest concerns when I started this journey was consistency. I’m in a client-facing role, and my job frequently has ups and downs. I started the blog in the middle of a minor work crisis, at a time when life felt like it was spiraling out of control. In theory, this blog was to serve as a check on my work-life balance – if I couldn’t find 5-8 hours a week to read and write, I may need to check my priorities. But, honestly, I was skeptical things would work that way…

One year later, and they have mostly worked that way (barring the time that I chose to add extra school to my after-work plate). It turns out that “I need to go home and work my blog,” is a socially acceptable excuse for many more things than, “peace, I’m gonna read now.” Not only that – enforcing this boundary for myself has helped me create balance in other parts of my life. It turns out practicing one named commitment has allowed me to set and maintain others. While my work responsibilities have continued to expand, I feel more in control of my life than ever before. It turned out that for me, naming my “me time” helped me keep my commitment to it.

Lesson #4: Owning introvert-hood

The final lesson from this year has been truly allowing myself to accept my inherent granny-ish-ness. This feels like a lesson I re-learn every few years, particularly when there’s some kind of life change in the offing. I decide that this time I’ll socialize more, I’ll be more extroverted, I’ll just be more. Most recently, as we’ve been coming out of the pandemic, I’ve really pushed myself to say yes to many more social commitments than my ideal – after all, it’s been so long since we’ve seen anyone! As a desi, I deeply value community, and I want to create circles of comfort and care around me. But for some reason, I’ve always tried it in the way that is least comfortable for me – in person, even when I’m tired or stressed.

But this blog, and my bookstagram, and all the other bookish communities I’ve been able to participate in, have been such a balm. Engaging with folks who love the same books I do, who don’t mind if I reply a day late, who point me at new material, and who appreciate my thoughts has been incredible Chicken Soup for the Bookish Soul. When you’ve got a specific reading niche, it can be hard to connect with others over it IRL. So it’s wonderful to come back here and engage with all of you.

Thank you!

So if you’ve read this far – thank you! Thank you for coming on this journey with me, and for sticking around. And thank you, truly, for creating space for me to grow and thrive as a reader and as a person. I am so pleased that you’re part of my reading parliament. And a true Request for Feedback – what do you want to see me do more of, less of, or otherwise change in the upcoming year?

Until next time, stay cozy, and stay curious.