New Year New Focus

So 2015 was a strange year in many ways. There were things I struggled with (thankfully nothing especially major, just a seemingly constant build-up of comparatively minor things which got to me at various points.) But it was also a year which, in many ways, was a brilliant one. I made some great new friends, got to know some wonderful people who I'd met the previous year a lot better, started running Teens on Moon Lane, and had countless fantastic evenings/afternoons out.

I also hit my 5th blogoversary here last week, and the combination of that and the new year has got me thinking about the answer to a question quite a few people have asked me "So what's the point of you having YA Yeah Yeah and Teens on Moon Lane?" 

It's a good question and I've been struggling to find the answer at times, and have considered giving this up more than once. However, while I've let YA Contemporary and Young Adult TV disappear, I'd be sad to see this go because it was the first blog I started and blogging has played such a massive part in my life over the last 5 years. Plus, there are some books it's not really appropriate to talk about on Teens on Moon Lane - Leah Raeder's novels, for example, are some of my favourites recently but the subject matter means I can't really recommend them on a site tied to a children's bookshop. In addition, it seems strange talking about US books with no UK publisher there, and there are a LOT of US books I want to import this year. (Partly because they seem to be ahead of UK publishers when it comes to representation of asexuality, which is close to my heart!)

So I think that I'll keep this blog for some bookish things - US books and adult novels, in particular - but I'll also branch out a bit. I've been really impressed by the way my friend Faye at A Daydreamer's Thoughts has changed her blog to be a lifestyle blog, still including great bookish content but also having other things there as well. I may post some brief theatre and film reviews, as it's hopefully going to be a year where I see a lot of great things, and I'm tempted to look at things like the links feature I tried a couple of months back. Then again, I might not.

Because one of the hardest things to learn in five years of blogging has been really, the most important thing about it to me is that I'm doing something that makes my life better. As I said, blogging has played a huge part in my life over the last 5 years, I think the vast majority of people I consider close friends are people I met through blogging/Twitter/book events, and I will forever be grateful to past-me for starting a blog on Boxing Day 2010. But I also know that I've felt pressured (nearly always by myself!) at times over those 5 years and it's caused me problems, so this is going to be a year of zero pressure blogging on this site. If I have something to post, I'll post it. If I don't, I won't. I've got some cool features I want to run, but I think I'll be posting them at times which suit me and the authors/publicists I'm talking to about them, rather than at any particular intervals. I have no idea whether the chilled, relaxed approach will last - but I'm crossing my fingers it does.

Very best wishes for 2016, everyone. Let's hope it's a really amazing year!