As much as I love Christmas, the week between Christmas and the New Year has always been filled with excitement for me. It is the perfect time for reflecting and recapping the year and then setting new goals. I wanted to share the most popular posts of 2020 in terms of page visits with you all.
Also the internet Gods have proved once again that popular doesn’t necessarily mean the best. It just means Google liked them better or Facebook kept showing them randomly. We will never know why and how.
Elgee Writes’ most popular posts of 2020
I am ranking my most popular posts of 2020 based on the page views garnered during the year, based on the WordPress’s statistics. Let me know if your favorite made the cut.
We book bloggers keep lamenting at how book reviews don’t get much engagement. This post takes a good dive into why that happens to help you understand.
Quite funnily enough, this book review of The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi is one of my most popular post of 2020. Read on to find what made it so popular.
One of the points on my checklist for bloggers is the WordPress follow button. But if you are self hosted there is no direct way to add that button. This post explains how to do that and gain more followers.
If you are content creator and you are on top of your social media profiles without going insane, YOU ARE A ROCKSTAR. But for others, mere mortals like me, here are some tips to balance it out.
Some questions for an author to ask your beta reader when you submit a manuscript for beta reading. These questions ensure you get constructive and honest feedback from them.
This famous book didn’t fare so great for me and this review in particular had a lukewarm response when I initially posted. But when the official Auschwitz Museum responded to my post on Twitter, my page visits shot through the roof overnight.
The factual mistakes & misinterpretations made by Heather Morris in "The Tattooist of Auschwitz" resulted in creating a distorted version of Auschwitz. This is dangerous and disrespectful to history. The story deserves better. #FactCheck review: https://t.co/hioNswY2nT
I might be a little later than usual but I am excited to announce that the Comment 4 comment challenge is back on for 2021! It is time to get back on the wagon as a conscious effort to increase the engagement and commenting on our blog. Are you ready for this?
Blog engagement is the key!
Despite what we tell ourselves about how we blog for ourselves or how it is just a hobby, we love getting comments on our posts and meeting new likeminded bloggers.
Without such validation via comments or shares we may as well be just screaming into the void. Trust me that is just a sure shot way into blogger burnout – something that we all dread.
The comment 4 comment challenge has been greatly successful in the past (2018, 2019). I am sure the participants gained quite a number of blogger friends who not just commented and shared on their blogs, but also gained a good support system.
Let’s rebuild that one. Welcome to C4CC-2021 edition!
What is the Comment 4 Comment Challenge (C4CC) 2021?
The major issue for any small blogger is building an audience and increasing their blog engagement. And that means getting more visitors, comments and shares on your blog. If that sounds interesting to you, this challenge is for you.
The goal of C4CC is ‘leave no comment un-replied and un-returned’.
What do you have to do?
Replying all the comments you received on your blog
Visiting the said commenter’s blog to leave a comment
If you feel you are up for this challenge, SIGN UP right away.
What is the goal anyway?
If you have any of the following as goal for your blog this year
Be more social
Increase the number of comments on your blog, organically
Make more blogging friends
Improve blogging engagement
Increase your blog followers
Finding similar blogs
Then this Comment 4 Comment Challenge (C4CC) for you!
How can you participate in this challenge?
Sign up for the challenge here
Grab my button and add on your blog
Follow my blog and leave a comment to this post.
Share the news on social media
Bring in your buddy and as they say, the more the merrier.
Have you signed for the Comment 4 Comment Challenge 2021 edition? Were you part of the past years’ challenges? What are your blogging goals this year? Let us chat.
You know that I get too excited during this season, even if I don’t celebrate Christmas. And every year I make it a point to go see as many Christmas trees and decors as possible. I did the same this year as well.
Also I met my book club after a year or so in person. And we had a lot to chat about, including books. On the whole it was a good week, I suppose.
Can’t wait to read your Christmas and holiday related posts, everyone! Hope you guys had a good one.
What I read this week
OK I am still racing against the clock to reach the 45 books target for the year and I am on my 42nd book now. I am currently reading In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren
This week I read
Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie
Heartstopper by Alice Oseman
I hope I can reach my goals!
What I watched this week
It is the holidays. Of course I spent a lot of time on Netflix and Amazon binging. Don’t judge me!
This week I watched Kaley Cuoco’s Flight attendant and it was hilarious and intriguing.
And then I went on to watch “the Night of”, which had a similar storyline as Flight attendant at first glance. But it was so serious than the other one.
The best watch of the week was the Netflix’s Korean film The Call. My mind blown at the way the film held us in suspense until the credits rolled in. I loved it, catch it up if you can.
On my blog
In case you missed the posts from my blog, last week.
I got back to blog hopping and here are some of my favorite posts around the blogosphere. If I missed your blog and you can leave me your link to your blog here.
If you are still hating the block editor in WordPress, Sumedha post might help you.
With the New Year just around the corner, it is time to pull out your planners for tracking your TBRs and reading challenges for 2021. Here are some bullet journals spread ideas for book lovers to organize your reading schedule.
Bullet Journal ideas for books and reading
I love lists and planners. But as someone with minimal artistic talent, I totally suck at bullet journaling (or BuJo). Of course, that doesn’t stop me from drooling over these amazing bullet journal set ups over Instagram. How about you?
Reading list
I usually have a hard time choosing my next read, often. Having a reading list for the month or week, or even the year would be a great idea for your reading bullet journal set up. These are some of the ones that I loved for your inspiration.
How do you track what your reading habits? I do so on notion and excel but BuJo spreads are much more fun and interesting, especially if you are artistically inclined. Here are some bullet journal set ups to help you track what you read during the month.
Do you use BuJo for tracking your reading? If not, how do you keep up with your reading challenges? Which is your favorite bullet journal idea? Let us chat.
How often do you agree with hype and award winning titles? I had heard so much about The Silent Patient and I was reluctant to pick it up, because I didn’t want another disappointment. But how did it fare on my scale? Read my book of The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides to know more.
Theo Faber, a psychotherapist can’t wait for this chance to prove himself by helping Alicia, the famed silent patient. And to do that, he has begun to work at The Grove where the artist is being treated for a while now.
About six years ago Alicia Berenson, a well known painter was arrested for murdering her husband, Gabriel. Since then she has not uttered a single word. She is suicidal and unresponsive to any sort of communication.
Theo is also fighting his own demons and for his marriage. Will he be able to save Alicia or himself for that matter? Read The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides to find out more.
Book review
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides is a fast paced murder mystery/thriller. And it is definitely worth its hype. I definitely should be more open to picking hyped books hereon.
While the explosive climax is not novel, I didn’t see it coming. I had several other theories (a few more ingenious than the others ..cough.. cough) of course, but the red herrings worked perfectly. And that says a lot about the author’s ability to weave a web of tangles around it.
I had a few issues with how the “hospital was run” and that Theo’s approach to help Alicia was pretty much unprofessional. There are a few comments about therapy that misleading and harmful, and definitely reduced the credibility factor for me.
What worked for me
I didn’t see the classic twist coming at all. And that’s because I was so engrossed in the narration.
The short chapters worked well enough to make The Silent Patient a page turner and I couldn’t just stop reading.
The red herrings will keep you second guessing and hooked till the end.
What may have been better
Theo’s breakthrough treatment was totally unprofessional and kinda lowkey annoying for me. I hated that there were misleading and harmful comments about therapy and therapists.
If you are quite new to the murder mystery genre and you liked books like Girl on the train or The Woman In The Window by Finn A J, you will love this book. If you’ve read as many whodunnits as I have, The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides may not surprise you. But it is still worth a read.
Content warning:
Depression, multiple suicide attempts, Drug abuse, Misleading concepts about therapy, extramarital affair,
Have you read The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides? Were you able to find the culprit? What is your favorite whodunnit murder mystery book? Let us talk.
